AlPhA KaPpA DeLtA PhI

This is going to be a brand new beginning for the Biztalk section and to start of, I am going to address the issue of cheap airline tickets and how some airlines always come up with drop dead fares and why some ones offer such high ones.

The first thing to know are few facts about the industry as a whole. The airline industry, since the beginning was a extremely shaky one. It was always a high risk and high returns game. The uncertainties that plagued this industry have continued to exist till date and that is a major reason why fares still remain very high. Yes, the operating costs are huge but so is the profit margin of the players involved. Some experts say that a 30 % margin is considered minimum for an airline service provider. So the fares have always been high.

The next reason for finding cheap airline tickets right next to counters selling costly ones is that airlines operate on different business models. There are low-cost providers and high-cost providers. While it is the volume game for the low-cost airlines, high-cost ones play their game keeping in mind consumers who want a bit of luxury and are willing to pay for it. So the rates are naturally bound to be different and some times glaringly different.

Finally, the issue of time is an important factor. If you book your tickets one month in advance then your tickets will be cheaper than when you buy them one day in advance. The reason being that in the former case the airline is sure that a seat is occupied and for that security of having a definite customer, the airline is willing to adjust its prices. The last minute ticket on the other hand means that you want the ticket more than airline needing to fill it. So the leverage is with the airline and you end up paying the exorbitant rates that he quotes. Simple game of supply, demand and managing uncertainties.

Hi folks. Here are the first batch of 10 question in GMAT Quant. These questions have been prepared by me after working on the GMAT method of testing for almost a year now. Here goes.

1. In a queue, Monica is at the 14th position from the start and 18th position from the last. If Phoebe is at the middle of the queue, what is his position

2. In A years Richard will be B years old. How many years ago was he C years old.

3. Joe traveled at an average speed of 20 miles/hour when going from New York to Detroit. He traveled at an average speed of 30 miles/hour when coming back from Detroit to New York. Find his average speed.

4. Ross has 192 $1 bills with him. It is his job to put each of them into a different bag. If Ross should be able to give out any amount between $1 and $192, what is the minimum number of bags that he should have.

5. Chandler and Joey run around Central Park (which happens to be a perfect circle of length 335 meters) in the same direction. Joey runs faster than Chandler. When they meet for the first time after starting, what is that extra distance that Joey would have covered over Chandler.

6. What is the area of the quadrilateral whose co-ordinates are (2,-2), (2,6), (15,2), (15,-4)

7. Chandler and Joey run around Central Park (which happens to be a perfect circle) in opposite directions. The ratios of their speeds are 1:3. Chandler, who knew about their speeds, says to Joey that they will meet at only 2 distinct points, even if they keep running till the next day. Joey laughs at Chandler and says that Chandler is wrong. Who is right, Joey or Chandler?

8. Rachael got 210 marks in an exam and ended up getting 300/11 percent more than the actual pass mark required. What is the minimum mark that Monica should aim at, in oder to at least clear the exam.

9. Ross leaves to meet Ben at exactly 4 PM. When he comes back, he notices that the hands of the clock are exactly 180 degrees apart. How long was Ross with Ben?

10. Joey likes to slice his pizza into into identical pieces before eating it. Just as he finishes slicing it, Chandler walks in and asks for 3/4ths of the pizza. Just as Chandler and Joey are about to eat their shares, Ross walks in and asks for  2/3 rds of Chandler’s share and 1/2 of Joey’s share. But Chandler gives Ross only 3/4 ths of what Ross asks and Joey gives what ever Ross asks. What is the share of the total pizza that Ross eats.

The Solutions:

1. 15

2. B – A – C

3. 24 miles/hour. Not 25 miles/hour..!!

4. 8  - (2^0,2^1, 2^2… 2^7 dollars in each bag.)

5. 335 meters.

6. 91 sq. units

7. Chandler is right. They meet at only 2 distinct points even if they keep running for ever. The first point is the start and the second point is 180 degrees opposite to the first one.

8. 165

9. 54 6/11 minutes

10. Ross eats one half of the pizza.

If anyone needs an explanation for any of the problems above. Drop in a comment. Will be happy to help. See you with the next batch of problems tomorrow.

Budding entrepreneurs would know that many businesses fail in the initial stage because of lack of capital. Many investors will not trust a company that has just started off. Consequently liquidity crunch hits the company within months and the business closes down. The irony in all of this is that, the business doesn’t fail because it has done badly. It failed because it didn’t have an investor who trusts the company’s ideas. This problem is the exact reason why, Shelf Corporations are a great idea. Aged Shelf Corporations come with an experience of  a few years and the very fact that you have been in business for a few years inspires trust in investors. This trust factor can be the difference between success and failure. In addition to this, a Shelf Corporation comes with prior experience in the business. This is a key in getting many business orders from prospective clients. People look for companies with at least a couple of years experience before awarding business contracts. The Cheapest Shelf Corporations come with at least 2 years of experience. So this can be a huge bonus in taking the business into the next level.

Aged Shelf Corporations are hassle free. There is no red-tape or extensive form filling before starting a business. Anyone can start running their business in 24 hours of payment. Starting a business from scratch will take weeks. Shelf Corporations with Established Credit will keep the money line in the company flowing. There will be no liquidity crunch, as long as you keep performing well. Cheapest Aged Corporations are the way to go for aspiring start-ups. It’s hassle-free and is investor friendly.

Its not often that an Aged Corporation comes up for sale. A Shelf Corporation came up for sale in the domain of realty and was a run-away success. This only confirmed the already existing notion that shelf corporations are a great business option.  These companies come with a an already existing framework with all the process in place already.Shelf Corporations are ready made food directly for consumption. Shelf Corporations with Established Credit are like the McDonalds of the business world. They come packed with a good line of credit. Any business entrepreneur will tell that finding a Shelf Corporations with Credit is really hard. And when that comes online, its a great deal.

There is this site that I came across that does exactly this. The contents on the site aren’t up already, but it promises to do all this and more. It claims to deal in Aged Shelf Corporation that are up for grabs by interested parties. Imagine doing all this when sitting in the lonely confines of your home, it’s a deal worth killing for. But there is no need to resort to that. Aged Shelf Corporations are still available on this site, and plenty available. So there is no problem in getting one that you desire the most.

Such corporations have no issues in getting unsecured loans to boost their business. This is because of their good line of credit. Impressing lenders will be a lot easier and will be a great way to kick start your business, starting at top-gear from the word go.

The IPL controversy seems to be never ending. Recent reports suggest that the IPL bosses sought out Small Business Loans to kick of the venture. But if nothing about the IPL seems to resemble a small business. In fact, the BCCI’s bank balance is so loaded that they never needed a loan in the first place. So questions have risen as to whether some fraud has happened, that is now hidden from the public. The IPL commissioner Mr. Modi is said to have availed several Personal Loans in the last year, from various banks. So, the natural question is whether Mr. Modi used his position as commissioner to get loans for his private business. 

Board officials remained unavailable for a comment on this issue. Media speculation over alleged irregularities is already rife. And the latest one doesn’t help Mr. Modi in winning back the support of the board.
Such loans (including Payday Loans) are meant to be used wisely by people who are striving for cash to keep the liquidity in their business. Gross misuse of such loans reflects the growing concern over the efficacy of the credit delivery system in our society.  Surely Mr. Modi will have a hard time convincing the Income Tax officials about such kick backs received. This story is only getting riper by each passing day. Watch this space for more news, as skeletons keep tumbling out of the closet.

There are many kinds of insurance that one can take up these days. Insurance quotes are now available for car insurance, health insurance, life insurance and for a lot of other scenarios. Insure4less lets one know more about the best insurance quotes available out there. Knowing about the terms, premium and returns of various insurance online helps one to decide upon the best insurance on offer that is the most beneficial for the client. The information present in one site also saves time for clients for whom the research has already been done, giving them a one-stop shop to decide the best insurance for themselves.

How many times have heard of the age-old story of a good business falling apart due to improper business financing. Is it because there is no money available at all for these people? Not at all. Small Business Loans are available to all those who know how to get access to it.

Money, as a Business Loan, is certainly an elixir. How you get access to Business line of credit makes all the difference between a successful entrepreneur and a failed one. EzZnsecured provides you with help for exactly this. Factor this, when you sign up for help you receive a mail containing specifications for the services offered. Then you receive a free consultation session to clear the air on what can be done and what can’t; whether you are eligible for Business Loans or not. Following this will be a personal session on how to set right a few issues that might hamper you from getting a business/personal loan.   Once this is done, the site even directs you to prospective people who might be willing to give you business/personal loans. Now, I have found this to be a highly specialized and personalized service. This kind of a referencing works best for unsecured financing and personal loans as well. When no collateral is involved, it works in the best interest for all to go by trust.

If any budding business-man goes through this procedure, he is securing himself from liquidity issues.

There have been several cases of good business models failing because of lack of money. That is why loans are so important for an aspriring entrepreneur. Any entrepreneur’s dream can come to life only with some investment from a person who believes in his business’s potential and his skill. But not many who set out to make their own, are lucky enough to find angel investors. Most often people are stuck with investors who ask more questions than the amount they pay. To overcome this trouble, unsecured personal loans are the best way. These loans, given without any collateral, give the much needed freedom and space for ambitious men to work freely.

Personal Loan, does it help? Most professional ventures prefer to keep their business separate from their personal life. Personal loans are good for a family wanting to grow. They are mostly given based on the income of an individual and not based on what his business is. Payday loans are more of cash advances. They are given to people wanting money before their next pay cycle date arrives.

Loans can be of many types, but from what I have seen, unsecured loans are the best for a young daredevil entrepreneur. It’s tailor made for freedom and the cap on it depends on the potential of the business to make money; not on what one has, but on what one can bring in. Try it.

Today, an online fax is fast replacing the traditional method of sending faxes. But many people are confused about how exactly they should go about the entire process of actually sending the fax via the internet.  It’s like a natural fat burners question.The following are five very easy methods that anyone can use to send and receive faxes over the internet.

1. Signup for any online fax service provider

When choosing any online fax provider, the following points must be kept in mind.

• Reputation of the company

• Is there a period during which you could try out the product?

• How many faxes can you send and receive per month.

• What are the additional charges that you will have to pay once you cross the above limit?

2. Choose the required fax number

After you have finished signing up, the next thing that you need to do is to obtain your fax number. For many of the services, you need to select the area code and location. You will be provided with a list from which you can select the number that you would like. Using this number, you will be able to receive all faxes. When someone sends you a fax, it will be directly sent into your mailbox. You can then perform a variety of options on it such as saving it, printing it or even forwarding it to a desired recipient.

3. User information sign up

All that you have to do here is simply sign up with your required information.

4. Send faxes

Once you have finished signing up, you will be able to easily send all faxes that are required. The exact instructions regarding what you should do to send faxes will be explained to you. Sending an online fax is very similar to sending an email attachment. If you know how to send an email, sending a fax should be no problem at all.

5. Receive faxes

Using an online fax, you would also be able to receive faxes directly into your mailbox.

White Hat – For factual thinking. Brainstorming for known facts on an idea

Red Hat – For Emotional Thinking

Black Hat – For weaknesses in an idea

Yellow Hat - For Optimistic/ Positive thinking on an idea

Blue Hat – For Thinking of an idea from an organizational perspective

Green Hat – For thinking on innovations possible, on a existing idea.

Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats is a rare book, providing insights on how to structure discussions. de Bono is an erudite thinker himself and his novel idea of the thinking hats should come as no surprise to anyone who has been following him. I have read one book of his before and though not path-breaking; the book gave me insights of the man behind it.

de Bono appears as a suave management expert, who understands the complexity and simplicity of the brain more than anyone. He emphasizes on logical thinking and exhorts us to think of possibilities to existing certainties. This unique view of him makes more compelling to read his works.

On the book, it’s not like any other book you might have read on group discussions. It does not tell you what to talk or even how to talk. It tells you how to think and how different you can think.

One phrase caught my attention while reading the book. The phrase is “Sensitizing your brain”. It made for interesting reading. de Bono says that if you sensitize your mind towards, i.e. actively and explicitly tell it what to do it does it correctly. In other words, the brain is willing to learn, the only think it needs is a constant input. I tried doing this by telling myself what I had to do and the brain keeps following it.

Let me explain. I have a really hard time waking up, especially if it’s early. One night I told myself, I am going to get up early the next and did not set the alarm. I told my brain to kick start its work the moment it had enough rest. And wonders..! I got up at 4 A.M the next day feeling fresh and without the alarm. The next thing I tried was that, I started to count the number of steps I walk to reach the cafeteria for lunch. I did this while walking to the cafeteria, and while returning I was subconsciously counting the number of steps!

Mr. Bono does have some interesting points. Do share with the readers if you have experienced similar things.

News hungry media barons are working around the clock to make news and deliver them to easily distracted viewers. This is a good and a bad trend that we are witnessing in today’s world.

On the positive side, news is readily available to anyone at a glance. Large sized captions and and even larger pictures are hard to miss. Sensationalized news essentially means that the news is interpreted and published for the reader. This is a break from the past where news was simply a report and not an opinion on it. For viewers who agree with a newspaper or a magazine’s view point this is easiest and quickest way to get access to news. In other words, the media is simply catering to that group of readers or viewers. The supply meets demand and that is good economics.

On the other negative side, for the other group of viewers there is only a biased opinion to look at and this does not give the whole picture. These people prefer news to be simply what it was meant for and not opinionated. The larger issue is that the truth behind a story is lost in the process of commercializing it and fear that the media publishes what is news worthy and not what is news, looms large. Men who control the media become powerful and this leads to compromises on ethical values and rise in nepotism.

After looking at both sides of the issue, it would be a fair conclusion to say that media is guilty of sensationalizing news for benefits, commercial and personal. This trend can be dangerous and may eventually affect the media. If the reader does not agree with the opinions and simply wishes to stop subscribing to it, it is a loss that the media could do without.

E-commerce is very much in vogue these days. A lot of new companies are mushrooming around the world, pinning their hopes on this market. Their strategy is simple. Promote your site actively on sites generating traffic and get customers to take a look at your offerings. Once you have your customers, they will leave a big bag full of goods, because on-line shopping is easier than manual shopping.

Popular items include chariots de golf, gift items, toys, cds and books. Some times even tables and cushions, or tablier de cuisine, as the French would say it, are popular. If you are an entrepreneur, an e-commerce site would be your best bet.

For many, this trend may seem like the dot-com boom, but the similarity ends there.

The Harvard Business Review (HBR) is truly a world class magazine. It is a summary of all that is happening in the Management Research world. The articles are written by officials from top companies. A great deal of work goes into bringing out each issue; and is rightly identified as the flagship magazine in Management Science.

A typical issue contains a few predictable sections. My favorites among these are the Case Study Section, Best Practices, Managing Yourself, insurance quotes and Caring for Employees Health. The Case Study section deals with mostly fictional issues arising in office. My most favorite case study is the issue of Santa Claus not able to meet Christmas deadlines for delivering gifts to children around the world, because of a sudden change in the children’s demand. The stories maybe fictional but the issues are certainly pertinent. After the case is narrated, the magazine publishes responses from relevant people on how to resolve the issue. The relevant people are mostly people from the industry, academics or management experts. These people are chosen from a wide spectrum and each perspective is distinctly different from the other. Sometimes it is hard to grasp all the views at one go! The other sections are on predictable lines (as their name suggests). And I will not elucidate further on them.

I addition to these regular features, the magazine has a worthy cover story on each issue. These issues are dealt with very elaborately and make in hard for new guys, like me, to understand. Reading the editors note before reading the cover story, generally, makes it less hard to understand.

HBR is high quality stuff and makes for very good reading.

Google’s sudden change of heart on China has taken everybody by surprise. For years Google had gone out of its way to please China and continue its business there. It made good business sense. Internet users in China are expected to be 320 million as of date. Google.cn was started in China in 2006, amidst severe criticism from several experts on the rationale behind the venture. Now, things seem to have fallen apart with the bosses of Google Inc. deciding to review the feasibility of their operations in China.

Google made several compromises to please the Chinese Government. Google.cn was launched as a censured version of the Google we know. It modified Google Maps to please the Chinese in their claims over Arunachal Pradesh, carefully displayed search results on conterversial topics and did a host of other compromises. Still, the Chinese acted pricey, banning Google Books, and several other Google services which were uncensored. The result of this is now out in the open.

Of the two major issues, I plan to discuss, the first is the very act of censure ship. Indians take great pride in living in an open society. India’s cyber-space is fairly open with as few as 20 sites being banned in the last decade. Whenever Indians talk about China’s phenomenal growth story, they end up smirking at Chinese oppression and brim with optimism that the Chinese society will eventually collapse. But, just a few months earlier the Indian Government forced Google to remove sensitive content on Orkut (a social networking site) after the death of the former Andhra Chief Minister. The information was considered too sensitive for national security and Google obliged. The point that I am trying to drive here is this: Censure ship on information, unfortunately happens to be a common requirement in several societies. Google, by virtue of its position in the market is under pressure from several quarters and normal business operation involves dealing with such pressures. Given this, it was natural for Google to have entered China, with the hope of tailoring their services to suit the Chinese establishment.

The next question is, so will Google pull out of China. No!, that will not happen because of this fundamental law of economics – Supply meets demand. Supply, in the form of Google and demand in the form of China’s ever growing internet users, make a perfect match. China is a corner stone for Google’s aggressive growth plans. Yes, operations are hard in the land of the dragon. But it’s too huge a market to loose. As hard as it may be Google.cn will continue to cater to the Chinese Government’s restricted view of the world. The noises made now are just to create more leverage for the company, eventually they will die out. Proof of this is already coming out. Many Chinese are placing flowers outside Google’s office, in solidarity with the company. They people want the service to continue and that will eventually be sited as the reason to continue operations.

The one good thing coming out of this episode was that Google was the first major multinational to voice its protest over operations in China. There are a whole bunch of disgruntled companies finding life hard in China. Google’s vocal protest will serve well to raise the ante against the oppression in China. But again, that will happen only outside China, nothing inside.

Even though content is a master there are two things that one has to take into into account while designing a website.

1. Domain Name

2. Web hosting

Domain Name is actually name spacing for your website. It is nothing but the URL. It should be unique and it is recommended to have something related to niche what you are writing.

Then comes the Hosting account. Here is where everyone find the problem to find the best one for their requirement. For example some may need huge space or bandwidth for hosting their site. In some other case even a small space is sufficient but the platform dependency or dedicated server may be required. In order to solve this problem web hosting has come up with an unbiased review about all the hosting forums available online. They review about all kinds of hosting like java,vps hosting etc… Check out the forum for more details…

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There is something brave about a startup that chooses an offbeat field to do business in, daring to experiment on a concept that is yet to see reality face to face. Passion and the ability to always be ahead of times are quintessential to succeed in such a venture. Tall dreams and high bench marks wont help as much as staying realistic and being pragmatic. Combine this with the right balance of optimism and ability to foresee the magnitude of failure, in order to plan for contingency, make an ideal recipe. Choosing to begin such a startup necessitates decisions based on both intuitive and practical constraints, and calls for very high creativity combined with sound knowledge of consumer perspectives, in proper proportion so that it strikes a chord with the consumer base. Getting this balance right is what offbeat entrepreneuship is all about. There is so much freedom to exercise ideas which may cause success or failure; in both contexts, it warrants for better learning with every such occurrence.

The excitement and rush might fade away with time, nevertheless, it provides for life in much better ways than a conventional setup can do. The only threatening enemy could be lack of scalability, as the company grows. This cannot be foreseen as objectively as other factors in the initial stages, and therin lies the smartness of the individual. Smartness lies in capturing the pulse of the present consumer base and also, in extrapolating it conservatively,  so as to not falter gravely or be lured by just the current trend.

In the end, when it comes to survival, regardless of the sector, one has to be dogged about what works for an idea to materialize. Transformation of an idea into reality is much more challenging and intellectually demanding than generating the idea itself.  It is time to transcend barriers and make history your own!!

Acquiring talent is crucial to any company’s growth. So when did this focus on talent come to the fore?

For a long time, till about the early 1990’s focus inside an organization was largely on the processes involved and not on the talent of newly acquired people. Whatever skill was found wanting, they would provide training for that, was the view. However in the 90’s there was a paradigm shift in the focus, for reasons best explained by evolution, survival of the fittest, blah blah blah, and the work talent became the buzz word in management. The book “The War for Talent” best captures this shift. And suddenly head-hunters were facing the heat to find the capture the best available talent.

Perhaps, the words blah blah blah in the previous paragraph has a logical explanation. When companies provided training their employees for skills they didnot posses, the employees acquired the skills and moved over to greener pastures, most often compromising the business interests of the organization providing training. And so, companies responded by shifting their focus. Now, this is only conjecture. Maybe I am right on the buck or no where close to it. Go ahead and post a comment if you have a different view on this.