Category: News

This morning Exxon, the largest energy company in the world reported record profits of $10.36 billion for the second three months of the year. This was up from $7.64 billion from the same period a year ago. You will notice that the earnings were just shy of the record $10.71 billion they reported in the fourth quarter of last year, 2005. All companies have cushions; the accountants call them reserves. There is always flexibility in the reporting of a company’s earnings. Exxon very easily could have used their flexibility to come in with earnings that were below last year’s fourth quarter record in order to avoid the embarrassment of posting another new record quarter. The company knows that the Congress is looking over Exxon’s shoulder because the American people are looking over the gover

What is a Franchise? · An authorization to sell a company's goods or services in a particular place · A business established or operated under an authorization to sell or distribute a company's goods or services in a particular area. How did franchising start? One of the earliest franchisors was the Singer Sewing Machine® Company, which set up dealers shortly after the Civil War to sell and repair its revolutionary machines throughout the country. Shortly after the turn of the century, Coca-Cola® licensed others to manufacture and distribute its wonderful elixir. Ford Motor Company® later set up dealers to sell and service its products. Of course, McDonald's® is an example of how an entrepreneur (Ray Kroc) could take an idea and quickly spread it coast to coast (and eventually around t

At one level this is a relatively simple tool, requiring the management to select a key area of business activity and to audit performance in that area, comparing to previous performance levels and, ideally, benchmarking against known best practice and performance levels. The information generated by these audits will then be used to identify unsatisfactory performance and enable measures to be introduced to bring about improvements. The business areas that should be regularly audited, in any business, whether public, private, or not-for-profit, include: External Environment: well established tools and techniques are available and used to scan the external environment for information on issues, events, and trends that will impact on the strategies and performance capabilities of the organ

Gadgets make our life a lot more enjoyable than it is. With long working hours and little time for any kind of socializing, most people are strapped for time. Gadgets fill this gap by acting as a bridge between people. Men have always loved their gadgets. From the wide range of gadgets that are available today, it is no wonder that the common man does not know what to buy for himself or for someone else. Here's when gadget news comes into play. There are many websites today which deal with gadget news. Not only do they have news on all new and upcoming gadgets, they also have specialized forums where one can discuss gadgets with other interested members. So what does good gadget news tell you to buy? Top gadgets to buy Mobile phones: This is certainly the top gadget any gadget news webs

Over the past few months so many celebrities got caught in the spotlight over sex scandals. But when such news surfaces in the media I think it is interesting to observe how celebrities address the poor behavior in an attempt to salvage their images and reputations. These types of crises can also happen in large organizations. When they do, top leaders have to decide how they are going to react and communicate with the media to preserve the reputation of the organization. In October, David Letterman came forward to quickly address the media on his late night show and describe an extortion plot against him that was based on allegations that he had a sexual relationship with a female employee. The media broke the news in November that Tiger Woods had been philandering with multiple women af

When it comes to generating publicity for a product or service, trying to determine the amount of time it might take to launch and maintain a successful media exposure campaign is a hard nut to crack. What is the optimal length of a campaign and how much effort will it take to get the job done effectively? In my PR career, I have launched campaigns that needed the blast of just a few weeks of publicity and I have also maintained lengthy campaigns that generated media exposure for years. I can tell you that a single distribution of a media release is rarely effective. Most times, editors and reporters are working on multiple stories at once and need some time to consider your pitch. Although your release may indeed be interesting and newsworthy, the editor may simply not have the space to

Ann Curry's abysmal dismissal at the Today show was handled so poorly that the public reacted. And they reacted by switching to GMA. News slowly leaked of how the network treated her. Stories about how Today Show employees mocked her clothing or her workplace gaffes emerged. Her last few months of full time work swelled with professional torture. I am not advocating for Ann's job or position at the table. But the importance of effectively transitioning employees out of current roles (especially such visible ones) is a leadership lesson that can't be overlooked. Employees should not be publicly or privately humiliated. Being transitioned out of a role should be handled with dignity and respect. The business repercussions can be very costly. And NBC has learned that lesson the hard way. N

Many people who start a home based business do so because they want to keep their overheads low. They don't want to worry about the costs associated with having another office space. A common catch-cry is 'why pay money if you don't have to?' A great opportunity to further lower your costs is with marketing, especially in these days of Web 2.0. Social media tools are great tools for you to promote and grow your business. I have outlined three reasons below why all those who work from home should utilise social media tools to enhance and grow their business. Social Networking tools are free- It does not cost anything to set up a Facebook page or a Twitter account and use of these services is widespread and prevalent throughout society. Chances are that some of your existing customers alre

Introduction - There once upon a time before 9/11 was a guy who used a pen name of W.G. Hill. He wrote a series of articles and books explaining how to operate offshore anonymously and not be found, tracked etc. Perhaps up until the late 1990?s these strategies worked. Today they are extremely out of date. W.G. Hill is not a scam his work just became out of date. Selling his works today without a disclaimer stating they are seriously out of date is less than ethical. People buy these books as a roadmap through the offshore world and they are anything but that. The offshore world has changed a lot. There are a lot of people who like to read about the offshore world and never do anything about it. For them this book or any other book is fine. Taking any action based on a book is a bad mist

Milliions of folks have been running for a lengthy time simply because they take pleasure in it and also love the health rewards. You are able to basically step outside your door and begin running or working, and also you will probably be taking in more oxygen and burning calories. What follows in this article is really a discussion about how you'll be able to reap the most from running and having entertaining. Discovering a associate or a group to run with in one of the best techniques to stay motivated. It is okay if you prefer to run alone, but having a associate may be really motivational. You're much less likely to quit or give much less than your best if you have a companion working with you. It may also be entertaining to have someone to talk to, although you do not want this to tu