Navtej Kohli Business Blog

Now when global inflation is roaring aloud, engulfing entire global economy in its vicious spate, here come another reason for government to worry. Navtej Kohli blog features the report:

For the government, that is contemplating a hike in fuel prices, there is more disturbing news as the annual inflation rate breached the eight percent mark to reach 8.1 percent for the week ended May 17.

At this level, the inflation, as measured from data on official wholesale price index, was the highest in three-and-a-half years. The latest rise was due to a 0.6 percent increase in prices of food articles during the week under review.

The data released by the commerce ministry on Friday showed that the annual rate of inflation moved up to this level after having eased slightly to 7.82 percent for the week ended May 10 from 7.83 percent for the week before.

“There are no easy solutions to these issues. But we will find solutions to the pressing problems,” Finance Minister P. Chidambaram told a news conference in the capital.

“It is worrisome, but we are confident of gaining mastery over inflation.”

The data came against the backdrop of the Indian cabinet being set to bite the bullet by hiking prices of transport fuels to bail out state-run companies that are having to retail petroleum products at below cost.

The state-run oil companies have warned that their losses on account of selling fuels below cost could top Rs.200 billion ($5 billion) for the current fiscal year. They said they have money to buy fuels for only two-three months.

Effective delegation of work decides your fate as a manager. Roping in right kind of people for the right kind of job is what the game is all about. Having mastered this game, Navtej Kohli brings to you a few rudimentary tricks of effective delegation.

Perhaps, this story on Navtej Kohli Business Blog will help you understand this point better.

A Wolf had been prowling around a flock of Sheep for a long time,
and the Shepherd watched very anxiously to prevent him from
carrying off a Lamb. But the Wolf did not try to do any harm.
Instead he seemed to be helping the Shepherd take care of the
Sheep. At last the Shepherd got so used to seeing the Wolf about
that he forgot how wicked he could be.

One day he even went so far as to leave his flock in the Wolf’s care
while he went on an errand. But when he came back and saw how
many of the flock had been killed and carried off, he knew how
foolish to trust a Wolf as he exclaimed. “I have been rightly
served; why did I trust my sheep to a Wolf?”

Moral:
Delegate your task wisely, and only to people you trust.

Want to know the big business trends of 2008? Verizon Business makes some predictions. Check out Top 10 big business trends on Navtej Kohli business blog.

Below is Verizon Business’ list of ten hot trends for 2008:

Continued Globalization - Yes, globalization . . . as in strategically placing workers, offices and facilities around the world. According to Verizon, this can help companies keep costs down but there are challenges as well - such as maintaining a reliable communications infrastructure between locations. That means, according to Verizon, more high-performance networks

Securing the Extended Enterprise - Huh? This one refers to data - the data that’s shared between partners, suppliers and customers, the protection of data, the storage of data, the retrieval of data, archiving, etc., etc.

Global Greening - Verizon thinks that businesses will begin to do more greenifying of their business practices by using more audio, video and web conferencing rather than sending employees to get together (reduces carbon emissions), cutting back on paper and other efficiency-motivated moves.

Virtualization and On-demand Computing (a.k.a. Computing as a Service) - The green initiatives will carry over to the company infrastructures, according to Verizon. Not only will using things such as virtual servers conserve power, they will save companies money and take up less space.

Telepresence - So, more video conferencing, right? Well, Verizon says that latest technology to be employed will create very cool virtual meetings where it’s as good as being face to face. According to the list: “In addition to internal company gatherings, telepresence will enable meetings with customers, partners and suppliers, and, increasingly, high-end telepresence systems will be able to interoperate with traditional video-conferencing equipment.”

Outsourcing/Out-tasking - More companies will look at what tasks can be outsourced to third-parties to increase productivity and flexibility, as well as lower costs. ’nuff said.

Smartphones and Managed Mobility - More businesses will spend more on mobile devices like smartphones to ensure that employees are plugged in outside the office with mobile email, calendars, etc. Remember, it’s Verizon doing the predicting here. According to them: “Managed Mobility will become the next frontier, helping businesses track, monitor, secure and manage the mobile devices accessing their corporate networks.”

Unified Communications - This is aimed at unifying communications and enhancing collaboration in the workplace. Basically, VoIP will help businesses streamline communications — you know like one number reaches you where ever you are and whatnot.

Work-Life Balance - This one is a little counterintuitive — while there will be more communications, more smartphones, more connectivity, there will also be more emphasis on separating work and personal lives. Verizon says that it’s something that employees will struggle with and businesses need to address (along with security concerns, which they say Secure Socket Layer (SSL) based remote access solutions will take care of.

The CIO as Business Strategist - “CIOs will take on an even more pivotal role in determining how to invest capital most effectively to help their companies reduce costs, increase productivity and achieve a wide range of corporate objectives. CIOs also will be responsible for making supply-chain management decisions and environmental improvements.”

Navtej Kohli adds another leaf to Business Fable Category on Navtej Kohli Business Blog.

A new hotel employee was asked to clean the elevators and report back to the supervisor when the task was completed. When the employee failed to appear at the end of the day the supervisor assumed that like many others he had simply not liked the job and left. However, after four days the supervisor bumped into the new employee. He was cleaning in one of the elevators. “You surely haven’t been cleaning these elevators for four days, have you?” asked the supervisor, accusingly. “Yes sir,” said the employee, “This is a big job and I’ve not finished yet - do you realise there are over forty of them, two on each floor, and sometimes they are not even there..”

Wierd!!!!!!!

Navtej Kohli business blog brings to you another sarcastic piece of business humor…

How many work breaks do you get?

And the Award goes to…

Navtej Kohli business blog brings the entire report.

Gazelle Sports aims to connect with the community in various ways, and its effort has been recognized by the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce, which named the Kalamazoo-based retailer its its 2008 Small Business of the Year.
The sporting goods retailer, which has stores in Grand Rapids, Holland and downtown Kalamazoo, is to be honored at a luncheon May 20.

“We recognize our success is directly related to our community’s success,” said Melissa Chillag, community programmer for the Grand Rapids store.

The store is committed to training employees to quickly address customer needs, said co-owner Ken Sung. Ask a question of anyone working on Gazelle’s 7,000-square-foot sales floor at 3930 28th St. SE, and you’re likely to get an answer on the spot.

“It helps develop people and gives them a greater sense of responsibility,” Sung said. “If they understand the philosophy of what we’re trying to do and they’re the right people, they’re going to make the right decisions.”

The Grand Rapids store, which opened in 1989, notched an 11 percent sales increase from 2006 to 2007. Manager Scott Sneller chalks it up to “great customer care.”

And he said workers are trained in biomechanics — the movement of the body.

Sneller said Gazelle isn’t a ‘running-only’ store.

Gazelle, he said, also emphasizes a community presence. “Our mission in doing our business is to promote fitness and healthy living,” Chillag said.