Dress to Sell

Personal presentation: Dress for business

Personal presentation is very important in the business world, because the presentation often helps you to avoid that feeling of being small and uncompetitive in comparison to the business gurus, the giants of industry and investment dragons (those tycoons may in fact be in debt and about to collapse or on the verge of bankruptcy).  Besides, through personal presentation business people will determine how the world sees them. As the business world looks at you, it only sees what you present. Business people have used personal presentation to develop global brands and expand their fortunes.

The fact is a general rule of business is that people like to do business with people who are already successful. And we all project an image of success through dressing for business.  Making an effort to your appearance also shows that you respect the people you are meeting. Thus for a business situation, a shirt, suit and tie for a man should provide the foundation.  A smart two-piece business suit is good for women, but there are other options too, as long as the outcome is professional and smart. For example, you should not take off your jacket when meeting someone, even if it is a very hot day, unless they do so first. Both sexes should carefully maintain personal grooming, with polished shoes, clean hair, nails manicured, etc.

Dress to sell. Would you rather to have business with this lady or with a man dressed like a tea boy? Photo by Elena

You should pay attention to the finer details, as these will be noticed by others and provide clues to your success. A well-pressed shirt, an elegant watch, a refined pair of shoes will set you above the rest.

However, be careful not to judge other people simply by the clothes they wear. Truly successful wealthy people have no need to conform to norms of wearing business suits.

Hint: A compliment is a powerful way of making people feel good, like you more and be suggestible to whatever you are selling. Whenever you are impressed by something about someone, tell him, don’t just think it. If the person you are talking to seems to fully understand his market, tell him how knowledgeable he is. Anyway, making people good about themselves will mean that they also feel good about you.

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)

FDI characterizes investments made in a different country than the one where the funds invested came from. In the case of a Foreign Direct Investment, the asset purchased must be of a dissimilar nation state than that of the investor’s home. The FDI can take the form of financial, technological and even human capital (such as skills development or knowledge). By definition, there must be a lasting management interest around 10% of voting shares (more or less). Generally, FDI is classified as vertical, horizontal and conglomerate.

The vertical type can be further subdivided into forward and backward.

Apparently despite the sharp rise in the 1980s and 19990s, the stimulating effect of FDI influenced economy in many countries. In the first decade of the new millennium, Foreign Direct Investment underwent exponential growth thanks to cross-border companies.

However, its positive effect on developing economies continues to be debated. The optimistic school of thought rests on the neoclassical perspective and the new theory of economic growth, but negative radicalism is characterized by pessimism. Indeed possibility exists that such capital brings about crowding out effects domestically, loss of autonomy and distress to local business.

Foreign Direct Investment aas a means to create industries. Illustration: Megan Jorgensen (Elena)

Today FDI stock amounts to 1/5 of the global GDP. The reverse pattern, capital flow outwards from developing countries, also went up.

We should also draw attention to what distinguishes FDI from portfolio investment: FDI is designed for longer term and control of the assets acquired. The issue is surrounded by controversy, some seeing it as almost a new form of colonialism or imperialistic expansion. Still, FDI plays a major role in growth and economic development of what is still called the Third World and is one of the most stable international investment resources.

There exist other forms of foreign investment than FDI. Notwithstanding, suprisingly resilient, this form of investment persisted almost unchallenged during the worst world financial crisis, and everyone agrees about FDI furthering economic growth by modernizing the host’s technology, infrastructure, bureaucracy and so on.

We should also underline the repercussion of spillover effects of a technological nature. Figures can be provided demonstrating the more pronounced positive correlation between FDI and business development, than between business growth and domestic investment throughout the world. In Latin America, in Asia, in Africa domestic influx begins to play a greater and more constructive role. Furthermore, it appears that the receiver country must be developed up to a certain point in order to be able to benefit from the arrangement.

References:

• Caves, R. E. (1971). International corporations: The industrial economics of foreign investment. Economica, 38 (149): 1-27.
• Moosa, I. A. (2002). Foreign direct investment: Theory, evidence and practice. Palgrave: New York, NY.
• Wan, X. (2010). A literature review on the relationship between foreign direct investment and economic growth. International Business Research, 3 (1): 52-56.

Halloween - Part II

Halloween - Part II

Halloween activities include trick-or-treating (or the related guising), attending Halloween costume parties, carving pumpkins into jack-o'-lanterns, lighting bonfires, apple bobbing, divination games, playing pranks, visiting haunted attractions, telling scary stories, and watching horror films. 

In many parts of the world, the Christian religious observances of All Hallows' Eve, including attending church services and lighting candles on the graves of the dead, remain popular, although elsewhere it is a more commercial and secular celebration.

Some Christians historically abstained from meat on All Hallows' Eve, a tradition reflected in the eating of certain vegetarian foods on this vigil day, including apples, potato pancakes, and soul cakes.

All the pictures have been taken by Elena.

A big cat.

A fear over Rosedale!

An old wise lady meditating...

A laughing witch burning.

An inviting haunted house.

A pirate ship.

A cozy cemetery.

A nice lady.

A very calm house.

Peace and progress.

Entrance to a house.

Halloween Cemetery.

A snowman.

Maison at Douglas Street

Fantomas.

A squelette.

Jamaica Flowers

Jamaica Flowers

If you're not religious, how do you explain the transformational power that certain places have? They bring an incredible degree of attention to where you are and the passage of time. You're looking at every flower twitching, wondering if it's just the breeze or some magical pulse.

All the pictures have been taken by Elena.

Just living is not enough... one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower. (Hans Christian Andersen)

Even Helen Keller, who was born blind and deaf, could see God. No doubt, in her silent darkness, every fragrant flower, every ray of the warm sun, every taste that touched her tongue told her that there was a God who created all things. Jodie Foster shouldn't therefore be surprised that people are surprised that she's an atheist. (Ray Comfort)

How does the Meadow flower its bloom unfold? Because the lovely little flower is free down to its root, and in that freedom bold. (William Wordsworth)

When you draw or paint a tree, you do not imitate the tree; you do not copy it exactly as it is, which would be mere photography. To be free to paint a tree or a flower or a sunset, you have to feel what it conveys to you: the significance, the meaning of it. (Jiddu Krishnamurti)

Very often, people are obsessed with what others think of them. It's like if a flower wants to be a cactus or a palm but it's not. A flower is a flower, and that's enough. That's all you have to do is be a flower. (Stjepan Hauser)

Happiness radiates like the fragrance from a flower and draws all good things towards you. (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi)

A flower cannot blossom without sunshine, and man cannot live without love (Max Muller)

The Last Decision

The Last Decision

By Ben Bova

Medical Monitors were implanted in his body now. Although the Imperial physicians insisted that it was impossible, the Emperor could feel the microscopic implants on the wall of his heart, in his aorta, alongside his carotid artery. The Imperial psychotechs called it a psychosomatic reaction. But since his mind was linked to the compuetrs that handled all the information on the planet, the Eperor knew what his monitors were reporting befor the doctors did.

They had reduced the gravity in his working and living sections of the palace to one-third normal, and forbade him from leaving these areas, except for the rare occasions of state when he was needed in the Great Assembly Hall or another public area. He acquiesced in this : the lighter gravity felt better and allowed him to be on his feet once again, free of the power chair’s clutches.

This day he was walking slowly, calmly, through a green forest of Earth. He strolled along a parklike path, admiring the lofty maples and birches, listening to the birds and small forest animals’ songs of life. He inhaled scents of pine and grass and sweet clean air. He felt the warm sun on his face and the faintest cool breeze. For a moment he considered how the trees would look in their autumnal reds and golds. But he shook his head.

No. There is enough autumn in my life. I’d rather be in springtime.

The Last Decision. Photo - Elena