Shares of U.S. steel, metals companies sink

Shares of U.S. steel, metals companies sink

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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Shares of steel and metals producers such as Century Aluminum (CENX.O) and U.S. Steel (X.N) fell sharply on Monday as weaker metals prices prompted investors to take profits on the recent market gains.

Century Aluminum shares fell 7.62 percent to $10.67, while AK Steel Holdings (AKS.N) dropped 7.3 percent to $19.18. U.S. Steel slipped 7.35 percent to $42.75 and Alcoa Inc (AA.N) dropped 6 percent to $12.47.

Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold (FCX.N), which reached a settlement with Congolese authorities to pay $16 million in fees and penalties under a visa settlement, saw its shares slump 6.17 percent to $59.72.

Analysts said the more pessimistic market sentiment that pushed the Standard & Poor's 500 index down 2.3 percent, coupled with the weaker metals prices, had prompted the selloff.

Copper futures prices in New York fell 2.6 percent to $2.76 a ton , while aluminum futures on the Comex were off 3 cents to 88 cents per pound.


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More Century Aluminum Co News
Shares of U.S. steel, metals companies sink
Century recalls 28 employees to Hawesville smelter
UPDATE 1-Century Aluminum takes $73 mln 2nd quarter charge
UPDATE 2-Century Aluminum divests bauxite, alumina stakes
UPDATE 1-Century Aluminum posts third qtly loss in row
Companies In This Article
Century Aluminum Co (CENX.O) Quote, Profile, Research
United States Steel Corporation (X.N) Quote, Profile, Research
AK Steel Holding Corporation (AKS.N) Quote, Profile, Research
Alcoa Inc. (AA.N) Quote, Profile, Research
Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (FCX.N) Quote,

Summary Quote Page

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Data Definitions

Symbol
The stock, mutual fund or option characters assigned by the exchange to represent the issue.
Company Name
The company name as registered with the listing exchange.
Last Sale Price
The price at which a stock last traded as reported by the exchange, delayed by 15 to 20 minutes. Quoted in dollars and cents.
Net Change
The difference in the current last sale price and the previous day's official closing price.
Percentage Change
That amount in percentage terms that the last sale price for the stock has changed from the previous trading day's official closing price.
Best Bid
The highest price currently being offered for a block of stock.
Best Ask
The lowest price currently being asked for a block of stock.
Today's High
The highest sales price the stock has achieved during the regular trading hours, the intra-day high.
Today's Low
The lowest sales price the stock has fallen to during the regular trading hours, the intra-day low.
Share Volume
The number of shares of the stock traded on the listing exchange during current trading hours. It does not include after hours volume.
Previous Close
The previous trading day's last reported trade price during official trading hours. This information is updated on our site at 3:30 AM each morning after the previous trading day.
52 Week High
The highest sales price the stock has achieved during the regular trading hours during the most recent 52 week period.
52 Week Low
The lowest sales price the stock has fallen to during the regular trading hours during the most recent 52 week period.
TSO
Total shares outstanding, as published with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Market Cap
The market capitalization; the price per share multiplied by the total number of shares outstanding; also interpreted as the market's total valuation of a public company at the moment of the last trade.
P/E Ratio
A statistic calculated by dividing the price of a stock by the reported actual earnings per share of the issuing firm (not the same as the projected P/E ratio); it is also called the "multiple".
Earnings Per Share
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Why Investors Care
Investors wish to see at a glance how the stock is trading during the day. The Summary Quote also provides detailed analysis data for an issue from a short list that can be maintained by the user.
Data Provider

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Summary Quote Page

About the Summary Quote Page
The Summary Page provides a means by which stocks may be quoted on a single page similar to the InfoQuotes, but by navigating through a symbol list in the quote specific navigation and data entry box. This list is user definable and may be added to and updated at any time. The quote data is provided to the user in a single column with the most important and frequently accessed information presented first. An intraday chart for the security along with volume data is also provided at the bottom of the display.
Data Definitions
Symbol
The stock, mutual fund or option characters assigned by the exchange to represent the issue.
Company Name
The company name as registered with the listing exchange.
Last Sale Price
The price at which a stock last traded as reported by the exchange, delayed by 15 to 20 minutes. Quoted in dollars and cents.
Net Change
The difference in the current last sale price and the previous day's official closing price.
Percentage Change
That amount in percentage terms that the last sale price for the stock has changed from the previous trading day's official closing price.
Best Bid
The highest price currently being offered for a block of stock.
Best Ask
The lowest price currently being asked for a block of stock.
Today's High
The highest sales price the stock has achieved during the regular trading hours, the intra-day high.
Today's Low
The lowest sales price the stock has fallen to during the regular trading hours, the intra-day low.
Share Volume
The number of shares of the stock traded on the listing exchange during current trading hours. It does not include after hours volume.
Previous Close
The previous trading day's last reported trade price during official trading hours. This information is updated on our site at 3:30 AM each morning after the previous trading day.
52 Week High
The highest sales price the stock has achieved during the regular trading hours during the most recent 52 week period.
52 Week Low
The lowest sales price the stock has fallen to during the regular trading hours during the most recent 52 week period.
TSO
Total shares outstanding, as published with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Market Cap
The market capitalization; the price per share multiplied by the total number of shares outstanding; also interpreted as the market's total valuation of a public company at the moment of the last trade.
P/E Ratio
A statistic calculated by dividing the price of a stock by the reported actual earnings per share of the issuing firm (not the same as the projected P/E ratio); it is also called the "multiple".
Earnings Per Share
This value represents the portion of a company's profit allocated to each outstanding share of common stock. It is usually reported for the quarter and for the year.
Why Investors Care
Investors wish to see at a glance how the stock is trading during the day. The Summary Quote also provides detailed analysis data for an issue from a short list that can be maintained by the user.

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Shares

U.S. bank failure tally rises to 84 for 2009
Market News
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WASHINGTON, Aug 28 (Reuters) - Three more U.S. banks failed on Friday, bringing the total to 84 so far this year, as the industry continues to grapple with deteriorating loans on their books.

Regulators shuttered Affinity Bank of Ventura, California, Bradford Bank in Baltimore, and Mainstreet Bank of Forest Lake, Minnesota, which in total are expected to cost the government's deposit insurance fund about $446 million.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp on Thursday reported that the insurance fund's balance stood at $10.4 billion at the end of the second quarter. But the agency also noted that the figure was adjusted to account for $32 billion set aside for expected failures over the next year.

FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair said this week that bank failures will remain elevated as banks go through the painful process of recognizing loan losses and cleaning up balance sheets.

The total of 84 failures this year marks a sharp rise over the 25 last year, and the three failures in all of 2007.

She noted that the banking industry's performance is a lagging indicator and will continue to suffer even as the economy begins to improve.

The FDIC also reported this week that the number of institutions on its "problem" bank list grew to 416 at the end of the second quarter, from 305 the prior quarter. Problem banks are institutions whose regulatory rating has been downgraded due to issues related to liquidity, capital levels, or asset quality.

The agency's update on Thursday on the health of the banking industry came a day after the FDIC approved new rules on private equity investment in troubled banks, softening an initial proposal that critics had warned could scare away badly needed capital. (Reporting by Karey Wutkowski and Christopher Doering; editing by Carol Bishopric)

HK stocks drop

Fears of shrinking bank lending hit China shares; HK stocks drop

Bad Credit

Bad Credit Auto Loan Refinance - Should You Refinance With Bad Credit?

Should you refinance with bad credit? Yes, but only if you can get a savings with a lower rate or need a more manageable monthly payment. Luckily, with so many lenders competing for your business, you can often find good rates and terms for bad credit auto refinance loans.

Has Your Credit Score Improved?

If your credit score has improved since you originally financed your auto loan, then you probably qualify for better rates. Fortunately, time is your chief ally when it comes to seeing your credit score improve. Two years after a negative event, like a bankruptcy or foreclosure, and it ceases to have a significant impact on your score.

Improvements in your income, investments, and cash reserves can also increase your score. Reductions in your overall debt levels will also boost your score.

Have You Compared Auto Loan Rates Recently?

The only way to see if you can get a better deal on your auto loan is to compare loan quotes. In a few minutes you can have multiple offers from broker sites. You can also research rates lender by lender.

Regardless of which strategy you choose, request quotes without giving access to your credit report. Otherwise, you will see a dip in your score due to multiple credit inquires. When requesting loan estimates, makes sure you specify that you want a refi loan.

Will You See A Savings Or Benefit?

Even with a really good loan offer, you need to make sure you will see a savings from refinancing. Take your best loan offer and calculate the cost of both interest and fees. Compare that to the remaining interest due on your auto loan.

If you have a short amount of time left, you may find that even with lower rates, you won't see a savings. However, there are times when you may still choose to refinance. For instance, you can lower your monthly payment by extending your loan term. You may also choose to refinance after a divorce in order to keep the car in your name.

Refinancing a car loan is a decision that should be based on good information. Check loan offers and compare it to your current loan. Then you can decide what is your best option.

DIRECT TV SATELLITE

DIRECT TV SATELLITE - SAVING MARRIAGES, SAVING PROGRAMS

You will be amazed to learn that television is one of the leading causes of household quarrels in America. Either the husband is so captured by a NFL game that leads the wife to bother him about work around the house, or the wife is so infatuated with Brad Pitt that she grapples with the husband for the remote. These are but a few of the cases when television causes trouble for the marriage, and when fact proves stranger than fiction.

Therefore, one MAY reason that if there is a way to come to peace with seemingly conflicting television habits, then it can also be a way to come to peace with marital differences.

DirecTV DVR by Tivo is a revolutionary product . On one hand, you have the excellent digital quality and a splendid abundance of channels offered by DirecTV, the leader in satellite television broadcasting. On the other, you have Tivo, the invention that actually changed the face of television. DirecTV DVR by Tivo , being the best thing that has ever happened to our television enjoyment, can also be more efficient than most marriage counselors in the land.

DirecTV DVR by Tivo, with its dual tuners, can record two shows at the same time. It could also allow you to watch one live feed, while recording the other. At home, the spouses don't have to argue between watching Tom Cruise or the Hawaiian Tropic girls. She can enjoy her show on her time, and he can enjoy his when he pleases as well..

DirecTV DVR by Tivo also promises 35 hours of storage capacity.That means that the family can take a two week road trip to visit the in-laws and nobody will miss a single episode of their favorite TV show. Everything they want to watch will be waiting safely for their return. .

Additionally, DirecTV DVR by Tivo allows you to pause a live feed, something considered impossible in the past. That means that he can freeze the game while he pays for the pizza, or she can put her show on hold while helping herself to a snack in the kitchen. Nothing has to be missed! The husband can simply freeze an NFL game to comply with the wife’s wishes that he tends to their six-month old baby .

If he knows she goes gaga over the mere sight of Ashton Kutcher, he could simply program the DirecTV DVR by Tivo to lookup the schedules by the actor’s name and the box would automatically record all the shows where that actor appears. What could be more considerate than that?

Lastly, our happy couple could simply celebrate a relaxing evening together while enjoying the crystal clear quality of digital broadcast as enhanced by the DirecTV DVR by Tivo. They could laugh and cry together, while savoring each other’s company with a loving embrace. As they say, the less we talk, the less we quarrel!

Business Partners

Business Partners & Marital Partners Will The Marriage Survive

In the last article, we concluded by saying that keeping your business and personal relationships separate is very important to the survival of both your business and your marriage. In this article we will talk about how to achieve this goal.

One of the most important ways to accomplish this is to set up distinct business hours, and when they are over, don't discuss business, concentrate on your relationship. It is difficult, but make a concentrated effort at it. Confine your business discussions to business hours or set aside a specific time to discuss the business.

For example, take the last half hour of the day, and discuss the business day; any suggestions you have, what was accomplished, what needs to be done tomorrow, during the week, how are the monthly goals you set at the beginning of the month progressing. Remember to couch any criticisms or suggestions in a positive vein. Think of how you felt in the work situation and how supervisors dealt with you when making suggestions. Negatives only cause resentment. They do in the corporate arena, and even more so, when dealing with a spouse you must live with 24 hours a day. Be sure to set aside time for each other-go for walks, out to dinner, or just for a drive with your spouse. Do not discuss business.

You should have outside activities that are not business related. If not, join a group that interests you. It will allow you to meet with others who are not connected to your business. Running a home-based business can be very lonely; getting away from the home, and having outside interests is imperative.

In addition to the problems inherent to couples running a business, starting a home-based business presents its own set of problems and questions. Before you start be sure to ask yourself the following:

1. Are you self-motivated? Organized? Able to prioritize your work? You will no longer have a supervisor or a boss to tell you what to do. You will be the decision maker. You will have to motivate yourself. One way to accomplish this is to use a To Do List and stick to it. In addition, set definitive business hours, and stick to them.

2. Will you be able to deal with the isolation? You will no longer meet people in the halls, congregate around the coffee pot, or take a break to talk with your co-workers. To combat the loneliness and isolation be sure to join groups that meet outside the home, or schedule luncheons with friends and associates.

3. Write up a business plan. Be sure the business is something that interests you. You might want to start on a part-time basis, and grow from there. Research the business carefully, make sure there is a market, and the competition is not overwhelming.

4. Be sure you have at least six months living expenses set aside. This will give you the time to work through the marketing strategy outlined in your business plan, and avoid bad marketing practices. In addition, if changes need to be made, you can do so, without monetary concerns becoming an issue.

5. Be sure your office space is located in a separate room or area of your home that offers the least distractions. A separate office is best, especially if you are meeting with clients. Remember to always present a professional appearance.

6. When will you do your regular household chores? Make up a schedule of when you will deal with them. Some individuals find getting chores done before the start of the work day is best. At the end of the day, close your office door and then deal with the remaining household items that need to be handled. Time management will be a very important factor in running a home-based business.

7. For husband and wife teams, it becomes imperative to have some form of disability insurance for each other. Remember, even though your partner may be your husband or wife, he or she is still your business partner. An accident or illness to one of you can severely impact the operation of the business.

A business is only as good as you and your partner make it. It takes a lot of dedication, time and energy to run a business, whether it is home-based or not. It can be a very rewarding experience. Think carefully, and ask yourself a lot of self-searching questions before you begin.

Sweet Home

Home Sweet Home

Today's home owners are more and more willing to invest in purchasing outdoor lighting items, since they can be used to improve the general look of a house as well as incorporate the outdoor with the indoor living space. Improving the external house design is not a matter of luxury anymore, as weather conditions and contemporary house designs permit people to experience the outdoors again as it being an important part of their home.

Outdoor house designers support that contemporary decks, patios and yards have as much thought put into their décor and ambiance as the house itself. Thus, selecting the right type of lighting should be part of improving the living quality of a person as well as enhancing the retail value of the house itself. So, it is extremely important now to choose the right external lamps and place them adequately in a porch or garden area.

However, there is a tip, no home owner should forget when purchasing outdoor lamps. Since usually the area that needs to be lightened is much bigger than that of a indoor house room, and because walls do not exist to reflect the beams of light and keep it contained into a single room, choosing the appropriate fixture is as important as purchasing the right style of lamp. Finding the correct size of an external lamp though, can be rather tricky. The most common mistake made is to purchase fixtures that are too small for the selected external house area. For that reason it is advised to select fixtures that are suitable for the area you wish to light and are sized proportionately in order to best serve their lighting purpose. If one is considering of choosing a lamp for the outdoor area of a house door, for example, it is wise to use a fixture that is based on the height of that specific door. Single lanterns should be about 1/3 of the door's height, while a pair of lanterns can be ¼ of the height of the door.

Two general rules one has to follow when selecting lamps for outdoor use, is to mount the lamps at eye level or slightly higher and be sure that the fixtures selected are large enough to be noticed from a distance. Since, today's outdoor lighting incorporates much more than just safety and security concerns, the overall look and décor of a house depends on the proper external lamps selection. Walk through your favorite neighborhood and you will discover plenty of good ideas of outdoor lighting. Avoid purchasing the wrong size lamps just because they are on sale. It is much wiser to consider the particular needs of your house and outdoor activities, as well as your house "look and feel" effect. Illuminating the wrong area or even your neighbor's garage door is not an option. Ask for experts' advice if you want to be on the safe side, but if your budget does not allow you these types of services, your local outdoor lighting salesman will be more than willing to visit your premises and offer you the best deal for your outdoor space. Search the offered designs, compare prices and browse other people's homes and the final effect will be the one you intended.

Network Marketing

Business Building Tool in Network Marketing

Ever wonder why one person succeeds and another fails in MLM? Or why someone has massive success in a company, then leaves, goes someplace else, and never, ever again duplicates that success? Or why some people spend 5, 10, even 20 years in network marketing with NO success...

Yet they never quit!

Or how an industry that does so many things so wrong can still be so popular ...

This Tool Can Change Your Life

On December 12, 2004, our team released the ebook "Success In 10 Steps", the story of what we have learned from 26 years in MLM.

The feedback has been astonishing.

People say, "I could have written that book!

That was my story.

Why did you steal my story? How could you know exactly what I went through?"

Back in 1991, my mentor was making full-time income from MLM.

He retired from that company and actually joined over 100 network marketing companies in the next few years, to figure out how this industry really works: the good, the bad, the ugly.

Here's what he did:
1. Got on dozens of company conference calls
2. Organized & categorized companies, products, compensation plans, distributor kits, & marketing materials to compare each company with all the others
3. Studied their business models, to understand what kind of behavior certain business models drove
4. Studied how different "upline gurus" trained (or did not train) their people

This process answered all the mysteries. It also revealed some valuable, valuable secrets about network marketing.

Example #1:

The hard-driving, closing salesperson is about 8% of the population. And those 8% have convinced the other 92% that the 8% are right and the 92% are wrong.

How did they do that?

Because that is what THEY do. It works for them, so they have total confidence they are right, and when you feel their confidence, you KNOW they must be right, so you do what they tell you.

92% of the world's population is sales-resistant.

They do not like to be sold, and they do not want to become that pushy, aggressive salesperson nobody likes. Yet when they join MLM, some upline leader tells them,

"Make a list of your friends and family. Call them up. Get 'em into the business. You need to hear 100 'No's for every 'Yes'.

Guess what?

It still only works for the 8%.

If you let them mesmerize you, you can wander aimlessly in the "failure" desert for years...

Maybe forever.

The Choice Is Yours

You can't become something you hate in order to be successful. This model works for the 8% who are real salespeople.

It's a disaster for the rest of us...

A very bad business model.

Example #2:

Every person on the planet has to be educated in the skills of what they're doing.

Whether you're a doctor, carpenter, plumber, ditch digger ... whatever you are... You've got to be taught the skills of that business.

And what "Success In 10 Steps" does for people is, it gets them to realize,

It's not your fault! The people teaching you didn't know any better.

They weren't bad people. They weren't lying to you intentionally. They just didn't know any other way to do the business.

Do you think you can wake up one morning and say, "I'm going to be a doctor!"

And you go down and join a company, get a distributor kit for 50 bucks, and you're a doctor?

Of course not. That's ludicrous.

How about a carpenter?

No way. You have to learn pitches and square and level and plumb.

You have to be taught the skills. Yet people get in network marketing, and they're told,

"Call your friends & family." It's the biggest fallacy in the industry.

Network marketing is not a sales business.

It's a teaching & mentoring business.

When you build people, people will build your business. Those upline guru leaders will tell you,

"Well, you didn't make enough phone calls. You're a loser. If it's to be, it's up to me." Have you heard all that stuff?

I bet you believed it, too, haven't you?

Why This Ebook Is Such a Hot Tool For Building Your Business

So the ebook really opens people's eyes to the fact that they've been lied to. You must do your business with people who WANT to be in business with you. You have to sell product to people who LOVE the product and want to buy it. That only comes through target marketing.

We learned early-on about targeted marketing.

Only talk to people who have raised their hand and want what you have.

Well, guess what? EVERY person who downloads "Success In 10 Steps" is trying to figure out why MLM is not working for them. When you call them up, they could be in a company already. They could be working the business a year or 2 or 5, 7, 10 years. But why would they download that ebook?

They're divulging some critical information. The business is not working for them.

They want to figure out what the problem is. And they're looking to you for help. THAT is the basis of a long-term relationship, and THAT is the effect you can create with "Success In 10 Steps."

Modern Business Strategies and

ABSTRACT
This paper is designed for business leaders who must make critical decisions regarding the development of the next generation of Web-based enterprise application systems, e commerce products and Web-based services targeted at the business sector.
The key point is that building and maintaining an effective support infrastructure for business processes has become a technologically demanding task with relatively high costs attached. More importantly, the capability of the firm, to rapidly bring products to market, is significantly inhibited. On the other hand, embedding robust process oriented components within Web-based applications will speed the time-to-market and lower the cost of ownership. Unless developing process support engines for the Web is a core capability of your company, embedding a product architect ed for that environment will
deliver a much higher return on investment than in-house development, while also
ensuring that products and services are brought to market more quickly and effectively.
INTRODUCTION
In the emerging era of the Web, companies that don’t have a Web-based strategy—don’t
have a strategy. Processes and value chains are evolving rapidly as companies outsource
non-core activities and capabilities, leading to more sophisticated markets and a wider
distribution of economic activity—i.e. the way we do business is undergoing a period of
rapid change. It doesn’t matter what industry you operate within, transformation is
happening ever more quickly as technology advances, new entrants and new forms of
business partnership overturn the rules of the game.
The effect of all this change is that the processes of the business are under threat. Further,
the technology systems that support these processes require close scrutiny—most
architectures are too rigid to handle the degree of change. Effective process support
(workflow support) is a critical element for mission critical applications that need to handle
rapid change. The problem is that traditional workflow products struggle to deliver effective
solutions when addressing the broader value chain and the Web. Secondly, building and
supporting such an environment is costly and fraught with unforeseen problems and
issues. On the other hand, a new breed of process support technology is emerging that has
dramatic implications for business and technology strategies.
PROCESS AUTOMATION IN THE 21ST CENTURY
We all now know that the Web is the channel of the future. Moreover, firms are looking to
use these same Web-based technologies to coordinate activities internally and help staff
share knowledge, lowering costs while improving efficiency and effectiveness. But ecommerce
is not just a buy-side or sell-side package of software that is tacked onto
existing systems. Well-run firms use the Web to link their business processes directly—
integrating partners directly into supply of products and services to customers.
MODERN BUSINESS INTEGRATION
Organizations are starting to realize they can interact with customers, partners and
suppliers, exchanging and leveraging knowledge in addition to undertaking transactions.
Facilities that were once central to the business are now outsourced.
During the 80s and 90s manufacturing industry was evolving as margins were squeezed.
For example, take Ford Motor Company. In the beginning they manufactured everything.
Now the story is different—“The manufacture of cars will be a declining part of Ford's
EXCELLENCE IN PRACTICE VOLUME III
2
business … (Ford) will concentrate in future on design, branding, marketing sales and
service operations.”1
Like all modern carmakers, Ford has aggressively outsourced the supply of entire subsystems—
from engines and suspension assemblies to car interiors. And those components
are getting bigger—now a sunroof introduced at the time of manufacture is the whole roof
of the vehicle. In such situations, suppliers application systems are automatically kept
abreast of requirements (via EDI).
But now service businesses (now representing 80 percent of US employment) are exploring
similar concepts. Processes, once perceived as internal to the company, must now span
the entire value chain.2 Effective service providers integrate their operations directly into
the processes of their customers.
Before the Web, organizations that worked closely together used EDI and fixed computerto-
computer links. In technology terms, these systems were hard-wired and difficult to
modify. But with the emergence of the Web, expectations have changed. Customers now
want to track the status of orders for themselves, gain privileged access to tailored content,
or interact with their personal customer representatives directly.
Rather than hiding problems behind organizational boundaries, covering over the
inefficiencies of their processes, savvy firms are learning to ‘live within glass boxes’—
refining, then exposing their processes, and selling that as a benefit to their customers.
FedEx and Dell are probably the most widely recognized exponents of this trend. By
cutting down the number of customer queries that are handled by humans, these
companies have saved significantly on their costs. In the case of Dell, around 20,000
customers check the status of orders every week, saving $8 from Dell’s administrative
costs every time. Moreover, when customers are able to check the status of their order or
package, they are less likely to get irate leading to increases in overall customer
satisfaction.
At Dell, they outsource all the core R&D and component production facilities. Dell
concentrates its own resources on developing a deep understanding of the customer and
their requirements, maintaining intimate trading relationships with its customers and
partners. Suppliers provide the largest part of the investment and expertise needed to
support the broad array of customer requirements. To create a seamless product and
service mix for their wide array of customers, Dell has needed to integrate its processes
with those of its suppliers.
Based on these sorts of intimate trading relationships, modern business partnerships are
eradicating duplication, irrelevant hand-offs and rework, ensuring that processes run
smoothly and effectively. Pioneering work from companies like Levi’s have shown the
way—LeviLink Services manage the inventory of their customers directly, reducing
replenishment time from 14 to three days and cutting delivery time from nine days to
three.
When looking at the broader business picture, it is clear that supply chains are constantly
improving the processes that underpin the delivery of products and services. This is part of
a natural trend—when all other things are equal companies will always seek the lowest
cost option.
Quinn puts it like this: “…using sophisticated outsourcing and new electronic
communications, modeling and monitoring techniques, companies can decrease their
innovation cycle times and costs by 60 percent to 90 percent, decrease their investments
and risks by equal amounts, and enhance the value of their innovations by orders of
magnitude.” 3
1 Financial Times August 4th, 1999.
2 For an in-depth analysis of the current state of outsourcing see Strategic
Outsourcing: Leveraging Knowledge Capabilities by James Brian Quinn, Sloan
Management Review, Summer 99.
3 “Strategic Outsourcing: Leveraging Knowledge Capabilities” Sloan Management
Review, Summer 99.
MODERN BUSINESS STRATEGIES AND PROCESS SUPPORT
3
Using the Web as the medium of interaction is only encouraging a more rapid evolution of
the underlying strategies and business processes—right across the value chain. And to
make matters worse, with the increasing bandwidth and geographic distribution of
partners, it is even more difficult to know where those applications and users will reside—
in-house, within the supplier or as part of a managed application service.
From a strategy and competitive perspective, the often-quoted example of Amazon.com,
the online bookstore, demonstrates how a single organization can dramatically change the
rules of the game. In this case, Amazon started selling books online, taking on the
established high-street booksellers. Responding to this challenge, virtually all other book
retailers have now set up similar operations. For those businesses, they had to radically
alter their business processes in a very short time in order to remain competitive.
When you are subject to ‘Internet Time’ it is agility and responsiveness that makes the
difference. Those that can capture the moment, developing revolutionary products or
services, delivering them via the Web, can quickly generate massive competitive advantage.
Moreover, with Web-based services and offerings, first mover advantages are even more
critical than before.4
IMPACT ON PROCESSES
These trends imply support for a constantly evolving set of processes—processes that exist
between (rather than within) companies. In turn, this suggests that firms must develop a
systems infrastructure that can evolve along with these processes. Indeed, some
companies have set out with the express intention of supporting constant evolution. For
example, on average, the Bank of Scotland changes its processing rules every day.5
But we must also keep in mind that companies cannot afford to completely redevelop their
applications—all established businesses have made major investments in systems
(collectively estimated at over a trillion dollars in the US alone). Companies cannot just
throw them away.
The problem is that virtually all of the applications developed over the last 10 years were
designed to optimize single functions. Take for example the production planning
applications of the 80s and early 90s. They see everything from the perspective of the
transaction. Now we want these same systems to integrate into a broader framework of
consistent customer and supplier relationships—without rebuilding them, re-using the
systems capabilities.
The result is that 21st Century application systems not only need to support a broad array
of interactions between partners, but they must also integrate the structured applications
of the past. And the responsibility for administration and evolution of these systems now
lies in the hands of business analysts or systems administrators (rather than
programmers).
For the IT manager, looking to the future, the implication is that systems must be capable
of evolutionary change to reflect business processes, partnerships and trading practices of
the day. The dividing line—between those relationships that are economically viable and
those that are not, is influenced by the extent to which application systems permit
dynamic reconfiguration (to reflect the business situation and opportunity). In other words,
the infrastructure must enable process definitions that have the capability to grow and
change, re-using existing applications and leveraging existing and new components. To
ignore these principles will ensure that the business will continue to spend more than it
need on systems and technology.
TRADITIONAL APPROACHES STRUGGLE
When it comes down to it, many applications rely on their ability to support users through
a series of screens as they undertake their work, coordinating their actions with the needs
of the customer or supplier. In the early days, we were told that workflow was the process
4 The relative market share of Coca-Cola and Pepsi is still approximately the same
after 50 years.

4
support technology that delivered work to people. Others saw it as a mechanism to thread
applications together, integrating legacy systems into the modern desktop.
In-house developers often feel they can produce such applications themselves without
reference to third party process support environments, citing greater control over code and
tighter integration. However, the perception of lower development costs is misplaced. When
assessing the cost of ownership of such systems over their full life cycle, it soon becomes
clear that development costs are but a small part. It is just a question of perception—
developers would not dream of writing their own database management system, yet 15
years ago it was quite common.
Until now, supporting processes that crossed organizational boundaries was extremely
difficult. Traditional workflow environments concentrated on the internal business
process—routing work from one user to the next. Users and their roles were regarded as
relatively static (changing little), with processes imposed on workers in order to ensure that
appropriate controls were maintained. The result was an ever more complex web of
procedures that tried to cater for every eventuality and in the end, a high cost of
ownership.
But when we consider the needs of the modern enterprise, with its outsourced processes
and complex partnerships, traditional models of internal control delivered via workflow are
no longer relevant. The processes evolve too quickly. Furthermore, when it comes to
linking those evolving applications across organizational boundaries, all of the established
approaches labored.
Developers had to reference information on customers and partners from third party
applications, building in delays to represent tasks that they must undertake along with
associated timers and escalation procedures. Organizations that went down this route paid
the price in terms of development costs and time to market.
Modern approaches allow applications to ‘wrap’ the sources of routing information,
resolving the correct participant from the business case and sending the work to them,
wherever they may be. This approach leverages the capabilities of Directory Servers such
as Microsoft Active Directory in Windows 2000 and the Lightweight Directory Access
Protocol (LDAP). Now it is possible to send the work item to the customer directly by email,
providing a unique link for them to login to the server and carry out the next step in the
process.
But the problems do not end there—over the last few years we have seen a plethora of
document management systems emerge. Documents are the focus for most knowledge
workers and their management has become increasingly important. Yet when we
distribute the process across companies or divisions, with knowledge workers forming a
project team, the management of documents is critical. Moreover, these documents are
key aspects of the processes that bind the team together.
Spreading that team across a Web-based infrastructure provides a low cost mechanism to
keep participants informed of required actions. But it is not always a simple exercise to
resolve the email address and provide that participant with appropriate access
permissions. Knowledge workers produce, organize, collect and distribute documents in
support of their projects. And access to these documents is governed by business rules—
the policies, standards, responsibilities and authorities of the participants. These business
rules exist at all levels and they are continually changing.
Just consider for a minute the implications of this trend toward greater virtualization—
where companies come together as partners in response to one opportunity, yet in other
sectors they are fierce competitors. Such security issues can have far reaching implications
on the construction of applications.
When properly designed and constructed for the Web, modern workflow systems can add
significant value and lower the cost of ownership for applications. From an infrastructure
point of view, the workflow system must have the capability to re-use what is already
available, rather than forcing organizations to maintain yet further layers of security and
systems complexity.
The key to realizing the value delivered by the modern workflow environment is in speeding
time to market. Applications and products are developed far more cheaply and quickly
than would otherwise be the case.
MODERN BUSINESS STRATEGIES AND PROCESS SUPPORT
5
APPLICATIONS DELIVER VALUE
Process support (workflow) itself does not make something possible that wasn’t possible
before. In the final analysis, firms can always program applications from scratch. What
workflow delivers is the ability to easily thread together those applications, supporting the
process as it integrates users and other systems.
However, the majority of ‘old-style’ workflow systems place a heavy onus on the developer
to write suitable programs to support interaction with other system. It is here that
established workflow approaches show their lack of sophistication. The amount of effort
required to integrate a third party application used to make up as much as 80 percent of
the overall project. However that must be balanced with the realization that, on average, a
system using a modern process support engine will deliver a given set of functionality in
about 50 percent of the time taken to develop the equivalent system from scratch.
In a study we carried out for a major international bank6 the average life cycle costs on the
introduction of complex applications that utilized workflow were as follows (not including
hardware):
ITT & Selection 2-3 percent
Software Purchase 8 percent
Architecture & Design 4-5 percent
Process Development 15 percent
Application Integration 40 percent
Lifecycle Support 30 percent
These figures represent the previous generation of workflow management products.
The modern approach is to develop interface adapters that allow the workflow system to
hide the complexity of the underlying systems, encapsulating and wrapping the
application while allowing the firm to leverage its existing investments.
The key here is to separate the functionality of the applications from the processes that use
them. When the process is buried deep in application code (when built from scratch) it is
particularly inaccessible and difficult to change. As a result, the cost of ownership is high.
If, on the other hand, the process is maintained independently of the core functionality of
the application, the cost of ownership is considerably lower. Furthermore, with the
interface adapter approach the company can insulate itself from individual application
suppliers. Embedding the process information into the application itself (such as that in
SAP) only ensures your continued reliance on that product.
Moreover, if the system involves interaction with participants outside of the firm, it is much
harder to realistically define their involvement. And what ever is defined, will usually
require modification at a later date. Processes embedded within application systems inhibit
the ability of the firm to adapt its offerings in the light of changing business circumstances
and the actions of competitors.
Another aspect of corporate agility is the ability to quickly tune the corporate offering to the
needs of the specific customer—mass customization. Again, modern workflow systems can
offer superior support in this area. Sometimes referred to as Case Handling Systems, the
best approach here is to develop fragments of business process with the relevant
application functionality attached. These fragments are then combined on the fly, as
required, to suit the needs of each customer. Rather than having to compose ever more
complex end-to-end offerings, the firm can leave it to the knowledge worker (or customer)
to choose those elements that are most appropriate, combining the process fragments into
a cohesive whole. This approach, selecting fragments of process to make up the whole,
further lowers the cost of ownership.
6 Carried out in 1997 based on the evaluation of 8 major workflow projects.
Products used involved fixed integration links.
EXCELLENCE IN PRACTICE VOLUME III
6
These are agility and speed to market issues. In the world of supply chains and networked
partners, or supporting customers via the Web, speed of adaptation is the critical success
factor. Companies are looking for lighter solutions, where they bypass the heavy
integration effort required in traditional workflow approaches. By contrast, modern
workflow systems, designed for the Web, support the company in adopting an agile stance
in the market.
STRATEGIC CHOICE—BUILD OR BUY?
For firms developing applications, whether they are Independent Software Vendors (ISVs)
or large end-users, there are several issues to consider here—developing a proprietary
workflow environment will have significant implications for the business, its development
and marketing strategies. The key questions are these:
· Would you expect to build a proprietary database or operating system? How
about an application server? Most likely not, so why should an infrastructure
element such as a process support engine be any different?
· Do you want to maintain a proprietary workflow development effort when others
are reaping the benefits of quick market entry?
· Can you commit resources over the long term to handle changes in operating
system platforms and databases?
· What are the implications of project overruns and the lost market opportunities
that relate to them?
· What commitment of discretionary resources will have the biggest impact on your
ability to generate revenue and market share?
For software engineers there is always the temptation to try and build a solution from
scratch, preferring to rely on their own skills than those of others (the ‘Not Invented Here
Syndrome’). They often do not appreciate the benefits of running with best of breed
products and integrating the desired functionality into their own applications.
Large end-users have known for a long time that they are better leaving this sort of
development work to others, preferring to buy-in infrastructure technologies and integrate
them with their existing applications. Of course there are exceptions—a bank in the UK
decided to develop its own workflow systems to support the wide variety of applications
that existed. However, user departments found their systems were difficult to change and
adapt—changes to an individual standard letter were costing as much as $6,000. The
Bank spent several million dollars discovering the pitfalls of homegrown process support
engines before finally selling the technology off to a specialist support organization.
Quotable evidence from vendors is hard to come by (since firms do not readily share their
experiences in this area). During our research for this paper we spoke with the CEO of one
vendor that initially thought it would develop its own process support solution. However,
on further analysis the management felt that, overall, this was a risky approach with
significant impact on their time to market.
Indeed, the development team had initially estimated that they would take 18 months to
deliver the base functionality. On further investigation it was realized that this approach
would deliver minimal process capabilities and would lack graphical process modeling
tools (instead being table driven). Management felt they would need 2-3 years to bring a
process-enabled product to market.
Secondly, they were concerned that an in-house development implied other, less easily
quantifiable risks. Specifications of required functionality is less likely to be complete when
those writing the specs have little experience of process support. When implementing the
software the developers would inevitably take short cuts that would allow them to get to a
solution more quickly. But this would be at the expense of a more general solution—one
that was applicable in a wider variety of situations. With a proprietary approach, they also
ran the risk of taking their application set up a dead-end road, while customers and
industry passed them by. In the end, they went for an externally developed product. Beta
test software was available within 6 months and 2 months later they had their product in
the market—i.e. the use of a robust workflow product saved at least 50 percent on the time
to market. Moreover, when they factored in the additional functionality they received (but
had not foreseen), management were pleased with their initially contentious decision.
So maintaining independence is an expensive luxury. Those ISVs that have developed
proprietary workflow systems are now generally seeking to replace them with industry
standard, best of breed solutions.
MODERN BUSINESS STRATEGIES AND PROCESS SUPPORT
7
They have discovered that it is more difficult to build a workflow system designed for the
Web than might initially appear to be the case. Infrastructure products are difficult to
engineer well and require many man-years to develop and refine—these technologies are
not simple. Rather than committing their scarce development resources to their own
applications, firms spent inordinate amounts of time responding to the rapidly changing
technology infrastructure requirements of the Web, or endlessly customizing applications
for clients.
Those ISVs that did work with leading products found that as the workflow vendors
developed new functionality, supported new platforms or added new interfaces (adapters),
then their applications benefited from the increased flexibility. They found that workflow
functionality itself did not provide competitive advantage. It was the application of workflow
to support the processes of their own niche markets that provided the differentiation.
More importantly, from a marketing stance, these ISVs were able to point to their use of
the best-of-breed solutions to meet evolving customers’ requirements. They had realized
that developing effective process support engines takes time and usually, several iterations
of product. In that intervening period the market could easily move on to settle on other
solutions. In the world of rapid prototypes and evolving needs, it has become increasingly
important to enable dynamic configuration in the field, tuning the application to the
existing systems infrastructure.
CONCLUSION
The selection of an appropriate architecture to underpin technology development projects
is crucial to long term profitability and viability of the firm. In this Internet age, it is just not
possible for companies to develop their own process support infrastructure and still
competitively bring products to market. Strategy must incorporate an assessment of
emerging process support technologies and the identification of the ways in which they
inform and guide choices in the 21st Century business environment. For most businesses
that means working with partners and suppliers in delivery of the firms products and/or
services.
When assessing products one must keep in mind the location of the process support
engine (server) and the needs of application developers for the user interface. Essential
features to look for in the server include:
· Routing—establishing an effective outsourcing capability implies the ability to
route work to employees, customers and partners. Mechanisms are required that
inform participants of required actions—i.e. an email notification facility is useful.
· Flexibility—the need to easily adapt processes via a graphical modeling interface
is clear. But the requirement is greater than that. Systems should also handle
dynamic binding of process fragments on the fly, allowing participants to re-use
existing functions and, where authorized, build up new functionality.
· Adapter Interfaces—linking in popular document management and directory
server environments, leveraging existing systems while also binding with
emerging technologies such as LDAP and Active Directory. Integration with
current application systems is also a key pinch point—effective adapters will lower
the cost of ownership in the medium term.
· Scalability—both in terms of large systems but also small servers. The core
functionality must be capable of being distributed across multiple nodes while
also working well in small robust servers.
Of course, all of this functionality has to be ‘served up’ and delivered via Web-based
interfaces. The generic user interface is the ubiquitous Web-browser. Out of the box
functionality on the client-side is important as it enables firms to get up and running
quickly. But once established, the requirement changes to cover the adaptation and
evolution of that user interface. Indeed, some organizations will want to embed the
functionality in custom applications from the beginning. Here comprehensive Application
Programming Interfaces (APIs) and Software Development Kits (SDKs) are vital.
The effort required to build process support products, designed from the ground up for
Web-based infrastructures, should not be underestimated. But examples of these modern
architectures are starting to appear. Visionary workflow vendors have been making critical
investments in the development of these highly scaleable environments. The challenge, for
industry, is to realize the full potential that these products create—in terms of alternative
business models and speed to market.

How to Choose an Internet Marketing Company

-- Internet Marketing Determines Web Success --

Internet marketing is essential to the success of web sites. You can have a professional looking website but what good can it do if internet users are not able to find it when they need your products and services? That is where an internet marketing campaign comes into play.

"Your website has to magically appear before buyers when they need products and services."

Internet marketing is similar to designing packages- it does not require much experience to do a good job, just good knowledge and a keen eye for details. It is fundamentally important for a good internet marketer to constantly update himself weekly, if not monthly, of online markets. There are many ways to market your website .

-- Find A Competent and Reliable Internet Marketer --

Justify the costs of hiring an Internet Marketer - First of all, getting an internet marketer is not essential for every website. If your website is a business website or a website which you want to generate revenue from, it is good to seek a competent internet marketer to work on your website. The costs spent on your website for internet marketing has to be justified and often, they are justified by having more revenue and traffic to your web site.

Potential customers have to know that there are no guarrantees in SEO. Since everything is fundamentally based on search engines, SEO work is at the mercy of major search engines like Google. Many SEO companies tried to secure customers with guarrantees that they cannot fulfil, resulting in lawsuits or customers getting burned for hiring their SEO services.

-- What an Internet Marketer can offer --

In short, an Internet Marketer oversees that your website is built properly for visibility and promoted with the best dollar spent on your internet marketing campaign. It is no good having a website and not appearing in internet searches. Your website has to magically appear before buyers when they need products and services. Internet Marketers deploy search engine optimisation techniques to make your website visible and targetted to internet users.

Internet marketing requires research and analysis effort for individual website, followed by optimisation of website. Hundreds of hours may be spent on each website, depending on the size of your targetted market. You are essentially paying for the amount of effort involved, effectiveness of your internet marketer and daily sales tracking of your website.

How to choose an Internet Marketer- Internet marketing requires constant updating of skills and knowledge. One crude way to test if your internet marketer is a genuine or fake- Ask your internet marketer about recent events that happened in his field. If he cannot answer that, he must have a genuinely good reason to back himself as a good internet marketer! At times, it is easy to fall prey into the hands of bad internet marketing companies as happened in US and other parts of the world.

It is also important for you to feel comfortable with the amount of money you are spending on getting your site popular before committing yourself to a internet marketing campaign. Internet marketing campaigns typically last a few months and requires monthly tune-ups to your website. Include the costs of an internet marketing campaign when doing your company's advertising budget.

Simple Secrets for Net Marketing Success

Starting an internet based business when you have zero marketing experience is, to say the least, bewildering. I speak from personal experience as I started out with no specialized knowledge. I gradually weaved my way through what seemed like hundreds of sites selling just about everything and tried to resist buying every white elephant that was offered.

In the interim, I purchased my first package which turned out to be of little practical use. While I was doing that, I somehow went off in another direction and bought another “package deal”, hardly stopping to think that I did not have the requisite skill and knowledge to make this programme work either.

To cut a direct path through the dense forest, I’ll tell you now that I spent much more that I originally intended. Thankfully, I learnt a few lessons along the way.

1. Stay Focused

It is easy to become swamped and distracted trying to run several programmes at the same time, on zero experience. Leave diversification to the pros until you have garnered some experience and at least have some sales/profit (whichever you prefer) from your first venture. Needless to say, you will find yourself floundering around aimlessly, watching your money burn, having done no research before making a purchase. If you feel a burning urge to buy anyway, read the material again, do some research, sleep on it and then make a decision. Twenty-four hours delay won’t kill you and remember, one venture at a time.

2. Allow some “Opportunities” to pass you by

As God is my witness, I believe I became a member of at least fifty programmes that promised me anything from “massive profits” to “dramatic sales explosion, traffic, profit, great downlines”….you get the idea. Unless you have twenty-four dedicated hours to spend on your e-business each day, you cannot market all these web sites; and without the ability to create traffic to each site (and you get one for just about every programme you join), you are back where you started. …And, by the way, did I mention the sea of email from other members? That’s right, I didn’t get beyond the hype at the top of the sales page either. So then, limit yourself to a manageable number of traffic generation ventures. Better to pay for leads or hits even if on a tight budget than to try to do the impossible. Allow some opportunities to pass you by. If they are too good to be true, they are!

3. Free Information….A hidden gold mine

I have hundreds of pages of free information (yes, I have printed them out, this works for me) received when I bought something or subscribed to an ezine. I have two words of advice…Use them! They are valuable, even if you have to wade through tons of information for a few golden nuggets. If your business is to grow, you have to be learning constantly. If all else fails, you can always rebrand the books, give them away to your subscribers or make some money from them by reselling the information. I read somewhere that a great percentage of ebooks remain unread by those who receive them. What a shame! Do your best to use that information, it is there to help you get ahead.

4. Keep at it, Rome was not built in a day

If you (1) stay focused on one or two manageable ventures, (2) channel your marketing energies wisely (pay where you can and forget the freebies), (3) read the complimentary material you get and (4) develop some stick-to-itiveness, you will eventually begin to see rewards from your investment. You may never make millions, but you will at least derive a steady income from your efforts.