Signs of the Times

Graduates of Harvard University are increasingly heading into careers in finance, which is a bad thing. Statistics show that when Harvard grads flock to Wall Street (when times are good and careers there appear most attractive), the stock market falls the following year. In 2007, for instance, 47 per cent of Harvard grads went to Wall Street, reports the website Quartz. We all know what happened in 2008.

Austerity strikes again. Italy reported there were 1.65 million bicycles sold in the country in 2012, compared to 1.4 million cars. It's the first time bike sales have passed car sales in nearly 50 years in Italy, home to Ferrari and Lamborghini. "There is a silent revolution taking place on two wheels in our cities," said the country's transport undersecretary last week.

Culled from  Back to basics. Maclean's, 00249262, 6/17/2013, Vol. 126, Issue 23

Mobile Money Growing in Kenya

Kenya is fast becoming one of African's leading hi-tech countries. It has encouraged technological landmarks like the first African electric car, and it is exploring the most of modern technological gadgets especially mobile technology.

In recent times, there has been a considerable growth of mobile technology users since 2011 in Kenya, the country will be providing Visa card-swiping machines that are attached to mobile phones  to is small business owners.

According to a report from African Business, Kenyan card users grew by 20% to 6m from 2011 to 2012 and point-of-sale usage rose to 15% from 10%, with cash-machine visits making up the rest of the $6bn transacted last year and Visa's client banks increased 39% to 25.

Briefly On Business: Can You State Your Strategy Statement?

One major problem most business executives encounter is to briefly state their company's strategy statement. No company can operate successfully without having a clear statement about their strategy.

Researchers have identified three components of a successful strategy statement: objective, scope, and advantage.

Strategic Objective
This identifies the factors that drive the business over the next few years.

Strategic Scope
A firm's scope encompasses three dimensions: customer or offering, geographic location, and vertical integration.
Boundaries make it easy to identify which activities the firm should concentrate on and which they shouldn't.

Strategic Advantage
A strategic Advantage shows what makes the company unique and different in the market.

With a clear definition of your strategy, formulation and implementation become infinitely easier-the statement will be easier to communicate, and will empower your people to raise the performance of your organization.

-- hbr.org I Spring 2013 I Harvard Business Review OnPoint

Why Customer Care is Important

Some reasons why customer care is important  were highlighted in a survey carried out by the CBI (Confederation of British Industry) in 2009.  

Their main conclusions were:

•    Only 1 customer in 10 with grounds for complaint actually does so.

•    Those customers who experience problems tell between 8 and 15 people about the problems, whether or not they have formally complained.

•    9 out of 10 people who complain and have a problem that is not dealt with satisfactorily will never buy again from that supplier, or do so as a last resort.

•    9 out of 10 people who complain and have a problem that is dealt with satisfactorily will buy again from that supplier. In fact, they rate the supplier higher than if the problem never occurred in the first place

•    It costs 5 times more to attract a new customer than to keep an existing one.