Europe hit by economic slowdown

European economies contracted in the fourth quarter of last year, with some countries registering the worst figures in decades, official data shows. The eurozone economy shrank by 1.5% in the previous quarter and 1.2% on the year, Eurostat said. Germany’s economy shrank by 2.1% compared with the previous quarter, its worst quarterly performance since 1990. France shrank by 1.2%, initial data shows, while Italy registered a drop of 1.8%, the steepest drop since 1980. The data puts pressure on the European Central Bank to cut interest rates. In the whole of 2008, the economy in the 15 countries using the euro grew by 0.7% against the previous year, Eurostat said. Slovakia joined the eurozone on 1 January 2009, making it a 16-country club.    Germany is being punished for its heavy dependence on exports  Stephanie Flanders, BBC economics editor Stephanomics – the blog The Dutch economy shrank 0.9% during the quarter while the Austrian economy eased by 0.2%, the first drop in nearly eight years. In the same quarter, Portugal’s economy contracted by 2% on the previous quarter and 2.1% on the previous year. “These are huge contractions in Europe, the largest in living memory in most cases,” said Ken Wattret, economist at BNP Paribas. Companies have cut investment and exports have dropped as the global recession has taken hold. European companies hit by the slowdown include Air-France KLM, which reported a third-quarter operating loss on Friday, and Michelin, whose final-year profits fell as the crisis in the global car industry took its toll on the tyre maker. The decline in demand for cars was further highlighted by data released on Friday. The number of new cars sold in Europe in January was down 27% compared with January 2008, the European carmakers’ association, Acea, said. German gloom The slowdown was the most dramatic in Germany, which registered the biggest fall since German reunification in 1990.   German exporters have been hit hard by the slowdown The 2.1% contraction was the third consecutive quarterly drop in Europe’s biggest economy, according to the initial data from the Federal Statistics Office, worse than the 1.8% anticipated by analysts. Year-on-year, the German economy shrank by 1.6%, after growing by 1.4% in the third quarter. Many are now gloomy about the prospects for 2009. “This shows things went downhill sharply at the end of the year,” said Juergen Michels, an economist at Citigroup. “We’ll likely head down again the first and second quarter.” “This number makes it plain that we’re in a very serious recession – the most serious since World War Two. It’s no surprise that exports and investment have tumbled,” said Dirk Schumacher at Goldman Sachs, adding that the rise in inventories did not bode well for the first quarter. The situation “can hardly get worse,” said Carsten Brzeski at ING Financial Markets. “The German industrial production has run out of steam with companies working only off their backlogs. Foreign demand has plummeted over the last months,” he added. Last month, the German government forecast that the economy would shrink by 2.25% this year. France slowdown The slowdown in the French economy was slightly worse than analyst expectations of a 1.1% drop.   The French economy minister has warned of tough times ahead The French economy expanded slightly in the third quarter, by 0.1%, which means that France has not officially entered a recession – which is defined as two consecutive quarters of contraction. With consumer spending up by 0.5%, some analysts found cause for hope. “Consumer spending has held up quite well so you can say there is still money out there to be spent and French households are spending it,” Alexander Law, chief economist at Xerfi said. Companies also reduced their inventories in the fourth quarter, shaving 0.9% off gross domestic product, a fact that could bode well for industrial production in the first quarter. With warehouses emptier, companies may increase production. Many say that tough times lie ahead. “The first quarter will be difficult,” Christine Lagarde, France’s economy minister, said. “We will have a difficult year. “ The data increases pressure on the European Central Bank to cut rates. The bank cut the benchmark rate to 2% in January, the lowest in the bank’s 10-year history and kept the rate unchanged in February. Its next decision is due on 5 March.

Microsoft to launch retail chain

Microsoft cut 1,400 jobs in January Computer software giant Microsoft has announced plans to open its own stores, at a time when many other retailers are struggling in the economic downturn. The company plans to sell computers installed with Microsoft software and other products, Microsoft chief operating officer Kevin Turner said. The stores will also promote new operating system Windows 7 and updates of Windows Live and Windows Mobile. Ex-Wal-Mart executive David Porter will head the new retail division. The company’s rival Apple already has high-profile stores located around the world. ‘Tremendous opportunities’ “This is an exciting time with our strong line-up of upcoming product releases,” Mr Turner said in a statement. “There are tremendous opportunities ahead to create a world-class shopping experience for our customers.” Mr Porter, corporate vice-president of retail stores, will devise a strategy outlining when the stores would be launched and where they would be located. The decision comes after Microsoft launched a $300 million (£207m) advertising campaign last autumn in a bid to revive its Windows Vista operating system, which was widely criticized for being too slow. In January the company cut 1,400 jobs and said it would axe 3,600 more workers over the next 18 months.

Obama hails bail-out ‘milestone’

US President Barack Obama has welcomed Congress’s approval of his $787bn (£548bn) economic stimulus package.

He described it as a “historic step” and “major milestone on our road to recovery”, and is expected to sign the bill into law early next week.

The Senate approved the measure with just three Republican votes, hours after the House of Representatives backed it without Republican support.

Mr Obama has said the plan will “save or create more than 3.5 million jobs”.

Republicans argue the tax cuts are insufficient, and that the economy will be saddled with debt for years to come.

Members of both houses of Congress reached a deal over the content of the stimulus package on Wednesday.

This historic step won’t be the end of what we do  President Obama Battle exposes partisan rifts Send us your comments

The BBC’s Kevin Connolly in Washington says the first set-piece drama of the Obama era ended in a comfortable but not entirely unqualified victory for the president, who had hoped for more bipartisan support.

All 176 Republicans and seven Democrats voted against the revised package in the House. It was backed by 246 House Democrats.

The three rebel votes in the Senate were enough under Congress rules to stop the Republican Party using blocking tactics to delay the stimulus plan, and it passed 60-38.

‘Immediate investments’

In his weekly address, President Obama described his economy recovery package as “an ambitious plan at a time we badly need it”.

“This is a major milestone on our road to recovery, and I want to thank the members of Congress who came together in common purpose to make it happen,” he said.

“I will sign this legislation into law shortly, and we’ll begin making the immediate investments necessary to put people back to work doing the work America needs done.

“This historic step won’t be the end of what we do to turn our economy around, but the beginning.”

The approved version of the plan is split into 36% for tax cuts and 64% percent in spending and money for social programmes.

STIMULUS PACKAGE $240bn in tax breaks for individuals and businesses $140bn for health care $100bn for education $48bn for transportation projects Source: Associated Press

Running to more than 1,000 pages, it includes new road building, cash to pay police in hard-up cities, and tax breaks for consumers buying houses and cars.

The package also imposes new limits on cash bonuses and other incentive compensation for executives on Wall Street, which are much tougher than those proposed by the Obama administration last week.

The provision, inserted by Senate Democrats, targets senior executives at financial institutions receiving government bail-out funds.

The colossal package is all to be funded with borrowed money.

Republicans had insisted on larger tax cuts instead of big spending programmes.

Republican Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell said: “This isn’t Monopoly money. It’s real. It adds up, and it has to be paid back, by our children and by their children.”

The Democratic leader of the Senate, Harry Reid, praised the three Republicans who had voted for the bill and said it was the most important piece of legislation he had worked on.

“The country is in trouble and we’re so fortunate we were able to get it passed,” he said.

“It’s going to give this country a shot in the arm.”

Earlier, Mr Obama had said that in the longer term the government needed to rein in spending, and that “we are going to have to once again live within our means”.

The president told members of the Business Council in Washington that the package was “only the beginning of what I think all of you understand is going to be a long and difficult process of turning our economy around.”

Presidential pressure

“We have a once-in-a-generation chance to act boldly, and turn adversity into opportunity, and to use this crisis as a chance to transform our economy for the twenty-first century,” Mr Obama said.

Among the measures in the approved package is a “Buy American” clause that had caused alarm among US trading partners.

The EU and Canada said that provisions favouring American-produced materials for government projects risked provoking retaliatory protectionist measures.

In the face of this reaction, the clause was softened to a version requiring the government not to violate trade agreements.

Last week, the House had approved an earlier $825bn version of the package without any Republican support.

The Senate voted to approve a different $838bn version on Tuesday, with few Republicans opting to back it.

The two versions had to be reconciled in a joint House-Senate committee before facing final votes in the two chambers.

Aumentare il rank del tuo blog con i post senza l’opzione “nofollow”

Oggi voglio proporvi alcune tecniche per riuscire a ricevere qualche visita “gratuita” nel vostro blog, così come qualche backlinks e un aumento graduale del vostro ranking in Technorati.
Prima di tutto desidero sia chiaro che, commentare in blogs di altre persone o organizzazioni è qualcosa che deve essere fatto con maestria e principalemente con buon senso.
Se abusate della vostra posizione, dei vostri commenti, di spam, riuscirete soltanto a fare associare il vostro nome a qualcosa di negativo.
Ok, la prima cosa da fare, è creare una lista di blogs o siti, che frequentate abitualmente, con relativa regolarità, e dove spesso lasciate i vostri commenti. Fate una lista nei favoriti del vostro browser per esempio!
Se lasciate commenti che mostrano chi realmente siete, che vi intendete dell’argomento trattato e/o di ciò di cui si parla, ciò invogliera i lettori di quel blog a procurarvi, e cos’ riceverete più visite, con assoluta certezza.
E’ sempre importante il contenuto. Siate metodologici e precisi sul quanto o cosa volete dire, e non dimenticate di lasciare il vostro link personale, del blog o sito.
Inoltre, se il vostro commento e contenuto è effetivamente “insight”, potreste anche ricevere la visita del Blogger.

Come aumentare e creare più backlinks e ranking  in Technorati?
Perchè ciò accada, dobbiamo iniziare a commentare in blog che abbiano l’opzione “nofollow” rimossa dai commenti.
Questi blog sono generalmente referenziati come  “no NoFollow”, ” I follow”, o “DoFollow” o ancora come nel caso di TechNotizieNews “NoFollow Free”.
Questi bog normalmente usano un plug-in che rimuove l’attributo rel=”nofollow” che è inserito nei comments.
L’attributo “nofollow” dice a Google che il link è proprio questo, “nofollow”.
Alcuni dei blog che non utilizzano il sistema “nofollow” possono essere incontrati attraverso l’immagine che vedete in basso.

Inoltre, volendo, se avete dubbi, con una mossa magica, utilizzando l’opzione “visualizza sorgente pagina” del vostro browser, verificate che i links dei commenti non usani l’attributo “nofollow” o “external nofollow”.
Quando commentiamo un blog che utilizza l’attributo “I follow”, come TechNotizieNews, i links che inserirete funzionano come Backlinks.
Agli occhi di Google, questo blog (dove avrete lasciato il commento…) ha scritto un articolo o qualcosa che punta verso il vostro blog o sito.
Questo movimento, fatto regolarmente, farà aumentare il vostro Page Rank con certezza, e serve ancora come un voto di autorità (authority) in Technorati.
Approfitto per rimandaravi alla lettura di questo articolo “100 e più siti che usano link DoFollow nei comments e non solo” dove troverte una ricca lista di blog che usano l’attributo a noi funzionale e se lo desiderate lasciando un commento con il vostro link, con molto piacere inserirò anche il vostro.
Questa tecnica è molto semplice e nonostante dia un pò di lavoro, offre molti risultati positivi.
Non dimenticate di essere pragmatici e commentate con contenuti che realmente interessa e siate un valore aggiunto per chi legge.

Via | Technonotizie

Create a new Business from an old Idea

There are no original ideas left.

Sure, it’s kind of a cynical thought, but try and brainstorm a completely new concept, whether for a business, an advertising campaign or even a limerick, and you’ll start to think it’s true. It can sometimes be a stretch to come up with anything that hasn’t already been thought of.

It’s the reason someone once famously said there are only three original jokes and all the others have been derived from them. It’s why Hollywood remakes old movies. And the dearth of original ideas is why businesspeople sometimes pay other businesspeople to come up with a new concept for their own products or services.

 

Fortunately, if you’re an entrepreneur trying to come up with a new business model, you don’t have to be completely unique. For instance, you probably wouldn’t attempt to sell fingernail clippings in a bag, no matter how groundbreaking and unique the idea is. In fact, if you’re starting a business, you probably shouldn’t do something that’s never been done–after all, think of the learning curve your target market will have to tackle. But you would be well advised to take an old idea and make it new.

That’s exactly what David Friedberg did. It was around 2001, Friedberg figures, when he was 20 years old and living across the road from a bicycle rental shop. Every day that it rained, the bike shop was closed. “It became pretty noticeable,” recalls Friedberg, now 26 and already an ex-Google executive and the CEO of his own company, WeatherBill, in San Francisco. After watching the bicycle rental store owner get rained out day after day, Friedberg started noticing how many other companies–think golf courses and car washes–were taking a financial bath whenever it was wet outside.

“You don’t really think about it, but 70 percent of businesses are affected by the weather every year, across regions and industries,” says Friedman. “The weather affects so many different types of businesses, whether in negative or in positive ways, like taxi cabs in New York, which are often full in the cold.”

Friedman was a business product manager at Google when he had his “a-ha moment.” It occurred to him that he should start an insurance company–a very old idea–but gear it specifically toward companies that want to protect themselves from losing money on a rainy day–a new idea.

It may not sound new. After all, insurance companies generally protect you if you’re hammered by a hurricane, slaughtered by a sandstorm or frozen under the tundra. But we’re talking about the car wash that doesn’t want to lose an entire day of income when there are five inches of rain. That’s why Friedberg developed, with his “computer science friends,” an elaborate website where anyone can log on and buy a contract to protect themselves from unseasonable weather. The site is completely customizable and automated. A farmer, for instance, could receive money every time the temperature dips below 67 degrees in a particular month. Or if a ski resort has a week and a half of beautiful, balmy weather in January, the owner could automatically receive a check without having to report the weather.

“There is no claims process,” Friedberg says proudly. Instead his company uses a third-party weather station, EarthStat, that independently confirms data and sends daily reports to WeatherBill, which then processes the checks and sends them out.

Narrowing Your Focus
Despite such success stories, there are risks to developing a new business within an old framework, says Lenann Gardner, an internationally known sales consultant and author of the new book, Got Sales? The Complete Guide to Today’s Proven Methods for Selling Services. “You have to get people to change their behavior to support this new corporate strategy, and that’s a difficult thing to do. In fact, it’s one of the hardest things to do, to change human behavior,” says Gardner.

Narrowing your business’s focus is one way to attract customers to your new take on an old concept. “Nobody wants to do business with a business that tries to be something for everybody,” asserts Gardner. Granted, tell Wal-Mart that, but she’s right. Stores known for having a little bit of everything thrive because the stakes aren’t too high for customers shopping for soap, cat food or a lawn chair. But as a general rule, the more someone is spending on an item, the more likely they are to seek out a specialized business.

Take buying a house, for example. Garry Aloia is an owner and managing partner of My First Home, a business that caters specifically to first-time homebuyers. Aloia, who also co-owns parent company New State Mortgage, came up with the idea when he realized that because agents are driven by commissions, “human nature takes over. If there’s a bigger commission involved, that customer gets more attention,” he says.

First-time home buyers–who make up about 40 percent of the home buying market–are often purchasing smaller residences and are likely getting less attention, reasons Aloia. To remedy the situation, Aloia’s My First Home, based in Merrilville, Indiana, near Indianapolis, employs real estate agents who are paid higher salaries–25 percent more than the average agent–but who don’t receive commissions. Aloia doesn’t see his business as a traditional real estate office, but rather as a home-buying educational and assistance center. The office is even set up to look like a home, complete with a fireplace and coffee. The company offers seminars to first-home buyers, as well as advice and tools to help them figure out what their monthly budget should be after they move in.

What Aloia’s business is doing is what all entrepreneurs, whether veteran or novice, ultimately should be doing. “I try to put my feet in the shoes of the customer,” says Aloia. “I ask myself, ‘How can I make their life better and simpler?’”

Modernizing the Wheel
Some business models only need to be slightly tweaked to appeal to the modern consumer. Want to update the traditional dentist office? Put it on wheels. While cleaning teeth is an industry almost as old as, well, teeth, putting an office in a van that can travel anywhere from giant corporate campuses to nursing homes is a much more recent concept. The rise of mobile dentist offices in the last few years shows that catering to people’s busy and complicated lives is a nearly surefire way to improve upon an old concept.

Then there’s the Pearson Ford Fuel Depot in San Diego, which has received a lot of attention for its one-of-a-kind gas station that offers a full range of clean-burning alternative fuels from ethanol to BioWillie, a type of biodiesel made from soybeans and promoted by singer Willie Nelson. Gas stations may be becoming synonymous with global warming, but by offering an alternative, this fueling station has managed to drum up publicity while serving an emerging niche market.    

Capitalizing on consumers’ nostalgia is yet another potential approach. In true throwback fashion, State Street Barbers, located in Chicago and Boston, gives modern hair cuts to men in an environment decked out to look like a ritzy salon in the 1920s. Patrons are given a cold beverage when they walk in and can get a hot lather shave with a classic straight razor and hot towels.

In the end, it’s easier to be original and unique in an established industry like home selling or insurance when you have plenty of capital funding behind you; it’s another story if you’re running a fledgling startup in your parents’ basement, and you feel you have to take any client with a pulse and a wallet. But whether you’re a big fish in the ocean or a small one in the pond, the principles are always the same. If you’re going to tweak a formula, “throw out the way things have been done before,” advises Friedberg. “Figure out your end goal, and then forget about what all of the other people have done, and come up with a new way to do it.”

From | http://www.entrepreneur.com/startingabusiness/businessideas/article174972.html