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Hello everyone again to my business blog! I was not writing for a long time as I was quite busy with my studies of Business Management. So, I am here and continue my job or basically, telling business subjects which I have learnt so far. Today, the topic of ou discussion will be "Finnish working culture". This is a valuable topic while speaking about making business in Finland. Probably, somebody will be interested in that. So, here we go look through my presentation below:P.S. Please feel free to comment on my topics =)
Finnish working culture

View more presentations from antonburavkov.

Enjoy quality of Mercedes production...

     Quite nice commercial of Mercedes quality management =)

Personal essay on humans (maybe even business) creativity...

“I dream my painting and then paint my dream”

 Vincent Van Gogh.

     Creativity...so many meanings in one word. It goes without saying that creativity might be understood in a slightly various ways. Basically, creativity refers to a phenomenon whereby person creates something new (a product, a solution, an art, etc.). As I am quite interested in business I would like to speak here about business creativity and its features. I would identify business creativity as an ability of entrepreneur to create and to poses a new and unique idea and bring it to a market then as a business. In my work I would like to speak about usage of creativity in our life.

     Firstly, I would like to say that creativity is very unique and individual for every person and of course it might be used in various spheres of life.  You can use it almost everywhere. When you are studying it might be sometimes tricky to find a good answer to a teachers question and you can use your creativity or imagination to develop some idea and bring it as a final product. Creativity as an extraordinary way of thinking helps a lot when writing various projects or assignments it makes your feelings, emotions to fly and to be unique somehow by having personal view on things going around you. Such quality also helps you to come up with a new idea when you work or start your own venture. To be creative means to have an opportunity to bring something new to a market and take an opportunity gap, which might bring you successful profitability. It makes you stronger when you apply it in your everyday life.

     When you start your venture you are taking lots of stress as a human being. In order to be successful you have to use your imagination and creativity. But sometimes you face many risks when trying to be creative and bring it to your business. You should be always ready to come up with new ideas which might be even tricky sometimes. You might face such difficulties as: using somebody’s own and protected idea, you have a risk not to enter the market with your extraordinary product, you may also lose your old customers and by this comes another risks of losing money and image. Also it is sometimes not easy to bring your idea into real life, it might be even impossible and you have to check up everything before trying to be creative. Another risk comes from environment which is around you. Changes in political systems, economy and so on might also be a risk for you uniqueness.

     Secondly, I would like to say here that strong motivation might help you to use your creativity in varicose spheres such as studies, work, etc. You should always try to find ways to use your uniqueness and may be show it to other parties to look different from them. Sometimes it’s good to be a white bird in a mass of black’s. I always try to apply my characteristics and skills to my studies. For example I try to write projects in unique way or I may call it in my own style of writing. I suppose that I am quite good at it and it is very helpful for me now. May be creativity helps me also to handle my own problems which are inside me as I always solve them in various ways not to repeat the same mistakes. It’s my personal advice if you are looking “inside the wall” to use your personal qualities as much as possible. Be opened to yourself! Write down new ideas and apply them to your life. I am sure that it will help you a lot.      

     Coming to a conclusion I would like to say a few words to sum up everything. So, as we identified, creativity is a starting point for person to create something new and bring it to a world then. Every person might have this quality but not everyone has it as developed and mutual as others. It might vary from every person and is quite individual thing. Creativity covers all our success. When you are enough created-you are stronger than others. You can poses your new and fresh ideas and be unique person somehow. It is possible to develop this quality in your character but to do so, you have to find yourself in some specific area and grow as much as possible. Don’t be shy. It’s my advice. Cry as loud as possible that everything could hear you well. Be unique and bring to everyone your idea. I am sure, creativity will help you everywhere, it doesn’t matter who you are a student or a businessman. Be risky sometimes and don’t afraid to be the best, that is my point!

Plan of a business plan...

There are 8 videos showing briefly how to write a business plan. Quite nice to have a short picture of it. Enjoy!

The importance of a business plan...

     It is well-known fact for every person who starts his or her own venture that business plan plays an important role in a decision-making process and gives a starting point for creating your own business. Basically, business plan is a formal statement or document, whatever that reflects your business goals and shows your vision on a future venture. It also contains a background information of person starting business and various financial and managerial statements. Why is it so important? How to create it? What is the starting point for creation a business plan and what should be included into there? This kind of questions have several meanings and answering them will take an enormous amount of time, but I assume that I can answer them in brief in case to poses a short picture of it in your minds. So, here we go.

     Firstly, let's discuss the importance of a business plan. Actually, it is created to reflect what is inside you, what is in your mind. It is necessary for several parties such us: investors, bank managers, you and management team. Also, some other parties are involved into the process of reading your business plan but it is not that important now. Their decisions making process will be based on your plan. Also, by making a business plan you provide for yourself an overview and a clear picture of your future business and then decide what to do with it. Making financial data and accounting and different researches (when measuring market) you will see if your venture will be profitable in future or not. More to the point you reflect thee your business idea which is the most important thing when creating a business.

     The creation of a business plan is a long process which requires a lot of efficiency from you and hard work. You collect all the data concerning your future business and then put it into a strict plan which then after various changes will become a real business plan, your engine for a future success or might be failure. I want explain the whole picture of a business plan, just only content of it as it will take lots of time to describe every point of it. There are enough information on writing business plans in the Internet. You can visit Bplans.com which seems to be a good resource where you might read everything in details and find lots of examples or samples of a real business plan. Anyway, concerning the contents of your business plan. It shouldn't be too long almost 20-40 pages, otherwise your investor wouldn't be so happy to read it. The longest plan doesn't say that it is the best one. You idea and clear accountings might be a core principle of success. Here comes the content:

Introduction

Executive summary

What is the business?
What is the market?
What is the potential for the business?
Forecast profit figures
Funding requirements
Prospects for the investor/ lender

Description of the business

What is the business?
A brief description of the business idea and why it should be a success
History of the enterprise and its ownership
Information about the entrepreneur’s qualifications, experience and financial status
Location

Products and services

A description of the product and what it does
An explanation of ways in which the product is distinctive and unique
Analysis of the competition
How the product will be developed and what new products are being considered as replacements
Intangible assets & protection (e.g. copyright, trade marks)

The market

Size and expected growth of the market
Analysis of market by segments
Identification of target segments
Competitors - who they are, ownership, size, market share, likely response to the challenge
Customers (existing & potential) - who they are, how they buy, why they buy
Distribution channels

Situational audit (where are we now?)

This involves data collection and analysis

Purpose of data collection and analysis:
Determine which opportunities to pursue
Identify SWOT
Identify competitive advantages
Provide a background for the formulation of strategy

Main analytical techniques:

PEST/ PESTLE analysis
SWOT analysis
Competitor analysis
Marketing audit

Statement of aims and objectives (where do we want to go?) 

A statement of what the business should achieve over a five year period
Aims should be expressed in terms of hierarchy of objectives becoming progressively more detailed and specific
Vision - what the organisation will be like in the future
Mission statement - a statement of the overall purpose and aims
SMART Objectives - quantitative goals.
Functional objectives - objectives for the functional areas

Strategy and tactics

How are we to get there?
Strategy is the broad approach to the achievement of objectives
Summarises how to fulfil the objectives
Tactics refer to the details of the strategy e.g. the promotional mix
The detail will be contained in programmes and budgets

Marketing: key questions to be answered

Who are our customers?
Who are our competitors?
What is the size and growth rate of the market?
How is the market segmented?
What is special about our product or service?
What are our competitive advantages?
What is our marketing strategy?

Marketing plan

Market research
Segmentation and targeting
Detailed outline of the product or service
Unique selling points
Chosen pricing strategy
Promotional plans
Distribution strategy (including online)
Customer service strategy

Operations plan

Physical location
The production process
Facilities
Equipment
Scale & location of operations
Capacity - potential and effective
ICT strategy
Engineering and design support
Materials required
Inventory levels and stock control plans
Purchasing arrangements
Sources of supply of key resources
Quality control plans
Staffing requirements

Management and organisation

Organisational chart
Details of senior management
Corporate governance
Staffing requirements
Key personnel
Recruitment and selection
Training
Rewards (financial & non-financial)
Labour relations
Employment and related costs

Forecasts in the business plan

Sales forecast
Forecast profit and loss account (income statement)
Cash flow forecast (cash budget)
In each case this should be a month by month forecast for a minimum of two years
Forecast balance sheet for each of the first two years
The assumptions behind the forecast should also be included

Financial data

Investment appraisal - payback and discounted cash flow
Break even analysis
Evaluation criteria for performance review
Ratio analysis: net profit margin, Gross profit margin, return on capital employed, liquidity and solvency analysis

Financing required

Details of capital required and uses
The plan must include details of the external finance required
This will be equal to the finance required less finance raise internally from existing owners and from operations
The plan will outline how it is proposed to raise the finance
Sources of finance: Short, medium and long term; Debt v equity

     I suppose, that you can learn more about business plan in the Internet and also I would recommend you to read a wonderful book written by Richard Stutely "The definitive business plan". You can enjoy every moment of it and it might be the best helping tool when writing your own business plan. You can buy it in Amazon followed by this link.

     Coming to a conclusion I would like to say, that you have to study business plan writing in order to be competitive in future and poses yourself as a mutual entrepreneur. Study it and share it with your friends. It requires lot's of time and energy but it costs itself! Believe me... 

Keep your life-balance on a level while working hard...

    

     It goes without saying that our life is full of various challenges and problems. We always search for different ways of overcoming our problems. It is well-known fact that when coping our problems we fill ourselves uncomfortable and even stress. After that our stress becomes a depression and everything become even worse. To manage all our problems and not to fall into depression we should organize our life-balance. Basically, in my point of view life-balance means a harmony of various activities of our life such us: spiritual, family, social, work, cultural and physical. In my work I would like to assess all these activities and tell you about different ways of improving them. 

     First of all it is very important to say that to get a real life-balance you should be very critical to yourself and always search for the ways of improving yourself. Basically, it is very easy to identify meanings of all these activities. Spiritual activities means a collection of your own qualities as a person and it is like everything which lies inside you as a person. It is always connected with character. To improve this activity person might try to analyze his or her characteristics and try to work on self-esteem and being positive as much as possible. May be you should stop being in a hurry and be pessimistic. All in all it should create a good balance. The second activity is family. That is more about some negotiable aspects. It is how you fell yourself in family and how you posses yourself. Improvement here is connected with close communication with your nearest and dearest. May be you should stop being nervous and remote and self-contained man if you are so. The third activity is social. And it is about your behaviour in society. The improvement here is based on being communicative and helpful. It is very important to get an attention of others and give it them back. May be you should stop being alone and try to build as much networks as possible. The fourth activity is work which might be combined with physical activity. It is about your personal character and being aiming to achieve success. While working person should be strong when facing obstacles and try to be peaceful. You should be positive and ambitious. Try to do some sports and relax more. May be you would better to stop being nervous and tidy. The fifth activity is cultural which is about behaviour in different cultural and being culturally strong at the same time. It might be a good idea when improving this activity if you will study different cultures. When meeting other people you will know exactly how to behave and will fill comfortable and balanced.

     To draw a line to everything I told above I would like to say that when our life is getting worse for some reason and you fill a bit stressed. It’s exactly the time to think about yourself. Try to analyze your own actions and activities and make a conclusion about yourself. Be self-possessed and do not afraid to search for your own balance.

Ecosystems achieve popularity

     

     It goes without saying that nowadays it is not very easy to compete on international market place. While competing many even biggest corporations faces a huge amount of obstacles and challenges. Unfortunately, such situation happened not so long time ago with Nokia Corporation, which is one of the biggest providers of mobile phones spreading all over the world. This company faced greatest competition on U.S. market place. The competitor is rather celebrated and strong, especially in America. It is called Apple. Steve Jobs, the actual SEO of Apple Corporation developed a strong brand and strategy of strong company based on high-tech technologies and quality. Not so long time ago Nokia decided to build something new. To create a good strategy that will be compete a lot with Apple or will even overcome it. Finally, new SEO of Nokia Mr. Stephen Elop announced on 11-t of February 2011 that Nokia signed an agreement with Microsoft corporation, the hugest provider of software all over the world.  New strategy is based on building a new product series in relations and support of Microsoft and its Windows Mobile. More to the point they announced a collaboration of their services and a strong connection between each other. Here, in my work I would like to analise all the benefits and weaknesses of such interesting and bold decision.

     First of all, I would like to say that making such agreement Nokia got a chance to rise up their sales and become again really strong and competitive. And in case of Microsoft it will even support their sustainability. I see more advantages than disadvantages in this quite fast collaboration process and I will start with minuses of this politics of both companies. The first disadvantage that won’t create to Nokia a good image is discharge of the system Symbian. For many years from the very beginning Nokia used such a systems. It was the most powerful platform before the IPhone appeared in international market place. By refusing this Symbian system, I assume that Nokia might lose its image in face of those customers whose main priority is quality and accessibility. It was quite cheap and fast systems. The second and the last minus which is quite visible even now is that Nokia goes against its interests. They wanted to expand and develop in America and win from Apple this strong competition but they cannot achieve success while the most popular GSM provider “Verizon” refuses to use in U.S. a new combination of Windows Mobile and Nokia. That is the main problem. The SEO of Verizon - Tony Melon told that they do not need this alliance of Microsoft and Nokia. This problem makes impossible one more time competing in U.S. market place.

     Secondly, I would like to say that forgetting about that too disadvantages of new collaboration I see a plenty of pluses. Nokia will develop its features and create a new platform which might be more powerful than Apples’ one. This is a good combination of innovative and very sustainable company as Microsoft and a credible and tending to the development Nokia. More to the point, I believe that these two companies will provide the best service and their software will be on the highest level and even chipper than “Apple Store”.

     To draw a line I can say that the collaboration between two “boomers” of Microsoft and Nokia will bring us something new and interesting. They still have plenty things to think about concerning U.S. market as it is the greatest whole of their strategy. Every process requires time and let’s see what will happen in future!

Core principles of successful sales

MHG Systems seminar_Anton Buravkov

This presentation was prepared by me on the basis of Jeffrey Gitomer's book "Sales Bible". Enjoy learning sales techniques!

The description of the presentation you can download here: http://depositfiles.com/files/4n9nr5r19 

Our attitudes as an affective factors on business life...

     It goes without saying that attitude is a very important psychological phenomenon. Basically, attitude is our outlook on life. It usually drives our behaviour towards different challenges. Our attitude seems to be controlled by others and we can control others attitudes. It is very important psychological topic which reflects our daily mood changes which affects our life conditions and of course working life. Our emotions are likely an accompaniment to attitude. People tend to be pessimistic or optimistic which is also attitude toward life changes and principles. We have to analyze our attitude and control emotions in order not to be emotionally killed or hearted somehow. Changing negative attitudes into positive can be very satisfying, because positive attitudes are a foundation for personal satisfaction and effective human relations. We can improve our attitude by visualizing attitudes you want to improve, also by adopting into these attitudes and by searching the right atmosphere for you. 

     Attitudes are difficult to hide because attitudes have a profound effect on how you behave, and your behaviour gives you away-those near you get a clear picture of your attitudes. Here I would like to give an example of my personal attitudes which I am looking for improve in future. My present attitude is that I feel too nervous myself sometimes. Something irritates me every time. My future attitude is that I am a calm person and I handle all my problems without any challenges and stress. To help bring me to that challenge I will focus on my present habits and attitudes towards people who might irritate me. I will try to improve my character and will focus more on my personal result and won’t think about others opinions.

     I would like to give also another example. My present attitude is that I am too enthusiastic and easy-going person. I easily without any problems get in contact with people. This factor usually works against me I later understand that those people do not respect me and are really stupid. My future attitude is that I am very good in understanding people’s needs and beliefs. I think a lot before tell to somebody my secrets. To help bring me to that challenge I will study how to communicate in a working life and how to understand what person wants from me and if his or her intentions are really pure.

     To draw a line to my self-attitude analysis I would like to say that it is very important factor influences your personal behavior. Learning and understanding personal attitudes gives an opportunity to be accurate in actions and to feel free of somebody’s wrong opinions concerning you. When doing business sometimes it is very important to analyze your attitude as it affects communications and other spheres of working life.

Microsoft and Nokia announce partnership

     Today, Friday 11 February 2011, Nokia and Microsoft announces a long-term partnership that will bring a new ecosystem to the world of mobile devices, building on the strengths of both organisations. On this page, we’ll gather all of the announcements as they happen. We’re all enormously excited about these changes, but we know that there’s a lot to understand.

     At 10AM GMT, you should probably be tuned into the Live Webcast from the Nokia Strategy and Financial Briefing. This is where you’ll see the news as it happens.

Show must go on!

Today is 11.02.2011. This day became very important for Nokia Corporation. It began to cooperate with Microsoft in order to make an explosion on international market place. So, here we go...

Open Letter from CEO Stephen Elop, Nokia and CEO Steve Ballmer, Microsoft

By Stephen Elop and Steve Ballmer posted on the 11th of February 2011 at 7:30AM

     Today in London, our two companies announced plans for a broad strategic partnership that combines the respective strengths of our companies and builds a new global mobile ecosystem. The partnership increases our scale, which will result in significant benefits for consumers, developers, mobile operators and businesses around the world. We both are incredibly excited about the journey we are on together.

While the specific details of the deal are being worked out, here’s a quick summary of what we are working towards:

• Nokia will adopt Windows Phone as its primary smartphone strategy, innovating on top of the platform in areas such as imaging, where Nokia is a market leader.

• Nokia will help drive and define the future of Windows Phone. Nokia will contribute its expertise on hardware design, language support, and help bring Windows Phone to a larger range of price points, market segments and geographies.

• Nokia and Microsoft will closely collaborate on development, joint marketing initiatives and a shared development roadmap to align on the future evolution of mobile products.

• Bing will power Nokia’s search services across Nokia devices and services, giving customers access to Bing’s next generation search capabilities. Microsoft adCenter will provide search advertising services on Nokia’s line of devices and services.

• Nokia Maps will be a core part of Microsoft’s mapping services. For example, Maps would be integrated with Microsoft’s Bing search engine and adCenter advertising platform to form a unique local search and advertising experience.

• Nokia’s extensive operator billing agreements will make it easier for consumers to purchase Nokia Windows Phone services in countries where credit-card use is low.

• Microsoft development tools will be used to create applications to run on Nokia Windows Phones, allowing developers to easily leverage the ecosystem’s global reach.

• Microsoft will continue to invest in the development of Windows Phone and cloud services so customers can do more with their phone, across their work and personal lives.

• Nokia’s content and application store will be integrated with Microsoft Marketplace for a more compelling consumer experience.

     We each bring incredible assets to the table. Nokia’s history of innovation in the hardware space, global hardware scale, strong history of intellectual property creation and navigation assets are second to none. Microsoft is a leader in software and services; the company’s incredible expertise in platform creation forms the opportunity for its billions of customers and millions of partners to get more out of their devices.

     Together, we have some of the world’s most admired brands, including Windows, Office, Bing, Xbox Live, NAVTEQ and Nokia. We also have a shared understanding of what it takes to build and sustain a mobile ecosystem, which includes the entire experience from the device to the software to the applications, services and the marketplace.

     Today, the battle is moving from one of mobile devices to one of mobile ecosystems, and our strengths here are complementary. Ecosystems thrive when they reach scale, when they are fueled by energy and innovation and when they provide benefits and value to each person or company who participates. This is what we are creating; this is our vision; this is the work we are driving from this day forward. There are other mobile ecosystems.

We will disrupt them.

There will be challenges. We will overcome them.

Success requires speed. We will be swift.

Together, we see the opportunity, and we have the will, the resources and the drive to succeed.

To discuss about...

     Employment was always an interesting topic to discuss about. What do you think about it? Is it necessary to employ different persons to every working place or is it better to have several multi-organized people who are able to do various actions in a company?

     This topic is rather interesting and wide I think. The more people we employ, the more money we should pay. Thats the point. But if we try to forget about money payments what are the benefits of huge amount of people? Or may be there are more minuses than pluses. Lets try to make it easier. In this question I prefer to use the simplest way of identification. Comparing the total amount of pluses and minuses, that is the point here.

     I assume that I was thinking a lot about this problem before. We can find out such benefits as: 1. Specialization and concentration. It is about the fact that every person knows his or her sphere and oriented only on it. This factor gives step by step confidence to the employer that companies actions will be correct in future. 2. Personal growth. In a big company it is an ability for everyone to grow and to follow their own plans, go up by a career ladder. This factor attracts more employees who are really good specialists. But in addition to this you should have very good tests for such people.

     Now I move to minuses of corporate employment. 1. Payments. A huge amount of people working for a company requires a huge of money and control. 2. Taxes. The taxation for employed people is very high so it is not a good variant for us. 3. Bonuses. To supply the working mood in your company you have to pay some months bonuses to your employees which also requires money. This concept has a wide practice in Europe. 4. Needs. It is not very easy to follow people's needs. Good employees have their own principles and interests and sometimes it is even impossible to handle this problem.

     Summarizing all the points, based on my concept I might make a conclusion that mathematics studies were very useful for me. 4 minuses against 2 pluses that is the answer = corporate employment sometimes is not very good decision. Of course great companies such us Microsoft or Samsung requires a hugest staff. But it seems to me that every problem is surmountable when you have some well-educated and goal-oriented "multi-employees" in your company.

P.S. Please feel free to add some new points, every decision is changeable especially in this kind of problem. 

How about Nokia?

Today I would like to speak about one of the greatest manufacturer of mobile devices in the world, an amazing company called Nokia. Everything goes fine in Nokia Corp. despite various problems in USA market place. Here I would like to discuss it. I added my personal point of view on their problems from my previous University work concerning international operations of Nokia. I was also thinking there about some changes in their strategical planning.

     "Nokia is celebrated and successful manufacturer of mobile devices who undertakes all the challenges of international business. Nokia sold in 2010 about 432 million of their production all over the world. It is very successful company in Europe and many other countries and regions partly. Unfortunately, everything is not as good as it might be. Nokia still has big holes in U.S. market place. This fact is connected with many factors affecting Nokia’s business. 

     Firstly, I would like to mention that U.S. market is a big area in which Nokia has greatest competitor Apple, which won U.S. market with Iphone. CNN News writes that Nokia takes only 7.8% of the U.S. handset market. America is a country that Nokia has historically been unable to play nice with. Unlike wireless providers abroad, carriers here like to exercise some control over the look and feel of the devices running on their networks. Other device manufacturers are willing to collaborate, but Nokia has been unwavering in its insistence on having complete control over both the hardware and software of its phones. More to the point Nokias shares in America are falling down that is why they lose their money and market at all. Americans say that they do not need Nokia at all and they hope that it can survive without North America. They do not really think that Nokia is so great. Actually, I suppose that they do not believe in Nokia at all according to the local news.

     Secondly, I would like to say here that Nokia has some other problems when expanding to U.S. market. The New York Times and Bloomberg Businessweek newspapers writes that Nokias problems are that Americans are not focusing on Nokias strategy of quality and design them need functionality and interest.  According to a research North America is not a very good market for Nokia and this company need to expand somewhere else but not there as Apple took everything.

     Thirdly, according to the material of newspapers I would like to give some advices to Nokia Corporation. On my point of view Nokia is a great company which had and has a great potential to expand in North America. But it needs some changes. They should first of all change their advertising expansion in America in a way that people will like it more than Iphone. Nokia needs to focus on functionality and touch screens which Americans like so much. There should be a good solution against U.S. consumers as it is the main problem of Nokia. Nokia can improve this by enriching the experience.  Accommodate superusers with high configurability, but cater to new and moderate users by offering in-line explanations and examples of functionality. Nokia needs to follow the Google recruitment model – reach out to the best and brightest and keep them at all costs. U.S. market is complicated and Nokia executives need to cut through the thick middle layer and solicit honest feedback from the beleaguered troops. One more crazy idea is that Nokia might in cooperation with Apple create something new and this new brand will bring some success to Nokia.

     To draw a line I would like to say that potential of Nokia is rather huge and it should completely change its strategy in a vision of development. Its sells are enormous but unfortunately not in America. It got a good sector as a greatest manufacturer of mobile devices but when getting profit they forgot about the development of Apple and actually it became the greatest competitor of Nokia. But let’s see what will happen in future. I believe that new strategy in February will help them to undertake these problems".

Welcome to my blog!

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog. My name is Anton Buravkov and I am a student on Business Management program of Mikkeli University Of Applied Sciences, Finland. I created this blog in a vision of different opportunities and current interest while posting my view on business life nowadays. Business sphere grows and develops every now and then, so it is very important to follow latest news and discuss various business events and actions. Please feel free to read my notes and contact me if needed. Enjoy your reading!

Tervetuloa!