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Other Added - The Management Consultant Stories: Culture. A major obstacle?
Water vending machines are self service water dispensers. You can fill up your containers, bottles, and jugs with pure water at these machines. Water vending machines provide water of good quality in return to inserted coins, paper currency, card, or token. Most of them are placed in front of supermarkets and petrol stations. They can also be found at health boutiques, large hardware stores, apartment complexes, service stations, and grocery and convenient stores.Water vending machines are available in a variety of styles including free-standing units, and wall and window mounted equipments. Most water vending machines dispense one to five gallons of pure water. Some are available with options such as UV sterilizer, coin changer, fill and flush, bill acceptor, and meter.Some models of water vending machines are particularly designed for in-store use. They come with a no-coin format. The consumers are required to pay the amount at the counter inside of the store.The cost of water sold through these machines is relatively higher than pre bottled water found in the stores. Usually, drinking water supplied through these machines costs from 0.25 to $0.35 per gallon.Water vending machines make use of two different technologies to measure the quantity of water in the machine. Some types of machines use water meters with an electronic pulse output. Some are timer based machines. Compared to bottled water, water offered from these machines passes through a heavy filtration process using ultra-violet lights, particulate filters, and reverse osmosis filtration methods. In order to supply good quality water, the machine must be maintained properly.
The Asian partners accused the American’s of being short sighted, inflexible, and shallow. The American’s accused the Asian’s with being untruthful, slow, and not results oriented. Both sides threatened each other with law suits and asked for damages. Lawyers wrote letters back and forth, but even they had problems communicating. The cost of litigation would have been too expensive, so both sides refrained from going to court, but wrote letters of complaint to their respective embassies.
The communication gap between the cultures played an important role in how this project went bad. Communicating across cultures can be extremely difficult. What is the beginning for one culture can be the end for another.
ATN Management Consulting offers “Cultural Leadership” coaching
As more students graduate from college than ever before, America’s job market has grown to accommodate these eager job-hunters. Employers are expected to hire about 17.4% more college graduates from the Class of 2007 than last year’s college alumni. An increasing number of re-entry students or those over the age of 25 are also trying their luck in the university system.It is not uncommon for 2007’s graduating classes to be characterized by diversity in age and walks of life. A grandmother who simply wants to learn about art history may sit next to a 20-year-old who dreams of becoming the next Picasso. While elderly college students may not have a job search on their minds, today’s career world is drastically different than even just a year ago.Did you know these job market facts?• The most popular degree for the 2006-2007 school year was accounting.• The second most popular degree this year was in business administration.• Employers plan to hire about 22% more grads holding an M.B.A. this year.• Employers in the South plan to hire the most this year, increasing their percentages over one quarter.• About 40% of employers plan to hire those with Associate’s Degrees this year.• Many employers frequently list communication skills in writing, grammar and presentations as their number one qualm with new hires.• Grads holding doctorates will often be hired for engineering or computer-related industries.For those who only hold Associate’s Degrees, this year’s job market is especially encouraging. Many employers report these candidates as having a better work ethic and everyday skills than those who earned a four-year-degree or higher. However, the future looks bright for those with Bachelor’s degrees, as many employers enjoy a fresh perspective from recent grads who are both Web-savvy and hungry to begin their first job.For college graduates, those looking to switch careers or even someone who never worked a day in their life, there are many job search sites available from the convenience of your home computer.6StarReviews.com is a site that wanted to compare job search engines to find your best bet in snagging the perfect career. Maybe you want to pick up tennis balls at a country club or maybe your thing is selling automotives. Whatever your knack, surfing the Net for your dream occupation is a great way to start.
Morale was high at the US based contracting company. They had just been invited to join a consortium of companies that had pre-qualified for a big public works tender in Central Asia. The offer came via e-mail. After concluding the initial round of correspondence with their counterparts, a two man team made up of one senior engineer and one business development exec were sent to Europe to meet up with their potential partners and sign the consortium agreement.
The trip started well, as they were well received by their hosts at the airport, guided to their hotel and were pleased to see that a well planned itinerary awaited them. Two mid- level managers took them out to dinner that night, and a jovial relationship was established.
The next day, still dazzled by the late night and effects of jet lag the US team met with the senior execs of the consortium and gave a strong power point presentation as to their capabilities, past business performance and key deliverables. Everyone was all smiles at lunch, and things were very cordial in the afternoon during the contract negotiations. The US team e-mailed back the tentative consortium agreement late afternoon and was treated to a special evening of entertainment and fine dining “Asian” style by the corporate execs.
Next morning, they received confirmation from the legal department at corporate that the agreement was acceptable and that they could go ahead and sign. The agreement was signed, pictures were taken and small gifts were exchanged. After having generated so much good will in such a good time, it was decided that the new consortium partners should visit the government office which was organizing the tender in order to introduce the US company.
Up to that time, the whole process had been text book perfect. The meeting with the government authorities went ahead as planned, but it was not possible to gauge the results of the meeting from the US company’s point of view. They had also received some conflicting news from the Government officials. The pre-qualification for tender had been cancelled, and the process would start over again.
Their new partners assured them that this was a normal occurrence for this part of the world. Other disturbing news started to trickle down as comments of the need to make facilitation payments arose. The US team automatically countered with their need to abide by the Corrupt Foreign Practices Act, but their hosts assured them that it would be they who would take care of things, not the American’s, but that the American’s should know that such a arrangement had to be entered into as they were a part of everyday life if you wanted to do business in this part of the world.
The trip was concluded with a lavish good bye dinner and further entertainment, “Asian” style. The team was in a jovial mood when they arrived back in the US and were congratulated by the CEO for their accomplishment.
Their Asian counterparts meanwhile prepared for the new pre-qualification process and asked for intensive documentation. A project team was established for the Central Asia project and earnest work began to supply their consortium partners with the necessary materials to win the pre-qualification bid. At the same time hints that certain facilitation expenses were being made to Government authorities were being relayed to the American company over the phone. But, never in writing. After a while, these vague remarks became very much clearer as their foreign partners started to talk numbers.
The US stance was the same. We cannot be involved, we don’t want to know about it.
Two months after the signing of the consortium agreement, the new pre-qualification bid was held, and their consortium failed to qualify.
Their Asian counterparts blamed them in part for not assisting them in paying up the facilitation fees, and claimed that they would have won had the size of the payment been larger! They vowed to have the pre-qualification tender cancelled and the process renewed. Which they actually managed to do! But by this time, the American company had lost faith in their partners, and having allocated resources freely against the promise of lucrative rewards, decided to withdraw from the project.
The Asian partners accused the American’s of being short sighted, inflexible, and shallow. The American’s accused the Asian’s with being untruthful, slow, and not results oriented. Both sides threatened each other with law suits and asked for damages. Lawyers wrote letters back and forth, but even they had problems communicating. The cost of litigation would have been too expensive, so both sides refrained from going to court, but wrote letters of complaint to their respective embassies.
The communication gap between the cultures played an important role in how this project went bad. Communicating across cultures can be extremely difficult. What is the beginning for one culture can be the end for another.
ATN Management Consulting offers “Cultural Leadership” coaching
What do I mean by “culturally savvy“? I am not talking about being politically correct, rather I am talking about simply being cognizant that there is a larger cultural impact on how business is conducted today than ever before. Cultural differences often exist within the same companies…they certainly exist between different companies. Without question there are different cultural business practices in different cities or regions within an individual country. These differences are almost exponentially complicated when you start doing business on a global basis. For purposes of this post we will address how to best blend and manage your internal cultural characteristics with those of your vendors, partners, suppliers, customers and investors who may be located in foreign countries.The impacts of globalization are being felt by all of us at some level whether we realize it or not. Moreover as time marches forward it is likely that even businesses that once would have never had to deal with global concerns will. Every culture has their own unique way of functioning and if you want to remain competitive in the market you will need to develop a cultural sensitivity and maturity to your business approach that may not presently exist.I have been doing business internationally since the mid 80’s. I have done business in Canada, Central and South America, the Mid-East, Europe and Asia. What I have learned in my travels and experiences is being culturally savvy can not only shorten your initial time to market, but also help insure that entry into a foreign market is profitable and sustainable. Learning the language (or at least some common pleasantries), customs, values and usual and customary business practices are a must for not embarrassing yourself or your company. False starts in a new country can be very costly and often times there a no second chances…While the basics of cultural awareness mentioned above will get you in the door, it is becoming culturally savvy that will keep you there. I liken international business to acquiring a new company. It is rarely the acquisition that is a problem, rather it is the post acquisition integration issues, many of which are cultural, that often determine the long-term viability of an acquisition. Similarly it has been estimated that the mortality rate of international joint ventures exceeds 50% within a three year period of time. It is rarely technical competency that is responsible for the high failure rate noted above, rather the reason most often noted for the dissolution of ventures are the problems surrounding the inability to manage and
Next morning, they received confirmation from the legal department at corporate that the agreement was acceptable and that they could go ahead and sign. The agreement was signed, pictures were taken and small gifts were exchanged. After having generated so much good will in such a good time, it was decided that the new consortium partners should visit the government office which was organizing the tender in order to introduce the US company.
Up to that time, the whole process had been text book perfect. The meeting with the government authorities went ahead as planned, but it was not possible to gauge the results of the meeting from the US company’s point of view. They had also received some conflicting news from the Government officials. The pre-qualification for tender had been cancelled, and the process would start over again.
Their new partners assured them that this was a normal occurrence for this part of the world. Other disturbing news started to trickle down as comments of the need to make facilitation payments arose. The US team automatically countered with their need to abide by the Corrupt Foreign Practices Act, but their hosts assured them that it would be they who would take care of things, not the American’s, but that the American’s should know that such a arrangement had to be entered into as they were a part of everyday life if you wanted to do business in this part of the world.
The trip was concluded with a lavish good bye dinner and further entertainment, “Asian” style. The team was in a jovial mood when they arrived back in the US and were congratulated by the CEO for their accomplishment.
Their Asian counterparts meanwhile prepared for the new pre-qualification process and asked for intensive documentation. A project team was established for the Central Asia project and earnest work began to supply their consortium partners with the necessary materials to win the pre-qualification bid. At the same time hints that certain facilitation expenses were being made to Government authorities were being relayed to the American company over the phone. But, never in writing. After a while, these vague remarks became very much clearer as their foreign partners started to talk numbers.
The US stance was the same. We cannot be involved, we don’t want to know about it.
Two months after the signing of the consortium agreement, the new pre-qualification bid was held, and their consortium failed to qualify.
Their Asian counterparts blamed them in part for not assisting them in paying up the facilitation fees, and claimed that they would have won had the size of the payment been larger! They vowed to have the pre-qualification tender cancelled and the process renewed. Which they actually managed to do! But by this time, the American company had lost faith in their partners, and having allocated resources freely against the promise of lucrative rewards, decided to withdraw from the project.
The Asian partners accused the American’s of being short sighted, inflexible, and shallow. The American’s accused the Asian’s with being untruthful, slow, and not results oriented. Both sides threatened each other with law suits and asked for damages. Lawyers wrote letters back and forth, but even they had problems communicating. The cost of litigation would have been too expensive, so both sides refrained from going to court, but wrote letters of complaint to their respective embassies.
The communication gap between the cultures played an important role in how this project went bad. Communicating across cultures can be extremely difficult. What is the beginning for one culture can be the end for another.
ATN Management Consulting offers “Cultural Leadership” coaching
If you want to make money working for yourself and be your own boss carpet cleaning is an easy business to get into. When you start up a business there are two key components that you need, a product to sell and someone who’s willing to buy it. Carpet cleaning is not rocket science but does require knowledge on general carpet cleaning, stain removal and knowing the limitations of what your equipment can handle.There are three main types of carpet cleaning; dry foam carpet cleaning, liquid extraction carpet cleaning, and hybrid liquid extraction using a bonnet to thoroughly scrub the floors. Most carpet cleaners use the liquid extraction method because it most cost effective. When starting your business you need to lay out a business plan. To develop a carpet cleaning business you must have money for start up because your business is equipment based.When you first go to purchase carpet cleaning equipment you’ll be amazed at how many different types of extraction equipment is available. To find carpet cleaning equipment it is advisable to shop at a local cleaning supplies and janitorial equipment distributor or look on line at vacuum cleaner and carpet extractor websites. There are many types of carpet cleaning units available, some of these types include carpet spotters, portable carpet extractors and truck mount carpet extractors.Carpet spotters are made for cleaning smaller spaces and areas that are not flat like cars, boats and furniture. Carpet spotters are also great at removing small spills and stains and are light and easy to transport. A great way to expand what you offer in your carpet cleaning business is to offer mobile auto detailing. Mobile auto detailing is quickly catching on and people will pay good money for this extra service.Portable carpet extractors are what you are probably going to be looking at if you’re just starting out in the carpet cleaning market. There are two types of portable carpet extractors, tank and wand units and portable walk behind. Tank units are the best if you are going to be cleaning a lot of carpets frequently. Tank units allow you to attach carpet wand tools for a variety of jobs and are the most versatile. Tank extractors also come with heaters that super heat your extraction solution which in turn yields a cleaner carpet. Tank portable carpet extractors usually range from $1200 to $7000 dollars new and are available with many options.The third type of carpet extraction unit is the truck mount. Having a truck mount unit for commercial carpet cleaning is the ultimate way to go. Truck mount carpet extractor
Their new partners assured them that this was a normal occurrence for this part of the world. Other disturbing news started to trickle down as comments of the need to make facilitation payments arose. The US team automatically countered with their need to abide by the Corrupt Foreign Practices Act, but their hosts assured them that it would be they who would take care of things, not the American’s, but that the American’s should know that such a arrangement had to be entered into as they were a part of everyday life if you wanted to do business in this part of the world.
The trip was concluded with a lavish good bye dinner and further entertainment, “Asian” style. The team was in a jovial mood when they arrived back in the US and were congratulated by the CEO for their accomplishment.
Their Asian counterparts meanwhile prepared for the new pre-qualification process and asked for intensive documentation. A project team was established for the Central Asia project and earnest work began to supply their consortium partners with the necessary materials to win the pre-qualification bid. At the same time hints that certain facilitation expenses were being made to Government authorities were being relayed to the American company over the phone. But, never in writing. After a while, these vague remarks became very much clearer as their foreign partners started to talk numbers.
The US stance was the same. We cannot be involved, we don’t want to know about it.
Two months after the signing of the consortium agreement, the new pre-qualification bid was held, and their consortium failed to qualify.
Their Asian counterparts blamed them in part for not assisting them in paying up the facilitation fees, and claimed that they would have won had the size of the payment been larger! They vowed to have the pre-qualification tender cancelled and the process renewed. Which they actually managed to do! But by this time, the American company had lost faith in their partners, and having allocated resources freely against the promise of lucrative rewards, decided to withdraw from the project.
The Asian partners accused the American’s of being short sighted, inflexible, and shallow. The American’s accused the Asian’s with being untruthful, slow, and not results oriented. Both sides threatened each other with law suits and asked for damages. Lawyers wrote letters back and forth, but even they had problems communicating. The cost of litigation would have been too expensive, so both sides refrained from going to court, but wrote letters of complaint to their respective embassies.
The communication gap between the cultures played an important role in how this project went bad. Communicating across cultures can be extremely difficult. What is the beginning for one culture can be the end for another.
ATN Management Consulting offers “Cultural Leadership” coaching
Make EYE contact when you look at another person. Look at them!! Don’t look down at your shoes or away from the other person. Don’t look around the room for someone else who may be more interesting.Be sincere in communicating (talking!) with another person. Give them your undivided attention. Act interested! Respond to their questions with a positive answer.NETWORKING takes time, but --For years in my business career it took many nights of long meetings. Lunch/Dinner. Listening to speakers give their best shot. Not going home to see my bride or 3 children. Many nights they were in bed long before Dad got home.There was Sales & Marketing Executives; Administrative Management Society; Jaycees; Chamber of Commerce and others. Christian Businessmen for breakfast. Rotary was a weekly lunch fellowship with other local executives.Business success means interaction. It means Participation and Involvement with others in the business community. Building TRUST in the marketplace is an imperative. BRAND yourself as one who is a contributor of time and money to worthy causes. Make your city a better place to live and a place to do business by who you are.A BIG SMILEVolumes are quietly spoken when you express greetings or welcome with a smile. Few of us can help but return a smile to another person. Just a quick walk down the street and almost everyone you meet will respond in kind. You smile. They smile back.If you send out a BIG frown on your face then you’ll think a lot of people are simply not happy today. You sent the wrong message. Even when things are not “wonderful” it still makes sense to reflect your best side to others.Always remember that everyone has an occasional “bad” day. Most of us don’t have to go very far to find someone with more “troubles” far greater than our own.PHONE COURTESY pays dividends --How do you react to a friend who calls you on the phone? Do you take the time from your “busy” day to be courteous? Most of us respond in “kind” on the phone.Should I ask about the “telemarketer” who called? Do you take time to be courteous to a person you do not know? Do you just hang up? Talk ugly to them?Something worth remembering about the “telemarketer” is that they are WORKING and trying to make a living to feed their family. Buy clothes for their children. Yes, I know that their call may have interrupted your “dinner”. You were doing something important and I understand the feeling.PUBLIC folks need training --One of my pet “peeves” is someone who should know bette
The US stance was the same. We cannot be involved, we don’t want to know about it.
Two months after the signing of the consortium agreement, the new pre-qualification bid was held, and their consortium failed to qualify.
Their Asian counterparts blamed them in part for not assisting them in paying up the facilitation fees, and claimed that they would have won had the size of the payment been larger! They vowed to have the pre-qualification tender cancelled and the process renewed. Which they actually managed to do! But by this time, the American company had lost faith in their partners, and having allocated resources freely against the promise of lucrative rewards, decided to withdraw from the project.
The Asian partners accused the American’s of being short sighted, inflexible, and shallow. The American’s accused the Asian’s with being untruthful, slow, and not results oriented. Both sides threatened each other with law suits and asked for damages. Lawyers wrote letters back and forth, but even they had problems communicating. The cost of litigation would have been too expensive, so both sides refrained from going to court, but wrote letters of complaint to their respective embassies.
The communication gap between the cultures played an important role in how this project went bad. Communicating across cultures can be extremely difficult. What is the beginning for one culture can be the end for another.
ATN Management Consulting offers “Cultural Leadership” coaching
For those of you who have always wanted to try the making money online thing, but have thought it would be too hard or didn’t know where to start.I am new to the internet and was looking to make money at home on the computer; at first I tried the paid survey thing while it did bring in some cash. It also bought a lot of junk mail and to get the best paid surveys you had to pay to signup.” Well that was a waste of time.My mail box was filling fast with heaps more junk, and every survey I was invited to participate in, I would get “you don’t qualify for this survey”.Then in one of the Emails I found a lead to a website that was fully stocked and setup. I thought this doesn’t look real bad, after all I had nothing to lose and everything to gain.I bookmarked the page and returned to the page a few times but pushing the signup button didn’t come till about a week later when I signed up.• You choose my own domain name.• Build YOUR brand, your identity, including full meta tags, store name & more.• Over 90 categories or niches pre-made and Ready to Profit immediately.• Your admin panel where you can add your own personal pages if you want,” you get to control the site” there are video tutorials on everything you need to get started, and so easy to follow.• There is a member’s forum where you can get help and advice.• The affiliate panel is stocked with promotional material, here you can also see where your traffic is coming from, and this is also where you can track your sales and earnings, along with many more features.• You also get Laser-Targeted visitors & pay-per-click campaigns by landing YOUR customers on a page full of EXACTLY what they are searching for!• You get all this and more
The Asian partners accused the American’s of being short sighted, inflexible, and shallow. The American’s accused the Asian’s with being untruthful, slow, and not results oriented. Both sides threatened each other with law suits and asked for damages. Lawyers wrote letters back and forth, but even they had problems communicating. The cost of litigation would have been too expensive, so both sides refrained from going to court, but wrote letters of complaint to their respective embassies.
The communication gap between the cultures played an important role in how this project went bad. Communicating across cultures can be extremely difficult. What is the beginning for one culture can be the end for another.
ATN Management Consulting offers “Cultural Leadership” coaching programs to bridge the gap between cultures and to facilitate effective communication with the aim of delivering results in the International arena.
Morale was high at the US based contracting company. They had just been invited to join a consortium of companies that had pre-qualified for a big public works tender in Central Asia. The offer came via e-mail. After concluding the initial round of correspondence with their counterparts, a two man team made up of one senior engineer and one business development exec were sent to Europe to meet up with their potential partners and sign the consortium agreement.
The trip started well, as they were well received by their hosts at the airport, guided to their hotel and were pleased to see that a well planned itinerary awaited them. Two mid- level managers took them out to dinner that night, and a jovial relationship was established.
The next day, still dazzled by the late night and effects of jet lag the US team met with the senior execs of the consortium and gave a strong power point presentation as to their capabilities, past business performance and key deliverables. Everyone was all smiles at lunch, and things were very cordial in the afternoon during the contract negotiations. The US team e-mailed back the tentative consortium agreement late afternoon and was treated to a special evening of entertainment and fine dining “Asian” style by the corporate execs.
Next morning, they received confirmation from the legal department at corporate that the agreement was acceptable and that they could go ahead and sign. The agreement was signed, pictures were taken and small gifts were exchanged. After having generated so much good will in such a good time, it was decided that the new consortium partners should visit the government office which was organizing the tender in order to introduce the US company.
Up to that time, the whole process had been text book perfect. The meeting with the government authorities went ahead as planned, but it was not possible to gauge the results of the meeting from the US company’s point of view. They had also received some conflicting news from the Government officials. The pre-qualification for tender had been cancelled, and the process would start over again.
Their new partners assured them that this was a normal occurrence for this part of the world. Other disturbing news started to trickle down as comments of the need to make facilitation payments arose. The US team automatically countered with their need to abide by the Corrupt Foreign Practices Act, but their hosts assured them that it would be they who would take care of things, not the American’s, but that the American’s should know that such a arrangement had to be entered into as they were a part of everyday life if you wanted to do business in this part of the world.
The trip was concluded with a lavish good bye dinner and further entertainment, “Asian” style. The team was in a jovial mood when they arrived back in the US and were congratulated by the CEO for their accomplishment.
Their Asian counterparts meanwhile prepared for the new pre-qualification process and asked for intensive documentation. A project team was established for the Central Asia project and earnest work began to supply their consortium partners with the necessary materials to win the pre-qualification bid. At the same time hints that certain facilitation expenses were being made to Government authorities were being relayed to the American company over the phone. But, never in writing. After a while, these vague remarks became very much clearer as their foreign partners started to talk numbers.
The US stance was the same. We cannot be involved, we don’t want to know about it.
Two months after the signing of the consortium agreement, the new pre-qualification bid was held, and their consortium failed to qualify.
Their Asian counterparts blamed them in part for not assisting them in paying up the facilitation fees, and claimed that they would have won had the si
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