Category Archives: General Business

General Business

University of Strathclyde And Associates Publications

University of Strathclyde and Associates: Publications: Scottish Chambers’ Business Survey

The quarterly survey, produced in conjunction with the Scottish Chambers of Commerce, provides aggregated information by area and by sector on the general business and labour market situation of some 3,000 Scottish firms. The survey currently covers Scottish manufacturing, construction, wholesale, retail and tourism. A further report based on a quarterly survey of the Scottish oil and gas related sector, and conducted in collaboration with the Institute, is published by Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce.

University of Strathclyde and Associates: Publications: Customised Research

The Institute has completed a wide range of customised reports for public and private sector organisations within Scotland and beyond. Using a range of economic analysis tools these reports have ranged from reports on the impact of the Foot and Mouth outbreak on Scotland’s economy, an impact study of Jersey’s economy upon its environment and the impact of the arts and cultural sector in Scotland.

In addition, Institute staff have acted as advisers to both Westminster and Holyrood committees, public bodies and foreign governments.

University of Strathclyde and Associates: Publications: Raising the Return

The Institute, jointly with the Scottish Council Foundation, has released ‘Raising the Return: Scotland’s Public Assets’. The report, by economic consultant and Institute Associate Jo Armstrong consists of four short papers and examines the evidence on how effective Scotland’s public sector has been in deploying the record-levels of funding it has received. A full press release is available from the media section of the website. Copies of the report, priced fifteen pounds, can be obtained from the Scottish Council Foundation.

University of Strathclyde and Associates: Publications: Major new addition to thinking on Scotland’s future

New Wealth for Old Nations provides a guide to policy priorities in small or regional economies. It will be of interest to policymakers, students, and scholars seeking avenues to improved growth, greater opportunity, and better governance. Some of the world’s leading economists combine their research insights with a discussion of the practicalities of implementing structural reforms. Scotland is the ideal case study: the recent devolution of government in the United Kingdom offers a natural experiment in political economy, one whose lessons apply to almost any small, advanced economy.

One fundamental conclusion is that policy can make a big difference to long-term prosperity in small economies open to flows of knowledge, investment, and migrants. Indeed the difficulty in introducing growth-oriented policies lies more in the politics of implementing change than in the theoretical diagnosis. Public sector governance is consequently a key issue in creating a pro-growth consensus. And faster growth must be seen to improve opportunities for the population as a whole. Further, setting out the evidence – as this book does for Scotland – is vital to overcoming entrenched institutional barriers to policy reform. The first chapter is by Jo Armstrong, John McLaren, and the editors; and the subsequent chapters are by Paul Krugman, William Baumol, Edward Glaeser, Paul Hallwood and Ronald MacDonald, James Heckman and Dimitriy Masterov, Heather Joshi and Robert Wright, Nicholas Crafts, and John Bradley.

Diane Coyle is a consultant and member of the United Kingdom’s Competition Commission and a Visiting Professor at the University of Manchester’s Institute of Political and Economic Governance. Wendy Alexander is a Member of the Scottish Parliament and former Scottish Minister for Enterprise, Transport, and Lifelong Learning. Brian Ashcroft is Professor of Economics and Policy Director of the Fraser of Allander Institute for Research on the Scottish Economy at the University of Strathclyde.

Strathclyde is a great place to study and enjoy life at the same time. And this is where you can find out everything about us – from how we teach, to what’s on in Glasgow and how to get around. We want to help you make the most of your time here, so we hope you’ll come back to these pages to get all the latest news about what’s happening on campus and in and around the city.

General Business

Painting Contractors Are Must For House Painting Services

Hiring painting contractors is essential for home renovation projects and repainting job. Painting contractors are a group of professionals providing the painting service for home or commercial buildings. Their expertise in repainting job and home renovation project helps in fast and easy redecoration of home or office. They offer a wide range of remodeling service for any home renovation project with complete responsibility and satisfaction.

Apart from painting service professional painters also provide essential services like concrete repair, floor and ceiling work along with wall work like filling cracks and gaps. This eliminates the additional requirement of hiring a mason for getting done the masonry work separately. This way it saves both time and money. As they work in group, the work is done fast and on your required time. Most of the painting company also provides guarantee and insurance of the work time.

Insurance is vital factor in painting contract job same as guarantee. However commercial insurance and residential insurance differs in many ways. Still it is important to ensure that the painting contractor you choose has the proper credentials so that you feel secured about the work done on your estate. A fully bonded and insured painting company is much more liable to finish your project with quality results and that too on time.

Another factor to keep in mind is the painting contractor’s general business procedures, including their company reputation and timely completion of work without any delay. A highly recommended commercial painting company would have a well professional reputation and a group of well experienced painters.

Painting contractor’s expert painting skills will give you the best remodeling service both in residential or commercial sector. They also provide a free quote for the different service they offer. So whenever you feel to renovate your residential or commercial building get the help from the professional painters. They will examine the building structure and will let you know the service required for the building along with the cost estimate and time required.

However the process of selecting the proper painting contractor can be bit tough. There are lot of factors to consider like experience, insurance, liability and their company reputation. But it can be easily solved by finding the local painting contactors online and request a quote.

So while hiring professional painting contractors rest assure that your estate is safe and that the work will be done in allotted time and complete satisfaction. Thus it is quite important, that you choose a proper painting contractor with good work experience in dealing with both residential and commercial projects.

General Business

Economic Forecast For 2011 And The Effect on International Shipping

There is a lot of good news in the 2011 economic forecasts made by experts in this field, especially when it comes to trade and that will have a big affect on the international shipping world. We’re talking about international freight and intermodal trucking throughout the Midwest not to mention the world. That means the supply chain will be busy in the next year.

Let’s look at the specific numbers. First of all, imports will climb in the next year, according to economic experts. Households are wanting more and more good like footwear and apparel, televisions, and toys, just to name a few. These goods are typically shipping to the United States from Mexico, China, or those countries that had in years past signed onto the Central America Free Trade Agreement. International shipping and all of the transportation and other industries connected to it will continue to grow in 2011. The increase in imports, however, will also have an effect on things like oil prices, which also makes an impact on the trucking industry because of its reliance on fuel.

There is some really great news when it comes to economic growth in general. Business investment and consumer spending are expected to continue its growth into the new year. Companies have increased their equipment purchases this past year and will continue to do so in 2011. The equipment has to come to the business, whether it’s a factory or retail outlet somehow. That could be by ship or a chassis, which is a container car on a train or a tractor trailer. International freightwill undoubtedly get a boost from this economic growth. Drayage will be very important in the upcoming year, especially in the shipping industry and logistics.

With all this positive news, there are bound to be some negatives. The minor increases in growth we’ve seen already were because companies were building their inventory. This, however, is bound to slow in the next quarter, judging by the current pace of spending by consumers. That will have a major impact on the international freight and the trucking world. The supply chain will likely slow again.

Still, economic experts expect that unemployment in the United States will remain relatively high, keeping the economy from growing by leaps and bounds. The Fed expects to see a much lower than expected expansion of the American economy. Unemployment will get slightly better, but that’s only a small comfort. The jobless rate will go no lower than 9 percent. The rate’s at 9.6 these days.

Overall, the nation’s leading economists expect the economy to expand by less than 3 percent in 2011. This year, the economy grew by only 2.6 percent, very disappointing by all concerned.

While there has been a modest increase in consumer spending, shoppers are still holding onto their cash for the most part, especially in the housing, international trade, and manufacturing sectors. Once people start feeling more comfortable in their job, that’s when the economy will start to grow at a noticeable rate. Then all of the industries connected with these industries, specifically international freight and trucking industries will also grow.

You can read all about what’s in store for today’s international and domestic shipping world at the www.utsgrp.com, the website for today’s industry leaders. Universal Transportation Services Group’s website can give you all the information you need to plan in these interesting economic times.

General Business

Transcription Service Turn Your Skills Into a Career

Advancement in technologies have told good-bye to Dictaphone and the secretaries furiously taking notes when their boss talks. At present transcription service has become the much needed and demanded service for several industries and service providers. In this present dotcom world most of the transcription takes place online. Apart from this large volumes of work are being outsourced to several companies. Transcription service has become one of the most flourishing fields in the present scenario. Most of the younger generations get attracted towards this field due to good image and high remuneration of the job.

At present the speech, comments and instructions of the boss or superiors are recorded and the audio is transcribed to paper. This is done online and offline. Online service is the process of transcribing at the same time of speech. Offline is the process of transcribing the words from the recorded speech. Any how transcription service has become inevitable and so profitable for the companies. These service makes the words on the audios in to computer files. The customer then can download the files from the service to their computers.

There are several advantages for transcription services compared to traditional recording services. It transforms the words in to computer files which can be easily accessed and understood. Since these are compute files, it is very easy to transfer and share the contents. There is no need of several paper prints to send the records to several hands. Just one click can take the information to thousands of desired hands. It also saves the office space, time and risk for the companies. They can easily get their transcription work by outsourcing.

You can easily start your career in outsourcing services. What you need is just a computer with internet connection. If you posses good typing and listening skills in English, you can excel in this field. Online transcription needs more skills compared to that of offline services. It is better to start with offline transcription service if you are a fresher. Clients send the audio files to you via email. You have to listen to the audio tape and transfer the speech in to words by listening carefully in order not to make any mistakes.

There is no need for installing special software to start with transcription services. You can start working with simple software that supports audio files. You can get this software for free or at a minimal cost. At present almost all computers come with audio-player software and other excellent features. So it is very easy to start your career with transcription service. If you find you like to do the work you can buy more advanced equipment like a foot pedal.

You can earn as much as you like. It depends on the volume of your work. If you have excellent typing speed you can earn more. You must be able to work with accuracy and attention to detail. Official transcription must be completely free from mistakes. It should contain each and every single word in the audio file without any mistake. The most common sectors in transcriptions services are medical, dental and educational field. The legal and business industries are common and good source of earnings also. Some other languages besides English are also in demand like Spanish and German giving additional people job opportunities.

General Business

Successful Web Designers

As web designers, it goes without saying, that our understanding of our own industry is paramount to the overall the success we experience. The importance of keeping up to date with the latest goings on in the world of the Internet can be of great importance, whether it is W3C, Google, HTML 5, CSS3 or Jquery.

However, aspects that are often over looked are the more fundamental and general business ethics that can really keep your clients on your side. Giving adequate consideration to following can strengthen your working relationship and take away some of the pressure you’ve become used to.

Beat Your Timescales

Setting realistic timescales will allow you to not only manage your client’s expectations, but also effectively manage your own workflow. Draw on your previous experience to help you predict how long it will take to complete a project, and then times it by three. This might seem a bit excessive, but this will ensure that you cover any unpredicted delays and more importantly will certainly give off a good impression to your client if you deliver ahead of deadline. Lets face it; nobody wants to have to pull an all-nighter just to get the job finished on time.

Communication. Communication. Communication!

I can’t stress how important communication is when it comes to managing your clients. Whether you are communicating to give them updates on things that have gone well, or giving them a heads up on what may hold the project up further down the line, any communication is good communication.

Ensure that you are available for contact throughout the day. Many web Designers fall into the trap of working around the clock, and employing an answer machine to take the phone calls. If your client can’t get hold of you when they desire, it will leave them frustrated and will ultimately hinder the progress of the project, and your relationship.

Understand your Client’s Business

As web designers, you’ll often find yourself in a position where you are doing work for a client and in an industry where you have little or no knowledge or experience. This shouldn’t mean that you depend solely on the guidance of your client. Show initiative by doing a bit a research in the industry. Have a read through your client’s competitor’s websites and give your self some basic understanding.

This will not only help you to pick up on industry concepts and buzzwords, but also give you the ability to offer valuable business advice from an outside perspective, which will always impress your client.

Explain Your Work

Once you have completed your prototype designs, don’t just email them across to your client as a jpg. Construct an HTML working prototype using Photoshop, which only takes a few minutes, but will allow the client to see how the website will look on the web, and with rollovers and flash you’ll leave little to the imagination.

When you email the link, ensure that you have the client on the phone to explain the decisions that you’ve made and your choices for colours, layouts, calls to action etc. Failure to do this will leave you wide open to making unnecessary changes further down the line.

Addressing the above areas of your management will greatly improve your working relationship with your client, and even if there are problems, they will be more understanding towards them, and what’s more, start to give web designers a better name!