Every quarter, the Bank of Japan commissions a survey of business confidence, the Tankan survey. The survey takes the pulse of 11000 businesses, so it should give a reliable picture of the mood of Japanese industry. The most recent survey shows that the level of business confidence has risen from a value of 8 compared to a value of 1 last quarter. The survey subtracts the percentage of businesses giving a negative appraisal from those giving a positive evaluation; consequently, a score of zero represents a neutral score.
In the depths of the turmoil following the financial crisis in early 2009, the Tankan survey recorded a record low score of -58; so a score of +8 is something positively bullish in comparison. Read more…
03 Oct
Posted by: Melissa N in: Business Tips
It’s time to review those costly errors that can damage our personal credit scores as well as put our personal assets at risk. Now I know applying for a business credit card may not be the most exciting thing to do but it’s necessary and requires your careful attention.
As with the last time we covered the six major types of business credit applications, I feel compelled to mention that there are certain mistakes that you should avoid before you sign the dotted line.
So, let’s take a look at seven mistakes that you never want to make that can cost you money, damage your personal credit and put your personal assets at risk.
(7 Mistakes to Avoid)
02 Oct
Posted by: Jonathon Smith in: Business News
Greetings from Finovate Fall New York, an annual conference where financial software companies show off their new products, both for consumers and the business community. Today I’ll be writing about brand-new financial apps for consumers, as well as new developments by established online services—Tobie Stanger
A couple of offerings at today’s Finovate offered the promise of financial education for teens and young adults, a population in dire need of good lessons in money management. If it weren’t for their other use—mining data for banks’ marketing departments—I’d have a lot more faith in their purported roles of serving a valuable social purpose. Thwakk’s Mo’doh Island is a 3-D virtual world featuring avatars that teens can manipulate to make financial decisions, both good and bad. On the Read more…
Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn. These are only a few of the more common tools we think of when we hear the term social media. To grapple with this brand new and important component in the small business world, you will need some advice and resources to make sure you get it right. Talking to your customers should be natural, but learning to use the social media effectively comes with a few basic principles. We’ve come up with what we think is good advice for small businesses as a starting point when putting together your social media survival guide.
Why being social can be a matter of survival. Drawing from a small business social community, this post looks at the ways in which social interaction is an absolute necessity for businesses today. It
The Eurozone is a members only club that has strict rules for entry which were designed to ensure economic convergence between those wishing to be admitted to the club and those already a part of it. One of the most important of these rules was that a government’s deficit was not allowed to be above 3% of its gross domestic product. When Greece joined the club, she fibbed about the extent of her then deficit, playing it down in much the same way as a lady of a certain age might forget to count the odd birthday she’d had – you know how these things are. Howev Read more…