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Excerpt from Dr. Julie Millers Fourth Edition, Business Writing That Counts!

Controlling Your Time

I bet you now receive ten times more e-mail messages than snail mail. Manage your e-mails as you would other correspondences that cross your desk: Handle it only once!

Heres how:

1. Promise yourself to check e-mail twice daily.

Time management of your e-mails remains crucial for sanity. Checking in twice a day allows you to handle your messages in a timely and professional manner without being chained to your computer. E-mail messages, like phone messages, should be returned within twenty-four hours.

2. Manage your e-mail.

As you scan your e-mail, decide whether you will:

Delegate: Not your area of expertise? Forward it on!
Delete: Older than three months? Its historyor at least material for a reference file.
Do it: Rule of thumb: if it will take less than two minutes, respond.
Defer: Assign a date and time to respond later. Use Outlook to set this up.

3. Create a folder per project; create files with the same names.

Time management demands you control the onslaught. Organize data into files and folders, then prioritize folders according to the project youre working on or the message frequency from one client. For project management, an efficient system is mandatory. Also, on important e-mails, consider ccing yourself so your files will contain complete sets of key correspondences.

4. Answer brieflyothers will learn to expect it.

Get in the habit of writing concise, to-the-point messages but with a personal touch. Youll quickly teach others not to expect a long, detailed answer from you. Wayne McKinnon gives this tip in his book, The Complete Guide to E-Mail: For a brief response, just writing in the subject line may be enough. You can insert the letters EOM (end of message) followed by brackets.

5. Turn on an Out of Office responder in your absence. Courtesy counts!

6. Consider using this checklist to remind yourself about whats important.

Accuracy

Are all spelling, punctuation, and usage mistakes eliminated?
Are your facts correct?
Have you double-checked included dates, days, and times?
Are all promised documents attached?

Relevance

Is the content of your message business-related?
Is the e-mail appropriate to send to everyone on your list?
Have you met all confidentiality requirements?
Does your tone match the subject and your audience?
Is the subject line appropriate for your e-mails content?
Does any part of your message seem emotionally charged or insulting?
Have you included everything your audience needs to know?

Does your e-mail follow a logical progression?
Is your e-mail too long or too short?
Is your material timely?
How do you feel when you read your e-mail?
Do all recipients know what they are supposed to do in response to your e-mail?

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Does it turn you off when youre introduced to someone by your given name and few seconds later that person addresses you by the wrong name? Tom rather than Tim? Or June instead of Jane? And then, in an obvious attempt to commit your name to memory the wrong name, that is that person repeats the error several times more?

While most of us are too polite or too timid to correct that person, their continuing the error can make you want to shake him or her by the shoulders and say, Hey, cant you get it right?

Being on the receiving end of an error-riddled written document, no matter what kind or from whom, can have the same effect: Hey, cant you get it right?

Theres no excuse for sloppy grammar, punctuation or spelling. Reasons, perhaps. But not excuses. Nothing can or does excuse such errors.

The one reason Ive run into most often seems to originate with members of the under-40 crowd. When it comes to the rules of proper grammar, punctuation and spelling, I believe if they were taught at all, those rules were seldom reinforced.

Forgive me if it seems like Im picking under-40 generation thats not my intent particularly since its not their fault. But let me share with you one of countless true stories Ive heard supporting that belief.

Some 20 years ago, when a sophomore in high school, a young man came home one day, proud as a peacock, with a science paper on which, at the top of the page, in red ink, his teacher had written and circled a big A. Under that circled A the teacher had written Great Work!

He and his parents, both friends of mine, knew that an A in science was no easy accomplishment. Certainly not from this particular teacher who had a reputation for being demanding. Science, after all, is a rather precise field of study.

The young mans dad, also a writer, proudly began reading his sons A paper. Then he did something instinctively, something he should not have done. He began mentally ticking off the spelling, grammar and punctuation errors in his sons paper. As he finished the first page, he looked up at his son and asked, How can this be an A paper with nine errors just on one page.?

The son, as you might expect, answered his dad defensively, Because that stuff doesnt make any difference.

Puzzled, the father asked And why not? to which his son responded, Because my science teacher doesnt care about spelling or any of that other stuff. That, he said pointing at the paper in his dads hand, is a science paper, and I got all the science part right.

Regardless of whether youre under or over 40, life in the real world isnt as forgiving. Everything you write in the real world is a reflection of who you are, what you know, and what your values are, of what youre capable of doing and being. Thats particularly true in the real world of business.

While sloppy grammar, spelling and punctuation may be overlooked by a friend reading a casual letter or email youve written, thats not going to happen with your business letters. Such errors there have at times been known to be fatal because theyve changed the original intent of the document.

Errors are particularly significant in the emails you write because emails can take on a life of their own. Theyre often forwarded to people you may not have met in fact, may never meet people who, based on your poorly written email, form a lasting opinion about you, perhaps even decide your future.

The bottom line is that regardless of which side of 40 you happen to be on, if youre gonna write, whatever you write, write right. Or should I say write correctly?

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The modern business world demands that people from all corners of the earth communicate with one another. A manager in the USA may have staff in Germany, India and China; the importer in France may have associates in Turkey, Italy and Japan. More and more people are now communicating across intercultural lines.

As anyone who works internationally can tell you, intercultural communication is not always a smooth ride. Intercultural communication in this context refers to people, primarily but not exclusively from the business world, working with others from different nationalities, religions, faiths and cultures. When different cultures come together in a business setting their differences can often cause confusion, misunderstandings, mistakes and the like. These intercultural differences can be anything from contrasting approaches to communication, etiquette, meeting styles or body language.

One area of intercultural communication that is common to most people working internationally is that of the email. The internet allows us to send documents, requests and information to colleagues, customers and clients across the globe. However, despite the unquestionable benefits communicating by email gives us there is a down side, especially in the context of intercultural business communication.

When looking at the intercultural issues of email we need to look at it from two angles: 1) the issue of language and 2) the issue of culture.

Language

English is without doubt the lingua franca of the modern business world. Whether we are in Berlin or Bangkok most business emails will be in English. Although most people accept it as the international language, most do not have native language speaker proficiency. This creates communication problems and misunderstandings.

Those that have English as a second language will of course have a tendency to misspell words, invent new words, use poor grammar and generally not make themselves clear. Reading such an email can be a struggle and if one word is out of place the whole meaning can be misunderstood.

It is important for those communicating across cultures to bear in mind that this is to be expected. The best way to approach such emails is to look beyond the form to the intent. If that is not possible then a simple email should be sent back asking for clarification on points or even sending back closed-ended questions which can only have a yes or no answer.

Culture

Intercultural communication can be tricky in a face-to-face environment. However, instinctively people muddle through situations by reacting to body language, gestures, facial expressions, etc. With email communication people do not have this luxury. As a result emails have lots of potential to get lost in translation across cultural lines.

The actual format of an email may differ across cultures. In some formal cultures it is expected that one starts by addressing someone with their name (and possibly surname) followed by their email. Others may not really care and will jump straight to the email content. Either way, one person may find the email too formal while the other sees it as too informal or even blunt.

The contents of an email are also culturally dependent. Some cultures may accept the use of slang, idioms, puns, joke-phrases or swear words in an email, while in others it is a real no-no. Some may deem it acceptable to reply to a question with a simple no or yes while others would expect a more detailed response.

The meaning of an email will also be impacted by culture. What a sentence means in Dublin may not mean the same thing in Delhi. If emailing a culture that is indirect in its communication style (such as India or Japan) it is possible to get replies to requests that say neither yes nor no. If one does not appreciate the fact that the writer is actually hiding their true sentiments between the lines there may be come confusion.

Conclusion

Email is becoming more and more prevalent as a way of communicating in business. However, as we have seen, when this takes place within an intercultural context there is a lot of room for misunderstanding both from a linguistic and cultural point of view. Individuals should take the necessary steps to investigate these areas and to always keep an open mind so as to minimise the chances of intercultural mis-communication. Companies with large numbers of international staff should seek to implement codes of conduct around emails as well as investing in intercultural training for their staff.

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There was a time when balloons were nothing more than kids toys but now they are used for so many different things. One of the most popular uses of balloons is for advertising. Advertising balloons are popular for so many reasons but the most important one is that people notice them. There is something about a balloon that is fascinating to adults and children alike. We all find out eyes drawn to these colorful floating things and we always want to see what they say on them.

Advertising balloons are pretty and they are effective. They also come in many different sizes. Some advertising balloons are gigantic and are as big as a small plane while others are tiny. Some balloons float while others hand from different things, things like walls or poles or flags, anything really.

These days the most popular kinds of advertising balloons are those shaped like different characters. You will see some shaped like giant gorillas or certain cartoon chartacters like Bart Simpson or Mickey Mouse. These are popular and they catch the eye as you drive down the road, some can even be seen from miles and miles away, they are colorful and fantastic.

The vast majority of advertising balloons are filled with helium gas so as to float in air with one end tied to the support that does not allow it to wander away. One good quality about advertising balloons is that they do not burst as they are not made from flimsy material. They have thick skins that keep them from getting poked and exploded by birds.

Though advertising balloons are dying out when compared to other neat things like laser beams that are used these days, they are certainly not going to leave the market anytime soon. Next time when you see a advertising balloon floating in mid air just think what it took to come with to come with simple yet such a brilliant method of advertising.

Balloons HQ http://balloons-hq.com/ for information about balloons from advertising balloons to weather balloons and much more.

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The concept of a decision support system (DSS) is extremely broad and its definitions vary depending upon the author’s point of view. A DSS can take many different forms and the term can be used in many different ways.

In a more precise way, it can be defined as:

An interactive, flexible, and adaptable computer-based information system, especially developed for supporting the solution of a non-structured management problem for improved decision making. It utilizes data, provides an easy-to-use interface, and allows for the decision maker’s own insights.

DSS are computer-based support for management decision makers who are dealing with semi-structured problems. With respect to computer terminology it can be defined as:

Interactive computer-based systems that help decision makers utilize data and models to solve unstructured problems.

Though, it is impossible to give a precise definition including all the facets of the DSS. Nevertheless, the term decision support system remains a useful and inclusive term for many types of information systems that support decision making. Every time a computerized system is not an on-line transaction processing system (OLTP), someone will be tempted to call it a DSS. As it can be see that there is no universally accepted definition of DSS.

Additionally, the specifics of it is what makes it less generalized and more detailed. In addition, a DSS also is a specific Software application that helps to analyze data contained with a customer database. This approach to customers is used when deciding on target markets as well as customer habits.

History of DSS

The concept of decision support has evolved from two main areas of research: the theoretical studies of organizational decision making done at the Carnegie Institute of Technology during the late 1950s and early 1960s, and the technical work on interactive computer systems, mainly carried out at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the 1960s. It is considered that the concept of DSS became an area of research of its own in the middle of the 1970s, before gaining in intensity during the 1980s. In the middle and late 1980s, executive information systems (EIS), group decision support systems (GDSS), and organizational decision support systems (ODSS) evolved from the single user and model-oriented DSS. Beginning in about 1990, data warehousing and on-line analytical processing (OLAP) began broadening the realm of DSS. As the turn of the millennium approached, new Web-based analytical applications were introduced.

It is clear that DSS belong to an environment with multidisciplinary foundations, including (but not exclusively) database research, artificial intelligence, human-computer interaction, simulation methods, software engineering, and telecommunications.

Historical development

The role of business information systems has changed and expanded over the last four decades. In the incipient decade (1950s and ’60s), electronic data processing systems could be afforded by only the largest organizations. They were used to record and store bookkeeping data such as journal entries, specialized journals, and ledger accounts. This was strictly an operations support role. By the 1960s management information systems were used to generate a limited range of predefined reports, including income statements (they were called P & Ls back then), balance sheets and sales reports. They were trying to perform a decision making support role, but they were not up to the task.

By the 1970s decision support systems were introduced. They were interactive in the sense that they allowed the user to choose between numerous options and configurations. Not only was the user allowed to customize outputs, they also could configure the programs to their specific needs.

The main development in the 1980s was the introduction of decentralized computing. Instead of having one large mainframe computer for the entire enterprise, numerous PCs were spread around the organization. This meant that instead of submitting a job to the computer department for batch processing and waiting for the experts to perform the procedure, each user had their own computer that they could customize for their own purposes. Many poor souls fought with the vagaries of DOS protocols, BIOS functions, and DOS batch programming.

As people became comfortable with their new skills, they discovered all the things their system was capable of. Computers, instead of creating a paperless society, as was expected, produced mountains of paper, most of it valueless. This information overload was mitigated somewhat in the 1980s with the introduction of executive information systems. They streamlined the process, giving the executive exactly what they wanted, and only what they wanted.

The 1980s also saw the first commercial application of artificial intelligence techniques in the form of expert systems. These programs could give advice within a very limited subject area. The promise of decision making support, first attempted in management information systems back in the 1960s, had step-by-step, come to fruition.

The 1990s saw the introduction of strategic information systems. This was largely because of developments in the subject of strategic management by scholars like M. Porter, T Peters, J. Reise, C. Markides, and J. Barney in the 1980s. Competitive advantage became a hot management topic and software developers were happy to provide the tools.

Applications

There are theoretical possibilities of building such systems in any knowledge domain.

One of the examples is Clinical decision support system for medical diagnosis. Other examples include a bank loan officer verifying the credit of a loan applicant or an engineering firm that has bids on several projects and wants to know if they can be competitive with their costs.

A specific example concerns the Canadian National Railway system, which tests its equipment on a regular basis using a Decision Support System. A problem faced by any railroad is worn-out or defective rails, which can result in hundreds of derailments per year. Under a DSS, CN managed to decrease the incidence of derailments at the same time other companies were experiencing an increase.

DSS has many applications that have already been spoken about. However, it can be used in any field where organization is necessary. Additionally, a DSS can be designed to help make decisions on the stock market, or deciding which area or segment to market a product toward. DSS has endless possibilities that can be used anywhere and anytime, for its decision making needs.

Zarfishan Batool
Dept. of Computer Science
University Of Karachi
Pakistan

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What is CSS?

CSS is a simple file which controls the visual appearance of a Web page without compromising its structure. Using CSS we can control our font size, font color, link color and many other attributes on our web page. This will make our HTML code much more readable and the page size will be reduced.

Why to use it and how to use it properly

If you don’t use CSS on your web pages and you have many tables and content on them, chances are that your HTML file size will be quite big. Fact is that we live in a busy world, and people are not will to wait more than 5 seconds web page to load.

From the other side some web developers implement the CSS on wrong way. They write their CSS in HTML code of the page, like this:

<html>

<head>

<title>My Page</title>

<style>

A

font-family: Verdana;

font-size:8pt;

color:black;

text-decoration:none

</style>

What is wrong with this technique? Well, imagine that you have site with more than 50 pages. One day, you decide that you want to change font color and colors of the links on your site. You will have to edit ALL the pages on your site, and do to that you will need time, because you place your CSS in your web page.

Better way is to save your visual attributes in separate, external CSS file, and to link that file with your page like this:

<html>

<head>

<title>My Page</title>

<link href=myStyle.css rel=stylesheet type=text/css>

Using this technique, you can change the look of your site within minutes, regardless of the number of pages, because your visual attributes are saved in ONE external CSS file. Edit that file, and you are done.

Benefits

Which are the benefits of using CSS? List is quite long and I will list here only the most important.

• Your web page will load faster
• Web page will become more search engine friendly
• You can change you site appearance within minutes
• You can write separate CSS file for handheld devices which will be called up instead of the regular CSS file
• You can forget about creating printer friendly version of your site using separate CSS file when user chooses to print the web page.

Avoiding standard HTML commands like:

<font color=#0000ff><font size=2>Product</font></font></font>

will help us to reduce file size, but that is not the only benefit. Using CSS word product in this example will be moved more close on the top of the document. Search engine will pick up more content and less code.

Imagine that you have 3 columns table on your page. When you see the code, you will notice that first come code for your table, and after that it come your content. Positioning your 3 columns using CSS instead of standard inline elements:

<table width=90% border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0>

<tr>

<td width=381 height=150 valign=top bgcolor=FFEDD4>

My Product

</td>

<td height=150 valign=top bgcolor=FFEDD4>

When CSS is used, your code might look like this:

<div id=leftcontent>

My Product

</div>

Again your code is much more clear, and your content is moved on the top of your document, making your HTML page search engine friendly, and reducing your file size.

Content is one of the most important factors in Search Engine Optimization, and you will benefit with removing the unnecessary code in your HTML and create search engine friendly web page.

Validate it

Browser war is far behind us. Reality is that most of the people today use Internet Explorer, but you should try to be on safe side and ensure that your CSS code is valid. Not all browsers interpret the CSS on same way. You can validate your CSS here: http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/

About The Author

Zoran Makrevski is founder and CEO of SEO.Goto.gr.

Since 1998 has focused on E-Commerce and attempts to bring more traffic to the customer sites bring him in the SEO industry, and he is running his own company today.

Search Engine Positioning Firm

SEO.Goto.gr

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Home Page

Home page should clearly indicate what the site is about. Provide top level navigation on the first page, your logo, and tell to the visitor what he can found on your web site. Your home page should be informative, and should call your visitor on action. Home page is the place where the visitor decides what he will do, click on some of your links, or leave the site. If you have a discount, or if you offer some free service in attempt to make a contact with potential customers, make sure to provide link to that service on your home page.

If you decide to implement flash intro on your first page, make sure to give the user possibility to skip the flash intro. The link skip intro should be outside of the flash, because you will force the visitor to wait until the Flash movie is loaded.

Navigation structure

Place the navigation on the place where the people are used too look for it. Dont experiment with the navigation! I cant stress enough this. Keep the navigation system same on ALL pages. Visitors are not ready to learn your site navigation system. Consistency is the most important thing here. You should focus your effort on building consistent rhythm across all pages of your site.

Font size

Your font size should be enough big so your text can be read without effort. There are many people who will not bother to read very small letters. Dont loose your visitors because of font size. Optimal size seems to be 12-13 points. Visitors should be able to read your text easy, without any effort. Broke big chunks of texts in paragraphs and make them easy to follow.

Line Length

The length of a line of type should be comfortable to read. The optimal line length for printed materials seems to be about 10 to 12 words, or 60 to 70 characters. Somewhat shorter lines of about 40 to 50 characters may be more appropriate for larger displays. If the line is too long the reader must search for the beginning of it; if it is too short it will break up words or phrases awkwardly.

Creating emphasis

Creating emphasis is an important and integral part of designing and typesetting. Handled with taste and good judgment it can help direct and inform the reader. When these qualities are lacking, or someone feels that every word is important and must be emphasized in some way then your web page starts to look like a battlefield and becomes difficult to read!

Graphics

Its well known that one picture worth more than million words. This rule applies on Internet too. Do your best to show clear, attractive photo of your product. If you offer a service, find a photo which will best describe him. However, be careful about file size. Dont compress your photo to that level to not be clear, but also dont leave the photo on full quality. That will make file size too big, and will increase download time.

Gif vs. JPEG

Less experienced web designers many times use wrong format to store their picture. Here are few guidelines which will help mistakes to be avoided. If your photo has small number of colors (less then 64) GIF will be better choice. Make sure however to reduce the palette size too. That is, if your image have10-15 colors only, reduce your palette on 16 or 32 colors.

Also, if your image contains text, GIF format should be your choice. JPEG use loosy compression method and will cause text and edges to become blurry.

If you are saving a photograph save it as JPEG

JPEG images can contain over 32 million different colours. That is much more than the human eye can see.

If you want to incorporate large text into a photographic image, JPEG may be a good format to use. While the edges may still get blurred, danger of it becoming unreadable is slim. If you think your image is more important than the text, go ahead and use the JPEG format.

Speed

Do your best to reduce the download time. We live in a busy world and people are not will to wait long time. Try to reduce size of your graphics as much as possible without to destroy the image. Image must look good, but size (in KB) should be as small as possible.

Test before publishing

Do your homework, and do it well. Your visitors will not bother to send you an E-Mail that some of your links does not work or that some of your images does not appear. Even if someone do so, it is quite embarrassing. Perform spell and grammar checking. Remember that in many cases visitor will build his opinion about you or your company on base on your web site. When published, site should not contain any under construction or coming soon messages.

About The Author

Zoran Makrevski is founder and CEO of SEO.Goto.gr.

Since 1998 has focused on E-Commerce and attempts to bring more traffic to the customer sites bring him in the SEO industry, and he is running his own company today.

Search Engine Positioning Firm

SEO.Goto.gr

More articles at Database for Articles

When you first start to look for a work at home job, its easy to get discouraged. Postings for work at home jobs can be scarce and when they do come up, competition among applicants is fierce. What many moms new to telecommuting dont realize is that there is another way to land a work at home job Networking. Many people get their work at home jobs either directly from or as a referral through other people they network with.

When you are networking, you are not actively pursuing a work at home job. Your main focus should be on making new friends in the Telecommuting community. Down the road those friends may send you a lead for a great job, but first you have to make those friends.

Lets take a look at four different ways to network in the Work at Home Community.

Message Boards

Message boards are a great way to network with other telecommuters. Spend your time asking questions and answer the questions of other people. You may not see any immediate return for the time invested in networking on the boards, but it will pay off in the long run.

If you are a person that is helpful and well liked on the message board, and one of the other board members comes across a position they are not qualified for, or they just dont need the extra work at the moment, they will likely think of you and send the lead your way (and you should do the same).

Creating those types of relationships are what you are working to create through networking on message boards.

Online Groups

One of the biggest online groups is the Ryze Network, but there are also Google, Yahoo and MSN Groups. Each of these networks has groups on any topic under the sun.

Search for Telecommuting groups and lurk around a few for a while. Youll find one or two groups that seem like a good fit for you and then start participating.

Instant Messenger

After you have gotten to know some other telecommuters on the boards or in the groups, approach them about exchanging Instant Messenger ids. You know have a fast one-on-one way to stay in touch with them and to further build a relationship.

Local Work At Home Mom Groups

Check with your local chamber of commerce or the small business organization to find some local offline networking events. Just like networking in the online world, you are there to meet new people and develop relationships with them.

Some of the best places to network online are WAHM.com - the first work at home mom website with an active forum and of course TelecommutingMoms.com/BB - the only message board devoted to telecommuting moms. Head over there today and make some new friends!

Be careful not to get too wrapped up with chatting thoughits all too easy to get wrapped up in message boards and spend hours a day networking!

Nell Taliercio is the owner and founder of http://www.TelecommutingMoms.com which is a leading resource website with work at home jobs and everything a telecommuting mom would need. Come visit us today!

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Skills must be developed over a period of time, and practiced to attain an acceptable level of professional competence. Practice needs to take place within the business arena. Time has become an ever-valuable commodity and this gap between talent availability and business need resulting from high-speed business ramp-up, is one of the reasons why expatriation is an important factor in the success of the region.

There is one main ingredient that is missing and that is provenance.

The difficulties associated with striving to attain superior performance in the global business arena, creates its own unique hurdles. Unfortunately, there is a line of thought that implies resentment towards some of the expatriate workforce from those who mistakenly believe that there is an unfair bias.

This feeling often draws attention to the connection made by hiring staff, that roles are skills and competency based and as such, this should be the leveler across all the installed talent pool. If selection of managers were solely based on these criteria and, these alone were adequate to determine their fitness for purpose, then this assumption would make sense. However, it overlooks the fact that at senior level, either at functional head, specialist or business leader, quite often external requirements mandate the qualifications of the new incumbent.

I believe career progression is contingent upon a combination of personal and importantly, external factors. Market drivers, competitive threat, company positioning and brand value, removal of trade barriers, regional growth and the turbulence and instability within the markets, the whirlpool effect, alignment with protocols such as WTO, incorrect business model causing bad hiring decisions, and in addition the impact of external pressure resulting in companies establishing hiring barriers and an uncertain US Dollar.

One of the main effects of WTO compliance is the removal of trade barriers enabling overseas companies to compete with regional based organisations, increasing consumer choice. Locally owned companies are now playing in the international business arena, large domestic companies have become international players with their home base acting as the international headquarters.

Quite often we see that new businesses are formed and are managed by for example western expats. This has raised questions within regional communities, for if the role has a particular scope and a particular form, then why would there be a bias.

Business is no longer regional, it is international and boundaries are dissolving and overall standards have to improve in order to become competitive, or to be the market leader, or, to simply survive.

This cannot be achieved with inexperienced staff or business inefficiency due to incorrect hiring choices. The ramp-up rates for business is rapidly increasing as the region goes though a phase of re-generation. This ramp-up is disproportionate to the availability of capable, locally available talent It is becoming increasingly more common to see complex strategic alliances and the establishment of innovative ventures.

In this era of collaboration, driven by for example, the need to become world class or to comply with WTO rules on monopolistic practices, organisations often share intellectual platforms or they establish a combined business form to capitalize on individual business expertise. This implies the need to recruit the best available talent.

There is an increasing number of major projects, with cross border assets and the need for external financing. Project finance comes from a variety of disparate sources often as a part of syndication and often amounting to several hundred million US$. Investors such as western- based venture capitalists, will need to mitigate their investment risk, see a return rate in excess of 30% per annum and a workable exit strategy.

Herein lies the answer to some of the questions raised about bias. Many companies are obligated to employ key staff who are not only professionally capable, but who have the right provenance to satisfy their investors.

Regional growth and the move towards a more competitive business platform will automatically filter out those who no longer fit with tomorrows business model. This is not unfair bias and neither is it prejudicial, it is sound business necessity

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