Perception

Strategic management refers to the art of planning your business at the highest possible level. It is the duty of the company’s leader (or leaders). Strategic management focuses on building a solid underlying structure to your business that will subsequently be fleshed out through the combined efforts of every individual you employ. Strategic management hinges upon answering three key questions: What are my business’s objectives? What are the best ways to achieve those objectives? What resources are required to make that happen? Answering the first question requires serious thought about what your ultimate goals are for the business. What are you trying to make happen? What are you attempting to facilitate or enable? What is the best possible outcome your company can aspire to? Drilling down to uncover a company’s core objectives can have several phases: Assessing the landscape within which the company will operate, and formulating how the company sees its role within t

Futures and options represent two of the most common form of "Derivatives". Derivatives are financial instruments that derive their value from an 'underlying asset’. The underlying can be a stock issued by a company, a currency, Gold etc., The derivative instrument can be traded independently of the underlying asset. The value of the derivative instrument changes according to the changes in the value of the underlying asset.. Derivatives are of two types -- exchange traded and over the counter. Exchange traded derivatives, as the name signifies are traded through organized exchanges around the world. These instruments can be bought and sold through these exchanges, just like the stock market. Some of the common exchange traded derivative instruments are futures and options. Over the counter (popularly known as OTC) derivatives are not traded through the exchanges. They are not standardized and have varied features. Some of the popular OTC instruments are forwards, swaps,

It's tough being a manager. You are stretched in 100 different directions and some days it seems like you get nothing done and your staff seems less motivated than ever. It seems hopeless but there are five things you can do right now to make your day more productive and your staff a bit more motivated and therefore productive. Complete Something. As a manager there is an endless amount of things to get done and most days it seems like you only get a little bit done of each. It's a deflating feeling. Pick something that is important and can get finished in 1 hour and do it. Close your door, tell your staff that you won't be taking any calls for an hour and focus just on that one thing and completely finish it. You will feel a sense of accomplishment and that is a great way to start the day. It may not completely vanquish that hopeless feeling that comes with having too much for one person to do, but it will help. Delegate Something Most managers are terrible at delegating.