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  • 31Oct

    In the last few years, more and more leading companies have started realizing that not taking advantage of possible business collaborations between them will harm their goals of gaining a strategic advantage and achieving rapid growth fast. The key for quick and substantial growth is first and foremost the ability to share strategically with other organizations, including rivals.
    What made this change happen?

    Sharing Resources

    Sharing Resources

    The Global Economy- means that wares, ideas, people, cultures and services are moving freely across national borders. When you look closely at the factors that caused globalization to spread so rapidly in the last decades, you find that technology was the main factor. Technology has shortened distances, created large communication networks, allowed us to be exposed to different cultures and even improve our lifestyle. Dealing with this tremendous global space required collaboration between many business corporations around the globe, mainly to ease development and distribution efforts.

    The Need For Knowledge – is growing rapidly and the knowledge to be gained is now more diverse, multidisciplinary, faster and complex. This need requires that we share with others in creating data sources that are needed in the business world. We need external feeds from different sources to enrich the organization’s knowledge, and without it the organization won’t survive in the modern business world.

    The Demand for Immediacy- This is a critical factor in global economy. Everybody wants everything, faster, sooner, and quicker. In this age, when a technology can become dated faster than it was developed, it’s crucial for different organization to collaborate. A firm that insists on doing everything on its own will soon find out that it’s already too late and it missed the market. Companies that participate in these collaborations will always be faster in reaching the market, dealing with changes and empowering their synergy.

    The complexity of Technology- This is the simple fact that, if we take a look at the products that we use today, we will find that most of them were not here in the same configuration only few years ago. Every product now has new features, new capabilities or is totally new. There is always a human hunger for newer and better technologies and that is why the complexity is always growing. So what is the easiest and fastest way to produce this new technology? You probably guessed it right: create business collaborations that allow the merging of different technologies and ideas to new and improved products.

    Now one might ask what are the factors for a successful collaboration? The main factors are:
    • Mutual interest in which each partner knows what he is getting from the collaboration.
    • Organizational culture that embraces changes.
    • Preliminary planning for setting the collaboration goals.

    The same concept applies in the CEO game as well. It will prove to be very hard for one company to research new products, produce them, advertise them and sell them around the globe without the assistance of different companies in different ways.

    Ailon.

    The CEO Game.

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  • 29Oct

    In my last article I discussed the factors in life and business that we have no control over, but still affect us in significant ways. In this article, I want to go one step further and talk about “Luck” and how we can use it for our own benefit.

    Creating Your Own Luck

    Creating Your Own Luck

    Why do we need Luck?
    Two people are applying for the same position. Both have about the same GPA from the same university. Both have a good background and experience. Only one will get the job–do you think that the interviewer will know which one is better skilled for the job? He`ll probably base his decision on factors that have nothing to do with the candidate’s skills. It might be gender, age, skin color, the ethnicity etc. You`ll never know what the final decision was based on.
    People will tell you that you don’t need luck. They will also tell you that the only thing you need is ambition and hard work. I`ll give you all the time in the world, but you still won`t be able to convince me that the last person who won the lottery`s jackpot had high ambition and worked hard for that. I`m not trying to tell you to play the lottery now, but this extreme example can show us that luck is a factor in life that should be taken under consideration and for sure you want it to be on your side.
    Turn your luck into calculated risk:
    The lottery is not the place you want to put effort to increase your odds. This is because there is nothing legal you can actually do in order to change your odds of winning – every ticket you buy has the same odds of winning, but if you buy all of the possible tickets you will end up losing money – not a great deal. You need to increase the odds in scenarios which your actions can actually make this difference.
    If you own a startup, and your main goal is to sell it to a big company, you`ll need to go out and meet with people. Make sure everybody in the industry knows you. The more people that know you, the bigger your chances are to make the big exit. There might be a chance of 1:1,000,000,000 (this number has no statistical evidence) that a stranger who has no idea who you are or what you`re doing will come up to you and ask you “Hello, is there a chance that you`re working on this startup and you want to sell it?” But if more people know what you are doing, the odds increase magnificently. Focus your efforts in the right directions and in the right places in order to maximize your chances. In this example you control your luck by letting people know about your business.

    In a different example, I want to invest money in the stock market. There is a constant risk in the market; we never know what`s going to happen tomorrow, things changes constantly and rapidly. New information sends the stocks up and down without prior notice. If you`ll buy one stock, you`re relying mostly on luck. We have seen good stocks go down in good market and we have seen bad stocks flying in a bad market. Nothing we can do about it. If we want to control the luck and turn it into a calculated risk, we need to have a wide and diverse portfolio.
    The statistical error:
    I personally look at good luck and bad luck as statistical errors. If we`ll look at the normal distribution, I believe that if something occurs on the right side of the distribution that’s a result of good luck, if something occurs on the left side that’s a result of bad luck. The middle is where we expect the result under normal circumstances. At this point, we want to put our efforts in moving to the right side of the scale, creating, by doing so, more “good luck”.

    Assaf Arie.

    The CEO Game.

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  • 28Oct

    What’s the difference between the Chairmen and the CEO?

    Chairman is the highest office in the organization (company). The chairman is the head of the Board of Directors (deliberative assembly). The chairman needs to lead the board meetings and conducts the board’s business in an orderly fashion. The chairman, as a part of the board, must appoint or approve the CEO as well as set the strategic path the company is following, by setting the annual goals and long-term programs. The chairman gives these orders to the CEO; the CEO has to follow the guidelines set out by the board while achieving the highest profit possible as the chairman supervises.

    The Chairman And The CEO

    The Chairman And The CEO

    The chairman is, most of the time, representative of a group of shareholders or individuals in the company. In public companies there is also a Non-Executive Director whose job is to keep the interest of the public (the small shareholders) in mind. This is because sometimes the public doesn’t have enough shares to have real power and so they need someone to keep an eye on the private representatives. The Non-Executive Director job is to monitor and alert the public to any exploitative behavior of the board to the small shareholders.
    The CEO, on the other hand, needs to follow the strategic path that the Board of Directors set. He also needs to inform the board on any new developments that occurred in the market that might lead to changes in the master plan or obstacles he might foresee as problematic in the future. The CEO can also suggest strategic plans to the board but he can’t force them to approve those plans.

    The CEO must also deal with the day-to-day problems such as HR, financial, marketing and logistical planning. In some cases the CEO can also initiate business plans; some boards even delegate the CEO power to change the strategic plan in case of any given event such as sharp market changes.

    Omri.

    The CEO Game.

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  • 27Oct

    How can you best describe The CEO Game? Is it a Simulation game? Or is it a Tycoon game? A Business game? maybe its Management game?

    The answer is: All of the above. The CEO Game is a management business simulation in which you play as the CEO. Your job is to increase your wealth and get rich but also to promote your company. At first you need to create your own company, analyze the market, and decide in which country you’ll build your HQ. This is a major step as once you build your HQ you can’t move it. The location of the HQ will give you some benefits in your home country and will determine the currency you mostly do business in. After this you’ll need to chose the city in which to build your stores—every city and region has its own unique population. Regions vary in the age, political leanings, and socioeconomic status of its citizens, so make sure you are selling the right products to the right population. For example, a luxury product will sell well in a region with high income and almost not at all in a low income region.

    You will also have to deal with the storage and shelf life of your products. Managing the storage of your stores and factories will be easier over time after you collect some data on the sells rate. You’ll also need to manage the HR department by hiring the best employees at the lowest possible cost, as well as arrange the financial reports. If you manage to create a successful company you will be able to go public (sell your shares in the stock market) or take over other companies by hostile takeovers. As a creditor or as a major share holder you will also be able to develop new products and import and export foreign products—or even go global and start selling your product in other countries, or maybe just to move the production line to low cost manufactures contraries

    You as a CEO can harvest much information from the newspaper and internet about your competitors’ stats and on macro data such as average income or interest rate. If you want to be successful you’ll need to utilize every bit of knowledge.

    In summary, in the CEO Game you will aim to become a leader in the global market, a highly profitable company. You will be playing in a highly nuanced and sophisticated world more realistic than any other business simulation around. And, you will be competing against people who want it as bad as you. Good luck!

    Serious Business Game

    Serious Business Game

    Omri.

    The CEO Game.

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  • 26Oct

    Close to addressing the banksObama goes after financial giants: Have you enjoyed the financial bailout package? Now lay off 90% of your salary.

    Obama Fighting Financial Giants

    Obama Fighting Financial Giants

    Obama draws the sword: The US president has made a promise to chop down the salaries of leaders of the financial system and now he plans to keep it. In his efforts to revive the American economy, Obama has decided to give financial institutions a financial bailout package consisting of 700- 870 billion dollars according to experts’ estimations. Now he informed the companies which received the financial aid that they will have to cut down the huge bonuses they use to give their senior workers and the same goes for their salaries.

    He made this statement prior to the soon-to-be revealment of his financial plan, which will force the bigger seven institutes, who used the most of the aid funds to give up 90% of the salaries of their 25 most senior workers. In addition, Kent Finberg, which was appointed by Obama to be the “pay czar” of the White House, has made plans that include measurements to be taken in the White House, where many senior officials and employees who enjoyed over the years high salaries will also have to give up half of the bonuses and compensations they deserve.

    As of lately, he was tangled up with many problems yet to be solved and many hard dilemmas to cope with. As a democratic, liberal president he was elected and is expected to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but up to now nothing has changed. As a matter of fact, the situation have gotten worse, when everybody was talking about pulling the troops out of Afghanistan- he had to face decisions whether to send another 40,000 troops as requested by Army General Stanley McChrystal which claimed ‘More Troops Or Lose Afghan War‘. It wasn’t a win-lose situation but a situation which no matter what you choose you lose. Not to mention, the delay with finding a solution for a nuclear Iran, nor Guantanamo, nor any progress in the Middle East at all. No major progress was made with the health care legislation and the unemployment issue as well. When taking on a different front, a less frightening one, he also failed and lost the Olympic Games to Rio De Janiero. Don’t forget the worldwide criticism on his Nobel Prize win, with some critics blaming the Nobel Prize committee of being political and only that and some saying he was chosen only because he ain’t Bush. Some say, if all those occurrences were packed into a movie, the best title for it would be “Land of the lost”, imagine that.

    Moreover, with the constant rise of the European Union’s power, a possible alliance of China and Japan and the demise of the dollar, which is just isn’t being bought enough, Obama needs this small time victory, it isn’t much but he needs to win at least in this financial war back at home, the US, since he isn’t scoring anywhere else right now.

    Omer Shachnai

    The CEO Game.

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  • 25Oct

    Barak Obama attacks US banks: When you needed, you were helped; now it’s your turn to give back.

    The President of the US addressed all the banks that were helped during the ongoing financial crisis and requested them to return a favor. In his words, now it’s the time for the banks to do their part and chip in to help the financial recovery and give more credit to little businesses. He is practically saying, hey the US tax payer helped you bail out; now the time has come for you to give something back to the public.

    Time For A Change?

    Time For A Change?

    Obama made this statement at his “weekly address” which is broadcasted live via the radio and the internet. In his speech, he commented that many business owners in America are having a hard time to get credit from the banks, even though the government had done a lot to improve the financial situation of the banks after the economic collapse in September 2008, which afterwards the banks stopped handing out loans for small and medium businesses.
    “These are the very taxpayers who stood by America’s banks in a crisis, and now it’s time for our banks to stand by credit worthy small businesses and make the loans they need to open their doors, grow their operations and create new jobs” Obama said. He pointed out the White House is willing to take the steps needed to encourage the banks to give credit, but he didn’t mention what steps will be taken if at all. “It’s time for those banks to fulfill their responsibility to help ensure a wider recovery, a more secure system and more broadly shared prosperity” he added.

    Earlier last week, Barak Obama criticized the American banks and financial institutes and claimed that they were working through Congress to try and sabotage his idea of a federal agency the “Consumer Financial Protection Agency”. Obama blamed them for “using every bit of influence they have to maintain the status quo” that has helped them get richer “at the expense of American consumers”. That is in spite of the fact that recently those same consumers helped them bail out as a consequence of their wrong decisions.

    According to estimations, the financial bailout package cost taxpayers around 700 billion dollars. In his address last Saturday, Obama also said that small businesses have created two thirds of US new jobs over the last 15 years, thus making them a crucial part of the economy, that we must help to sustain- “they must be at the forefront of our recovery”, he said. In addition, last week, he asked Congress to increase the size of SBA loans (small business administration) and announced his rewarding plan: to give low interest loans to banks, who do help and agree to lend more money to small businesses.

    When playing business simulation games, you can learn from these past mistakes and learn how to foresee the consequences of your actions. During the development of The CEO Game, we have kept in mind the financial crisis and have taken a great deal of effort in creating and simulating a vast real-life like economic system which generates and is influenced all the time by unplanned events and misfortunes, that every CEO has to cope with in order to succeed.

    Omer Shachnai

    The CEO Game.

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  • 24Oct

    One of the most important skills any aspiring CEO must have is the ability to network. Networking means building a structure of people, at various degrees removed from you, that you can count on or come to professionally. Developing these contacts is important, because oftentimes jobs and opportunities are only really open to people on the inside — by the time that job listing is posted on Monster, there’s a good chance it has already been filled by someone’s niece or friend of a friend. And that is the other important reason to network; every contact has his own contacts. If your contact likes you enough, even if they can’t help you, they might pass you along to someone who can. So here are some tips about how to develop and maintain this web of contacts.

    LinkedIn - The Leading Networking Tool

    LinkedIn - The Leading Networking Tool

    1) Carry a Card. Nothing looks as unprofessional when making a contact as fumbling around in your bag for a scrap of paper to write your contact information on (or to write someone else’s). Not only does it make you look stupid and unprepared, but that little scrap of paper is going to get lost. There are many high-quality, low-cost options around (vitaprint.com, for one). Invest in an attractive, professional card. This means no unicorns and rainbows. Obviously in some fields your card can be more artistic than in others. Use your judgment.

    2) Be Interesting. Often people make the mistake of networking with a one-track mind. They think to themselves “I need a job; I better sell myself” and they proceed to do so. In the process, they bore the socks off of the person they are talking to, with the added bonus of making that person feel hounded. Just be interesting. Talking to a person you meet at a professional event or any place with potential contacts, should be much like talking to someone at a tasteful cocktail party — without the sex, drugs, religion, or politics part. A person is much more likely to remember and want to help out a charming, intelligent person they conversed pleasantly with for half an hour than a person who recited their resume at them.

    3) Be in touch. Don’t wait until you need something to contact your contact — not only might they have forgotten you already, but it’s tacky. How, you might ask, does one stay in contact with someone they have only briefly met? There are two basic ways, and they both involve email. Always, always email people. It is the most convenient, fastest, and least intrusive way to be in touch with a person. While a written thank you card can be a nice touch, don’t forget to send an email — the email will probably be stored forever, and the person is more likely to respond immediately So, the first way to be in contact is obvious: the holidays. A brief note on Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s or the Fourth of July wishing the person or note and their family and happy holiday season is always appreciated. But what if you want to remind your contact about your existence and there is no holiday looming? Find a product, article, or movie about something that you know the person likes, and send them a link with the note “Saw this and thought you might enjoy”. Your contact will be pleased that you remembered that he loves fly-fishing and that you took the time to let him know about this fun story in the Times about it.

    4) Be Thoughtful. In the end, everyone likes to be liked. A way to make a person feel liked is to remember things about them. And please, don’t trust your memory. Write down in your contact book, Google calendar, rolodex, whatever, things that you have learned about a potential contact. This way, before you ask them for something, you can ask “And how is Janey doing at Colgate”? It helps.

    Any successful entrepreneur has learned how to network. It is a skill that every aspiring business tycoon needs to develop. Good luck!

    Tamar.

    The CEO Game.

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  • 23Oct

    Vatican City now praises the man who once described religion as “the opium of the people“.

    A New Religious Icon?

    A New Religious Icon?

    Religion is the opiate of the people“, is one of the most famous and well-known sayings of Karl Marx, a German philosopher and political economist. To his opinion, religion is but a mere deception and a one which through the entire history had misled the weak and prevented them from uprising in order to improve their financial situation. Thus, it’s no wonder that for the last 150 years his books and theories were “banned” from the church. On the contrary, what does sound surprising is the fact that this week the Vatican published an article who praises the Marxism, his doctrine which advocates communist and socialist ideas.

    The article appeared in L’Osservatore Romano, the official newspaper of the spiritual capital of a billion Catholics, thus giving it papal endorsement. It claimed that Marx’s criticism on the western capitalism “succeeds in protruding the social alienation that is felt by a large part of humanity” and that remained excluded, even now, from economic and political decision-making. The article also claimed that today, his criticism is more relevant than ever, since mankind is now looking forward to a new harmony between its needs and the natural environment. In addition, the paper argued that Marx’s theories may help to explain the persisting subject of income inequality within capitalist societies.

    This sudden approval adds to a constantly growing list of “qualification” actions taken by the Vatican regarding historical figures that underwent an unlikely reappraisal by the church. The first example (is related to the maybe oldest religion-science clash in history) is the legitimization of Galileo, who was on a constant run, playing hide and seek with church only because he cleverly and bravely claimed that the earth is the one who spins around the sun and not the opposite. Likewise, a senior Vatican spokesman argued that Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution can go hand in hand and be compatible with the belief of the church in the tale of Genesis. Moreover, in July the same paper also cherished the Irish playwright Oscar Wilde, which if you Google him you will find out why he and his outtakes against the church’s conservatism don’t exactly go single handedly.

    And the alibi? Although the article did criticize some of Marx’s theories, it conveniently said that Marx’s intellectual legacy was abandoned over the years because of the misappropriation of his work by communist regimes and their manipulations of his words. In the end it seems that everything is “kosher” for the Vatican when battling with capitalism. It’s just another means to an end. Even though these are times of change, it’s not so clear how a man who once said that religion “is the heart of a heartless world” can now be endorsed by the church, but maybe we are just politically in-correct.

    Omer Shachnai

    The CEO Game.

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