Current Affairs

Are you planning to start your own business? A business that is easy to manage with a cheaper starting capital? A home-based business?
As years passed by, many things are invented and improvised. And for this reason, we are already engaged in a high technology society. You look around, everyone knows how to use computers. And everybody will not allow not to have a cellphone.
Did you know that your computer and cellphone can help you to earn money? Instead of just browsing your social networking sites,why don't you also conduct your own business at the same time? 
Background of the Study
Online Business or Electronic Business (e-business) is a term used to described businesses that is run on the internet using a computer or a cellphone.
Online trading began in the 1900s with the advent of the Internet. Where traders once had to physically call in their transactions, online trading opened a new window of opportunity. Traders were able to place their transactions independent of an external factor. Online security firms became the new way to conduct businesses. CompuServe came on the scene in 1969 as the first major online service company. By the mid-1980s, it was considered a giant in its field.
The birth of online trading came with the debut of the Internet. Prior to this, everyone who traded placed their order through a broker or agency who greatly influenced their purchase decisions. As a matter of fact, only large businesses had access to the web before 1979. Today, however, daily investments are made by individuals through the Internet as online trading continues to remain one of society's most popular ventures

Top Ranking B Schools in USA

Best of Top Ranking B Schools in USA

This is the list of the best B Schools in North America. Amongst these top b schools are the reverred Ivy League b schools. The order in which the b schools are listed on the site are quite representative of their rankings. However, the order should not be strictly construed to be rankings assigned to these b schools. The order may vary from that listed by other ranking services.

1. Stanford University (CA)

Stanford Graduate School of Business offers an MBA Program that is a two-year, full-time residential program, focusing on the academic facets of general business management. A PhD Program and the Stanford Sloan Program, a ten-month general management program for mid-career executives, leading to a master of science in management.

2. Harvard Business School (MA)

Harvard Business School offers a two year MBA Program. You can apply Online to this program. In addition, HBS also offers Doctoral Programs leading to a PhD in Management in any of the eight streams of Management.

3. Kellogg School of Management Northwestern University (IL)

Kellogg School of Management offers full-time, part-time, executive and international executive MBA programs. Kellogg is organized into six academic departments and each area offers individual Doctoral Programs.

4. The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

Wharton offers full time Undergraduate Program in Business Management. The MBA Program offers a variety of flexible options to students to earn Dual or Joint Degrees. The School also offers Wharton Executive MBA, Wharton Technology Management Course and Executive MBA programs. The Doctoral Program in the B School leads to a PhD in about 10 disciplines ranging from Marketing to Insurance and Risk.

5. MIT Sloan (MA)

Sloan offers Full Time MBA and Executive Programs. Sloan offers a Doctoral Program leading to PhD in management and an Undergraduate Program leading to Bachelor of Science in Management.

6. Columbia Business School (NY)

Columbia Business School offers a two year Full Time MBA and admits about 500 students each year to the program. The GMAT range for admissions in Fall 2003 was 670-750. In addition, the School offers a Doctoral Program in five areas of management and also offers executive MBA options.

7. Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley

Haas Business School offers a two year Full Time MBA program. In addition, the B-School also offers evening & weekend MBA programs and an executive MBA program. In addition to the masters program, the school also offers a Doctoral Program and a Undergraduate Course in business management. A special one year Masters in Financial Engineering Program is also offered by Haas School of Business.

8. The Fuqua School of Business, Duke University (NC)

The Fuqua School of Business offers four types of MBA programs to suit the needs of different types of students. In addition, the B School also offers a Doctoral Program. The Ph.D. Program currently offers programs of research and training in the areas of accounting, decision sciences, finance, marketing, management, and operations management.

9. Chicago Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago

The GSB offers two full-time and three part-time M.B.A. programs, six joint degree options, and aDoctoral Program. The MBA programs include a two year Full Time MBA and an International Full Time MBA which includes work or study abroad. 

10. University of Michigan Business School, Ann Arbor

The Business School offers a two year Full Time MBA, a Masters in Accounting program in addition to part time and executive education programs. The School also offers a Doctoral Program leading to a PhD in one of the following areas - Accounting, International Business, Computer and Information Systems, Marketing, Corporate Strategy, Operations Management, Finance, Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management.

11. Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth (NH)

Tuck School of Business has been at the forefront of business education since 1900 as the first graduate school of management. Tuck offers only one degree program - the Full Time MBA. The School admits between 200 to 250 students each year.

12. New York University Stern School of Business (NY)

The Stern School of Business offers Full Time MBA and Executive MBA programs. In addition, the school also offers Undergraduate Program and a Doctoral Program in Business Management

13. The Anderson School at UCLA (CA)

The Anderson School offers a variety of MBA programs to suit different needs. The Full Time MBA Program, The Fully Employed MBA Program and the Executive MBA Program. In addition, the school also offers Doctoral Program leading to a PhD in Management. The School admits less than 8 percent of all applicants into the Doctoral Program each year.

14. Yale School of Management (CT)

One of the leading business schools offers enrolment to about 250 students each year. In the academic year beginning Fall 2002, the range of GMAT score was 640-750 with 34% of the admissions being given to international applicants. The Doctoral Program offers specialization in Accounting, Financial Economics and Marketing.

15. Darden Graduate School of Business Administration (VA)

Darden Graduate School at University of Virginia at Charlottesville, VA offers a two-year Full Time MBA. The School also has an Executive MBA and Doctoral Program The School has authorized major fields in Finance, Management, Marketing, and Operations Management. In making its admissions decisions each year, the School may choose not to admit doctoral students to a particular field.

16. Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell University (NY)

Johnson Graduate School at Cornell University offers a two year Full Time MBA, and an Executive MBA Program. The School also offers a Doctoral Program leading to a Phd in one of Accounting, Behavioral Science, Finance, Management & Organizations, Managerial Economics, Marketing, Production and Operations Management, and Quantitative Analysis for Administration

17. Carnegie Mellon University (PA)

The Graduate School of Industrial Administration offers a two year Full Time MBA and a Flexi Time MBAprogram. The B School also offers an Undergraduate Program in Business Administration and aDoctoral Program leading to a PhD in one of the following specializations - Accounting; Economics; Finance; Information Systems; Manufacturing and Operations Management; Management of Manufacturing and Automation; Marketing; Operations Research; Algorithms, Combinatorics, and Optimization (ACO); and Organizational Behavior and Theory.

18. Kenan Flagler Business School, Univ of N Carolina, Chapel Hill

The B School offers a two year Full Time MBA program and a Master of Accounting program. The B School also offers an Undergraduate Program in Business Administration and a Doctoral Program in Business with specialization in Accounting, Finance, Marketing, Operations, Technology and Innovation Management, Organizational Behavior, and Strategy. UG | MBA | PhD

19. McCombs School of Business, Univ of Texas, Austin (TX)

The B School offers a two year Full Time MBA, Executive MBA and a Doctoral Program leading to a PhD with specialization in one of the following disciplines - Accounting, Finance, Management, Management Science & Information Systems, and Marketing. MBA | PhD

20. Kelley School of Business, Indiana University

The B School offers a two year Full Time MBA, a Part Time MBA and an Online MBA. The School also offers an Undergraduate Program and a Doctoral Program

21. University of Southern California (Marshall)

The Marshall School of Business offers a variety of Undergraduate, Graduate, and a doctoral progragmme with research in the areas of Accouting, Finance and Business Economics, Information and Operations Management, Management and Organization, and Marketing. The Marshall School ranks 11th overall for its undergraduate business programs with all undergraduate academic programs ranked in the top 20. The Leventhal School of Accounting has ranked among the top five undergraduate accounting programs in the country.

22. Georgetown University (McDonough)(DC)

The Robert Emmett McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University offers both anUndergraduate and an MBA program. The International Executive MBA, IEMBA program is ranked amongst the top 15 in the world

23. Emory University (Goizueta)(GA)

The Goizueta Business School at the Emory University offers degree programs at Undergraduate level,graduate level and a doctoral program in management. You can apply online to the b school by visitingthis page. 

24. Ohio State University (Fisher)

The Fisher College of Business at the Ohio State University is ranked amongst the top 15 for itsundergraduate program and amongst the top 25 for its MBA program. The college also offers doctoral program. The college offers doctoral programs in 3 broad areas.

25. Purdue University-West Lafayette (Krannert)(IN)

The Krannert School of Management and Graduate School of Management at the Purdue University offers Undergraduate, Graduate and Doctoral programs in Management. The school offers Bachelors' program in Accounting, Economics, Industrial Management and Management. The School offers four Master's programs in Management.

26. University of Rochester (Simon)(NY)

The Simon School at the University of Rochester offers a Full Time MBA, a Part Time MBA, few Masters programs in Management and a Doctoral program in Management. The School also offers few specialized degree programs and many non-degree programs in Management.

27. Vanderbilt University (Owen)(TN)

The Owen Graduate School of Management at the Vanderbilt University is a small school dedicated to post baccalaureate education in Management. The School offers an MBA program and a DoctoralProgram. Including its Executive MBA program, the school admits about 540 students.

28. Washington University in St. Louis (Olin)

The Olin School of Business at the Washington University in St.Louis offers a BS in Business Administration, a Full Time MBA and a Doctoral program in Management.

29. University of Maryland-College Park (Smith)

The Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, College Park offers aundergraduate business program, a full time MBA, joint MBA/MS Masters programs and a Doctoralprogram in Management.

Online Earning Tips

10 Tips for Successful Business Networking

Effective business networking is the linking together of individuals who, through trust and relationship building, become walking, talking advertisements for one another.


Online Teamwork
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Keep in mind that networking is about being genuine and authentic, building trust and relationships, and seeing how you can help others.

Ask yourself what your goals are in participating in networking meetings so that you will pick groups that will help you get what you are looking for. Some meetings are based more on learning, making contacts, and/or volunteering rather than on strictly making business connections.

Visit as many groups as possible that spark your interest. Notice the tone and attitude of the group. Do the people sound supportive of one another? Does the leadership appear competent? Many groups will allow you to visit two times before joining.

Become known as a powerful resource for others. When you are known as a strong resource, people remember to turn to you for suggestions, ideas, names of other people, etc. This keeps you visible to them.

Have a clear understanding of what you do and why, for whom, and what makes your doing it special or different from others doing the same thing. In order to get referrals, you must first have a clear understanding of what you do that you can easily articulate to others.

Be able to articulate what you are looking for and how others may help you. Too often people in conversations ask, "How may I help you?" and no immediate answer comes to mind.

Follow through quickly and efficiently on referrals you are given. When people give you referrals, your actions are a reflection on them. Respect and honor that and your referrals will grow.

Call those you meet who may benefit from what you do and vice versa. Express that you enjoyed meeting them, and ask if you could get together and share ideas.

Stephanie Speisman is a Success Coach who coaches groups and individuals in business networking skills based on her booklet "99 Tips for Successful Business Networking.

Earn with Website

10 Things Customers Want

on a Website

So you want your website to make you look big.

More power to you.

But the business experts I talked to recently say small is cool

with customers, too. Small businesses, they say, have a

personality, flavor and sensibility that big businesses can't match.

And when it comes to what you put on your website, they urge:

Don't be afraid to tout your smallness.

"Small businesses can have more fun with their sites, more

so than large corporations," says Alice Bredin, president of

Bredin Business Information, a Cambridge, Massachusetts,

company that helps large business-to-business companies

market themselves to small businesses. "A small-business

site needs to include something that reflects the creativity

and personality of its owner."

Maybe you're a couple working side-by-side in a spare

bedroom or a fourth-generation entrepreneur working to

someday hand it over to a son or daughter. Maybe you're

putting yourself through grad school. Or you operate from

a remote site in the hinterlands and you use only recycled

materials. Presented well on a home page and/or an

"About Us" section, all of these may have unique selling

points to customers.

"People want character; it has meaning," adds Kelly Cutler,

chief executive of Marcel Media, a Chicago-based Web

advisory firm. "How folksy you get depends on your industry.

" An attorney may not want to project an image of him or her

working on a leather sofa with a dog curled up nearby.

But that may work well for an artist or craftsperson, even an

architect, Cutler and others say.

Whatever your industry, "Tell your story online," Cutler says.

Customers want to know who you are and, if you lead a team,

who is on it and what they do. "You must talk about the team,

" Bredin seconds. "When there is nothing [on your site] about

who you are or who's on your team, people wonder about

whether you are a good company to buy from."

Here are the 10 most important things these experts say

customers want to know:

1. How your business is unique
   Answer the question "Who are you?" as interestingly and compellingly (and honestly) as possible. This includes writing management bios that mention your expertise, years of experience and any unique attributes or details that may set you apart from others.
2. 
   You need to answer, Bredin says, "What is unique about your business? Why should I buy from you?" This is missing from many business sites because the owners haven't done the strategic thinking necessary to figure that out, she says.
   
   Be concise, too, Cutler adds. "You don't need to write a novel."
   
3. A clear sense of what your company offers
   "It's incredible how many sites you visit and you're not sure what the company offers," Bredin says. Make it a priority on your home page to provide at least general information about your products and/or services, with links to specifics on a Products page.
   
   Many service-oriented companies, Cutler says, are concerned about divulging too much information about their offerings, for competitive reasons. Some also feel that consumers will have no reason to contact them by phone if they get all they need from the website. "There's a balance that needs to be reached" in giving the potential customer enough info to make a buying decision, she says. More often than not, consumers will not contact a company for the missing product information-- they'll just move on to a competitor.
   
4. Contact information, including a phone number and physical location
   This may seem like a no-brainer, but many companies are purposely vague about their location. Some prefer to do all of their business online and see no need to publish an address or phone number. Others are home-based or they worry that giving a street address or hometown will somehow hinder them.
5. 
   "This is a must, and it's one small way of building credibility and trust" with the consumer, says Wayne Porter, co-founder of ReveNews, an online marketing publication, and former senior director of research at FaceTime, a business security solutions provider. "A phone number, a street address and even pictures go a long way toward building credibility."
   
   Showing a physical location, even one that no one will ever visit, comforts a customer that your business is real and legitimate, Bredin says. Provide a phone number that maps to that location, rather than just an 800 number, she advises.
   
6. Third-party validation
   This means customer testimonials, client lists, case studies, awards and recognition you've received, positive news clippings and the like. Potential customers indeed want to know who you do business with, and what current customers have to say about their experiences. Such items "forge the underpinnings of trust," Porter says.
   
   Client lists are especially important if your customers are businesses. "If you've got some big-name customers, people like to see that," Cutler says. But make sure you get approval from those you list as clients, she adds.
   
   Porter adds that having a presence on social networking sites and blogs, especially those serving your industry, is an increasingly popular form of validation among customers. "Social networking now has strong validation," he says.
   
7. Secure Socket Layer (SSL)
   SSL is an encryption system that helps protect the privacy of data exchanged between a customer and a website. If you have an e-commerce site that takes credit card information, customers want to know that their sensitive data is encrypted. Get SSL if you don't have it. If you do, let customers know that and about any other safeguards you proactively take.
   
8. Ease of use and navigation
   If people can't find it, they can't buy it. Porter advises keeping sites "crisp, clean, and easy to navigate," but also for site owners to study traffic and usage patterns to adjust their sites based on what visitors are coming for. "The ability to search a site is very important," he says. "Businesses should study their search data to see if there are trends and what to make front and center."
   
9. Clear guidance on your processes
   Let customers know, step-by-step, important things such as how to order--and where to go and what to do should something happen out of the ordinary. Customers also want to know your shipping costs and procedures and how they can get status reports. (Don't list your shipping costs and procedures after people enter their credit card information, Cutler urges.) Last but not least, customers want to know how you handle complaints and problems, return procedures and whether you have a money-back guarantee.
   
   Your processes can be described in a FAQ (frequently asked questions) page or separate "how to order," shipping and/or confirmation pages. Include a way customers can contact your business or fulfillment agency for more information.
   
10. An ability to give feedback
    Encourage feedback about your products and services, your ordering process and your site in general, by providing a feedback mechanism--either feedback forms or e-mail links. Not every small business prefers to offer this, in some cases because of resource constraints. "You definitely want to look at how and what feedback to gather, and you should consider offering an incentive or perk [to the customer]," Porter says. "You might get some good stories to feature on your site or in your blog."
    
11. Clear calls to action
    Customers want signs or buttons in order to act, be it "Buy now" or "Sign up for our newsletter" or "Click here for more information." But many small-business sites don't provide calls to action or they don't present them clearly enough, Cutler says. "This is one of the biggest things that nags me," she says. "If you have a captive audience, this is the time to grab them!"
    
12. Special offers and personalization
    By personalizing a sale with a special offer, incentive or coupon, small businesses can gain an edge on their bigger counterparts, Porter says. "This can be as simple as a hand-written thank-you note, free gift wrap services or a special offer for repeat business.
    
    "Having a personalized touch," he says, "is something small businesses can do that many big businesses can't."

Online Business Success

10 Tips for Online Business Success

46 seconds is all you have...

The average time spent by an Internet user on a web page is a mere 46 seconds (Source: Clickz.com). Within these 46 seconds an online business needs to attract the customer, make a compelling proposition and close the deal.

The competition in the virtual world is growing day by day. Verisign reported 16% growth in domain name registrations in 2003. The total number of registered domain names now stands at a staggering 60 million, with .com consuming the largest share.

What can YOU do to stand out in the clutter and achieve E-Success?

We think the following 10 tips can substantially increase your chances of online business success:

1. Target the Un-Targeted:
   Know your customers thoroughly and target those needs that are unseen by your competitors.
   
   eBay is a bright example. eBay was quick to recognize peoples' desire to earn economic profits by trading second-hand products. eBay realized the need for a platform where such buyers and sellers could meet and trade. ECommerce technologies helped eBay to create the required platform required and the rest is history.
   
   When you are new to online business- Start Small but Start Right.
   
   
2. Strong Business Planning:
   Have complete knowledge of your revenue source, break-even duration and other important strategic details from the beginning, and decide on the milestones that are to be achieved. You should know the right moment to expand your business and plan for future sources of revenue.

1. Business Friendly ECommerce Software:
   Always choose software that is easy to manage and allows you to focus on your core business activities.
   
   Choose an ECommerce solution that fits your business requirements. Analyze ECommerce software in terms of its scalability, security and the amount of customization allowed.
   
   Invest in a solution that not only meets your present requirements, but also is capable of accommodating your future business needs.
   
   
2. Create a Web Store with a Difference:
   Visual memory is more enduring than textual memory. Correct branding is important for the success of your online business. Increase your brand recall by creating an estore that is in tune with the likes and dislikes of your targeted customers.
   
   Learn more about your customers and create unique branding by using distinct color combinations, site layout and innovative logo. Attractive display of your domain name can also play an important role in branding your online store.
   
   Be different (but not vague) in order to create a positive appeal in the minds of your customers for achieving esuccess.
   
   
3. Make your “Hot Sellers” most Visible:
   Attract a customer and advertise your USP first.
   
   Create your estore in such a manner that when a visitor leaves your online store, s/he is aware of your specialty even if they do not intend on purchasing those products.
   
   To clarify: Let us assume you are an online flower vendor specializing in selling fresh red roses. Create your online storefront in a way that when a visitor leaves your storefront, s/he is aware about your specialty even though he may not have seen the Red Roses section. So the next time the visitor intends to buy red roses, they will be very likely to recall your storefront.
   

1. Highlight your best product/service first in your estore.
   
   
2. Do not let your Customers forget you:
   Customer Relationship Management is of prime importance, especially when you are small and struggling to build a persistent customer base. Develop innovative ways to inform past customers about new products and the latest updates to the web store. Your chosen ECommerce solution should have provisions for incorporating various CRM campaigns. Adopt Innovative communication for communicating with your customers.
   
   Pamper your customers to generate permanent sales in order ensure the success of your online business.
   
   
3. Increase your Web Presence:
   Make your presence felt by carrying out intelligent marketing over the Internet. Performsearch engine optimization (SEO) for your site, since the majority of buyers visit websites after spotting them come in the first three or four pages of search engine results. You can either hire professional services or carry out Internet marketing by yourself.
   
   Associate yourself with web sites providing complimentary products or services on the Internet. This helps you in increasing your web presence both for search engines and for your customers.
   
   Intelligent marketing alone will get you customers.
   
   
4. Build Robust Backend Operations:
   Backend operations are the backbone of your online storefront. Spend time in analyzing the back end operations provided by the ECommerce software. Features such as Inventory management processing, credit card processing, reporting systems etc. will shape your first impression.
   
   All your backend operations are expected to be accurate, scalable and provide real time data. Your choice of ECommerce solution would largely determine the strength of your backend operations.
   
   A potential threat to your ECommerce operations is systems failure owning to faulty backend operations. Ensure the existence of a strong backend platform before opening for business.
   
   
5. Learn Faster and Better:
   To err is human, but failing to cover yourself and allowing your competitors to exploit your loopholes, is suicidal and is a major threat to E-Success.
   
   Always have an unbiased assessment of your online business and be prepared to spot your mistakes. Learn the art of covering your mistakes and rectify them before your competitors come to know about them.
   
   Business is all about speed. Speed is essential in identifying and rectifying mistakes. You need to learn about your loopholes and mistakes faster than your competitors and rectify them effectively.
   
   
6. Surprise your Customers:
   Surprise your customers with frequent changes in your business offerings. Add incentives by providing surprise offers, price discounts etc.
   
   Your estore can also help to add life to your business enterprise. Perform regular enhancements to look and feel, the display of products etc of your online storefront. Make changes that do not detract from the brand image in the minds of your customers. Make sure, as well, that the changes are not unattractive or are too frequent.
   
   Constantly innovating while remaining focused on your business goals will lead to success in your online business.