Business networking is a socioeconomic activity by which groups of like-minded businesspeople recognize, create, or act upon business opportunities. A business network is a type of social network whose reason for existing is business activity. There are several prominent business networking organizations that create models of networking activity that, when followed, allow the business person to build new business relationships and generate business opportunities at the same time. A professional network service is an implementation of information technology in support of business networking. Many businesspeople contend business networking is a more cost-effective method of generating new business than advertising or public relations efforts. This is because business networking is a low-cost activity that involves more personal commitment than company money.
As an example, a business network may agree to meet weekly or monthly with the purpose of exchanging business leads and referrals with fellow members. To complement this activity, members often meet outside this circle, on their own time, and build their own one-to-one relationship with the fellow member.
Business networking can be conducted in a local business community, or on a larger scale via the Internet. Business networking websites have grown over recent years due to the Internet's ability to connect people from all over the world. Internet companies often set up business leads for sale to bigger corporations and companies looking for data sources.
Business networking can have a meaning also in the ICT domain, i.e. the provision of operating support to companies and organizations, and related value chains and value networks.
It refers to an activity coordination with a wider scope and a simpler implementation than pre-organized workflows or web-based impromptu searches for transaction counterparts (workflow is useful to coordinate activities, but it is complicated by the use of s.c. patterns to deviate the flow of work from a pure sequence, in order to compensate its intrinsic linearity; impromptu searches for transaction counterparts on the web are useful as well, but only for non-strategic supplies; both are complicated by a plethora of interfaces needed among different organizations and even between different IT applications within the same organization).
Source: Wikipedia
Business term of the day - Term for August 5, 2013: «Business magnate»
A business magnate (or industrialist) is an entrepreneur or business owner who has achieved significant success, wealth, and prominence from a particular industry
(or range of industries). In particular, the term refers to a
successful entrepreneur or business owner who controls, through personal
business ownership or via a majority dominant shareholding position in
any business venture, business firm, company, corporation, enterprise,
or for-profit organization and utilizes the organization's goods,
products, or services is consumed by a large number of individuals,
groups, or other organizations. Business owners with significant
control, ownership, and influence of a large business, company,
corporation, enterprise, or for-profit organization may also be called czars, moguls, tycoons, taipans, proprietors, industrialists, barons, or oligarchs.
Source: Wikipedia
Source: Wikipedia
Business term of the day - Term for August 4, 2013: "Business-IT alignment"
Source: Wikipedia
Business-IT alignment is a dynamic state in which a business organization is able to use information technology (IT) effectively to achieve business objectives - typically improved financial performance or marketplace competitiveness. Some definitions focus more on outcomes (the ability of IT to produce business value) than means (the harmony between IT and business decision-makers within the organizations); for example,
This alignment is in contrast to what is often experienced in
organizations: IT and business professionals unable to bridge the gap
between themselves because of differences in objectives, culture, and
incentives and a mutual ignorance for the other group's body of
knowledge. This rift generally results in expensive IT systems that do
not provide adequate return on investment. For this reason, the search
for Business / IT Alignment is closely associated with attempts to
improve the business value of IT investments.
Business-information technology alignment, the "holy grail" of organizations, integrates the information technology to the strategy, mission, and goals of the organization. There are six key characteristics in order to achieve this alignment. First, the organization must view information technology as an instrument to transform the business. This includes exploring other revenue streams and integrating other facets of their business into each other. For example, using one central database warehouse to combine two separate, but partnering businesses. Next, an organization must hold customer service, both externally and internally, at the utmost importance. This communication between the organization and their customers must not be lost. Thirdly, an organization must rotate both IT and business professionals across different departments and job functions. They must have the knowledge and experience of both sides of the business so that understanding and communication is achieved. Once those three characteristics are achieved, then an organization must provide clear and specific goals to both the IT and business employees. This will create and integration of both entities to achieve a common goal. The fifth characteristic ensures that IT and business employees understand how the company makes or loses money. This is important so that money is not carelessly poured into the IT department and there is no return on that investment. Lastly, organizations must create and vibrant and inclusive company culture. There must not only be informational unity, but a company as whole.
It is not unusual for business and IT professionals within an organization to experience conflict and in-fighting as lack of mutual understanding and the failure to produce desired results leads to blaming and mistrust. The search for B/I alignment often includes efforts to establish trust between these two groups and a mechanism for consensus decision-making.
Business-IT alignment is a dynamic state in which a business organization is able to use information technology (IT) effectively to achieve business objectives - typically improved financial performance or marketplace competitiveness. Some definitions focus more on outcomes (the ability of IT to produce business value) than means (the harmony between IT and business decision-makers within the organizations); for example,
alignment is the capacity to demonstrate a positive relationship between information technologies and the accepted financial measures of performance.
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Business-information technology alignment, the "holy grail" of organizations, integrates the information technology to the strategy, mission, and goals of the organization. There are six key characteristics in order to achieve this alignment. First, the organization must view information technology as an instrument to transform the business. This includes exploring other revenue streams and integrating other facets of their business into each other. For example, using one central database warehouse to combine two separate, but partnering businesses. Next, an organization must hold customer service, both externally and internally, at the utmost importance. This communication between the organization and their customers must not be lost. Thirdly, an organization must rotate both IT and business professionals across different departments and job functions. They must have the knowledge and experience of both sides of the business so that understanding and communication is achieved. Once those three characteristics are achieved, then an organization must provide clear and specific goals to both the IT and business employees. This will create and integration of both entities to achieve a common goal. The fifth characteristic ensures that IT and business employees understand how the company makes or loses money. This is important so that money is not carelessly poured into the IT department and there is no return on that investment. Lastly, organizations must create and vibrant and inclusive company culture. There must not only be informational unity, but a company as whole.
It is not unusual for business and IT professionals within an organization to experience conflict and in-fighting as lack of mutual understanding and the failure to produce desired results leads to blaming and mistrust. The search for B/I alignment often includes efforts to establish trust between these two groups and a mechanism for consensus decision-making.
Business term of the day - Term for August 3, 2013: "Business Information"
Source: Wikipedia
Business information is one of the three main segments of the information industry. The other two segments are scientific, technical and medical (STM) and educational and training content.
Where much of the content industry revenues are advertising-driven, the business information segment remains largely driven by paid content, either via subscription or transaction (pay-per-view).
The primary forms of business information include:
There are more than 210 providers of business information. While the Internet has made it easier for business information publishers to deliver content directly to their users, there remains a strong market for aggregators of such content which package and customize business information.
Business information is one of the three main segments of the information industry. The other two segments are scientific, technical and medical (STM) and educational and training content.
Where much of the content industry revenues are advertising-driven, the business information segment remains largely driven by paid content, either via subscription or transaction (pay-per-view).
The primary forms of business information include:
- News
- Market research
- Credit and financial information
- Company and executive profiles
- Industry, country and economic analysis
- IT research
- Basic reference sources such as guides, bibliographies, dictionaries, almanacs, encyclopedias, handbooks, yearbooks and internet resources
- Directories
- Periodicals and newspapers
- Loose-leaf services
- Government information and services
- Statistics
- Electronic business information
There are more than 210 providers of business information. While the Internet has made it easier for business information publishers to deliver content directly to their users, there remains a strong market for aggregators of such content which package and customize business information.
Business term of the day - Term for August 2, 2013: "Business excellence"
Business excellence is the systematic use of quality management principles and tools in business management, with the goal of improving performance based on the principles of customer focus, stakeholder value, and process management.
Key practices in business excellence applied across functional areas in
an enterprise include continuous and breakthrough improvement,
preventative management and management by facts. Some of the tools used
are the balanced scorecard, Lean, the Six Sigma statistical tools, process management, the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence and project management.
Business term of the day - Term for August 1, 2013: "Business Engineering"
Keywords: business engineering
Business Engineering is an interdisciplinary field of engineering that focuses on how complex businesses should be designed and managed.
Business engineering circumscribes the domain of designing new business fields. Unlike business development, business engineering does not only include marketing related tasks, but also most of the other business administration tasks. Financial and operational tasks are of equal importance, for example.
Business engineering includes all activities that are necessary to develop and maintain an independent line of business. It is comparable with starting a business, but includes the novel component. That means that there is no core market yet and market opportunities need to be created. Most likely, the output of business engineering substitutes known forms of supply, in existing markets.
Therefore business engineering aims to establish new, future oriented forms of businesses but with reference to existing or emerging needs. Business engineering is most likely related with the area of future technology. To abstract it, business engineering combines the establishment of a completely new business in a prospect business environment.
Business term of the day - Term for July 31, 2013: "Business brokers"
Business brokers, also called business transfer agents, or intermediaries, assist buyers and sellers of privately held small business
in the buying and selling process. They typically estimate the value of
the business; advertise it for sale with or without disclosing its
identity; handle the initial potential buyer interviews, discussions,
and negotiations with prospective buyers; facilitate the progress of the
due diligence investigation and generally assist with the business sale.
Agency relationships in business ownership transactions involve the representation by a business broker (on behalf of a brokerage company) of the selling principal, whether that person is a buyer or a seller. The principal broker (and his/her agents) then become the agent/s of the principal, who is the broker's client. The other party in the transaction, who does not have an agency relationship with the broker, is the broker's customer.
Agency relationships in business ownership transactions involve the representation by a business broker (on behalf of a brokerage company) of the selling principal, whether that person is a buyer or a seller. The principal broker (and his/her agents) then become the agent/s of the principal, who is the broker's client. The other party in the transaction, who does not have an agency relationship with the broker, is the broker's customer.
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