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Also there were a lot of different students’ conferences this year. And I didn’t lose the opportunity to participate in them. One of my reports was devoted to gender problem in international business. And now I’d like to tell you about the most interesting parts of it…

Women have made great strides over the last century in areas where they were not historically equal to men; they gained the right to vote, they removed the barriers to traditionally male professions, and they changed the way society looked at them. Women are no longer viewed as primarily «emotional» creatures, but are judged on their individual qualities.

But the gender problem is still burning all over the world and especially in the countries of the former USSR, Belarus is no exception. The fact that there is still women and men’s work, and still separate play for boys and girls, show how these are apparent even today. By breaking down these stereotypes and allowing men - or women - to be as feminine or masculine as they choose give them a chance to be individuals. And that is why the United Nations Development Programme supports the idea of expanding the public space for women in Belarus.

This Project is for women aspiring to social, political and professional success; for men willing to support active women’ striving for self-realization and for anyone interested in the sustainable democratic development of Belarus.

Society creates artificial barriers in the way of women’s professional, political and social careers thus depriving itself of the great potential that this social group possesses. Gender equality is a prerequisite to the effective development of this country. The goal of the Project is to ensure the real access to the sphere of decision-making for Belarusian women.

In order to feel motivated, reach out and participate in the decision-making women must first attain self-affirmation. Up-to-date education, relevant knowledge and skills are all ingredients of success that would allow women to become leaders. The Project provides an opportunity to get the education that fits women’s needs, status and employment.

Providing equal opportunities means not only that women must be able to gain the education that would allow them to access such traditionally masculine spheres as big politics, serious business, higher levels of power. Equal opportunities are founded, first and foremost, on equal rights. The Project calls for expanding women’s impact on the legislative process to ensure the gender equality in the society.

Women who aspire to participate in decision-making face an invisible obstacle in the form of the public opinion. The stereotypical view on the limited role of women in the public sphere unfortunately still exists in our society. It cultivates in women the predisposition to passiveness and dependence, and, at best, provides them with a sort of a greenhouse – a limited scope of possibilities of personal self-realization.

Women who have strength, knowledge and ambition to participate in public life want to step outside the greenhouse and into a real world. Yet, too often they cannot declare their aspirations because of the social disapproval that would follow.

The Project aims at working with Mass Media to facilitate the change of public opinion and create a friendlier social environment for women. Creation of social advertising is one direction of work with mass-media. The social advertising, that were created during such cooperation, got two first prizes in nominations «Noncommercial printed advertising» and «Video advertising» in the Seventh world festival of advertising «Idea! 2006» and two first prizes in the fourth Kiev International Festival of Advertising.

It is important to consider the gender inequality as an economic problem, not only social one!

Women represent the biggest social - demographic group in Belarus. There are above 5,000,000 women that make up 53 % of all the population living in this country. Today women face with excessive loadings on work, growth of unemployment and poverty. In each branch of the economy there are significant distinctions in the incomes received by men and women. The average wages of women make 81 % from average wages of men. In spite of the fact, that women and men have the same educational level.

Thus, the gender problem is really urgent in our society because having refused from a social equality of men and women we refuse huge prospects of successful economic development of our country.

East or West — home is best

The latest research of many scientific centers proved that the tendency towards the transfer to large cities and metropolises of the key efforts aimed at improving living standards and environment, increasing the competitive potential of economy and struggle for outlets will prevail in the 21^st century. The globalization process will facilitate the creation of global cities, the centers managing the world economy, financial markets and science intensive productions. Some megalopolis of the world became    city-states. Foe example, the following cities:

1. New York

2. Chicago

3. Washington

in United States of America

4. London

in United Kingdom

5. Berlin

in Germany

6. Rome

7. Milan

in Italy

8. Moscow

in Russia

(Would you like to continue this list???)

These tendencies, which were described above, prompted the necessity to elaborate the concept and strategic plan of a sustainable development of the city of Minsk (the capital of Belarus) by the year 2020.

The Minsk development concept fits in the formula «Five cities in one». The first component of the concept is «The city of health and high social standards». It means the top priority of the technological and socio-economic progress in Belarus’ capital city is not the development of production or technological values, but the Human Being and his/her physical and spiritual health in a safe and favorable environment. The following conditions are to be met to ensure this component:

- clean water,

- clean air, warmth in houses,

- good nutrition, etc.

The second part of the concept – «The city of knowledge and science intensive technologies» – includes the development of the educational, science-innovation complex, creation of a state-of-the-art information structure, restructuring of the industrial complex, technological upgrade of construction and power engineering and encouragement of foreign economic activity.

The third basis of the sustainable development of the city of Minsk is «The city is the center of international communication». It envisages further development of external transport functions, the culture component, tourism, and city media. Besides the economic benefit the communication progress results in a huge advantage for international and human communication in the modern integrated world.

The fourth strategy of Minsk’s sustainable development - «The city favorable for business and attractive for investments» – envisages the creation of such conditions as a favorable tax climate, land relations that correspond to market relations and establishment of the real estate market.

The fifth component of the Minsk development concept is «The city developing democracy with a wide representation of citizens». It aims at elaborating the rules of living in the city, methods of city administration and the interaction between the city authorities, population, companies and organizations, as well as ways to effectively perform the functions of the capital of the country.

«Sustainable development of the city» is not a new tag for old ideas, but a completely new approach directed towards the next generation. Sustainable development is necessary not only for regional, but also for global development, because the ultimate goal is to coordinate the interests of generations, develop social cooperation, improve living standards and become more responsible on a global scale.

<:3  )~~~

There is no place like home

Euronext  + NYSE  = the first transatlantic stock market (the biggest in the world)

Euronext is second-largest stock market and it will be bought for 7.8 billion euros

Euronext CEO Jean-Francois Theodore think that there are a lot of benefits in this nerger:

+ the new stock market will connect stocks and options in New York, Chicago and San Francisco, Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Lisbon and London (netting system);

+ The common trading system;

+ More liquidity;

+ Huge economies of scale;

+ A netting system suppressing risk and reducing margins.
It means «all settlements in one single platform»!

The NYSE is the world’s largest stock market (the total capitalization of companies’ shares = 11,000 billion euros).

according to http://euronews.net

Achievements of mankind make our life more comfortable, but at the same time create a set of problems. The most difficult and global problems today are coupled with ecology. Huge money resources are necessary for solving these problems. Therefore our ability to benefit from the problem of waste recycling will allow us not only to solve one of environmental problems, but also to receive profit.

Only the tenth part of all waste products in our country is used for recycling. Annually Belarus throws out 1 billion dollars in a recycle bin.

Paper, glass, tree, polymers, metal - valuable secondary resources are simply thrown out and pollute the nature.

Separate gathering, sorting and industrial processing of waste products practically do not exist today in our republic. Two disposal plants in Minsk (the capital of Belarus) are closed, because they used out-of-date technologies. A single method of waste products utilizing that is used nowadays is waste burial.

The problem of dumps exists in many countries, but not all of them are capable to neutralize the damage effect of such «objects» on the environment and on population health. Belarus is no exception. City dumps are over flown, it is necessary to use new sites near Minsk, but accommodation of one more dump here is extremely undesirable.

In the developed countries simple waste burial is forbidden by law. In some countries, for example, Austria, Germany and Spain, burning of waste products is also forbidden. A primary method is recycling. For example, Japanese make uniform from crushed plastic bottles.

You see samples of such clothes:

In our republic such technology is not used.

To solve the «garbage problem» many countries undertake the following steps:

1. Change of the legislation in the field of ecology.

2. Separate gathering of waste products and their reuse. For application of this method it is necessary to carry out explanatory work in order to raise ecological culture in the society.

3. Attraction of external and internal investments into ecological projects.

4. Use of the latest technologies.

Belarus tries to use world experience to solve this problem.

Firstly, government and local authorities are elaborating special laws, according to which the responsibility for recycling of waste products is assigned to the manufacturers.

Secondly, about 150 containers of special design for separate gathering solid waste have appeared in Minsk this year:

Today glass, tin banks, paper citizens throw out in separate sections. But, unfortunately, the gathered waste in these containers is dumped in one common plastic package. And this experience represents only educational aspect.

Thirdly, the second tender on construction of a disposal plants was invited in Minsk. The first tender failed, because of out-of-date technologies of construction offered by different European companies.

Also it is important to mention the latest know-how of the Belarusian scientists. They have developed the technology of high-quality oil manufacturing from hard human refuse. But, unfortunately, this technology has not passed to the stage of manufacturing yet.

All these variants of problem solving are perspective enough, but nowadays their realization is coupled with various difficulties, therefore a primary method today is using presses for manufacturing of compact briquettes from garbage.

This manufacturing includes such processes as gathering of waste in separate sections and pressing. Then ready briquettes are transported to dumps. So, they occupy much less place and are safer for the environment.

The bottom line is that Belarus is still far from the developed countries in solving the «garbage problem». But we make steps to cope with it, using experience of other countries.

Religion and values

North Americans can be used as an example. They think that if you work hard and achieve success, you will find favour in the eyes of God. They tend to assume that material comfort is a sign of superiority, that the rich are a little bit better than the poor, that people who work hard are better than those who don’t. They believe that money solves many problems. They assume that people from other cultures share their view. In fact, many societies condemn materialism and appreciate a carefree life-style.

The idea of role and status

Culture dictates the roles people play, including who communicates with whom, what they communicate and in what way. In many countries women still do not play a very prominent role in business. As a result, female executives from Belarusian firms may find themselves sent off to eat in a separate room with the wives of Arab businessmen, while the men all eat dinner together.

Decision-making customs

As for decision-making customs, Greece can be a good example. There making deals slowly, after a lengthy period of discussion, spending time on every little point is consid­ered a mark of good faith. A Greek executive assumes that anyone who ignores the details is being evasive and unreliable.  As for Belarus decision-making process here is very bureaucratic and entails dozens of documents to be signed. That’s why decisions are not always taken in time.

Perceptions of time

Differing perceptions of time is another factor that can lead to misunder­standings. An executive from Latin America attaches one mean­ing to time, while an executive from United States   attaches another. 

Let’s say that a salesperson from US calls on a client in Mexico City. After spending 30 minutes in the outer office, the person from Belarus feels angry and insulted, assuming, “This client must attach a very low priority to my visit to keep me waiting half an hour.” In fact, the Mexican client does not mean to imply anything at all by this delay. To the Mexican, a wait of 30 minutes is a matter of course.

There’s another interesting fact. The Japanese, knowing that North Americans are impatient, use time to their advantage when negotiating with them. This is expressed in such a way: “You Americans have one terrible weakness. If we make you wait long enough, you will agree to anything.”  :)

Language

Turning to language it should be said that if you deal closely with foreign companies you’d better pay particular attention to accurate translation, so that you were understood correctly. Sometimes the translations aren’t very good. For example, the well-known slogan “Come alive with Pepsi” was translated literally for Asian markets as “Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave”. The results were unfortunate.

Social behaviour and manners

The last difference is social behaviour and manners. Let’s say that a Belorussian businessman going on a foreign business trip to Germany. He has a meeting with a Marketing manager, a woman. In order to establish a business relationship with her, he is giving a woman a red rose. Though he’d better not, as far as it is consid­ered a romantic invitation in Germany.

It goes without saying that we may never completely overcome linguistic and cultural barriers, but we can communicate effectively with peo­ple from other cultures if we work at it. Some tips for successful communication can be suggested here.

The best way to prepare yourself to do business with people from another culture is to study their culture in advance. Reading books and articles about the culture and talking to people who have dealt with its members, preferably people who have done business with them can be very helpful. You should concentrate on learning something about their history, religion, politics, and customs, without ignoring the practical details either. In that regard, you should know something about another country’s weather condi­tions, health-care facilities, money, transportation, communications, and cus­toms regulations. You should also find out about a country’s subcultures, especially its business subcul­ture. Does the business world have its own rules and protocol? Who makes decisions? How are negotiations usually conducted? Is gift giving expected? What is the appropriate attire for attending a business meeting?

Some companies are really worried about the problem of cultural differences. That’s why they are trying to deal with this problem but not avoid it. In some large ones Human Resources Department is already organizing intercultural training. It can also be a good practice to adopt an international code of intercultural business communication. This will result in better communication, closer contacts and more ethical decision-making worldwide.

<:3  )~~~

This Friday 32 billion people (TV viewers and football fans) will be eye-witnesses of the start of the World Cup in Germany.

Let’s look at this sports event with relation to economy. German Institute for Economic Research says World Cup brings bad and good points for the national economy:

+ about 1 million tourists would like to visit Germany (football fans);

- but at the same time almost the same quantity of tourists would like not to come across with fans and they will refuse to visit Germany;

+ advertisers from Nike, Adidas, Coca-Cola etc. will fight for attention (and money) of football fans;

+ producer of sports ware and LCD television are sure that millions of dollars, that they spend on advertising, will be generously repaid.

But the World Cup means not only profits, but also losses!

Some economic experts think that British economy will lose about 4 billion pounds sterling, because employers will watch the games during their working hours (some of them will use the Internet to watch the games live), as a result - fall in productivity!

according to http://euronews.net

First and foremost, what are cultural differences? I wrote about it in one of my posts, but I hope that the following joke can help you understand this notion better:

Last month, a world survey was conducted by the UN. The only question asked was: “Would you please give your honest opinion about solutions to the food shortage in the rest of the world.” The survey was a huge failure…

In Africa they didn’t know what “food” meant.

In Eastern Europe they didn’t know what “honest” meant.

In Western Europe they didn’t know what “shortage” meant.

In China they didn’t know what “opinion” meant.

In the Middle East they didn’t know what “solution” meant.

In South America they didn’t know what “please” meant.

And In the US they didn’t know what “the rest of the world” meant.

:)     

Our world faces new challenges in the 21^st century. It is becoming increasingly connected and global and the role of international business is increasing. That is why cultural differences will affect us all more and more.

Up to 30% of companies have already admitted that the success of their international activities was deteriorated by cultural differences.

Nevertheless misunderstandings do occur. The following example can be given. This happened to the sales representative who was calling on a client in China. Hoping to make a good impression, the salesperson brought a gift to break the ice, an expensive grandfather clock. Unfortunately, the Chinese client was deeply offended because, in China, giving clocks as gifts is considered bad luck for the recipient.

Such problems arise because we ignore the fact that people from other cultures differ from us in many ways. They are religion and values, ideas of role and status, decision-making customs, attitude toward time, language and manners…

<:3 )~~~

to be continued …

It’s no doubt that money is a very important issue in everyone’s life today. I even would like to add that money was and will be a very important issue.

But why do I believe in the vital importance of money in the live of our society? So, first of all it’s a real fact that money or if to be more executive the quantity of money determines the statement of any national economy. Nobody will deny that economy in its order determines almost all spheres of our life. And most scientists suppose that just economy create ideology, culture, religion and people’s viewpoint. For example capitalism originated such a religion as Protestantism, which preaches accumulation of capital as one of people’s aims.

But we can say about vital importance of money speaking only about the whole mankind, and not about every person. Because our opinions, interests and values are so different: some people consider money as the main value, others – as the main evil. However nobody wants to live on a shoestring, everybody wants to lose a quid and find a fiver. Also I must admit that some people can’t make both ends meet and are down and out because of money.    

I’d like to continue the topic about calls in business …

The first cue in the telephone conversation comes from the recipient of the call, who greets the caller and introduces himself and sometimes his firm. Then the caller should identify himself (and give his firm name if he feels it is necessary or helpful) not waiting to be asked. There are some exceptions to this, particularly if the caller is trying to reach someone who he knows does­n’t want to talk to him. But now we are talking about the great­est percentage of calls. Having identified himself the caller should immediately convey the sense of authority and conviction in a clear, strong voice that generally causes the person on the other end to give more attention to the call made.

If the caller is trying to reach, someone he doesn’t know on the reference of someone the recipient knows, this information should be given at the start. This often saves time and sometimes gets the caller through to people the first time, particularly if the caller’s reference is important to the person he is calling.

Assuming that this is primarily or totally businesses call its purpose should be stated as quickly and clearly as possible. The caller shouldn’t waste his prospect’s time with irrelevant comments or conversation before coming to the, point. This, of course, can vary depending on the relationships between the caller and his interlocutor. Anyway the best bet is to comу to the point before the recipient gets’ annoyed and worried why someone is calling him.

Once the caller has said why he is calling, he should listen und concentrate on what his interlocutor is saying. If there are any distractions try to stop them or if it’s impossible close your eyes, no matter whether you are the caller or the recipient.

When we use the telephone in our business transactions the communication tools available to us are very limited. The person you are communicating with cannot see you. He/she cannot read the expression on your face. If he/she doesn’t understand what you are saying, he/she cannot watch your lips. You can neither gesture nor touch your interlocutor. You cannot see the  person’s reaction to what you are saying. You cannot write, out anything or draw a diagram if he/she doesn’t understand your point.

You have only three communication tools at your disposal:

1. Your voice.

2. Your inflection.

3. Your words.

Therefore you must make the best of them what really isn’t that hard to do.

Voice

Speak into the mouthpiece, not over or around it. If you do this, people can hear you and understand you much more easily. It also means that you can then speak in your normal conversational voice. Have you ever noticed how on a long dis­tance call some people automatically raise their voices and some liven shout into the phone? We are not talking about when the connection is bad; most of the time this is just human nature. You don’t have to do this if you just speak into the mouthpiece.

The phone is a marvelous device, designed to carry your nor­mal speaking voice almost anywhere in the world. So let it do its work.

Inflection

Some people freeze up on the telephone. They speak unnaturally, without any inflection. When they do so, the party on the other end often misses much of what they say. In­stead of speaking into the instrument, forget you have it in your hand. Imagine that the person you are talking to is standing or sitting right in front of you. Speak to the person, gesture, stand, sit, pace. Be as natural as if you were carrying on the conversa­tion in person. Your voice will then have the right inflection and convey the unspoken messages you want to convey.

Words

Speak distinctly; don’t swallow separate words, whole sentences and great ideas. This may mean speaking just a little slower than you would if you were talking to the other party in person. Don’t be very sophisticated. Try to use the shortest and the simplest words you can.

To the above three points we should add another one that you should try to follow whenever you are talking to anyone, in person or on the phone - concentrate. Concentrate both on what you want to say and on what the other person is saying to you. This is even more important when on the telephone than in person.

Be a great orator and the greatest listener!

If you keep the above points in mind and introduce them into practice you will find that you are getting more benefit out of your time on the phone. And the people you are talking to will feel the same way.

If there is more than one point you want to cover, make a few notes and have them in front of you. If you have a lot of things to cover, make an outline. In any case be ready to take notes.