The International Monetary Fund Primary Commodity Prices states: Value represents the benchmark prices, which are representative of the global market. They are determined by the largest exporter of a given commodity. Prices are period averages in nominal U.S. dollars. A metric ton is equal to 1,000 kilograms or approximately 2,204 pounds, while a U.S ton…
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As a leader of a business you must determine what are the hard issues that need to be dealt with and what issues are the most pressing to resolve. Once an “Elephant in the Room” issue is verbalized, it’s easy to identify and discuss with staff about possible resolutions. Examples of these types of issues…
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The Bureau of Economic Analysis defines Gross Domestic Product as: Gross domestic product (GDP) is the value of the goods and services produced by the nation’s economy less the value of the goods and services used up in production. GDP is also equal to the sum of personal consumption expenditures, gross private domestic investment, net…
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Business leaders should think about making business decisions by considering what is the right decision, what is the easy decision and what is the wrong decision. All business leaders get to choose between this decision matrix. What Is the Right Decision? The right decisions are the toughest decisions that are made by a business leader. …
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U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics define unemployment as: The unemployment rate represents the number of unemployed as a percentage of the labor force. Labor force data are restricted to people 16 years of age and older, who currently reside in 1 of the 50 states or the District of Columbia, who do not reside in…
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Is it better to have a business strategy than no business strategy? The question really is – does the CEO or Owner of the business have a business strategy they are actually going to implement or a business strategy they just like talking about. Or to put this another way; talk is cheap, but it…
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A housing start is defined as when excavation begins for the foundation of the building. Home construction is important to the economy as it has wide spread effects on numerous related industries, to include: banking, mortgage industry, construction materials and land prices. The housing market is being affected by slightly higher mortgage rates, higher price…
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Salespeople are important to a business’s growth and success, but it is even more important for a business to manage, measure and compensate salespeople’s performance. First – the best way to compensate salespeople is on gross margin. Salespeople that are incented on gross margin sell the business’s products for the best price and at the…
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The following chart shows the growth in student loans between January 2006 to October 2018 in billions of dollars. In January 2006 there was 480.97 billion dollars and in October 2018 there was 1,569.35 billion dollars of student loans owned, securitized and outstanding. This is a 1,088.38 billion dollar or just over a trillion dollar…
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Listen to an executive that knows their business and they will tell you about the health of the business’s Balance Sheet, because they know that it is the Balance Sheet that will make or break their business (literally). Why is the Balance Sheet so important? The Balance Sheet shows executives, lenders and investors about the…
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