Article by Fcm Strategies

Mario I. Blejer is a former governor of Argentina’s central bank, was a senior adviser to the International Monetary Fund and is currently the vice chairman of Banco Hipotecario SA. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/BloombergPlay VideoMay 31, 2011 — Dirk Faltin, a senior economist at UBS AG, talks about Greece’s debt crisis and bond yields. He speaks from Zurich with Francine Lacqua on Bloomberg Television’s “The Pulse.” (Source: Bloomberg)One of the undeniable features of the European debt crisis is the tendency to obscure, verbally and politically, the real issues at play. Euphemisms, statistical gimmicks, meaningless institutional squabbling, undecipherable acronyms, and plain double talk proliferate as part of the debate.In my experience as central-bank governor in Argentina during the worst financial crisis in our history, at the beginning of this century, I learned how useful it is to cut through the fog in order to rebuild credibility and to allow a more lucid evaluation of the outlook. While there are few similarities between Greece’s present debt situation and Argentina’s in 2002, it is possible to reduce the recent talk of a default to four basic issues and make some predictions.The nature of the debt problem in peripheral Europe is structural. Since it doesn’t reflect a temporary liquidity squeeze, the approach adopted so far can’t resolve it. The strategy in progress has been to pile new debt upon the existing stock. New loans are used to pay old debt, in addition to financing remaining fiscal gaps. This is why the Ponzi schemeanalogy is appropriate. And while the pyramid is growing, the share of peripheral debt held by state-owned institutions also keeps getting bigger. This means that when it all finally collapses, it is the taxpayers of Europe, and the world, that will bear the full cost.Growing PyramidThe pyramid may continue to grow for a while, particularly if the cement used is public funds. But it is an unstable construction because European bailouts are becoming politically questionable and because throwing International Monetary Fund money into the Ponzi scheme is raising objections. This strategy is only making the situation worse.The IMF has performed badly in this crisis. Its programs are bound to fail because their design is profoundly flawed. They contain two basic blunders. First, they have wrongly assumed that peripheral countries could return to the voluntary capital market next year. Today we know that Greece’s ability to borrow 30 billion euros ( billion) in 2012 is nothing but a fantasy. The programs, therefore, remain unfinanced. And the situation promises to be even more difficult in 2013 if the perverse permanent-bailout mechanism being designed is adopted.Second, programs have been based on dreamy debt sustainability scenarios in which countries outgrow their debt under severe fiscal tightening. But since these austerity plans cause deep recessions, the debt/gross-domestic-product ratios increase over time in all peripheral nations. How this squares with sustainability, and how the macroeconomics add up, is hard to comprehend.Asset SalesOne proposed solution has been the sale of state assets. But currently this would result, at best, in fire sales. If there is low demand for Greek debt, why would investors want the country’s equity? The Latin American experience is that privatization has been, in general, good for efficiency and productivity, but never resolved a fiscal structural imbalance.All this shouldn’t detract from the need for fiscal and structural adjustments as part of a long-term solution. But there is no long-term stable solution without debt relief, which, in plain English, means default. There are many ways of defaulting, but it is evident that without a significant haircut for bond investors there is no way out. The real question isn’t whether, but when and how.Market AccessIn this context, two issues arise: regaining market access and contagion. On the first, experience indicates that it is easier to regain market access after a well-coordinated debt- burden reduction than it is before. The example of Uruguay comes to mind. And Argentina, with still pending concerns, could access the market today, if it wished, at half the Greek spread and below Portugal’s and Ireland’s. Another more recent example is the Vienna Initiative, a coordinated strategy used in Eastern Europe to prevent the withdrawal of cross-border banks during the financial crisis. It could be adapted to the periphery to help with a debt restructuring.Regarding contagion, it is undeniable a credit event in Greece would cause political contagion in Ireland and Portugal. But once it happened, it may even relieve the pressure on Spain and other potentially compromised sovereigns. Contagion through the deterioration of bank balance sheets should be addressed by recapitalizing affected lenders within a program financed by the resources directed today to increase the pyramid of debt.Crisis ManagementThe institutional crisis-management setting is in disarray: The European Union wouldn’t oppose a default (if it could use a different word); the IMF demands financial assurances for next year; and the European Central Bank is ardently opposed to any form of debt relief. The most likely scenario is that the ECB will, again, make a U-turn before reaching the abyss (as it did with secondary bond-market purchases). The ECB threats to cut Greek banks from access to liquidity in case of default are very dangerous, and ultimately not credible, because it could trigger an accelerated bank run and detonate a banking crisis, including the possibility of a deposit freeze similar to the one that was such a disaster in Argentina. This would have more potential to damage the euro than any credit event.As for the Argentine experience, it is important to remark that, while without the default the economy wouldn’t have been able to recover as it did, the experiences aren’t directly comparable. Argentina was able to devalue its currency and was also helped by a big improvement in terms of trade and significant fiscal adjustment. But there is an important lesson. Postponing inevitable actions increase the cost of eventual adjustment. At the time of the default, Argentina’s output had already declined by more than 10 percent. A timely and friendlier negotiation aimed at obtaining debt relief would have saved the country several years of pain.The current European strategy, if there is one, seems to be to delay the day of reckoning. It could, however, be useful, if the time gained is utilized to prepare for the inevitable default. Just muddling through, in the mist of a cacophony of contradictory statements that further erode the credibility of the crisis-management framework, only creates uncertainty and is a recipe for major disaster.(Mario I. Blejer is a former governor of Argentina’s central bank, was a senior adviser to the International Monetary Fund and is currently the vice chairman of Banco Hipotecario SA. (BHIP)The opinions expressed are his own.)To contact the writer of this column: Mario Blejer at admin@blejer.comTo contact the editor responsible for this story: David Shipley at djshipley@bloomberg.net

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Article by Christine J. Lane

Training management software helps corporations improve employee’s productivity, gauge competency in addition to link training purchases to the top collection. With many options available, short-listing your selection and going live with a different platform is truly a challenge, however here are several easily avoidable points regarding failure to take into account when selecting and also implementing a single. So the company as a final point decides to travel green, dispose of the document folders as well as get off spreadsheets employed to track staff trainings. You are asked to get a short-list of solutions that fit your preferences – in one week. As you perform web queries, comb as a result of websites, wait for return emails or message or calls from suppliers, you may find all by yourself with a half-baked pair of requirements operated by vendor features. In the bet to save money, businesses often decide on lower cost options during the process. Do become budget-conscience, but also bear in mind you get everything you pay for. Ensure that the system is scalable and gives the features you would like today plus tomorrow. Is essential replacing plus migrating with a training management system is a costly process that might be avoided. Bear in mind, most all software distributors have flexibleness in their prices, so take action that fits your needs are first, subsequently negotiate price.Guessing the implementation and also rollout plan is most significant points associated with failure of your software project. This should actually be a multi-phased schedule with critical deliverables and key events. Various cross-functional stakeholders must drive here is the plan across Human resources, IT, sales and the basic business. The method should definitely also include your selected vendor. The most critical components of the plan are change management with regard to user adoption. One of the most frequent complaints those types of who have invested in and applied training management systems can be customer dissatisfaction. Frequently offered points regarding dissatisfaction cover from inferior support infrastructure, slow aid response occasions or parasites in the general functionality of the items the system had been promised to deal with in the first place. For the most part, pay particular attention to a vendor’s Service and Preservation plan, which can costs in relation to 20% of the original licensing costs. Understand your merchandise Level Arrangement guarantees, generate cycles for software updates, ordinary response instances to support inquiries and the like. Does reference check ups on supplier clients specifically soliciting this type of feedback?There are likely countless features out there through the many training management software solutions available in the market. Not even misused largest enterprise in the world requires all of them. When you implement a system with so many bells and whistles, you operate the risk of further complicating user learning curves thus impeding successful ownership and revenue.

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Article by Mark Redding

In this rat-race of staying ahead of competitors, you need to keep your staff well prepared to negotiate the challenges. You need to provide them with professional management training so that they are able to develop the skills, crucial for their work.

To serve efficiently in today’s business environment, your executives need to continually upgrade their skills. Even skilled employees who have been working for years need professional management training to catch up on the new industry trends and norms. It is in your own interest to provide your staff with management training to keep them in the right frame of mind to tackle the latest challenges.

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Article by Jason White

Key account manager, account executive, commercial sales representative, sales specialist, technical sales representative, sales consultant, sales coordinator, inside sales representative, territory sales representative, these are some of the job titles available to those who have attended a sales management program. Despite the different positions, essentially, the field of Marketing: Sales and Account Management involves acquiring and maintaining relationships with major client accounts of mid to large sized companies that have their own sales force. These companies range from ones who handle medical and dental technology to those offering software and pharmaceutical products.

At Centennial College, students can take the sales management program, which in just one year prepares them for career success in key account management and professional sales. Those interested in applying must go through the application process, which begins by submitting an official transcript demonstrating proof of successful completion of a post-secondary advanced diploma or degree program. They may also be required to conduct an interview with officials, submit a resume and undergo an English and/or math skills assessment. Centennial College will also consider applicants presenting a combination of partial post-secondary education and relevant work experience, open to all disciplines.

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Article by Tim Williams

Sales training on sales negotiation skills have the ability to educate supervisors, middle-management, and human resource professionals on the skills and knowledge needed to influence upper management. Upper management is often shielded from company realities because they are engrossed in executive and investor relationships. It is the job of the supervisors, managers, and human resource professionals to communicate staff needs and company needs to upper management, while still retaining the best interest of the company. The education and skills gained from sales training and sales negotiation courses teaching basic and advanced sales negotiation can be used as a leverage to influence up, and convince upper management that your proposition for change is a worthwhile investment.

Human Resource management personnel are often in a powerful position because they have extensive information on the turnover and morale of employees at all levels, as well as labor and benefit costs, company financials, and legal issues. They are also in a position to meet with executive management on a regular basis. However, they are also often limited in their power to improve employee turnover or morale because of executive management’s failure to see soft values that have big changes.

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Article by Tim Williams

Sales courses and sales training courses for management at all levels can teach managers how to motivate a staff to take a specific action that benefits the company even if the staff’s benefit in the proposal isn’t immediately evident. The training and education gained from investing in sales training courses that specialize in sales presentation will enable management to analyze their policy directive and identify underlying values and benefits that would appeal to the staff.

Sales training on sales presentation skills for management will also enable managers to present their ideas in an effective manner that is scaled to emphasize and promote the value and benefits to the staff, without undermining the benefit to the company.

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I recently reread Jim Collins’ book, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t and found that many of his ideas can help you improve performance of your sales team.

Collins’ book answers the question: How can good companies, mediocre companies, even bad companies achieve enduring greatness? Using tough standards, Collins and his research team identified a set of elite companies that made the leap to great results and sustained those results for at least fifteen years. The research team contrasted the good-to-great companies with a carefully selected set of “comparison” companies that failed to make the leap from good to great.

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This digital document is an article from National Underwriter Property & Casualty-Risk & Benefits Management, published by The National Underwriter Company on December 23, 1991. The length of the article is 1040 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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