Not only is article marketing effective, it is also free. This is why it is the preferred website promotion method by many online marketers and authors. There are hundreds of article submission directories that would gladly accept your article submission for free. Once published, your website is ready to receive traffic. It doesn’t cost you a single cent and the quality of traffic is on par with PPC traffic. But there are some tips that you might want to use to put your article marketing on steroids.

Article Marketing Winning Tip 1 - Writing Informative Articles
People are looking for information which is why they landed on your article. Give them enough information as unique and useful as possible so that they feel they have gained something. You want to convince them that you know your stuff.

Article Marketing Winning Tip 2 - Keep it Short and Simple (KISS)
be concise and to the point. Make your article simple to understand so that everyone knows what you are driving at. That way, you can reach the masses easily. Speak their lingo and cut away unnecessary technical jargon.

Article Marketing Winning Tip 3 - Pack Benefits into Article Title
Tell your readers what they can expect from reading your article. The best place to do so is the article title. Sell the benefits to entice them to read. Remember that you only have a few seconds to grab their attention. So give some thought to your article titles as that is the first thing they see.

Article Marketing Winning Tip 4 - Write One for Your Website
Since you have written an article, why not rewrite or write a brand new one for your website? Elaborate in greater details so that your visitors see relevant content on your website. If you have written an article about ‘how to get started with article writing’, you can add in related content such as how to find article content, where to submit your articles and how to write creative and attractive titles. Repeated exposure improves conversion rates.

Article Marketing Winning Tip 5 - Pre-Sell and Not Sell
Avoid doing sales pitch in your article. This is a Big ‘No No’. Readers tend to flee the moment they detect a clear sales pitch. Pre-sell them about the benefits of your product before they even see it. It adds a sense of mystery and instills curiosity. This is what you want to achieve.

These are just a few tricks amongst many to make article marketing work for you. Look out for my next article on more killer tips to supercharge your profits using article marketing. This article may be freely reprinted or distributed in its entirety in any ozone, newsletter, bog or website. The author’s name, bio and website links must remain intact and be included with every reproduction.

Have you considered using buzz groups as a technique to liven up your training sessions? We have prepared this training technique and offer it here as a resource for facilitators. Read on to discover how to use buzz groups in training, including a detailed facilitator’s process, guidelines, pitfalls and variations.

Description
A buzz group is a small group, consisting of three to six people who are given an assignment to complete in a short time period. Generally, each buzz group records their output then reports to the larger group.

This Activity Can Be Used To:

• Build an agenda.
• Evaluate an activity, workshop or process.
• Serve as an icebreaker.
• Warm up a group to a new topic.
• Solve problems.
• Address a topic from a new perspective.
• Share ideas.
• Gather questions.
• Generate ideas.
• Generate lists.
• Gather feedback.
• Allow all participants to give input.
• Create a safer learning environment than in a larger group.
• Reflect and review.

Facilitator’s Process

1. Pre-assess the group to determine what participants already know about the subject.
2. Share the purpose and objectives of the activity with the group.
3. Explain the procedure:
   • Form small groups.
   • Choose recorders.
   • Complete the activity.
   • Select one or more presenters.
   • Report back to larger group.
   • Debrief the session.
4. Clarify the assignment, the guidelines and the reporting expectations.
5. Announce the duration of the session, if applicable.
6. Arrange the larger groups into small groups. Buzz groups can be formed in a variety of ways:
   • Ask participants to turn to those nearest them
   • Team up people of common/different interest
   • Team up people according to skill or learning style
7. Advise each group to choose a recorder.
8. Ask for and answer any questions regarding the procedure.
9. Start the session.
10. Circulate and monitor.
11. Tell the participants when there is one or two minutes left in the activity and remind them to choose a presenter, if necessary.
12. End the activity.
13. Ask each group to report to the larger group.
14. Acknowledge each group’s input and process the information.
15. Debrief the session.
16. Summarize the session by recapping the main points.
17. Wrap up with a review of the learning objectives, if appropriate.
18. Conduct a post-assessment to determine what learning occurred.

Guidelines for Facilitators

• Use creative ways to break the class into smaller buzz groups.
• Recognize that some participants feel safer and flourish in a small group; they may be less communicative in a larger group.
• Prior to starting, inform participants of pitfalls and encourage them to keep each other involved in the process.
• Observe the small group dynamics.
• Create new buzz group regularly.

Guidelines for Participants

• Ensure that you understand the assignment.
• Recognize that everyone has important ideas and perspectives to contribute.
• Choose a recorder.
• Respect and listen to each other.
• Encourage each other to participate and contribute.
• Milk

Pitfalls

• Allowing the first group to report all the information.
• Too much repetition in the reporting process.
• The facilitator exerting too much control over the buzz group output.
• Group size is too small or too large.
• One participant dominating the small group process.
• Assigning a task too large to be accomplished in the allotted time.
• Buzz groups becoming repetitive and boring for participants when they are used too often.

Hot Tricks

• Add aromas, foods, drinks or colour to stimulate the senses.
• Provide food and/or refreshments.
• Play background music while the buzz groups are in progress.
• Groups can work during a break, over lunch or outside in a different location.
• Have participants work on their own projects if possible - learning is more meaningful to them.

Variations

• Groups can be assigned separate projects, then educate the larger group as to their results.
• Buzz groups may join up with one or more other groups as part of a larger group process.

We hope you find this article useful and we look forward to hearing of your successes as you weave the buzz group technique into your training sessions.

Here are the Three Deadly Weapons that can wreck the sale of your business. These weapons are based upon experience, discussions with many business owners, and many years of representing businesses in and out of the courtroom.

In selling a business, you can learn how to avoid the three mistakes that will literally cut the sales price of your business in half. Think about having a business that should be worth $750,000 but only being able to sell it for $375,000.

There are 700,000 businesses that will come on the market and change hands every year. That number represents 30% of 2,500,000 businesses that owners will want to sell every year. 70% of the businesses do not sell. Many of those end up being liquidated for lack of a buyer.

If you do not pay attention to three factors in selling your business, you literally may only receive half of what you should get.

1. Not Understanding the True Value of Your Business.

Albert wants to sell his business that has a ten-year track record. The business provides Albert an income of $150,000 per year in the retail area. Albert has done his own valuation of what he thinks the business should sell for and wants a price of $1,500,000 for the business. That price is a factor of 10 times the net income. Unfortunately, in the retail sector of Albert’s business, the going rate is a multiple of three times the net income or $450,000.

Because of his unrealistic price, Albert will not be able to sell his business.

2. Not Understanding How The Sales Proceeds Will Be Taxed When Received.

Janet owns a business in a corporation. The sale is proposed to her as a sale of assets and no assumption of liabilities. Although the sale of assets will be treated as a long-term capital gain at the corporate level, she has not considered how she will get the money out of the corporation and into her hands personally. Unfortunately, she has also signed the Purchase and Sale Agreement without consulting her attorney or her accountant. How much tax will she have to pay?

There are a number of options that could have been considered on how to structure the transaction. Unfortunately, you have to game plan and run the numbers on all of the options BEFORE you sign the purchase and sale agreement. Some owners have actually unintentionally structured transactions by not planning advance with the result that they were taxed at ordinary income rates rather than long term capital gains rates!

3. Business Owners Selling Must Follow The Boy Scout Motto - “Be Prepared”

After working for twenty-five years, two owners decide that they want to sell their business and retire. They begin working less and have not trained anyone to do the technical things that they do so well. Of course by working less, less technical tasks get fulfilled and less income rolls in. The best preparation would be to sell before income goes down and better yet have installed the six systems that literally double the value of your business.

One needs to begin preparing to sell a business probably years before the business is sold or even offered for sale. There are six systems that every business must have. Without them, the business is not an investment that buyers drool over.

This test will tell you whether your business has those systems:

1. If you take off all of next week and do nothing in your business, what will happen to the income of the business?

Increase Decrease Unaffected (Circle one)

2. If you take off all of next week and do nothing in your business, what will happen to the flow of new business?

Increase Decrease Unaffected (Circle one)

3. Do you have a written business continuity plan? Yes No

4. Do you have videos or audios of your plans for the business over the next three years? Yes No

5. When someone calls your office to schedule an appointment, does someone different answer the phone and/or do they have a set script to use to answer the call and close the appointment? Yes No

6. Who is your favored buyer for your business?

Do you have a name ready or do you have no clue whom the buyer would be?

7. If you do not come back from your next appointment, ever, who will sign checks at your company?

8. Will your death cause your company’s lines of credit to be called due?

Yes No

9. Do you have a checklist to be followed if you are suddenly disabled and unable to care for the business? Yes No

10. Are you ready to learn how to implement the necessary steps for an effective exit strategy? Yes No

Why do so many people involve themselves in get rich quick schemes that often leave them cashless and frustrated? Maybe because all of us want to believe it’s possible to have it all - for free.

Essentially this theory taps into a couple of ugly traits among the common tribe of man. Those traits are greed and laziness.

Sometimes life itself places us in the path of financial need. We may turn to a get rich quick idea simply because it seems to be our last resort. If the money can be acquired quickly then so many problems are avoided. Sadly, too many of these moneymaking ideas only contribute to the problem.

For instance (and I don’t mean to single this one out) many rebate processing jobs sound great. Individuals will buy into the idea using the last of needed reserves only to discover they will be required to actually sell a product or products before they can process a rebate and receive funds.

Obviously there may be legitimate offers that are helping struggling families, but there are many of the too-good-to-be-true ideas that are leaving families a little further in the hole.

The moneymaking ideas I suggest are often of the home grown variety. These ideas work because they come from your own mind and experience. You recognize from the beginning that the idea will be hard work, so you’re not surprised by the effort you will need to expend on behalf of the idea. These ideas rely on skills you possess and tools you are equipped to use.

Too many people I visit with (many who seem very successful) indicate privately that have traveled down too many roads following trails that led them to increased debt all in the name of debt relief and prosperity. Their immediate needs often trump good sense as another bad idea is thrown on the fires of frustration.

I’m not here to sell you on a particular idea other than to ask you to look into your own experience to see what you might be able to do to help your own financial situation doing something you already know how to do.

I know a man who told me about the summer he turned sixteen. He was not highly skilled at the time, but he was available. His father allowed him to borrow any tool from the garage and that young man put forth the effort to work. He was called on to clean corals. He installed sprinkler systems. He had a janitorial job and he even babysat.

All he did was place an ad in the classified letting people know he was available. That young man didn’t have a day off the entire summer.

This true story is a sample of what I’m talking about. What do you already have that could result in improving the chances that you could make some money?

We may be lured into looking at ideas that offer thousands of dollars because in many cases that’s the type of return we would like. In the end we are often left with the knowledge that all we possess is fools gold while our greatest needs loom large.

Enlisting the services of a commercial cleaning company is a good way to make sure your business stays looking fresh and efficient to the outside world, as well as to the employees who work for you.

But with every work day being a busy one, you don’t need to be worrying about whether or not your chosen cleaners are doing a good job or not. That’s why it pays to have a company you can trust and which performs every job to the highest standard.

How do your existing office cleaners measure up? If you are focused on your work it’s easy to miss a gradual slide in the cleaning standards if it starts to happen, and yet it’s something you really need to be aware of. You also need to be aware of what your employees are saying; people tend to comment to each other about a lack of effort or poor standards of cleanliness, and yet they don’t always feel they can approach their manager or boss about the situation. Some people may even feel they don’t know who they should tell.

It’s clear that you should be aware of what your cleaning service is doing and whether they are performing their job to the highest standard, as you will need to know if it’s time to find a new cleaning company.

One point to watch out for is whether or not they are doing everything they are contracted by you to do. This could include cleaning floors, making sure the toilets are presentable and hygienic, and much more besides. If any of these tasks are not being done properly it could create a health and safety hazard or simply make life more difficult and unpleasant for your employees on a daily basis.

If after talking to your existing cleaning company you still feel as if a change would be advisable, then it’s a good idea to try and plan a changeover period. Ideally you will have your existing company finishing on a Friday and the new company taking over on the following Monday, so bear this in mind when you are making your new arrangements.

Ideally it’s best to find a company that can step into the breech immediately if need be, just in case your existing company wants to finish straightaway. When you do enlist the services of another company make sure you create a list of all the needs and requirements you have, so that everything is clear right from the start.

This is also the ideal opportunity to make some changes to your existing schedule. Would you like to increase or reduce the number of days your cleaners come into the building? What about altering the times that they work? Are there any extra services you might need that you don’t currently have?

Whatever the answers may be, changing cleaners can sometimes be the best thing you can do to spruce up your office and ensure that you don’t have to worry about whether they are doing their job or not.

There are many services provided by B2B telemarketing companies you might consider if your business isn’t doing very well in the market today. They can help you build beneficial leads, identify sales cycles, problems you might have, identify opportunities, increase revenues, and more. When you seek help from a B2B telemarketing firm they can help you with current problems you might have but not realized. These problems could be with your existing website, employees, processes and more. It could be something so simple stopping you from being successful and they can help you identify the problem and fix it.

Building beneficial leads is one of the biggest benefits of a B2B telemarketing firm. You might think that your target audience is a certain group of people and find out that the products you offer are actually being purchased by a much younger and hip crowd. They can help you identify the audience and work effectively targeting them so you will have more sales and possibly long-term customers. When you use a B2B telemarketing business they can also help you identify opportunities that you may not have noticed before. It is important to always be on the lookout for every opportunity that you can. They can help you identify the opportunity and go after it the right way.

A B2B telemarketing company will also help you build the pipeline right away so you can accelerate the cycle of your sales. The ultimate goal is to improve your business through more revenue. However, you also want to build integrity through your customers. A company can help you achieve all of these goals. There are many reasons you might consider a B2B telemarketing business. They will be able to help you with issues with sales, current problems causing you to fail, identify opportunities, and much more.

What is The BCG Growth-Share Matrix? What are the main aspects of The BCG Growth-Share Matrix? How to develop Good BCG Growth-Share Matrix of a company? Where to find information for The BCG Growth-Share Matrix?

INTRODUCTION
No strategic management or marketing text appears to be complete without the inclusion of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) growth-share matrix. When used effectively, this model provides guidance for resource allocation. And despite its inherent weaknesses, is probably one of the most widely used management instrument as far as portfolio management is concern. For instant, each SBU (strategic business unit) of large companies such as General Electric, Siemens, and Centrica require different strategies to compete effectively and efficiently. It is not a question of one strategy fits all SBUs since the likelihood for each of them experiencing the same market growth rate, industry-threats and leverage is very slim. This is where the BCG model comes into play as a management analytical tool. The ensuing examines the underpinnings of the model, for what it is used, how to use it and why it is used.

WHAT IS THE BCG GROWTH-SHARE MATRIX?
To begin with, BCG is the acronym for Boston Consulting Group-a general management consulting firm highly respected in business strategy consulting. BCG Growth-Share Matrix (see figure 1) happens to be one of many of BCG’s strategic concepts the organisation developed in the late 1970s, and is being taught at leading business schools and executive education programmes around the world.

It is a management tool that serves four distinct purposes (McDonald 2003; Kotler 2003; Cipher 2006): it can be used to classify product portfolio in four business types based on four graphic labels including Stars, Cash Cows, Question Marks and Dogs; it can be used to determine what priorities should be given in the product portfolio of a company; to classify an organisation’s product portfolio according to their cash usage and generation; and offers management available strategies to tackle various product lines. Consider companies like Apple Computer, General Electric, Unilever, Siemens, Centrica and many more, engaging in diversified product lines. The BCG model therefore becomes an invaluable analytical tool to evaluate an organisation’s diversified product lines as later seen in the ensuing sections.

WHAT ARE THE MAIN ASPECTS OF THE BCG GROWTH-SHARE MATRIX?
The BCG Growth-Share Matrix is based on two dimensional variables: relative market share and market growth. They often are pointers to healthiness of a business (Kotler 2003; McDonald 2003). In other words, products with greater market share or within a fast growing market are expected to wield relatively greater profit margins. The reverse is also true. Let’s look at the following components of the model:
Fig. 1: Source: 12manage.com 2006

Relative Market Share
According to the proponents of the BCG (Herndemson 1972), It captures the relative market share of a business unit or product. But that is not all! It allows the analysed business unit be pitted against its competitors. As earlier emphasized above, this is due to the sometime correlation between relative market share and the product’s cash generation. This phenomenon is often likened to the experience curve paradigm that when an organisation enjoys lower costs, improved efficiency from conducting business operations overtime. The basic tenet of this postulation is that the more an organisation performs a task often; it tends to develop new ways in performing those tasks better which results in lower operating cost (Cipher 2006). What that suggests is that the experience curve effect requires that market share is increased to be able to drive down costs in the long run and at the same time a company with a dominant market share will inevitably have a cost advantage over competitor companies because they have the greater share of the market. Hence, market share is correlated with experience.

A case in point is Apple Computer’s flagship product called the iPod, which occupies a dominant 73% share the portable music player market (Cantrell 2006). Analysts believe it is the impetus for Apple’s financial rebirth 40% of Apple’s sales is attributed to the iPod product line (Cantrell 2006). Similarly, Dell’s PC line shares the same market dominance theory as the iPod. The PC manufacture giant occupies a worldwide market share of 18.1%, which is commensurate to its large market revenue above its competitors (see figure 2).
Figure 2: Source: Reuters 2006

Market Growth
Market growth axis, correlates with the product life cycle paradigm, and predicates the cash requirement a product needs relative to the growth of that market. A fast growing market is generally considered attractive, and pulls a lot of organisation’s resources in an effort to increase gains. A case in point is the technological market widely consider by experts as a fast growing market, and tends to attract a lot of competition. Therefore, a product life cycle and its associated market play a key role in decision-making.

Cash Cows
These products are said to have high profitability, and require low investment for the fact that they are market leaders in a low-growth market. This viewpoint is captured by the founders themselves thus:

The cash cows fund their own growth. They pay the corporate dividend. They pay the corporate overhead. They pay the corporate interest charges. They supply the funds for R&D. They supply the investment resource for other products. They justify the debt capacity for the whole company. Protect them (Henderson 1976).

According to experts (Drummond & Ensor 2004; Kotler 2003; McDonald 2003), surplus cash from cash cow products should be channelled into Stars and Questions in order to create the future Cash Cows.

Stars
Stars are leaders in high growth markets. They tend to/should generate large amounts of cash but also use a lot of cash because of growth market conditions. For example, Apple Computer has a large share in the rapidly growing market for portable digital music players (Cantrell 2006).

Question Marks
Question Marks have not achieved a dominant market position, and hence do not generate much cash. They tend to use a lot of cash because of growth market conditions. Consider Hewlett-Packard’s small share of the digital camera market, behind industry leader Canon’s 21% (Canon 2006). However, this is a rapidly growing market.

Dogs
Dogs often have little future and are big cash drainers on the company as they generate very little cash by virtue of their low market share in a highly low growth market.
Consider Pfizer’s Inspra (Gibson 2006):

“Pfizer launched this drug in Q4 2003 and continues to pump money into this problem child, despite anaemic sales of roughly $40 million in the $2.7 billion heart-failure market dominated by Toprol-XL (metoprolol). It was thought to gain market share and become a star, and eventually a cash cow when the market growth slowed. But, according to industry’s experts, Inspra is likely to remain a dog, despite any amount of promotion, given its perceived safety issues and a cheaper, more effective spironolactone in the same Pfizer portfolio. Because Pfizer invested heavily in promotion early on with Inspra, the drug’s earnings potential and positive cash flow is elusive at best. A portfolio analysis of Pfizer’s cardiovascular franchise would suggest redeploying promotional spend on Inspra to up-and-coming stars like Caduet (amlodipine/atorvastatin) or torcetrapib to ensure those drugs reach their sales potential.”

HOW TO DEVELOP GOOD BCG GROWTH-SHARE MATRIX OF A COMPANY?
SBUs or products are represented on the model by circles and fall into one of the four cells of the matrix already described above. Mathematically, the mid-point of the axis on the scale of Low-High is represented by 1.0 (Drummond & Ensor 2004; Kotler 2003). At this point, the SBU’s or product’s market share equals that of its largest competitor’s market share (Drummond & Ensor 2004; Kotler 2003). Next, calculate the relative market share and market growth for each SBU and product. Figure 3 depicts the formulas to calculate the relative market share and market growth.
Fig 3

Oftentimes, if you are versed with a particular industry and companies operating in it, you could draw up a BCG matrix for any company without necessarily computing figures for the relative market share and market growth. Figure 4 depicts a fairly accurate BCG growth-share matrix for Apple Computer developed in the spring of 2005 without the author calculating the relative market share and market growth.
Fig. 4 Source: Asong (2005)

Once the products or SBUs have been plotted, the planner then has to decide on the objective, strategy and budget for the business lines. Basically, at this juncture the organisations should strive to maintain a balanced portfolio. Cash generated from Cash Cows should flow into Stars and Question Marks in an effort to create future Cash Cows. Moreover, there are 4 major strategies that can be pursued at this stage as described in the ensuing section.

AVAILABLE STRATEGIES TO PURSUE

Build
The product or SBU’s market share needs to be increased to strengthen its position. Short-term earnings and profits are deliberately forfeited because it is hoped that the long-term gains will be higher than this. This strategy is suited to Question Marks if they are to become stars.

Hold
The objective is to maintain the current share position and this strategy is often used for Cash Cows so that they continue to generate large amounts of cash.

Harvest
Here management tries to increase short-term cash flows as far as possible (e.g. price increase, cutting costs) even at the expense of the products or SBU’s longer-term future. It is a strategy suited to weak Cash Cows or Cash Cows that are in a market with a limited future. Harvesting is also used for Question Marks where there is no possibility of turning them into Stars, and for Dogs.

Divest
The objective of this strategy is to rid the organisation of the products or SBUs that are a drain on profits and to utilize these resources elsewhere in the business where they will be of greater benefit. This strategy is typically used for Question Marks that will not become Stars and for Dogs.

WHERE TO FIND INFORMATION FOR THE BCG GROWTH-SHARE MATRIX?
Information for the BCG Growth-Share matrix is generated from multiple sources including company’s annual reports, sec fillings and a host of specialised research organisations such as IDC, Hoover, Edgar, Forrester and many more. Armed with this information, developing a BCG growth-share matrix should pose less of a problem.

Limitations
The BCG model is criticised for having a number of limitations (Kotler 2003; McDonald 2003):

• There are other reasons other than relative market share and market growth that could influence the allocation of resources to a product or SBU: reasons such as the need for strong brand name and product positioning could compel resource allocation to an SBU or product (Drummond & Ensor 2004).

• What is more, the model rests on net cash consumption or generation as the fundamental portfolio balancing criterion. That is appropriate only in a capital constrained environment. In modern economies, with relatively frictionless capital flows, this is not the appropriate metric to apply - rather, risk-adjusted discounted cash flows should be used (ManyWorlds 2005).

• Also, the matrix assumes products/business units are independent of each other, and independent of assets outside of the business. In other words, there is no provision for synergy among products/business units. This is rarely realistic.

• The relationship between cash flow and market share may be weak due to a number of factors including (Cipher 2006): competitors may have access to lower cost materials unrelated to their relative share position; low market share producers may be on steeper experience curves due to superior production technology; and strategic factors other than relative market share may affect profit margins.

• In addition, the growth-share matrix is based on the assumption that high rates of growth use large cash resources and that maturity of the life cycle brings about the expected profit returns. This may be incorrect due to various reasons (Cipher 2006): capital intensity may be low and the business/product could be grown without major cash outlay; high entry barriers may exist so margins may be sustainable and big enough to produce a positive cash flow and a growth at the same time; and industry overcapacity and price competition may depress prices in maturity.

• Furthermore, market growth is not the only factor or necessarily the most important factor when assessing the attractiveness of a market. A fast growing market is not necessarily an attractive one. Growth markets attract new entrants and if capacity exceeds demand then the market may become a low margin one and therefore unattractive. A high growth market may lack size and stability.
Given the aforementioned weaknesses, the BCG Growth-Share matrix must be used with care; nonetheless, it is a best-known business portfolio evaluation model (Kotler 2003).

If you found this article useful please have a look at the other articles we have written: PEST analysis, Porter’s 5 Forces analysis, Ansoff analysis, SWOT analysis, Porter’s Generic Strategies, Scenario Planning, Value chain analysis.

REFERENCE
12Management (2006). BCG Matrix. www.12management.com [Accessed: September 23, 2006]
Asong, B. (2005). Case Study: Apple Computer Market Assessment and Product Launch Strategy. CLC-PHW: London, pp. 17-40.
BCG (2006). The Growth-Share Matrix. www.bcg.com [Accessed: September 20, 2006]
Canon (2006). InfoSource research puts Canon No.1 in the UK & Ireland. [Accessed: September 28, 2006]
Cantrell, A. (2006). Apple’s Remarkable Comeback Story. [Accessed: September 28, 2006]
Drummond, G. & Ensor, J. (2004). Strategic Marketing: Planning & Control. 2nd Ed. Butterworth-Heinemann: MA, pp. 96-100.
Henderson, B. (1976). Anatomy of the Cash Cow. Accessed: September 21, 2006]
Lane, S. (2006). Overall Mac OS usage market share declining? [Accessed: September 28, 2006] www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=2059
ManyWorlds (2005). Models and Concepts.[Accessed: September 24, 2006]
McDonald, M. (2003). Marketing Plans: How To Prepare Them, How To Use Them. MA: Butterworth-Heinemann, pp. 175-245.
MindTools (2006). The Boston Matrix. www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTED_97.htm [Accessed: September 28, 2006]

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cooper, R. G., Edgett, S. J., & Kleinschmidt, E.J. (2006). Portfolio Management. Working Paper No 12: The Product Development Institute.
Lee, C. K. (2004). Asia Zirconium Limited Valuation report. Prudential Tower: Standard & Poor’s.
Vriens, D (2004). The Role of Information and Communication Technology in Competitive Intelligence. Idea Group Inc: University of Nijmegen.
Zolkiewski, J. & Turnbull, P. (undated). Relationship Portfolios-Past, Present & Future.

Let’s be honest–what do we all look forward to when we respond to an off-site meeting request? No, it’s not the PowerPoint presentations full of graphs and clip art, nor is it the awkward filler conversation with the guy who stole your corner office. What then, you may ask, is a meeting’s redeeming factor? While I haven’t conducted a scientific poll, I’m assuming it’s pretty safe to say that people look forward to the possibility of good, free food at meetings.

The problem, of course, is that good food and meetings don’t always go hand in hand. In fact, more often than not, you may find yourself wondering how long it would take you to “use the restroom” and then quickly run to the nearest burger joint and scarf down a hearty meal. Please, don’t do that!

Meetings have certainly become a little more exciting in Philadelphia, where popular meeting space, The Hub, announced its exclusive multi-year partnership with STARR Events in April 2008. STARR Events is a full-service catering and special events service that was formed by the STARR Restaurant Organization in early 2008 and is led by Simon Powles, formerly of Wolfgang Puck’s catering business.

Instead of typical generic meeting fanfare such as salads and sandwiches, The Hub offers a menu with STARR’s most popular dishes, including select meals from STARR restaurants such as Alma de Cuba, Tangerine, El Vez, Buddakan, Barclay Prime, Pod, Jones and Continental. Meeting organizers can choose menus for attendees that feature everything from Chilean Sea Bass to Kobe Beef Sliders.

In addition to a delectable menu, The Hub provides a much-needed alternative to the dated and boring hotel conference room. The Hub’s facility at the Cira Centre is the only privately held, LEED-certified meeting facility in the United States. Many of the construction materials and furnishings are made of recycled and recyclable content and are manufactured within 500 miles of Philadelphia. Other sustainable features include energy sources that are 100% wind generated, low CFC-emission, energy-efficient lights in the meeting rooms and the use of organic cleaning materials.

Another element that makes The Hub an exceptional and accommodating place to hold a meeting is the personalized attention every client receives. Each client is assigned a Chief Meeting Officer (CMO) who works to attend to an organization’s unique needs as well as ensure meeting goals are achieved. It’s like having your very own assistant!

The Hub offers three locations: The Hub Cityview, The Hub Cira Centre and the soon-to- open Chemical Heritage Foundation Conference Center in Old City. Each location offers full-service amenities as well as STARR catering.

So while I’m not suggesting you bring your significant other to your next meeting to celebrate your anniversary, I do strongly urge you to reconsider declining your next meeting invitation. After all, nothing tastes better than a delicious, free lunch.