The Hindu Business Line : Use simple sentences to describe your business

"Surgeons learn by watching others perform operations and then by actually operating while under supervision. Entrepreneurship should be learned similarly." Thus advises Anthony C. Warren in one of the essays included in The Art of Entrepreneurship from Vision Books (www.visionbooksindia.com). "If you are working in a larger corporation, ask to be assigned to new business generation activities where you will interact with internal creative people."

Another essay, by Ellen Rudnick, counsels simplicity and brevity. "Use simple sentences to describe your business. For example, `We develop middleware for wireless networks' versus `We develop and deliver an integrated suite of packaged applications for web and wireless deployment which global enterprises use to become more competitive and profitable by establishing and sustaining high-yield interactions and transactions with customers, suppliers, and employees.'"

Instructive read.

Map of debt traps

According to the latest statistics from China's Ministry of Commerce, FDI (foreign direct investment) in 2005 amounted to $72.4 billion, up nearly 20 per cent from the previous year. FDI received by banking, insurance and securities sectors was about $12 billion. "In the first four months of 2006, a total of 12,639 foreign-funded companies were set up in China," informs http://news.xinhuanet.com, in a posting dated June 8. Attraction of foreign investment was an important component of Deng Xiaoping's theory, notes Debt Management in Globalised Asia: Challenges and Options, edited by P. Jegadish Gandhi and M.J. Joseph, from Deep & Deep Publications (www.ddpbooks.com). "China's savings rate is now 50 per cent of GDP, the highest in recorded history. This exceeds even its high investment rate of 45 per cent," notes the book. "Foreign direct and portfolio investment further raises the savings surplus, which has no outlet within China." All this ends up in the country's forex reserves, now at $900 billion.

A book on an issue of importance.

Task vs purpose

What is the difference between task and purpose? "Task is a general word that signifies no more than something that needs to be done. We have to look behind it to see what purpose the task is serving," writes John Adair in The Inspirational Leader, from Kogan Page (www.vivagroupindia.com). It is purpose that gives task its value; and intrinsically good purposes inspire people, he'd add. "If you trust people, you may on occasion be let down, but much more often people will respond in ways that fully justify your confidence," assures Adair. Watch out, however. Because all leaders will be tested, by loneliness if by no greater force, cautions the author.

Energising messages.

Tailpiece

"Continual weakening of money is... "

"Pana vee-kam, Tamil for inflation!"

"Not inflammation?"

http://BookPeek.blogspot.com

D. Murali

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