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Coffins are bigger and are being buried vertically to save space. People can now design their own custom coffin. And for some, ceremonies and wakes are now event managed, pre-planned, designer “life celebrations”.

If you’re in the funeral business, these industry trends and facts may be just part and parcel of the job, but to others, they make for quirky news stories that the media love. So what is it about your industry that is newsworthy? It might be worth sitting down with pen in hand and brainstorming the facts and trends that are taking off in your field. Need some more examples to help get you thinking?

How about the evolution of the humble kid’s birthday party? Oh how far things have come since “pin the tail on the donkey” and “musical chairs”. These days, kids parties are competitive and for some parents, can almost be as elaborate to plan as weddings! Enter the kids “spa party” where finger and toe nails are painted – not faces. Or flower arranging – not drawing, and of course the hit trend of kids cooking classes for all the budding junior masterchefs.

So think back to how things were run in your business 10 years ago and ask yourself these 5 questions to unlock a story idea:

how has your business changed over the years and why? What trends are you seeing? have your customers changed- are they younger, older, buying online? what new things are your customers looking for? What have they rejected that once was a bestseller? has demand increased for a certain product or service? what’s the strangest request or most impressive business deal you’ve had?

By: Julie J Morgan

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A highlight of a visit to Tangalooma Wild Dolphin Resort is the chance to feed wild bottlenose dolphins. Every evening a pod of dolphins swim up to jetty at the resort to be hand fed fresh fish by marine biologists, resort staff and resort guests.

Many years ago, the dolphins started coming to the waters round the resort jetty to feed on bait fish that were attracted by the jetty lights. In 1992, one of the dolphins began to eat fish that were thrown to her from the jetty. Other dolphins in the pod started to join in the nightly feeding. There are now between eight and ten dolphins attending the feeding sessions.

Dolphin feeding is great fun for children and the grown ups too – if you have small children, you can carry them in to the water to feed the dolphins. Swimming with the dolphins or patting them is not allowed, though. When you arrive at Tangalooma Wild Dolphin resort, head over to the Marine Research and Education Centre to register for any activities you are interested in.

To ensure you don’t miss out on the dolphin feeding, you will need to arrive at the jetty by the scheduled feeding time. The program operates to strict guidelines with restrictions on how many people can feed the dolphins. The number of guests able to feed the dolphins depends on tides, weather and how many dolphins turn up.

From the resort there are other opportunities to get close to wildlife. In the mornings, you can enjoy hand feeding fish to the resident pelicans and on the beach. If visit during the whale migration season from July to October, you will have the opportunity to take a whale watching cruise from Tangalooma to get a close look at these great sea mammals.

Tangalooma Wild Dolphin Resort is set amongst landscaped gardens and natural bushland on Moreton Island east of Brisbane.

There is a variety of accommodation options available from hotel rooms to suites and self-contained villas.

 

China verified yesterday it’s near to finishing the refitting from the former Soviet aircraft company Varyag, now referred to as Shi Lang, which the vessel will quickly be prepared for its first ‘research and training’ mission.

The repairs from the former Ukrainian vessel continues to be known about and broadly thought on for a while. But Chinese authorities this time around went further in adding that they’re also thinking about building their very own company.

‘Taking into accounts all elements, government bodies in China are seriously considering the introduction of a plane company. To construct a company is really a complicated process,’ Senior Col. Geng Yansheng, spokesperson for that Secretary of state for National Defense, was cited by CNTV as saying.

The announcement comes in a sensitive time in the area. An intensifying row with Southeast Asian neighbours including Vietnam and also the Philippines over territorial claims within the South China Ocean has amplified concerns that China will employ an progressively muscular foreign policy supported with a quickly strengthening military.

Chinese military authorities, though, were quick to protect the nation’s company plans.

Inside a front-page editorial, the state Liberation Military Daily contended that past Chinese ‘humiliations’ have ‘left china individuals with the deep discomfort of getting seas they might not defend, helplessly eating the bitter fruit to be beaten to be backward.’

Regardless of the focus on defence, the mention of the ‘humiliation’ and national pride is certain to stoke concerns among neighbours like Japan that China’s military rise is going to be combined having a growing and harmful nationalism.

Speaking yesterday, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano may have spoken for a lot of when he mentioned: ‘The problem of transparency regarding China’s defense policy and it is military expansion itself are concerns not just for Japan as well as the region and also the worldwide community.’

But China argues that military expansion does not always imply that aggressive guidelines follows.

Within an interview with China Daily, Du Wenlong, an investigation fellow using the Academy of Military Sciences, argues much from the foreign media has misinterpreted China’s military development.

‘China’s growth and development of aircraft service providers is targeted at creating a greater contribution through the Chinese individuals to a harmonious maritime atmosphere.

China’s growth and development of aircraft service providers isn’t directed against anybody or any country, but a type of maintenance and protection for world and regional security,’ he stated.

‘Some foreign media deliberately produced the “China threat theory,” however with the “China threat theory” being there for a lot of years, we’re not threatened. The details continues to prove that despite developing aircraft service providers, China will be an opposing player of world peace and stability.’

The question now’s whether China expects to make use of the progressively large stick it offers, or simply keep speaking softly.

More about China aircraft carrier, China military, Chineseair force

 

Nobody wants to be the bearer of bad news. Not only is it a generally somber task, the fact that readers aren’t likely to be very receptive to it just adds to the difficulty.

However, communicating bad news is part of everyday business. If you don’t, then you can’t refuse requests you can’t handle, turn down offers you can’t accept or inform clients when there are problems going on.

Some techniques can help soften the blow of bad news, though, and employing them in your writing should help ease the negativity just a little bit.

Start with something positive. Tell the good news first or pay the recipient a compliment, before delivering your actual message. Keep it brief, though, lest raise their hopes up unnecessarily.
Close positively. After starting positive and delivering the bad news, close the communication in a positive tone. This cushions the negative message in between two positives, effectively lessening its impact.
Be empathetic. Empathize with the recipient, understanding their position and keeping it in mind when you’re writing. There’s nothing you can do about bad news, but you can show some sympathy to ease the negative effects.
Provide reasons. Never deliver a bad message without an accompanying reason. People want to know why and, in these cases, they usually deserve to.

When delivering a negative message, you want it to come across clearly, all while managing to keep as positive a mood as possible. To ensure clarity, use an English grammar checker – skipping it might leave them thinking you meant something else.

By: Mary Simmers

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The essential questions that every business enterprise must ask itself are this; where do we want to go? How are we going to get there? These are simple questions that don’t necessarily have simple answers. The answers to these questions are vital in the development of a comprehensive business strategy. A company must have a direction and an overriding purpose. In order to establish a clear, sustainable and successful strategy, a company must conduct significant research on the industry in which it operates. It also must make an internal assessment of its own strengths and weaknesses. These two objectives can be achieved by conducting external as well as internal analyses. The external analysis looks at the industry’s environment and how favorable it is to the competing companies. The internal analysis assesses the inner-workings of the firm and the resources and capabilities that contribute to its core competencies.

A common method for assessing an industry’s external environment is to use Michael E Porter’s 5 Forces Model. Porter is a renowned professor at the Harvard Business School and author of many widely accepted strategic business tools. The 5 forces analysis allows for the evaluation of information related to an industry’s rivalry (or competitive intensity), threat of substitutes, threat of new entrants, power of buyers, and bargaining power of suppliers. It will help characterize the competitive environment in the industry and whether or not that environment is favorable or unfavorable to the companies within it. This step is critical in the strategy development process as it allows a company to identify the key success factors within its industry. Once key success factors are identified, a firm can begin to look internally to determine if they have those factors are present in their firm.

Porter’s Value Chain is an effective tool used to identify a firm’s internal activities. Both primary and secondary activities are evaluated and examined in an effort to identify the firm’s core competencies. Ideally, a company’s core competencies will correspond with the key success factors identified in the external analysis. If they do not, the firm needs to critically evaluate how it can meet those factors.

Once the analyses are complete, the firm has the information it needs to make a strategic decision about its products/services. Ultimately, there are really just two strategies that a company can pursue when it comes to a specific product or service. They can either try to be the price leader in their industry, or they can pursue a differentiation strategy.

A price leadership strategy might be a wise route when a key success factor is your ability to minimize cost (also known as cost leadership). If this is also a core competency of yours because of superior supply chain management, or maybe a technological edge that your competitors don’t have, than you have achieved what any and every business is after: a sustainable competitive advantage.

Product differentiation might be a better strategy to pursue in industries where customers are looking for something more specialized. In this scenario, the product must be different than the competition and provide value that the others don’t. If a company can deliver a product that is different than the competition and is in demand amongst potential buyers, then that sustainable competitive advantage is theirs.

Developing a comprehensive business strategy is necessary exercise for any company that hopes to succeed in a competitive industry. A company must identify goals, how those goals can be achieved and the specific processes that must be followed. External and internal analyses will lead the way and ultimately allow the company to determine if a sustainable competitive advantage is within its grasp.

By: Mike Khatib

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Protecting your home from strangers is of prime importance. ADT Home Security understands the importance of security systems in homes. They are experts in this area and can protect your home from burglary, provide alert against fire, smoke, carbon monoxide, flooding and medical emergencies. Their monitoring abilities are so strong that they offer deductible pay packages under certain theft related circumstances. This company has more than 130 years of experience in this field. They can guarantee peace of mind by monitoring your home 24 hours a day and seven days a week. When you sign up for their home security system, you save on homeowners insurance costs.

Types Of Equipment And Packages

They use high-tech equipment for monitoring and offer complete wireless protection. They use the following equipment:

* Wireless touchpad
* Motion detector
* Keychain remote
* 3 points of protection

There are different types of packages offered by ADT Home Security. These packages come with theft protection guarantee and ADT money back service guarantee. There is also a basic monitoring package and two way voice packages. Both these packages are wireless and will not require too much drilling work. They offer security systems for businesses as well. There are many benefits and advantageous features in such home security systems.

Features/ Benefits

Increased Protection: It is the most obvious benefit of using the ADT home security system. Adding this system to your home would mean that you get a certificate that can be sent to your insurance company. It allows you to save up to 20 percent on your homeowners insurance cost.

Cost Effective: These security packages start at $ 32.99 per month for 24 hours monitoring. It can cost less than a cup of coffee per day. This wireless system helps users save money on installation charges. The cost of installation is much less since there is no need for too much drilling. The entire range of equipment are wireless.

Pet Immunity: When there are pets at home, they can often trigger alarms. One of the benefits of the ADT home security system is that it is immune to pets. This means that any animal weighing less than 40 pounds will not trigger the alarm. In case, your pet weighs more than 40 pounds, then the alarm system can be upgraded to include 80 pounds. The system can also differentiate between a human being and an animal on the basis of heat passing through the body.

This home security system also has many other features. In case of a power loss, the alarm system will continue to work because it has a back up battery. This system can protect the most vulnerable areas of your home. The motion detectors provide an invisible blanket of protection over a wide area inside the home. The detectors can sense human body movement and heat and can immediately notify the ADT Home Security center. If you have not secured your home with high-end equipment, then give it a thought. It is worth trying for peace of mind and financial security.