Friday, September 19, 2008

using computer for shopping is better

The computer makes us do many things more easily. These days, you can buy almost every things by the computer. First, you can buy books from sites like Amazon cheaper than in book stores. Second, if you want to buy clothing you could go shopping in your home without changing your regular day, and without spending a lot of time walking from one store to another store. Also, by the computer you can buy electronic products before they start to be in the electronic stores. Not only that , but you could buy video games from the internet before they would be in video game stores. Finally, you can choose the cheapest travel agency to travel with by the internet. These days the smartest way to buy things is by using computer.    

Saturday, September 13, 2008

The Differences between Saudi Society and American Society

There are many differences between the societies all over the world. These differences are consequence of religions, old customs, the value of freedom and development in the societies. Therefore, people's behavior in certain societies is different than other people's behavior in other societies. Saudi people's methods are bonded by Islamic religion instructions and very old customs. Therefore, Saudi people's methods are different than American people methods, which depend completely on development and freedom. These differences contain three results. Saudi society is more collectivist than the American society, Saudi society has higher power distance than American society and the Saudi society has stronger uncertainty avoidance than American society.

Collectivism in Saudi society is more important than it is in the American society. First, Saudi people prefer group activities; they prefer doing work in the companies with a group to doing it alone. In contrast, American people prefer doing their activities alone. For example, they prefer financing a business instead of getting other people to invest in it. Second, Saudi people think of themselves as "members of a group" so that all people in Saudi Arabia work together to make things happen for each other; they wouldn’t be jealous if another person were more successful than them; they help each other even if they are in competition. This is something that you rarely observe in American society. Finally, Saudi people base decisions on the needs of the group. They never have made decisions based on the benefits of only few in the group, but American people base decisions individually. American people are more individual than Saudi people.

The lack of the development which Saudi Arabia has, and the consideration to keep the old customs has made Saudi society have higher power distance than American society. First, in the Saudi house the man has the first and the final words. The woman cannot make any decision without the approval from the man, and the man always makes the important decisions without sharing them with the women. On the other hand, the man and the woman share with each other to make the important decisions in the American house. Second, at work, Saudi people expect the boss to make all the decisions, and all they do is the achieving. In contrast, at work in American companies there is not as much difference between people of high and low status. The boss listens to people at all levels in the company too. Finally, in the Saudi society the relationship between the old generation and the new generation is strong, so if you were 40 years old and your father asked you to do something you would do it, even if it were without benefit. On the other hand, the relationship between the old generation and the new generation is weak; therefore, the people in the new generation make their decision without taking advice from the old generation. American society eliminates the buffer of the hierarchy, but Saudi society still has it.

Saudi society is close minded; therefore, their uncertainty avoidance is stronger than American society which is open minded. First, Saudi people try to avoid the unknown. For example, the employees in the company are always against any change in the company procedures which they work in, while American company employees are more open to changes. Second, Saudi people are more emotional than American people. For example, the emotions are the most important things at work in Saudi society, so Saudi people never work devotedly without having good relations exist between them and the mangers in their work. However, in American society the most important thing at work is the work itself. They never let the relationship between them and their mangers affect strongly on their work. Finally, Saudi people tend to like having many rules. For example, at work if there were not many rules, they would not achieve, come to work on time and leave on time, so the employer could put a lot of rules to actualizing his work. In the other hand, American employees prefer less rules and more freedom in their work to achieve efficiently. American people have weaker uncertainty avoidance than Saudi people do.

Collectivism, power distance and uncertainty avoidance are higher in Saudi society than they are in American society. That exhibits the disadvantages which Saudi organizations should start to get rid of, and exhibits the advantages which Saudi organizations should keep and develop. With The development of the global economy and the advances in the technology Saudi Arabia cannot afford to resist change and America must come together and work as one. If there were more collaboration and understanding between the societies of the world, and there were even plans for countries throughout the world to share their experiences, the people would be much happier.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Bargain before buying

In my country people always negotiate. Houses, cars, and lands are the first things we negotiate for. Food and clothes are the second thing we negotiate for. In my country I used to bargain to buy some land for may father, and buy some used cars for my family's restaurant chain. Not only that, but when I was working in my family's restaurant chain, I have faced many customers bargaining with me. Therefore, I am good in bargaining because of my special strategies. Frst, do not show your craving or desiring of the products. second, before deciding to buy any products go around and observe the costs of the similar products. third, decide how much you want to pay. Next, offer a price which is as much below what you have decided to pay, as the seller's price is above it. Finally, go back and forth with the sellers until they accept your price. you should bargain in my country to have a good price.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

some time business is a gamble

People always try to start in business to increase their incomes; some of them take loans to start, and others spend all the money which they have saved through of their live. Therefore, they should choose good cities to start a strong business in. Carbondale is one of the cities which some people have started a small business in. They may forget that starting business in Carbondale contains three dangers. The number of Carbondale people is not comforting; the geographic location of Carbondale is not strategic, and the competition with the big store in Carbondale would be difficult.

The people who live in Carbondale are about 40,000, and this number of people is not encouraging at all. First of all, this number of people in Carbondale makes the people close to each other. Therefore, if you make mistake with one customer, a lot of people in Carbondale would likely know about it; therefore, this would negatively affect you in your trade by losing more than one customer. Second, 20,000 of Carbondale people are students, and the students never have much money to buy from the stores. Finally, the people who are not students in Carbondale have simple jobs, so they have small mount incomes which they use some of them for the important products. The number of people in Carbondale is not enough to start your business in it.

Carbondale, which is located in southern Illinois, has a bad geographic location to start a new business in. First, it is not a tourist city, so your dependence would be on local people. Therefore, you could lose the opportunity of tourist customers. Second, the weather in Carbondale is bad for business. The winter in Carbondale is seven months, so the sky is still snowing for five months, which could have negative effects on your trade. Not only that, but in the summer, which is three months in Carbondale, all the students could leave because of the high temperature, so almost half of your customers would have left during these three summer months. Finally, Carbondale is next to big cities like Chicago, St.Louis and Memphis. Therefore, your potential customers would prefer traveling to them one or two times a year to buy long term products for the year instead of buying from your store. Carbondale's geographic location makes it bad for starting a business in it.

Starting business in Carbondale requires strong competition. First, big stores like Wal-Mart and Kroger will be your competitors. The big stores like them have more ability in the product discounts than small stores, by using their big warehouses to store plenty of products after buying them with cheaper prices because of the big amount. Second, Carbondale is very small so the good business would be noticed; therefore, you would have many potential competitors with a small number of people. Finally, people always trust big stores more than small stores. They sometimes prefer buying products, which the small stores have, from big stores at same price than buying them from small stores next to them because they think they are cheaper. The competition in Carbondale would put you in a critical position.

Business in Carbondale is not a good idea, because of the number of the people, the geographic location and the strong competition. If you want to take a gamble do it. Some people in the world love the adventures, but they try to study them well before will have started, so if they are would be unsuccessful they, avoid them. And business in Carbondale is an unsuccessful adventure; so think about your luck.