Business Books

The competitiveness of today’s marketplace means that any advantage can be helpful regardless of what business you’re in. Outsourcing and out-tasking are a couple of the ways in which businesses are cutting back on costs and increasing profits, in large part aided by new technologies. The term “outsourcing” generally refers to the hiring of an outside service provider to oversee an entire function of the business. For a primer on using the Web to get outsourcing done we recommend this review of the outsource method. Despite the fact that it’s only entered the popular consciousness somewhat recently, outsourcing has been common practice since around the 1980s, and it’s employed by businesses from large to small.

Consider some of the most widely outsourced business functions: accounting, content writing, customer service, design, engineering, human resources, IT, legal services, manufacturing, market research and web development. That being said, virtually any function of a business can be outsourced.

Outsourcing avails many potential advantages. These include lower costs; this can result from the wage gap (if outsourcing to an overseas provider), or as a result of competition among providers. Thanks to outsourcing, businesses have a chance to get more value for their money; this is because, with outsourcing, it’s possible to employ less permanent staff, and therefore their expenditures are used more effectively. When they outsource labour to particular locations, businesses also have the chance to benefit from things including tax benefits and government matching of capital. Outsourcing allows businesses to have access to larger potential skill and knowledge pools. By outsourcing, businesses can work with providers using {more specific} contracts than they can with conventional employees. Outsourcing also affords businesses greater flexibility and adaptability, which are especially important in the tough market of today. Perhaps most of all, through outsourcing, businesses are free to concentrate on their central area of business and leave the rest to those who are best equipped to handle those areas. After all, why should a bookstore have an in-house IT department? For more information on using the Web to effectively outsource take a look at this outsource method.

Alongside standard outsourcing, employers may want to consider out-tasking, which amounts to a more specific form of outsourcing. For example, instead of outsourcing the entire IT operation, a business can “out-task” software or storage tasks to an external provider. Additionally, businesses can consider co-sourcing, bringing internal and external personnel together, which can give you the “best of both worlds.” For some kinds of businesses, the recently uncovered option of “crowdsourcing” is available. Crowdsourcing allows businesses to use their website traffic to procure a service, often in unconventional ways. One instance of this concept in action is CAPTCHA, the cryptic images you sometimes see while submitting certain web forms. Sometimes, these pictures include difficult-to-read images scanned from rare books for archiving purposes, the user’s interpretation of which is then added to the database.

Outsourcing and out-tasking are popular strategies for a reason. With so many options and possibilities, these things are worthwhile for businesses of any nature.

Amazon has attracted a fair deal of criticism regarding the price of its Kindle reader and has now stated that the price of the Kindle 2 reader will drop from $359 to $299. The Kindle 2 was launched in February 2009. The ticket price Kindle DX, which started shipping in June 2009, is unaffected and remains at $489. Amazon have advised that customers who had their Kindles shipped to them within the thirty days prior to the price cut announcement would receive a $60 credit based on the price difference.

This is the first price cut for any of the devices in the Kindle reader family. According to Amazon, increased productions volume now allow them to pass savings on to the consumer. This explanation is being queried by many industry analysts who feel that it may be a little early for price cuts of this nature given that the Kindle 2 was released only five months ago.

Increased competition from other ebook reader manufacturers is generally felt to have been a significant influencing factor in Amazon’s decision. In addition to Amazon, Sony, Apple and a host of smaller companies seem anxious to secure their share of what is now widely predicted to be the future of reading.

The Taiwanese manufacturer Netronix is currently producing lowerfunctionality, reduced cost, ebook readers for companies such as Elonex and Interead. Whilst these lack the wireless connection facility of the Kindle the prices are very much lower. Perhaps even more significant than the ticket price is the rapid speed of development. The Netronix readers were brought to market in less than six months.

Amazon is certainly motivated to sell as many Kindles as possible – even if it does mean a price cut. The repeat business from Kindle users – many of whom will quite naturally be heavy readers – represents a very lucrative market for Amazon. Some industry watchers have suggested that the $60 reduction isn’t enough for the Amazon Kindle to make the break out into iPod type status. A value below $200 has been proposed by many as being the required price point.

Whatever the reasoning behind Amazon’s decision to cut the price of the Kindle 2, it’s probably fair to say that Amazon know a thing or two about setting price levels. It’s been a key element of their business strategy for a number of years now.

Following the pricing announcement, Amazon shares firmed up by 2.3%.