White Light, Golden Cap.

This rather ethereal picture, was taken at a flower festival in a church dressed all in white.
It reminds me that winter is not too far away.

3 Philanthropy makes good business


The idea of giving something free to employees/customers has been a very successful commercial ploy.A good example of this, is the internet giant Google; which has produced, starting with its search engine, ( which has been so successful that it has created a new verb; people now ' google ' for information) a whole series of free applications , google earth ( mapping to street level) , google mail ( e-mail service) google chrome ( internet server , combined now with 'Android ' mobile phone applications)  and many more including, soon to be released google talk ( allowing users to make phone calls over the internet )

It is true that some upgrades of services have  a monetary contribution ; but nevertheless it is essentially a free to user operation, which builds up customer loyalty and makes google one of the big players in the internet market place and in so doing, drawing a big income through advertisements.
Google exemplifies  the importance of driving forward, by constantly using their " Ideas' Factory ", an excellent use of staff ( other firms/organizations take note).

It is, of course impossible to exist as a business, by giving everything away, but by sponsoring local events, building projects and showing themselves to be an active participant in their community,  this again builds up customer support, which in turn helps create sales figures.

Employees should see their value to the firm by the addition of  items, such as, secure bicycle pods/sheds, heavily subsidised food/ drinks and a variety of menu which caters for specific staff requirements, social evenings and even special days' leave ( who wants to work on his/her  birthday ?).
All of these ' perks' have a cost attached; but again the payback in sustaining a relatively contented staff and  thus  promoting  that virtuous circle will be well worth the finance involved.

To sum up then, my vision is of a " green " based firm, driving down energy costs by using new technology and , if in retail mode looking for opportunities to sell " litelivin'  " products
 Always  listening to employees and cooperating with them to create a virtuous circle, which endorses and embraces the mission dream.
lastly adding  value to  the customer/employee  local community by proving free services, which match the needs of the local environment.

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Last week I was in Dorset, searching for the Golden Cap ( the highest point in the county); well the good news is , yes I found it, by the coast at Sea Town. The bad news is it took me so long to find the actual footpath, after asking various locals and getting various answers, that it was getting time for the return bus and barely left me a suitable interlude to quaff two refreshing pints of Palmers ( of Bridport ) from the local Anchor pub.
Anyway here be cap, which I hopes to raise up the next time.

P.S. Anchor in foreground

P.P.S. did I tell you that to date Apple have sold 275 million iPods world-wide and that iTunes music store has 12 million songs to download ?  Why do I hear yawning ?

Ciao4now

Ck.