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Bvlgari Assioma BL-15 Publié le Jeudi 17 Février 2011 à 08:46:09

Although consumers and manufacturers alike have been affected by Black Monday and concerns about the falling dollar and the budget deficit, many of those attending the trade show have not experienced the dire consequences that had been predicted for the $31.3 billion housewares industry. Retailers NamBreitling for Bentley QUARTZ Chronograph BT-50 a delayed but strong buying surge during the holiday season. And some believe that housewares manufacturers are benefiting from the climate of economic anxiety.

``In times of uncertainty, people tend psychologically to gravitate toward home, to their own personal oasis,'' said William S. Ripley, chairman of the National Housewares Manufacturers Association, the show's sponsor.

``You can say they're cocooning, or you can call them couch potatoes or use whatever the latest buzz term is,'' he said. ``But people are making themselves feel better by making their home environment as pleasant as possible.''

While Ripley admitted to hating the term ``couch potato,'' the housewares industry has NamHigh Grade Breitling Navitimer Automatic watch no time in capitalizing on it.

Prominently displayed at the show was the One and Only Couch Potato Mug (``An Official Licensed Couch Potato Product,'' advised the logo, showing a smiling potato sitting on a couch). The white plastic mug is fitted with a blue spillproof cover for potatoes who favor sipping in a reclining position.

With its $1.75 retail price, the mug, like many offerings at the show, is clearly not a luxury item, but some at the exhibition said the show had a more ``up-market'' feeling than in previous years.

``There's been a lot of upscaling this year,'' said Jack Park, a sales Bvlgari Assioma BL-13 from Richardson.

Ripley linked this to the aging of baby boomers ``who are in two- career marriages and have more disposable income.''

``They're more demanding and more persnickety,'' he said. ``And better quality adds to the `feel-good' nature of these products; it makes anxious people feel better.''

Beyond this trend, there has been a blurring of clear-cut buying habits due to Americans' new lifestyles, and the trade show demonstrated ``a metamorphosis in retailing,'' said Jay Spaulding, president of the housewares association.

``Traditionally, men bought certain things and women bought certain things, and now they're Bvlgari Assioma BL-14 the lines,'' Spaulding said. ``We're not seeing the graying of America, but rather the straying of America from conventional customs and habits.''

Retailers are straying too.

``You're seeing discount stores and drugstores selling food products, food stores selling drugs and hardware, and the catalogs selling everything,'' he said.

Part of the reason, Spaulding said, is that time is at a premium for two-career couples, and they usually prefer one-stop shopping. But Ripley said the metamorphosis in retailing is also the result of ``changing roles and changing rules.''

``Men and women are sharing housework and purchasing responsibilities,'' Bvlgari Assioma BL-15 said. ``Working women are buying things like hardware products. And men are loading the dishwasher and diapering the baby, and they're buying products that women used to buy.''

Perhaps the most humble indicator of America's growing interest in home and hearth is the boom in refrigerator magnets.

``The demand, it's something you would not believe,'' said Perry Upchurch, founder of a Dallas company, Grynnen Barrett. The company sells 300 styles of refrigerator magnets, including the Urban Professional Assortment with magnets in the form of a gold credit card, a button-down shirt, wing-tip shoes, a Perrier bottle and a Rolex watch.

 

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Bell&Ross Instrument BR-03 RS-11 Publié le Jeudi 17 Février 2011 à 08:45:17

If Tarkenton has taken bad risks, it doesn't show. He drives a Mercedes-Benz and a Porsche, vacations in Hawaii and plays golf at Pebble Beach, California. At Christmas, he requires two trees to accommodate all the gifts he buys for his second wife, Tammy, and the three children by his first marriage, Bell&Ross Instrument BR-01 Airborne RS-14, 23, Matthew, 18, and Melissa, 17. In his spare time, Tarkenton lifts weights and takes six-mile jogs. He's an armchair quarterback who loves to watch sports on television.

Football still has allure for Tarkenton. He has been involved in an attempted hostile takeover of the Minnesota Vikings for more than two years. The effort began when former team owner Max Winter, at odds with General Manager Mike Lynn, sold his stock to Carl Pohlad, who owns the Minnesota Twins, and corporate raider Irwin Jacobs. Pohlad and Jacobs own 51% of the outstanding stock, but have only a third of the voting shares. Tarkenton has teamed up with them to sue Lynn and others for control of the Vikings.

In Minnesota, some people frown on the prospect of Tarkenton Bell&Ross Instrument BR-01 Airborne RS-15 an owner of the team. "I hope he doesn't," says sports columnist Klobuchar. "It's a full-time job and Fran's a will-o'-the-wisp."

Tarkenton says he is motivated by the same force that drives the common working man. "I've got mouths to feed," he says. "The breadwinner has a tremendous burden, and the burden is no less for me." As for the future, he has no specific game plan. "I will continue to look for niches to fill in the marketplace," he says.

Perhaps his greatest disappointment, other than leading the Vikings to Bell&Ross Instrument BR-01 Airborne RS-17 Super Bowls and losing each time, is that he always will be known more as a quarterback than a businessman. "I was a football player and that's great," he says, "but I will never live it down."

CHICAGO - The couch potatoes are going to be cocooning in their families' personal oases this year. Exactly what does this mean to Mr. and Mrs. America?

Well, there definitely could be a motorized spice rack in the average Bell&Ross Instrument BR-03 RS-11 future. For the first time in history, snoozers will be able to turn off an alarm clock simply by waving at it (it's so hard to hit the off button when you're half awake). And the fragrance industry has produced a jasmine-scented air freshener to make vacuum-cleaner exhaust smell better.

These are the bulletins from the 87th International Housewares Exposition, the four-day trade show at the McCormick Place convention center here recently.

And while it is easy enough to poke fun at some of the more outlandish new products, the show was viewed by more than a few participants as a barometer of the American condition.

Indeed, as 55,000 merchants, manufacturers, sales representatives and Bell&Ross Instrument BR-03 RS-12 visitors to the nation's premiere housewares show trod 12 miles of melon and raspberry carpeting past the offerings of 2,000 exhibitors displaying 2 million items, they were not just browsing. Their product orders will largely determine what Americans will be able to buy this year in department stores, discount houses and catalog showrooms.

 

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Bell&Ross Instrument BR 01-93 GMT RS-16 Publié le Jeudi 17 Février 2011 à 08:45:01

Despite its longevity and wide name recognition, Tarkenton, Conn & Co. is not a big-league player in the $7 billion-a-year management consulting industry. The firm has about 10 clients and a dozen full-time consultants. The 1986 Directory of Management Consultants puts the firm's annual revenues in the $1 Bell&Ross Tourbillon BR01 Phantom RS-1 to $5 million range. The nation's largest company specializing in management consulting, McKinsey & Co., has estimated annual revenues of more than $300 million.

Most consulting firms help companies define specific problems and develop strategic plans in areas like organization, marketing and finance. Tarkenton's company is different. It teaches firms basic management tools, like how to set objectives and use positive feedback. Says James H. Kennedy, publisher of Bell&Ross Tourbillon BR01 Phantom RS-2 industry newsletter Consultants News, "They are not what we call true management consultants. They run in a different stream."

Tarkenton is proud that his firm is unlike the rest. "Most companies will Bell&Ross BR 02 Chronograph RS-9 seminars and do studies and tell people what they already know," he says. "We go in and implement a plan of action. We take the mystery, the flimflam and the hype out of the business."

Tarkenton's clients, who pay as much as $300,000 for the consulting services, are among his biggest fans. Marci Warfield, who heads the performance management department at Bank South in Atlanta, says Tarkenton's firm helped the bank reduce reported problems with checking accounts by nearly 50% in 1987. The bank uses a Tarkenton software package that tracks employee performance.

Sara Lee is another happy customer. The Chicago-based food company is a Bell&Ross Instrument BR 01-93 GMT RS-16 of Tarkenton's consulting firm, insurance brokerage and computer software company. "Fran markets his programs and himself well," says Executive Vice President Paul Fulton. "He's a positive business person."

Tarkenton's critics say he has a short attention span and is too busy making speeches and televison shows to keep up with the consulting firm. "If he had dedicted himself to the business, it would be great," says Larry Miller, a former president of the consulting firm who is now a competitor, "but his mind is not on the business."

Some of Tarkenton's ventures have been short-lived, like a fast-food restaurant Bell&Ross Instrument BR-01 Airborne Black RS-13 Scrambler's Village and a marketing business that sold advertising on airline ticket envelopes. Tarkenton doesn't talk about his past endeavors. "It's history," he says. But friends and family members view them as testament to his entrepreneurial spirit. "He comes up with ideas and likes to start companies," says his daughter, Angela. "When they get to a certain size, he sells them."

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Bell&Ross Instrument Skeleton Gold RS-32 Publié le Jeudi 17 Février 2011 à 08:44:42

Tarkenton has mastered the art of selling his name. The quarterback who made $350,000 in his last pro season has earned about $1 million every year since he retired from football, says a longtime financial and legal advisor who asked not to be named. Says Klobuchar, "He knows how to exploit Bell&Ross Instrument Dual Time RS-29."

He makes no apologies for capitalizing on his prominence. "Sure, name recognition gets us in the door," Tarkenton says, "but we have to provide quality products to stay inside."

Tarkenton spends much of his time traveling to speaking engagements. A natural orator, he captivates his audience with pep talks that sound remarkably off the cuff. He uses football allusions to dramatize his three speech topics -- managing change, building teams and motivating people.

When he's not talking on stage, Tarkenton is talking on the telephone in his Bell&Ross Instrument Dual Time RS-30, which is bedecked with sports memorabilia. Looking up from his desk, he can see his most prized possession, a replica of his bust in the Football Hall of Fame.

To those who know him, Tarkenton is a down-to-earth family man who is always cheerful. He refers to problems as "interesting situations." He tells funny stories and plays practical jokes. "He likes to tease people," says Shirl Handly, a former vice president of the consulting firm. "And you can feel Bell&Ross Instrument Skeleton Black RS-31 teasing him back."

But being a celebrity has hardened him toward the general public. Too many inconsiderate fans have jostled him when he has been asleep on airplanes. Chuck Watkins, president of the insurance brokerage Tarkenton & Watkins Inc., says some people might think Tarkenton arrogant. "People call out to him Bell&Ross Instrument Skeleton Gold RS-32 the street and maybe he doesn't hear them, so he doesn't turn around," says Watkins. "They'll say he's a snob, but it's not true."

Though he still gets fan mail -- especially from boys who collect football cards -- Tarkenton's fame is beginning to fade. People who spot him in airports sometimes confuse him with other football heroes.

Tarkenton hopes his businesses will have more lasting value. His oldest company is the management consulting firm, created in 1969 while he was with the New York Giants. In the beginning, it employed as many as 60 consultants and helped textile companies improve worker productivity. One of Tarkenton's early Bell&Ross Instrument Skeleton RS-4, he says, was reducing employee turnover by 30% at Milliken & Co., the large textile firm based in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

 

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Bell&Ross Instrument Dual Time RS-27 Publié le Jeudi 17 Février 2011 à 08:44:26

Many professional athletes fail to make a graceful transition from stardom to everyday life when their sports careers are over. "These individuals have been pampered and coddled and told how great they are for most of their young adult lives," says Edward Keating, a sports agent in Cleveland, Ohio, Bvlgari Assioma BL-14 has represented Tarkenton and other football greats, like former Miami Dolphins running back Larry Csonka. "In their minds, they believe it's never going to end. When it does, they walk around in a daze. It's sad."

Tarkenton was different. Midway through his football career, he founded his first business, a management consulting firm known today as Tarkenton, Conn & Co. "Fran is in a minority," says Keating. "He perceived that he wouldn't always be running around throwing a football, so he started taking Bvlgari Assioma BL-15 of his fame and his contacts while he was playing."

Tarkenton now has a public relations firm, an advertising agency, an insurance brokerage, a computer software firm and a speakers bureau. The companies are small. Tarkenton & Addams Inc., the public relations firm, has two employees and three clients, including GNB Inc., a Minnesota-based battery maker. GNB also accounts for about 90% of business at the advertising agency, Tarkenton & Hughes Inc. The speakers bureau has one employee, Tarkenton's daughter, Angela Cordle. Says Tarkenton, "I'm not interested Bell&Ross Instrument BR01 Pro Titanium RS-3 size for size's sake. "I'm concerned about quality."

Tarkenton refuses to discuss the finances of his companies. "I don't have to go around showing off to the world how successful we are," he says. In publications like the New York Times and Fortune, reports of the combined annual revenues of his enterprises have ranged from $11 million to $50 million. "Whatever they've said, it's not true. They didn't get their information from me," says Tarkenton, dropping the subject.

A University of Georgia graduate who was reared in Athens, Tarkenton has a hands-off approach to running his companies. He is a delegator who readily admits to knowing few details about his firms. He can't say how many people work for him (it's about 130, most with the computer software company), Bell&Ross Instrument Dual Time RS-27 he's not sure how many clients he serves. He lets others run the companies. "I'm not so different from the chairman of General Motors," he says. "His job is not to build an automobile. The point of leadership is to bring talented people together."

A hyperactive man with infectious enthusiasm, Tarkenton is a one-man sales force for his companies. His football fame gets him audiences with top executives of the nation's largest corporations. "Everyone wants to meet him," says his secretary, Tracy Johnson. "Grown men go nuts over him."

He markets his companies at every speech. He plugs them at golf games. "His Bell&Ross Instrument Dual Time RS-28 are our best business tool," says Rich Hughes, president of the advertising agency." He keeps us from having to go through the normal agonies of pitching accounts."

 

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