Raúl Gorrín The Entrepreneur-humanist

Productivityand Efficiency

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Raúl Antonio Gorrín:

In a strong economy, it is easy for a businesses to enjoy greater productivity. Disposable income is high, unemployment is low and consumer confidence prompts people to pump their money back into the economy through the purchase of essential and nonessential goods and services. Everyone spends more. People tend to buy more luxury items. They buy more what they want than what they need. United States recovery from the last recession has been very slow.

In United States, over the year, average hourly earnings rose only 2.1 percent, in line with the same slow growth it’ve seen for the last six years. And wages for production/non supervisory workers rose even more slowly, at 1.8 percent over the year. The current median household income for the United States is $53,657. Real median household income peaked in 2007 at $57,936 and is now $4,279 (7.39%) lower.

The average American family makes less money than it did in 2007. That means that after expenses there is less discretionary money for spending. So there will be less money spent and less money to disperser among the companies out there. That means there will be more corporate failures and bankruptcies.

Now, according to experts there are two ways to handle this. One is short site and is a prevention mode management. You cut down on cost and expenses, you stop R & D cost and invest nothing more into the company. Sounds like a good idea during an economic slowdown. However it has proven to seldom work.

In December 2008 Sony cut cost by 2.6 billion dollars. It was part of their prevention focused approach to a slower economy. It closed plants, eliminated 16,000 jobs and delayed any investment in its electronic division. It got its payroll cost down by 11% and its R & D cost by 12% and it cut its capital investments by 23%. Now for the good news, its profit margin went up from 8% to 11%. But if you look carefully, growth in sales went down from 11% per year to 1%. It has been struggling to regain its market. Even by adding in R & D it can not rebuild its momentum.

The recession is not the time to drop out of the competition. It actually means that it takes more to stay competitive. If you are looking for the long term benefit of the company, you need to do more to keep your customers and keep the momentum going during those hard times.

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However, people must also remember that there is less money to go around. So it is best not to be too aggressive with the investments during this time period.

Hewlett-Packard during the recession made large capital investments despite not bringing in the money to cover it and hard a hard time to recover afterwards. This has been debated as to whether it was a long term wise decision.

There is no simple answer, but it is best for each company to find the right mix between some cost cutting and some investments during the slow times. One has to look forward to the long term health of the company and stay competitive but it also has to financially survive those hard days.

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viernes, 27 de noviembre de 2015

Raúl Antonio Gorrín: “Work smarter not harder.”

Raúl Antonio Gorrín: “Work smarter not harder.” I remember those words over forty years ago from my mentor. They still hold true today as much as hey did back then. We all want to feel productive. Often, in order to feel productive, we just start doing--something, anything, everything. Did you know that buisness owners spend 40% of their day on time-wasting tasks that don't build the company. All this is well said and true. Today, I would like to tak about how to be more productive without changing anything in your office. We will focus on the effects of sleep on your employees.

Sleep loss is estimated to cost the U.S. $63 million in lost productivity. According to a report from the Huffinton Post, sleep deprived workers were so consistently tired on the job that they cost their employers the equivalent of 7.8 days of work in lost productivity each year — an amount equal to an average of about $2,280 in salary per person.

Sleep deprivation is linked with:

Reduced productivity

Difficulty focusing

Lower job satisfaction

Impairments in innovative thinking

One of the suggestions was not to start the workday before 9am. Also to allow where possible, a flexible schedule.

A proper nights sleep has been found to have the following effect:

Makes you healthier and is good for your heart and you burn more calories.

Makes you smarter and your brain is more likely to remember things and to think clearer. Making those tough decisions will be easier to make.

It brightens your mood. Your mood will affect how well you work as a team player in the office and how well you come across to your business prospects. You do not want employees coming in cranky.

You will have more energy and will take less time to perform tasks. Sleep deprivation can make you lethargic.

Productivity deals with people. If your staff is not up to their full potential because they are not getting their proper amount of sleep, then you will not get a good productivity from them.

Benjamin Franklin was quoted as saying….

“Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.”

James Thurber was of different opinion and said…..

“Early to rise and early to bed makes a male healthy and wealthy and dead.”

Globovisión, Raúl Gorrín, Raúl Antonio Gorrín, Seguros La Vitalicia Raúl Gorrín, Medios de comunicación, Venezuela, Gobierno, Empresarios, Emprendedor,

Franklin’s saying is more famous but most manager consultants who work on productivity of companies are more likely to agree with Thurber.

Get enough sleep every night. An exhausted mind is rarely productive. There is an old saying about letting boys sleep… “Let him sleep, when he awakes he will move mountains.” There is a lot of truth to that statement. Productivity is more about keeping a sharp mind, smart happy employees, motivated employees, ability to plan and ability to keep focused. The list goes on and on. It all relies on your employees and your ability to be at the top of your game in mind and in body. That just could never be without being healthy and having had enough sleep. Raúl Antonio Gorrín.

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jueves, 26 de noviembre de 2015

Raúl Antonio Gorrín: What is the definition of productivity?

Action is the fundamental key to all success", this is a quote from Pablo Picasso.

What is the definition of productivity?

According to the dictionary it has the following meanings:

The state or quality of producing something, especially crops.

An example would be....."The long-term productivity of land"

The effectiveness of productive effort, especially in industry, as measured in terms of the rate of output per unit of input.

An example would be......."workers have boosted productivity by 30 percent"

As you can see the definition given by the dictionary is the actual production of a product or idea that can make money against the cost to produce that product or idea. There is a cartoon of a lecturer with a sign that asks the following question....

"How to increase your productivity? .....Answer - Spend more time at your work place and less time at productivity seminars."

Leon Uris a famous author in his book QB VII told a story of an author given a lecture to would be writers on how to be a successful writer.

“Who here wants to be a writer?' I asked.

Everyone in the room raised his hand.

'Why the hell aren't you home writing?' I said, and left the stage.”

The dictionary's definition of productivity is true. To be productive you actually need to work, it is as simple as that. Of course business and productivity is never that clear cut and simple. Productivity is not just about putting out a product for the cheapest way possible. It has to involve long term goals. One of those goals is proper planning and goal setting. With proper planning you can be more efficient. True it takes time to properly plan and that is according to the definition of the dictionary, nonproductive time. But in reality, if you look at the whole picture, with proper planning you can save both time and money and it will give you a more productive result. Again, I would like to quote Leon Uris. “Too many writers start with a good idea and carry it through the first chapters, then fall apart because they had no idea where the top of the mountain was in the first place.” Whether is is an idea such as in writing a book or manufacturing a product, things flow smoothly when proper thought and planning had been done from the start. There wiill be less of a chance for a company recall of a product for example. All in all, the planning time may not appear on paper to be productive but the end result will show that indeed it will be very productive.

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Again, business and life is never that clear cut. Once you have set your target, you should start right away. Even if your plans are not perfect. You could always adjust your plans along the way. There is no such thing as perfect plans. Mistakes will happen and when they do you will make those changes as will be necessary. It is vital and necessary to properly plan. However, you should not use planning as an excuse to not start. A properly productive person knows the right balance between allowing time to properly plan and getting to work even of your plans are not prefect. They never will be perfect. At some point, more planning becomes inefficient and nonproductive.

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