BCG matrix was devised in 1968 by a consulting group in Boston, US, the is a famous tool used to map an organization’s products/services in terms of profitability, market share and hence, determine the future course of action for them.
Put in simple terms, BCG matrix helps the firm in allocation of its limited resources effectively by mapping its product/services in four-quadrants based in profitability and relative market share.
Design of the Matrix
Design of the BCG chart is amazingly analogous to the “four matrix” of time management which is again a very simple tool to prioritization of tasks.
The chart has two aspects on which it is worked out; blocks and x&y axis. Chart is divided into four blocks which has two degrees called High and Low, however x-axis denotes Cash Generation also called “Relative Market Share” whereas, on the contrary y-axis denotes Market Growth Rate. Thereby, segmenting it into four degrees that are poles apart, resulting it to be called as ‘Matrix’
First block – High & High (high growth & high cash)
Second block – High & Low (high growth & low cash)
Third block – Low & High (low growth & high cash)
Fourth block – Low & Low (low growth & low cash)
Based on their growth rate and cash generation each block is assigned with a name. For as the STARS, CASH COWS, QUESTION MARKS and DOGS.
Before we move on to the interpretation and detailed understanding of the BCG Matrix, we must get on to the bottom line of understanding Relative Market Share / Market Share and Market Growth Rate.
“Relative Market Share” (RMS) is the one hundredth or percentage of the total market that is being serviced by your company, measured either in revenue terms or unit volume terms. Control over the market is directly proportional to market share means the higher your market share, the higher proportion of the market you control.
Computation of Relative Market Share
RMS =Business unit sales this year / Leading rival sales this year
“Market Growth Rate” (MGR) is used as a measure of the attractiveness of the market. Markets with a high growth rate are expanding and provide immense potential to all the players present.
Computation of Market Growth Rate
MGR= Individual sales this yr.-individual sales last yr. /Individual sales last yr
Understanding BCG Matrix
STARS: High relative market share and High market growth rate.
Leaders in the industry.
Require major chunk of investment for maintaining their competitiveness.
Usually, the flag-ship brands of the company.
Companies should focus on maintaining a steady growth in market share as the industry growth rate is high and competition is stiff.
CASH COWS: High relative market share but low market growth rate.
Stars of the past
Cash-rich brands of the company.
Form the foundation for the company and the cash generated is used in growth, reinvestment purposes.
The industry in which they operate is at its mature or declining stage so no more scope for growth.
Hence, profits need to be extracted and resource allocation for these brands is very less.
QUESTION MARKS: High market growth rate and low relative market share.
These are potential Stars of the company because the industry is growing at a rapid pace and there is immense potential for capturing market share.
Maximum amount of resources need to be allocated to these brands because they are the future flagship brands of the company.
However, the reasons for their low market share must be analysed and market / product development strategies put in operation to improve their present state.
DOGS : Low growth rate and low relative market share
The market is in its declining stage and they have low market share.
Dogs don’t have potential to bring in much cash.
Are the almost a liability for the company and should be divested.
Number of such brands should be minimized.
On the whole the goal of this positioning was to aid commercial analysts make a decision as which of their business units needs to be funded, and how much; and which units to be sold out. Managers were supposed to gain perspective from this analysis that approved them to chalk out with confidence to use money generated by the cash cows to fund the stars and, possibly, the question marks.
Steps to BCG Matrix
Identification and division on the basis of Strategic Business Unit.
Assessment of the Strategic Business Unit based on Market Growth Rate and Relative Market Share.
Classification of Strategic Business Unit in accordance to the BCG Matrix.
Development of the strategies and objectives.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Monday, June 13, 2011
Speak Asia Online Surveys Scam - Star News
Star News has exposed the Speak Asia Online Surveys Scam. The scam has been going on for a while and people should have done their own calculations.
People always think that earning online is very easy and many websites including amitbhawani etc has been supporting the fact with a large number of how to earn online type of blogs or articles. Some of these Richie rich style jobs try to allude people using online surveys which has always made people fool out of their hard-earned money. People think that the short cut options make them invest on these. You have to pay a one time sign up fees to these companies and then expect paid surveys of a few hundred rupees each making you to earn a lot of money.
Speak Asia Online Surveys Scam
But wait recently a smart company was launched in Singapore which claimed that it had large clients like ICICI Bank who were paying them for research and the company was offering panelists / membership options for around Rs 11000 and within a few months around 13 lakh people already joined in which is seriously a very big number.
Many students and middle-class people have actually taken bank loans and signed up for this company with multiple accounts in a hope to earn back lakhs of Indian Rupees very quickly and also to get many surveys which is what the company is claiming. According to this MLM type program members the more speakasiaonline.com accounts you have, the chances of getting more accounts increases which is why they keep reinvesting and also force their friends / relatives to do the same.
The real problem seems to be the fact that their have been many similar companies like Visarev, Global Index Wing, Unipay2u, StockGuru India, TVI Express, Japan Life, Quantum Funds Online etc which have already been closed in the past few years and this new company ie Speakasiaonline.com should also follow them. There is a video which was covered by Star News giving people from India a big news on why you should avoid all these online surveys scams and stop dreaming about making big money online without hard work.
More confidence on this company came in when it started advertising on Television and Newspapers with very high budgets, off-course it’s the innocents money but its being spent but these smart managers of the company trying to make the game to a very big level.
People always think that earning online is very easy and many websites including amitbhawani etc has been supporting the fact with a large number of how to earn online type of blogs or articles. Some of these Richie rich style jobs try to allude people using online surveys which has always made people fool out of their hard-earned money. People think that the short cut options make them invest on these. You have to pay a one time sign up fees to these companies and then expect paid surveys of a few hundred rupees each making you to earn a lot of money.
Speak Asia Online Surveys Scam
But wait recently a smart company was launched in Singapore which claimed that it had large clients like ICICI Bank who were paying them for research and the company was offering panelists / membership options for around Rs 11000 and within a few months around 13 lakh people already joined in which is seriously a very big number.
Many students and middle-class people have actually taken bank loans and signed up for this company with multiple accounts in a hope to earn back lakhs of Indian Rupees very quickly and also to get many surveys which is what the company is claiming. According to this MLM type program members the more speakasiaonline.com accounts you have, the chances of getting more accounts increases which is why they keep reinvesting and also force their friends / relatives to do the same.
The real problem seems to be the fact that their have been many similar companies like Visarev, Global Index Wing, Unipay2u, StockGuru India, TVI Express, Japan Life, Quantum Funds Online etc which have already been closed in the past few years and this new company ie Speakasiaonline.com should also follow them. There is a video which was covered by Star News giving people from India a big news on why you should avoid all these online surveys scams and stop dreaming about making big money online without hard work.
More confidence on this company came in when it started advertising on Television and Newspapers with very high budgets, off-course it’s the innocents money but its being spent but these smart managers of the company trying to make the game to a very big level.
skillpages have 1 million users lol
This was the email sent to the users of skillpages
1 Million Members on SkillPages - Thank You
Something amazing has just happened and we wanted to thank you. Today, with your help, we reached over one million members on SkillPages!
We never thought so many incredibly skilled and talented people would join us so fast. It’s 150 days since we launched SkillPages. To be at one million members already has left us humbled and excited for what’s possible in the years to come.
Our vision for SkillPages is to unlock new opportunities for you by transforming the way people with skills connect to the people who need them. Every day we hear stories of people getting found on SkillPages by new customers, new employers, new business partners and more.
By joining SkillPages so early (you were member *****!), you are helping to make this vision a reality. For this we are very grateful to you.
So thanks again, we really do appreciate it.
DO you believe in the hyped up number - 1 million ?
1 Million Members on SkillPages - Thank You
Something amazing has just happened and we wanted to thank you. Today, with your help, we reached over one million members on SkillPages!
We never thought so many incredibly skilled and talented people would join us so fast. It’s 150 days since we launched SkillPages. To be at one million members already has left us humbled and excited for what’s possible in the years to come.
Our vision for SkillPages is to unlock new opportunities for you by transforming the way people with skills connect to the people who need them. Every day we hear stories of people getting found on SkillPages by new customers, new employers, new business partners and more.
By joining SkillPages so early (you were member *****!), you are helping to make this vision a reality. For this we are very grateful to you.
So thanks again, we really do appreciate it.
DO you believe in the hyped up number - 1 million ?
Friday, June 10, 2011
A list of webpages that have been effected by Panda and should not
A list of webpages that have been effected by Panda and should not
The purpose of this article is to give a list of "credible" webpages that have been effected by Google Panda that should not. Note that I am usingthe word "webpages" and not "wesbsites" - the distinction should has implications on "sitewide" demotion that Panda has attempted to levy on sites of "poor quality".
A long and lengthy discussions at google webmaster forum has led to revealition of a large number of wesites that have been affected by Google Panda, most of which, are probably in the true spirit of the "demoting low value" websites. But we see a large number of webpages that seems to have been unduly effected by this update. Please note that this list is at the time of writing and the things may change with time.
Most of this list has been taken from the google webmaster forum thread started by Wysz, a google employee who says - "If you know of a high quality site that has been negatively affected by this change, please bring it to our attention in this thread."
We have selected only those webites that are close to what Wysz wanted with one change - while Wysz wanted to list "high quality site", we are instead listed "high quality webpaged". We sincerely believe that a search engine should work on a page basis instead of a site basis, since otherwise a low quality page on a high quality site can rank higher ( and vice versa) - which not the result a search engine or the searcher should be attempting to achive.
One of the most serious issues we have seen is the reports by website owners where scraping sites have been ranking higher than the original websites. And this is not about one or two cases but a plethora of cases. While this issue was there before Panda update, it affected only the websites that were manually degraded. Post panda, all scrapers need to do is find websites affected by Panda, scrape them and post it, and they can be assured of a high SERP position.
Many of the Pro googlers have attempted to take a stand that, it is not google's responsibility to check duplicacy of content. It is the website owners responsibility to file DMCA and get the duplicating content down. There are several drawback to this scheme suggested by the Pro googlers. First DMCA is a time consuming process. You need to find the website owners details, emails. You then need to draft an email / response detailing the copied content. And if the copied content runs over several webpages or if the scraper copies several webpages you will have to show which pages have been copied. The time taken in filing the DMCA can exceed the time it takes to create a fresh content. Filing DMCA at webmasters end chasing invividual scrapers is not a practical solution.
The Author has experienced cases where scrapers put down the content of the website on filing the DMCA. But the webpage was back next day with the same url and the content changed. The scraper realises that this url must have a value, as it received the DMCA. He therefore, does a quick respin of the article and starts getting traffic. The loser is the original content creater.
There is another practical issue when filing a DMCA complaint. If you run AdSense ads the site that you demand to remove your content can click on the ads in such a way that you get your account cancelled, or, if it is a really big wicked scraper site, its staff can run denial of service (DOS) attacks on your site.
- by hotwinduk at http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Webmasters/thread?tid=76830633df82fd8e&hl=en&start=3880
So coming back to the point, here goes the list, the results and the ranks
1. The user clickonf5 has reported scrapers ranking high for his webpage
http://www.clickonf5.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/google-panda-effect-1.png
The search term in question is
"things to do before selling old pc"
The screenshot showing this is here
http://www.clickonf5.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/google-panda-effect-1.png
Except the top yahoo answers pages, all the 6 results are scraped content from the original webpage at www.clickonf5.org. Reportedly, the original page does not figure
2. Another good example whereby so called "Authority site" outrank stolen content from small publishers orginal content has been provided by Marcus S at
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Webmasters/thread?tid=76830633df82fd8e&hl=en&start=3880
example: search 'average speed of a cyclist'
result 1 is wiki.answers
result 5 is road-bike.co.uk (my site)
the answers . com page is taken directly without permission from my site and reposted without permission
3. At
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Webmasters/thread?tid=76830633df82fd8e&hl=en&start=3760
Pete Carpenter reports about his website rc-airplane-world.com. He adds - I have already expressed my dissatisfaction with the new-look search results for anything radio control related, but more recently my site, which ranked #1 for the term "rc airplanes" for several years, is now preceded by this result -
"Dr. Thomas C. Smith
Dr. Thomas Smith, has been providing chiropractic and acupuncture services, in the Camrose area, since 1998. Supporting a broad range of patients, ...
www.rcairplanes.com/ - Cached"
4. webbartie from http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Webmasters/thread?tid=76830633df82fd8e&hl=en&start=3760
adds
Having been hit hard by Panda, I've started to chase those sites which have duplicated my copyright material, I find these by putting phrases from my diydata.com pages into google search. From the first three pages I've checked: -
Putting in "If you are replacing an existing dado rail, it is probably best to keep to the same height" - brings up as number one http://cawehirur68.multiply.com/journal/item/9/Dado_Rail_Height which is just gibberish, no meaningful content and just links to other sites.
Putting in "We explain the most common types of catches used around the house below." - although I'm number one, the other result is www.growinglifestyle.co.uk/uk/j22275056 , but selecting that takes you to http://growinglifestyle.co.uk/j/catches-latches-and-locks/ which is just a marketplace - looking at the google cached version (10 May) gives a completely different page.
Both these sites seem to have been constructed purely to get good google rankings which should, I consider, be probably banned by google to 'improves overall search quality.'
5. EricLegge Complains at
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Webmasters/thread?tid=76830633df82fd8e&hl=en&start=3760
The Google PageRank of this site - http://www.scribd.com/ - is still a huge 8 and it has copies whole pages from my site pcbuyerbeware.co.uk, such as these:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/32164038/CPU-Motherboard-Properties-and-Installation
The links to my site are left in in that scrape.
Here is a copy that I found in Google's cache that has the internal links to my site removed - http://tinyurl.com/3qjcgzo - but they were probably left in in the copied page.
It copies a great deal of its information from the web, including from Wikipedia, such as this page - http://www.scribd.com/doc/38304580/Motherboard
If you search for the term "motherboard", almost all of the content is scraped from other sites.
If I search for a sentence taken from my site of any of those copied pages in Google, that site has a higher PageRank than mine so the search returns the link from that site higher than the one from my site.
This is why I think that my site took such a bad hit from the Panda updates. Pages have been copied by other scraper sites that have a higher PageRank than mine so my site is deemed as the copying site and demoted. What can you do about that? Google clearly can't tell the difference between a scraper site and the original even when the links to your site are left in the scraped material.
The site runs AdSense, surprise, surprise. How did it get permission to run AdSense when anyone who examines the site can see that it scrapes from other sites?
6. http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Webmasters/thread?tid=60052b1100203d42&hl=en
Here are two urls that are 100% duplicate content. The orginial url http://bit.ly/lrlz4b has been around since 2001. http://bit.ly/kfxY5u has been registered since 2008. http://bit.ly/lrlz4b beginning last week was ranking #6 in google for teacup yorkie. Just recently http://bit.ly/kfxY5u showed up in google ranking #4 for teacup yorkie and http://bit.ly/lrlz4b is now nowhere to be found for teacup yorkie.
Does this sound familiar to anyone? It’s no wonder I see so many complaints about stolen content ranking higher than the original. And in this case one can’t say http://bit.ly/kfxY5u is ranking because it is on a more authoritive site or it is better optimized.
I believe that by google penalizing the original site and rewarding the second site without performing due diligence on who has the orginial content they have just opened themselves up to a class action lawsuit.
A list of the sites that should have been demoted but are not
1. zimbio.com
2. www.ebay.com
3. www.ehow.com
The purpose of this article is to give a list of "credible" webpages that have been effected by Google Panda that should not. Note that I am usingthe word "webpages" and not "wesbsites" - the distinction should has implications on "sitewide" demotion that Panda has attempted to levy on sites of "poor quality".
A long and lengthy discussions at google webmaster forum has led to revealition of a large number of wesites that have been affected by Google Panda, most of which, are probably in the true spirit of the "demoting low value" websites. But we see a large number of webpages that seems to have been unduly effected by this update. Please note that this list is at the time of writing and the things may change with time.
Most of this list has been taken from the google webmaster forum thread started by Wysz, a google employee who says - "If you know of a high quality site that has been negatively affected by this change, please bring it to our attention in this thread."
We have selected only those webites that are close to what Wysz wanted with one change - while Wysz wanted to list "high quality site", we are instead listed "high quality webpaged". We sincerely believe that a search engine should work on a page basis instead of a site basis, since otherwise a low quality page on a high quality site can rank higher ( and vice versa) - which not the result a search engine or the searcher should be attempting to achive.
One of the most serious issues we have seen is the reports by website owners where scraping sites have been ranking higher than the original websites. And this is not about one or two cases but a plethora of cases. While this issue was there before Panda update, it affected only the websites that were manually degraded. Post panda, all scrapers need to do is find websites affected by Panda, scrape them and post it, and they can be assured of a high SERP position.
Many of the Pro googlers have attempted to take a stand that, it is not google's responsibility to check duplicacy of content. It is the website owners responsibility to file DMCA and get the duplicating content down. There are several drawback to this scheme suggested by the Pro googlers. First DMCA is a time consuming process. You need to find the website owners details, emails. You then need to draft an email / response detailing the copied content. And if the copied content runs over several webpages or if the scraper copies several webpages you will have to show which pages have been copied. The time taken in filing the DMCA can exceed the time it takes to create a fresh content. Filing DMCA at webmasters end chasing invividual scrapers is not a practical solution.
The Author has experienced cases where scrapers put down the content of the website on filing the DMCA. But the webpage was back next day with the same url and the content changed. The scraper realises that this url must have a value, as it received the DMCA. He therefore, does a quick respin of the article and starts getting traffic. The loser is the original content creater.
There is another practical issue when filing a DMCA complaint. If you run AdSense ads the site that you demand to remove your content can click on the ads in such a way that you get your account cancelled, or, if it is a really big wicked scraper site, its staff can run denial of service (DOS) attacks on your site.
- by hotwinduk at http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Webmasters/thread?tid=76830633df82fd8e&hl=en&start=3880
So coming back to the point, here goes the list, the results and the ranks
1. The user clickonf5 has reported scrapers ranking high for his webpage
http://www.clickonf5.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/google-panda-effect-1.png
The search term in question is
"things to do before selling old pc"
The screenshot showing this is here
http://www.clickonf5.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/google-panda-effect-1.png
Except the top yahoo answers pages, all the 6 results are scraped content from the original webpage at www.clickonf5.org. Reportedly, the original page does not figure
2. Another good example whereby so called "Authority site" outrank stolen content from small publishers orginal content has been provided by Marcus S at
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Webmasters/thread?tid=76830633df82fd8e&hl=en&start=3880
example: search 'average speed of a cyclist'
result 1 is wiki.answers
result 5 is road-bike.co.uk (my site)
the answers . com page is taken directly without permission from my site and reposted without permission
3. At
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Webmasters/thread?tid=76830633df82fd8e&hl=en&start=3760
Pete Carpenter reports about his website rc-airplane-world.com. He adds - I have already expressed my dissatisfaction with the new-look search results for anything radio control related, but more recently my site, which ranked #1 for the term "rc airplanes" for several years, is now preceded by this result -
"Dr. Thomas C. Smith
Dr. Thomas Smith, has been providing chiropractic and acupuncture services, in the Camrose area, since 1998. Supporting a broad range of patients, ...
www.rcairplanes.com/ - Cached"
4. webbartie from http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Webmasters/thread?tid=76830633df82fd8e&hl=en&start=3760
adds
Having been hit hard by Panda, I've started to chase those sites which have duplicated my copyright material, I find these by putting phrases from my diydata.com pages into google search. From the first three pages I've checked: -
Putting in "If you are replacing an existing dado rail, it is probably best to keep to the same height" - brings up as number one http://cawehirur68.multiply.com/journal/item/9/Dado_Rail_Height which is just gibberish, no meaningful content and just links to other sites.
Putting in "We explain the most common types of catches used around the house below." - although I'm number one, the other result is www.growinglifestyle.co.uk/uk/j22275056 , but selecting that takes you to http://growinglifestyle.co.uk/j/catches-latches-and-locks/ which is just a marketplace - looking at the google cached version (10 May) gives a completely different page.
Both these sites seem to have been constructed purely to get good google rankings which should, I consider, be probably banned by google to 'improves overall search quality.'
5. EricLegge Complains at
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Webmasters/thread?tid=76830633df82fd8e&hl=en&start=3760
The Google PageRank of this site - http://www.scribd.com/ - is still a huge 8 and it has copies whole pages from my site pcbuyerbeware.co.uk, such as these:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/32164038/CPU-Motherboard-Properties-and-Installation
The links to my site are left in in that scrape.
Here is a copy that I found in Google's cache that has the internal links to my site removed - http://tinyurl.com/3qjcgzo - but they were probably left in in the copied page.
It copies a great deal of its information from the web, including from Wikipedia, such as this page - http://www.scribd.com/doc/38304580/Motherboard
If you search for the term "motherboard", almost all of the content is scraped from other sites.
If I search for a sentence taken from my site of any of those copied pages in Google, that site has a higher PageRank than mine so the search returns the link from that site higher than the one from my site.
This is why I think that my site took such a bad hit from the Panda updates. Pages have been copied by other scraper sites that have a higher PageRank than mine so my site is deemed as the copying site and demoted. What can you do about that? Google clearly can't tell the difference between a scraper site and the original even when the links to your site are left in the scraped material.
The site runs AdSense, surprise, surprise. How did it get permission to run AdSense when anyone who examines the site can see that it scrapes from other sites?
6. http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Webmasters/thread?tid=60052b1100203d42&hl=en
Here are two urls that are 100% duplicate content. The orginial url http://bit.ly/lrlz4b has been around since 2001. http://bit.ly/kfxY5u has been registered since 2008. http://bit.ly/lrlz4b beginning last week was ranking #6 in google for teacup yorkie. Just recently http://bit.ly/kfxY5u showed up in google ranking #4 for teacup yorkie and http://bit.ly/lrlz4b is now nowhere to be found for teacup yorkie.
Does this sound familiar to anyone? It’s no wonder I see so many complaints about stolen content ranking higher than the original. And in this case one can’t say http://bit.ly/kfxY5u is ranking because it is on a more authoritive site or it is better optimized.
I believe that by google penalizing the original site and rewarding the second site without performing due diligence on who has the orginial content they have just opened themselves up to a class action lawsuit.
A list of the sites that should have been demoted but are not
1. zimbio.com
2. www.ebay.com
3. www.ehow.com
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