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Worldwide Holidays or Events for July 2011

1st July
Canada Day.

Communist Party Foundation: People's Republic of China.

Family Day: Lesotho.

Freedom Day: Suriname.

Heroes' Day: Zambia.

Independence Day: Burundi, Rwanda.

Republic Day: Ghana.

St. Peter's and St. Paul's Day: Colombia.

Union Day: Somalia.

2nd July
Il Palio, Siena:
Continuing in ancient tradition, the contradas compete on horses around the town square of Siena, Italy, every July 2nd and August 16th.

Unity Day: Zambia.

4th July
Independence Day: United States of America.

United States Friendship Day: Philippines.

5th July
Independence Day: Algeria, Cape Verde, Venezuela.

Unity Day: Rwanda.

6th July
Independence Day: Comoros.

Republic Day: Malawi.

7th July
Constitution Day: Cayman Islands.

Independence Day: Solomon Islands.

Serbian Day: Former Yugoslavia.

9th July
Independence Day: Argentina, Bahamas.

11th July
Revolution Day: Mongolia.

12th July
National Day: Sao Tome.

Orangeman's Day: Ireland.

14th July
Bastille Day: France.

National Day: Iraq.

15th July
Sultan's Birthday: Brunei.

17th July
Independence Day: Slovakia.

Revolution Day: Iraq.

Rivera Day: Puerto Rico.

18th July
Constitution Day: Uruguay.

19th July
Independence Day: Laos.

Martyr's Day: Burma.

Sandinista Day: Nicaragua.

20th July
Day of the Sea: Japan.

Independence Day: Colombia.

21st July
Liberation Day: Guam, Poland.

23rd July
Revolution Day: Egypt.

24th July
Simon Bolivar Day: Ecuador, Venezuela.

25th July
Constitution Day: Puerto Rico.

Guanacaste Day: Costa Rica.

Republic Day: Tunisia.

Revolution Day: Cuba.

Santiago Day: Spain.

26th July
Independence Day: Liberia, Maldives, Puerto Rico.

Revolution Day: Cuba.

28th July
Independence Day: Peru.

30th July
Independence Day: Vanuatu.

Somers' Day: Bermuda - two day cricket game between the western and eastern sides of the Islands of Bermuda.

31st July
Emancipation Day: Bermuda.

We try to keep the dates as accurate as possible. Please let us know if there is an omission or incorrect date. Click Here

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The Growth Imperative   By Johan Burger I recently had a chat with a few friends about how life passes us by at a rate which is tremendous. And the older we get, the faster time passes us by. The factor that shows this the best, is the growth of our children. My eldest is 22. It feels like yesterday that I was unable to tell my family over the phone that mother and daughter were well as I had this tremendous lump in my throat. Growing is therefore a natural phenomenon for humans and even animals, all things being equal. Somehow, however, we made it a big issue for our companies. Investors require companies to grow so that they can increase their returns. They reward companies that do provide them with their returns with a higher share price, and the management of the company is rewarded with high remuneration and incentive packages. Due to this, companies have a vested interest in ensuring that they grow their top-line. At the same time they need to ensure that they are profitable as well. Frequently these 2 objectives are mutually excluding. According to some recent research by Peter Lorange from IMD, it is only about 40% of companies that succeed in growing and being profitable. Interesting enough, from a value-based perspective, there are 3 financial drivers of value associated with growth: * Growth duration. This refers to the period over which you have as high a cumulative annual growth rate as possible. It is management's job to ensure that they adopt projects that will bring about this result. In the absence of this phenomenon, eventually the best the company will be able to hope for will be a growth rate at maximum the economic growth rate of the country in which the company finds itself. The management of companies that find themselves in this position, run the danger of being fired when their company is taken over by competitors. * Turnover growth. This factor appears to be quite simple. After all, sales is about increasing volume at a given price, or growing both the volume and the price. It is far from simple though, as it requires so many intangible factors to be in place. Here we refer to the optimal customer segments, with the optimal customer value proposition, using the optimal distribution channels with the optimal marketing message and tying the customer to you in a way that brings about competitor lockout and customer lock in. * Profit growth. Profit is about the difference between price and costs. Both variable and fixed costs. And volume does play a role in the case of fixed costs, on a per capita basis. The greater the volume, the smaller the per capita fixed cost, and the higher the per unit profit. The link between price and cost is driven by efficiencies, by how lean and mean your operating model is, by how productive and competent your employees are.     Adland Digest Sponsor Message Jump Start & Boost Your Internet Marketing Income.....For FREE! Grab 100% FREE Items and start Making Money Online Now! Click here to visit Be a sponsor. Place your ad here. (Spot II)     It is also very interesting that companies can grow too fast. Their investment needs can be outstripped by their cash flow needs due to a working capital requirement and fixed asset investment requirement. Companies should do well to remember this in pursuing the growth imperative! Having said this, the common denominator of all the above kinds of growth, is the people of the organization. You need to have engaged people who are committed to the organization's vision, mission, purpose, and strategy, who are productive and hard working. You need people who are trained and developed, and that have an employee value proposition that is as appealing to the employee as the customer value proposition is to the customer. Without this kind of people, there will be no high growth duration period, no turnover growth, and no profit growth. Growth also requires the growth of the leaders of the organization. Strong and visionary leadership is a prerequisite for the implementation of strategy. And this requires the growth of the individual in meaningful ways, growing them in emotionally and spiritually meaningful ways. I recently had the good fortune of accompanying a group of MBA students of the University of Stellenbosch Business School on a study tour to France and Belgium. As part of the tour, we visited the European Commission's office in Brussels. There I saw the following emphasis on growth: * Smart Growth: Investing in knowledge and Innovation. This is the kind of growth referred to in the above paragraphs. We need to become more knowledgeable and creative than we currently are. And this is a continuous truth. We never get to the point that we can relax as far as this is concerned! As companies and teams, we need, however, also to be aware and concerned about Albrecht's Law. Karl Albrecht stated that "intelligent people, when grouped together, tend towards collective stupidity!" To avoid this, we need emotionally and spiritually people that are able to create synergy, where the whole is more than the sum of the parts. * Sustainable Growth: Promoting a greener economy. We need to be aware that we cannot grow at the cost of our planet. Sustainability, however, also requires that our business models and strategies are good enough to ensure the survival of the company in a competitive environment. Granted, we too frequently emphasize the "sustainable" growth of our business models and strategies and ignore the needs and requirements of the planet. We do this at our own peril - hence the focus of the EC on a greener economy! * Inclusive Growth: Fostering a high-employment economy. Technology has become an advantage and curse, depending on how you look at it. We use technology to solve a large number of problems, but frequently we create more problems in the process. Increasing productivity by using technology is great. This does, however, frequently create job-less growth, which in developing companies can have a devastating effect. So in order to be socially responsible, we need to grow our companies and economies bearing in mind the caveat of fostering a high-employment economy. So far we have spoken about the company. This does not mean that the individuals can sit back and expect others to look after them. He or she equally has a responsibility of ensuring that they grow as people, that they grow their competencies, and that they are employable and remain so, irrespective of the direction of the economy. Again, they need to understand that this personal growth journey is a never-ending journey. Should they not do so, growth will happen to them, and not necessarily for them and frequently (mostly?) not to their benefit! The reality is that the absence of growth is not stasis - it is regression and eventually death. Relative to others who do grow, you do not stand still if you do not grow. You fall behind. This is the case whether you are an individual or a company. So growing seems to be essential. But it does seem to be like thinking - which Henry Ford said is so difficult that very few people actually engage in it. Individuals struggle to grow, which probably is why so few companies grow in an optimal and appropriate manner!   About the Author: Johan Burger is a freelance lecturer and consultant in the fields of strategic management, financial management, fundamentals of management, and systems thinking. He mostly teaches on the MBA programmes and executive and management development programmes of the University of Stellenbosch Business School in South Africa. For more info on his articles and resources on financial management, visit his blog at http://johanhburger.com. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Johan_Burger   Adland Digest Sponsor Message You can succeed here! Since I can succeed at this fantastic low cost opportunity I know you can too. Click here to visit Be a sponsor. Place your ad here. (Spot III)   Are You Really Building A Business, Or Just Another Job?   By Chuck Boyce So you are planning to break free of your corporate job and go it alone or you already have, but it seems like you are still working too many hours. The question you need to be asking is 'Are you really building a business, or just another job?'. It could be a great job that you are creating for yourself and a much better one than you used to have, but is that what you really want. If your new 'business' is really nothing more than another job in disguise then you will find that you continue to work long hours and are often sweating making the payroll and your bills and face an uncertain future. What if you get sick, what if you become disabled, need time off or want to retire one day? If your income is always reliant on your personal involvement and daily actions you could find yourself in big trouble and with a lot less freedom than you hoped for. In contrast owning your own business means achieving the real freedom that you desire, the ability to generate much higher levels of income than you could ever make alone, which is better insulated from interruptions and the ability to build a tangible asset that can one day be sold. What's the difference between creating a new job and actually building a business? It means leveraging other people's time and creating systems so that it can operate independently of your involvement on a daily basis. Yes, it may take a little time to get things running smoothly to where you are comfortable with taking your eyes off of it and you will probably be in there getting your hands dirty at the beginning to optimize things but unless you start with the right model in mind you will likely never really make the jump from employee to entrepreneur. It all begins with having the right structure and vision that will carry you through to your goals. Whatever you do, do not just launch yourself in head first without a plan and figure that one day you will be making enough to hire a manager and take a back seat. If your company isn't designed for this from the beginning it will be virtually impossible to make the transition. This may mean taking advantage of coaching to build on your leadership and management skills and to get some input on the best way to formulate your new operation, but it will definitely be well more than worth it. Once you are freed from the chains of actually having to clock in and having to worry about squeezing in all the hours you can to cover the mortgage you will find that this is when you can really do your best work. You will have the time to focus on growing your enterprise and doing the things that keep you passionate about it.   About the Author: Chuck Boyce is known as the Independent Executive. After achieving success quickly in the corporate world he decided to step off of the corporate ladder and make his business work for him. He is now dedicated to helping other entrepreneurs and business owners achieve the Independent Executive Lifestyle by creating business with a purpose, passion and plan. Find out more by visiting his site at http://www.breakingfreeblog.com. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Chuck_Boyce
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