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Advantages of Using a Wholesale Optical Laboratory

Using a wholesale optical laboratory is becoming more popular among independent opticians. Choosing the right manufacturer is important for both the health and success of an independent optician’s practice.

Learning about how other opticians select their wholesale laboratories and understanding which questions to ask can greatly help an optician decide which manufacturer is best for their practice.

The increasing popularity of using a wholesale optical laboratory as a source for both frame and contact lenses is demonstrated by a 2004 survey report on the 2020mag website. Of the 221 vision care facilities polled by the survey, 82% stated that they purchased products or services from a wholesale lab.

One possible reason for this dramatic interest is that such labs offer a wide variety of services in addition to their eye care products. These services include educational programs, technical support, online ordering and remote tracing.

One important consideration in choosing a wholesaler is the quality of the lenses which they produce. There are several points to keep in mind when investigating the quality of a lens.

One important issue is whether or not the lab is capable of manufacturing the most up-to-date technologies. For example, can the manufacturer produce silicon hydro gel contact lenses which provide comfort while allowing six times more oxygen to reach the eye than previous contact lens designs?

Another important consideration is the quality of the anti-reflective coated lenses offered. Anti-reflective coating makes use of a series of metal oxide layers to increase the lens’s ability to improve vision, reduce eyestrain and enhance an individual’s cosmetic appearance. Indeed, the 2004 survey stated that 76% of the eye care professionals polled stated that the quality of the anti-reflective coating brand was either an extremely or a very important consideration in choosing a lab.

Another significant issue determining the quality of a lens is the techniques used to manufacture and inspect the lens. The way in which a frame is drilled and mounted during the manufacturing process not only impacts the quality, but also the time and expense of production.

The nature of the remote tracer (a device which is able to outline the inner border of a frame as well as to describe the size and shape of the lens) may also be an important consideration for many independent opticians. Indeed, 81% of those polled by the 2020mag survey stated that they have in fact sent frame tracing data over the Web.

The Internet is also becoming a popular method for ordering eye care products from wholesale manufacturers. While the 2004 survey found that 65% of eye care professionals have ordered products over the phone, and that 58% of eye care professionals have ordered products via fax, many labs have found that the interest in ordering products over the Internet is rapidly growing.

Wholesale optical laboratories are able to yield several potential benefits to independent opticians. They are able to provide quality products at affordable prices as well as offering valuable services including product support and education of emerging technologies.

Independent vision care providers need an trustworthy contact lens manufacturer to offer advanced, quality lenses to their customers. For a wholesale optical lab to partner with you, eye care professionals should visit National Optical Co. online at http://www.nationalopticalco.com/.

What it Takes to get an A Class Office

Ok so you have got your nice car a successful business and have now gone to buy your dream office in the country, this has been a success and now is the time to look at renovating your office. We all have watched the programs at home where they buy a house, barn or office for 30,000 pounds and spend a couple of months in renovations then sell them off for a nice lump sum, giving them 40% profit. But is it really that easy, what they do not show on the television is the stress and strains of getting all the correct builders, electricians and plumbers in place.

A few tips on renovating an office is firstly decide on what sort of look and feel you would like for yourself and the staff. Would you like it to look more professional or more cosy, you will have to weigh up the benefits and the negatives of both, for example if you were to make the work place too cosy would your staff benefit from this or would it feel like more of a second home for them.

Once you have decided the theme of the office then comes the expertise of selecting the correct colours and office furniture, if you have chosen to go with the professional look you will need to get elegant looking leather chairs and other top of the range elegant office equipment. Remember to be very particular when it comes to choosing your office furniture as this is where the whole theme will literally come into effect.

To make an A class office you will need to invest quite abit, if you don’t have many ideas for yourself of how you want the office to look then the best advice is to visit other peoples offices or look at the way in which celebrities and other stars would decorate there own workplace, you can find pictures and information in all the glossy magazines that are available.

Whatever route you decide to take in decorating your office do not forget to implement some technology and innovation into your workplace such as top of the range computers and software to keep your business running smoothly. Do not heavily rely on what you have seen on the television, you must put hard work into building up your small empire making sure you get top furniture, top technology and top staff then you will reap all of the benefits of having an A class workplace.

Office Furniture – Modern Office Furniture – SEO

How to Increase the Selling Price of Your Company

Two companies that are recognized as among the best at making successful acquisitions are General Electric and Cisco Systems. These companies have been star performers in growing shareholder value. The core principal that runs through almost every acquisition is integration. Over the past 10 years Cisco Systems has acquired 81 companies. Their stock price is up a remarkable 1300%. GE outperformed the S&P 500 index over the same period by 300%. There are several categories of strategic acquisition that can produce some outstanding results:

1. ACQUIRE CUSTOMERS – this is almost always a factor in strategic acquisitions. Some companies buy another that is in the same business in a different geography. They get to integrate market presence, brand awareness, and market momentum.

2. OPERATING LEVERAGE -the major focus in this type of acquisition is to improve profit margins through higher utilization rates for plant and equipment. A manufacturer of cardboard containers that is operating at 65% of capacity buys a smaller similar manufacturer. The acquired company’s plant is sold, all but two machines are sold, the G&A staff are let go and the new customers are served more cost effectively.

3. CAPITALIZE ON A COMPANY STRENGTH – this is why Cisco and GE have been so successful with their acquisitions. They are so strong in so many areas, that the acquired company gets the benefit of many of those strengths. A very powerful business accelerator is to acquire a company that has a complementary product that is used by your installed customer base. Management depth and skill, production efficiency/ capacity, large base of installed accounts, developed sales and distribution channels, and brand recognition are examples of strengths that can power post acquisition performance.

4. COVER A WEAKNESS – This requires a good deal of objectivity from the acquiring company in recognizing and chinks in the corporate armor. Let me help you with some suggestions: 1. Customer concentration; 2. Product concentration; 3. Weak product pipeline; 4. Lack of management depth or technical expertise and 5. Great technology and products, poor sales and marketing.

5. BUY A LOW COST SUPPLIER – this integration strategy is typically aimed at improving profit margins rather than growing revenues. If your product is comprised of several manufactured components, one way to improve corporate profitability is to acquire one of those suppliers. You achieve greater control of overall costs, availability of supply, and greater value-add to your end product

6. IMPROVING OR COMPLETING A PRODUCT LINE – this approach has several elements from other acquisition strategies. Successfully adding new products to a line improves profitability and revenue growth. Giving a sales force more “arrows in their quiver” is a powerful growth strategy. You take advantage of your existing sales and distribution channel (strength). You may be able to improve your competitive position by simplifying the buying process – providing your customers one stop shopping.

7. TECHNOLOGY – BUILD OR BUY? This is a quandary for most companies, but is especially acute for technology companies. Acquiring technology through acquisition can be an excellent growth strategy. The R&D costs are generally lower for these smaller, agile, more narrowly focused companies than their larger, higher overhead acquirers. Time to market, window of opportunity, first mover advantage can have a huge impact on the ultimate success of a product. First one to establish their product as the standard is the big winner

8. ACQUISITION TO PROVIDE SCALE AND ACCESS TO CAPITAL MARKETS – In this area, bigger is better. Larger companies are considered safer investments. Larger companies command larger valuation multiples. Some companies make acquisitions in order to get big enough to attract public capital in the form of an IPO or investments from Private Equity Groups.

9. PROTECT AND EXPAND MATURE PRODUCT LINES – This has been very effectively done in the pharmaceutical sector where a new technology is acquired to repurpose and re patent drugs.

10. PROTECT CUSTOMER BASE FROM COMPETITION – The telephone companies have done studies that show that with each additional product or service that a customer uses, the likelihood of the customer defecting to a competitor drops exponentially. Get your customers to use local, long distance, cellular, cable, broadband, etc and you will not lose them. Multiple products and services provided to the same customer dramatically improve retention rates.

11. ACQUISITION TO REMOVE BARRIERS TO ENTRY – For example, a large commercial IT consulting firm acquires a technology consulting firm that specializes in the Federal Government. The larger IT consulting firm has valuable expertise that is easily transferable to government business if they could only break the code of the vendor approval process. After many fits and starts, they simply acquired a firm that had an established presence. They were able to then bring their full capabilities from the commercial side to effectively increase their newly acquired government business.

Many larger firms have established business development offices to execute corporate growth strategies through acquisition. These experienced buyers search for companies that fit their well-defined acquisition criteria. In most cases they are attempting to buy companies that satisfy one or more of the criteria from above. The more of these characteristics your company can provide the acquiring company, the more value they can create post acquisition. They are often willing to pay a much greater price than a rule of thumb financial multiple for your company. You are a highly valued strategic acquisition.

Dave> Kauppi
is the editor of The Exit Strategist Newsletter, a Merger and Acquisition Advisor and President of MidMarket Capital, representing owners in the sale of privately held businesses. We provide Wall Street style investment banking services to lower mid market companies at a size appropriate fee structure.

Do You Love or Despise Wal-Mart?

Wal-Mart has become the largest corporation in the world employing hundreds of thousands of people in the United States and over a million world-wide. The big retailer posted revenues of $351.1 billion and profits of $11.3 billion in 2006. Wal-Mart has topped the Fortune 500 list five out of the last six years. Its sales are bigger than the GNP of over 150 countries. It employs more people than anybody expect the US Post Office.

Over the years as Wal-Mart has continued to grow, Wal-Mart has become a bigger and bigger target of the media, union groups, consumer groups, etc. Wal-Mart is one of the most watched companies in the world. Union groups claim Wal-Mart pays below average wages. Other labor groups claim Wal-Mart discriminates against women. Whatever side of the fence you reside on, no doubt you have an opinion.

Those who love Wal-Mart love it for the low prices and one-stop shopping. With Wal-Mart Super Center stores consuming nearly 200,000 feet of space, thus the name “Big Box”. There is plenty of room for product variety. Super Centers carry clothing, building supplies, furniture, groceries, a pharmacy, etc. Many smaller business co-host inside the store such as McDonalds, banks, etc. In one trip, you can buy almost anything you want.

The folks who hate Wal-Mart say that Wal-Mart has an unfair competitive advantage and is squeezing out the small mom and pop stores. They also believe that Wal-Mart pays below average wages, mistreats their employees and discriminates against women. One such claim states that Wal-Mart pays such low salaries that many of its workers have to go on welfare and food stamps in order to survive. Since our taxes support these services, it means that while we may be saving money on the goods we buy there, it is costing us tax money every time we shop there. For example, another statistic states that 46% of the children of employees’ children effectively have no health insurance, because the health insurance that Wal- Mart provides has a deductible so high that parents can’t afford to take their kids to the doctor. Instead, like most of the poor, they rely on local hospital emergency rooms, which is an inefficient waste of taxpayer dollars.

It seems everybody has an opinion on Wal-Mart. Senator Obama recently stated, “I won’t shop there” at a union rally. US Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton refused to accept a donation from Wal-Mart to her election campaign. Already in November last year, she returned a 5,000 USD donation to the Big Box Mart Store. Ann Lewis, Senator Clinton’s assistant, says the money was returned as there are “serious differences with current company practices”. During her Arkansas years in the 1980’s, Hillary Clinton served on the Wal-Mart board.

In many towns, Wal-Mart building requests are turned down as supporting Wal-Mart has become political poison. In Hernando, Florida, county commissioners voted against allowing Wal-Mart to build its fourth Super Center there. During an open meeting, nearly everybody there expressed concern against Wal-Mart and did not want another monster store. The politicians listened and voted against it. They expect Wal-Mart to sue them.

How popular is hating Wal-Mart? Books upon books have been written on the subject. Books such as How Wal-Mart is Destroying America, and What You Can Do About It are best sellers. PBS did a documentary about the store and its practices.

Wal-Mart used to advertise “Made-in-America” merchandise. No more. Contrary to its “all-American” advertising hype, Wal-Mart sources over 80% of its products from overseas. In 2004, almost 10 percent of everything imported to the United States from China was imported by Wal-Mart — making the company, if it counted as a sovereign nation, China’s eighth-largest trading partner. Because of this, Wal-Mart is criticized for causing US job loss. The claim states that Wal-Mart can push suppliers so hard, suppliers are forced to lower costs by outsourcing to China and offering lower quality items.
What do you think?

Keith Scott is a successful Webmaster and publisher of Wal-Mart Forum. His website provides a place for people to express their opinion on Wal-mart. Good or bad, give us a visit and express your opinion on what you think of Wal-Mart

Understanding Institutional Investment In Stocks

Large companies and institutions employ teams of analysts to help invest in other companies. If they buy a particular stock, the market often expects the stock to have significant upside potential. And if they are selling the same stock, it could mean that the company, whose shares are being sold, is witnessing some difficulties.

The investment trends of the Institutional Investors can be traced online. The following information is online.

1. Institutional ownership of shares in a particular company and its percentage.

2. Number of shares in the company

3. Transactions over the last three months.

4. Details of buyers and sellers.

Trends:
It can be misleading to blindly follow the trends of Institutional Investors, since theit priorities and the priorities of individual investors often differ. These large firms must meet performance goals, which compel them to trade more frequently than individual investors. Analysts and equity researchers dig deep into the history of the companies and usually recommend buying undervalued shares for long-term prospects. With the possession of more shares, these firms play a major role in the decision-making processes of companies, which leads to better management and higher stock valuation.

Risks:
Even with a team of analysts working on investment patterns, this is a risky business. The concentration of investments in a particular domain spells danger as any fluctuation in the stock market or the subsequent impact on a particular domain may spell large losses. Institutional Investors are accountable to the individual investors, who have pooled their money into the institution. At times the pressure of this obligation triggers them to invest in a particular sector with significant risks. The lure of getting huge returns within a small time frame causes some of them to invest heavily in high-risk sectors. There is also the risk of investing in companies, which are at the peak of their lifecycle. These companies can either show a slow increase in the value of their stocks or a downslide. Investors generally commit these mistakes when the focus of the investors is only on the price fluctuation of the stocks.

The activities of institutional investors can be traced by closely monitoring trading, since they usually deal in block trades, in the line of $100,000 or above. Possessing investments from some of these firms is considered a safe bet, but the valuation of those stocks may be high. This is the reason why they are always on a lookout for a growing company, which has significant future growth prospects overlooked by other major investors. When institutional investors reduce their position in a stock, the value of that particular stock may fall significantly.

David Gass is President of Business Credit Services, Inc. His company publishes a free weekly e-newsletter on Small Business Consulting at their web site http://www.smallbusinessconsulting.com