Question: What is Time and Materials in Contract Management?

T&M stands for Time and Materials and is a type of contract. In T&M contracts, the amount charged to the buyer is an amount equal to the actual time spent by the seller performing the work multiplied by an agreed upon hourly rate. For the material part, the amount charged is the price of the actual material used. If you use one less Widget or one more widget than initially thought, the contract price is adjusted proportionally.

Question: How Big is the Diet Pill Industry?

According to the marketing firm moneymorning, the diet pill market is sized at over $50 billion annually. That includes over the counter pills to internet purchased pills like ephedra diet pills and the now-recalled hydroycut. So you would think that the market is saturated, right? No way -- the market has been growing steadily and will likely continue to grow another 30% in the next 3 years as more people become overweight. That's a big market only getting bigger!

Question: In The Corporate World, What is Benchmarking?

Benchmarking is the management practice of comparing your company's performance to that of your competitors or other companies in different industries. Benchmarking often includes a level of "Best Practices". This means you not only compare yourself to your competitor (vs. Revenue, vs. Profits, vs. Growth) but you compare your company to the best company in each of those categories. You find the company in your industry that has the best growth and benchmark yourself against them. You do the same for growth, profitability, and other metrics, but not necessarily with the same company. You go for the best company in each category and gauge yourself against them. This management practice has been very popular in the past decade.

Question: Why Does Target and WalMart Clearance Items?

As you might have seen on the end caps and back isles of big box superstores like Target and WalMart are deeply discounted clearance items. From pink baby announcements to NASCAR bumper stickers, how do these items get slated for clearance? Well usually clearance means just as the name implies -- clearing out old or discontinued merchandise. Its stuff that didn't sell well or has been dropped from inventory. At this point the selling price is not as important to the company as it is to get the inventory moved. Another reason could be that the old packaging has been changed and not to confuse consumer the store is clearing out the old merchandise.

Question: What is a PMP Certification?

PMP standard for, in this case, Project Management Professional and it is a professional certification for project managers. Recognized globally, this certification is given by the Project Management Institute certifies the practitioner holds a working knowledge of the discipline. The requirements to apply for this certification include 3 years project experience and at least 4500 project hours. Once you pass the 200 question exam, you must keep current on training and development or else you lose certification.

Question: What's the Next Big Pharma Drug?

Well as much as I'd like to say that big Pharma will come out next with a magic drug to cure some horrible disease, I think the next big thing will actually be more cosmetic or have to do with weight loss. Look, its a big business and a new weight loss drug could earn tens of billions of dollars. Science and medicine is looking at natural appetite suppressants and trying to figure out how they accomplish their task. If they can isolate those elements, then we could see a genuine weight loss pill by the end of the decade.

Question: How Is the Canadian Dollar Doing?

Remember a few months ago when the Canadian dollar finally got ahead of the U.S. dollar in terms of exchange rate? Well those days have come and gone. Currently the Canadian dollar has dropped back down to 1.09784 CAN to buy a single U.S. dollar. Poor Canada -- at least it hasn't dropped back down to 1980s levels.

Question: Is This The Summer of Blah or Travel?

What will the summer months bring in terms of personal travel and vacations. Will the recession hurt travel significantly? Will gas prices continue to creep up and scare away drivers? Or will people finally be ready for a fun summer after a horrible fall and boring winter. If you are of the latter part, consider booking your Orlando vacations now. Its a great time to get a low price and to lock in your savings. Don't wait for the economy to recover. Book your summer travel now and save money int he long run.

Question: Why Buy Dividend Stocks?

Here's an easy answer to that -- dividend paying stocks can help you capitalize on the power of dollar cost averaging. Here's how -- buy a stock which pays cash dividends. Then reinvest the dividends in more stock. Over time you get more and more shares, get paid more and more in dividends each quarter, and watch your position grow in size. Want more power? In addition to the dividend reinvestment, buy additional shares quarterly with new cash and build your position. Pretty soon you'll have hundreds of shares!

Question: Do Infomercials Work?

We've all seen them -- whether its 2 a.m. on a week night or 10 a.m. on a Sunday morning, the infomercial is the ubiquitous 20 minute advertising spot where some great new product is being sold. The setup is always the same -- talk about the product (exercise equipment, best diet pills, kitchen utensils), give a product demonstration, and then cut to the voice over guy with the offer. Call now and they will throw in this and that and double your offer. So do they work? Absolutely! The direct response marketing business is huge and earning billions of dollars a year!