Word: network
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
When the check arrives at the Patpong Thai restaurant in Chingford, England, Reg Burrows usually pays with plastic. But Burrows, the owner of an industrial-storage-supply firm, doesn't pull out Visa or American Express. He pulls out Bartercard. As a member of the Bartercard trading network, Burrows receives "trade pounds" instead of cash whenever his firm, Global Equipment Trading, works for fellow Bartercard clients. He can then spend that credit at any of the 75,000 member businesses around the world, including Patpong Thai, where he frequently entertains clients. So far this year, Burrows has exchanged around...
...businesses battle to get through the recession, more and more are turning to third-party-exchange networks like Bartercard. According to the International Reciprocal Trade Association, the industry trade body, more than 400,000 businesses transacted $10 billion globally in 2008 - and officials expect trade volume to grow by 15% in 2009. Bartercard, the world's largest exchange network, is leading the charge. So far this year trades through its network are worth more than $2 billion, up by 20% over 2008. Founded in Australia in 1991, when the country was mired in recession, the firm now does business...
Barter, of course, isn't new: firms routinely arrange exchanges on their own. But cultivating those relationships takes time and presents numerous hurdles. "Many direct-barter transactions don't succeed outside of our network because businesses have to match one another in timing and interest," says Wayne Sharpe, Bartercard's founder and chief executive. While a restaurant owner may need $10,000 worth of printing services in the next week, it's unlikely that any printshop owner will need the $10,000 worth of fish and chips that the restaurant can provide in return. "With our service, the transaction...
...hedge-fund industry. Raj Rajaratnam, a billionaire co-founder of the Galleon Group, and five others were arrested and charged with earning $20 million off stock trades on the basis of information unavailable to the public. Rajaratnam, whose firm manages $3.7 billion, allegedly relied on a broad network of sources, including executives at IBM and McKinsey & Co., for lucrative tips; one leak about a Google earnings report yielded his firm $8 million in profits in 2007, authorities said. The investigation was the first insider-trading probe to make use of wiretaps and may signal a tougher attitude toward white collar...
...Japanese Teachers' Network, via theatlantic.com...