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As of now companies may submit their application for participation in the “EMAS Award 2006″ EU competition for environmental communication. This was announced by the Association of German Chambers of Commerce (DIHK) which is responsible for the selection of the most suitable German aspirants. The German Chambers of Industry and Commerce being responsible for taking applications for the EMAS competition are aware of the fact that in many German companies and other organizations communication to employees and the general public is of high importance. Therefore there are extremely good chances for German companies to be awarded in this competition. +++

Digital audits represent big challenges to small and medium-sized entities (SMEs). This subject matter is complex and the need for information is huge. What preconditions do companies have to fulfill? And how can a data processing system provide the necessary infrastructure to this end? Test your company, get an overview of the facts and the basic knowledge required – for free and without any obligation. Make the quick test on: www.entscheiderkompass.de

The payment behaviour of European companies´ is anything but satisfactory. This is the message of a press report by the psychonomics AG. In the eyes of foreign business partners it is in particular the payment behaviour of Italian companies which leaves much to be desired: About one quarter of all business relationships (26 percent) are expressively judged to be “poor” in this respect. +++

The pressetext news agency has reported on a warning against security caps caused in IT networks by multi-purpose network printers and copying machines. This is the conclusion drawn by security experts at last week´s Black-Hat-conferences in Las Vegas. In a public presentation, Mr. Brendan O´Connor, who is an IT security expert, demonstrated that such devices can easily be taken control of by potential attackers. “It is important to stop considering these devices as printers. It is rather necessary to equip them with security devices as is the case with servers or workstations” warned Mr. O´Connor at the conference. +++

Small and medium-sized entities (SMEs) continuously doing research & development (R&D) benefit from market innovations to a much higher extent than companies not engaging at all in their own R&D activities. This difference is particularly marked for companies launching completely new products or processes onto the market. In these cases the share of such innovations in the total turnover of companies not doing R&D amounts to about five percent on average. For companies engaging in constant research, however, this figure amounts to about 17 percent which is more than three times as much. +++

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Do you feel like finishing work or having a break? Well close your email programme, put your feet on the desk, relax and take 20 minutes off. +++

In our tenth M´BlogDocument the word is again with ladies: Manuela Franzò writes about “The art of teamwork” and gives valuable advice on “How to deal with colleagues and superiors in companies”.

From her point of view teamwork and dealing with different people is an art. She knows from her own experience that it is impossible for everybody to get along with anybody. Everybody has kind of a kink. Everybody wants to be treated individually by others. Manuela Franzò knows what to do. She gives advice and warns against dangers.

Executives in small and medium-sized entities are wise to recommend this PDF brochure to their employees given that a good working atmosphere is good for the entire company. Furthermore, this competent guide is available for free-of-charge download.

Most of all companies like to court their regular customers. 93 percent of companies consider them to be important or very important for their business success. Next in the hit list of most courted clients are high-income consumers (for 70 percent of companies) and senior citizens (55 percent). These are the findings of a survey carried out from February until March among 547 executives of all economic sectors by Steria Mummert Consulting in co-operation with the Handelsblatt and the Wirtschaftswoche. +++

Whereas some decades ago typewriting was an important task of female secretaries, today office angels are saved a lot of work by modern communications technology. Which are other general conditions that have changed this profession? Answers to this question will be given by Mrs. Manuela Franzò, who is one of our M`BlogDocument writers. In order to obtain representative findings, she asks all female secretaries to take part in the study. The questionnaire is available for download. +++

The average time spent by companies on preparing documents for official statistical reasons amounts to 64 minutes per month. At least this is the finding of the “How much a burden are official statistics requirements to the economy” study carried out by the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin). The study which was commissioned by the Ministry of Economy and Technology and based on data by the Federal and regional statistical offices reveals the burdens encountered by about 75.000 companies due to official statistical duties. +++