........................Welcome to Jeff's Ecomonics Cafe .... 
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 This cafe is intended as a meeting place for anybody interested in how our economic reality evolves; actually, this site has the ambition of enhancing our economic understanding of the world by pointing to some great material found on the web.
Moreover, it proposes fresh output of information in the form of research and analysis. This site is actually the result of an urge to participate in this swarming party going on right now online called Web 2.0. Accordingly, I've been working on this open-ended project with the help of more than 100 collaborators (business students at FXG); their work ranges form writing articles on Economics, Finance, Management and Accounting, to producing financial and marketing analyses (audios and videos) on different products and companies.
Last year, the team was made up of 50 future specialists in accounting; this semester, I'll be working with around 75 prospective marketing experts. Among other things, you'll soon find on this site marketing mix analyses of a large array of famous products as well as a collection of original ads especially created for you to enjoy.
Come, join the discussion and enjoy your stay!
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Financial Analysis Is at the Core of Everything
Our whole economic system is based on financial analysis. Specialization and trade, which are the essence of our  economy, mostly depend on businesses. In turn, businesses must rely on accounting to measure their operating scope. The ultimate purpose of accounting is the production of financial statements, which are a summary of their financial health. Finally, financial analysis is the examination of these statements to determine if the businesses deserve the financing they need for their survival and growth.
This site presents (coming soon) the financial analysis of around 50 well-known private, small-cap, mid-cap, and large-cap companies. You will be able to see which one is going up, which one is going down and at what speed. Additionally, this will serve as a model for anybody that has ever stared blankly at financial statements, unable to extract anything from them. Indeed, being able to judge enterprises' performance is crucial for anybody related to the business field. Once this skill is acquired, you can use any of the numerous tools offered on the web, such as this one: Financial Statements and Instanteleous Graphs.
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Feel the Pulse of the World
Statistics are a great window to the world, and they abound on the web. For example, one sure way of feeling the economic beat of things is to check the economic indicators of the World, the US and Canada.
More fun sites to check out, however, are Wordometer (real time stats) and Gapminder (explore the beauty of stats). Also watch this mind-blowing video that offers a surreal perspective on the close future Did you know? Finally, to get the latest web buzz, Popurls is really the best. Please let me know of your great finds too!
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....What Do You Mean by Big Company?....
How do you measure size of a company? There are many ways of doing this. For public corporations, one saf e bet is to rely on market capitalization (share price X number of shares outstanding). The following list (regularly updated) gives you the list of the top 100 companies in the world Top 100 Global Corporations. Another way of judging the size of a company is by looking at its book value (shareholders' equity). Both ways, it should be reminded, are ultimately just guesses though, as the concept of value always remains elusive. In a market, something is only worth what buyers are willing to offer for it.
You can also turn towards turnover, which represents the earning power a company has. The following list shows the largest revenues and incomes in the world in 2008 Global 500. The number of employees is also another measure; here is a list of the world's largest coporate employers Global Career 500 (and the list for the Quebec City region). Finally, some experts try to evaluate the brand value of companies; here is such an evaluation by Interbrand Top 100 Global Brands.
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Did you know?
According to the newspaper Les Affaires (May 16, 2007), among Quebec City's 2230 companies that need bilingual personnel, 1 in 4 has trouble finding the real gem.
"La situation est alarmante dans le secteur des services financiers, de l'assurance et de l'immobilier et dans celui des services aux entreprises, alors qu'un tiers des employeurs avouent devoir remuer ciel et terre pour réussir à recruter le personnel bilingue nécessaire."
For more info about the situation in the Quebec City region: www.quebecmultilingue.com
Hey! Practice English with a real person here: My Language Exchange
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