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The problems facing Sony after developing the first e-reader in 2004 and the first OLED set in 2007- lack of a consumer mindset
04/22/2010
Competition from lower cost manufacturers adds to earlier problems of not keeping a consumer point of view for new products. A problem common to many of Japan's electronics companies.
Linked Articles
How Japan Lost Its Electronics Crown
Wall Street Journal 08/15/2012
How Vizio Beat Sony in High-Def TVBusinessWeek 04/22/2010
China's policy makers make moves to make the economy less dependent on exports.
01/07/2010
Since 2004 China's consumer spending has fallen behind even more from 40% to 35% as a share of the economy. Steps to reverse this by allowig wages to increase significantly as at this Honda facory in Foshan.
Linked Articles
Unrest May Signal New Phase in China Economy
New York Times 05/29/2010
China Aims to Transform a Nation of Savers Into SpendersWall Street Journal 01/07/2010
Procter and Gamble (P&G) takes early success at low price points in Mexico to other emerging markets Brazil and China- 2009-2014
12/12/2009
Linked Articles
P&G Sales Rise on Strong Demand in Emerging Markets
Wall Street Journal 01/27/2014
P.& G. Sees the World as Its ClientNew York Times 12/12/2009
Why the Obama health care law gets an "F" grade from the Dean of Harvard Medical School
11/18/2009
The failure to replace the "fee-for-service" system in favor of capitated payments is cited as one of the main reasons. The other reasons are it does not resolve the issues of introducing competition in quality of care and cost, and continues the practices that disguise the true cost of care with a highly fragmented system of care. In a op-ed, Jeffrey Flier, Dean of the Harvard Medical School, gives a detailed account for the reason for his grading. A poorly drafted or incomplete law says Flier can make things worse, citing the example of the health care law in Massachusetts which is driving up costs, as it does not change the old dysfunctional system's key features such as "fee-for service," and instead tries to build a new system on broken foundations. Pearlstein in the Washington Post says the Obama health care law has addressed the "fee-for-service" problem, but this is really not the case, and Flier's reasoning may be the clue to the deeper problem for the Obama health care law.
Linked Articles
Steven Pearlstein: Eat your broccoli, Justice Scalia - The Washington Post
Washington Post 04/01/2012
Health 'Debate' Deserves a Failing GradeWall Street Journal 11/18/2009
The risks to the U.S. financial system posed by concentrating 50% of deposits in just 5 banks
10/21/2009
The failure to make changes during the financial crisis of 2008 and the risks this poses in the future.
Linked Articles
Warren Stephens: How Big Banks Threaten Our Economy
Wall Street Journal 04/29/2012
BOE's King: Big Banks Should Get Broken UpWall Street Journal 10/21/2009
The disillusionment of Mexico's voters with the the Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderon administrations of the National Action Party
07/09/2009
The failure to meet rising expectations in Mexico. Mexico's GDP would be 2.5% higher if the oil sector was opened up, labor laws were changed and competitiveness introduced to the country's oligopolies in airlines telecom and other sectors, says Mexico's Center for National Competitiveness.
Linked Articles
Pocketbook Issues Weigh on Mexico Voters
New York Times 06/30/2012
Calderón's hatful of troublesEconomist 07/09/2009
The shortcomings of the regulatory reform proposal. Its dependence on having good regulators in place.
06/17/2009
Unltimately the behaviour of markets and regulators depends on the quality of the people. Obama's reluctance to change the entire structure.
Linked Articles
Obama’s Remarks on Financial Regulatory Reforms
Wall Street Journal 06/17/2009
Steven Pearlstein - Regulatory Reform That Falls Far Short of ItWashington Post 06/19/2009
Aspects of the Reform proposal that were influenced by the work of Prof Sunstein and Prof Thaler at the University of Chicago.
06/17/2009
Sunstein and Thaler's book "Nudge" talks about the role psychology plays, and behavoural aspects play in human behaviour. The President is a friend of Sunstein from their days at the University of Chicago law school. The onsumer Financial Protection Agency and its role, says Zweig, takes some ideas from Prof. Sunstein's work to protect consumers.
Linked Articles
Obama’s Financial Reform Plan: The Condensed Version
Wall Street Journal 06/17/2009
About Time: Regulation Based On Human NatureWall Street Journal 06/20/2009
The Economist cites IMF economist estimates that the public debt of the 10 largest industrialized countries will jump from 78% to 114% of GDP by 2014, leading to higher interest rates and inflation.
06/11/2009
The rising public debt and its unsustainability is what the future holds. For governments and decisionmakers there are very difficult choices, as fiscaly austerity and premature fiscal tightening or raising interest ratescan choke off a recovery. Raising taxes as happened earlier in Japan's lost decade also can choke off a recovery. Seriously tacklig health care costs and raising the retirement age, are much needed steps.
Linked Articles
Get Ready for Inflation and Higher Interest Rates
Wall Street Journal 06/11/2009
The biggest bill in historyEconomist 06/11/2009
Obama's Cairo speech on June 4, 2009 to the Muslim world coincides with Moussavi taking on Ahmadinejad for his extremism in Teheran in an election debate.
06/04/2009
Moussavi debated forcefully with Ahmadinejad on Iranian television calling for good sense in relations with the rest of the world and calling Ahmadinnejad an extremist. He called Ahmadinejad's denial of the Holocaust as undermining Iran's dignity, while Obama called it baseless, ignorant and hateful. Something that could only occur in the climate created by Obama's opening of a dialogue with the Muslim world and helping melt old attitudes and perceptions.
Linked Articles
President Obama's Cairo Appeal
Washington Post 06/05/2009
Iran President and Challenger Clash in DebateNew York Times 06/04/2009
Looking at it from Benjamin Graham's perspective this sure is overoptimism, prices of share overestended and overpriced.
05/23/2009
A reminder to take Benjamin Graham's perspective and view things from the "the standpoint of eternity rather than day to day."
Linked Articles
If You Think Worst Is Over, Take Benjamin Graham's Advice
Wall Street Journal 05/23/2009
Rising Interest on Nations’ Debts May Sap World GrowthNew York Times 06/04/2009
What America can learn from the German example for government help to retrain workers and share costs to hire and retrain.
04/30/2009
The need for initiatives in this area are supercritical to handle the economic recovery correctly because of deepseated changes in the labor markets. In the absence of this high unemployment will coexist with millions of vacancies because of amismatch of qualifications. A lack of worker mobility. because of housing problems compounds this situation.
Linked Articles
Help Wanted: Why That Sign's Bad
BusinessWeek 04/30/2009
Learning Labor Market Lessons from GermanyBusinessWeek 04/30/2009
Gaps and flaws in the stress tests could cause problems later on
04/26/2009
How the Citigroup stress test conclusion does not match up with large pending losses in aworst case scenario. The ineffectiveness of the regulatory structure, as the FDIC is burdened with a large loss sharing agreement with Citigroup, but has not been able to get a change in the management at Citiigroup so that action is speeded up.
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 06/05/2009
The Stress Test ResultsNew York Times 04/26/2009
Cost cutting and cost reduction strategies at Toyota and BP that misfired.
02/22/2010
It costs about $6 millon a day for BP to fix the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in May 2010. It cost Toyota much more to make the larger recall and in lost sales and the damage to its image than the $100 million estimated saving by efforts to limit the recall.
Linked Articles
Drilling Down: A Troubled Legacy in Oil
Wall Street Journal 05/01/2010
Toyota Cited $100 Million Savings After Limiting RecallNew York Times 02/22/2010
Danone and P&G's (Procter & Gamble) innovative strategies for reaching low income customers in emerging markets.
12/12/2009
In 2004 Indonesian managers showed Franck Riboud, CEO of Danone, a pyramid of customers in Indonesia's population of 240 million people. It showed only 20 million customers at the top of the pyramid as the only ones who could afford Danone products. At that point Ribaud made up his mind to go after the large number of people at the lower end of the pyramid and come with strategies to do this profitably. By 2010 46% of Danone's sales were from emerging markets, up from 10% a decade earlier, showing the pace of the change. Unilever, P&G, Nestle, Colgate-Palmolive and other companies are following similiar strategies. P&G has used Mexico as a lab for experimenting with new products at low price points and Danone has done this in Indonesia.
Linked Articles
Danone Expands Its Pantry to Woo the World's Poor
Wall Street Journal 06/25/2010
P.& G. Sees the World as Its ClientNew York Times 12/12/2009
Shrinking news coverage and fewer journalists in the newspaper shift to digital online
11/25/2009
It says a lot about the changes underway in the newspaper industry when a paper like the Washington Post closes its bureaus in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, and covers the news there with travelling reporters. As local newspapers such as the New Orleans Times- Picayune move to three editions a week and an online edition, the number of journalists overing the area around New Orleans will shrink by a third in 2012. Advance Publications which runs the New Orleans paper will do the same for its papers in Huntsville and Birmingham i in Alabama.
Linked Articles
New Orleans Times-Picayune to limit printing to three days per week - The Washington Post
Washington Post 05/25/2012
Washington Post shutters last U.S. bureausWashington Post 11/25/2009
Ed Whitacre and the revival at General Motors- restarting an American icon that had fallen into bad ways
11/13/2009
The management changes and the management style that went into changing General Motors, once an icon of American enterprise in the prewar and early post war period.
Linked Articles
After Bankruptcy, G.M. Struggles to Shed a Legendary Bureaucracy
New York Times 11/13/2009
Ed Whitacre's Battle to Save GM from ItselfBusinessWeek 04/29/2010
Shift to Social Democrats as German chancellor loses public support in Germany.
09/28/2009
The main reason the Social Democrats did poorly in the 2009 elections in Germany says an expert is because they driftd aay from their working class base with their economic reforms. Now there is a shift back to the Social Democrats and Greens under the Christian Democratic government of chancellor Merkel.
Linked Articles
Merkel Looks to Recharge Her Ratings
New York Times 07/21/2010
Germany's Long Road to ReformWall Street Journal 09/28/2009
BP, Shell and other foreign oil companies expand production in Iraq in 2012-2014
07/01/2009
Ambitious goals for oil production are set by the Iraqi government as oil companies from the, U.S., Europe, Russia and China, provide the expertise to increase production from older oil fields. Problems of infrastructure and national oil legislation hinder rapid development.
Linked Articles
Crude Oil Output Is Soaring in Iraq, Easing Markets
New York Times 06/02/2012
Oil Companies Reject Iraq's Contract TermsWall Street Journal 07/01/2009
Clearly not a Roosevelt like approach or major change in regulatory structures says Nocera of NYT.
06/17/2009
A lot will now depend on who is in charge and creating a culture where strong regulation is an essential step for proper functioning of markets.
Linked Articles
Obama’s Remarks on Financial Regulatory Reforms
Wall Street Journal 06/17/2009
Only a Hint of Roosevelt in Financial OverhaulNew York Times 06/18/2009
A drastic overhaul, a sweeping restructuring is needed of the "fee-for-service" system to fix healthcare, the Obama health "reforms" risk becoming cosmetic.
06/14/2009
Cowen and Samuelson point out that without this big restructuring, taking in the uninsured into the system will only magnify the costs further. It would simply continue a unaffordable system of healthcare, that also delivers poor overall quality of healthcare for a steep price tag.
Linked Articles
Something’s Got to Give in Medicare Spending
New York Times 06/14/2009
Robert J. Samuelson - Wrong Way on Health 'Reform'Washington Post 06/15/2009
As the government sells $5 trillion in new debt by one estimate, the problem of an estimated $ 1 trillion in troubled assets on the banks books is being put off for another day.
06/04/2009
The FDIC's Legacy Loans Program's $1 billion pilot program attracts no interest. The Public Private Partnership Program of Secretary Geithner, like Secretary Paulson's TARP program before Geithner, is also unlikely to attract much interest as banks are not willing to take the prices that would require them to show large losses on their books. But this means that these problems are postponed for another day.
Linked Articles
Plan to Help Banks Clear Their Books Is Halted
New York Times 06/04/2009
Rising Interest on Nations’ Debts May Sap World GrowthNew York Times 06/04/2009
An Arab view about the need to change old attitudes and perceptions about US and Muslim world differences.
06/03/2009
The need for education in the Muslim and Arab world that helps melt old attitudes and perceptions. This is a large region covering the Arabs in Egypt and North Africa to Muslims in South Asia.
Linked Articles
President Obama's Cairo Appeal
Washington Post 06/05/2009
Education vs. ExtremismWall Street Journal 06/03/2009
The youth vote in India's 2014 and 2009 parliamentary elections
05/02/2009
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 05/02/2009
Hopes of a Generation Ride on Indian VoteNew York Times 05/15/2014
The smaller stimulus and selective investments in 2012-2014 in China and how this affects construction and heavy equipment manufacturers
04/30/2009
The impact on Caterpillar, Volvo AB, Komatsu, John Deere, Cummins and domestic Chinese manufacturers of the smaller stimulus and selective investments in China in the years ahead. Manufacturers are exporting from China during this period of slowing sales in China.
Linked Articles
China Bets Sour for Heavy Equipment Firms
Wall Street Journal 08/16/2012
China's Stimulus Spurs U.S. BusinessWall Street Journal 04/30/2009
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