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The slow process of reform for credit ratings agencies involved in the 2008 global financial crisis six years later in 2014
02/05/2013
Linked Articles
S. & P. E-Mails on Mortgage Crisis Show Alarm and Gallows Humor
New York Times 02/05/2013
The Stone Unturned: Credit RatingsNew York Times 03/22/2014
What a difference a year makes for the government bonds of Italy and Spain
10/02/2012
ECB chief, Mario Draghi made the famous statement on July 23, 2012, that he would "do whatever it takes" to bring down the yields on the government bonds of Italy and Spain. These bond yields had reached 7.5%, worsening the debt position of the two countries. A year later in August 2013 the bond yields were down, the gap with German bond yields narrowed, and the first signs of recovery in the eurozone made investment in the bonds of Italy and Spain attractive. Emerging market debt faced the opposite of what they faced in July 2013, as the currencies of India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Turkey, Brazil and other developing countries depreciated significantly. As the U.S. Federal Reserve begins its pull back from its monetary easing policy capital flows and foreign investment to to emerging markets reversed causing grief in countries which depended on these inflows to finance deficits in the current account.
Linked Articles
How ECB Chief Outflanked German Foe in Fight for Euro
Wall Street Journal 10/02/2012
Europe Bonds May Offer More ValueWall Street Journal 08/23/2013
Kazuo Inamori's turnaround of Japan Airlines (JAL)
07/30/2012
Kazuo Inamori founded Kyocera and is considered one of Japan's leading corporate leaders along with such names as Sony's Akio Morita, and Honda's Soichiro Honda. At age 77, Inamori took up the task of revitalizing Japan Airlines and turning around the airline after huge losses. The story of how he managed to accomplish this using his unique management philosophy, cost management, JAL's strategies, and employee efforts.
Linked Articles
Japan Airlines Roars Back With an Eye on U.S. Market
Wall Street Journal 07/30/2012
‘Mikoshi’ Management: How Kazuo Inamori Lifted Japan AirlinesWall Street Journal 07/30/2012
Tackling food insecurity in India and Pakistan- use of metal storage containers instead of jute bags or mud silos (2)
06/23/2012
Linked Articles
Hungering for a Solution to Food Losses
Wall Street Journal 12/25/2012
Indian Fiber Weaves a CrisisWall Street Journal 06/23/2012
India's huge foodgrain storage problems
04/13/2012
For a country with a large proportion of children facing malnutrition the food storage problems show how far India has left to go in modernizing its economy.
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 06/23/2012
India's Grain Storage Comes Up ShortWall Street Journal 04/13/2012
The case for increasing the minimum wage (3) Apple stores and "Why Nations Fail"
03/31/2012
Linked Articles
Apple Stores Army, Long on Loyalty but Short on Pay
New York Times 06/23/2012
Why Nations FailNew York Times 03/31/2012
Xi Jinping, China's history of political convusions in the leadership and society, and the desire for consensus and careful thinking.
01/31/2012
Xi' s life story, his family, and the Communist party under Mao and Deng. What it says about the desire for consensus and careful thinking about the future direction of China.
Linked Articles
Xi Appeals for 'Purity' Amid Party Scandal
Wall Street Journal 03/16/2012
Heartland Return for Chinese LeaderWall Street Journal 01/31/2012
IKEA moves forward with plans to open 25 stores and replicate its China success in India
01/24/2012
Linked Articles
IKEA Says It Is Ready To Give India a Try
Wall Street Journal 06/25/2012
IKEA Remains Wary of Entering IndiaWall Street Journal 01/24/2012
How the Sony-Ericsson mobile joint venture turned out to be a big mistake for Sony
10/06/2011
The CEO of Ericsson says Ericsson's strengths are not in the areas Sony needs for developing smartphones to compete with Apple and Samsung. The joint venture was made at a time when Nokia dominated the mobile phone market. This changed with the smartphone a decade later. Critical to Samsung's success in smartphones was speedy decision making and company wide manufacturing capabilities. Sony-Ericsson's glaring weaknesses were in these two areas. Sony acquired Ericsson's stake and now faces the challenge of tackling entrenched competitors starting with its home market.
Linked Articles
Sony Stakes Recovery on New Smartphone
Wall Street Journal 03/01/2013
Sony Nears Deal to Buy Out Ericsson From Joint VentureWall Street Journal 10/06/2011
Greece, Europe and the Austerity Measures- "The French Deception" and "The Tragic Sideshow" (2)
06/30/2011
Two WSJ editorials tell the story for what it is in 2010-2012.
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 02/22/2012
The French DeceptionWall Street Journal 06/30/2011
BP's steady focus on safety under CEO Bob Dudley
04/20/2011
Dudley says BP is not going to get off the path of focus on safety, and "stepping up the accelerator of performance, thats not going to happen." BP's second quarter 2012 performance reflected lower levels of production to permit maintenance and improvements in infrastructure at its deep water oil fields in the Gulf of Mexico. Similiar maintenance will be undertaken at North Sea fields in the rest of 2012. Cost cutting on maintenance and infrastructure improvements to improve profit performance created an environment that led to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and created huge legal liabilities.
Linked Articles
BP Posts Unexpectedly Large Loss
New York Times 07/31/2012
The Lessons of Deepwater HorizonWall Street Journal 04/20/2011
Tan Guocheng and Yuan Yandong- migrant workers on production lines in China and change in 2010-2013
06/13/2010
David Barboza's exceptional journalism talking to production workers on assembly lines in China. Here he tells the story of Tan Guocheng and Yuan Yandong, young migrant workers on assembly lines at Honda and Foxconn in the middle of major changes in China after the first wave of urbanization.
Linked Articles
In China, Unlikely Labor Leader Just Wanted a Middle-Class Life
New York Times 06/13/2010
A Night at the Electronics FactoryNew York Times 06/18/2010
The maintenance failure for the safety valve and the switch controlling it in the BP explosion.
05/13/2010
A dead battery in asuper-critical switch and hydraulics leaks that made inoperative a crucial safety valve that was the last barrier between safety and an explosion in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico led to the accident on the BP oil rig.
Linked Articles
Safety Valves Had a Dead Battery, Investigators Find
Wall Street Journal 05/13/2010
BP's Hayward Says Company Could Have Done More Disaster PreparationWall Street Journal 05/13/2010
The LNG ship Prelude and the oil drilling rig Noble Bully 1- New technology changing the prospects and look of deep water oil drilling making it safer, cost effective and increasing production
01/03/2013
Shell's experience and technological improvements are changing the way oil drilling in deep waters is done. Chevron and other companies are also developing their expertise as this is critical in reaching the more difficult to access reserves deep in the ocean floor.
Linked Articles
A Novel Ship Extends Shell's Reach
Wall Street Journal 01/03/2013
Shell Plans Boat to Tap Gas FieldsWall Street Journal 01/29/2014
Greece's Path Back (3)- Samaras and the "best port in the storm"
08/25/2012
Linked Articles
France Reassures Greece on Euro Zone Membership
New York Times 08/25/2012
Greek Leader Wins Favor AbroadWall Street Journal 10/04/2012
The Mass at Reims Cathedral in France then and now 50 years later for a lasting reconciliation between France and Germany
07/06/2012
German chancellor Adenauer and French president De Gaulle met at Reims Cathedral in May 1962 The service commemorating the 50th anniversary of that historic meeting and service was held recently. It was an occasion to bring together two leaders with diverging opinions on the eurozone financial crisis, Merkel and Hollande. Their mentors Jacques Delors of France and Helmut Kohl of Germany played an important role in setting up the EU and its institutions.
Linked Articles
Fifty Years Later, a New Chance for Reconciliation
Wall Street Journal 07/06/2012
Germany and France Celebrate Their BondNew York Times 07/08/2012
Paul Volcker, the traders at JP Morgan's London office, and "losses that would be socialized with the potential gains all private"
05/12/2012
Volcker described the situation to the U.S. Senate Banking committee the day before the story came out about the massive trades made by JP Morgan's trader, known as the "London whale." Losses would be socialized under "too big to fail" for the largest U.S. banks.
Linked Articles
Paul Volcker vs. JPMorgan’s London Whale - The Washington Post
Washington Post 05/12/2012
'London Whale' Rattles Debt MarketWall Street Journal 05/13/2012
How a law from the 1980's requiring use of jute bags for storage creates problems for food storage in India (1)
04/13/2012
Linked Articles
India's Grain Storage Comes Up Short
Wall Street Journal 04/13/2012
Indian Fiber Weaves a CrisisWall Street Journal 06/23/2012
BP stays in the Gulf after the Gulf Oil Spill
03/03/2012
BP executives say BP plans to invest $4 billion each year in oil exploration in the Gulf of Mexico for the next decade, 2012-20122. Investments will be made in safety for deep water drilling.
Linked Articles
BP Expects to Spend $4 Billion a Year in Gulf
Wall Street Journal 04/30/2012
BP, plaintiffs reach Gulf of Mexico oil spill settlement - The Washington PostWashington Post 03/03/2012
Research in motion's Blackberry faces steady decline with slow sales of Blackberry 7 smartphones
01/28/2012
Blackberry takes a $267 million writeoff on unsold Blackberry 7 model phones at retail stores in March 2012. After new CEO Thorsten Heins took over his strategy was to put put more of the new Blackberry 7 model phones into user hands. The failure to compete with new Android phones and the Apple iPhone places Research in Motion into a position from which it will be hard to recover.
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 03/30/2012
New RIM Chief Plots OverhaulWall Street Journal 01/28/2012
Apple ministores inside Target stores and Samsung ministores inside Best Buy stores- the counter strategy to "showrooming"
01/12/2012
Linked Articles
Has Best Buy Turned the Tide On Amazon?
Wall Street Journal 04/05/2013
Target Plans Mini-Stores, Including an Apple ExpansionNew York Times 01/12/2012
After the collapse of Circuity City, Best Buy finds its own retail model at risk from online sellers
09/14/2011
Best Buy faces strong competition in electronics sales from online sellers such as Amazon.com, and sees its position erode. A shift toaller size smaller stores with more personal attention as Best Buy questions the logic of bigbox stores.
Linked Articles
Best Buy Swings to Loss on Heavy Charges; to Close 50 Stores
Wall Street Journal 03/29/2012
Best Buy Gets SqueezedWall Street Journal 09/14/2011
Pernambuco and other states in Brazil's northeastern region- lack of investment in public health, education and transportation services infrastructure
05/21/2011
During the boom years much of the investment, about three fourths of the growth rate of over 4%, came from infrastructure investments that supported exports of soyabeans, iron ore and other commodities to China. Under the Worker's party socialist governments that get much of their support from the northeast, this disguised the low investments in public infrastructure services for drinking water, health sanitation, public schools and transportation services. This is a problem in developing countries of Latin America, South Asia, and Africa, with some regions lagging behind in essential infrastructure services, even with high growth rates.
Linked Articles
The Brazilian Doctors Who Sounded the Alarm on Zika and Microcephaly
Wall Street Journal 01/30/2016
Brazil's north-east: Catching up in a hurryEconomist 05/21/2011
Failures in China's financial system as seen by two bankers
12/11/2010
Failures in China's banking system as seen by two bankers Walter and Howie. The risks to the Chinese economy of real debt to GDP ratios that are upwards of 80% of GDP when local government and other debt that would end up as sovereign debt is taken into account. The inability of the system in China to control lending to state enterprises and local government.
Linked Articles
China's financial system: Look again
Economist 12/11/2010
Beijing's Financial Day of Reckoning Is NearWall Street Journal 06/21/2011
Apple products at manufacturing plants in China and at retail stores in the U.S.- low worker pay and lack of future prospects
05/29/2010
The high margins for Apple achieved through a combination of keeping costs low- even at the risk of providing poor wage and working conditions for the majority of employees employed in the retail stores in the U.S. and in supplier Foxconn plants in China- and by a grasp for innovation and technology. The paradox of a well deserved image for pioneering in technological innovation and the indifference to working conditions and prospects for employees who add value in manufacturing and customer interface. This model of growth is a recent development, put in place after 1997. In 1995-1997 Apple was nearing collapse under Michael Spindler and Gil Amelio, as documented by WSJ technology reporter Jim Carlton in his book- "Apple- The Inside Story of Intrigue, Egomania, and Business Blunders." Steve Jobs returned as CEO in 1997 and set the future course and this model in place emphasizing design, his ability to grasp technologies that would appeal to customers, and hired Tim Cook to set up the manufacturing which had high rate of defects and higher costs. The model was as full of paradoxes, of genius combined with mediocre behavioursas the man Steve Jobs. Tim Cook has responded to criticism in 2012 by having the Fair Labor association audit Foxconn plants in China. Foxconn increased wages in 2012, shifted plants to the interior of China, and increased use of robotics.
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 05/29/2010
Apple Stores Army, Long on Loyalty but Short on PayNew York Times 06/23/2012
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