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Pfizer's focus on its core pharmaceutical business in 2011-2015
05/02/2011
Rockoff's interview with Pfizer CEO, Ian Read, in which Read describes his strategy of focussing on new drug development and locating closer to hubs with large universities and research centers such as La Jolla, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Cambridge, England. Pfizer sold its infant nutrition business to Nestle as part of this plan.
Linked Articles
Pfizer Profit Declines 19% After Loss of Lipitor Patent
New York Times 05/01/2012
Life Beyond Lipitor for Pfizer ChiefWall Street Journal 05/02/2011
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
The Fall of an American Icon- HP, Lee Apotheker and the Autonomy Acquisition Inc.
02/18/2011
The Autonomy acquisition charge of $8.8 billion announced by CEO Meg Whitman on Nov. 20, 2012, come at a time of declining sales and margins in its printer and PC businesses. The costly charges on bad acquisitions by H-P is likely to hurt investment in R&D for years.
Linked Articles
Hewlett's Loss: A Folly Unfolds By the Numbers
New York Times 11/20/2012
Chief Reboots H-P After ScandalWall Street Journal 02/18/2011
Michael Gerson was with Condoleeza Rice in a rare meeting in Cairo, Egypt, in June 2005, to support democratic voices.
02/01/2011
The meeting set up in a conference room in Cairo, Egypt, had 9 opposition figures, including Ayman Nour, a presidential candidate.
Linked Articles
Condoleezza Rice - The future of a democratic Egypt
Washington Post 02/16/2011
Michael Gerson - Arabs' urge for self-government shouldn't be a surpriseWashington Post 02/01/2011
How a services-led consumption based economy has failed America through a loss of jobs, prosperity and prestige.
01/21/2011
Jeffrey Immelt, CEO of GE, says the concept that the US could transition from a technology based export-oriented economic powerhouse to a services-led consumption based economy was fundamentally wrong. Mathew Slaughter of the Tuck School, Dartmouth, in a WSJ op-ed piece argues for a textbook principle of comparitive advantage, without considering the way it operates in a real the real world situation facing America as it struggles for economic renewal.
Linked Articles
Comparative Advantage and American Jobs
Wall Street Journal 01/26/2011
Jeffrey R. Immelt - A blueprint for keeping America competitiveWashington Post 01/21/2011
Closer Japan-U.S. ties in 2012-2015
01/10/2011
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 05/23/2012
Fred Hiatt - Patching up our alliance with JapanWashington Post 01/10/2011
Why at the heart of the Volcker Rule for bank regulation, according to Mr. Volcker, is the idea of CEO attestation
10/28/2010
Volcker's advice about writing the rule was to keep it broad so that it limited the room for evasion. Volcker advised regulators to remember what Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart said about pornography -"I know it when I see it." Treasury Secretary Lew pointed to the responsibility of the top executive to "set the right tone," for the whole organization.
Linked Articles
Volcker Rule to Require CEOs Guarantee Compliance
Wall Street Journal 12/06/2013
Volcker on His 'Rule'— Keep It BroadWall Street Journal 10/28/2010
The shift to digital for newspapers in the U.S. with shrinking number of journalists to cover local and national news- 2010-2015
07/29/2010
Linked Articles
New Orleans Times-Picayune to limit printing to three days per week - The Washington Post
Washington Post 05/25/2012
Mixed Ad Message From NewspapersWall Street Journal 07/29/2010
Greece's referendum and the 3 year bailout of July 12, 2015- military spending, shipowners taxes, and cuts to pensions
07/10/2010
Greece's left Syriza government almost pulled the country out of the eurozone over pension cuts, even as military spending in Greece remained at 2.4% of GNP compared to close 1.4% for the EU average. Greece did not propose further cuts to military spending to bring the Greece ratio closer to that of Germany and other countries in Europe, raising questions about prudent spending. Which is why Greece sometimes has aspects of the surreal to people not just in Germany and Holland, but other parts of Europe, and outsiders. Under the reform proposal and bailout of July 12, 2015 following the "no" referendum, Greece's parliament voted overwhelmingly in favor of the similiar cuts in pensions from an earlier EU proposal, with cuts of $300 million to the military spending by 2016. Greek shipowners will also pay taxes under the new bailout, negotiated by Greece with France's help when the referendum had damaged relations with the rest of the EU, particularly Germany with only 10% in polls willing to support any further concessions.
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 07/11/2015
The Submarine Deals That Helped Sink GreeceWall Street Journal 07/10/2010
The paradox of low U.S. productivity growth holding back wages in 2015-2016 (2)- Apple, Google, Facebook and low productivity improvement since 2005
07/01/2010
Linked Articles
Andy Grove: How America Can Create Jobs
BusinessWeek 07/01/2010
The Mystery of Declining Productivity GrowthWall Street Journal 05/15/2015
Apple and conditions at Foxconn factories in China that make the iPad, iPhone, the Mac and other electronic devices
05/29/2010
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 05/29/2010
A Night at the Electronics FactoryNew York Times 06/18/2010
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
Hope and reality in Nigeria (2)- President Goodluck Jonathan 2011-2015, and President Muhammadu Buhari 2015-2019
02/20/2010
The hope of so many young Nigerians rest on Buhari getting things right and restoring confidence in government and the management of the economy after four years of the Jonathan adminsitration.
Linked Articles
Muhammadu Buhari Defeats Goodluck Jonathan in Nigeria Election
Wall Street Journal 04/01/2015
An Accidental Leader Stirs Hopes in NigeriaNew York Times 02/20/2010
Pfizer and Merck organize R&D using international innovation hubs- 2011-2015
05/02/2011
Efforts to tap into the latest external science at universities and research centers outside company labs is leading pharmaceutical companies to try a different approach to R&D. Pfizer closed its R&D facility in Sandwich, England and opened one in Cambridge. It opened hubs in Boston, La Jolla. Merck has followed this approach with a decision to setup innovaton hubs in Boston, San Francisco, London and Shanghai.
Linked Articles
Merck Plans Radical Overhaul of Drug R&D Unit
Wall Street Journal 12/28/2013
Life Beyond Lipitor for Pfizer ChiefWall Street Journal 05/02/2011
Hope and reality in Nigeria (3)- President Jonathan Goodluck 2011-2015, and President Muhammadu Buhari 2015-2019
02/24/2011
Too many young people in Africa are seeing their hopes dashed, and their dreams vanish. After 4 years of the Jonathan administration, young people in Kano and other cities place their hopes on Muhammadu Buhari. The demographic dividend is in danger of being wasted in Africa's most populous country.
Linked Articles
Nigerian Central Bank Governor Ousted
Wall Street Journal 02/21/2014
Nigeria Details Oil Windfall SpendingWall Street Journal 02/24/2011
Sobhi Saleh, member of parliament from Alexandria, Egypt, and Egypt's path to democratic processes.
02/04/2011
Sobhi Saleh represented Alexandria in parliament from 2005 to 2010, for the Muslim Brotherhood. Nicholas Kulish provides an heart rending account of how Saleh makes his way out of a prison set on fire after his arrest during the Egyptian protests. He was selected by the Egyptian military as a member of the eight member panel asked to rewrite key articles of the constitution.
Linked Articles
Egypt's Military Names Constitutional Panel
Wall Street Journal 02/15/2011
Why a Member of the Muslim Brotherhood Was Late to the RevolutionNew York Times 02/04/2011
Madeleine Albright, Condoleeza Rice and Hillary Clinton- Early warnings and the failure of the Obama administration to respond in Egypt
02/01/2011
Condy Rice and Madeleine Albright raised red flags about the situation in Egypt- Rice in 2005, and Albright as part of the Egypt Working Group in 2010 when Mubarak conducted another fradulent election. Hillary Clinton and president Obama acted as if taken by surprise and were hesitant in their response.
Linked Articles
U.S. Had Year of Warnings Over Egypt
Wall Street Journal 02/16/2011
Michael Gerson - Arabs' urge for self-government shouldn't be a surpriseWashington Post 02/01/2011
GE, GE Capital and CEO Immelt's legacy- skepticism about the role of GE CEO Immelt as head of the President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness
01/21/2011
Linked Articles
GE Seeks Exit from Banking Business
Wall Street Journal 04/10/2015
Obama's Corporate MakeoverNew York Times 01/21/2011
How Samsung jumped ahead of Sony in the smartphone market- the dismal failure of the Sony-Ericsson joint venture
01/07/2011
The glaring weaknesses of the Sony-Ericsson mobile joint venture was the slow decisionmaking and the inability to take advantage of Sony's strengths in manufacturing and its companywide technological capabilities. As late as 2011 Samsung was struggling behind other competitors. A key advantage was the quick decisionmaking and marshalling of resources within the company for the smartphone effort in Samsung. The joint venture proved to be a disaster for Sony.
Linked Articles
Samsung Moves in Smartphone Race
Wall Street Journal 01/07/2011
Sony Stakes Recovery on New SmartphoneWall Street Journal 03/01/2013
Erfurt, Thuringia, Germany- (1) in 2010 20 years after reunification of Germany, and Erfurt in 2015 as it copes with a wave of refugees in 2015
09/30/2010
Linked Articles
Empathy and Angst in a German City Transformed by Refugees
New York Times 09/11/2015
For Some Germans, Unity Is Still Work in ProgressNew York Times 09/30/2010
David Stockman says Republicans have given up their role in doing financially responsible budgeting for decades.
07/11/2010
The budget deficits, Reagan's Budget director says, developed to this point after decades of irresponsivble budget behaviour that has lasted gone on for four decades. He says the Greece style deficit of 120% of GDP for the USA by 2015 calls for austerity.
Linked Articles
Four Deformations of the Apocalypse
New York Times 07/31/2010
Crisis Awaits Worldâs Banks as Trillions Come DueNew York Times 07/11/2010
Reviving American Manufacturing- the views of Anthony Liveris and Andy Grove
07/01/2010
Anthony Liveris is CEO of Dow Chemical and Andy Grove headed Intel Corp.
Linked Articles
Dow Chemical's CEO on How to Revive Manufacturing
Wall Street Journal 02/23/2012
Andy Grove: How America Can Create JobsBusinessWeek 07/01/2010
Strike at Honda and suicides at Hon Hai reflect worker dissatisfaction.
05/29/2010
Wages an issue at both companies. Military style discipline and monotony of life and work an issue at Hon Hai which employs 800,000 workers in China and is a key part of the Chinese manufacturing system which makes all kinds of electronic products
Linked Articles
Why Apple and Others Are Nervous About Foxconn
BusinessWeek 06/03/2010
Unrest May Signal New Phase in China EconomyNew York Times 05/29/2010
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
Greece and EU in 2015 - (5) What went wrong? What errors were made by Greece 2003-2009?
03/03/2010
Linked Articles
Europeâs Two Years of Denials Trapped Greece
New York Times 11/05/2011
Europe's Original SinWall Street Journal 03/03/2010
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