ASBM Business Updates is a Weekly Selective Compilation of Business News from Various Sources. To find details follow the link.
BUSINESS
Switzerland and Norway are the world's most expensive economies, followed by Bermuda, Australia and Denmark, according to a new ranking by the World Bank.
The economies with the lowest prices are Egypt, Pakistan, Myanmar, Ethiopia and Laos, according to a review of economic data which seeks to compensate for exchange rate effects and measure spending power across countries.
The United States, the world's largest economy, was in relatively affordable 25th place, lower than most other high-income countries.
The richest countries, or those with the highest gross domestic product (GDP) per capita on a purchasing power parity basis, were Qatar, Macao, Luxembourg, Kuwait, and Brunei.
Eight countries, including Malawi, Mozambique and Liberia, had GDP per capita of less than $1,000.
Almost half the world's $90.6 trillion in total economic output in 2011 came from low- and middle-income countries, the World Bank said.
Compared to the last time the exercise was done in 2005, with a slightly different methodology and mix of countries, middle-income countries gained a bigger share of the world economy, at the expense of both high- and low-income peers.
FINANCE
Ahead of the twin launches of its Bolt hatchback and Zest compact sedan, Tata MotorsBSE 1.01 % is going on a hiring mode to beef up sales, marketing and service networks as it bets big on the new cars to recoup lost market share. The company will flag-off what it touts as the largest automobile road show in the country by fanning out to 2,400 towns in the next six months, say marketing experts.
Tata Motors will also hire 3,000-3,500 sales force in the next six months. The hiring wll be along with their dealers, wherein every potential candidate will have to go through a psychometric and aptitude test to come onboard for Tata Motors, which is a first in the automotive space. Ankush Arora, senior vice-president and head, Commercial Passenger Vehicle Business Unit at Tata Motors, called the twin launches as a "tipping point" for the company. Through the two products, the company hopes to go back to minimum monthly volumes of 23,000 to 24,000 units versus 13,000 to 14,000 units it sell currently...
INDIA BUSINESS
The 28-member European Union (EU) has temporarily banned Alphonso mangoes, the king of fruits, and fourvegetables from India from May 1, sparking protests from the Indian community, lawmakers and traders.
The recent decision by the grouping's Standing Committee on Plant Health came after 207 consignments of fruit and vegetables from India imported into the EU in 2013 were found contaminated by pests.
The ban, proposed by the European Commission, includes mangoes, eggplants, taro plants, bitter gourds and snake gourds, and prohibits the import to tackle "significant shortcomings in the phytosanitary certification system of such products exported."
Though the prohibited commodities represent less than five per cent of the total fresh fruit and vegetables imported into the EU from India, the potential introduction of new pests could pose a threat to EU agriculture and output, the committee noted.
UK's department for environment, food and rural affairs, backing the ban, said it was necessary as pests could threaten the country's £321 million salad crop sector of tomatoes and cucumbers.
The UK imports 16 million mangoes a year from India and the market for the fruit is £6 million a year.
Air India (AI) is all set to join the world's largest airline grouping company— Star Alliance, this July, making it the first airline company from India to be part of a global chain of carriers. The move, according to AI CMD Rohit Nandan, will bring immense benefits to Indian fliers from day one as they will be able to earn-and-burn miles, get access to lounges across the globe and enjoy seamless connectivity across the globe.
"Almost all the requirements for joining Star are complete. Some work, mostly related to IT, will be completed by mid-May. Then we are set," said Nandan.
Star Alliance CEO Mark F Schwab said that the CEOs of Star's member airlines will meet in London on June 22 or 23 to have an endorsement vote on AI's entry into the fold. "Once all airline endorse the move, AI should be in Star by July. We conducted a safety review of AI and are very pleased with the results. We are very happy with the progress made by AI," the CEO said.
INSURANCE
Walmart plans to add a new consumer service to its arsenal of offerings on Wednesday, teaming up with a website that helps customers comparison shop for auto insurance.
The website, AutoInsurance.com, allows consumers to review prices at several insurance companies and contrast them with their current insurance.
Effectively, Walmart and AutoInsurance.com will be marketing partners. Walmart will promote the website in its stores, and receive a monthly fee in return, while AutoInsurance.com will collect commissions when insurance is sold on its site. Customers will also be able to access the site from Walmart.com.
Daniel Eckert, senior vice president of services for Walmart U.S., said the company is using its size to broaden its offerings for customers and to get an edge on the competition. While some companies have rebounded more easily from the recession, Walmart’s core customer base, largely low-income people, has struggled to regain a foothold, so its sales have been sluggish.
Six insurance carriers, including Progressive, Travelers and Esurance, which is owned by Allstate, are participating on the website. While the list includes a few industry giants, missing are some of the biggest players like State Farm and Geico, which are the first- and second-largest auto insurance providers in the country, respectively, according to SNL Financial. Walmart said it hopes to offer more carriers in the future.
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
IBM scientists have created the world's smallest magazine cover, which is invisible to the naked eye, and it is so tiny that 2,000 could fit on a grain of salt.
Researchers at International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) in US developed a new tool inspired by hieroglyphics, the written language created by the ancient Egyptians.
The core of the technology is a tiny, heatable silicon tip with a sharp apex - 100,000 times smaller than a sharpened pencil. Working like a 3D printer it 'chisels' away material by local evaporation.
To demonstrate the tool, IBM partnered with National Geographic Kids magazine to 'chisel' the world's smallest magazine cover. The recently certified Guinness World Records cover is 11 x 14 micrometres and was unveiled at the USA Science and Engineering Festival in Washington, DC.
"With our novel technique we can achieve very a high resolution at 10 nanometres at greatly reduced cost and complexity," said Dr Armin Knoll, a physicist at IBM Research.
"In particular by controlling the amount of material evaporated, we can also produce 3D relief patterns at the unprecedented accuracy of merely one nanometre in a vertical direction.
"Now it's up to the imagination of scientists and engineers to apply this technique to real-world challenges," Knoll said in a statement.
IBM has licensed the "chiselling" technology to a start-up based in Switzerland called SwissLitho which is bringing the technology to market under the name NanoFrazor.
MARKETING
Taiwan's HTC Corp is stepping up advertising to ensure sales of the One M8 smartphone live up to the new flagship's critical acclaim, and win the vendor a bigger share of the developed markets it once dominated.
HTC reached the top of the US market in the third quarter of 2011, when it sold one in every 10 smartphones worldwide, according to Strategy Analytics. But its global share dropped to two per cent along with a share price which plummeted 86 per cent.
The fall from grace was speeded up last year when sales of predecessor flagship One M7 failed to match the phone's rave reviews because of disruptions in the supply chain and a marketing campaign widely dismissed as brash and confusing.
HTC plans to avoid a similar outcome befalling the M8 with "more effective and efficient marketing," Chief Financial Officer Chialin Chang said at a quarterly investor conference on Tuesday.
The M8 will lead a diversified product portfolio that will help HTC retrieve market share in developed countries, Chang said, without giving specific targets.
The M8's toned-down advertising campaign with actor Gary Oldman has been well received by commentators, who said it is an improvement over last year's campaign fronted by Robert Downey Jr. So far, the M8 is selling quicker than the M7, Chang said.
"We are increasing our media ad buys in 2014 over 2013."
Even so, HTC expects revenue to land in a range of T$65 billion ($US2.16 billion) to T$70 billion in the April-June quarter, slightly below the T$71 billion of the same period a year earlier.
That would nevertheless be about double the T$33 billion booked in January-March, when ineffective marketing and weak M7 sales contributed to a net loss that was wider than analysts estimated at T$1.88 billion.
ODISHA BUSINESS
The state government has recommended to the Centre a proposal by its PSU, Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idco), to set up a sea food park at Deras in Khurda district.
The sea food park has been planned on an area of 100 acres at an estimated cost of Rs 116.43 crore, inclusive of the land cost, which is calculated at the rate of Rs 5 lakh per acre. The sea food park will be set up under the Mega Food Park Scheme of the Government of India and is expected to fulfill the long standing demands of exporters and other stakeholders.
“Idco is a Odisha government company engaged in creating industrial infrastructure for the state.
The corporation has expertise for development of industrial parks. As the nodal department dealing with food processing industry in the state, the present proposal is strongly recommended for approval under the revised Mega Food Park scheme notified on February 10, 2014”, Panchanan Dash, secretary, MSME (micro, small & medium enterprises) wrote to Nirak Kumar Gayagi, director, Union ministry of food processing industries (MoFPI).
SUPPLY CHAIN
JDA Software Group, Inc., announced its Distribution-Centric Supply Chain Suite, an integrated set of cloud-based best-of-breed supply chain planning and execution solutions that holistically and iteratively solve inventory planning, replenishment and order fulfillment challenges.
JDA recognizes that companies everywhere are facing an unprecedented set of supply chain challenges that are driving the need for significant change. Omni-channel complexity, growing competitive pressures and tightening margins are forcing organizations to rethink their supply chain strategies, tear down silos and rethink network execution holistically.
To help companies strategically address these challenges along their supply chain journey, JDA is launching its Distribution-Centric Supply Chain Suite that empowers retailers, manufacturers, 3PLs and wholesale distributors with the necessary elements required for intelligent and profitable distribution decision making.
Built upon decades of planning and execution experience, JDA's Distribution-Centric Supply Chain Suite fulfills the vision of true inter-enterprise visibility and constraint-aware planning by enabling intelligent and profitable distribution decision-making that reduces inventory levels and costs, improves customer service through superior product availability and faster throughput, and creates more agile, profitable, and responsive operations. "JDA has delivered unparalleled value to our customers over the past two decades by providing unmatched functionality to each stakeholder in the end-to-end supply chain," said Hamish Brewer, CEO, JDA Software.
_______________________________________________________________________
Source of Information for this issue : Google alert accessd on 5th and 9th May 2014.
We Welcome your suggestions in improving this information updating service.
Knowledge Is Power. Be Informed, Be Knowledgeable, Be Powerful.
Best Wishes
Compilation
Sabita Sahu
Junior Librarian
Concept, Layout and Editing
Syamaghana Mohanty
Chief Librarian
Information and Documentation Division, Chanakya Central Library
Asian School of Business Management
Shiksha Vihar Bhola,
Barang Khurda Road, Chandaka
Bhubaneswar-754012
www.asbm.ac.in
Tel: 0674-2374832, 2374833
E-mail: library@asbm.ac.in, chieflibrarian@asbm.ac.in
No comments:
Post a Comment