phone

Michael Tasner: The Number One Secret to Marketing — Both Online and Offline

August 11, 2010

There have been tens of thousands (probably hundreds of thousands by now) of books, articles, audios, and videos written about marketing. Heck, I wrote the first book on Web 3.0 Marketing, so I fall into that category as well. All these books are great and full of information in their own respects, but there is just so much noise when it comes to marketing. Fortunately, there is one, overarching secret that applies to all businesses, and works for everyone. This secret, if mastered, can explode your business. Drumroll please . . . everything comes back to relationships . Building relationships is the most essential marketing weapon you could possess. There are so many outlets from which to build your relationships; social media, email marketing, video marketing, conversion, traffic, sales, leads, opt ins. The list goes on, and on and on. If you focus on the relationship (seeing your list as people versus emails) you are going to be 10 times better off in the long haul. I’d rather have a list of 100 people that know, like and trust me than a list of 100,000 twitter followers and 5,000 Facebook friends that don’t even know my last name. I’ve seen examples where people have massive mailing lists, over 100,000 names, and only 150 people open an email. I’d eliminate 99,000 of the names and focus on those 150 that are actually reading your stuff. I encourage you to look at all your different prospect touch points and see where you can infuse some relationship building into them. Here are 3 Keys to Help Build Profitable Relationships: 1. Practice education based marketing. Everyone has a different take on what education based marketing is. Some see it as educating people about your products and services. Relationship builders see it as a chance to educate prospects in general terms. You are able to build rapport by teaching before selling. Let’s take an example. You run a country club and are looking to increase membership. Most marketers would put together a flyer that talks about their golf course, the tennis courts, and the beautiful banquet facility. The education based marketing approach would be to put together informational articles or pamphlets such as: The 5 Benefits of Belonging to a Country Club 3 Ways to Increase Your Business through Country Clubs Rather than providing information about your particular club, you should focus on educating people in general. This will empower them to make an educated decision about purchasing your product or service. 2. Keep consistent contact. Make sure you’re staying in touch with your contacts on a regular basis. This could be as simple as sending an email with a link to an article you thought they might find valuable, or as advanced as picking up the phone and saying hello. To make certain your relationships do not get stale, communicate a few times every month. 3. Don’t be afraid to mine your list and your networks. I recommend mining your email list on a monthly basis. Remove people who haven’t opened your stuff in 6-12 months, and delete people off your social networks that don’t apply. If you keep your list and network clean, and practice keys #1 and #2, this network will turn into a profit house because you built strong relationships. Please keep in mind, building relationships takes time, but in the long haul, you will outperform any list, period. © 2010 Michael Tasner, author of Marketing in the Moment: The Practical Guide to Using Web 3.0 Marketing to Reach Your Customers First

Read the full article →

Tony Schwartz: Six Invisible Secrets to Fostering Your Creativity

August 11, 2010

When IBM recently polled 1500 CEOs across 60 countries, they rated creativity as the most important leadership competency. Eighty percent of the CEOs said the business environment is growing so complex that it literally demands new ways of thinking. Less than 50 percent said they believed their organizations were equipped to deal effectively with this rising complexity. Fortunately, even if our work environments are not as accommodating as they could be, we as individuals have the power to train our own creativity, the same way we would any muscle. Here are the six fundamental moves you can make to fuel your own creativity: 1. Meet Your Needs . Recognize that questioning orthodoxy and convention — the key to creativity — begins with questioning the way you’re working. The more we are preoccupied by unmet needs, the less energy and engagement we bring to our work. Take The Energy Audit to find out how you’re doing. You can’t change what you don’t notice. 2. Train Creativity Systematically . It isn’t magical and it can be developed. There are five well-defined, widely accepted stages of creative thinking: first insight, saturation, incubation, illumination, and verification. They don’t always unfold predictably, but they do provide a roadmap for enlisting the whole brain, moving back and forth between analytic, deductive, left-hemisphere thinking, and more pattern-seeking, big-picture, right-hemisphere thinking. The best description of the stages I’ve come across is in Betty Edward’s book Drawing on the Artist Within . The best understanding of the role of the right hemisphere, and how to cultivate it, is in Edwards’ first book, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain . 3. Nurture Your Passion . It is often difficult to feel creative when we are in roles that don’t excite our imagination. Think of the aspects of your job that you find most challenging, enjoyable, and meaningful. What specific steps could you take to spend more time engaged in these activities? 4. Make Your Work Matter . Human beings are meaning-making animals. Money pays the bills but it’s a thin source of meaning. We feel better about ourselves when we we’re making a positive contribution to something beyond ourselves. It’s a source of fuel not just for higher performance, but also for thinking more creatively about how to overcome obstacles and generate new solutions. How can you focus more of your energy at work on contributing to others? 5. Make the Time . Creative thinking requires relatively open-ended, uninterrupted time, free of pressure for immediate answers and instant solutions. Ironically, the best way to nurture creativity is to schedule sacrosanct time for it. The first step is to set aside least an hour a week for reflection, uninterrupted by the ping of your email or the ring of your phone. Often our most creative breakthroughs occur when we step away from a problem we’re trying to solve and let our unconscious work on it. Try taking a walk, or listening to music, or quieting the mind by meditating. 6. Value Renewal . Human beings are not meant to operate continuously the way computers do. We’re designed to expend energy for relatively short periods of time — no more than 90 minutes — and then recover. Movement — especially exercise that raises the heart rate — is another powerful way to induce the sort of shift in consciousness in which creative breakthroughs spontaneously arise.

Read the full article →

James Boyle: Is Google Naive, Crafty or Stupid?

August 10, 2010

After much fulmination in newspapers and in the blogosphere, on Monday Google and Verizon announced a proposed “legislative framework” to “preserve the open internet.” The announcement was greeted with enormous interest because it had been alleged that Google was preparing to make a deal that would compromise its longstanding commitment to net neutrality, the principle that no content traveling along the internet should be treated differently because of its source. Early reports of the negotiations, including some in the New York Times , were clearly mistaken. This was no mere deal by Google to buy preferred access for its own services on Verizon’s networks, an individual violation of the principle of network neutrality by one of its most ardent prior proponents. It was a proposal that would legislatively gut that principle in general for everyone. The newspaper accounts thought too small. Google presented the deal as a way to “save the open internet.” But in fact, it abandons it in three ways. First, goodbye to network neutrality on wireless networks — the place everyone, including Google — believes to be the future of the internet. Second, goodbye to network neutrality for “additional” or “differentiated” services. If you can’t drive a coach and four through that loophole, you were not paying attention in English class. Third, and missed by most of the commentators, goodbye to the FCC’s role as a regulator of network neutrality. The Google-Verizon proposal settles the FCC’s disputed power to regulate the net by removing all but a vestige of it — leaving an entity that can adjudicate on a case-by-case basis, but cannot make rules. This is a telephone company’s vision of network neutrality – not over our wireless networks, not when we want to sell something else on top, and not subject to effective regulation, just enough to act as a barrier to entry for potential competitors. In other words, not network neutrality. The question is, why would Google do this? Is it a matter of corporate naivete? Verizon is, at base, a telephone company; it thrives in the interstices of state regulation the way small marine organisms thrive inside the nooks and crannies of a coral reef. That is its preferred habitat. Its organizational culture evolved there and it is brilliantly adapted to it. Google is a company built by engineers. The initial reaction of engineers to regulation — and I speak as someone who has had to explain legal rules to computer scientists many times — is simply to reject large amounts of them as “stupid” and thus obviously not real. Their second reaction, when the “that’s just stupid” defense fails to cause legal reality to conform itself to their beliefs, is to use technology to design around the rules. (Google something in a foreign country and you will realize this immediately. Geolocation allows tailoring of content based not just on national interest but national rules.) Their third is to make a deal, in the hopeful — and utterly laudable – belief that there is a possible agreement hidden in the details, a technologically mediated compromise that can make everyone better off. Those two different organizational cultures were on display in Monday’s announcement. Unfortunately, the announcement was about… regulatory schemes (and how to gut them). That is playing to Verizon’s strengths, not Google’s. And it showed. Is it not naivete but realpolitik? Google has been a passionate advocate of openness — not coincidentally, because its business model is built around it, but also because it has hired some of the leading visionaries with that point of view. Google has defended open networks — where new entrants will have the power to disrupt existing businesses just as Google did to Yahoo and Alta Vista’s search services. And it has defended open platforms – such as the Android phone — not proprietary closed systems like the iPhone ecology. One way to read Monday’s announcement, perhaps the saddest for those who believed that Google had a real principled commitment to openness, is that Google has decided to ditch the first principle and concentrate on the second. It is now rich enough that it can buy preferred treatment over wireless networks and premium services. And it needs the phone companies to have Android succeed and carry Google onto the mobile web. Net neutrality got Google where it is, but now it is time to pull up the ladder behind it. Finally, does Google genuinely believe this “compromise” is the best that can be achieved? That this is the best place to start negotiations over the future of the open net? That strains credibility. Google may or may not be evil, but it is filled with some of the smartest people I have ever met. The howls of disappointment from the blogosphere reflect the jilted hopes of legions of netizens who — against their better judgment — had come to romanticize Google, to believe in it as a reliable force for good, not just a profit-making corporate structure. Whether out of naivete or craftiness, that little dream has now been dispelled.

Read the full article →

Broker’s Assistant QUITS Via Dry Erase Board

August 10, 2010

We’ve heard of some pretty crazy ways to quit your job , but one woman’s use of a tell-all dry erase board takes the cake. “Jenny the Assistant” quit her job yesterday by sending a company-wide email with photos of her resignation letter written in a series of hilarious dry erase board posts, which are chronicled in full at the Chive . (Hat tip to Dealbreaker) Check out all the photos at the Chive , but here’s the short version: “Jenny,” an assistant to a broker named Spencer, said she had put up with his bad breath and temper for two years because she wanted to be a broker. But she decided to quit when she heard her boss call her a “HOPA” on the phone. A what? A “Hot Piece of Ass,” she determined, perhaps from Urban Dictionary . In the photo essay, she goes on to disclose Spencer’s use of his time, which she discovered by tapping into a loathed monitoring system he had set up: four hours a week of Scottrade, and 19.7 hours a week of Farmville . No wonder why she wanted to be a broker. Check back with the Chive for updates on Jenny’s last name, for which it is working its contacts, it claims.

Read the full article →

Broker’s Assistant QUITS Via Dry Erase Board

August 10, 2010

We’ve heard of some pretty crazy ways to quit your job , but one woman’s use of a tell-all dry erase board takes the cake. “Jenny the Assistant” quit her job yesterday by sending a company-wide email with photos of her resignation letter written in a series of hilarious dry erase board posts, which are chronicled in full at the Chive . (Hat tip to Dealbreaker) Check out all the photos at the Chive , but here’s the short version: “Jenny,” an assistant to a broker named Spencer, said she had put up with his bad breath and temper for two years because she wanted to be a broker. But she decided to quit when she heard her boss call her a “HOPA” on the phone. A what? A “Hot Piece of Ass,” she determined, perhaps from Urban Dictionary . In the photo essay, she goes on to disclose Spencer’s use of his time, which she discovered by tapping into a loathed monitoring system he had set up: four hours a week of Scottrade, and 19.7 hours a week of Farmville . No wonder why she wanted to be a broker. Check back with the Chive for updates on Jenny’s last name, for which it is working its contacts, it claims.

Read the full article →

Video: Schapiro Doubts IPhone 4 Antenna Flaw Is Hurting Sales: Video

August 9, 2010

Aug. 9 (Bloomberg) — Kenneth Schapiro, president of Condor Capital Management, talks about Mark Papermaster’s decision to resign from Apple Inc. and sales of the iPhone Papermaster, the executive responsible for Apple’s iPhone and iPod hardware, left the company following criticism of the phone’s antenna design. Schapiro talks with Carol Massar on Bloomberg Television’s “Street Smart.” (Source: Bloomberg)

Read the full article →

Edward Lee: Copyright Office Rules in Favor of Fair Use and Consumer Freedom

August 3, 2010

It is not everyday that the U.S. government sides with jailbreakers. But, last week, the Librarian of Congress and Copyright Office did just that. Although the “jailbreaking” involved converting one’s iPhone or other mobile device to allow it to run both mobile service and third-party applications of the consumer’s choice, the new law is no less remarkable than a successful escape from a maximum-security prison. The law marks a decisive victory for American consumers and a firm rejection of attempts to use the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to achieve market control that copyright law was never meant to protect. The DMCA was enacted in 1998 at the urging of Hollywood studios and the music industry, which feared piracy of their works on the Internet. The basic theory of the DMCA was simple: copyright holders should get extra legal protection for the technological measures–so called “digital locks”–they use to restrict access to or copying of their copyrighted works. The “anti-circumvention” provision under the DMCA makes it illegal for people to circumvent these digital locks, or to share tools that can be used to unpick the locks protecting copyrighted works. While the theory of the DMCA was justifiable, in practice it hasn’t worked so well. First, in some areas, such as in music, many industry leaders decided on abandoning digital locks altogether. Ironically, it was Apple CEO Steve Jobs who championed the movement to “open” music files in a now famous Feb. 6, 2007 letter titled, ” Thoughts on Music .” The second failing of the DMCA is more worrisome. As critics feared, the DMCA has the potential of undermining people’s ability to engage in legitimate fair use activities. What the Copyright Act permits people to do, the DMCA could just as easily forbid by “locking” them out of lawful activities. Even worse, some companies attempted to use the DMCA as a weapon to seek market power over functional items–such as garage door openers and printer cartridges–that copyright law was never meant to protect. As preposterous as it may sound, companies effectively tried to “copyright” their functional devices and business methods through the backdoor of the DMCA. Luckily, Congress foresaw some of these potential abuses. In enacting the DMCA, Congress set up a rulemaking procedure by which the Librarian of Congress, with consultation with the Register of Copyrights, can create 3-year exemptions to the DMCA anti-circumvention provision. The most recent exemptions , the fourth in the line of rulemakings, are the most significant yet. Two of the six exemptions deal with mobile phones. The Librarian renewed the 2006 exemption that allows people to circumvent encryption on their phones so they can switch to another cellphone service provider–from AT&T to Verizon, to use the Register of Copyrights Marybeth Peters’ specific example. In rejecting Apple’s arguments to use the DMCA to support its exclusive service with AT&T, the Register explained that “mobile phone locks prevent consumers from legally accessing alternative wireless networks with the phone of their choice.” The “jailbreaking” exemption goes even further in protecting consumer choice. It allows people to circumvent the technological measures on their iPhones or other mobile devices, in order to allow the devices to run third-party software applications of the user’s choice–even against the wishes of Apple or the device manufacturer. By using encryption on the iPhone, Apple tries to stop people from running third-party apps that Apple hasn’t approved. However, the Register again rejected Apple’s arguments that the DMCA should be allowed to facilitate Apple’s restrictive efforts. In this case, the argument for fair use in jailbreaking iPhones was “compelling and consistent with congressional interest in interoperability.” For many, it may seem confusing to think of iPhone usage as presenting a copyright issue. After all, people are buying the iPhone to use them, not to pirate their software. So what’s the beef? Well, the beef is really over a business tactic, not the protection of copyrighted works. As the Register of Copyrights noted, “the amount of copyrighted work modified in a typical jailbreaking scenario is fewer than 50 bytes of code out of more than 8 million bytes, or approximately 1/160,000 of the copyrighted work as a whole.” Whether Apple should be allowed to employ restrictive business tactics for its iPhone (or iPad, for that matter) is a much different question than whether Apple should get legal protection under the DMCA for that restrictive end. Put simply, “if Apple sought to restrict the computer programs that could be run on its computers, there would be no basis for copyright law to assist Apple in protecting its restrictive business model.” The other key exemption recognized by the Librarian is a “remix” exemption that expands a prior exemption for circumventing the encryption on movies on DVDs, in order to make a fair use of a film. The new “remix” exemption applies not only to “educational use in the classroom by media studies or film professors,” as was the case under the previous exemption, but now also to documentary filmmaking and noncommercial videos–the latter class popular among “vidders.” The “remix” exemption is limited, though, to “relatively short portions of motion pictures” for use in creating a new work “for purposes of criticism or commentary.” These three DMCA exemptions, which were proposed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation , provide an important reminder: the DMCA was enacted to serve the purposes of copyright law, with all of its checks and balances–and not the other way around.

Read the full article →

David Isenberg: The GAO Transcripts, Part 23: PSC, What’s That? A U.S. Military Perspective

July 30, 2010

This is the twenty third installment of the Government Accountability Office interview transcripts that were prepared pursuant to the July 2005 GAO report ” Rebuilding Iraq: Actions Needed To Improve Use of Private Security Providers .” Other than the fact that this was done with someone from the U.S. military I do not know who the interviewee is. But he makes it clear that his unit’s deployment in Iraq would have benefited from more pre-deployment training on how to deal with private security and other contractors. Any training would have been better than what was available five years ago, which was nothing, i.e., “in his experience he did not believe there was any pre-deployment training which dealt specifically with the presence of PSCs or NGOs in the battlespace.” Standard disclaimer: I have put in ( _____ ) to reflect those words of phrases which have been blacked out in the transcript. I have also put in the underlining as it appeared in the original transcript. As in the transcript, I have left out letters from various words, even when it seems obvious what the word is. Prepared by: Mattias Fenton Index: Date Prepared: May 19, 2005 DOC Number: 1330571 Reviewed by: Carole Coffey DOC Library: Type library name here Job Code: 350544 Record of Interview Title Telephone interview w ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ Purpose To determine to what degree the ____________ received guidance on what to expect/how to deal with private security contractors in the battlespace prior to deployment to Iraq. To provide answers to questions listed below. Contact Method Teleconference Contact Place Also contact ____________ ____________ ____________ Contact Date May 11, 2005 Participants ____________ ____________ Carole Coffey, GAO, DCM Mattias Fenton, GAO, DCM Comments/Remarks: Duration of this phone call was roughly 10 minutes. Q1: What, if any guidance has the ____________ received about working/coordinating with private to security contractors (PSCs) in Iraq? ____________stated that the ____________ not received any such specific guidance regarding either working and coordinating with or regarding its responsibilities towards PSCs. He referred to an MNF-I directive dated approx. late March 2005 from ____________ which specified that all units in Iraq implement a system of badging, which would help identify Coalition units as well as contractors and other non-combatants. ____________ promised to forward a link to the text of this directive per SIPRNet. According to ____________ d limited contact with PSCs while in country. In the first deployment to Iraq their battlespace included all of northern Iraq up to Mosul and the only time they dealt with PSCs was when PSC details were accompanying senior CPA officials. Q2: Does the pre-deployment syllabus include any instruction on dealing with PSCs or otter contractors working in Iraq? Page 1 Record of Interview ____________ stated that in his experience he did not believe there was any pre-deployment training which dealt specifically with the presence of PSCs or NGOs in the battlespace. Th ____________ onducted a pre-deployment training exercise in which a NGO employee was kidnapped; the mission of this particular exercise is to stage a rescue operation. While there are four simulated vehicle entry points at ____________ the training which takes place there are primarily simulated searches for VBIEDs — there is no drill relating to checkpoint or convoy procedures specific to PSCs. Q3: Is there any discussion of the Reconstruction Operations Center (ROC) or the Project and Contracting Office (PCO) in pre-deploy vent training? No. See above. Page 2 Record of Interview

Read the full article →

Matt Desch: Setting the Record Straight on Iridium

July 29, 2010

Hilary Kramer makes a number of important points in The Huffington Post story alleging faulty equipment is being supplied to our country’s combat troops. Unfortunately, the article included claims about Iridium that are entirely incorrect. The author cited a “first-call connection rate of only 80 percent.” The fact is that Iridium’s call completion rates are consistently greater than 95% from anywhere on the planet with a clear view of the sky. This has been validated by independent third-party consultants and our customers including the U.S. Government. With 66 operational satellites and 7 in-orbit spares, and major ongoing enhancements to the network infrastructure, Iridium is in a strong position to continue providing high reliability through 2015, when the first of our “Iridium NEXT” next-generation satellites are scheduled to be launched into orbit. In addition, it is important to remember that Iridium phones are not cell phones, but they do cover the entire Earth’s surface, where cellphones actually cover only less than 10 percent of the Earth’s surface. With respect to 16-year-old sailor Abby Sunderland, the facts are that she used her Iridium phone from the Indian Ocean on June 10th to speak with her parents to relay the good news she had successfully repaired her engine. Shortly thereafter a massive wave flooded her boat, disabled her engine and damaged her phone in the process. Huffington Post’s readers can read Abby’s account and Abby mentions Iridium on her own website . Iridium has more than 375,000 subscribers, many of whom depend on Iridium for reliable mission-critical communications day-in and day-out. They include first responders rushing to the aid of earthquake and hurricane victims, firefighters struggling against wildfires, ships on the high seas, aircraft flying across wide open spaces, medical evacuation helicopters transferring patients to a hospital, oil and gas workers in the far northern regions of Alaska and — yes — soldiers on combat duty in Afghanistan and other places around the world. Iridium is proud to provide reliable communications services globally to all of these diverse users of our system.

Read the full article →

New Rule Cracks Down On Debt Settlement Industry

July 29, 2010

NEW YORK — Companies that promise to reduce or eliminate credit card balances and other debt for customers will no longer be allowed to charge an upfront fee. The Federal Trade Commission said Thursday that the new restrictions are a crack down on the debt settlement industry, which flourished during the economic downturn as borrowers struggled to pay bills. Debt settlement companies will now only be able to charge a fee once a customer’s debt has been reduced, settled or renegotiated. The rule goes into effect Oct. 27. Since the start of the recession, the Better Business Bureau has received more than 3,500 complaints about debt settlement companies. Customers complained that they ended up deeper in debt or were sued by creditors after failing to make payments. The bureau did not separately track complaints against the industry prior to the recession. Debt settlement companies often charge an upfront fee, typically a percentage of the customer’s outstanding balance. In exchange, the company promises to negotiate with creditors to reduce or eliminate the debt, sometimes by as much as half. The new FTC regulations also require debt settlement companies to disclose to customers how long it will take to get results, how much it will cost, and any negative consequences that could arise from the process. For example, customers can go deeper into debt when they hire a debt settlement company. This is because customers stop making payments on their loans, and late fees and interest charges continue piling up. Customers are also often required to start setting aside money in a separate account maintained by the debt settlement company. This money is intended to eventually pay off any remaining debt. Under the new rule, however, companies will only be able to require such an account if it’s maintained at an independent financial institution under a customer’s name. The customer must also be able to withdraw the money at any time without penalty. The amendments to the FTC’s telemarketing sales rule apply to any debt relief companies that sell services over the phone. They do no apply if the initial contact is in-person, or if the services are rendered entirely online. The new rule will cover the vast majority of the debt settlement industry, however, because most companies use TV and radio ads to advertise toll-free phone numbers for customers to call, said Allison Brown, an attorney with the FTC. Debt settlement companies that step outside the rules will be subject to a $16,000 fine per violation. The Federal Trade Commission’s rules only apply to for-profit companies. The agency warned that it will go after companies that pose as nonprofits. The Better Business Bureau cautions customers to be wary of any organization that charges steep upfront fees and makes promises that sound too good to be true. The group also suggests that struggling borrowers first try contacting lenders directly to negotiate debt. Alternatively, borrowers can seek help from nonprofit credit counseling centers, which typically charge small nominal fees for help managing debt. Nonprofit credit counselors can be located on the National Foundation for Credit Counseling’s website at . http://www.nfcc.org

Read the full article →

Adele Scheele: How to Take Control of Your Job When You Get Really Sick

July 27, 2010

Jim was diagnosed with prostate cancer at 54. John suffered a heart attack at age 42. Sarah underwent surgery and chemo for breast cancer at 48. Each one lived through the terror of illness, the agony of prolonged recuperation, and the stigma of sickness. They all returned to work. Jim, who had elected radiation therapy, which he received at dawn before work, decided to safeguard his job by keeping his cancer a secret from everyone. But for the others, especially those who had to take time off to recover from surgery, questions arose as they wondered whether they would be able to keep their jobs — or even whether they still wanted them. Most often, however, we return, gratefully, to our work places and hope to fit in as usual. Yet in the minds of our bosses and co-workers, there is no “usual” anymore. They are nervous, even afraid of us and “it” — the unmen¬tionable disease. Unlike Jim who could take his therapy without anyone noticing, most of us can’t pretend it didn’t happen because everyone knows it did. So how do you cope with coming back? As in all of life, it’s up to the one who changes to make it comfortable for everyone else, even though it doesn’t feel fair. Therefore, you have to come back in, make up your work, and educate those around you who are holding their collective breath. Talk about it a bit and reassure everyone else. You must. Briefly tell people, individually or in small groups over lunch or before meetings what happened, what you experienced, and what you learn¬ed. And try to share some comforting health statistics –”Did you know that the survival rate for women with early localized breast cancer is 88 percent?” But don’t go on about it. Don’t make it your only conversation. Don’t make your disease define you. Closely monitor yourself. A little humor, too, goes a long way; it helps to develop a comic’s repertoire to ease dealing with everyday stress. Yet, without getting paranoid, watch for signs that you are already being pushed out — your phone calls and emails don’t come so regularly; you’re not included in meetings or those planning sessions for future projects; you are treated too sym¬pathetically; your boss soft-pedals what ought to be straight-out talk. You can’t be passive now even though you may still be in recovery. You must be pro-active without showing resentment about having to do it. Your task is to re-enter and reassure. If you don’t, unspoken fear of your illness will take you down. There’s often a silver lining after illness strikes, one that can impel change. Upheaval forces us to reevaluate our lives, certainly more than just take it for granted. It makes us question what we enjoy and what we don’t, what we still want to achieve and what we’re satisfied with, what we need versus what we want. Sometimes after regaining health, the answers shock us even though during that road to recovery all we could think of is regaining the status quo. Your point of re-entry into work might also serve as a threshold for your future and provide an opportune time to ask yourself some questions about what you really want to do now that you are well. Continue in the same job? Transfer to another one within the company? If you want to change within your organization, then figure out the benefits to your employer and sug¬gest ideas to con¬tribute in a new way. Transferring to trainer, adviser, consultant, or staffer can be the start of something longed-for and perhaps now possible. Or maybe you have already finished your old work and yearn to do something that you have always wanted but never done, or else something that can only occur to you at this point. For some, our sick leave pays off in unexpected bounty when we find ourselves so profoundly involved with our illness and recovery that we forge a completely new career based solely on these experiences. It might mean teaching coping skills to patients in the doctor’s office, joining associations specifically formed to help — such as the American Heart or Cancer Associations – and getting involved in support groups, information guides, promoting or fund-raising or advocating. In this unexpected way, some of us find a new calling from the very crisis that we have endured. Whether you want to get back from where you were or embark on something new, coming back from illness can offer new insight and opportunity. I’d like to hear your comeback stories. Make your luck happen! Adele Scheele, Career Coach DrAdele.com Author, Skills for Success and Launch Your Career in College

Read the full article →

Timothy Karr: The Big Industry Lie: Regulation = Job Loss

July 21, 2010

My old friend Jay Stuckey had a saying that has stuck with me for decades: “Don’t let them piss on your leg and tell you that it’s raining.” When Jay used it he was referring to politicians who lied to scare up votes. Today, this adage refers to powerful corporations that lie to scare politicians. The companies in question are AT&T, Comcast and Verizon. And the piss that they’re spreading is misinformation about Internet regulation and America’s jobless recovery. Today, a phone and cable-funded “think tank” joined a chorus of others claiming that the Federal Communications Commission’s efforts to provide basic oversight over Internet providers would kill jobs in America. Deregulation Dystopia The path the FCC is considering is whether to “reclassify” Internet access services under a category – Title II – that would allow it to protect Net Neutrality and foster universal access to broadband. Both of these goals are priorities of President Obama’s economic recovery plan. The FCC wants to restore common-sense open Internet protections. Under the Bush administration, the FCC deregulated high-speed Internet providers by relinquishing its Title II authority. At the time, the agency claimed this shift would foster competition and drive down broadband prices for consumers. Instead, it unleashed a torrent of industry consolidation that raised prices, slowed broadband services and otherwise left the United States far behind in every international measure of Internet success. This radical move undermined the long-held assumption that nondiscriminatory communications networks were essential to free speech, democratic participation and economic opportunity. Now, just as the FCC is on the cusp of reasserting its Title II authority to fix past mistakes, along come a slew of “studies” that claim that doing so would scuttle efforts to put Americans back to work. Coin-Operated Analysis Citing speculative job losses, the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) study, released today , calls for a two-year moratorium on all FCC efforts to restore the agency’s role in safeguarding our Internet rights and spreading broadband adoption. The study is part of a desperate strategy to spread fear and obscure the facts about Internet regulation, and pave the way for carrier control over online content. What the study doesn’t say is that PPI has received funding from AT&T, as well as from the Lynde & Harry Bradley Foundation. I’m sure you’ve heard of the former. The Bradley Foundation, for its part, funds a right-wing cabal of anti-Neutrality groups, including the American Enterprise Institute, The Heartland Institute, the Heritage Foundation and the Competitive Enterprise Institute. The PPI study, like other industry-funded efforts that came before it, is completely void of any actual evidence connecting broadband reclassification to job losses. The Politics of Fear-Mongering “Policymakers should recognize this ‘study’ for what it is — part of a transparent attempt by the biggest phone and cable companies to raise unfounded fears about job losses in an election season,” says Free Press Research Director Derek Turner. PPI’s report assumes that if the FCC has basic oversight authority, it will lead to bad outcomes. But history tells a different story . When the Bell companies were subject to the full weight of Title II, they increased employment by 15 percent, according to their own SEC filings. But once the FCC began dismantling these pro-competitive rules through massive deregulation, these companies shed nearly 40 percent of their work force, even as their revenues increased and profits soared. AT&T and Verizon alone are responsible for tens of thousands of layoffs over the last two years. Verizon is accelerating its layoffs , while AT&T laid off 12,000 workers through 2009 and thousands more in 2010. “Sadly, this pattern of ISPs destroying good jobs while reaping higher profits will likely continue with or without reclassification and Net Neutrality,” Turner says. Telco Doublespeak Here’s the rub: While the telecom companies are telling Washington that government oversight will freeze investment, they’re telling Wall Street just the opposite. Time Warner Cable COO Landel Hobbs told an investor conference , “Yes, we will continue to invest, yes, we will participate in the Notice of Inquiries and we will have an open, healthy dialogue with the FCC throughout the whole process.” Comcast Chairman and CEO Brian Roberts said, “The government is not a big worry.” And a reporter from the investment newsletter SNL Kagan covering Roberts’ remarks at an industry trade show wrote, “Given the potential impact of reclassification on broadband pricing, Roberts said he expects the industry to continue to invest, innovate and work through the government issues.” Verizon Wireless Chief Executive Lowell McAdam told the Wall Street Journal that the company has no plans to slow investment in its wireless broadband network as a result of the FCC’s move. In effect, the phone and cable business appears to be “recession-proof,” even as these companies do nothing to prevent their hardworking employees from feeling the effects of the jobless recovery. But the facts won’t stop them from treating your leg like a fire hydrant.

Read the full article →

Glenn Beck’s Sponsor Goldline Under Investigation By Los Angeles D.A. For Fraud (VIDEO)

July 20, 2010

Goldline, more popularly known for its high-profile endorsements from Fox News’ Glenn Beck and former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, is under investigation by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office and was the subject of Monday night’s “Nightline” on ABC . Authorities in Los Angeles began the investigation after receiving over 100 complaints from consumers who claimed to have lost thousands of dollars after investing with Goldline and Superior Gold Group, a company based out of Santa Monica, California. Adam Radinsky, Santa Monica City Deputy Attorney, whose office is partnering with investigators in L.A., spoke with “Nightline” about the types of complaints that consumers were making: There are two main types of complaints we’re seeing. One is that customers say that they were lied to and misled in entering into their purchases of gold coins. And the other group is saying that they received something different from what they had ordered. The problem is allegedly with the antique gold coins that Goldline sells as a part of their investing scheme. Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.), who is hoping to conduct a congressional investigation into the gold company, also spoke with “Nightline”: Once they get people on the phone, they basically steer them into these so-called collectible coins, and that’s where the rip-off becomes really profound. The companies spokespeople declined to speak with “Nightline” but issued a statement to ABC citing the transparency of their prices and that customers know and understand the risks involved before they invest. WATCH:

Read the full article →

Liz Ryan: Career Advice: Teaching People to Grovel?

July 20, 2010

I got one of those Google News Alerts that tells me when a new column of mine (something I wrote or was quoted in) appears online. This Alert took me to a column sharing advice for job-seekers who are new to LinkedIn. Fair enough. I got halfway down the column before I saw the piece of advice that directs job-seekers not to let hiring managers know they’re job-seeking. Some employers don’t like to consider non-working job-seekers. There’ve been a spate of news articles about this topic lately. If an employer sees that a job-seeker isn’t currently employed, the job-seeker isn’t considered for employment at those companies. What the heck? I was shocked. I can understand news stories informing the public that certain employers have stooped to shunning people because they’ve been RIFfed from a job somewhere else. But career advisors, telling people to go along with the scam and pretend they’re working, when they’re not, to become more acceptable to these disgusting, immoral hiring authorities? What is job-search advice, anyway? Is it a matter of telling people to grovel, to crawl over broken glass, to contort themselves into pretzel shapes and bow and scrape til their knees are bloody, just to get a job? If it’s going to be like that, why don’t we career advisors throw in the towel and tell everyone to go get a job greeting shoppers at Wal-mart? What is the point of job-search advice if our role is to counsel people on how to be more sheeplike and grovelly? How can we tell job-seekers to hide their unemployed status, so that certain employers won’t know they’re not working? I’m sorry, but that’s horrible advice, for several reasons: If you’re not working, an employer is going to find out. Hiding your not-working status on LinkedIn isn’t going to make any difference. When they ask you on the phone or in a face-to-face interview, “Are you working?” what are you going to say? If an organization hates the idea of hiring a candidate just because he or she isn’t working, do you really want to work there? What can we say about an employer like that, except that they’re cruel, capricious, and stunningly insensitive to the financial havoc going on around them? Are these the places career advisors choose to send talented people to find work? Why do people keep enabling unethical, badly-managed employers when they behave like swine? Nothing is going to change the prevailing view (employers are titans, and job candidates are insects) unless smart people refuse to go along with the charade. That is already happening, thank goodness. Three-quarters of the entrepreneurs and consultants I know are former corporate types (me included) who just said no one day. And among my friends in corporate America, almost every one is resetting boundaries this year. Sometimes it takes a crippling recession to remind you what’s important, and to shock you into a new awareness of just how out-of-whack our relationships with our jobs have so often become. I don’t want you to grovel and beg on your job search. I want you to stand in your power and be yourself at every instant. I don’t want you to try to fool employers into thinking you’re working, when you’re not. Who wants to get a job on false pretenses, by pretending that it’s moral or ethical to refuse to hire people because they had the bad judgment to get laid off? If we aren’t counseling people to be themselves on a job search, what is the point of career advice?

Read the full article →

Rep. Alan Grayson: Lies, Damned Lies, and Rupert Murdoch

July 17, 2010

Well, we did it! We got an independent audit of the Federal Reserve ready for the President’s signature. That’s what the Senate’s vote to approve the financial reform bill means; the audit authority is in there. Now we will find out which zombie banks on Wall Street got a new lease on life with Fed money, as the Fed’s balance sheet grew by over one trillion dollars. Funny enough, the world of big money isn’t collapsing — as the Fed threatened it would if an audit of the Fed ever came close to passing. But if you happened to read Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal on May 7, 2010, you would have heard a different story. “Plan for Congressional Audits of Fed Dies in Senate,” was the headline. Exactly what Wall Street wanted you to think. Whoops! It looks like the Wall Street Journal has gone the way of Rupert Murdoch’s flagship holding, Fox News. But we won. And so, to celebrate, we took that Wall Street Journal article from two months ago, did a little photoshopping, and put this together: We did this. Together. At every moment, as the Fed and Wall Street sought to undermine this cause, it was the phone calls, letters, e-mails, blogging and sheer power of the people — ordinary people who cared — that beat them back. We have delivered a succinct message to Wall Street and the Fed: “We Can Beat You.” We will beat you. As often as we need to. And when the battle is over, as Lincoln said, there will be “a new birth of freedom, and government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Read the full article →

Video: Valerio Discusses Steve Jobs’s Appearance at Apple Event: Video

July 16, 2010

July 16 (Bloomberg) — Bloomberg’s Cris Valerio reports on Apple Inc.’s news conference today where Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs acknowledged the company knew the antenna of the iPhone 4 would weaken if the phone was gripped in a certain way. Kenneth Schapiro, president of Condor Capital Management, also speaks. (Source: Bloomberg)

Read the full article →

Video: Consumer Reports Doesn’t Recommend Apple’s IPhone 4: Video

July 12, 2010

July 12 (Bloomberg) — Consumer Reports said its engineers have just completed testing Apple Inc.’s iPhone 4 and have confirmed that a hardware flaw is creating a reception problem. As a result, Consumer Reports said it has decided not to recommend the phone. Bloomberg’s Margaret Brennan, Sheila Dharmarajan and Scarlet Fu report. (Source: Bloomberg)

Read the full article →

Owen Thomas: Tesla Motors CEO Can’t Handle the Truth

July 9, 2010

Elon Musk, the CEO of electric-car startup Tesla Motors and rocket-launcher SpaceX, should be applauded for the mighty challenges he’s taken on and the powers of persuasion he has deployed to build his companies. But along the way, he discovered that he could stretch the truth, casually and frequently, as a shortcut to getting things done. Clad in a sheen of bubbly optimism, his mendacity nonetheless has consequences. Through Tesla’s IPO, he has now taken hundreds of millions of dollars from taxpayers and public investors who expect not just a return but square dealing from the man who is managing their company for them. So where has Musk spun the facts? Critical reporting Well, let’s go with the most recent one: He’s lied about me, and VentureBeat, apparently in retaliation for our aggressive and accurate reporting. In an article published by the Huffington Post , he calls me “Silicon Valley’s Jayson Blair .” He accused me of making errors, but never once specified them. Here’s the truth: I cited Musk’s own words from court filings, which we had paid a freelance reporter to find and copy, legally, from a courthouse in Van Nuys, Calif. I also interviewed a host of other sources. I emailed Musk questions and called his lawyer repeatedly before publishing. We went to extra lengths to nail down the facts: Before publishing, VentureBeat editor-in-chief Matt Marshall called Musk and had interviews with at least three Tesla board members. We make no apologies for seeking the truth about Tesla Motors and Elon Musk, a vital company and an iconic entrepreneur of Silicon Valley. Our reporting (here’s one example of our series) helped investors get a more truthful picture of a company that was going public and the man behind it. Musk also accused me of “collaborating” with the lawyer representing Justine Musk, his ex-wife, in their divorce case. Also false: I picked up the phone and called her lawyer, and he had the courtesy to answer my questions. Now, we should all be used to Musk insulting journalists who don’t report what they’re told to. But calling someone a “Jayson Blair” is a troubling assertion to anyone who prefers his insults to have a factual basis. When I ran fact-checking at Business 2.0 magazine, here’s what I would have asked the writer to prove before I’d let him get away with that kind of factual assertion: So, you want to compare this Owen Thomas person to one of journalism’s most infamous miscreants . Is Owen Thomas a drug addict? Is Owen Thomas mentally unstable? Has Owen Thomas plagiarized or invented facts? The answer to all of those, in case you were curious, is no. And so out comes the chief of reporters’ red pen. The one specific claim Musk made about my reputation was that I had written that he was broke. Not true. If you review the story I reported on his personal finances and their impact on Tesla , you’ll see I merely quoted Musk’s own words from his divorce filing, in which he said that he “ran out of cash.” When VentureBeat first started raising questions about Musk’s personal finances, his expensive divorce case, and the impact they might have on Tesla’s IPO, a Tesla spokesman initially said that the company had no plans to update its IPO prospectus to reflect our reporting. However, in the end, Tesla updated its SEC filings to acknowledge substantially all of the concerns we raised as potential risk factors investors should consider. That is the ultimate correction of the record, and it stands today. Musk’s personal spending There are other whoppers in Musk’s piece, such as the suggestion that of the $200,000 per month he’s spending, a mere $30,000 a month is going to his own personal household expenses, with the rest going to legal fees in his divorce case. Actually, the figure he told a court is $98,023 a month, according to filings in that case , including $50,000 a month in rent. The founding of Tesla Motors An aside to Musk: Making false statements is something the law frowns on. Oh, but wait, Musk should already know that. He and I met in San Francisco in 2008 for drinks , and over the course of the evening, he made several disparaging remarks about Tesla Motors cofounder Martin Eberhard’s management of the company before Musk had ousted him as CEO — specifically, Musk alleged, for misrepresenting the cost of making the Tesla Roadster. In 2009, Eberhard sued Musk for defamation , citing the comments Musk had made to me, among others. Musk filed a scathing response to the lawsuit, repeating many of his negative claims about Eberhard. Then it headed to mediation, and the case was settled. Eberhard’s lawyer declared himself “very pleased” with the result , and Tesla issued a press release in which Musk said that Eberhard had been “indispensable” to the company in its early days. The safety of customers’ deposits When Tesla’s finances were at their most perilous, in the winter of 2008 and spring of 2009, the company was dependent on advance reservation payments from customers for cash flow. The company’s cash balance had run down to $9 million, and the company was struggling to raise $40 million in convertible debt. (He announced that that round had closed in November 2008, while in fact, according to Tesla’s SEC filings, it did not close until March 2009.) To raise funds in the meantime, Tesla began taking deposits on the Model S sedan, even though that car was far from production, and continued taking deposits on Roadsters. Musk first told customers that he would personally guarantee the deposits they were placing, “even in the worst case of an Armageddon scenario.” Then he said that their deposits were completely at risk and they could lose all their money. One of those statements had to be false. Musk’s history as an entrepreneur In persuading other investors to back Tesla Motors, Musk has frequently traded on his past success as an entrepreneur at companies like Zip2 and PayPal. But Zip2 was so troubled that one of its venture capitalists, Derek Proudian, had to step in as acting CEO , a move rarely seen at venture-backed companies. And Musk was ousted as CEO of PayPal by his own management team. To this day, Musk tells a version of PayPal’s history that few who were there at the time agree with. Tesla’s investors Most dangerously, Musk has repeatedly made misrepresentations about Tesla’s finances. In February 2009, he sent a letter to customers saying that Tesla would start getting funds from a Department of Energy loan in four to five months. In fact, it had not received the loan at that point and there was no certainty it would get it, a point a Tesla spokeswoman had to clarify. (Tricky, that, saying your CEO had misrepresented the facts without calling him a liar .) He also said Tesla would turn profitable in 2009. Of course, it didn’t, as the company’s published financials later revealed. (Musk later claimed, using questionable accounting whose details have never been revealed, that the company had been profitable for one month of the year .) In an interview for the May 2009 issue of Car and Driver, he told that magazine’s readers that General Electric had become an investor . It hadn’t, and it never did, according to Andy Katell, a GE spokesman who spoke with me at the time. The Toyota deal After unveiling an agreement to buy the NUMMI plant in Fremont, Calif., from the Toyota-backed joint venture which owned it, Musk claimed that Tesla and Toyota planned to jointly develop several models of cars and build them at NUMMI . It’s true that he got Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda to stand next to him and make grand promises. But in fact, as the company later revealed in its SEC filings, Tesla and Toyota had no agreement to develop any cars, and there was no guarantee that they ever would. The pity of it all is this: I don’t believe Musk twists the truth out of malice. Rather, at this point, it may well be out of habit. He’s so used to getting his way that future possibilities just seem like present realities to him. And pragmatically, it’s worked. Whenever Tesla has been in a bind, Musk has spun his way out of trouble. It’s a character trait of which elements are found among many successful entrepreneurs: the compelling presentation of an alternate reality in the hopes that so many people will sign on to the vision that it comes true. Apple CEO Steve Jobs, for example, is so masterful at this that people speak of his reality distortion field. But Musk may have taken distortion to extremes. The question now is whether Musk’s past habits will serve him well as the CEO of a publicly traded company. Already, it seems the investors who have entrusted Musk with hundreds of millions of dollars are having doubts. With shares of Tesla having already fallen by nearly half since their post-IPO pop, perhaps Musk’s bubble is finally deflating. But those who are still sticking with the company should ask themselves this: Has Tesla adequately disclosed to investors the risk of its CEO’s curious relationship with the truth? Originally posted at VentureBeat .

Read the full article →

Debbie Weil: Open Letter to BP: Three Tips on How to Use Social Media and the Web to Diffuse Your PR Crisis

July 2, 2010

The only thing bigger than the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is the size of BP’s public relations disaster. Just as BP can’t control the oil spill as it seeps further and further, nor can they control what the public is saying. Just to be clear, control is the operative word. BP’s communications folks appear to be unwilling — or possibly disinterested — in getting their arms around the statusphere, the social media produced hourly by hundreds of thousands of consumers intent on talking about the company, the oil spill, the cleanup efforts, the psychological and physical devastation of the Gulf coast, the monstrous effects on wildlife and more. To wit, Google the phrase “BP Facebook” and the top result is the Boycott BP page with over 753,000 fans, as of this writing. The second result is BP America’s official Facebook page with 33,000 fans. Over on Twitter, BP has beefed up its official Twitter page and is now posting regular updates. The page has over 16,000 followers. But the fake and much funnier BPGlobalPR Twitter account has over 181,000 fans. Damning video footage from CBS’ 60 Minutes program about the explosion of drilling rig Deepwater Horizon is being re-posted on dozens of blogs. You get the idea. Hmmm. So what is a Global 100 company to do in the midst of a corporate crisis? It may seem that paying attention to blogs and Twitter and Facebook is a diversion right now. In fact, it’s not. This is where millions of us are hanging out and where many of us are forming our opinions about BP and its tarnished brand. With a few tweaks, BP could leverage its social media efforts much more gracefully and effectively to mitigate the PR disaster of the April 20 oil spill. Here’s some advice aimed at BP’s communications team as well as to BP Gulf Coast Restoration Organization CEO Bob Dudley. 1. Cut the corporate speak Bob, browse to BP’s home page and take a good hard look. What do you see? With the headline “Gulf of Mexico Response” you are in defense mode. Note the exact word: response. Instead of saying sympathetically “We know you may be concerned and have questions” you are stating “Here’s how WE are responding.” You are in full corporate mode and it’s off putting. Links to press releases line your home page along with (predictably corporate) video interviews. Dig a bit deeper and your About BP page proclaims, “Our brand — Summed up by two words ‘beyond petroleum.’” I guess you could say that. As in, BP’s brand is in a place that is way beyond petroleum right now. Deep sushi, to be precise. The Investors page makes us squirm. One of the links reads: “BP outlines plan to improve financial performance while increasing production through 2020.” Ouch. Easy fix: with a few copywriting tweaks your team could rewrite some of the key pages on the corporate site to make it sound, well, human. Humble and honest wouldn’t hurt either. Those of us following the news know that you have pledged $20 billion to clean up the Gulf Coast. Are you absolutely sure your financial performance will be improving in the next few years? 2. Copy what your detractors are doing Rather than dismiss the fake Twitter page , take a close look at how it’s written. Now adopt some of that tongue-in-cheek, self-deprecatory humor on your own social media outposts. Humor and informality are the lingua franca of Twitter and Facebook. Learn how to speak the language if you want to play in the space. You’ll be ever so much more interesting and authentic. And you’ll garner lots more followers and fans. 3. Launch a Save-the-XXXX microsite This is a time-honored corporate tradition. Make it look like you care… about sea turtles, porpoises, brown pelicans. Take your pick. These animals are among the wildlife most threatened by the toxic oil spill. Launch a Save-the-Sea-Turtles microsite, clearly sponsored by BP. Make the site informative, fun and interactive. This may not seem important right now but it could be extremely effective over the coming months and years, as you work to position yourself as a socially responsible corporation. For godsakes, you’re thinking about how to do that, right? For ideas, take a look at the Haagen Dasz Save the Honey Bees site that addresses the phenomenon of Colony Collapse Disorder. On a lighter note, check out Oprah’s No Phone Zone sponsored by Sprint, Liberty Mutual and General Motors. Finally, stop trying to manage this disaster as a PR crisis. “You don’t manage a disaster,” technology and social media analyst and author Charlene Li told me. “You deal with it.” You’re on the right track with your open interview with Bob Dudley on YouTube . Do more stuff like that, risky as it may feel at first, and you may find that your tarnished brand has a tiny chance.

Read the full article →

Brett King: Cloud Computing and SME Banking – A perfect match

June 24, 2010

I met Friday with Mike Hirst , CEO of Bendigo and Adelaide Bank , one of the top banks in Australia today. As we discussed the need for community banks to get better at servicing SME business needs moving forward, we had a really interesting brainstorming session on where to go next. Mike is an easy going guy and I think he’s created a really positive, open culture at Bendigo that will pay dividends as they take market share away from the majors in Australia. I guess it’s an obvious statement, but for small to medium size businesses, banks provide a logical partnership as an enabler for a range of bank services. Mike explained that Bendigo and Adelaide Bank has, in recent times, been providing a range of services to small businesses beyond the traditional merchant, trade finance and credit services including extended services such as cash flow and accounting analysis, SME advisory, website/minisite development , telecommunications deals as a reseller, and similar services. Recently ANZ launched The Small Business Hub , as a way of extending more services to their SME clients. American Express has gone one step further with their Open Forum platform as an attempt to engage the broader business community in actively sourcing solutions. Bendigo Bank has tried to facilitate community involvement through their PlanBig portal. As Mike Hirst and I discussed Bendigo’s wish to provide a better platform for SMEs to grow their business, it occurred to me that almost all the services we were discussing were candidates for the cloud. Here are a few that came to mind: Accounting, Cash Flow Modeling and Credit Services: Plugged into an SME’s basic accounting package (think MYOB, etc) the ability to provide some intelligent tracking of cash flow, help businesses to think about aged receivables and rightsizing a credit or overdraft facility is a very valuable tool. A plethora of these are being introduced into Internet Banking facilities this morning, but extending a basic accounting facility with cash flow analysis tools that is an extension of your banking relationship is not a stretch. Ben May, MD of OnlineFactor, recently showed me a new tool they had been playing with called Imagineering Profit which allows users to plug in their basic financial statements and get some great analysis on break-even, cash flow, and various what-if scenarios. If this could be married with basic account information, accounts and invoicing data, etc – this could give SMEs a nice tool embedded within banking to start to look at a basic overdraft facility, factoring, inventory financing and a whole range of complementary services. Easier Merchant and P2P Enablement By 31st October, 2018 the UK Payments Council has mandated that central cheque clearing will be phased out. The decline of cheque use in the UK has been widely documented. In 2000 cheques represented 25% of all non-cash transactions, but by 2008 they accounted for less than 10%, this year they will be less than 5%. This is also where the mobile device and P2P platforms come into play. While debit cards have had big success in recent times, as credit and debit cards are integrated into your mobile phone for contactless payment capability, it is obvious that the use of cheques and cash will further decline. With the introduction of Square and Verifone PayWare it is becoming increasingly simple to provide merchant type services to accept payments. But Person-2-Person is the big innovation for SMEs and businesses. In 2009, financial institutions including Bank of America (BAC), ING Direct and PNC Financial (PNC) rolled out so-called P2P technology that lets customers use the Web or a mobile phone to transfer money from their account to any other account. Within the next 3 years our phone will become the payment device of choice for paying SMEs who work in the service arena. This makes cloud services even more viable as SMEs will increasingly rely on virtual platforms to effect and receive payments. The ability to augment basic banking services to capture the need for virtual P2P and payments capability is a no-brainer. SME Community Building There are hundreds of thousands of groups currently active on LinkedIn, many dedicated to SME forums and the like. Ecademy is an social networking site based in the UK, but active globally with more than 17 million members. A survey by O2 in the UK showed that more than 600 SME businesses were joining Twitter everyday, and that 17% are already actively using Twitter to support their business. SME community building is a great way to empower businesses and is a logical extension of the already powerful network that banks have with their customer base. Banks don’t use their community of clients to encourage interactions, but as a trusted intermediary it makes absolute sense for bankers to utilize their community to encourage internal business between their SME clients. The cloud and online communities such as LinkedIn, Ecademy and others seem like the perfect partner to kick this off. SME banking services and the cloud make a great partnership Conclusions The cloud is increasingly critical for SMEs not only for facilitating business, but also for enabling closer connections with partners, integrating shared services, improving payments and cash flow and marketing their services. Banks have a huge opportunity to be not just a trusted partner for banking services, but extending their platform to help SMEs build their business. There’s one key problem with banks extending platform for SMEs. To illustrate, the current e-Invoicing and Accounts Payable Integration services banking provide today, a process designed ostensibly to reduce paperwork for an SME and improve cash-flow, is saddled with an antiquated, compliance heavy sign-up/application processes that mean the initial onboarding for such services is erroneous and time consuming. The benefits aren’t there for SMEs if the application process takes more effort than the benefits.

Read the full article →

Brett King: Cloud Computing and SME Banking – A perfect match

June 24, 2010

I met Friday with Mike Hirst , CEO of Bendigo and Adelaide Bank , one of the top banks in Australia today. As we discussed the need for community banks to get better at servicing SME business needs moving forward, we had a really interesting brainstorming session on where to go next. Mike is an easy going guy and I think he’s created a really positive, open culture at Bendigo that will pay dividends as they take market share away from the majors in Australia. I guess it’s an obvious statement, but for small to medium size businesses, banks provide a logical partnership as an enabler for a range of bank services. Mike explained that Bendigo and Adelaide Bank has, in recent times, been providing a range of services to small businesses beyond the traditional merchant, trade finance and credit services including extended services such as cash flow and accounting analysis, SME advisory, website/minisite development , telecommunications deals as a reseller, and similar services. Recently ANZ launched The Small Business Hub , as a way of extending more services to their SME clients. American Express has gone one step further with their Open Forum platform as an attempt to engage the broader business community in actively sourcing solutions. Bendigo Bank has tried to facilitate community involvement through their PlanBig portal. As Mike Hirst and I discussed Bendigo’s wish to provide a better platform for SMEs to grow their business, it occurred to me that almost all the services we were discussing were candidates for the cloud. Here are a few that came to mind: Accounting, Cash Flow Modeling and Credit Services: Plugged into an SME’s basic accounting package (think MYOB, etc) the ability to provide some intelligent tracking of cash flow, help businesses to think about aged receivables and rightsizing a credit or overdraft facility is a very valuable tool. A plethora of these are being introduced into Internet Banking facilities this morning, but extending a basic accounting facility with cash flow analysis tools that is an extension of your banking relationship is not a stretch. Ben May, MD of OnlineFactor, recently showed me a new tool they had been playing with called Imagineering Profit which allows users to plug in their basic financial statements and get some great analysis on break-even, cash flow, and various what-if scenarios. If this could be married with basic account information, accounts and invoicing data, etc – this could give SMEs a nice tool embedded within banking to start to look at a basic overdraft facility, factoring, inventory financing and a whole range of complementary services. Easier Merchant and P2P Enablement By 31st October, 2018 the UK Payments Council has mandated that central cheque clearing will be phased out. The decline of cheque use in the UK has been widely documented. In 2000 cheques represented 25% of all non-cash transactions, but by 2008 they accounted for less than 10%, this year they will be less than 5%. This is also where the mobile device and P2P platforms come into play. While debit cards have had big success in recent times, as credit and debit cards are integrated into your mobile phone for contactless payment capability, it is obvious that the use of cheques and cash will further decline. With the introduction of Square and Verifone PayWare it is becoming increasingly simple to provide merchant type services to accept payments. But Person-2-Person is the big innovation for SMEs and businesses. In 2009, financial institutions including Bank of America (BAC), ING Direct and PNC Financial (PNC) rolled out so-called P2P technology that lets customers use the Web or a mobile phone to transfer money from their account to any other account. Within the next 3 years our phone will become the payment device of choice for paying SMEs who work in the service arena. This makes cloud services even more viable as SMEs will increasingly rely on virtual platforms to effect and receive payments. The ability to augment basic banking services to capture the need for virtual P2P and payments capability is a no-brainer. SME Community Building There are hundreds of thousands of groups currently active on LinkedIn, many dedicated to SME forums and the like. Ecademy is an social networking site based in the UK, but active globally with more than 17 million members. A survey by O2 in the UK showed that more than 600 SME businesses were joining Twitter everyday, and that 17% are already actively using Twitter to support their business. SME community building is a great way to empower businesses and is a logical extension of the already powerful network that banks have with their customer base. Banks don’t use their community of clients to encourage interactions, but as a trusted intermediary it makes absolute sense for bankers to utilize their community to encourage internal business between their SME clients. The cloud and online communities such as LinkedIn, Ecademy and others seem like the perfect partner to kick this off. SME banking services and the cloud make a great partnership Conclusions The cloud is increasingly critical for SMEs not only for facilitating business, but also for enabling closer connections with partners, integrating shared services, improving payments and cash flow and marketing their services. Banks have a huge opportunity to be not just a trusted partner for banking services, but extending their platform to help SMEs build their business. There’s one key problem with banks extending platform for SMEs. To illustrate, the current e-Invoicing and Accounts Payable Integration services banking provide today, a process designed ostensibly to reduce paperwork for an SME and improve cash-flow, is saddled with an antiquated, compliance heavy sign-up/application processes that mean the initial onboarding for such services is erroneous and time consuming. The benefits aren’t there for SMEs if the application process takes more effort than the benefits.

Read the full article →

Gulf Oil Spill: Wave Of Couples Canceling Beach Weddings

June 21, 2010

PENSACOLA BEACH, Fla. — The bride wore white, her bridesmaids watermelon pink. The groom dressed in khaki pants and a casual white shirt. And all went barefoot despite the risk of stepping on tar balls. Rion and Gidget Bowers were determined to exchange vows with the backdrop of a soft, pink beach sunset and turquoise waters – even with the outer edges of the Gulf oil spill lurking just offshore. It’s another ripple effect of the disaster in the Gulf oozing oil square in the middle of wedding season: Fewer and fewer couples are willing to risk holding their weddings in this stretch of Panhandle sometimes called “the Las Vegas of beach weddings.” Millions of dollars are at stake because the ceremonies bring thousands of visitors annually to the area. Some businesses say their bookings have been cut in half. “It’s not just me hurting: it’s the DJs, caterers, photographers, everyone involved,” wedding planner Darrin Land said. He said he’s lost $12,000 since news of the oil threat began in late April. “Sixty percent of my beach weddings are canceling. This is worse than a hurricane because we don’t know what is going to happen.” Those in the wedding business say they, too, are suffering along with the oil workers, shrimpers, fishermen, hoteliers and restaurateurs whose jobs and businesses have been undercut by the spill. “It’s hurting everyone from the ministers to the people who put the chairs out on the beach,” said June Watkins, a non-denominational minister. Watkins normally does 40 weddings a year, mostly in the summer and early fall. She has no reservations through July and none for the fall. “They are talking about fisherman – and that’s huge – but our wedding business along the Gulf Coast has been growing for years.” It’s easy to see why couples from throughout the country get married on the Panhandle’s beaches. The powdery white sand, vivid turquoise water and pastel sunsets are breathtaking. The many quaint, beach-front homes for rent on crowd-free beaches are the perfect honeymoon getaway. So far, workers have been able to quickly clean from the sand the tar balls and sheen that’s washed ashore here. “I have a saying that it is God’s church when were are out there on the beach with the Gulf of Mexico in the background. Every time I go out on the beach I am struck by the beauty. You know it had to have been made by a creator,” Watkins said. But with the oil spill, some couples worry that their day will be ruined. Even when the ceremony isn’t canceled the spill can cause headaches for organizers. Land held a beach wedding for a Mississippi couple and 40 guests in early June, but the bride waited until just two days before the event to make sure the beach would be tar-free. She had planned to move the wedding to a bay-front site away from the beach if the oil was a problem. The last-minute setup is tricky. “It’s nerve-racking – do you have all the guests in the right spot, how do you notify everyone if it changes at the last minute? Do you have enough time to secure a beach spot where there aren’t people in bikinis in the backdrop of the photos,” Land said. An arched trellis on the sand overlooking the gulf? “Totally out of the question because there isn’t time to set them up,” Land said. But some couples are refusing to surrender to the spill. Lindsay Catalano and Jon Lacey of Atlanta plan to marry Sept. 5 on a secluded beach between Destin and Panama City, no matter what. She’ll wear Vera Wang and her seven bridesmaids will wear raspberry pink and orange gowns. A string quartet will play The Beatles’ classic “All You Need is Love,” as the couple walks the beach before exchanging vows. Between 200 and 250 guests are expected – the couple is asking them to donate money to help those hurt by the spill. “The oil, it just adds to the meaning of it all,” said Catalano, who has vacationed in the area since she was a child and has long dreamed of having a beach wedding. If the beach is too messy to have the wedding, the wedding will move to a grassy spot near the beach. Pam Thompson, wedding manager for Carillon Beach resort where the wedding will be held, cried when the couple e-mailed her their firm intentions. The resort normally hosts 40 weddings a year, but this year she is expecting 20 because of the spill. “If I could have reached through the phone and hugged them, I would have,” she said. The Bowers were among those determined to stay the course. The Tucson, Ariz.-couple, love Pensacola Beach’s famous white sands, where they got engaged last September. “There was a little bit of trepidation because we learned the beaches were possibly going to be covered with tar and oil,” Rion Bowers said. But the rough surf that brought the first oil to the beach days earlier subsided and their dream ceremony went off without a hitch – or a single tar ball on anyone’s bare foot. They now joke that the spill gave them a wedding to remember. “My biggest concern was one hour before the wedding when I looked out on the beach and a hazmat crew had set up near our site,” Gidget said with a laugh. “I have pictures of our wedding trellis and the hazmat team.”

Read the full article →

From Fluor to Booms to Costner, BP Cleanup Means Some Clean Up

June 18, 2010

By Mark Drajem and Katarzyna Klimasinska June 18 (Bloomberg) — Michigan’s depressed economy nearly toppled Grand Rapids-based awning maker Prestige Products. In April, the company’s fortunes changed when executive Brian Rickel got a phone call from an old contact at BP Plc . It was 10 days after the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon rig had exploded, and the company needed help containing the gush of oil. Six weeks later, Prestige has rented a factory, filled it with millions of dollars of new equipment, and hired 74 workers, up from six in April. Using material similar to the vinyl in awnings, Prestige is churning out 12,000 feet a day of booms, the floating barriers that help contain oil slicks. Prestige hopes to double its output, if it can hire 50 additional workers. “We’re in Michigan,” Rickel said in an interview. “The economy has been horrible for everybody here. But the expertise is here and we cashed in on it.” The spill in the Gulf of Mexico will inflict billions of dollars’ worth of damage on the economies of Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida by destroying fisheries, halting oil drilling, and scaring off tourists. But for scores of businesses — from small fry like Prestige to construction giant Fluor Corp. — there’s money to be made in the aftermath of the worst oil spill in U.S. history, Bloomberg Businessweek reports in its June 21 issue. Help Wanted Signs It’s a dichotomy present across the Gulf region. A sign on a shuttered seafood shop in Grand Isle, Louisiana, blames BP and President Barack Obama for its woes. Nearby motels and repair shops display Help Wanted signs for maids and mechanics to help with the crush of cleanup activity. Local caterers are aggressively advertising, trying to persuade BP to hire them to feed spill-response workers gathering on the coast. Rene Vegas, owner of Bridge Side Cabins & Marina, also in Grand Isle, says his summer sport fishing season is lost due to the fast-expanding oil slick. So, like many area businesses, he’s shifting his focus. Vegas has begun stocking rubber boots, hard hats and ropes to sell to cleanup crews. Troy Petrovich, co-owner of T+T Boat Rentals in Buras, Louisiana, has seen demand for his marine-related services spike. Before the spill, “I kept calling, putting out more phone calls” in search of oil-company customers, Petrovich said. “Now my phone is ringing pretty steady; everybody is looking for boats.” T+T has rented out all 10 of its boats to oil companies and raised the daily rate to $450 from $325. ‘Mop Up Oil’ Plenty of other companies aren’t waiting for business to come to them. Shortly after the spill began, MOP Environmental Solutions Inc. , a Bath, New Hampshire-based maker of a substance it claims absorbs up to 30 times its weight in oil, sent four employees to the Gulf to conduct demonstrations for cleanup officials. The MOP workers came armed with fish tanks, oil and the absorbing material in the trunks of their cars. Some of the company’s shareholders hired a local pilot to fly around the region with a banner reading, “We mop up oil.” After weeks of being pestered, BP purchased its first three truckloads of the oil-absorbent material for $155,000, MOP President Charles Diamond said. The company didn’t have to wait as long to get a full hearing as actor Kevin Costner . Costner’s company, Ocean Therapy Solutions Inc., uses barge-based turbines to separate water from oil. He first demonstrated the centrifuges to BP officials at a technology conference 10 years ago, but wasn’t given the go- ahead to test the gear in open water until earlier this month. Now Ocean Therapy says it has sold 32 of the centrifuges to BP. Corexit, Skimmers Another beneficiary of the cleanup is Nalco Holding Co. More than one million gallons of Nalco’s chemical dispersant Corexit, which breaks up oil slicks, have been used in the Gulf. The company sold $40 million of Corexit to BP through the week of May 15, according to spokesman Charlie Pajor . Some faraway businesses are profiting from producing or deploying equipment to get rid of the oil residue. The Slickbar Products division of Finland’s Lamor Corp. sent employees to Mississippi to help install its skimmers, which collect oil from the water, onto shrimp boats. Its oil-boom plant in Seymour, Connecticut, is operating at a pace not seen since the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989. Slickbar has made more booms in the past month than it had in the previous 12 months, Chief Executive Officer Stephen Reilly said. There’s activity on land as well. Irving, Texas-based Fluor has a contract to supply BP with workers to clean up tar on Alabama and Florida beaches. So far it has hired 1,200 workers in Alabama and 2,400 in Florida, all of them off unemployment rolls in those states, said spokesman Brian Mershon . Fluor plans to increase its Florida workforce to 4,100. Birds, Shipwrecks The Shaw Group Inc., a Baton Rouge-based power-plant builder that has a $360 million contract to construct barrier islands along the Gulf Coast, is hiring staffers to count birds on nearby islands and map shipwrecks. The cleanup rush isn’t generating just blue-collar work. The Pensacola, Florida, law firm of Levin Papantonio Thomas Mitchell Echsner Rafferty & Proctor has hired an airplane to fly a banner over beaches reading “Prosecute BP” and is offering free claims evaluations. “There are probably hundreds of lawyers who are working to generate claims on the BP spill,” said Fredric Levin, a partner in the firm. Washington’s K Street lobbying crowd also stands to benefit as federal regulators crack down on drillers. Transocean Ltd., owner of the Deepwater Horizon rig, has hired former Oklahoma congressman Bill Brewster ’s firm, Capitol Hill Consulting Group , to represent its interests, according to a regulatory filing on May 10. BP Employees Litigation or legislative changes may generate years of billings. For now, businesses in the affected area are taking advantage of the spill work while they can. Marina owner Vegas says he has as many as 60 BP employees and contractors staying at his marina, which normally caters to sport fishermen and beachgoing families. “The motel is booked, the motel is doing fine,” he said. “But when they leave in January or December, we’re in trouble.” To contact the reporters on this story: Mark Drajem in Washington at mdrajem@bloomberg.net Katarzyna Klimasinska in Houston at kklimasinska@bloomberg.net

Read the full article →

King Inherits UAW Pushing for Payback After Cuts of Up to $30,000 a Worker

June 15, 2010

By Keith Naughton and Jeff Green June 15 (Bloomberg) — Bob King , the next United Auto Workers leader, inherits a union that gave up thousands of jobs and billions in benefits to save the U.S. auto industry. His legacy will rest on how workers are rewarded in the recovery. King, 63, the nominee of the UAW bloc that has controlled the Detroit-based union since 1946, is slated to succeed two- term President Ron Gettelfinger , 65, in an election tomorrow. The electrician with a law degree, who rose through the ranks in 40 years at the UAW, is set to take over a union that has declined to 355,000 members from 1.5 million in 1979. The UAW shift coincides with signs of recovery in the industry. General Motors Co. posted a net profit and Chrysler Group LLC made money on an operating basis in the first quarter, less than a year after each emerged from bankruptcy. The union helped convince President Barack Obama to provide an $85 billion taxpayer bailout to those automakers, taking concessions to put their labor costs on par with foreign automakers’ U.S. plants. “Bob is facing a very, very difficult job because there will be tremendous pressure on him to roll back the concessions,” said Gary Chaison , a labor professor at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. “He’s got to walk a very fine line to reverse some of what was lost and keep some in place for the promise of a brighter future.” UAW workers have each given up $7,000 to $30,000 in concessions in the last five years, King said last month. The union surrendered raises, bonuses, cost-of-living adjustments and agreed to a two-tier wage system where new hires make about $14 an hour, half what hourly production workers are now paid. Returning Benefits As head of the union’s bargaining with Ford Motor Co., King filed a grievance in January after the automaker reinstated raises, 401(k) matches and tuition assistance for salaried workers. Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford has since restored tuition benefits for its 41,000 hourly workers and King is pressing for more. “UAW members at GM, Ford and Chrysler and throughout the supplier sector have made the sacrifices to keep these companies viable,” King said at a Ford factory in Ypsilanti, Michigan, on May 24. He declined to be interviewed for this story. UAW labor costs, including wages and benefits, have fallen from $75 an hour to about $55, equal to Toyota Motor Corp. ’s U.S. workers. The union has about 113,000 members at Detroit- based GM, Ford and Chrysler, which is based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. “Bob’s going to make sure our members are not forgotten as these companies rebound,” said UAW director Rory Gamble, who runs King’s former Detroit region and has known him 25 years. “But we’ve got to make sure these companies are viable, so there’s going to be a lot of caution in how we go after this.” ‘Vilified’ Union Part of the caution will stem from managing the UAW’s public standing. “The current perception of the UAW is one of the lowest of any union in America,” said analyst David Cole of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan. A so-called jobs bank in which auto workers received almost full pay while on indefinite layoff “became the flag by which the union was vilified,” Cole said. The union doesn’t receive credit for giving up that jobs bank or other reforms, he said. “Bob has to get out front and tell the world it’s a different union than it used to be,” Cole said. “Otherwise, it will continue to decay.” King, the son of a former Ford industrial relations director, has been painted by challengers in the union as going too easy on the company. More than 70 percent of Ford workers rejected additional concessions in November that King endorsed. Ford earned $2.7 billion last year after three years of losses. Critics in Union “We can’t just take at face value when these companies cry poverty,” said Gary Walkowicz , a UAW official from King’s home factory in Dearborn, who is making a self-described symbolic run against him for president. “Workers really disagreed with giving up those concessions when Bob King asked them. It showed there’s a disconnect between the membership and the leadership.” In the next round of contract bargaining in 2011, King has to work toward restoring raises while ensuring the automakers put new models into U.S. factories, said Sean McAlinden , economist at the Center for Automotive Research. “As the market comes back, the automakers will be adding workers by the thousands,” McAlinden said. “If he holds the line on canceling too many concessions, he’ll get growth. Otherwise, the companies will say, ‘We’ll build up Mexico like you wouldn’t believe.’” Business Case King prepares business cases to show managers that hiring more workers at UAW plants can be profitable, said Bernie Ricke, president of UAW Local 600 in Dearborn, who has been at the Ford bargaining table beside King since 2003. “He’s usually very measured, though I’ve seen him pound the table a few times.” Billionaire investor Wilbur Ross negotiated against King on a contract for his International Automotive Components Group, the world’s largest automotive carpet supplier. King studied IAC’s books and discussed findings with managers before bringing the information to union leaders and rank and file members. The new contract, which cut pay and benefits, passed by 80 percent. “He’s the prototype for the kind of labor leader who is needed in this modern world,” Ross said in an interview. “His challenge is to preserve manufacturing in the United States at the same time maintaining a standard of living for the worker. It’s a delicate balance.” King last year approached Ross for help in organizing auto suppliers to support the U.S. cash for clunkers program that funded government subsidies for vehicle trade-ins. They built a coalition of about 50 suppliers across the U.S., and the program eventually helped sell 677,081 cars. From the Sickbed King comes to the table with an “intense” work ethic, Gamble said. He’s been seen working two mobile phones at a time in Ann Arbor, where he lives with his wife and three children. (He also has two adult daughters from his first marriage). The night before stomach surgery last year, King called Gamble from his hospital bed at 11:30 p.m. to check on Ford’s plans to transfer workers among plants. After surgery King was right back on the phone, hoarse from a tube in his trachea, Gamble said. “He could barely talk and I said, ‘Bob you need to get well, man,’” Gamble said. “He was relentless.” He took a similar approach to his schooling. After studying religion and philosophy at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, King graduated from the University of Michigan in 1968 with a degree in political science. He did a two-year tour in Korea with the U.S. Army and then went to work for Ford in 1970 at the Rouge factory complex in Dearborn that Henry Ford built in the 1920s. In 1972, King began an electrician apprenticeship while earning a law degree in his off-hours. Rapid Rise “While he was still an apprentice, the journeyman skilled tradesmen elected him as their union committeeman, which was unheard of,” Ricke said. “He had to work weekends to finish his apprenticeship.” Raised Catholic, King draws a link between the labor movement’s mission and social justice. At a UAW convention in California in 1989, he bused reporters to a shanty town in Tijuana, Mexico, to show them the squalor surrounding U.S. companies’ border factories. He took a group of labor leaders to El Salvador in 1990 to monitor union elections. King’s greatest challenge may be finding a way to build on his earlier efforts to increase the UAW’s ranks . While leading bargaining efforts a decade ago, he helped diversify the membership by organizing graduate students and casino workers. Johnson Controls King also led a strike at Johnson Controls Inc. in 2002 where he convinced the supplier to sign a neutrality agreement allowing the union to organize its other U.S. plants. Ford, one of JCI’s largest customers, also said it wouldn’t object to the UAW representing workers at the auto supplier. That set a precedent that enabled the UAW to sign up 25,000 auto parts workers that year, according to labor professor Harley Shaiken of the University of California at Berkeley. “Bob King leveraged the good relationship the UAW had with Ford into a broader reach with its suppliers,” Shaiken said. “It was innovative and strategic.” King also reaches out to other unions seeking new strategies for signing up members. “He actually believes in grassroots organizing, which I think came from our organizing backgrounds,” said Leo Gerard , president of the United Steelworkers union, who consults with King on strategies for boosting membership and considers him soft-spoken but “tough as nails.” About 350,000 of the 850,000 Steelworkers in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean work on products that end up in autos. The UAW can’t keep shrinking and expect to hold the clout that moved a president to rescue GM and Chrysler, Shaiken said. “He’s facing an unprecedented crisis; the status quo is not tenable,” Shaiken said. “To survive the union has to go forward, and Bob needs to be a transformational leader.” To contact the reporters on this story: Keith Naughton in Detroit at Knaughton3@bloomberg.net ; Jeff Green in Southfield, Michigan, at jgreen16@bloomberg.net

Read the full article →

Nokia’s Delay on `Shiny Things’ Leaves It Last in Line for Apps Developers

June 14, 2010

By Diana ben-Aaron June 14 (Bloomberg) — As Nokia Oyj prepares to introduce its latest flagship smartphone, developer Jan Ole Suhr says he knows why the brains behind addictive applications are shunning the Finnish company. “It’s difficult for small developers to invest in the smartphone segment of Nokia when nobody knows its future,” said Suhr, creator of Twitter application “ Gravity ,” which was showcased by Nokia when it opened its Ovi applications store last year. “The new shiny things aren’t available and there’s only the old-fashioned stuff, where it takes a lot of work to make the software look good.” Nokia’s 41 percent share of the smartphone market, the fastest-growing piece of the mobile-phone industry, has failed to make it the platform of choice for software writers. It is instead at the bottom of the pile, behind Apple Inc. ’s iPhone and devices based on Google Inc. ’s Android. Developers of games, music, videos, media and other apps want to see if the N8, Nokia’s first device running the Symbian 3 system for touchscreen phones, delivers on promises of improved look and feel, an easier interface and operability across devices — in short, if it’s more like an iPhone. For many, the device scheduled to be released in the third quarter has been too slow in the making and may still disappoint. “Symbian needs a more competitive platform to attract users, early adopters who are the sort of people who download lots of apps,” said Gartner Inc. analyst Nick Jones . “We may have to wait until Symbian 4 to get a really compelling Symbian device, so that the ecosystem may not start to achieve its full potential until 2011.” ‘No Visibility’ The world’s largest mobile-phone maker’s failure to lure apps developers, whose products help sell iPhones and Android devices, adds to the perception that its devices are behind the times. With Apple last week unveiling iPhone 4, with a video- chat feature, and Android devices chalking up sales, the Espoo, Finland-based Nokia risks not being able to recoup lost ground. Nokia may post lower-than-expected second-quarter profit because of a weak product range and falling prices, Macquarie Group Ltd. analysts said last week. There’s “no visibility on the N8, continued heavy competition in handsets and softening demand,” Phil Cusick and colleagues wrote in a June 9 report. Chief Executive Officer Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said in April he expects sales of handsets and associated services to be between 6.7 billion euros and 7.2 billion euros in the second quarter. He cut the company’s full-year margin forecast, citing the slow development of the N8. Apple Effect Nokia shares have plummeted 51 percent since Apple opened its App Store on July 11, 2008. Its market value has shrunk to 29 billion euros from 203 billion euros in 1999, when it was Europe’s most-valuable company. Nokia, which doesn’t disclose its catalog size, says it has 1.7 million downloads a day of apps including QuickOffice, Skype Internet calling service, Shazam music identifier, Spotify music, Snake games and Lonely Planet travel guides. The company’s secrecy about the number of apps is “probably because it’s still rather small,” said Gartner’s Jones. Its offerings lag behind Apple’s App Store, which has more than 225,000 apps. Android has more than 70,000 , according to Androlib.com, which tracks the platform’s apps. More than 5 billion programs have been downloaded from its store, Apple says. IPhone users spend more on apps than people with Android devices, who in turn spend more than users of Nokia handsets, developers say. That drives software efforts. ‘Six of Six’ Nokia opened the Ovi Store to offer developers a channel to the 68 million people a year who buy its smartphones. Developers spoiled by iPhone tools say they found Nokia’s software and storefront clunky. Many are turning to Android and Research In Motion’s BlackBerry. “The Ovi Store doesn’t have any traction in the U.S.,” said Ken Willner , CEO of Zumobi Inc. in Seattle “They’re probably number six of six,” behind Apple, Google, Palm Inc., RIM and Microsoft Corp. Willner’s company, whose applications present media content such as MSNBC and Parenting magazine on iPhones, chose Android- run devices as its second platform, bypassing Nokia. “Large numbers of developers see Nokia as less relevant for distributing apps,” said Martin Garner , a London-based analyst at CCS Insight. “They prefer to work with software that has obvious growth momentum in the market.” Shrinking Share The market share of Symbian, Nokia’s main smartphone operating system, fell to 44.3 percent in the first quarter from 48.8 percent a year ago, according to Gartner. Although mostly on Nokia phones, Symbian is also used by Samsung Electronics Co. and Sony Ericsson. iPhone’s share rose to 15.4 percent from 10.5 percent, while Android soared to 9.6 percent from 1.6 percent. Nokia says its new line of smartphones with Symbian 3 and Symbian 4 improves the user interface and carries a new version of tools for developers, making cross-device development easier. “You’ll see a big improvement in terms of the store experience with the introduction of the N8, as well as with subsequent devices,” said George Linardos , the Nokia vice president who runs the Ovi Store. He cautioned that there won’t be any “immaculate moment” when the store is perfect. “I look at this as the first innings of a very, very long game.” Switching to Android Many developers don’t want to wait, and say they can’t take the risk of developing for a yet-to-be-perfected platform. Even long-time Nokia software authors are looking elsewhere. Take Alan Masarek , chief executive officer of Quickoffice Inc. in Plano, Texas. Nokia helped his 150-person company become one of the biggest independent mobile apps developers with its stripped-down word processor and spreadsheet running on more than 240 million mobile devices worldwide. About 1 1/2 years ago Masarek, whose software is preloaded on all Nokia Symbian devices, began working on Android phones. “That in hindsight has proven to be a good move,” he said. “The numbers on Android are very ascendant right now. We’re on all these devices that just started shipping in meaningful volumes the last two quarters.” Android-based smartphones threaten to top the iPhone in 2013 in market share, according to Framingham, Massachusetts- based IDC. Shipments of Android devices may reach 68 million that year, making it the second-most popular operating system after Symbian, according to IDC. For Quickoffice, Apple and Android now each account for about 30 percent of shipments against 40 percent on Symbian. ‘No Comparison’ Some developers are shunning Symbian entirely so far. “Development on Symbian has historically been difficult and Google and Apple leapfrogged Nokia in terms of developer friendliness in the past two years,” said Phil Libin , chief executive officer of Mountain View, Calif.-based Evernote Corp. “There’s no comparison.” His 30-person company’s main product is a note-taking application that runs on desktop computers, iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, Palm ’s WebOS and Microsoft’s Windows Mobile — all except Nokia’s Symbian. Apple has a system in place that makes selling and buying apps easy and painless, said Joseph Darling , a long-time Nokia user in Sydney, Australia, who opted to develop his ParkWatch parking monitor application for Apple. “They have a payment system that was already popular for music and video,” he said. “That takes you from browsing to buying in a couple of clicks. They’ve brought that entire community over into apps. It’s hard for others to duplicate.” Gravity’s Suhr, who lives in Berlin, is one of the few developers to have worked on mastering the Nokia system, supporting himself by writing apps for it since 2002. His application, which lets users read and write Twitter messages on phones, was touted by Nokia at the launch of its N97 smartphone last year. Suhr says Gravity is “almost the only application that makes a Nokia device look like an iPhone.” “It should have been very easy to create Gravity-like applications to cover other functions,” he says. “And then I bet the whole reception of the platform and the phone would have been very different.” To contact the reporter on this story: Diana ben-Aaron in Helsinki at dbenaaron1@bloomberg.net

Read the full article →

Fred Whelan and Gladys Stone: Finish Your Unfinished Business

June 11, 2010

The Today Show featured a segment recently about people over 50 getting fired and how it changed their lives for the better. One guest, Lee Kravitz, author of Unfinished Business , took stock in himself after he was laid off and realized that he had become disconnected from the people who mattered. His book chronicles some of the things he meant to do before but never had the time because he was too busy working. Sound familiar? It’s easy to get caught in the trap where the focus of your life is work with little time available for friends and family. Most people know this, but fool themselves into thinking that things will magically slow down next week, next month or next year. But they don’t. Without making changes today, the future will just be more of the same. Here are a few ways to connect more with friends and family even with the demands of a full time job: Take the Call – You’re plugging away on a project and your cell phone rings – it’s your BFF or a good friend. Normally, you let it go to voicemail because you don’t want to lose your focus. Unless you’re on a deadline, the chances are you can talk for a couple of minutes and get back to your project without diminishing the quality of your work. Even if you’re in the middle of an email, you can pick up where you left off. It might take you all of a minute to refocus but in the bigger scheme of things it’s worth it. Set the expectation up front that you only have a couple of minutes to spare. Make the Call – Just this morning Fred came across a 35 year old letter from a former boss of his at Heinz. The letter prompted Fred to pick up the phone and call his former boss, who is now retired and living in Florida. Fred was glad he had taken the time to do this. When you have an impulse to reach out to someone, do it. Many people get into a work only mindset that makes them think they shouldn’t allow for anything personal. The reality is calls usually don’t take as long as you think and often reenergize you, making you more productive. Just like when you’ve had a good laugh. You’ve broken away from the laser focus of work and have more energy. “Bag” Lunch at the Desk – If you can’t take a full hour, meet a friend for a quick lunch. You can cover a lot of ground in a short period of time. Be spontaneous – shoot a quick email to your friend, “Up for coffee?” Or take a detour from your direct route home and plan a quick drink (doesn’t have to be alcohol) with a friend. Use the pockets in the day to connect with people you care about. Beyond the Inner Circle – For people you don’t see regularly it’s easy for a lot of time to pass without making a connection. Maybe you live in different states, or you feel so maxed out trying to keep up with your closest friends that you don’t think you can extend yourself further. This is especially true if you’re in a relationship where you have to allow time for your partner’s friends and family too. Since you don’t want to totally neglect people in the outer circle who you still care about, make a conscious decision and schedule time to reach out. Even if it’s only once a year. The point made in Lee Kravitz’s book is that we all have unfinished business–the things we should have done but just let slip. Act on what is most important to you now. Fred & Gladys Whelan Stone Executive Search and Coaching Authors of GOAL! Your 30 Day Career Plan for Business & Career Success

Read the full article →

BP Stock Back Up Despite Talk Of Suspending Dividend

June 11, 2010

BP shares have taken a huge hit, falling from 655.4 pence ($9.51) after the April 20 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig killed 11 people and triggered a spill that has sent millions of gallons of oil gushing into the Gulf’s fragile waters. BP has come under heavy pressure from President Barack Obama and his administration to suspend its quarterly dividend, a possibility that initially soured investor sentiment but which some think is now priced into the share value. “We are considering all options on the dividend. But no decision has been made,” BP’s Chief Executive Tony Hayward said in an interview in Friday’s Wall Street Journal. Suspending the dividend would disappoint investors – including millions of British retirees whose pension funds include BP, which used to be the country’s largest company. But it could also deflect some of the intense political heat that BP is feeling in the United States. To deflect a widening trans-Atlantic rift, Prime Minister David Cameron was to discuss the oil spill in a phone call with Obama on Saturday. BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg – who has faced criticism for not being more visible in BP’s response – met Friday with British Treasury chief George Osborne and spoke on the phone with Cameron. Cameron’s office said the prime minister “was frustrated and concerned about the environmental damage caused by the leak but made clear his view that BP is an economically important company in the U.K., U.S. and other countries.” “It is in everyone’s interests that BP continues to be a financially strong and stable company,” Cameron said, according to his office. Osborne said the British government “understand(s) the concerns of the U.S. administration,” but added “the prime minister is also clear that we need constructive solutions and that we remember the economic value BP brings to people in Britain and America.” Svanberg insisted that the company was doing all it could to stop the spill. “We have done everything we can to try to fill the well and we have said we would do everything expected from us in cleaning up the beach, taking care of all the claims and learn from this incident and make deep sea drilling an even safer place,” Svanberg told broadcaster ITN after the Treasury meeting. Thursday’s share turmoil came after U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said he would ask BP to compensate energy companies if they have to lay off workers or suffer economically because of a six-month moratorium on deep-water drilling imposed by the Obama administration following Deepwater rig explosion. The chief executive of Britain’s National Association of Pension Funds said Friday that investors might be receptive to a suspension of the dividend to protect the company’s long-term future. Joanne Segars told the BBC that BP’s “long-term” future was far more important. “BP’s current difficulties shouldn’t have an immediate or serious impact on those saving into a pension scheme or on those who have retired,” said Segars, the association’s leader. James Bevan, chief investment officer at CCLA, which manages investments for charities and local governments, said BP could afford to suspend dividends. “BP has always said that its dividend policy will take account of the strength of its balance sheet – BP’s balance sheet is very strong – but also the long-term growth prospects for the company,” Bevan said in a BBC radio interview. “And deferring one or even two dividends would not be inconsistent with taking a long view that ultimately could repay shareholders handsomely.” Some analysts are already predicting a cut in the dividend. Evolution Securities said it expected the current year payout to be 28 cents a share, half of the previous year’s level, but it continued to recommend BP shares as a “buy.” The White House on Thursday released a letter inviting Svanberg and “any appropriate officials from BP” to meet next week with senior administration officials. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, who leads the U.S. government response to the crisis, said Obama would join part of that meeting. Obama has yet to meet with any BP official since the explosion. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs did not rule out the possibility of a meeting next week between Obama and Hayward, who is to testify next Thursday at a House Energy subcommittee hearing into the spill. Meanwhile, BP announced a $25 million grant to Florida to support the state’s contingency plan to deal with a leak from a BP well, and the same amount to help the state’s tourist industry. ___ Associated Press writer Jill Lawless also contributed to this story from London.

Read the full article →

Apple’s Jobs Unveils $199 IPhone 4 to Fend Off Google’s Android Challenge

June 7, 2010

By Connie Guglielmo June 7 (Bloomberg) — Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs introduced a thinner iPhone today with a sharper screen and video-chat features, an attempt to ward off competition from devices running Google Inc.’s Android software. The iPhone 4 will go on sale in the U.S. and four other countries on June 24, Jobs said at the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco. A 16-gigabyte model will cost $199 and a 32-gigabyte version will sell for $299. The iPhone has emerged as Apple’s top product, raking in 40 percent of revenue last quarter — more than the Macintosh computer or iPod. The latest device has a new camera system, capable of videoconferencing and recording high-definition video. The iPhone 4 comes to market as HTC Corp. and Motorola Inc. ready rival products based on Android, the mobile-operating system software created by Google . “The biggest deal is the video calling,” said Michael Yoshikami , chief investment strategist at YCMNET Advisors in Walnut Creek, California. He owns Apple shares. “That will drive traffic to the phone.” Jobs, 55, counts on iPhone updates to entice new customers and persuade current owners to trade up to the latest model. Cupertino, California-based Apple has upgraded the iPhone each summer since the smartphone’s debut in June 2007. It released the iPhone 3G in July 2008, which added support for third-generation wireless networks. A faster version, called the iPhone 3GS, went on sale in June 2009. Apple has sold more than 50 million iPhones in the past three years. Android Challenge Android-based smartphones threaten to top the iPhone in 2013 in market share, according to IDC. Shipments of Android devices may reach 68 million that year, making it the second most popular operating system after Nokia Oyj -owned Symbian, according to Framingham, Massachusetts-based IDC. AT&T Inc. remains the exclusive U.S. carrier for the iPhone and buyers will need to sign a two-year service contract, Jobs said. The iPhone 4 has a so-called retina display that has four times as many pixels as previous models, Jobs said. It is 24 percent thinner than the 3GS and has improved battery life with seven hours of 3G talk. The phone will come in black and white. ‘Star Trek’ “It’s the biggest leap we’ve taken since the original iPhone,” Jobs said. After growing up with TV shows like “The Jetsons” and “Star Trek,” he said he has been “dreaming about video calling, and it’s real now.” The video-calling app, named FaceTime, will only work on Wi-Fi this year, rather than phone carriers’ networks, he said. The company also updated its iMovie program, which lets users record, edit and share video on the handset. “The iPhone is taking share from non-phone devices” because it has features that users could previously only access on their computers, said Gene Munster , an analyst at Piper Jaffray Cos. in Minneapolis, who is attending the conference. “It will have enough razzle-dazzle,” said Munster, who rates Apple shares “overweight” and doesn’t own any. Jobs, in his trademark jeans and black turtleneck, was briefly unable to demonstrate some of the features because he couldn’t get a wireless connection. He asked attendees to shut off the wireless connections on their computers and mobile hot spots because of interference, saying, “I’d like you to look around and police each other.” ‘Guitar Hero’ There are now more than 225,000 tools, games and other applications available for downloading, Jobs said. That compares with about 50,000 for Android, according to Toni Sacconaghi , an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. in New York. More than 5 billion programs have been downloaded from Apple’s App Store, Jobs said. Activision Blizzard Inc. released an iPhone application for its “Guitar Hero” game today for $2.99, and Netflix Inc. , the online movie subscription service, plans to unveil a free program for the iPhone this summer. As Jobs walked onto the stage to applause, one of the 5,200 conference attendees yelled out, “We love you, Steve!” His response drew applause too: “Thanks, I think.” Speculation about what the fourth-generation iPhone would include escalated in April after an unreleased prototype, lost by an Apple engineer at a bar in March, was disassembled and photographed by technology blog Gizmodo.com . “Believe me, you ain’t seen this,” Jobs said today. The iPhone 4 will first be released in the U.S., Japan, France, Germany and the U.K. By the end of September, it will be available in 88 countries. Cheaper Model Apple will sell a new, 8-gigabyte 3GS model for $99 this month, making it the company’s lowest-priced model. It previously sold for $199. Apple fell $5.03, or 2 percent, to $250.94 today in Nasdaq Stock Market trading . The stock has gained 19 percent this year. Today’s drop mirrored a 1.9 percent decline in the Standard & Poor’s 500 information-technology index. Apple’s new device will be powered by an updated version of the iPhone operating system. Called iOS 4, it adds more than 100 features, including multitasking — the ability to run more than one third-party program at the same time. Developers will get a near-final release of the software today, Jobs said. It will be available “soon” for users, he said. It also supports an advertising platform called iAd, designed to give developers a new way to make money from their apps. Apple has received commitments of more than $60 million in iAds for the second half from companies such as Nissan Motor Co. , General Electric Co. and Target Corp., Jobs said. “The question now is what’s next,” said Michael Obuchowski , managing director at First Empire Asset Management Inc. in Hauppauge, New York, which oversees $3.8 billion in assets including Apple shares. “Just improving it every year enables competitors to catch up to it very quickly.” To contact the reporter on this story: Connie Guglielmo in San Francisco at cguglielmo1@bloomberg.net

Read the full article →

Daniel Kahneman, Nobel Prize Winner: Happiness Can Be Bought For About $60,000 Per Year (VIDEO)

June 4, 2010

Money can’t buy happiness — but lack of it can certainly make you progressively miserable, says one Nobel Prize-winning economist. Daniel Kahneman , one of the founders of the now-popular field of behavior economics, delivered a fascinating TED talk earlier this year entitled “The Riddle of Experience vs. Memory,” and got into an interesting discussion with TED host and curator Chris Anderson. (Hat tip to GatesVPblog via My Money Blog .) Arguing that experience is essentially divided into the “experiencing self” and the “remembering self,” Kahnemen suggests that happiness is essentially an act of deftly balancing the two. (They don’t always match up, it turns out.) Here’s Kahneman: We know something about what controls satisfaction of the happiness self. We know that money is very important, goals are very important. We know that happiness is mainly being satisfied with people that we like, spending time with people that we like. There are other pleasures, but this is dominant. So if you want to maximize the happiness of the two selves, you are going to end up doing very different things. The bottom line of what I’ve said here is that we really should not think of happiness as a substitute for well-being. It is a completely different notion. After the speech, Anderson pointed to the result of a 2009 Gallup survey that compared rates of depression to income levels . Here’s the exchange: Chris Anderson: Thank you. I’ve got a question for you. Thank you so much. Now, when we were on the phone a few weeks ago, you mentioned to me that there was quite an interesting result came out of that Gallup survey. Is that something you can share since you do have a few moments left now? Daniel Kahneman: Sure. I think the most interesting result that we found in the Gallup survey is a number, which we absolutely did not expect to find. We found that with respect to the happiness of the experiencing self. When we looked at how feelings vary with income. And it turns out that, below an income of 60,000 dollars a year, for Americans, and that’s a very large sample of Americans, like 600,000, but it’s a large representative sample, below an income of 600,000 dollars a year… CA: 60,000. DK: 60,000. (Laughter) 60,000 dollars a year, people are unhappy, and they get progressively unhappier the poorer they get. Above that, we get an absolutely flat line. I mean I’ve rarely seen lines so flat. Clearly, what is happening is money does not buy you experiential happiness, but lack of money certainly buys you misery, and we can measure that misery very, very clearly. In terms of the other self, the remembering self, you get a different story. The more money you earn the more satisfied you are. That does not hold for emotions… WATCH the full talk (the exchange with Anderson happens around the 18-minute mark):

Read the full article →

Sprint Becomes First to 4G Handsets for Live World Cup, `Shrek’ Downloads

June 4, 2010

By Amy Thomson June 4 (Bloomberg) — Sprint Nextel Corp. began selling the first phone in the U.S. based on a next-generation wireless technology, an advance that may usher in devices with high- definition video capabilities and fast downloads. The Evo phone from HTC Corp., available starting today, costs $199.99 with a two-year contract at Sprint, the third- largest U.S. mobile-phone carrier. It runs on Google Inc.’s Android operating system and uses the so-called fourth- generation wireless network that Sprint co-owns with Clearwire Corp. Handsets such as the Evo will be able to download content about 10 times faster than third-generation technology, Overland Park, Kansas-based Sprint said. That will let people watch live World Cup matches, make video calls and download movies such as “The Karate Kid” or “Shrek Forever After.” “The most important thing about these devices isn’t really the device itself, it’s really the applications and the content that you can use on the device,” said Jim McGregor , chief technology strategist at research firm In-Stat. “It changes the way we use the Internet.” As more 4G devices hit the market, developers will create software programs to take full advantage of the higher speeds, McGregor said. Applications could give users information about their surroundings based on landmarks the phone’s camera recognizes, while mobile games like “Guitar Hero” or “Prince of Persia” could incorporate better graphics and higher- resolution video. The 4G Rollout It’s not clear the country’s wireless networks will prove robust enough to handle the traffic for all these applications. AT&T said it will stop offering unlimited wireless data plans to new customers, as it struggles to manage surging demand from devices such as Apple Inc.’s iPhone and iPad. Sprint Chief Executive Officer Dan Hesse said in an interview the company has no plans to change its pricing. While Sprint is the first U.S. carrier to begin offering 4G services, others will soon follow. Basking Ridge, New Jersey- based Verizon Wireless, the largest provider in the country, will begin rolling out its 4G network this year. Dallas-based AT&T Inc. , the second-largest U.S. wireless company, plans to introduce its service next year, the company has said. Alcatel Lucent SA , which is building 4G networks for Verizon and AT&T, is helping carriers plan new services for its technology, called long-term evolution, said Ken Wirth , president of LTE networks. The company is helping develop consumer applications, such as high-definition video downloads, as well as business programs, he said in an interview. Ultrasound Video Hospitals, for example, may be able to use phones to share video from a pregnant woman’s ultrasound with several doctors, who can make recommendations instantaneously, he said. The patient can share the video with her social network at the same time. Digital signs in malls will provide directions and let users make restaurant reservations or buy movie tickets, he said. Customers and businesses will also be able to store more information away from their phones in servers, saving room in their device’s memory, Wirth said. 4G “will make connectivity truly ubiquitous,” Roger Entner , an analyst at Nielsen Co., said in an interview. “It will make that device you have in your hand even more powerful, even more valuable.” To contact the reporter on this story: Amy Thomson in New York at athomson6@bloomberg.net

Read the full article →

German President Koehler Unexpectedly Quits After Criticism on Afghanistan

May 31, 2010

By Patrick Donahue and Brian Parkin May 31 (Bloomberg) — German President Horst Koehler unexpectedly announced his resignation with immediate effect, citing public criticism of remarks he made about Germany’s military mission in Afghanistan. Koehler, a former managing director of the International Monetary Fund, becomes the first German head of state to quit in post-World War II history. He suggested in a May 22 radio interview that military engagement is necessary to protect Germany’s economic interests, prompting calls by opposition lawmakers for him to withdraw his remarks. “I regret that my comments could lead to misunderstanding for a question that’s important and difficult for our nation,” Koehler said as he announced his resignation in Berlin today. The criticism “lacks any foundation” because it “goes so far as to accuse me of favoring military operations” not covered by Germany’s constitution. “It undermines the necessary respect for my office.” While Koehler’s role is mainly ceremonial, his decision to quit adds to pressure on Chancellor Angela Merkel as support for her coalition plunges over her efforts to stem Europe’s debt crisis and backstop the euro. Roland Koch , a deputy leader of Merkel’s Christian Democrats, unexpectedly announced his decision to quit as prime minister of Hesse state six days ago. ‘Deep Fissures’ Koehler’s resignation “is a huge blow to Merkel, sending a signal of national disunity at home and abroad,” Jochen Staadt, a politics professor at Berlin’s Free University, said in a phone interview. “Koehler has thrown off his responsibility as head of state at a critical moment. Such a step shows how deep fissures are in Germany’s political caste.” Merkel canceled a planned visit to the German national soccer team’s training camp in northern Italy following the announcement. She had been due to inspect the team’s preparations for next month’s World Cup in South Africa, her first engagement after welcoming Germany’s win in the Eurovision song contest by Lena Meyer-Landrut . Koehler called Merkel to inform her of his decision at noon and announced his resignation two hours later, she told reporters. “I was of course surprised by this phone conversation and attempted to change his mind,” Merkel said. “This was unfortunately not successful. I very deeply regret this decision but of course told him that I respect it.” Special Assembly Koehler, 67, a member of Merkel’s Christian Democrats who suspended his party membership to run for office, was re-elected to a second four-year term only in May last year after backing from the Christian Democrats and the Free Democrats led by Guido Westerwelle , now foreign minister. Koehler defeated the Social Democratic candidate Gesine Schwan by 613 votes to 503 votes at a special assembly of lawmakers and state delegates. Merkel said at the time that Kohler is “exactly the right president we need during these times of crisis.” His duties, which include signing bills into law after they clear both houses of parliament, will now be transferred to Jens Boehrnsen , current head of the upper house and mayor of the city of Bremen, pending a presidential election next month by the special assembly, the president’s office said in a statement. Koehler, in the interview with Deutschlandradio, said an export-oriented country like Germany “must also understand that in certain cases, in an emergency, military operations are necessary to protect our interests.” He cited as examples maintaining free trade routes and settling regional instability that could have a “negative” impact on Germany’s “trade, jobs and income .” ‘Dangerously Wrong’ While Koehler later pushed back on his initial comments, saying he referred more specifically to the anti-piracy mission off the Horn of Africa rather than Afghanistan, Merkel’s government was forced to field questions on his remarks at a regular press briefing on May 28. The president’s comments “expose a dangerously wrong understanding of missions abroad,” Frithjof Schmidt, a lawmaker from the opposition Green Party, said in a statement the same day. “He should correct his statements as quickly as possible.” Waning support for Koehler was highlighted when Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine in this week’s edition dubbed the president “Horst Luebke,” alluding to Heinrich Luebke, Germany’s second postwar president who stepped down in 1969. Luebke was widely recognized as a poor public speaker and a frequent target of ridicule, especially toward the end of his term when his failing health started to affect his memory, Spiegel said. Koehler “has apparently got a very thin skin,” Hugo Mueller-Vogg, who published a biography of the president in 2005, said on N24 television. “He really thought he could change something in this country. But then he realized that his office is largely ceremonial.” To contact the reporters on this story: Brian Parkin in Berlin at bparkin@bloomberg.net ; Patrick Donahue at pdonahue1@bloomberg.net

Read the full article →

Josh Silver: Harold Ford’s Corporate Crusade Against Net Neutrality

May 26, 2010

This week, Harold Ford, Chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council, showed how completely the DLC is captured by industry money, why the US congress is mired in gridlock, and why the government continues to protect the American public: from oil spills to banking crises to mining disasters, and now to the Internet. Big money lobbyists and their puppet politicians’ blind abandonment of reasonable government oversight. Harold Ford is one of those puppets. In his piece , “FCC Re-Designation of Broadband Will Bring Unwanted Market Uncertainty” Ford calls on the FCC to halt their efforts to reestablish the agency’s authority over Internet service providers (ISP’s) like Comcast and AT&T. As I have described in previous posts , the courts recently ruled that changes made by the Bush-era FCC has left the agency in charge of the nation’s communications without authority to oversee the 21st century’s dominant communications platform. This would be funny if it weren’t reality. Phone and cable companies are flooding Capitol Hill with cash and an army of lobbyists, including proxies like Ford, who failed to mention in his Huffington Post piece that he is the honorary co-Chair of ” Broadband for America “, an industry front group that pays him to spin on their behalf. If the FCC heeds Ford’s advice, you can say goodbye to candidate Obama’s promises of universal, affordable Internet access and Net Neutrality. You can say goodbye to the level playing field that the Internet has always been: where all content moves at the same speed, no matter who is sending it. With a broken political system awash in special interest money, Harold Ford is not alone. On Monday, 74 House Democrats signed an industry-written letter that echoes Mr. Ford’s line, calling on the FCC to stand down. The letter is so full of misleading information that it’s hard to know where to begin. And nearly every Republican in congress is toeing the phone and cable line. So tell it like it is, Harold Ford. You’re choosing the big money from the cable and telco juggernaut over the right of the American people to fast, affordable, universal Internet access. You’re ignoring how the US has slipped from 4th to 22nd in broadband speed and adoption. You’re ignoring Harvard Berkman Center’s findings that regulation promoting competition would serve US consumers well. Mr. Ford, you said that “Legal and Agency experts are not carefully examining the economic impact will have on investment decision”? But FCC Chairman Genachowski repeatedly stated his intent to ensure investment continued… just read his speech . Over the past few weeks we saw broadband providers themselves telling investors that they had no plans to slow investment in response to the FCC. Harold, I am looking for the consumers you claim have prospered under the current “light regulatory touch.” You mean all of the Americans who are paying more and getting less than in 21 other nations? Prospering more than in France, where you can get broadband, phone and 300 TV channels for $37 a month? By my estimate, Americans are paying about three times more here thanks to your “light regulatory touch” that abandons competition and other key oversight. Be warned, Mr. Ford, millions of Americans have called for Net Neutrality and universal Internet, and are not content to let shills like you lie to the American people any longer.

Read the full article →

Bob St. Germain’s $18,000 Phone Bill Dismissed By Verizon

May 17, 2010

BOSTON — Verizon says a Massachusetts man won’t have to pay the balance of an $18,000 cell phone bill his son racked up when he connected his phone to a laptop to get Internet service. Dover resident Bob St. Germain tells The Boston Globe newspaper the telecommunications company has told him it’ll no longer try to collect the charges. Bryan St. Germain ran up the charges over six weeks in 2006. He says he didn’t realize a two-year promotional offer allowing free access had expired. Verizon Wireless says it cut the phone bill in half before sending it to a collection agency but it considers the remaining balance uncollectible. Bob St. Germain says he’s glad Verizon has dismissed the charge but it remains on his credit report. Verizon says such cases are “exceptionally rare.” ___ Information from: The Boston Globe, http://www.boston.com/globe

Read the full article →

Astellas Agrees to Buy OSI Pharma for $4 Billion to Gain First Cancer Drug

May 17, 2010

By Kanoko Matsuyama and Elizabeth Lopatto May 17 (Bloomberg) — Astellas Pharma Inc. agreed to buy OSI Pharmaceuticals Inc. for $4 billion in cash, raising its bid by 11 percent to gain the world’s fourth best-selling lung cancer medicine and a U.S. sales force for oncology drugs. The revised offer of $57.50 a share is 55 percent more than OSI’s price on Feb. 26, before Tokyo-based Astellas announced its hostile takeover, the companies said in a statement today. Both boards approved the new bid, which is 3.8 percent less than Melville, New York-based OSI’s last-traded price. The proposal, the second largest U.S. acquisition by a Japanese drugmaker, will add to earnings from the first year, Astellas said. It will help buffer the impact of competition from cheaper generic medicines that the company said last week will cause profit to slide for a third straight year. “Of course I would have loved to see more, but we’re happy investors in OSI,” said Sam Isaly , the managing director of Orbimed Advisors, OSI’s sixth-largest shareholder with 1.7 million shares as of Dec. 31. “Shareholders will sell their shares.” Astellas slid 0.3 percent to close at a five-month low of 3,135 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Japan’s benchmark Topix index lost 1.7 percent. OSI advanced 4.4 percent to $59.80 in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading on May 14 and has surged 62 percent since Feb. 26. Multibillion-Dollar Deals Astellas joins Japanese rivals Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. and Eisai Co. in multibillion-dollar acquisitions in the past three years to expand in the U.S., the world’s largest drug market. Takeda, based in Osaka, bought Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc. for $8.9 billion and Tokyo-based Eisai purchased MGI Pharma Inc. for $3.9 billion in 2008. Astellas said it aims to acquire more than 90 percent of OSI’s shares and the offer will succeed once it has at least half the stock. It received acceptances for 299,214 OSI shares, or about 0.5 percent, as of 4 p.m. New York time on May 14. OSI’s board had rejected the $52-a-share price as being too low, and Astellas extended the deadline of its tender offer twice. “I’m not surprised to see the deal get done but I am a little surprised by the price,” said Jason Kantor , an analyst with RBC Capital Markets Corp. in San Francisco, over the phone. “A lot of people are going to be unhappy with the price, but it’s a fair price. Clearly, the market was thinking higher.” Astellas said it expects to file amended takeover documents no later than May 21 and will keep the offer open for 10 business days. U.S. Sales Force OSI, founded in 1983, would give Astellas the Tarceva drug for cancer, a disease area the company has identified for growth. In addition, OSI will give Astellas three cancer medicines undergoing patient studies, including one in the final of three stages of clinical tests. Astellas will also gain a 90-person sales and marketing team in the U.S., and facilities in three U.S. states and the U.K. “With Astellas, you have to look at the longer term,” said Jason Zhang , an analyst for BMO Capital Markets in New York, in a telephone interview. “This is a step into the U.S., and into oncology. I think this is good for them.” Astellas projected on May 12 that net income will fall 13 percent to 107 billion yen ($1.2 billion) in the 12 months ending March 31, as sales slip 3.6 percent to 940 billion yen. Patent Expiry Patent protection for Prograf, used to prevent organ rejection in transplant patients, expired last August. Harnal for urinary disorders, has faced competition from cheaper copies since March this year. Astellas has committed to spending more than $1 billion since October last year to gain rights to experimental treatments for cancer. OSI earned operating income of $153 million and revenue of $428 million last year. Astellas’s revised bid amounts to about eight times OSI’s estimated 2010 revenue, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Takeda paid 13.5 times revenue for Millennium, OSI Chairman Robert Ingram and Chief Executive Officer Colin Goddard said in a March 15 letter to shareholders. Eli Lilly & Co. of Indianapolis paid 7.8 times revenue for ImClone Systems Inc. in 2008, they said. Tarceva, OSI’s biggest drug, is a treatment for advanced non-small-cell lung cancer and pancreatic tumors. The company projected this year that Tarceva will have $7 billion in revenue through 2020. The drug generated $1.6 billion for OSI and its Basel, Switzerland-based partner Roche Holding AG last year. Roche’s Avastin, Sanofi-Aventis SA ’s Taxotere and Eli Lilly’s Alimta were the only branded lung-cancer medications to generate higher sales than Tarceva in 2009. U.S. regulators approved the drug on April 16 for use in non-small-cell lung cancer as an initial maintenance therapy, to control symptoms or progression of a disease, spurring analyst expectations that Astellas would increase its offer. Citigroup Inc. is financial adviser for Astellas, and Centerview Partners LLC and Lazard Ltd. are advising OSI. Morrison & Foerster LLP is Astellas’ legal counsel, and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP & Affiliates is acting for the U.S. drugmaker. To contact the reporters on this story: Kanoko Matsuyama in Tokyo at kmatsuyama2@bloomberg.net ; Elizabeth Lopatto in New York at elopatto@bloomberg.net .

Read the full article →

Picasso Painting ‘Nude, Green Leaves And Bust’ Sold For $106.5 Million At Auction

May 4, 2010

NEW YORK — A 1932 Pablo Picasso painting of his mistress has sold for $106.5 million, a world record price for any work of art at auction. “Nude, Green Leaves and Bust,” which had a pre-sale estimate of between $70 million and $90 million, was sold at Christie’s auction house on Tuesday evening to an unidentified telephone bidder. There were nine minutes of bidding involving eight clients in the sale room and on the phone, Christie’s said. At $88 million, two bidders remained. The final bid was $95 million, but the buyer’s premium took the sale price to $106.5 million. Conor Jordan, head of impressionist and modern art for Christie’s New York, said he was “ecstatic with the results.” “Tonight’s spectacular results showed the great confidence in the marketplace and the enthusiasm with which it welcomes top quality works,” he said. The striking work of Picasso’s muse and mistress Marie-Therese Walter has been exhibited in the United States only once, in 1961 in Los Angeles to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Picasso’s birth. The painting, which measures more than 5 feet by 4 feet, shows a reclining nude figure with an image of Picasso in the background looking over her. The painting had belonged to the late California art patron Frances Lasker Brody, who bought it in the 1950s. It had been kept in her family since then. Part of the sale proceeds will benefit the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, Calif., where Brody was on the board. The previous record for a work of art at auction was $104.3 million for “Walking Man I,” a sculpture by Alberto Giacometti sold on Feb. 3 at Sotheby’s in London. The previous high price for a Picasso work was $104.2 million for “Boy With a Pipe (The Young Apprentice),” attained in 2004 at Sotheby’s New York. On Wednesday, another rarely seen Picasso is slated to sell at Sotheby’s auction house. “Woman in a Hat, Bust” is a 1965 work inspired by Jacqueline Roque, the last love of Picasso’s life. It is estimated to sell for $8 million to $12 million. The work hung for 50 years in the Manhattan apartment of Patricia Kennedy Lawford, a sister of former President John F. Kennedy. It’s being sold by her estate.

Read the full article →

Mexico’s Megacable Sinks Most Since January as BBVA Says Bet Against Stock

May 4, 2010

By Tal Barak Harif May 4 (Bloomberg) — Megacable Holdings SAB , Mexico’s biggest cable-TV provider, fell the most in three months in Mexico City trading after BBVA Bancomer SA said investors should bet against the shares. Megacable declined the most since Jan. 21, dropping 6.4 percent to 28.93 pesos at 4:31 p.m. New York time. “We believe there is a good opportunity to go short on Mega stock,” Andres Coello , an analyst at BBVA Bancomer in Mexico City, wrote in a report e-mailed today. Megacable cannot sustain its profit multiple “because of the slowdown in organic and financial growth, and because of rising competition. We recommend stepping up sales in the last 20 minutes of trading,” he said. Megacable is fighting to keep subscribers from switching to satellite providers Sky, controlled by Grupo Televisa SA, and Dish Mexico, co-owned by EchoStar Corp. and MVS Comunicaciones SA. The company also competes with Telefonos de Mexico SAB, the phone company controlled by billionaire Carlos Slim , for voice and Internet customers. Net Servicos de Comunicacao SA , Brazil’s biggest cable-TV provider, had an annual 30 percent growth of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, while Megacable’s Ebitda rose at an annual rate of 4.3 percent, Coello said.      “The current rate of video penetration in Brazil is half that of Mexico,” he said. “There is more potential in the Brazilian triple-play segment than in Mexico, which once again underscores how difficult it will be for Megacable to sustain its current multiples.” To contact the reporter on this story: Tal Barak Harif in New York at tbarak@bloomberg.net

Read the full article →

John Hope Bryant: Financial Literacy as the New Civil Right: Why It Matters to Business in America

April 18, 2010

Introducing the Gallup-Operation HOPE Financial Literacy Index In 1960, the issue here and around the world was the emergence of democracy, and making it real to you and me. Well, let’s say the minority and the poor you and me. The way we commodified democracy and “made it relevant,” was the right to vote, equal access and equal rights. But today, in the backdrop of a global economic crisis, there are more people in America with no bank account than didn’t have the right to vote in 1960, or 40 million (unbanked and under-banked). Today everyone — be you white, black, red, brown or yellow — wants some more green. Today, 70% of Americans were living from paycheck to paycheck, and that was before the economic crisis. Today, everyone needs to be bi-lingual. You need to understand English and the language of money, or financial literacy. Today, if you don’t understand the language of money, and you don’t have a bank account, you are an economic slave. But this movement may prove much more difficult than the last, as money is emotional and elusive. Understanding the language of money and financial literacy is often buried in the shadows of an odd, colorless shame. 50% of those in foreclosure never pick up the phone and call their lender. The number #1 reason for divorce in America is money. The #1 reason why kids drop out of college, and particularly, black and brown kids, is not academic success but money. This year alone, 350 young ladies, who had stellar academic records, initially could not return to Spelman College simply because they could not afford tuition. Thanks to some private Spelman donors, this stark reality was reversed for all but a few of these young women on a mission to improve themselves. The “gap” here was not ambition or work ethic, but money. How we fight this war on financial literacy will not be in the streets, but in the suites. It will feature amongst other things, a five-part strategy including: 1. Mandatory financial literacy for every youth 4th through 12th grade; 2. A domestic Peace Corps of relevant role models which connects education to real success or failure in life; 3. An electronic debit card accessed FDIC or NCUA insured bank or credit union account secured at birth, no different than your Social Security number. This would also help to push financial predators, such as payday lenders and check cashers, out of business; 4. The mother of all national financial literacy assessment — the Gallup-HOPE Financial Literacy Index. 5. Private sector adoption of financial literacy in financial products and services, as well as Human Resources department, such as the 5-year HOPE agreement has entered into with the Financial Services Roundtable. The magic behind the Gallup-HOPE Financial Literacy Index In 2009, Gallup teamed up with America’s Promise Alliance to produce The Gallup Student Poll and surveyed 70,078 students in grades 5 through 12, from 335 schools and 59 districts located in 18 states and the District of Columbia. Based on the Gallup Student Poll, half of American students are hopeful; these students possess numerous ideas and abundant energy for the future. The other half of students are stuck (33%) or discouraged (17%), lacking the ideas and energy they need to navigate problems and reach goals. Hope varies little across grade levels. Across participating schools, class size was negatively associated with hope (larger the class, lower the hope) and the percentage of students on free and reduced lunch was not associated with hope. Furthermore, Gallup has already proven that hope is a more powerful indicator of academic success and graduation rates than GPA or ACT scores. I cannot help but focus on this 50% hopeful number, as approximately 40-50% of urban youth in America are dropping out of high school, and it seems are not very hopeful at all. Doubling Hope Hope is malleable (Gallup, 2009c; Lopez, Rose, Robinson, Marques, & Pais Reibero, 2009) and 50% of American students need support from parents, school, business and the community to build their energy and ideas for the future. Financial literacy is one of the incredibly under-utilized tools that can be used to energize our youth and build their ideas in their own future. Want to keep a kid in school? Show them how to succeed, prosper, do well, even how to get rich (legally) if they want to. That’s financial literacy, free enterprise and capitalism, ownership, opportunity and entrepreneurship. In short, we need to reconnect education with the relevancy of “doing well.” Financial literacy is the next civil right and the first global silver rights empowerment tool. Without a big burst in national 4th-12th grade financial literacy, America will not be globally competitive. The problem can’t be fixed “nationally,” it has to be fixed locally — one city, one school and one student at a time, and most importantly, local leaders can’t manage this phenomenon unless they can measure it. Enter the Gallup-HOPE Financial Literacy Index, 2010 . We intend to include “all” students between 5th-12th grades, so we will be gathering a census, not a sample. We want to measure how many have a general understanding of running a business, whether they ever have held a job and been paid, do they have a savings account, do they have a positive image of free enterprise and its role in American society, and do they see themselves playing a role in it. We are building a leadership tool with the Gallup-HOPE Index that will tell local city leaders if they are raising the next generation of local small, medium and large businesses — businesses and jobs that will be needed to create the necessary tax base to sustain that city. This is why financial literacy is not only the next civil right, but critically important to American competitiveness, and business too. John Hope Bryant is the founder, chairman and CEO of Operation HOPE, financial literacy advisor to the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council, a Young Global Leaders for the World Economic Forum, and author of LOVE LEADERSHIP; A New Way to Lead in a Fear-Based World (Jossey-Bass) , which debuted in August, 2009, as the Amazon.com #1 Hottest New Book (for Leadership), on the CEO Reads Top 10 Business Best Seller List, and was published in November, 2009 in digital audio book format on Audible.com, iTunes and other audio book retailers . Love Leadership continued to be listed amongst the Top 25 Business Books for CEO READS for the 7 month period after release.

Read the full article →

Dubai Shares Drop on Concern With Dubai World Interest Proposal, Goldman

April 18, 2010

By Dana El Baltaji April 18 (Bloomberg) — Dubai’s stocks fell the most this month on concern Dubai World is offering creditors interest that is about a fifth of the market rate and after global markets slumped on fraud allegations at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Arabtec Holding PJSC slipped the most since February after a unit of the construction company won’t bid for a contract to build a 1.1 kilometer (0.68-mile) skyscraper in Saudi Arabia. Emaar Properties PJSC retreated 3.9 percent. The Dubai Financial Market General Index lost 2.3 percent, the biggest drop since March 29, to 1,775.56 at the close in Dubai. Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All Share Index fell 0.9 percent at 1:48 p.m. in Riyadh. Dubai World, the state-owned holding company restructuring $24.8 billion of debt, is offering to pay creditors 1 percent interest on new loans as part of a restructuring plan, a banker familiar with the plan said April 15. Banks are reluctant to accept the new rate presented on March 25 as it is lower than the market rate of about 5 percent and would force Dubai World’s creditors to book impairment provisions, two bankers said. “A 1 percent interest on the restructured amount is not in the best interest of anyone,” said Marwan Shurrab , assistant fund manager and chief trader at Gulfmena Alternative Investments in Dubai. “It would hurt banks and force them to make more provisions, which will affect their results.” A spokesman for Dubai World declined to comment when contacted on April 15. Withdrawing Offer U.S. stocks fell on April 16, halting the longest rally in a year, after allegations of fraud at Goldman heightened concern the government will crack down on Wall Street. Arabtec tumbled 5.6 percent, the most since Feb. 14, to 2.51 dirhams. The plan was withdrawn for “various reasons associated with the requirements of the Kingdom Tower,” Arabtec said in a statement read over the phone to Bloomberg News today. Arabtec Construction had planned to submit a proposal for Kingdom Tower with its South Korean partner Samsung Corp . this month, The National reported earlier. Emaar, the developer of the world’s tallest tower in Dubai, fell to 3.90 dirhams. Dubai Islamic Bank PJSC , the United Arab Emirates’ biggest Islamic lender, retreated to the lowest level in a month, falling 3.8 percent to 2.29 dirhams. Abu Dhabi’s measure declined 1 percent, the most in more than two weeks, on concern a cloud of ash from volcanic eruptions in Iceland will disrupt flights to and from Abu Dhabi ahead of a real estate exhibition in the emirate this week. The number of people attending the property exhibition in Abu Dhabi is likely to drop because of flight cancelations, said Majed Azzam , a real estate analyst at Al-Futtaim HC Securities. Aldar Properties PJSC , Abu Dhabi’s biggest real-estate developer, fell 4.8 percent, the most since Jan. 26, to 4.20 dirhams and Sorouh Real Estate Co. lost 2.9 percent to 2.38 dirhams. Iceland’s Volcano “There’s a lot of foreign ownership in Aldar and Sorouh,” Azzam said. “Whenever there is bad or good news globally, the stocks tend to overreact. Even though the property conference is directed more at Asian investors than the European market, the ash cloud doesn’t help sentiment.” Northern and central Europe may remain closed to air traffic until April 22 as winds push ash from volcanic eruptions in Iceland across the continent, forecasters said. European airlines canceled more than 77 percent of their flights yesterday as airports from Dublin to Moscow closed. The Muscat Securities Market 30 Index fell 0.4 percent and the Bahrain All Share Index retreated 0.3 percent. Qatar ’s gauge declined 1 percent and Kuwait’s measure was little unchanged. To contact the reporter responsible for this story: Dana El Baltaji in Dubai delbaltaji@bloomberg.net .

Read the full article →

Diana Taylor: Why We Need a ’411′ System for Financial Consumers

April 9, 2010

Seven years ago, when I had just begun my stint as the Banking Superintendent of the State of New York, I found myself sitting at a fancy dinner party in Manhattan. I was complaining to the financial mogul on my left that there were too many regulators involved in the financial system in the US, that no one knew what regulator was responsible for what, and that there must be problems at financial institutions which were falling through the cracks. My dinner partner replied that this was a ridiculous notion, the regulatory system was just fine (read: it suited his purposes), and that everybody was very clear as to what regulator was responsible for what. So, I asked him if he knew who the regulator was for the bank where he had most of his accounts — was the bank chartered by the State of New York or by the OCC? He replied that of course it was the State. I asked him which bank — he responded Citibank. I told him he was wrong. Citibank was chartered by the OCC and had been for years. This incident made a huge impression on me. If this man, who had been in the financial sector for decades, and had been extremely successful, did not know who to go to in the event he had a problem at his bank, how was the man on the street to know? I decided a good start would be for the federal government to set up a national “411″ system for consumers when they confront a problem with a financial institution. Anybody could call 411, get a person on the other end of the phone, describe their problem, and the financial institution involved, and get an answer as to which regulator had jurisdiction, and be forwarded to the appropriate person at the appropriate agency, much like the highly successful 311 system in NYC works. Not only does it allow people to quickly get to the agency with the power to do something to fix whatever the problem is, a record of the problem is made, added to the database of other reported problems, and the solution is tracked. This results not only in a solution to the problem but also in data which is used as a tool to better manage the city. Needless to say, the idea went nowhere, and I moved on to the private sector. I thought of this idea again as I was reading the excellent book The Road From Ruin by Matthew Bishop and Michael Green. In the first half of the book, Bishop and Green very clearly outline the history of ruin — of economic collapses through the centuries and their causes. The second half of the book is the roadmap back from the most recent financial crisis — what we need to do to prevent future meltdowns, what we as a society need to change. I thought again about the 411 system. One of the real problems we face has to do with consumer protection. There has been a lot of discussion about consumer protection as people are thinking about how the financial markets should be regulated. No matter what form that agency might take — whether consumer protection is left as is, within each regulatory agency, or as a standalone agency, or housed within another agency — data, information about what is happening to the users of the system, is crucial. A 411 system, properly constructed, could be a very powerful tool to determine what is happening where in the system. Imagine if you, as a consumer, take out a mortgage. You get to the closing, you think something is not right, that the fees are too high, or you are being required to pay for something you do not think is right. You call 411, explain the problem and who the lender is. You are referred to the appropriate agency. A record of the complaint is entered into the system, and how it is resolved is tracked. The regulators get a periodical report of all complaints, their origin, type, financial institution, etc. If there is a spike in a certain area, or of a certain type of problem, or against a particular institution, they can investigate to find out what is going on. As Bishop and Green say in their book, information is a powerful tool. It is hard to solve a problem if you do not know it exists in the first place.

Read the full article →

Jane Pak: The Art of Persuasion

April 5, 2010

I recently spoke to a group of first year MBA students at USC Marshall School of Business. Being a top tier school, the students I had the pleasure of addressing were bright, educated and talented. As you can imagine, I rightfully assumed these were an intelligent group with the best education 6 figures can pay for. My approach was simple — understanding how to get someone to do something you want them to do. Persuasion, as many would assume, is defined as a method of selling . My belief is that, while to some it may seem like semantics, it is less about selling and more about buy-in . You see, we live in a world of anti-sales: we prevent pop-ups, we enlist ourselves on national do-not-call lists, we are informed consumers and when we feel confident in a brand, we buy. Rather, we buy-in . So to say persuasion is about selling is antiquated and frankly anti-persuasive. I explained to these students, many of whom had just come in from a huge job-fair at the university, that persuading someone to (in my case) give/invest money in your organization/business or (in their case) to hire/promote you, required people to buy-in to why they should, not sell them on what you’re touting. *sidebar* At this very moment I wish I had the brilliant and well organized bullet points I had written before I spoke. I threw them in the trash hoping some eager and ambitious young MBA candidate would find my advice so illustrious that they would forgo their pride and rummage through the bin. My mistake now glows before me on my screen. *end sidebar* Never the less, I spoke from my experience. I don’t insinuate that I am smarter than the average Jane, any more clever than your typical non-profit manager or any more advantaged than the next guy or gal. But by understanding this simple concept before I went into any situation where I would need to walk away with a win has helped prepare me a great deal. Which leads to my next pearl of wisdom — know, to the absolute best of your ability, the situation you’re walking in to. Luck favors the prepared. One word — GOOGLE. The thing to realize about the entire situation, no matter what it may be, is everything boils down to people. Even the most mundane and seemingly unnecessary situation may require some quick persuasive action. I’m reminded of a situation where I overheard a very powerful friend negotiation with what I believed to be a terrorist on the phone — it was the customer service person at a cable company. What would normally send most sane people into a fit of frustrated rage, sent him into a zen-like persuasion mode. By the end of the conversation, not only had he received a real apology, he had the cable guy coming after-hours and a free month of service. I was shocked . When I asked him — 1) how did you manage to be so civilized with this person? and 2) how did you manage to get all those concessions without asking for them? His response to me was “Jane, I just remember that even with someone I’ll probably never meet or never talk to on the phone again — the person on the other side is a person. And you can negotiate with people, you just have to do it the right way.” Wise words — remember the golden rule and when talking to someone who makes $11 an hour, treat them like you would the CEO. If you empower them, they will want to help you. They will buy-in to your problem and want to fix it. Another bit of outdated advice is making the ask , I never make the ask — because the second you come out with the ask, you’ve now become someone who’s trying to sell. If you persuade properly, the decider will ask you and that’s how you know they are buying-in . Now, that’s not to say you never ask because then…well…what’s the point? But don’t pitch to sell, don’t lead into the inevitable ask — be authentic, show the real risk and the preparation to mitigate it and paint a real picture . There is no such thing as the fail-proof idea — smart people know that and for the most part — smart people have all the decision making power. Lastly — and most importantly — none of this can be accomplished until you have some level of self-awareness. Reading other people is about first knowing and being comfortable with yourself. There are a number of persuasion killers that are all attributed to a lack of self-awareness. For example, some people are too aggressive — because they have no idea and can’t read others and they come off too strong. (completely unrelated, more often than not, I meet these people at bars) If you aren’t self-aware, you can’t self-regulate. And unless you were born the luckiest SOB on the planet, there’s no real sustainability in that plan of attack — because that’s exactly what that is — an attack. I don’t know about you — but I don’t tend to buy-into assaults. There’s a real possibility that this point of view doesn’t have a broad application. It’s possible. I just know what worked for me. Perhaps, I’ve persuaded you it might work for you too. At least you read the whole thing.

Read the full article →

Obama Urges Hu to Back Action Against Iran in One Hour Call Before Summit

April 1, 2010

By Nicholas Johnston and Patrick Harrington April 2 (Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama urged Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao to support international efforts to stop Iran developing nuclear weapons in a one-hour phone conversation that emphasized his push to impose fresh sanctions. Obama “underscored the importance of working together to ensure that Iran lives up to its international obligations,” the White House said in a statement. The two leaders “discussed the importance of developing a positive bilateral relationship,” it said. Hu yesterday accepted Obama’s invitation to attend a nuclear security summit in Washington this month, signaling that the two countries are working to repair ties damaged by disagreements over the value of the yuan and U.S. arms sales to Taiwan. The U.S. will release a report soon after the summit on whether China is manipulating its currency. Hu’s attendance and the phone call are signs of “an easing of a stressed relationship,” said Zhu Feng , director of the International Security Program at Peking University. “Both sides will intensify their cooperation on global and transnational issues like the Iranian nuclear issue and climate change.” Obama has made the reduction and eventual elimination of nuclear arms a central part of his foreign policy, and more than 40 nations have been invited to attend the April 12-13 summit. China has kept the yuan at about 6.83 per dollar for the past 20 months to support exporters and sustain growth. The U.S. Treasury Department will decide in a report this month whether to label China as manipulating its currency, a designation not invoked since 1994. To contact the reporter on this story: Nicholas Johnston in Washington at njohnston3@bloomberg.net

Read the full article →

Carlyle’s Plan to Sell Taiwan’s Kbro Said to Have Stalled Over Media Rules

April 1, 2010

By Cathy Chan and Tim Culpan April 2 (Bloomberg) — Carlyle Group’s planned sale of a $1 billion stake in Kbro Co. to Taiwan Mobile Co. may be delayed until the government eases restrictions on state ownership of media companies, two people involved with the discussions said. Taiwan Mobile, which the government partially owns through Fubon Financial Holding Co., may extend the June 30 deadline to buy control of the cable-television operator, the people said, asking not to be identified because of confidentiality agreements. Neither side expected the restrictions to obstruct the deal when negotiations began last year, the people said. The rules hamper Taiwan Mobile’s plans to pass China Network Systems Inc. and Taiwan Broadband Communications to become the largest operator in a market where more than 80 percent of homes tune in to cable TV. The National Communications Commission is in talks with the Cabinet to allow government-related entities to indirectly own as much as 10 percent of media companies, Commissioner Lee Ta-sung said. “Under the current situation, they’re not allowed to merge because of the restrictions,” Lee said in a phone interview yesterday. “We’ve submitted our concept and proposal, and are now negotiating with the Cabinet.” Dorothy Lee , a Hong Kong-based spokeswoman at Carlyle, declined to comment. Josephine Juan, deputy spokeswoman at Taiwan Mobile, said the company plans to continue pursuing the acquisition. Washington-based Carlyle, the world’s second-largest buyout firm, bought control of Eastern Multimedia, which includes the cable TV unit that was renamed Kbro, for $1.5 billion in 2006. Waiting for Legislature Lee declined to say when he expects the rule to be amended because it would require approval from the Cabinet and legislature. The island’s second-largest phone carrier has gained 7 percent in Taipei trading since Sept. 16, when the company said it agreed to buy unlisted Kbro with 589 million Taiwan Mobile shares, giving it a 15.5 percent stake, and NT$440 million ($13.8 million) in cash. The benchmark Taiex index has added 7.2 percent over the same period. “It’s key to our future because it allows the convergence of telecom, cable and content,” said Taiwan Mobile’s Juan. “The problem is that the Taipei government owns a stake in Fubon.” Acquiring Kbro would boost cable TV to as much as 30 percent of Taiwan Mobile’s revenue, she said. Taipei City Government owns 14 percent of Fubon after Taipei Bank, in which it held a 44 percent stake, was acquired by the financial holding company in 2002. Fubon owns Taiwan Mobile shares through units including Fubon Securities Co., Fubon Life Insurance Co. and Fubon Insurance Co., according to the phone company’s Web site . Unintentional Owner “They didn’t mean to buy a media stake,” Commissioner Lee said of the Taipei City government’s ownership. “Most cases are due to indirect investment” by a government entity, he said. “This is why the NCC is trying to resolve this issue by allowing 10 percent indirect investment, to avoid such accidental cases,” he said. Taiwan introduced curbs on government and political party ownership of the media in December 2003, when then-President Chen Shui-bian sought to force the opposition Kuomintang to relinquish its interests in media operators. Fubon is 14 percent owned by the Taipei city government, data compiled by Bloomberg shows. To contact the reporter responsible for this story: Cathy Chan in Hong Kong at kchan14@bloomberg.net ; Tim Culpan in Taipei at tculpan1@bloomberg.net

Read the full article →

Wells Fargo Card Executive Stung by Fraud Finds Solution With Visa’s Help

March 23, 2010

By Peter Eichenbaum March 23 (Bloomberg) — Wells Fargo & Co. executive Kevin Rhein learned about credit-card fraud firsthand while walking on a treadmill at home in Minneapolis: An alert on his Blackberry showed his card was used to buy a $1,500 laptop in Las Vegas. The warning, sent last year during a test of a service developed by Visa Inc. , thwarted subsequent theft attempts and convinced Rhein that he had found a “slick” new weapon to combat payment-card fraud, which cost banks, merchants and U.S. consumers more than $22.4 billion last year. Wells Fargo announced today that Rapid Alerts are available free for all cardholders. “If I didn’t have that alert, they would have continued on their merry way charging until something got triggered in our fraud warnings,” said Rhein, group executive vice president of card services and consumer lending. “What we picked up here was the value of more immediate information to perhaps shut down fraud that much faster.” Wells Fargo’s product launch, the first commercial rollout of Visa’s platform, will allow cardholders to request alerts sent by e-mail or text message. American Express Co. and MasterCard Inc. offer similar alerts that help control identity fraud, a broader crime category that includes misuse of payment cards, according to James Van Dyke, president and founder of Javelin Strategy & Research, based in Pleasanton, California. The total cost of payment-card fraud from established accounts remained “relatively flat” at $22.4 billion last year, compared with $22 billion in 2008, Van Dyke said. That figure excludes frauds in which thieves set up new accounts. While the number of victims climbed to 2.8 percent of all U.S. adults, from 2.5 percent, the average out-of-pocket cost per person fell 40 percent to $329, he said. Rapid Alerts Wells Fargo’s Rapid Alerts include the amount, time and date of a transaction, the merchant’s name and location, and currency conversion data, Visa and Wells Fargo, both based in San Francisco, said in a statement. Data security is critical for networks including Visa, which processed $2.79 trillion in payments volume last year, deriving almost half of its revenue from service fees charged to merchant banks and card issuers. “Fraudsters and thieves are getting smarter,” Visa Chief Executive Officer Joseph Saunders told investors and analysts at a March 11 conference. “Now more than ever we need to stay one step ahead of the criminals.” Hand-held “skimmers” make it easy to steal customer data embedded in the magnetic stripe on the back of a credit card, said Brian Murphy, assistant special agent in charge of the U.S. Secret Service’s criminal investigative division. Shopping Crews The unit opened 1,263 access-device fraud investigations in the year ended Sept. 30, a 26 percent increase compared with the previous 12-month period, according to William Noonan, assistant to the special agent in charge. The agency also logged 2,099 arrests in fiscal 2009, a 14 percent rise. Some criminals sell the information, while others use it to make counterfeit cards that are given to members of shopping crews who travel across the country buying “high-end” goods that are later fenced, sometimes over the Internet, Murphy said. In Rhein’s case, the laptop purchase came after smaller transactions that didn’t trigger an alert. That’s because Rhein, whose spouse and children are authorized users on his account, had customized the alerts tool to notify him of card-present purchases exceeding $1,000. “I just didn’t want to have my phone going off every time my wife or one of the kids used the credit card,” Rhein said in an interview. “Anybody getting this service might want to start it at a very low level and see if the interruption aspect of it is worth it.” To contact the reporter on this story: Peter Eichenbaum in New York at peichenbaum@bloomberg.net .

Read the full article →

Jim Luce: Introduction to mFinance: Cell Phone Banking

March 19, 2010

Growing up in Ohio as a young teen, I would take my savings account passbook to the bank and deposit my earnings from snow shoveling or grass mowing. When I moved to New York City in the 1980′s, bank tellers still stood behind bullet-proof windows, but soon ATMs became as ubiquitous as Starbucks. Now, I follow my own HSBC account on-line. Cell phones in some parts of the world can now be used to buy a Coke! There is a funny trend happening. The developing world never built the infrastructure we have in the developing world – and therefore they are now leapfrogging ahead, at an amazing speed. We in North America and Europe are stuck with what the experts call “legacy infrastructure,” that is hard to break away from. One reason is the decades and enormous investment poured into developing the infrastructure – now that investment of time and money must be protected. Travelling around the world about one week a month, working on orphan care though the U.N.-affiliated NGO I founded ten years ago, Orphans International Worldwide ( OIWW ), I have seen the future in the developing world. It is our own future: cell phone banking, known as “mFinance.” At the GSM Association annual congress in Barcelona, Diarmuid Mallon, of Sybase of Reston, Virginia explained the basics of mFinance to me. At the recent GSM Association ( GSMA ) annual congress in Barcelona which I attended, Diarmuid Mallon, Senior Product Marketing Manager of Sybase in London was willing to explain it all to me: We now have a global network of connectivity that is almost endless. It can be used for healthcare, for education, and of course for finance. More people today have cell phones than have radios – or even land lines. We are seeing mobile operators creating joint ventures throughout the developing world. People are paying bills, sending money – or even air time – over their cell phones. It is simply more convenient that the old ways. The majority of people in the developing world are “unbanked.” Mobile technology is empowering them – allowing them to control their own finances – giving them financial independence. Diarmuid even has his own blog on this topic. I heard about Diarmuid’s colleague Bill Dudley’s blog on this topic from Haiti, where I have operated orphan care since Hurricane Jeanne many years ago. I find Bill’s blog fascinating. Bill has written about mobile messaging (SMS) and worldwide donations, as well as another outlining how SMS was helping to save lives in Haiti. He tells me has just finished a piece about how SMS usage actually increases in dire situations, relating to the new surge in messaging from Chile, following that nation’s earthquake. Bill shared his thoughts on SMS with me from London: One of the things that I try to get across in my blogs – which focus on mobile messaging and the mobile ecosystem in general, is that SMS messaging is and should be a part of any humanitarian relief – through the use of short codes such as was done to raise funds for Haiti. The blog and references to the Ushihidi 4636 Project was another fine example of the use of the mobile ecosystem… in this case – to help save lives. As much of the developing world has less of fixed communications infrastructure than mobile infrastructure. It is, in fact, the mobile infrastructure and popularity of mobile devices for the populace that promotes the use of simple SMS messaging for a variety of purposes. SMS is used to communicate with family and friends because it is many times cheaper than voice calls, especially when most of the developing world uses pre-paid plans). SMS is also used to interact with organizations, and to conduct financial transactions — thus “mFinance.” This is really why the developing world has certainly leapfrogged the developed world, when it comes to using mobiles for mCommerce or mFinance functions. Orphans International Worldwide is in the process of setting up orphan care in Leogane, epicenter of Haiti’s earthquake. We will have a Communications Tent, sponsored by CharityHelp International ( CHI ) with assistance from Skype . We hope to get Digitel , Haiti’s premier carrier, and Google involved as well. Consumers buy a MoneyBox Kit with a local ATM card and a stored value on the street and link the kit with their mobile phone. Consumers buy a MoneyBox Kit allowing them to create a saving account using their phone, without the need to visit a bank branch. They can save, send money and pay for goods and services just using their phone. And they can get an ATM card for easy cash-out Mobile phones are ideal to begin to move small amounts of money to teach financial literacy and allow people to mature to regular bank customers. I was also able to interview Ignacio Mas, Technology Program Adviser of the Gates Foundation, on this same theme (see story). I believe that mobile phone users of eFinance services will eventually save enough to open a regular bank account – although they will continue to access their funds, pay bills, and reconcile their monthly statements by cell. Mobile technology, no matter how primitive it remains in the U.S., is transformative. The global financial system is changing. Surprisingly, it is the developing world that is leading our own legacy-bound financial system into cell connectivity.

Read the full article →

Fortune’s Stanley Bing: Are You a Company Person?

March 18, 2010

When I was a kid, there was an entity that everybody pretty much had contempt for. It was a thing called the Company Man. The Company Man was owned by the Company. He dressed the way the Company said to dress. His opinions and his attitudes were shaped by the Company. He was generally faceless, because his face was the face of the Company. Poor dude, we thought. To sell your soul to the Company store like that. Pathetic. So I find it kind of interesting that today everybody I know has devolved to that status. You can’t really call it a Company Man anymore, because that is genderist. I’ll just say that we’re all Company People. I know a fellow who works for Google. He totes around an Android, the phone sold by his company in its store. He loves it. Like everybody else I know, he says “we” when he talks about his firm. He gets really defensive when people say anything against the Goog. My friend Larry works for Satan. I won’t reveal the human form that Satan is taking in his dealings with Larry, but believe me, he’s quite effective. Does Larry mind working for Satan? Not at all. “He’s a really nice guy when you get to know him,” Larry tells me. I believe him. Ted Bundy was charming, too. My pal Danny works in terrestrial radio, a business that has been disrespected by the fad-crazy media but actually produces billions of dollars of profit every year for its proprietors, at good margins. “I got satellite radio in this car I’m renting,” he told me the other day. “It’s pretty good. But I’d never subscribe to it.” I asked him why, if he liked it. “It would be like getting a season ticket to the Yankees,” he said. Danny bleeds Red Sox red. So I knew what he meant. And then there’s me. I have worked for the same company for more than 20 years. I didn’t intend to. I’ve been begging them to put me on the beach for years. But here I still am. Same job, even, only bigger. Same chair, too. Why change it? You know how hard it is to get a comfortable chair? Anyway, lately I find I hate the stuff made by our competitors. I won’t tell you what that is, because homey don’t play that. But I can say that whenever I run into it — on a plane, in a store, in somebody else’s house — I just despise it. If I’m exposed to it, I want to get away from it. If somebody expresses even mild approval of it, I feel like killing them. This Company mentality expands to fill all areas of my working life. Take this blog, for instance. It’s on a specific web destination that is in competition with some others, although competition on the Internet is somewhat weird. People cruise all over the place all day and hit just about everything in the sector in which they have an interest. But still. There are sites that go mano-a-mano against this one. And I loathe them. I wish them ill. I want them to go away. I don’t frequent them. I wish it could be different. My competitors are everywhere. And I hate them. I’m mildly annoyed by people who don’t, in fact. It’s possible we’re all like dogs. We start life looking like ourselves, and after some time we end up looking like our owners. Why not? They’re the ones holding the box of biscuits, I guess.

Read the full article →

Prius Recall: Runaway Prius Story Of Owner James Sikes’ Questioned In New Report

March 13, 2010

SAN DIEGO — Investigators with Toyota Motor Corp. and the federal government were unable to make a Toyota Prius speed out of control as its owner said it did on a California freeway, according to a memorandum obtained Saturday by The Associated Press that a congressional spokesman says casts doubt on the driver’s story. James Sikes, 61, called 911 on Monday to report losing control of his Prius as the hybrid reached speeds of 94 mph. A California Highway Patrol officer helped Sikes bring the vehicle to a safe stop on Interstate 8 near San Diego. Federal and Toyota investigators who examined and test drove the car could not replicate the problems Sikes said he encountered, the memo said. The findings raise questions about “the credibility of Mr. Sikes’ reporting of events,” said Kurt Bardella, a spokesman for California Rep. Darrell Issa, the top Republican on the House Oversight Committee that is looking into the incident. Sikes could not be reached to comment. However, his wife, Patty Sikes, said he stands by his story. “Everyone can just leave us alone,” she said. “Jim didn’t get hurt. There’s no intent at all to sue Toyota. If any good can come out of this, maybe they can find out what happened so other people don’t get killed.” Mrs. Sikes said the couple’s lives have been turned upside down since Monday and they are getting death threats. “We’re just fed up with all of it,” she said. “Our careers are ruined and life is just not good anymore.” Monday’s incident appeared to be another blow to Toyota, which has had to fend off intense public backlash over safety after recalls of some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide – more than 6 million in the United States – because of acceleration and floor mat problems in multiple models and braking issues in the Prius. Regulators have linked 52 deaths to crashes allegedly caused by accelerator problems. During two hours of test drives Thursday, technicians with Toyota and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration failed to duplicate the same experience that Sikes described, according to the memo prepared for the Oversight Committee. “It does not appear to be feasibly possible, both electronically and mechanically that his gas pedal was stuck to the floor and he was slamming on the brake at the same time,” the memo stated. The brakes on the Prius also did not show wear consistent with having been applied at full force at high speeds for a long period, the Wall Street Journal reported Saturday, citing three people familiar with the probe, whom it did not name. The newspaper said the brakes may have been applied intermittently. Toyota Corp. spokesman Mike Michels declined to confirm the Journal’s report. He said the investigation was continuing and the company planned to release technical findings soon. Michels said the hybrid braking system in the Prius would make the engine lose power if the brakes and accelerator were pressed at the same time. Transportation Department spokeswoman Jill Zuckman said investigators “are still reviewing data and have not reached any conclusions.” Sikes called 911 from the freeway on Monday and reported that his gas pedal was stuck and he could not slow down. In two calls that spanned 23 minutes, a dispatcher repeatedly told him to throw the car into neutral and turn it off. Sikes later said he had put down the phone to keep both hands on the wheel and was afraid the car would flip if he put it in neutral at such high speed. The officer – who eventually pulled alongside the car and told Sikes over a loudspeaker to push the brake pedal to the floor and apply the emergency brake – said Sikes braking coincided with a steep incline on the freeway. Once the car slowed to 50 mph, Sikes shut off the engine, the officer said. The memorandum obtained by The AP said when investigators placed the Prius up on a lift, they found the driver side front wheel well was dislodged and the brake pads were worn down. “Visually checking the brake pads and rotor it was clearly visible that there was nothing left,” the memo said. Drivers of two other Toyota vehicles that crashed last week said those incidents also resulted from the vehicles accelerating suddenly. NHTSA is sending experts to a New York City suburb where the driver of a 2005 Prius said she crashed into a stone wall Monday after the car accelerated on its own. And in Fort Wayne, Indiana, the driver of a 2007 Lexus said it careened through a parking lot and crashed into a light pole Thursday after its accelerator suddenly dropped to the floor. That car was the subject of a floor mat recall. Driver Myrna Cook of Paulding, Ohio, said it had been repaired. ___ Thomas reported from Washington, D.C.

Read the full article →

Brett King: TV, Advertising, and Newspapers are dead – deal with it…

March 12, 2010

You know what – change is a funny thing. For me, I can’t wait untill I can watch all my movies and TV shows on demand instantly whenever I want without having to worry about which channel it’s on, or which device I’m going to use to watch it – just click and watch. I can’t wait till I can read my latest thriller I bought on my iPad while sitting at 35,000 feet depending (I’ll still read the hard cover at the coffee shop though!). I can’t wait till I can walk on to my next flight without needing a physical boarding pass, and I can’t wait till I do my first payment by swiping my phone instead of my credit card (in fact I already have really). For me technology adoption is not only a way of life, but it’s just plain cool. I want to use my cell phone as a boarding pass It is apparent, however, that some others amongst us, don’t really like all these new fangled internet thingys and are a little challenged by change. I was in one of my regular bank strategy sessions the other week when I challenged the concept of free-to-air TV. In BANK 2.0 I predict that free-to-air TV can not really survive beyond about 5-7 years, because with TVC Ad revenue plummeting, beyond the state financing TV stations there is simply no viable business model that can sustain free-to-air. Why I raised this issue was, with only 18% of TVCs even having partial ROI these days, that marketing teams had to start thinking about moving away from traditional broadcast advertising as quickly as possible to point-of-impact . It was at this point I was challenged by a member of the audience who shouted out “you’ll never get me paying for sports on TV!”. In fact, and this might seem just a little bizarre to those of you who live in other countries, recently a lobby group has come up with a campaign to ensure just that in Australia – it’s a website and massive TV/Print Ad campaign running in Australia at the moment called www.keepsportfree.com.au . I’m sorry – that’s just … ridiculous – think new mediums people!! No matter how hard you lobby, no matter how hard we want things to stay the same, there is an inevitability about the way technology adoption changes consumer behavior, and hence the way it changes business, consumption and transactions. The most coveted skill in business today should be the ability to accurately read these trends and help your organization adapt accordingly. I know I’ve discussed it before, but the launch of electronic stock trading by Charles Schwab is a great example. Looking back even Merrill Lynch probably realize that this was a positive game changer. The reality is it really had to go this way eventually, regardless of who took the helm. The fact that we can use advisory sites, online research, and analytics tools to give us real-time information even better than what most (not all) brokers could gives us, says what it’s all about – where does the value lie? Not in a human interaction – but in the ability to execute the trade itself. Branches of banks face the same conundrum today. For media content like TV shows, music, news it is likewise inevitable. Why should I wait until 8/9 central to watch that favorite series that I love, why can’t I just schedule it for download as it’s released online and then just watch next time I have a spare 40 minutes? Why would I physically walk into a music store to buy a CD – after all how can I get the tracks onto my iPod that way? Carry a newspaper on the train to read? Come on… These are all outmoded interactions; interactions that have no place in my life in the 21st Century. You see these changes are inevitable. When Napster launched the recording industry went after the start-up and other similar businesses with the focus of a velociraptor, and for a time they thought they had succeeded. In 2008, however, 95% of songs were downloaded illegally , why? Mainly, because the recording industry failed to provide legal means to access this content online – they were too slow to adapt. When iTunes did provide a legal channel for the same – they made gazillions . In addition, artists actually can make more money in the digital age , while record companies provide minimal value in the value chain of the new world. This is why I am choosing to embrace change. I don’t want to keep my free-to-air TV, my physical newspaper and my gas guzzling SUV – I am ready for change, and I recognize it is inevitable. If I am prepared for change, then I’ll undoubtedly capture those customers that are likewise ready for change, and they are the majority today. I can adapt or see my value chipped away until my business is worthless. You want to join me?

Read the full article →

Monsanto May Have Antitrust Edge as Protecting Patents Trumps Competition

March 12, 2010

By Jack Kaskey and William McQuillen March 12 (Bloomberg) — Monsanto Co. , facing antitrust probes into its genetically modified seeds, may benefit from previous court rulings in which intellectual property rights trumped competition concerns, antitrust lawyers say. The Department of Justice and seven state attorneys general are investigating whether the world’s largest seed company is using gene licenses to keep competing technologies off the market. At issue is how the St. Louis-based company sells and licenses its patented trait that allows farmers to kill weeds with Roundup herbicide while leaving crops unharmed. The company’s Roundup Ready gene was in 93 percent of U.S. soybeans last year. “Justice is clearly trying every way it can to see whether Monsanto is exceeding its rights under the patent,” said James Weiss , a Washington-based attorney at K&L Gates LLP who helped defend Microsoft Corp. against a federal antitrust probe. “At the end of the day, they may not be able to do much with it because of the scope of those patents. In almost all the cases, the courts come out on the side of intellectual property.” Yet Monsanto’s seeds are so ubiquitous that they have become like AT&T’s telephone lines before the company’s 1984 breakup or Microsoft Corp.’s Windows operating system in the 1990s, said James P. Denvir , an attorney who represents rival seedmaker DuPont Co. and led the government’s AT&T case. “Both cases involve what I think of as a classic platform monopoly,” Denvir said. “It’s a facility that competitors need access to, to compete against the monopolist.” Monsanto and DuPont, which are suing each other over a biotech seed license, both hired former Justice Department lawyers who have handled high-profile cases. ‘Revolutionizing the Marketplace’ Monsanto’s attorney, Dan Webb , defended Microsoft in 2002 against government antitrust claims. A former U.S. Attorney in Chicago, he also prosecuted Admiral John Poindexter in the Iran- Contra affair. Webb credits Monsanto with “revolutionizing the agriculture marketplace” and said antitrust claims such as those in DuPont’s suit aren’t an uncommon response to patent infringement cases such as Monsanto’s. “The perception among farmers is that DuPont’s complaints about exclusivity are without merit,” said Webb, a Chicago- based Winston & Strawn LLP partner. Denvir, who represents DuPont, said farmers are among the victims. “Clearly, we are too,” he said. “The bigger harm, the more important harm, is to farmers in denying them the best seeds they can get at the lowest possible prices.” Legal Monopoly While patents provide some protection from antitrust claims, giving a company a legal monopoly for a specified time, patent rights can be abused, DuPont lawyers and others said. “The question becomes whether or not somebody in that position has engaged in some bad acts that either got it in that position or are designed to maintain that position or to extend that position to other markets,” said Charles “Rick” Rule, a lawyer at Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft LLP who ran the Justice Department’s antitrust unit under President Ronald Reagan . The Justice Department and Department of Agriculture will hold a workshop on competition in agricultural markets, including biotech seeds, today in Ankeny, Iowa. Christine Varney , who heads the antitrust division now, has signaled she’ll be more aggressive than the Bush administration, Rule said. The department probably is looking at whether Monsanto’s licensing restrictions on seeds have a legitimate business justification, said Rule, who occasionally advises Monsanto and isn’t working with Webb on the antitrust case. Potential for Abuse “When you have that sort of monopoly power, it can lead to abuse, which is what we’ve been experiencing over the past several years,” said Thomas L. Sager , DuPont’s general counsel. Wilmington, Delaware-based DuPont claims Monsanto protects its lead in biotech seeds, including the Roundup Ready seeds sold since 1996, by controlling whether competitors can add their own genetics. Monsanto also has begun switching seedmakers and growers from Roundup Ready soybeans to the newer Roundup Ready 2 Yield version in advance of the original’s patent expiration in 2014. DuPont says Monsanto is using incentives and penalties to switch the industry to the new product in a way that unlawfully extends the Roundup Ready monopoly. ‘Level Playing Field’ “This is about trying to obtain a level playing field so innovators can introduce combinations of choices to the farmer that increase yield and of course feed the world,” Sager said. At least seven states are investigating many of the same claims, as well as whether Monsanto illegally offered rebates to distributors who limit sales of competing seed, according to one person involved in the probe who asked not to be named because he isn’t authorized to discuss it. 3M Co.’s use of rebates to induce retailers to buy more transparent tape and curtail purchases from a smaller supplier was ruled anticompetitive by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2003. Monsanto has amended its practices to address some criticisms. The company will help the introduction of generic Roundup Ready soybeans by maintaining foreign import approvals during the transition, a process that will be followed for off- patent biotech seeds in the future, Chief Executive Officer Hugh Grant said in a January interview. Monsanto last year stopped giving rebates to dealers who limited competing seeds’ sales, said Kelli Powers , a spokeswoman. AT&T, Microsoft Parallels DuPont filed its federal antitrust case last year after Monsanto sued to block its rival from adding the Roundup Ready trait to seeds already modified to tolerate Roundup weed killer. “Trait development has been stunted by the inability to get access to the Roundup Ready platform,” Denvir, an attorney with Boies Schiller & Flexner LLP, said in an interview in his Washington office. The firm was founded by David Boies , who led the government’s successful antitrust suit against Microsoft. Roundup Ready is “licensed so broadly that if you want to offer any trait, it has to be somehow combined with that trait.” While Monsanto has promised to allow generic versions of its products to emerge, Denvir said he is unconvinced that will happen without government intervention. Monsanto got its lead in seed biotechnology because it invested in research long before DuPont and other competitors, said Webb, Monsanto’s counsel. The company spent $6 billion on seed research in the 10 years through 2008 and $1 billion a year since then, said Powers, the company spokeswoman. Among the cases relevant to the claims against Monsanto is a 2004 Supreme Court decision that Verizon Communications Inc. and other phone companies didn’t break laws by doing too little to encourage competition, said Rule, the former antitrust division head. Xerox Ruling A Federal Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in February 2000 that Xerox Corp. can’t be sued for using patents to establish or entrench a monopoly also may apply to the Monsanto disputes, he said. The cases reflect how U.S. courts have given intellectual property owners leeway to control licensing to make the property more valuable, encourage the owner to widely license the technology and support further investment, he said. Greg Neppl , with Foley & Lardner, agreed that intellectual property rights often trump antitrust concerns. “The patent concerns are well protected in the law,” said Neppl. “Where the patent rights are clear, the antitrust issues are secondary. The antitrust concerns must respect the patent owner.” Monsanto persuaded U.S. District Judge Richard Webber in September to separate the licensing case from DuPont’s antitrust counterclaim. The seedmaker won an additional incremental victory in January when Webber ruled that DuPont violated the companies’ licensing agreement by combining Monsanto’s Roundup- tolerance gene with a DuPont gene that does the same thing. Counterclaim ‘Clutter’ Patent infringement is “a fair and proper case,” Webb said. “Monsanto will have its day in court and it will not be cluttered with the antitrust counterclaim.” Monsanto shares climbed 50 cents to $71.61 yesterday, paring the decrease since DuPont filed its antitrust case in mid-June to 15 percent. DuPont has climbed 42 percent in the same period. Justice Department probes typically move in tandem with related civil litigation because plaintiffs share information with the government, Neppl said. “The antitrust division today is more willing to look at assertions” of anticompetitive behavior, Rule said. “This is something they have a right to look at. Once they get into an investigation, they are pretty good at making up their own mind.” The case is Monsanto Co. v. E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co., 09cv686, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Missouri (St. Louis). To contact the reporters on this story: Jack Kaskey in New York at jkaskey@bloomberg.net ; William McQuillen in Washington at bmcquillen@bloomberg.net .

Read the full article →

CEOs Say Sorry and Thanks for All the Dough: Susan Antilla

March 9, 2010

Commentary by Susan Antilla March 9 (Bloomberg) — Everywhere you look, there’s a CEO apologizing for something. Toyota boss Akio Toyoda is apologizing about the big, fat problem with his mysteriously accelerating cars. Morgan Stanley’s John Mack says he regrets his firm’s role in the credit crisis, and is “especially sorry for what’s happened to shareholders.” Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs is remorseful, and John Reed , former co-chief executive officer of Citigroup is contrite because “people I love and care about” have been affected by the financial meltdown. Domineering, control-freak executives don’t have a long history of offering penance or much else — save greed — for that matter. These days, though, executives are throwing caution to the wind, expressing emotion and even offering gratitude to shell-shocked taxpayers for their coerced largesse in providing bailout funds. Vikram Pandit , head of Citigroup, thanked taxpayers last week and Brian Moynihan , who runs Bank of America, did the same in January. You’re welcome, Mr. Pandit and Mr. Moynihan. Now does this mean you’ll stop sending us those credit-card nasty-grams with the sneaky little nuisance-fee provisions? It’s great public relations to show a little humility at a time when taxpayers are gunning to storm the gates. I wonder, though, if the showing of corporate remorse is a spin-inspired flash in the pan that will go the way of the balanced budget as soon as the economy is humming and people are feeling flush and greedy again. Or is there some new sort of pressure on institutions that will give the Big Shot apology legs? Tsunami of Trouble One reason we’re seeing so many executive apologies is the tsunami of crises from Wall Street to Hollywood to Tokyo. The story about the VIP reduced to groveling “has become an art form on ‘Entertainment Tonight,’” says Stephen A. Greyser , professor of business administration at Harvard Business School . It’s an art form in which words often are carefully parsed. Watch for the scripted non-apology where the CEO delivers some version of “If you feel you’ve been hurt, we are sorry for that.” Or the guarded apology like this one from Blankfein: “We participated in things that were clearly wrong and have reason to regret.” What things? Things done by whom? And what have you done to be sure it doesn’t happen again? With a cell-phone camera in every pocket and an Internet audience instantly riveted to postings of fresh scandal, it’s harder than ever for executives to deny, cover up and get back to the golf course. The text or video about your blunder can make its way around the virtual world before you can get the lawyers and PR guys on the phone to cook up an artful version of “No comment.” No Hiding “You can’t hide the mistakes like you used to,” says John Kador , author of “Effective Apology: Mending Fences, Building Bridges and Restoring Trust.” OK, so it’s easier to get caught, but you have to wonder whether the Apologetic CEO Phenomenon is destined to abruptly disappear once the economy limps its way out of Hades. If nothing else, executives accustomed to bossing people around and getting the best table at San Pietro hate having to grovel and are only going to do it when their backs are to the wall. That goes double for the older coots — I mean men of a certain age – - who don’t know enough to fly commercial when they’re off to tell Washington that their car companies need a little bailout money. They may not like it, but top execs had better get used to the idea of owning up to mistakes, says Daniel Diermeier , business professor at Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Customers — particularly more socially conscious younger ones — have higher expectations of the companies they do business with, and aren’t letting CEOs get away with self-serving arguments about how business is done. Levin’s Mea Culpa Consider the old notion that bankers are socially useful in spite of their excessive pay and often-egregious conduct because they supply the lubricant that keeps the economy chugging along. Economy? What economy? The public has written bankers off. The Edelman PR firm asked 4,875 college-educated Americans last fall if they trusted bankers to do the right thing. Only 29 percent said yes. That’s down from 68 percent in 2007. So they apologize and thank us and even expound on their transgressions on cable television. Gerald Levin , former head of Time Warner, gave one of the more believable apologies I’ve seen during an interview on CNBC in January. Levin said that as the guy in charge at the time, the disastrous merger of Time Warner and AOL was his fault — not his board, bankers or lawyers. The mea culpa would have been perfect except for one unfortunate word. “I presided over the worst deal of the century, apparently,” he said. Apparently? Nah, I think we can all agree that you presided over the worst deal of the century, period. Tiger Halts Traffic Another famous extended apology was the one so high-profile that it actually slowed New York Stock Exchange trading for a few minutes. Commerce came to a halt to hear Tiger Woods , the man in charge of his own billion-dollar brand, on Feb. 19. But so far, it hasn’t worked. A poll to measure the popularity of corporate spokespeople by Onmicom Inc., taken several weeks later, showed the golfer’s appeal as a corporate spokesman had reached a new low. Some mea culpas will work, some won’t. While the remorse movement continues on, it’s getting like a ‘70s-style love-fest with all the expressions of sorrow, gratitude and love. You sensitive guys are getting me all choked up. ( Susan Antilla is a Bloomberg News columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.) Click on “Send Comment” in the sidebar display to send a letter to the editor. For Related News and Information: More Antilla columns: NI ANTILLA More Bloomberg columns: OPED or NI COLUMNS BN Top financial stories: FTOP

Read the full article →

China Mobile Drops as Investors Question Plans to Take Pudong Bank Stake

March 3, 2010

By Mark Lee March 4 (Bloomberg) — China Mobile Ltd. shares fell in Hong Kong trading on concern the world’s biggest phone company by value is deviating from its main business by considering an investment in Shanghai Pudong Development Bank Co. China Mobile lost 2.2 percent to HK$73 on the city’s stock exchange in early trading, compared with a 0.6 percent rise on the benchmark Hang Seng Index. “It doesn’t make sense for the management to be using funds this way,” said Bertram Lai , who rates China Mobile shares “neutral” at CIMB-GK Securities in Hong Kong. “They should be returning it to shareholders.” China Mobile Chairman Wang Jianzhou said yesterday the possible investment in Pudong Bank will help the carrier build its electronic commerce business and lift earnings as mounting competition slows profit growth. The transaction would help replenish capital at the Shanghai-based lender after Chinese banks extended a record 9.59 trillion yuan ($1.4 trillion) of credit last year. “You don’t need to buy a bank to get into mobile banking. They should just stick to what they do,” said Christopher Wong , a fund manager at Aberdeen Asset Management, which manages $45 billion of assets, including China Mobile shares, in the Asia excluding Japan region. “We’ll be disappointed if this goes through. This is not what they do.” Pudong Bank, part-owned by Citigroup Inc., said yesterday in a Shanghai stock exchange filing that talks on a possible investment by China Mobile are under way. Wang said a deal will lift China Mobile’s earnings per share as support from a financial firm helps it expand in e-commerce, a market dominated domestically by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Trading Halted China Mobile, which had 256 billion yuan of cash at the end of June according to its interim earnings report, may buy 2.2 billion Pudong Bank shares for 17.82 yuan apiece, Guotai Junan Securities Co. analyst Wu Yonggang wrote in a note last week, without citing anyone. That’s 14 percent lower than the stock’s closing price before trading was halted on Feb. 26 pending an announcement about a strategic investment. China Mobile fell 2.4 percent to HK$74.65 yesterday in Hong Kong before the company’s official announcement of the talks, underperforming the benchmark Hang Seng Index for a fourth consecutive session. The phone carrier, with a market capitalization of HK$1.5 trillion ($193.2 billion) as of yesterday, hired China International Capital Corp. as its financial adviser, two people involved in the talks said, asking not to be identified because of confidentiality agreements. Underperforming Shares “Any investment will help increase our earnings per share,” China Mobile’s Wang told reporters in Hong Kong yesterday during a teleconference from Beijing. The carrier needs “deep support” from a financial firm to develop its electronic commerce and payment business, he said. Alipay, owned by Hangzhou, east China-based Alibaba Group , controls almost 60 percent of China’s online-payment market, according to its Web site. Chinese consumers bought more than 180 billion yuan of goods and services on the Internet last year, according to Fang Meiqin, research director at BDA China Ltd, a Beijing-based telecommunications industry consultant. The value of e-commerce transactions settled using mobile handsets will probably increase to more than 7 billion yuan by 2013, according to BDA. “It will become much more convenient for China Mobile to offer electronic payment services if they have an alliance with a bank,” said Fang. “In China, technology companies don’t have the necessary licenses to offer financial services.” A deal with Pudong Bank wouldn’t undermine China Mobile’s ability to partner with other lenders, Wang said. Calling the Shots “I don’t know what strategically that would provide to China Mobile,” CIMB’s Lai said. “As the leading player in the market, they can theoretically call the shots and partner with anybody.” China Mobile wouldn’t be alone in investing in financial firms. South Korea’s SK Telecom Co . last year agreed to buy a stake in Hana Financial Group Inc.’s credit-card unit for 400 billion won ($349 million), while Globe Telecom Inc. in the Philippines agreed to buy 40 percent of BPI-Globe BanKO Savings Bank in 2008. Nokia Oyj , the world’s biggest maker of mobile phones, last year bought a minority stake in Obopay, a supplier of mobile banking services in the U.S. and India. China Mobile started allowing some users to pay bills with their handsets last year, and began providing other services such as mobile television and electronic readers, Chairman Wang said in November. The company is expanding its range of value- added services as competition intensifies with rivals China Telecom Corp. and China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd. Stimulus Package Pudong Bank, with 491 outlets nationwide, is seeking to boost financial strength after expanding loans by 30 percent in the first nine months of last year to support China’s 4 trillion yuan economic stimulus package . The Shanghai-based lender in September raised 15 billion yuan in a private placement to ensure it has enough capital to meet loan demand and regulatory requirements. China Mobile Communications, which owns 74 percent of Hong Kong-listed China Mobile, bought a 19.9 percent stake in Phoenix Satellite Television Holdings Ltd. in 2006. A year later, the phone company acquired Paktel Ltd., a wireless carrier in Pakistan, its first purchase outside Chinese territories. To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Lee in Hong Kong at wlee37@bloomberg.net

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →