Archive for January, 2010
Should Your Business Axe Overseas Assignments?
As businesses continue to navigate their way through—and out of—the global economic crisis, almost every multinational organization is looking to tighten purse strings as we head into another year of what promises to be cautious spending. Unfortunately, expensive international assignment programs are often one of the first areas of focus for wary managers, who could pare down or even temporarily oust these assignments from the budget. Link
Source: S. Cummins & E. Hannibal
Haiti Earthquake Provokes Wave of Text Donations
Text donations have hit prime time. In the aftermath of the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti on the evening of Jan. 12, Americans were texting their support big-time. In less than 48 hours, donations to the American Red Cross—made by texting HAITI to 90999—had reached $5 million, and donations were reported to be coming in at a rate of $200,000 per hour. That’s more than 12 times the amount that donors had sent by text in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Link
Source: A. Feldman
Recovery and Globality: The Commodities Chase
The U.S. economy slowly appears to be regaining its footing. The unemployment rate declined for the first time since the recession began, sliding from 10.2% in October to 10% in November and holding steady in December. Although the fourth-quarter 2009 statistics weren’t yet in as I wrote this, some predict that the U.S. economy may have expanded in the second half of last year by more than 3%. Europe appears to be lagging, but the economies of China, India, Singapore, Indonesia, and South Korea, among others, are growing robustly again. The Great Recession of 2008 and 2009 may be over in most of the world. Link
Source: H. Sirkin
In China, Google Fallout Damages Yahoo!
Long before Google (GOOG) had problems with China’s censors and hackers, Yahoo! (YHOO) was struggling to follow Beijing’s rules without alienating the company’s users in the rest of the world. Yahoo often didn’t succeed: In 2006, critics subjected it to scathing criticism: U.S. Representative Tom Lantos (D.-Calif.), a Holocaust survivor, compared the company’s executives to Nazis. A year later, at a Congressional hearing following disclosure that Yahoo had given the Chinese police information that helped jail a dissident who had used Yahoo e-mail, Lantos called Yahoo executives moral “pygmies” for cooperating with Beijing. Link
Source: B. Einhorn
The Haitian Earthquake’s Economic Aftershocks
The earthquake that hit Haiti on Tuesday measured 7.3 on the Richter scale and has had an immediate and devastating effect on the 2.2 million people who live in the country’s West Province. There’s no doubt that the disaster will be met with a swift outpouring of support from around the globe, with aid coming from governments and individuals alike. But that good will won’t dispel the quake’s lasting economic impact (S. Morgan, SmartMoney, January 13, 2010).
Forecasting: Neither Dark Art Nor Infallible Science
The January 2010 edition of Air Cargo World is now available. Please click here to access the new report (source: Damini Dave is a vice president with Seabury Aviation & Aerospace/Seabury Cargo Advisory).
China becomes biggest exporter, edging out Germany
Already the biggest auto market and steel maker, China edged past Germany in 2009 to become the top exporter, yet another sign of its rapid rise and the spread of economic power from West to East.
Total 2009 exports were more than $1.2 trillion, China’s customs agency said Sunday. That was ahead of the 816 billion euros ($1.17 trillion) forecast for Germany by its foreign trade organization, BGA (by J. McDonald, Associated Press).
