Apple, coffee and techno: Jonathan Ive’s recipe for success; A biography of the iPhone and iMac’s British designer sheds new light on technology’s most-watched design team

Fiona writes on workplace issues, including…Show all

Why we need leaders who can talk, as well as walk

Published 02 December 2013 08:33, Updated 02 December 2013 08:34

Angela Ferguson is taking part in one of the world’s most interesting leadership experiments – where the top role is split among equals.

At the Australian arm of IT consultancy ThoughtWorks there is no “big chief”. The role is shared between Ferguson and Ryan Moffat as co-managing directors of the 200-person operation. At a global level, the 2500-strong company is led by a team of four chief executives. Read more of this post

The symbol of Mandela was more powerful than the reality of Mandela

The symbol of Mandela was more powerful than the reality of Mandela

By Khalo Matabane December 6, 2013

The idea for my documentary, Letter to Nelson Mandela, first occurred in 2011 in San Sebastian, Spain. I was having dinner with my hosts who had invited me to the Human Rights Film Festival there to show my work. One of them told me how divided Spain was and spoke at length about the violence. He eventually concluded, ‘’What Spain needs is a Nelson Mandela to unite us.’’ This, I found, was the glorification that I had become accustomed in relation to the global icon. Read more of this post

Meet The Startup That’s Going To Make Eggs (Yes, Eggs) Obsolete

Meet The Startup That’s Going To Make Eggs (Yes, Eggs) Obsolete

JAY YAROW0DEC 7, 2013, 07.32 PM

If there’s one thing Silicon Valley is doing better than anywhere else right now, it’s optimism. The success of companies like Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Instagram, Nest, Tesla, and others, have pushed people in the Valley to start trying things outside of the typical purview of the Valley. Read more of this post

New era of cooperation among Asian stock exchanges

Updated: Monday December 9, 2013 MYT 6:44:53 AM

New era of cooperation among Asian stock exchanges

THE landmark collaboration between two rivals – the Singapore Exchange (SGX) andHong Kong Exchanges & Clearing (HKEx) – marks the beginning of a new era of strengthening of ties among Asian exchanges. Coming together in the face of competition, the partnership will enhance the strength of Hong Kong as a yuan hub, and Singapore as a foreign exchange hub as well as a gateway for the futures market in Asia, said the Singapore Business Times (BT). Read more of this post

Asean needs more vim and vigour

Updated: Saturday December 7, 2013 MYT 10:38:14 AM

Asean needs more vim and vigour

BY TAN SRI DR MUNIR MAJID

Region’s private sector must play its part

IT takes a long time for reform to take place. In the over 45 years of Asean existence, meaningful reform only took place after 40 when the Asean Charter was adopted in December 2008 which gave the cooperative organisation legal personality. Established in 1967, it was not until 1976 before the secretariat was established. Before that administrative matters had been managed by a standing committee in member state foreign ministries. Read more of this post

Sysco Buys Rival US Foods for $3.5 Billion to Create Food-Distribution Giant

Sysco Buys Rival US Foods for $3.5 Billion to Create Food-Distribution Giant

Deal by Food-Service Providers Would Give US Foods Holders About 13% of Sysco

ANNIE GASPARRO, RYAN DEZEMBER and SARAH E. NEEDLEMAN

Updated Dec. 9, 2013 1:52 p.m. ET

Sysco Corp. SYY +8.13% said it will buy US Foods for $3.5 billion in stock and cash, uniting the country’s two biggest food-distribution companies into a giant with about $65 billion in annual revenue.

Read more of this post

Innovation and Investment Pop Commodity Price Bubble; Expanded Supply of Commodities Has Moderated Prices Pushed Up by Chinese Demand

Innovation and Investment Pop Commodity Price Bubble

Expanded Supply of Commodities Has Moderated Prices Pushed Up by Chinese Demand

PATRICK BARTA and JOHN W. MILLER

Dec. 8, 2013 11:00 p.m. ET

The Tsingshan Holding Group produces nickel pig iron at this plant near Ningde. Chinese companies learned more efficient ways to make stainless steel from this cheaper substitute. Patrick Barta/The Wall Street Journal

NINGDE, China—The price of nickel, a metal used to make stainless steel for everything from sauce pans to guitar strings, spiked past $50,000 a metric ton in 2007 from less than $10,000 just a few years earlier. Read more of this post

Xiaomi Plans to Expand Into Southeast Asia

DECEMBER 9, 2013, 12:31 PM

Xiaomi Plans to Expand Into Southeast Asia

By ERIC PFANNER

TOKYO — Since August, when the Chinese mobile phone maker Xiaomi lured away a top Google executive, Hugo Barra, to oversee its international expansion plans, two big questions remained: When and where would Xiaomi turn its attention? Over the weekend, the company provided some clues. Read more of this post

Wesfarmers Goes Against the Grain; CEO Richard Goyder talks about playing the long game with investments and the conglomerate’s commitment to coal

Wesfarmers Goes Against the Grain

CEO Richard Goyder talks about playing the long game with investments and the conglomerate’s commitment to coal.

RHIANNON HOYLE

Dec. 8, 2013 11:08 a.m. ET

Wesfarmers Ltd. WES.AU -0.10% has its fingers in many pies: from supermarkets to coal mining, financial services to chemicals. But the appetite of chief executive and company veteran Richard Goyder is far from sated. Read more of this post

QBE shares plunge on profit warning

QBE shares plunge on profit warning

December 10, 2013

Clancy Yeates

QBE Group has shocked investors by revealing that its bottom line will plunge into the red this financial year and profits will remain under pressure throughout 2014, as the insurer reels from its aggressive expansion in the United States. The country’s biggest insurer suffered a savage selloff on Monday, after chief executive John Neal downgraded earnings for the third time in 16 months, laying much of the blame with former management led by Frank O’Halloran. Read more of this post

Australian Central Bank Gov. Glenn Stevens Warns Against Hubris

Australian Central Bank Gov. Glenn Stevens Warns Against Hubris

Stevens Faces Challenge of Weaning Economy Off Reliance on Mining

JAMES GLYNN

Dec. 8, 2013 3:13 a.m. ET

SYDNEY—Glenn Stevens steered Australia safely through the global financial crisis as head of the country’s central bank, taking decisive action that included cutting interest rates by 100 basis points in a day. Now, as growth again slows and joblessness rises, he warns Australia faces a new threat: hubris. Read more of this post

India’s Ruling Party Badly Beaten in State Elections, a bad sign for the Congress party as the world’s largest democracy heads toward national elections next year

India’s Ruling Party Badly Beaten in State Elections

NIHARIKA MANDHANA And ERIC BELLMAN

Dec. 8, 2013 4:01 a.m. ET

NEW DELHI—India’s ruling party took a beating in state elections early poll results showed Sunday, a bad sign for the Congress party as the world’s largest democracy heads toward national elections next year. Read more of this post

India Recommends Incentives to Aid Sugar Mills

India Recommends Incentives to Aid Sugar Mills

RAJESH ROY

Dec. 6, 2013 6:49 a.m. ET

NEW DELHI—An Indian ministerial panel on Friday recommended a package of financial incentives, including interest-free loans, to help loss-making sugar mills to sustain their production this year. Read more of this post

Small steps to Mars are a big leap for Indian companies

Updated: Monday December 9, 2013 MYT 10:57:04 AM

Small steps to Mars are a big leap for Indian companies

An employee works on the production line inside the heavy electrical manufacturing unit of Larsen & Turbo in Mumbai. – Reuters

NEW DELHI: Indian companies that built most of the parts for the country’s recently launchedMars mission are using their low-cost, high-tech expertise in frugal space engineering to compete for global aerospace, defence and nuclear contracts worth billions. Read more of this post

War Between McDonalds India And CPRL (Bakshi) Continues To Grow

War Between McDonalds India And CPRL (Bakshi) Continues To Grow

SULABH PURI0DEC 6, 2013, 01.02 PM

It has been seen in the past that multi-national partnerships and joint ventures in India come to an abrupt end or a staggering slow after years of working together. This time the war is between McDonalds India and their joint venture partners Connaught Plaza Restaurants Ltd (CPRL). The two entered into a 50-50 partnership 18 years ago and now everything seems to be in a boil. In august this year, McDonalds had asked Vikram Bakshi, MD of the company to step down. Reports suggest that Bakshi had been sent a notice by McDonalds India and now as a counter he has written to his colleagues challenging the notice. CPRL has come back and said that the US based chains intentions are to end the JV between the two companies and is ill-intentioned. The feud between Bakshi and McDonalds started when two of the board members rejected the plea to re-nominated Bakshi as the MD in August 2013. On August 30, McDonalds removed Bakshi as the MD and said that the Indian leg will now be lead by the board instead. The battle seems to be growing as the days are passing and the future of the JV is in the pits. A quick solution is required for one of the biggest fast food chains in the country to perform well. Sources also tell that courts are being moved on the issue, but nothing official has come out of it yet.

A Public Works Boom in Japan Has Echoes From the Lost Decade

December 8, 2013

A Public Works Boom in Japan Has Echoes From the Lost Decade

By HIROKO TABUCHI

SAGA, Japan — The bulldozers started up with a rumble this year in this bucolic corner of southern Japan, unleashing a construction frenzy — and a sinking feeling of déjà vu. Read more of this post

Pension investment fund must ditch JGBs: Ito

Pension investment fund must ditch JGBs: Ito

BY ANNA KITANAKA AND SHIGEKI NOZAWA

BLOOMBERG

DEC 6, 2013

The world’s biggest retirement fund needs to cut bond holdings now because the Japanese government will follow an advisory panel’s recommendation that the wealth manager seek higher returns, the panel’s head said. Read more of this post

To grasp Japan, you need to step through the looking-glass

December 5, 2013 4:26 pm

To grasp Japan, you need to step through the looking-glass

By Peter Tasker

Far from fighting demands for higher wages, Abenomics encourages them, writes Peter Tasker

For anyone with memories of Britain in the 1970s, Abenomics is like a trip through the looking-glass. Instead of reining in credit growth, Japanese policy makers are trying to prod borrowers and lenders out of their torpor. Rather than preventing capital flight through exchange controls, the government of Shinzo Abe, prime minister, is pressing for big increases in overseas investment by Japan’s Godzilla-sized public pension fund. Far from fighting demands for higher wages, it is encouraging them. Read more of this post

Who is responsible for a corporate scandal?

Who is responsible for a corporate scandal?

BY TERUHIKO MANO

SPECIAL TO THE JAPAN TIMES

DEC 7, 2013

Recent scandals involving Japanese businesses have included bank loans to the underworld and misrepresentations of restaurant menus at leading hotels, and many of the media reports have focused on how management takes responsibility for the mess. I would like to highlight three points that need to be taken into account when discussing such issues: Read more of this post

Costco Korea’s sales growth hits wall; Sales growth slows while Traders, Vic Market expand

2013-12-08 16:04

Costco’s sales growth hits wall

Sales growth slows while Traders, Vic Market expand
By Park Ji-won

Global retail giant Costco is losing its presence in the Korean market. For more than 10 years, it was known as a key warehouse retailer, but in recent years, Korean warehouses, such as Traders and Vic Market, have aggressively expanded their market shares. Read more of this post

Hyundai Elevator vs. Schindler

2013-12-09 16:32

Hyundai Elevator vs. Schindler

Partners become enemies following Hyundai’s capital increase plan
By Kim Rahn

They used to be partners.
Hyundai Elevator and Schindler Holding AG used to maintain friendly relations. Now they are growling at each other ㅡ the former claims the latter is attempting to take it over, while the latter denounces the former’s alleged poor management. Read more of this post

Thai Leader Yingluck Shinawatra Says Instability May Drag On; the word for “nine” in Thai sounds like the term for “step forward”

Thai Leader Yingluck Shinawatra Says Instability May Drag On

Prime Minister Is Under Pressure as Demonstrators Plan Fresh Rallies

JAMES HOOKWAY

Dec. 7, 2013 7:32 a.m. ET

BANGKOK— Yingluck Shinawatra still looks the part of Thailand’s prime minister. Perched on a chair at the Venetian-Gothic government headquarters in Bangkok, she counts off her successes since thousands of opposition protesters last month launched a campaign to unseat her—chief of which is that she is still prime minister. Read more of this post

Thailand’s Revolution; The opposition has become fanatical and self-deluded

December 9, 2013, 11:53 a.m. ET

Thailand’s Revolution

The opposition has become fanatical and self-deluded.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra dissolved Thailand’s Parliament Monday and announced that she would lead the ruling Puea Thai Party into elections in early February. This is a prudent move to pull the circuit-breaker on protests aimed at replacing the elected government with a “people’s council.” Earlier this month rioters provoked clashes that left at least three people dead, while the government won international praise for its restraint. Read more of this post

Rare Riot Hits Singapore; Fatal Road Accident Angers Foreign Workers; Little India was “like a war zone”: TNP photojournalist

Rare Riot Hits Singapore

Fatal Road Accident Angers Foreign Workers

CHUN HAN WONG and ESTHER FUNG

Updated Dec. 8, 2013 6:22 p.m. ET

SINGAPORE—A crowd of about 400 foreign workers, angered by a fatal road accident, set fire to vehicles and attacked police and emergency services workers late Sunday in Singapore’s ethnic Indian district, injuring at least 18 people in a rare riot in the city-state. Read more of this post

Why Disney keeps buying all your favorite childhood icons

Why Disney keeps buying all your favorite childhood icons

By Jason Lynch 9 hours ago

Luke Skywalker. Princess Leia. Kermit the Frog. Miss Piggy. Spider-Man. The Incredible Hulk. Buzz Lightyear. And now, Indiana Jones. Together, they represent the defining characters and pop culture childhood memories of millions, if not billions. And in the past decade, they’ve all been snapped up by the Walt Disney Company. Read more of this post

Why Canada and the U.S. Should Merge, Eh? It’s past time for the two countries to eliminate their border

Why Canada and the U.S. Should Merge, Eh?

It’s past time for the two countries to eliminate their border

DIANE FRANCIS

Dec. 6, 2013 5:51 p.m. ET

When Americans think about Canada—and that doesn’t happen often—they usually think of us as the nice, predictable guy next door who never plays his stereo too loud. Even Rob Ford, Toronto’s ranting, crack-smoking mayor, has barely dented our squeaky-clean image. Read more of this post

Watchdog warns of chaos in competing derivatives rules

Watchdog warns of chaos in competing derivatives rules

5:57am EST

By Huw Jones

LONDON (Reuters) – Failure to thrash out a common supervision of the $640 trillion global financial derivatives industry will split markets and bump up costs for end users, a top regulator said on Monday. Read more of this post

‘Upstairs’ Trading Draws More Big Investors; Big Players Change Tactics in a Fragmented Market

‘Upstairs’ Trading Draws More Big Investors

Big Players Change Tactics in a Fragmented Market

BRADLEY HOPE

Dec. 8, 2013 6:02 p.m. ET

Some of the world’s biggest investors are changing the way they trade in U.S. markets in response to what they say are rising risks for institutions of their size. The strategies include conducting more “upstairs trades,” in which deals are executed among big institutions, bypassing the broader market, as well as other sophisticated order-routing techniques designed to avoid pitfalls that have become increasingly apparent to investment managers. Read more of this post