Singapore Airlines’ branding of its low-cost carrier

March 26, 2014 4:17 pm

Singapore Airlines’ branding of its low-cost carrier

By Willem Smit and Christopher Dula

The story. Singapore Airlines has won a reputation over decades for providing passengers with high levels of service and hospitality. In the airline’s marketing, this is personified by the “Singapore Girl” cabin crew in their trademark elegant sarongs. Read more of this post

How the best of times is making way for the worst; Globalisation’s great prosperity sits beside the risks that accompany the passing of an old order

March 27, 2014 3:27 pm

How the best of times is making way for the worst

By Philip Stephens

Globalisation’s great prosperity sits beside the risks that accompany the passing of an old order Read more of this post

SEC Is Urged to Shorten Window for Investor Tip-Offs

SEC Is Urged to Shorten Window for Investor Tip-Offs

MICHAEL SICONOLFI and SUSAN PULLIAM

March 27, 2014 7:02 p.m. ET

Some lawmakers and others are calling on the Securities and Exchange Commission to cut the time that large investors can secretly amass shares in a company, following a Wall Street Journal investigation into leaks ahead of public filings. Read more of this post

Ample Wisdom on Rare Earths; China discovers rules-based trade works for resources, too.

Ample Wisdom on Rare Earths

China discovers rules-based trade works for resources, too.

Updated March 27, 2014 4:15 p.m. ET

Beijing’s mercantilist resource policies suffered another blow on Wednesday when the World Trade Organization struck down China’s limits on the export of rare-earth metals. The ruling is better news for China than it appears. Read more of this post

Australia Hopes Dairy Industry Can Benefit From Growing Asian Demand

Australia Hopes Dairy Industry Can Benefit From Growing Asian Demand

ISABELLA STEGER

Australia should welcome foreign investment into its dairy sector and aggressively pursue free trade pacts with Asian countries, seeking to boost agricultural exports to feed Asia’s growing middle class, the country’s trade minister said. Read more of this post

China’s ‘Bad Bank’ Conundrum

China’s ‘Bad Bank’ Conundrum

AARON BACK

Updated March 28, 2014 11:30 a.m. ET

China’s “bad bank” experiment is entering uncharted territory.

China Cinda Asset Management, 1359.HK +6.02% created as a bailout vehicle for China’s bad debts, is scooping up distressed loans at blistering pace. Assets rose by 51% last year to 384 billion yuan ($62 billion), much faster than earlier management guidance of 20% to 30%, according to a Morgan Stanley MS +1.00% note. It’s also levering up, with the ratio of assets to equity rising to 4.6 from 4.2 in 2012, according to the company’s first quarterly report as a public company. Read more of this post

Risks in Europe’s Ratings Merry-Go-Round; It’s Not Easy Being a Ratings Firm, Particularly When it Comes to European Sovereigns

Risks in Europe’s Ratings Merry-Go-Round

It’s Not Easy Being a Ratings Firm, Particularly When it Comes to European Sovereigns

RICHARD BARLEY

March 28, 2014 11:30 a.m. ET

Ratings firms are facing calls to upgrade euro-zone sovereigns again. Investors seem likely to be disappointed if they are hoping for swift actions. Read more of this post

China’s sprawling state-owned conglomerate Citic Group is accomplishing a massive public listing with limited investor scrutiny

China’s Citic Misses the Transfer

ABHEEK BHATTACHARYA

March 27, 2014 10:44 a.m. ET

China’s largest state-owned conglomerate is going public in Hong Kong, but in an opaque way. Heard on the Street columnists Alex Frangos, Abheek Bhattacharya and Aaron Back discuss whether this is genuine reform.

Making a sprawling Chinese government conglomerate go public should instill market discipline. Doing it through a process that limits public due diligence undermines the exercise. Read more of this post

Intuit: How Design Drove Its Turnaround

Intuit: How Design Drove Its Turnaround

Over the past six years, Intuit (INTU), maker of TurboTax and other accounting software, has placed design at the center of what it does—a shift it credits for its turnaround. Intuit Chief Executive Officer Brad Smith and Kaaren Hanson, vice president for design innovation, explain.

When did you know something was amiss?
Hanson: Back in 2007, 2008, we realized that we were no longer any better than our competitors. At the same time, mobile was really coming into play. So we knew we needed to change. When we look at any product at Intuit, we think about three factors. We expect to create a benefit that people care about. It needs to be easy. And it needs to evoke positive emotion. To do that, we went after three strategies. First of all, we made sure everybody in the company had a visceral experience of what great design was like. We started with our most senior leaders. Brad had his team at an off-site, and we had them each bring in something that delighted them. And we had them talk about what made that experience delightful to them—that’s when we locked in on how we want our customers to feel. Read more of this post

Japan buyers rush to snap up gold as tax rise looms

March 27, 2014 9:50 am

Japan buyers rush to snap up gold as tax rise looms

By Ben McLannahan in Tokyo

A landmark increase in Japan’s sales tax has led to a rush for small gold bars as retail investors pile into the precious metal to avoid next week’s rate rise. Read more of this post

Working To Death In China

Working To Death In China

Tyler Durden on 03/27/2014 22:02 -0400

Submitted by Charmika Monet via The Diplomat,

East Asian work culture is world renowned for its long hours and exhausted laborers. Japanese salary men hustling to catch the last train home, their sleeping bodies stretched out along the seats (sometimes in curiously uncomfortable positions), is an image familiar to many people across the world. Read more of this post

Most of Toyota’s Indian employees refused to return to work, the latest example of workers demanding more from global auto makers as they push into emerging markets

Toyota Workers in India Refuse to Return to Work

Dispute Reflects Broad Hurdles for Global Auto Makers in Emerging Markets

SANTANU CHOUDHURY And DHANYA ANN THOPPIL

Read more of this post

Rupert Murdoch shows his creative flair for corporate governance

Rupert Murdoch shows his creative flair for corporate governance

Elizabeth Knight

Businessman Lachlan Murdoch takes the helm of his father’s news empire, being named co-chairman of News Corp and 21st Century Fox. Nine News.

Rupert Murdoch has never been one to adhere to the niceties of corporate governance. The news that his son Lachlan will take the role as joint chairman of both arms of the listed empire and that Murdoch’s younger son, James, will assume the mantle of joint chief operating officer of 21st Century Fox is unsettling for many investors. Read more of this post

Singapore ‘at crossroads’ in quest to remain a global city

Singapore ‘at crossroads’ in quest to remain a global city

LONDON — Singapore, like London, is at a crossroads, as it strives to keep its place among the top cities in the world while managing the stresses and strains that come with being a global city, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

BY –

MARCH 28

LONDON — Singapore, like London, is at a crossroads, as it strives to keep its place among the top cities in the world while managing the stresses and strains that come with being a global city, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Read more of this post

Fixing Finance: Work in Process; Despite the enormous costs that have been wrung out of finance department operations, CFOs have plenty of reasons to push for more process improvement

March 27, 2014

Fixing Finance: Work in Process

Despite the enormous costs that have been wrung out of finance department operations, CFOs have plenty of reasons to push for more process improvement. Read more of this post

Broken contacts: Finance, not economics, may explain copper’s recent plunge

Broken contacts: Finance, not economics, may explain copper’s recent plunge

Mar 29th 2014 | From the print edition

THE copper price has long been held to signal the state of the global economy as reliably as the metal conducts electrons. But that reputation—never fully deserved—is now in tatters. Copper’s plunging price (see chart) says a lot about China, but little about the rest of the world. Read more of this post

Swissness is not enough: Big and small must adapt to survive

Swissness is not enough: Big and small must adapt to survive

Mar 29th 2014 | ZURICH | From the print edition

LIKE their country’s watchmakers, Swiss banks have enjoyed a reputation for quality, reliability and watertight discretion. But since 2008, spectacular coups by neighbouring countries’ tax authorities and investigations by America’s Department of Justice have torn at their reputation. Now they are trying to rebuild one as squeaky-clean money managers. Read more of this post

Freedom or licence? Annuities are not as bad as they are sometimes painted

Freedom or licence? Annuities are not as bad as they are sometimes painted

Mar 29th 2014 | From the print edition

LET the pensioners free. That was the rallying cry of the recent British budget, which decreed that those who accumulate a pension pot no longer must use the proceeds to buy an annuity on retiring. Read more of this post

Inflation and interest rates: Up, up and away; Higher inflation may be needed to leave extra-low interest rates behind

Inflation and interest rates: Up, up and away; Higher inflation may be needed to leave extra-low interest rates behind

Mar 29th 2014 | From the print edition

AT FIRST glance, rich-world central banks are going their separate ways. Cheered by sturdy growth figures, the Bank of England and the Federal Reserve are shuffling toward an exit from easy monetary policy; markets found Janet Yellen’s first Fed statement unexpectedly hawkish. The European Central Bank, in contrast, is tacking looser. On March 25th Jens Weidmann, president of the Bundesbank, suggested that the ECB might need to be more forceful in order to keep the euro-area economy out of the grips of deflation. Read more of this post

Cartel-busting: Boring can still be bad; Market-rigging in unsexy industries costs consumers a lot. More can be done to detect and deter it

Cartel-busting: Boring can still be bad; Market-rigging in unsexy industries costs consumers a lot. More can be done to detect and deter it

Mar 29th 2014 | From the print edition

MENTION price cartels and many people will think of big, overt ones like the one OPEC runs for oil and the now-extinct one for diamonds. But at least as damaging are the many secret cartels in such unglamorous areas as ball-bearings and cargo rates, which go on unnoticed for years, quietly bumping up the end cost to consumers of all manner of goods and services. Read more of this post

Korean tycoon’s hidden assets to be seized; Prosecution’s decision follows backlash over court’s light sentence of the former chairman of the now-defunct Daeju Group, as part of a bid to levy the massive fine he owes

Tycoon’s hidden assets to be seized

Prosecution’s decision follows backlash over court’s light sentence

Mar 28,2014

Prosecutors and tax authorities have begun full-fledged efforts to track down hidden assets held by Huh Jae-ho, the former chairman of the now-defunct Daeju Group, as part of a bid to levy the massive fine he owes.  Read more of this post

‘Audit monopoly’ hurts transparency; Samil, Samjong, Anjin, E&Y dominate large firms’ market

Updated : 2014-03-27 18:54

‘Audit monopoly’ hurts transparency

Samil, Samjong, Anjin, E&Y dominate large firms’ market
By Na Jeong-ju
In Korea, it is extremely difficult for small accounting firms to compete against major companies in the same industry.
Most conglomerates only employ the services of big accounting firms to conduct external auditing. Read more of this post

Is the banking system now even more dangerous? Central banks fear so

Is the banking system now even more dangerous? Central banks fear so

It is becoming increasingly clear that the Bank of England and the Federal Reserve think the banking system has become more dangerous since the last crisis Read more of this post

What the UK should learn from Jardines

What the UK should learn from Jardines
27th March 2014

Along with its results on 6-Mar-2014, the Jardine group of 5 companies announced proposed downgrades to their UK listing status, which will reduce minority shareholder rights and governance standards. And guess what? The controlling shareholders can vote to approve this, so minorities have very little say in the matter, except in one case. Read more of this post

The unscaling myth

The unscaling myth

Izabella Kaminska | Mar 27 15:05 | Comment | Share

Part of the GROSS DOMESTIC COLLABORATION SERIES

Unscaling is made possible by the number of Internet-based platforms and cloud-based services and tools now available to startups and small businesses in general. New companies can now be launched without a massive investment in personnel and IT infrastructure. They can quickly get to market, and compete effectively with far larger companies. Mobile Internet platforms, in particular, make it easier and cheaper to experiment in the marketplace. While most such experiments will likely fail, some, like Airbnb, will succeed and can then quickly scale up their capabilities as their businesses grow. Read more of this post

China’s Rich And Powerful Show Off Their Social Status By Attending Ritual Tiger Killings

China’s Rich And Powerful Show Off Their Social Status By Attending Ritual Tiger Killings

AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE LAW & ORDER  MAR. 27, 2014, 6:46 PM

More than 10 tigers have been killed as “visual feasts” to entertain officials and rich businessmen in a Chinese city, state media reported. Read more of this post

Pension funds: Sleeping partner or good steward

March 27, 2014 12:23 pm

Pension funds: Sleeping partner or good steward

By Sophia Grene

Should pension funds act as sleeping partners, whose role is no more than the price-setting of market participants, or do they have a more active part to play in the companies they own, acting as good stewards of their assets? Read more of this post

Consumption tax rise gives Abe something to chew on

March 27, 2014 9:16 am

Consumption tax rise gives Abe something to chew on

By Jonathan Soble and Jennifer Thompson in Tokyo

Call it the “beef bowl test” for Abenomics. On Tuesday, when Japan carries out a controversial increase in its national sales tax, the country’s two leading purveyors of gyu-don – cheap and hearty sliced beef on rice – will respond in starkly opposing ways: one by cutting prices, the other by raising them. Read more of this post