"The corporate brand is not only used to improve competitive
positioning and express company aspirations, it can also be a powerful
tool to motivate employees."
Potential changes to aircraft export credit rules worldwide, under a review by the OECD, could have a big impact on smaller air carriers, according to some airline industry executives. However, others say that changes must be made for a truly competitive landscape to exist.
The review, by the OECD’s aviation working group, Participants to the Sector Understanding on Export Credits for Civil Aircraft (the ASU), will be completed by year-end—after having its final industry consultation in November.
Corporate executives are probably right in thinking that governments are the biggest impediment to their success. Pointless regulation, excessive taxation and now crippling debt burdens all conspire against successful performance.
This Monday, another country (Ireland) wakes up to a bailout that will see crushing austerity imposed on its people to pay for the rank financial incompetence of its political leaders. Companies, rightly, do not think much of governments right now.
In a follow-up to my piece here on tax and accounting changes that are affecting small and medium sized businesses—in particular the potential repeal of the highly-onerous new 1099 filing requirement changes—I am happy to report another development on the 1099 front that will make the job of the A/P department a whole lot easier, and may spark further interest in the use of p-cards (purchasing cards, or procurement cards) for all size of businesses.
Changes under Section 6050W of the Internal Revenue Code now relieve company A/P departments of the requirement to report payments made with a p-card under the rules of 1099 reporting standards.
The number of companies that have filed their financials late is on the rise this year. But, it is still well below levels of recent years.
According to a recent report from Glass Lewis, 95 companies did not file their quarterly or annual reports on time in the first three months of 2010. This is up slightly from 92 at this point last year.
China is slowing making inroads into another major market--debt underwriting.
Caterpillar said its financial services subsidiary raised about $150 million in a yuan (also known as renminbi) denominated medium term note. The issuance was conducted in Hong Kong and bought by institutional investors.
US compliance costs for small businesses are only getting higher, and those costs are massive versus similar costs for larger corporations, putting small business as a serious disadvantage, according to a report from the Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Advocacy.
The report found that small companies—with fewer than 20 employees—pay an astounding 36 percent more than their larger counterparts on annual regulatory costs.
Nov 24
2010
Nissan Renault to hedge FX volatility through operational change
Carlos Ghosn, the Lebanese-Brazilian CEO of Nissan Renault gave a highly revealing interview to the Financial Times on Monday. In it he said that he would be shifting production facilities to dollar linked economies, including China and the US. The reason he gave was not because it was necessarily cheaper but because it was a way to hedge against currency volatility.
Moving production to lower cost places is not new. What is new is that Ghosn is specifically changing his operations so that he can hedge against the present currency volatility that is so damaging his business. At the moment, Japan is a highly expensive place to build and then export cars. Due to the recent strengthening of the yen, it has become more so.
The key to economic competitiveness lies in fostering innovation. And to be well-positioned to drive innovation-based growth, US state economies need to be structured around such factors as attracting more engineers and immigrant knowledge workers.
What's more, some states are way ahead, while others are woefully behind.
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