Stories about Economics & Business from February, 2006
India: Corporate Blogs
India: Corporate Blogs
Ukraine: News Roundup
Dan McMinn of Orange Ukraine does his regular roundup of Ukraine's main political and economic themes: the gas agreement, privatization issues, campaign news and relationship with Russia.
Singapore: Budget Wishes
Chemical Generation Singapore hopes housing and pensions will play a large part in the 2006 Singapore budget, which will be announced on Friday, Feb. 17: “They are the cornerstones of a Singaporean's bread and butter concerns.”
The Threat of China, Inc.
To acquire sophisticated engine technology, China is buying a car engine plant in Brazil, breaking it up and shipping the pieces back to China for re-assembly. Richard and readers of his Peking Duck discuss whether it's time for carmakers everywhere to start worrying.
Ethiopia: Food Aid dependency
Black Star Journal comments on a BBC article on Ethiopia's dependency on foreign food aid..…”It notes that while aid may be well-intentioned, its effects can sometimes be devastating (and I'm careful to not lump all aid together).”
Mozambique: microfinance
Aid worker, Jared of Jared's Mozambique Adventure describes his time spent with the “Caixa das Mulheres de Nampula (CMN), an association that offers savings and small enterprise loans exclusively to female members. These women are given the opportunity to gather in small groups to learn about healthy lifestyles, money management...
Zimbabwe: IMF debt a waste of resources
Zimbabwean Pundit likens Zimbabwe's repayment of the IMF debt to that “the head of a family in a starving village, throwing food over the fence to baboons waiting on the outside, while the children of the village die of hunger, malnutrition and disease”
DRC: Making change work
Breaking Hearts in the Heart of Darkness uses the Nescafe phenomenon or “who do I have to kill to get a decent cup of coffee” as a metaphor for governments and development in many third world countries. In other words when a system is not working you should replace it...
Russian Pirate Sales
Reacting to a report that U.S. copyright holders “lost $1.756 billion through forgeries in Russia last year,” Alistair of Ruminations on Russia argues that it's not pirate copies that these companies are competing against, but bad sales caused by incorrect pricing.
Singapore, Malaysia: Fruit Fuss
Malaysian business blog small and medium thoughts discusses an article that says Singapore has been repackaging Malaysian rambutan fruit as “Singapore Lychees” for re-export. Horrors! “This isn’t the first time I’ve read about this sort of wrong ‘country of origin effect’ attribution to Singapore.”
Africa: Entrepeneurs
My Hearts in Accra points to an article in the Washington Posts by William Easterly, an economics professor who asserts that “the West cant save Africa” but possibly African entrepeneurs can.
Supermale on Moslem World Boycott of Danish Goods
Morad Ouasti reports (FR) at Supermale on the mechanisms behind the moslem world’ s boycott of Danish goods: “Denmark is already suffering early consequences while the boycott is being organized via Internet and text messaging … Meanwhile, European companies [such as Danon and Nestle] adopt an ad hoc strategy of...
Africa; politics v entrepreneurship
Africa Unchained points to an article by Pat Utomi of the Lagos Business School on the “disproportionate focus on politics within Africa and the relatively tepid interest in entrepreneurship and wealth creation”.
Malaysia: Business to Politics
Peter at Competitive Malaysia looks at the fates of three local businessmen-turned-politicians. His conclusion: “it is better for businessman to remain focus on it core competencies….business rather than enter into politic.”
Putin's Dissertation and Russian Energy Sector
Sean Guillory looks at Vladimir Putin's dissertation, “Strategic Planning of Regional Raw Material Operations in a Market Economy,” which he wrote as a student of the St. Petersburg Mining Academy in 1997. Stored at the Russian State Library, the dissertation is a hit with the readers. Also, Sean discusses Vladimir...
More of Russian DIY Design
Two more additions to Konstantin Dlutskiy's photo collection of DIY design at the Russian Marketing Blog: wedding flowers sold with a discount for loyal customers, and a “Baby” store selling vodka and beer.
South Africa: Absorption Capacity
South African blogger, Idland explains the theory of “Absorption Capacity” which he feels is difficult to understand but is very important….”One aspect of absorptive capacity is a Government's ability to spend new aid in programs that make a difference in people's lives. How can it be hard to spend money?”
Carl Icahn is Coming to Korea!
Mingi Hyun on The Asia/Korea Tide reports the fight for control over KT&G, the largest Korean cigarette maker. Concerns mounted in Korea as Carl Icahn, the famed corporate raider who is trying to break up Time Warner at the moment, raised his ownership in KT&G to 6.6% of the company.
African Bloggers Respond to the Rise of China in Africa
There's no doubt about it China has emerged as the newest economic force fast embroiled in the global race for markets and raw materials. No where is this more apparent than in Africa where the Chinese are converging on the continent intent on reaping economic benefits of all sorts from...
Collectively At Hyundai In China
Jamie on Two Koreas considers it significant that the All China Federation of Trade Unions is pressuring for a collective bargaining agreement at Hyundai's China operation , even though China restricts collective union actions.
Martinique, Guadeloupe: UDF visit
Le Blog de l'UDF, the blog of a French centrist party, reports (FR) its leader Francois Bayrou's visit to French overseas departments Martinique and Guadeloupe. In his post-visit press conference Bayrou cited the unaddressed psychological consequences of slavery, rampant unemployment, a banana industry crisis, immigration from neighboring Caribbean nations, and...
