Apple and Google have joined forces and extended their lead in the high-stakes race to bring Internet entertainment from the PC to the TV.
1. Apple TV, the newly introduced device that transmits digital entertainment to television sets, will begin carrying clips from Google's YouTube.
2. For Apple, the addition of content from an already popular video-sharing site could help sell more Apple TV units.
3. Apple has big plans with regard to downloadable video in the living room, and it's natural to expect that the relatively low-quality video available on sites like YouTube will only improve.
4. Apple TV will become the conduit of a wider range of content.
5. It sells TV shows and feature films on a download-to-own basis, but there's no option to rent any of that content.
Diversification could be an alias for tech convergence, but both names can spell revenue.
[Click here for full story at: BUSINESSWEEK.COM]
Thursday, May 31, 2007
REVENUE STRATEGY - PALM
The computer industry and mobile-phone makers need new gadgets to get customers excited enough to open up their wallets.
1. Palm (which gave us GRiDPad, one of the first tablet computers; PalmPilot, the first hit personal digital assistant; and the Treo smartphone) has launched Foleo, an ultracompact computer as an alternative to carrying a larger, conventional laptop.
2. It offers a nearly full-size keyboard, a 10-inch display, and comes with a selection of applications including a word processor and spreadsheet. But it may be most useful when people also carry smartphones, like Treos or BlackBerrys, and transfer e-mail to Foleo.
Creative destructions grants revenue, even if forced?
[Click here for full story at: BUSINESSWEEK.COM]
1. Palm (which gave us GRiDPad, one of the first tablet computers; PalmPilot, the first hit personal digital assistant; and the Treo smartphone) has launched Foleo, an ultracompact computer as an alternative to carrying a larger, conventional laptop.
2. It offers a nearly full-size keyboard, a 10-inch display, and comes with a selection of applications including a word processor and spreadsheet. But it may be most useful when people also carry smartphones, like Treos or BlackBerrys, and transfer e-mail to Foleo.
Creative destructions grants revenue, even if forced?
[Click here for full story at: BUSINESSWEEK.COM]
REVENUE STRATEGY - GREENCORE GROUP
1. Greencore Group Plc, the world's biggest maker of prepared sandwiches, has withdrawn from the sugar industry in 2006 after 80 years as the European Union cut back subsidies.
2. It now gets four- fifths of operating profit from convenience foods after moving into the industry to tap demand from time-pressed shoppers.
3. It may build a 500 million-euro commercial and residential development on the site of its last sugar plant, in the southern Irish town of Mallow, which it shut in 2006. It wants to convert the property into 1,000 homes, offices, a hotel and golf course.
4. It also has applied to build a 1.1 billion-euro business and residential development on the site of another former sugar plant near the Irish town of Carlow. Developers are seeking land as property prices surge in Ireland, whose economy is the fastest-growing in the euro area.
Sometimes the greatest value of a sunset industry is in its real estate.
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
2. It now gets four- fifths of operating profit from convenience foods after moving into the industry to tap demand from time-pressed shoppers.
3. It may build a 500 million-euro commercial and residential development on the site of its last sugar plant, in the southern Irish town of Mallow, which it shut in 2006. It wants to convert the property into 1,000 homes, offices, a hotel and golf course.
4. It also has applied to build a 1.1 billion-euro business and residential development on the site of another former sugar plant near the Irish town of Carlow. Developers are seeking land as property prices surge in Ireland, whose economy is the fastest-growing in the euro area.
Sometimes the greatest value of a sunset industry is in its real estate.
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
REVENUE STRATEGY - MICROSOFT
1. Microsoft is unveiling a new technology called Surface Computing that lets people interact with computers using touch, hand gestures, and physical objects equipped with optical tags. Users can browse their music libraries by dragging a finger across the horizontal display or comparison-shop at an electronics store by simply plunking devices onto the screen. The screen, which has a set of cameras underneath it, can read 52 touches at a time, meaning small groups can work around it together. The computer can also recognize optical tags on an object, such as a digital camera with Wi-Fi. Then, by just placing the device on the tabletop, folks can automatically zip their pictures onto the computer, then edit them by hand on the screen.
2. It will make the hardware as well as the software and limit the initial market to showcase establishments where consumers can learn about the device.
3. The first 30-inch tabletop units will be priced between $5,000 and $10,000.
4. It will debut in November primarily through hotels and retailers. Harrah's Entertainment will be among the first, introducing Surface Computers at two Las Vegas properties, Caesars Palace and Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino. T-Mobile USA plans to use the computers at its stores.
5. It will be initially targeted to commercial establishments, meeting rooms in businesses and high-end homes, you'll think of it as separate.
6. It will start off as something different and then hope to become a part of most human activities.
Creation and creative destruction are inevitable sources of revenue.
[Click here for full story at: BUSINESSWEEK.COM]
2. It will make the hardware as well as the software and limit the initial market to showcase establishments where consumers can learn about the device.
3. The first 30-inch tabletop units will be priced between $5,000 and $10,000.
4. It will debut in November primarily through hotels and retailers. Harrah's Entertainment will be among the first, introducing Surface Computers at two Las Vegas properties, Caesars Palace and Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino. T-Mobile USA plans to use the computers at its stores.
5. It will be initially targeted to commercial establishments, meeting rooms in businesses and high-end homes, you'll think of it as separate.
6. It will start off as something different and then hope to become a part of most human activities.
Creation and creative destruction are inevitable sources of revenue.
[Click here for full story at: BUSINESSWEEK.COM]
REVENUE STRATEGY - RELIANCE INDUSTRIES
1. Reliance Industries Ltd., owner of the world's third-biggest oil refinery, may increase fuel exports this year to offset losses from the domestic market.
2. The refiner may sell all of its premium grade gasoline and diesel overseas. It produces the Euro IV motor fuels that meet regulations of countries such as the U.K. and the U.S. Reliance's exports rose 63 percent to 17.7 million tons in the year ended March 31 from 10.8 million tons a year ago. That accounted for 57 percent of the company's production.
In a lose-lose market you have to find escape routes.
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
2. The refiner may sell all of its premium grade gasoline and diesel overseas. It produces the Euro IV motor fuels that meet regulations of countries such as the U.K. and the U.S. Reliance's exports rose 63 percent to 17.7 million tons in the year ended March 31 from 10.8 million tons a year ago. That accounted for 57 percent of the company's production.
In a lose-lose market you have to find escape routes.
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
EXPENDITURE STRATEGY - RELIANCE INDUSTRIES
1. Reliance Industries Ltd., owner of the world's third-biggest oil refinery, cut domestic sales of gasoline and diesel last year because it couldn't compete with Indian Oil Corp., the nation's biggest refiner because state-run rivals sell fuel below cost under government orders. Losses on retailing oil products prompted Reliance to stop sales at some stations, cutting its market share to 2 percent in September from 13 percent in April 2006
2. It has slowed down the pace of retail network expansion as compared to the previous years to cut losses from selling fuels.
3. It may buy lower-grade supplies for domestic retail outlets from domestic producers including Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd.
4. It won government permission this year to exempt its crude oil imports from taxes in return for exporting at least 75 percent of its products.
[Indian Oil, the nation's biggest refiner, is losing 6.10 rupees (15 cents) for every liter of gasoline it sells and 3.75 rupees on a liter of diesel. Of the total losses, a third is reimbursed by the government as bonds, an equal amount is paid by companies including Oil & Natural Gas, and the refiners bear the remainder.]
In a lose-lose market you always have to find ways to lose your losses.
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
2. It has slowed down the pace of retail network expansion as compared to the previous years to cut losses from selling fuels.
3. It may buy lower-grade supplies for domestic retail outlets from domestic producers including Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd.
4. It won government permission this year to exempt its crude oil imports from taxes in return for exporting at least 75 percent of its products.
[Indian Oil, the nation's biggest refiner, is losing 6.10 rupees (15 cents) for every liter of gasoline it sells and 3.75 rupees on a liter of diesel. Of the total losses, a third is reimbursed by the government as bonds, an equal amount is paid by companies including Oil & Natural Gas, and the refiners bear the remainder.]
In a lose-lose market you always have to find ways to lose your losses.
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
EXPENDITURE STRATEGY - MOTOROLA
1. Motorola, the world's second largest mobile phone-maker, plans to shed an additional 4,000 jobs this year, as it continues efforts to reduce costs and reverse a fall in profits. It was already on target to complete 3,500 job reductions by the end of June.
2. Job losses and other cost-cutting moves will save the firm $600m (£304m) a year.
How will the focus shift to creating a “series” of great products?
[Click here for full story at: BBCNEWS.COM]
2. Job losses and other cost-cutting moves will save the firm $600m (£304m) a year.
How will the focus shift to creating a “series” of great products?
[Click here for full story at: BBCNEWS.COM]
REVENUE STRATEGY - DELL
1. Dell Inc. is turning to retail stores to boost consumer sales, the fastest- growing slice of the market and reclaim the No. 1 spot from Hewlett-Packard Co. (It had become the world's largest personal-computer maker by bypassing retailers and selling directly to customers)
2. It will sell PCs at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. starting June 10 to court consumers who want to see and touch PCs before buying. Wal-Mart will initially offer two Dell desktop PCs at 3,500 stores in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico.
3. It is relying on former Motorola Inc. executive Ron Garriques, who joined the company in February, to win over more consumers. He may try to revitalize product styling the way Motorola did with the best-selling Razr.
Old Chinese proverb: never the name the well from which you will not drink.
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
2. It will sell PCs at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. starting June 10 to court consumers who want to see and touch PCs before buying. Wal-Mart will initially offer two Dell desktop PCs at 3,500 stores in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico.
3. It is relying on former Motorola Inc. executive Ron Garriques, who joined the company in February, to win over more consumers. He may try to revitalize product styling the way Motorola did with the best-selling Razr.
Old Chinese proverb: never the name the well from which you will not drink.
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
REVENUE STRATEGY - HSBC AMANAH
1. HSBC Holdings Plc., the largest overseas bank offering Islamic services in Malaysia, plans to set up a standalone unit in the country to target Asia's growing Muslim population. (Islamic law bans the payment and receipt of interest, prohibits investment in businesses such as gambling and alcohol, and stresses profit sharing.)
2. HSBC Amanah, the Kuala Lumpur-based Islamic-banking arm, has applied to the central bank for a license that will let it sell wealth management, mutual funds and retirement products to other Muslim countries such as Indonesia, Bangladesh and Brunei.
3. It is trying to develop the concept of wealth management in Malaysia to target individuals. It is developing retirement planning, wealth protection and investment-linked Islamic life insurance policies.
Looking for under-serviced segments of the market equals prospecting for revenue.
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
2. HSBC Amanah, the Kuala Lumpur-based Islamic-banking arm, has applied to the central bank for a license that will let it sell wealth management, mutual funds and retirement products to other Muslim countries such as Indonesia, Bangladesh and Brunei.
3. It is trying to develop the concept of wealth management in Malaysia to target individuals. It is developing retirement planning, wealth protection and investment-linked Islamic life insurance policies.
Looking for under-serviced segments of the market equals prospecting for revenue.
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
REVENUE STRATEGY - MOLINOS RIO DE LA PLATA
Molinos Rio de la Plata SA, an Argentine agriculture company will prioritize crushing of high oleic-sunflowers because:
1. Many companies are switching from saturated oils to healthier alternatives to combat heart disease:
a) Fast-food restaurants such as McDonald's are using more monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, such as sunflower oil, which help reduce cholesterol.
b) PepsiCo Inc.'s Frito-Lay unit can start advertising the heart benefits of foods made with unsaturated corn and sunflower oils, spreads and shortenings.
c) Aramark Corp., which runs concession stands at 13 Major League Baseball stadiums now uses corn and sunflower oils at concession kitchens including New York's Shea Stadium.
d) Many major league baseball players munch sunflower seeds for energy during games.
2. The price of sunflower oil, used in margarine and mayonnaise, is trading close to an eight-year high of $800 a ton.
3. The world needs growing supplies of sunflower seeds from Argentina to avoid a global shortage. Argentina is the world's second- largest exporter of the oil after the Ukraine.
4. Global sunflower-seed oil production may decline 6 percent this year to 10.5 million tons, as producers of other edible oils derived from soybeans, palms and rapeseeds increase production to meet new demand for biofuels.
5. Sunflower oil is a better source of monounsaturated oil, along with corn oil and soybean oil, according to the American Heart Association. Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats can lower cholesterol levels.
Trend-setters gain fame and trend-followers gain fortune?
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
1. Many companies are switching from saturated oils to healthier alternatives to combat heart disease:
a) Fast-food restaurants such as McDonald's are using more monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, such as sunflower oil, which help reduce cholesterol.
b) PepsiCo Inc.'s Frito-Lay unit can start advertising the heart benefits of foods made with unsaturated corn and sunflower oils, spreads and shortenings.
c) Aramark Corp., which runs concession stands at 13 Major League Baseball stadiums now uses corn and sunflower oils at concession kitchens including New York's Shea Stadium.
d) Many major league baseball players munch sunflower seeds for energy during games.
2. The price of sunflower oil, used in margarine and mayonnaise, is trading close to an eight-year high of $800 a ton.
3. The world needs growing supplies of sunflower seeds from Argentina to avoid a global shortage. Argentina is the world's second- largest exporter of the oil after the Ukraine.
4. Global sunflower-seed oil production may decline 6 percent this year to 10.5 million tons, as producers of other edible oils derived from soybeans, palms and rapeseeds increase production to meet new demand for biofuels.
5. Sunflower oil is a better source of monounsaturated oil, along with corn oil and soybean oil, according to the American Heart Association. Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats can lower cholesterol levels.
Trend-setters gain fame and trend-followers gain fortune?
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
REVENUE STRATEGY - BANK OF COMMUNICATIONS
1. Bank of Communications Ltd., part owned by HSBC Holdings Plc, wants to transform into a financial supermarket whose offerings include securities, trust products and insurance to lessen its dependence on lending, where competition from overseas is heating up.
2 It plans to buy 85 percent of Hubei International Trust & Investment Co for 1.22 billion yuan ($159 million) and rename the firm Bank of Communications International Trust & Investment Co. Trusts in China typically earn fees from packaging and selling investment products whose underlying assets include real estate and public works projects.
3. It wants to enter into brokerage and insurance operations with partner HSBC.
4. It plans to open branches in Frankfurt and Macau later this year.
5. It is looking for takeover targets. The bank's capital adequacy ratio, almost twice the regulatory minimum at above 15 percent, may give it flexibility to grow through acquisitions.
When the competition gets too hot in one area, spread out into others.
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
2 It plans to buy 85 percent of Hubei International Trust & Investment Co for 1.22 billion yuan ($159 million) and rename the firm Bank of Communications International Trust & Investment Co. Trusts in China typically earn fees from packaging and selling investment products whose underlying assets include real estate and public works projects.
3. It wants to enter into brokerage and insurance operations with partner HSBC.
4. It plans to open branches in Frankfurt and Macau later this year.
5. It is looking for takeover targets. The bank's capital adequacy ratio, almost twice the regulatory minimum at above 15 percent, may give it flexibility to grow through acquisitions.
When the competition gets too hot in one area, spread out into others.
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
REVENUE STRATEGY - CONOCOPHILLIPS
1. ConocoPhillips, the second-biggest U.S. refiner, is seeking more gas off northern Australia to supply a potential expansion to its Darwin plant, which has approvals for as much as 10 million tons a year of LNG production capacity.
2. A second LNG production unit at the site may have capacity of between 3.5 million and 6 million tons a year and may start up in 2012-2013.
Seek and you shall find .... even revenue
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
2. A second LNG production unit at the site may have capacity of between 3.5 million and 6 million tons a year and may start up in 2012-2013.
Seek and you shall find .... even revenue
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
REVENUE STRATEGY - AUDI VOLKSWAGEN
1. Audi AG, Volkswagen AG's luxury division, took control of the namesake brand's Brussels factory today to add capacity for building the new A1 small car beginning at the end of 2009.
2. It plans to add 18 new models by 2015, nearly doubling its lineup to 40 vehicles.
3. The plant's workers voted earlier this year to extend the workweek without additional pay in exchange for investments to build the new Audi model and employment guarantees.
4. Audi plans to build the A3 compact model and some Volkswagen- brand models at the factory until the A1 is ready for production.
Revenue is in not leaving any stone unturned
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
2. It plans to add 18 new models by 2015, nearly doubling its lineup to 40 vehicles.
3. The plant's workers voted earlier this year to extend the workweek without additional pay in exchange for investments to build the new Audi model and employment guarantees.
4. Audi plans to build the A3 compact model and some Volkswagen- brand models at the factory until the A1 is ready for production.
Revenue is in not leaving any stone unturned
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
EXPENDITURE STRATEGY - J&F PARTICIPACOES
J&F Participacoes SA, which controls JBS SA, Latin America's biggest meat producer, agreed to acquire Swift & Co. of the U.S. will reduce its debt obligations.
And it plans to cut costs at Swift without layoffs or production plant closures by:
1. cutting animals more efficiently
2. reducing transportation costs and
3. Reducing fixed costs will be a big obsession
This is a first on this journal: cutting costs without touching staff and factories!!
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
And it plans to cut costs at Swift without layoffs or production plant closures by:
1. cutting animals more efficiently
2. reducing transportation costs and
3. Reducing fixed costs will be a big obsession
This is a first on this journal: cutting costs without touching staff and factories!!
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
REVENUE STRATEGY - J&F PARTICIPACOES
1. J&F Participacoes SA, which controls JBS SA, Latin America's biggest meat producer, agreed to acquire Swift & Co. of the U.S. for $225 million in cash to create the world's largest beef and pork processor.
2. It will assume $1.2 billion in Swift debt plus all transaction-related expenses.
3. It will gain a broader supply base. Swift has four feedlots producing 198,000 cattle a year, three pork plants and one lamb slaughter facility. Swift Australia has four beef plants.
3. It will gain quick entry into premium markets in the US, the world's top consumer of beef, and Asia. Swift's Australia business sells to Asian countries including Japan and South Korea (South American beef exporters are banned from Asian markets because of the presence of foot-and-mouth disease in their herds)
4. It will ensure Swift sells the finished meat products directly to supermarkets
Revenue is in finding even side entrances to key markets
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
2. It will assume $1.2 billion in Swift debt plus all transaction-related expenses.
3. It will gain a broader supply base. Swift has four feedlots producing 198,000 cattle a year, three pork plants and one lamb slaughter facility. Swift Australia has four beef plants.
3. It will gain quick entry into premium markets in the US, the world's top consumer of beef, and Asia. Swift's Australia business sells to Asian countries including Japan and South Korea (South American beef exporters are banned from Asian markets because of the presence of foot-and-mouth disease in their herds)
4. It will ensure Swift sells the finished meat products directly to supermarkets
Revenue is in finding even side entrances to key markets
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
REVENUE STRATEGY - COCA-COLA
Coca-Cola is going healthy in search of long-term revenue growth:
1. It has bought out New York state-based health drinks firm Glaceau for $4.1bn (£2bn), a massive investment in the market for beverages trading on a sporty lifestyle.
2. It successfully launched its calorie-free Coke Zero in Europe earlier this year, emphasising the potential for branching away from sweeter beverages.
Revenue is in respecting social trends
[Click here for full story at: BBCNEWS.COM]
1. It has bought out New York state-based health drinks firm Glaceau for $4.1bn (£2bn), a massive investment in the market for beverages trading on a sporty lifestyle.
2. It successfully launched its calorie-free Coke Zero in Europe earlier this year, emphasising the potential for branching away from sweeter beverages.
Revenue is in respecting social trends
[Click here for full story at: BBCNEWS.COM]
REVENUE STRATEGY - MADISON DEARBORN
Madison Dearborn Partners LLC, the manager of a $6.5 billion leveraged buyout fund, agreed to buy CDW Corp. for about $7.3 billion for several reasons:
1. For inorganic and organic growth: CDW's sales may rise 16 percent this year, double the 2006 rate. Average daily sales jumped 29 percent in April from the same month a year earlier. CDW was reorganized by adding more salespeople, opening a new facility in Nevada and purchasing Berbee Information Networks Corp. to expand in areas such as health care.
2. To gain a company with growing profit margins as customers reduce the number of suppliers
3. To tap cash flow generated by the computer reseller.
Madison Dearborn also participated in the buyout of Cinemark Holdings Inc., the movie- theater chain that sold shares to the public earlier this year.
Growth, profit and cash feed on each other for even more revenue.
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
1. For inorganic and organic growth: CDW's sales may rise 16 percent this year, double the 2006 rate. Average daily sales jumped 29 percent in April from the same month a year earlier. CDW was reorganized by adding more salespeople, opening a new facility in Nevada and purchasing Berbee Information Networks Corp. to expand in areas such as health care.
2. To gain a company with growing profit margins as customers reduce the number of suppliers
3. To tap cash flow generated by the computer reseller.
Madison Dearborn also participated in the buyout of Cinemark Holdings Inc., the movie- theater chain that sold shares to the public earlier this year.
Growth, profit and cash feed on each other for even more revenue.
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
REVENUE STRATEGY - MEEBO
1. Meebo, a new type of instant-messaging service (where subscribers can log into the Meebo Web site and chat with friends even if they use different IM services) will launch a product called Meebo Rooms that could boost them into the big leagues of so-called Web 2.0 companies. Individuals and media companies create pages around a topic--motorcycling, say, or Bollywood movies. Then visitors can step in to chat and post videos and photos.
2. The Meebo founders occasionally fall back on advice from a virtual keiretsu of friends who are also twentysomething entrepreneurs.
3. They're starting with an untried approach of running ads after a stream of videos stops playing.
Another revenue rule: create a need and fulfill it.
[Click here for full story at: BUSINESSWEEK.COM]
2. The Meebo founders occasionally fall back on advice from a virtual keiretsu of friends who are also twentysomething entrepreneurs.
3. They're starting with an untried approach of running ads after a stream of videos stops playing.
Another revenue rule: create a need and fulfill it.
[Click here for full story at: BUSINESSWEEK.COM]
REVENUE STRATEGY - HEALTHSCOPE
1. Healthscope Ltd., Australia's second-biggest hospital owner, is seeking a bigger share of health care spending in Australia, where the proportion of retirees will double by 2051.
2. It has offered to buy Symbion Health Ltd., Australia’s largest health-care company for A$2.8 billion ($2.3 billion), in the nation's largest health-care takeover. Symbion has more than 900 pathology, medical centers and laboratories that performs 12 million blood tests and X-rays each year.
3. Including debt, the offer values Symbion at A$3.6 billion, or 15.1 times 2006 earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization.
4. Buyout firms Ironbridge Capital and Archer Capital will take control of Symbion's drug distribution business that provides products to 3,000 pharmacies and hospitals, and a unit that makes vitamins including the Cenovis and Nature's Own brands.
5. Healthscope has arranged loans with Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. to fund its A$474 million cash component of the deal. Ironbridge and Archer will provide A$721 million in cash.
6. Healthscope, which owns or manages 45 hospitals, is targeting annual savings of A$79 million by combining laboratories, technology systems and head offices.
It pays to be alert about revenue opportunities
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
2. It has offered to buy Symbion Health Ltd., Australia’s largest health-care company for A$2.8 billion ($2.3 billion), in the nation's largest health-care takeover. Symbion has more than 900 pathology, medical centers and laboratories that performs 12 million blood tests and X-rays each year.
3. Including debt, the offer values Symbion at A$3.6 billion, or 15.1 times 2006 earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization.
4. Buyout firms Ironbridge Capital and Archer Capital will take control of Symbion's drug distribution business that provides products to 3,000 pharmacies and hospitals, and a unit that makes vitamins including the Cenovis and Nature's Own brands.
5. Healthscope has arranged loans with Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. to fund its A$474 million cash component of the deal. Ironbridge and Archer will provide A$721 million in cash.
6. Healthscope, which owns or manages 45 hospitals, is targeting annual savings of A$79 million by combining laboratories, technology systems and head offices.
It pays to be alert about revenue opportunities
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
REVENUE STRATEGY - TISHMAN & LEHMAN
1. Tishman Speyer Properties LP, the owner of 14,000 apartments, and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. are seeking to expand into apartments as U.S. home prices fall, spurring rental demand.
2. They are in talks to buy apartment developer Archstone-Smith Trust, the second-largest U.S. apartment real estate investment trust, for more than $12 billion because of its high-quality assets, presence in key markets including Europe, low leverage and its high-rise properties that can be viewed as call options on the next condo wave.
3. Tishman would also assume debt, bringing the total value of the transaction to more than $20 billion.
4. Tishman Speyer is developing 1,000 condominiums in San Francisco.
Revenue axiom: more investment equals more revenue (in a growing market)
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
2. They are in talks to buy apartment developer Archstone-Smith Trust, the second-largest U.S. apartment real estate investment trust, for more than $12 billion because of its high-quality assets, presence in key markets including Europe, low leverage and its high-rise properties that can be viewed as call options on the next condo wave.
3. Tishman would also assume debt, bringing the total value of the transaction to more than $20 billion.
4. Tishman Speyer is developing 1,000 condominiums in San Francisco.
Revenue axiom: more investment equals more revenue (in a growing market)
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
REVENUE STRATEGY - JITTERBUG
1. Jitterbug designed a mobile phone and service to appeal to technophobic seniors because there are 100 million baby boomers and seniors in the U.S.
2. It launched a unique mobile phone (designed by Jitterbug and manufactured by Samsung) with a suite of services designed to meet the needs of older users.
3. It controlled both the product and service design, so it's able to deliver a seamless, innovative cross-channel experience, a rarity in the mobile-phone industry.
4. Its phone emits a dial tone. To reach a Jitterbug operator, who can place calls or answer questions for you, dial 0.
5. Its earpiece actually covers your ear. The soft rubber cup around the earpiece makes the phone more comfortable and also blocks ambient noise, making the phone easier to use for the hearing-impaired.
6. Its microphone is next to your mouth, not somewhere around your cheekbone.
7. The phone presents features as a series of simple questions, which the user answers with the bold YES and NO buttons on the handset, instead of icons or menus,
8. It had to defy the trend toward smaller handsets packed with ever-growing lists of features.
9. The phone was designed in tandem with services that would be delivered to subscribers.
10. The Jitterbug is simplified because the phone is managed entirely remotely. The configuration and programming of the phone is handled entirely through a Web-based interface and transmitted to the phone automatically. The Web interface offers an option to disable an unwanted feature entirely, say call history or voicemail. Careful choices were made about which features belonged on the phone itself and which should be pushed to the Web.
11. It may add a camera, but not if it compromises the experience the phone delivers.
Old revenue rule: find a need and fulfill it.
[Click here for full story at: BUSINESSWEEK.COM]
2. It launched a unique mobile phone (designed by Jitterbug and manufactured by Samsung) with a suite of services designed to meet the needs of older users.
3. It controlled both the product and service design, so it's able to deliver a seamless, innovative cross-channel experience, a rarity in the mobile-phone industry.
4. Its phone emits a dial tone. To reach a Jitterbug operator, who can place calls or answer questions for you, dial 0.
5. Its earpiece actually covers your ear. The soft rubber cup around the earpiece makes the phone more comfortable and also blocks ambient noise, making the phone easier to use for the hearing-impaired.
6. Its microphone is next to your mouth, not somewhere around your cheekbone.
7. The phone presents features as a series of simple questions, which the user answers with the bold YES and NO buttons on the handset, instead of icons or menus,
8. It had to defy the trend toward smaller handsets packed with ever-growing lists of features.
9. The phone was designed in tandem with services that would be delivered to subscribers.
10. The Jitterbug is simplified because the phone is managed entirely remotely. The configuration and programming of the phone is handled entirely through a Web-based interface and transmitted to the phone automatically. The Web interface offers an option to disable an unwanted feature entirely, say call history or voicemail. Careful choices were made about which features belonged on the phone itself and which should be pushed to the Web.
11. It may add a camera, but not if it compromises the experience the phone delivers.
Old revenue rule: find a need and fulfill it.
[Click here for full story at: BUSINESSWEEK.COM]
REVENUE STRATEGY - PRIVATE EQUITY FIRMS
1. Private equity firms are borrowing unimaginable sums to pay for their record deals because of low interest rates, cash-flush lenders, and the belief that healthy corporate earnings and cutting-edge management mitigate risk.
2. Now average debt levels are a record 5.9 times cash flow of the target company, and debt multiples of eight or nine times are common.
3. Even weaker companies can live with high debt for now because they face few loan conditions that can trigger a default - and if they get into trouble, someone else lends them more money. But high leverage ratios could hurt companies with weak businesses, especially if interest rates rise or the economy weakens.
4. Some private equity firms have stripped too much value from some companies, leaving them ill-equipped to operate their businesses. About 11% of proceeds have been for capital expenditures to enlarge the business, with the rest going for sponsor dividends, stock buybacks, refinancing of existing debt or LBOs.
But:
Default rates have started inching up. The default rate on U.S. corporate debt is 1.44%, up from 1.26% at the end of 2006.
“And if the dam breaks open many years too soon
I’ll see you on the dark side of the moon” – Pink Floyd.
[Click here for full story at: BUSINESSWEEK.COM]
2. Now average debt levels are a record 5.9 times cash flow of the target company, and debt multiples of eight or nine times are common.
3. Even weaker companies can live with high debt for now because they face few loan conditions that can trigger a default - and if they get into trouble, someone else lends them more money. But high leverage ratios could hurt companies with weak businesses, especially if interest rates rise or the economy weakens.
4. Some private equity firms have stripped too much value from some companies, leaving them ill-equipped to operate their businesses. About 11% of proceeds have been for capital expenditures to enlarge the business, with the rest going for sponsor dividends, stock buybacks, refinancing of existing debt or LBOs.
But:
Default rates have started inching up. The default rate on U.S. corporate debt is 1.44%, up from 1.26% at the end of 2006.
“And if the dam breaks open many years too soon
I’ll see you on the dark side of the moon” – Pink Floyd.
[Click here for full story at: BUSINESSWEEK.COM]
REVENUE STRATEGY - HOUSEHOLD PRODUCTS
Health-conscious people are encouraging a new kind of High-Tech Home.
So companies emphasize the health benefits of their technology, in part because women are playing a bigger role in tech purchasing - and women are more likely to consider the health implications of what they buy.
1. Select Comfort’s Sleep Number bed has controllers and air chambers that let users set personalized comfort levels for their side of the bed. It is investigating new products that would help regulate those rhythms with natural sleep aids like lighting control and watches that calculate a body's high and low points during the day. It targets the more than 70 million people in the US affected by sleep troubles and more than 48 million people who regularly use prescription sleep aids.
2. Logitech International and Microsoft spend millions trying to make mice and keyboards that are more ergonomically friendly.
3. IOGEAR, a maker of computer accessories, devised a wireless mouse coated with titanium oxide and silver nanoparticles, which attract and react with water and oxygen molecules to give off free oxygen ions that help continuously disinfect the mouse's surface.
4. Game maker Nintendo has aerobic software paired with its Wii and DS consoles. The International Sports Sciences Assn. in February endorsed the Wii as a way to help an increasingly overweight population, particularly in developed nations, get a workout while having fun.
5. Apple and Nike teamed up to cater to that same impulse last year by releasing a Nike + iPod Sport Kit that lets you track a run and listen to music at the same time.
6. 4HomeMedia and Pie Home are working on software that could help installers, consumer electronics makers, and retailers navigate the myriad of different networking products and standards to manage devices in the home more effectively.
Old revenue rule – find and fulfill a need.
[Click here for full story at: BUSINESSWEEK.COM]
So companies emphasize the health benefits of their technology, in part because women are playing a bigger role in tech purchasing - and women are more likely to consider the health implications of what they buy.
1. Select Comfort’s Sleep Number bed has controllers and air chambers that let users set personalized comfort levels for their side of the bed. It is investigating new products that would help regulate those rhythms with natural sleep aids like lighting control and watches that calculate a body's high and low points during the day. It targets the more than 70 million people in the US affected by sleep troubles and more than 48 million people who regularly use prescription sleep aids.
2. Logitech International and Microsoft spend millions trying to make mice and keyboards that are more ergonomically friendly.
3. IOGEAR, a maker of computer accessories, devised a wireless mouse coated with titanium oxide and silver nanoparticles, which attract and react with water and oxygen molecules to give off free oxygen ions that help continuously disinfect the mouse's surface.
4. Game maker Nintendo has aerobic software paired with its Wii and DS consoles. The International Sports Sciences Assn. in February endorsed the Wii as a way to help an increasingly overweight population, particularly in developed nations, get a workout while having fun.
5. Apple and Nike teamed up to cater to that same impulse last year by releasing a Nike + iPod Sport Kit that lets you track a run and listen to music at the same time.
6. 4HomeMedia and Pie Home are working on software that could help installers, consumer electronics makers, and retailers navigate the myriad of different networking products and standards to manage devices in the home more effectively.
Old revenue rule – find and fulfill a need.
[Click here for full story at: BUSINESSWEEK.COM]
REVENUE STRATEGY - NOKIA
1. Nokia Oyj, the world's biggest cell- phone maker, expects to introduce mobile phones based on China's homegrown high-speed standard (time division synchronous code division multiple access, or TD-SCDMA) by the first half of 2008 as the government is poised to issue licenses for the service.
2. It is awaiting China's issuance of so-called third-generation, or 3G, licenses to boost spending in the world's biggest mobile-phone market.
3. Its venture, TD Tech Ltd., with Siemens Network and Huawei Technologies Co won part of a tender bid by China Mobile Communications Corp asking equipment makers to bid for contracts worth as much as $3.1 billion to build a network based on TD-SCDMA technology.
4. It is adding an average of two engineers a month at the System Research Center in China, which has 35 researchers, part of the total 1,000 research and development engineers in China that are involved in the design of handsets.
5. It formed a joint research facility with Tsinghua University.
6. It introduced two services customized for its Chinese customers: Widsets allows users to access mobile Internet service and Mobiledu lets mobile users learn English through their cell-phones.
Playing the biggest market with cutting edge products is the primrose way to everlasting revenue.
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
2. It is awaiting China's issuance of so-called third-generation, or 3G, licenses to boost spending in the world's biggest mobile-phone market.
3. Its venture, TD Tech Ltd., with Siemens Network and Huawei Technologies Co won part of a tender bid by China Mobile Communications Corp asking equipment makers to bid for contracts worth as much as $3.1 billion to build a network based on TD-SCDMA technology.
4. It is adding an average of two engineers a month at the System Research Center in China, which has 35 researchers, part of the total 1,000 research and development engineers in China that are involved in the design of handsets.
5. It formed a joint research facility with Tsinghua University.
6. It introduced two services customized for its Chinese customers: Widsets allows users to access mobile Internet service and Mobiledu lets mobile users learn English through their cell-phones.
Playing the biggest market with cutting edge products is the primrose way to everlasting revenue.
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
REVENUE STRATEGY - ONLINE RETAILERS
According to Verdict Research:
Online retailing in the UK has grown at its fastest rate (33.4% to £10.9bn last year) since the dotcom bubble burst. Cheaper broadband is fuelling the growth in online shopping and several industries are moving quickly into cyberspace.
Three types of retailers were proving reluctant to increase their online presence:
1. Food retailers that were not already providing an online service were staying off because the cost of launching a web operation was too high.
2. Value retailers such as Primark and Matalan have tended not to launch online operations because their business models depend on driving sales in their stores.
3. Small, specialist retailers have been avoiding online sales because their small scale made it difficult to pay for the necessary infrastructure.
Optimize online revenue.
[Click here for full story at: BBCNEWS.COM]
Online retailing in the UK has grown at its fastest rate (33.4% to £10.9bn last year) since the dotcom bubble burst. Cheaper broadband is fuelling the growth in online shopping and several industries are moving quickly into cyberspace.
Three types of retailers were proving reluctant to increase their online presence:
1. Food retailers that were not already providing an online service were staying off because the cost of launching a web operation was too high.
2. Value retailers such as Primark and Matalan have tended not to launch online operations because their business models depend on driving sales in their stores.
3. Small, specialist retailers have been avoiding online sales because their small scale made it difficult to pay for the necessary infrastructure.
Optimize online revenue.
[Click here for full story at: BBCNEWS.COM]
REVENUE STRATEGY - PUBLISHING & BROADCASTING
Publishing & Broadcasting Ltd.’s television network is in danger of losing its title as the nation's most watched to Seven Network.
So:
1. It may sell more of its television network and magazines to buyout firm CVC Asia Pacific to focus on gaming.
2. This month it announced plans to spin off Publishing & Broadcasting's gaming division.
3. It opened the first of three casinos in Macau the city that overtook the Las Vegas Strip in gaming revenue last year.
4. It has been involved in more than $1.5 billion of casino acquisitions in North America.
5. Last month it teamed with Macquarie Bank Ltd., the country's largest securities firm, to bid $1.3 billion for nine casinos in Canada.
6. It also agreed to buy a 19.6 percent stake in Fontainebleau Resorts LLC for $250 million, gaining its first holding in a Las Vegas casino development.
The heart is where the revenue is?
Or perhaps
The revenue is where the heart is?
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
So:
1. It may sell more of its television network and magazines to buyout firm CVC Asia Pacific to focus on gaming.
2. This month it announced plans to spin off Publishing & Broadcasting's gaming division.
3. It opened the first of three casinos in Macau the city that overtook the Las Vegas Strip in gaming revenue last year.
4. It has been involved in more than $1.5 billion of casino acquisitions in North America.
5. Last month it teamed with Macquarie Bank Ltd., the country's largest securities firm, to bid $1.3 billion for nine casinos in Canada.
6. It also agreed to buy a 19.6 percent stake in Fontainebleau Resorts LLC for $250 million, gaining its first holding in a Las Vegas casino development.
The heart is where the revenue is?
Or perhaps
The revenue is where the heart is?
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
Monday, May 28, 2007
REVENUE STRATEGY - FORD MOTOR
Ford Motor's most fundamental problem has been its dysfunctional, often defeatist culture that has degenerated it into a symbol of inefficiency where employees rationalize mistakes instead of fixing them and short term "assignments" rather than jobs discourage cooperation with other divisions and regions. According to an audit designed to uncover cost-cutting opportunities, no two vehicles in Ford's lineup share the same mirrors, headlamps, or even such mundane pieces as the springs and hinges for the hood. It lost $12.7 billion last year. It had to endure the indignity of pledging its factories, headquarters, and the rights to the iconic blue oval logo to the banks and bondholders just to get enough money to finance its turnaround plan.
So now:
1. Ford wants managers to think more about customers than their own careers.
2. It has made it a top priority to encourage its team to admit mistakes, to share more information, and to cooperate across divisions.
3. It wants to get the number of car platforms down to five or six platforms (similar to Honda) from the present thirty.
4. Its CEO is asserting more control over the product line. Now he personally approves every new vehicle worldwide.
5. Its global product development team is designing cars that can be easily adapted to appeal to worldwide markets. They've developed a global small car that Ford will build in two or three plants starting in 2010, and which will sell in the U.S. for $10,000 to $12,000. It will differ only slightly from the version that will sell in South America, Europe, and Asia.
6. Another key goal in the near future is to create a midsize sedan that could serve both North America and Europe.
7. It is forcing every operating group to share all its financial data with every other group because "You can't manage a secret."
8. It has turned the traditional monthly meeting of divisional chiefs into a weekly affair. Every executive has to attend in person or by videoconference. No subordinates can be sent. Operating chiefs are now encouraged to bring a different subordinate to every meeting - a big step at a company where underlings formerly were not privy to sensitive data. It wants staffers to start buzzing about its ideas through unofficial e-mail, blog, and watercooler channels.
9. It is also taking symbolic steps to treat white-collar and blue-collar employees more equitably. This year many workers on the shop floor will receive bonuses of $300 to $800, based on a new formula that is also being applied to executives.
10. It is breaking long-standing company taboos, such as the one about never admitting when you don't know something.
N.B: Even mind-set affects revenue
[Click here for full story at: BUSINESSWEEK.COM]
So now:
1. Ford wants managers to think more about customers than their own careers.
2. It has made it a top priority to encourage its team to admit mistakes, to share more information, and to cooperate across divisions.
3. It wants to get the number of car platforms down to five or six platforms (similar to Honda) from the present thirty.
4. Its CEO is asserting more control over the product line. Now he personally approves every new vehicle worldwide.
5. Its global product development team is designing cars that can be easily adapted to appeal to worldwide markets. They've developed a global small car that Ford will build in two or three plants starting in 2010, and which will sell in the U.S. for $10,000 to $12,000. It will differ only slightly from the version that will sell in South America, Europe, and Asia.
6. Another key goal in the near future is to create a midsize sedan that could serve both North America and Europe.
7. It is forcing every operating group to share all its financial data with every other group because "You can't manage a secret."
8. It has turned the traditional monthly meeting of divisional chiefs into a weekly affair. Every executive has to attend in person or by videoconference. No subordinates can be sent. Operating chiefs are now encouraged to bring a different subordinate to every meeting - a big step at a company where underlings formerly were not privy to sensitive data. It wants staffers to start buzzing about its ideas through unofficial e-mail, blog, and watercooler channels.
9. It is also taking symbolic steps to treat white-collar and blue-collar employees more equitably. This year many workers on the shop floor will receive bonuses of $300 to $800, based on a new formula that is also being applied to executives.
10. It is breaking long-standing company taboos, such as the one about never admitting when you don't know something.
N.B: Even mind-set affects revenue
[Click here for full story at: BUSINESSWEEK.COM]
REVENUE STRATEGY - TATA TEA
1. Tata Tea Ltd., a unit of India's biggest business group, made a profit of $523 million from the sale of its 30 percent stake in Energy Brands Inc. to Coca-Cola Co. for $1.2 billion. It had paid $677 million for the Energy Brands stake in August.
2. It wants to invest overseas to increase its share of branded and specialty teas and coffee and reduce a dependence on sales of regular black tea leaves.
3. It will look for acquisitions in the U.S., where sales growth in waters and healthy drinks is outstripping sodas.
4. It wants to acquire majority ownership in companies in the areas of ready-to-make coffee and new varieties of tea.
5. It may acquire Cadbury Schweppes Plc's North American soft drinks unit.
6. It may use the cash from Energy Brands' sale to cut its debt.
Make the world your stage (for revenue growth)
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
2. It wants to invest overseas to increase its share of branded and specialty teas and coffee and reduce a dependence on sales of regular black tea leaves.
3. It will look for acquisitions in the U.S., where sales growth in waters and healthy drinks is outstripping sodas.
4. It wants to acquire majority ownership in companies in the areas of ready-to-make coffee and new varieties of tea.
5. It may acquire Cadbury Schweppes Plc's North American soft drinks unit.
6. It may use the cash from Energy Brands' sale to cut its debt.
Make the world your stage (for revenue growth)
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
EXPENDITURE STRATEGY - SANYO
Sanyo Electric Co., the world's largest maker of rechargeable batteries, controlled by creditors including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., posted an eighth loss in 10 quarters because of costs to compensate early retirees. Almost 1,000 workers applied to an early retirement program in December, costing the company about 11 billion yen.
So it is jettisoning businesses with lower profitability:
1. It sold its leasing unit (a 17 percent stake in Sanyo Electric Credit Co.) this month to GE.
2. It is seeking bids for the chip subsidiary, Sanyo Semiconductor Co.
Last year it sold stakes in a Thai refrigerator unit and a liquid-crystal display venture.
Be lean and mean and keen to cut the costs that bear sub-optimal revenue.
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
So it is jettisoning businesses with lower profitability:
1. It sold its leasing unit (a 17 percent stake in Sanyo Electric Credit Co.) this month to GE.
2. It is seeking bids for the chip subsidiary, Sanyo Semiconductor Co.
Last year it sold stakes in a Thai refrigerator unit and a liquid-crystal display venture.
Be lean and mean and keen to cut the costs that bear sub-optimal revenue.
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
REVENUE STRATEGY - SHUI ON LAND
1. Shui On Land Ltd., a Shanghai-based real estate developer, which owns an office and commercial building site in Shanghai will set up a venture that will invest more than 3 billion yuan ($392 million) for a 78 percent stake in the Dalian Software Park Phase 2 and for the land and other related costs in the project in the northeastern Chinese city of Dalian.
2. The project has an area of about 4 million square meters (43 million square feet). (The software park's first phase opened in 1998, has a gross floor area of 1.6 million square meters and has attracted more than 340 software companies).
As you sow investment, so you reap revenue.
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
2. The project has an area of about 4 million square meters (43 million square feet). (The software park's first phase opened in 1998, has a gross floor area of 1.6 million square meters and has attracted more than 340 software companies).
As you sow investment, so you reap revenue.
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
Saturday, May 26, 2007
REVENUE STRATEGY - GENERAL MOTORS
General Motors wants to make China the No. 2 Cadillac market because of its growing ranks of millionaires, a booming stock market, and booming economy. Cadillac is counting on its brash brand of American luxury to differentiate itself from the pack.
1. It is treating high-end shoppers in China like VIPs to coax them away from BMWs and Audis to its Cadillacs.
2. Attendants greet visitors by the polished-glass entrance
3. Cigars and Napa Valley wines are on offer at a black-marble bar
4. VIP rooms with leather sofas provide a comfortable venue for dealmaking.
5. There's an exhibit of the brand's 105-year history—with a movie and details on features such as hand-stitched leather seats and authentic wood trim—to show off Caddy's pedigree.
6. It has more than doubled the number of showrooms on the mainland in the past year and it offers five models.
7. In February, Cadillac introduced a China-designed and -built version of its SLS sedan four inches longer than the U.S. model for Chinese customers who like a roomy backseat since they tend to have chauffeurs.
Is the high-end market demand actually elastic to pampering?
Can it be blinded from quality, reliability and durability?
[Click here for full story at: BUSINESSWEEK.COM]
1. It is treating high-end shoppers in China like VIPs to coax them away from BMWs and Audis to its Cadillacs.
2. Attendants greet visitors by the polished-glass entrance
3. Cigars and Napa Valley wines are on offer at a black-marble bar
4. VIP rooms with leather sofas provide a comfortable venue for dealmaking.
5. There's an exhibit of the brand's 105-year history—with a movie and details on features such as hand-stitched leather seats and authentic wood trim—to show off Caddy's pedigree.
6. It has more than doubled the number of showrooms on the mainland in the past year and it offers five models.
7. In February, Cadillac introduced a China-designed and -built version of its SLS sedan four inches longer than the U.S. model for Chinese customers who like a roomy backseat since they tend to have chauffeurs.
Is the high-end market demand actually elastic to pampering?
Can it be blinded from quality, reliability and durability?
[Click here for full story at: BUSINESSWEEK.COM]
EXPENDITURE STRATEGY - VODAFONE
1. Vodafone Group Plc, the world's largest mobile-phone company, outlined a five-point strategy to reduce costs and dispose of businesses where it doesn't have control.
2. It would cut costs by as much as 264 million pounds over three to five years by consolidating some technology services.
3. It would also cut more than 400 jobs in the U.K.
Frugality always strengthens a business as long as it does not turn away customers
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
2. It would cut costs by as much as 264 million pounds over three to five years by consolidating some technology services.
3. It would also cut more than 400 jobs in the U.K.
Frugality always strengthens a business as long as it does not turn away customers
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
REVENUE STRATEGY - VODAFONE
Vodafone Group Plc, the world's largest mobile-phone company, bought India's Hutchison Essar Ltd. and Turkey's Telsim Mobil Telekomunikasyon Hizmetleri AS as part of its plan to tap growth in emerging markets, which are expanding very fast.
In 2006, it reorganized into three units covering Europe, emerging markets and new technology to boost innovation.
Emerging markets entertain surging revenues.
And innovation is the soul of creative destruction.
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
In 2006, it reorganized into three units covering Europe, emerging markets and new technology to boost innovation.
Emerging markets entertain surging revenues.
And innovation is the soul of creative destruction.
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
EXPENDITURE STRATEGY - MUNICH RE
1. Munich Re, the world's second-biggest reinsurer, plans to sell about 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion) of subordinated bonds to reduce its cost of capital taking advantage of the favorable capital-market environment. The perpetual bonds will be marketed to investors during the week ending June 1 and will be callable by Munich Re from 10 years after the date of issue. The bond will have a fixed coupon and thereafter a floating rate
2. It also announced plans to pay out at least 8 billion euros to shareholders by the end of 2010.
[Raising subordinated capital is one way of optimizing capital structure and hence cost of capital. Subordinated bonds rank below senior debt in the event of a default. They will be treated as equity by regulators and rating firms under certain conditions, which Munich Re plans to fulfill.]
The opportunity cost of money keeps changing with business performance and the economic environment and often amenable for favorable tweaking.
And lean and mean almost always works well.
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
2. It also announced plans to pay out at least 8 billion euros to shareholders by the end of 2010.
[Raising subordinated capital is one way of optimizing capital structure and hence cost of capital. Subordinated bonds rank below senior debt in the event of a default. They will be treated as equity by regulators and rating firms under certain conditions, which Munich Re plans to fulfill.]
The opportunity cost of money keeps changing with business performance and the economic environment and often amenable for favorable tweaking.
And lean and mean almost always works well.
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
REVENUE STRATEGY - ANHEUSER-BUSCH
1. Anheuser-Busch Cos. which was the world's biggest brewer for at least five decades, began selling beers such as Stella Artois and Beck's for InBev NV in February to lure consumers willing to pay more for European ales as sales of Budweiser stagnate.
2. The alliance with InBev, now the world's largest brewer, puts Anheuser in the position of becoming the import leader over time and may add 3 cents a share to Anheuser's annual earnings starting in 2008, or about 1 percent, after initial start-up costs are paid.
3. About 60 percent of InBev's U.S. volume has already been switched over to Anheuser distributors.
4. The InBev beers are high-margin brands for wholesalers and profitable for Anheuser-Busch.
5. Anheuser also benefits from its 50 percent ownership of Grupo Modelo SA, the maker of top-selling import Corona.
6. The brewer has also begun importing Royal Grolsch NV's Grolsch and Singapore's Tiger beer, and it's expanding in China to lift Budweiser's sales.
If you can't beat them, join them! At least to partake in their revenue!
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
2. The alliance with InBev, now the world's largest brewer, puts Anheuser in the position of becoming the import leader over time and may add 3 cents a share to Anheuser's annual earnings starting in 2008, or about 1 percent, after initial start-up costs are paid.
3. About 60 percent of InBev's U.S. volume has already been switched over to Anheuser distributors.
4. The InBev beers are high-margin brands for wholesalers and profitable for Anheuser-Busch.
5. Anheuser also benefits from its 50 percent ownership of Grupo Modelo SA, the maker of top-selling import Corona.
6. The brewer has also begun importing Royal Grolsch NV's Grolsch and Singapore's Tiger beer, and it's expanding in China to lift Budweiser's sales.
If you can't beat them, join them! At least to partake in their revenue!
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
REVENUE STRATEGY - UNILEVER
1. Unilever Pakistan Ltd., the nation's biggest maker of consumer goods, will increase advertising spending by half this year and another 50 percent in 2008 on brands such as Brooke Bond tea, Surf washing powder and Lux soap.
2. It hopes to sell its products in 5,000 new villages every year. It now has a significant presence in 10,000 villages.
3. It will introduce three new food brands in the next three years.
4. It will also launch one new home and personal care product a year. It costs at least 200 million rupees to introduce a new product
5. It plans to promote its Rexona brand of deodorant to teenagers through promotions at colleges.
6. It will spend 15 million euros ($20 million) to increase its ice-cream production capacity by 30 percent by June 2008.
The entry into Pakistan of international retailers including Malaysia's Makro Cash & Carry Wholesaler and Germany's Metro AG will also help increase revenue by providing more points of sale.
Advertising, new markets and new products would help any business.
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
2. It hopes to sell its products in 5,000 new villages every year. It now has a significant presence in 10,000 villages.
3. It will introduce three new food brands in the next three years.
4. It will also launch one new home and personal care product a year. It costs at least 200 million rupees to introduce a new product
5. It plans to promote its Rexona brand of deodorant to teenagers through promotions at colleges.
6. It will spend 15 million euros ($20 million) to increase its ice-cream production capacity by 30 percent by June 2008.
The entry into Pakistan of international retailers including Malaysia's Makro Cash & Carry Wholesaler and Germany's Metro AG will also help increase revenue by providing more points of sale.
Advertising, new markets and new products would help any business.
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
Friday, May 25, 2007
REVENUE STRATEGY - BABCOCK & BROWN
1. Babcock & Brown Ltd., Australia's second-largest investment bank, is buying ports, property and energy assets around the world and may raise more than A$4.5 billion for as many as five new investment funds this year. It is currently bidding on development projects in Singapore, Germany and France.
2. Babcock pools assets into investment funds it manages for a fee.
3. It has raised 1.3 billion euros ($1.7 billion) for a closely held European infrastructure fund, and has capped the total amount it can raise at 2 billion euros. The firm is also working on several closely held funds and at least one publicly traded vehicle outside Australia.
4. Babcock Infrastructure, managed by Babcock & Brown, may appeal the ruling by a Montana regulator to block Babcock & Brown Infrastructure Group's $2.2 billion bid to acquire the South Dakota-based utility NorthWestern Corp.
5. It has increased fees linked to growth in assets and funds it manages.
6. The company may also start a number of investment funds in Australia.
7. It agreed to buy Gregory Greenfield & Associates Ltd. to double its stakes in U.S. shopping malls. The firm now owns or manages stakes in 22 malls worth more than A$1.7 billion in the U.S.
8. It has almost doubled the amount of money it can borrow from banks to A$2.35 billion to fund acquisitions.
9. Babcock and Singapore Power Ltd.'s sweetened offer for Alinta will transfer about A$5.9 billion of assets to publicly traded Babcock funds, and may also deliver management fees of A$27 million a year to the firm
Are entrepreneurs being displaced by financiers or are financiers becoming entrepreneurs?
For better or worse?
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
2. Babcock pools assets into investment funds it manages for a fee.
3. It has raised 1.3 billion euros ($1.7 billion) for a closely held European infrastructure fund, and has capped the total amount it can raise at 2 billion euros. The firm is also working on several closely held funds and at least one publicly traded vehicle outside Australia.
4. Babcock Infrastructure, managed by Babcock & Brown, may appeal the ruling by a Montana regulator to block Babcock & Brown Infrastructure Group's $2.2 billion bid to acquire the South Dakota-based utility NorthWestern Corp.
5. It has increased fees linked to growth in assets and funds it manages.
6. The company may also start a number of investment funds in Australia.
7. It agreed to buy Gregory Greenfield & Associates Ltd. to double its stakes in U.S. shopping malls. The firm now owns or manages stakes in 22 malls worth more than A$1.7 billion in the U.S.
8. It has almost doubled the amount of money it can borrow from banks to A$2.35 billion to fund acquisitions.
9. Babcock and Singapore Power Ltd.'s sweetened offer for Alinta will transfer about A$5.9 billion of assets to publicly traded Babcock funds, and may also deliver management fees of A$27 million a year to the firm
Are entrepreneurs being displaced by financiers or are financiers becoming entrepreneurs?
For better or worse?
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
Thursday, May 24, 2007
REVENUE STRATEGY - INTEL
Intel is seeking the product differentiation route to revenue:
1. Its engineers in conjunction with Ziba Design in Portland, Ore., have created the world's thinnest notebook. It is also one of the lightest small-sized portable computers. Other features include always-on Internet connectivity via various wireless technologies. Embedded chips let users access cellular, Wi-Fi, or WiMax wireless broadband networks.
2. The device might rely on Intel chips not just for computing but also for memory and connecting to wireless networks. The prototype also incorporates technologies developed by companies like E Ink and Fortemedia financed by Intel Capital, the chipmaker's venture capital arm.
3. The computer comes with a diary-like folder that attaches to the laptop via magnets. The folder, available in different colors, also functions as a wireless charger for the device. One side features a screen made that can display a picture, the calendar, or your schedule for the day. It includes so-called small array microphones to cancel out background noise, often experienced by fans of Web-calling applications like eBay's Skype. The computer also is built to enhance security, boasting a fingerprint reader and a mechanism that lets users kill a hard drive by remote control.
4. It is using materials aimed to communicate high quality and coolness. Made of champagne-colored magnesium, the laptop is decorated with subtle gold accents. As a fashion accessory it may carry particular appeal to women, because they are often the decision makers, particularly with high-end purchases. But Intel wants to ensure the laptop appeals to a wide range of users.
5. Price was not a concern during development.
6. Manufacture may begin later this year and may not include all these features.
Someone at sometime long ago is said to have said that if automobile engineering were compared with computers we would have Rolls Royces in the size of match boxes at an equivalent price. He would now be compelled to shift his allusion to aircraft carriers and designer buttons, perhaps.
[Click here for full story at: BUSINESSWEEK.COM]
1. Its engineers in conjunction with Ziba Design in Portland, Ore., have created the world's thinnest notebook. It is also one of the lightest small-sized portable computers. Other features include always-on Internet connectivity via various wireless technologies. Embedded chips let users access cellular, Wi-Fi, or WiMax wireless broadband networks.
2. The device might rely on Intel chips not just for computing but also for memory and connecting to wireless networks. The prototype also incorporates technologies developed by companies like E Ink and Fortemedia financed by Intel Capital, the chipmaker's venture capital arm.
3. The computer comes with a diary-like folder that attaches to the laptop via magnets. The folder, available in different colors, also functions as a wireless charger for the device. One side features a screen made that can display a picture, the calendar, or your schedule for the day. It includes so-called small array microphones to cancel out background noise, often experienced by fans of Web-calling applications like eBay's Skype. The computer also is built to enhance security, boasting a fingerprint reader and a mechanism that lets users kill a hard drive by remote control.
4. It is using materials aimed to communicate high quality and coolness. Made of champagne-colored magnesium, the laptop is decorated with subtle gold accents. As a fashion accessory it may carry particular appeal to women, because they are often the decision makers, particularly with high-end purchases. But Intel wants to ensure the laptop appeals to a wide range of users.
5. Price was not a concern during development.
6. Manufacture may begin later this year and may not include all these features.
Someone at sometime long ago is said to have said that if automobile engineering were compared with computers we would have Rolls Royces in the size of match boxes at an equivalent price. He would now be compelled to shift his allusion to aircraft carriers and designer buttons, perhaps.
[Click here for full story at: BUSINESSWEEK.COM]
REVENUE STRATEGY - TATA POWER
1. Tata Power Co., India's second-biggest utility, will borrow $950 million to fund its purchase of stakes in two Indonesian coal mines to secure supplies.
2. It has hired Calyon to arrange a $600 million loan secured by the coal mines and a $350 million loan guaranteed by Tata Power. Calyon is marketing the loans to other banks.
[Coal is the world's fastest-growing energy source as rising oil prices prompt users to switch fuels.
Indian power companies must look overseas to secure coal supply, as local supply is largely government-controlled.]
To sell more you need to ensure that you can buy more.
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
2. It has hired Calyon to arrange a $600 million loan secured by the coal mines and a $350 million loan guaranteed by Tata Power. Calyon is marketing the loans to other banks.
[Coal is the world's fastest-growing energy source as rising oil prices prompt users to switch fuels.
Indian power companies must look overseas to secure coal supply, as local supply is largely government-controlled.]
To sell more you need to ensure that you can buy more.
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
REVENUE STRATEGY - KDDI
KDDI Corp., Japan's second-biggest wireless carrier, is developing a phone that can send e-mails and work with office documents to compete with Research In Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry device.
It will start selling 15 handset models from next month, including seven that can receive digital television broadcasts.
One day nano-versions of omniscient connectivity gizmos will be implanted at birth.
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
It will start selling 15 handset models from next month, including seven that can receive digital television broadcasts.
One day nano-versions of omniscient connectivity gizmos will be implanted at birth.
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
REVENUE STRATEGY - SABIC
Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), one of the world's largest petrochemical firms, will purchase General Electric’s plastics arm to:
1. Combine SABIC's low-cost materials position and global reach with GE’s strong marketing and technology capabilities and
2. Gain access to 30,000 new customers across a range of different markets.
One man's meat is another man's poison or something nearly akin.
[Click here for full story at: BBCNEWS.COM]
1. Combine SABIC's low-cost materials position and global reach with GE’s strong marketing and technology capabilities and
2. Gain access to 30,000 new customers across a range of different markets.
One man's meat is another man's poison or something nearly akin.
[Click here for full story at: BBCNEWS.COM]
EXPENDITURE STRATEGY - GENERAL ELECTRIC
1. General Electric will sell its plastics arm, which supplies plastic resins to the automotive, electronics, packaging and construction sectors, generating annual sales of about $6.6bn to a leading Saudi Arabian firm for $11.6bn (£5.8bn) to boost GE's long-term growth prospects
2. It has offloaded a number of manufacturing units to focus on faster-growing areas.
3. More than 10,000 GE staff will transfer to the Saudi firm once the deal is completed.
4. GE will spend the proceeds of the deal on increasing the amount of shares it is currently buying back to up to $8bn, as well as funding further restructuring of the business.
It all depends on how long it will take the faster growing businesses to generate more profit than the offloaded businesses.
[Click here for full story at: BBCNEWS.COM]
2. It has offloaded a number of manufacturing units to focus on faster-growing areas.
3. More than 10,000 GE staff will transfer to the Saudi firm once the deal is completed.
4. GE will spend the proceeds of the deal on increasing the amount of shares it is currently buying back to up to $8bn, as well as funding further restructuring of the business.
It all depends on how long it will take the faster growing businesses to generate more profit than the offloaded businesses.
[Click here for full story at: BBCNEWS.COM]
EXPENDITURE STRATEGY - AIR FRANCE-KLM
1. Air France-KLM Group, Europe's biggest airline, reaped savings of 525 million euros over three years by combining purchasing, sales and information technology. It plans deeper integration of the strategic functions of the group
2. It initiated a new cost-savings program to reduce expenses by 1.4 billion euros over three years.
3. The dividend was increased 60 percent to 48 cents a share.
4. It has hedged 76 percent of its fuel needs at $60 a barrel. Oil is now the airline's second-biggest cost after labor.
5. It is using the carrier's bases at Paris Charles de Gaulle and Amsterdam's Schiphol airports to offer more connecting flights than rivals.
Blessed are the frugal for they shall reap the world for longer.
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
2. It initiated a new cost-savings program to reduce expenses by 1.4 billion euros over three years.
3. The dividend was increased 60 percent to 48 cents a share.
4. It has hedged 76 percent of its fuel needs at $60 a barrel. Oil is now the airline's second-biggest cost after labor.
5. It is using the carrier's bases at Paris Charles de Gaulle and Amsterdam's Schiphol airports to offer more connecting flights than rivals.
Blessed are the frugal for they shall reap the world for longer.
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
REVENUE STRATEGY - ICAP
1. ICAP Plc, the world's largest broker of transactions between banks in bonds, stocks, currencies and their derivatives doubled revenue from lower-cost electronic trading to 113 million pounds in the second half by its acquisition in June of computer-based currency broker EBS garnering a 45 percent share of the electronic broking market.
2. It spent 40.9 million-pound for consolidation of its business including EBS.
3. ICAP has encouraged customers to use its computer platforms for the most frequently traded securities such as bonds and currencies, rather than dealing with a broker over the phone because the costs are lower.
4. It is focusing on more complex structured products for its voice broking business.
5. It is open-minded on future possible acquisitions.
Continuous improvement is the key.
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
2. It spent 40.9 million-pound for consolidation of its business including EBS.
3. ICAP has encouraged customers to use its computer platforms for the most frequently traded securities such as bonds and currencies, rather than dealing with a broker over the phone because the costs are lower.
4. It is focusing on more complex structured products for its voice broking business.
5. It is open-minded on future possible acquisitions.
Continuous improvement is the key.
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
Monday, May 21, 2007
EXPENDITURE STRATEGY - LG ELECTRONICS
LG Electronics Inc., the world's second-largest plasma display maker, reported a record 194 billion won loss in the first quarter after competition from Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., and the rising popularity of rival liquid-crystal display technology forced the company to cut prices.
LG will stop production at its oldest panel-manufacturing line at the A1 plant in Gumi, southeast of Seoul during the first half to increase efficiency in the plasma business. Halting production at A1 with a monthly capacity of 70,000 plasma panels will save 20 billion won ($21 million) to 30 billion won annually.
Is this a case of over-investment or creative destruction?
Whoever crystallizes the conflated calculus of creative destruction and over-investment will come close to playing God.
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
LG will stop production at its oldest panel-manufacturing line at the A1 plant in Gumi, southeast of Seoul during the first half to increase efficiency in the plasma business. Halting production at A1 with a monthly capacity of 70,000 plasma panels will save 20 billion won ($21 million) to 30 billion won annually.
Is this a case of over-investment or creative destruction?
Whoever crystallizes the conflated calculus of creative destruction and over-investment will come close to playing God.
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
EXPENDITURE STRATEGY - PHILIPS
Royal Philips Electronics NV, Europe's largest consumer electronics maker, intends to focus on making lamps, appliances and medical scanners.
So it will reduce its outlay in other businesses:
1. It plans to sell its entire stake in chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. by 2010. It sold 240 million American depositary receipts, equivalent to 1.2 billion common shares, yesterday. In March, it sold 887 million shares
2. It also sold its remaining 2.5 percent stake in fiber-optic parts maker JDS Uniphase Corp.
You need to find the equilibrium point between sticking to your knitting and keeping your eggs in more than one basket.
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
So it will reduce its outlay in other businesses:
1. It plans to sell its entire stake in chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. by 2010. It sold 240 million American depositary receipts, equivalent to 1.2 billion common shares, yesterday. In March, it sold 887 million shares
2. It also sold its remaining 2.5 percent stake in fiber-optic parts maker JDS Uniphase Corp.
You need to find the equilibrium point between sticking to your knitting and keeping your eggs in more than one basket.
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
REVENUE STRATEGY - RANBAXY LABS
Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd.'s, India's biggest drug producer, wants revenue growth in Europe, Africa and the Commonwealth of Independent States during the next three years.
1. It made at least eight acquisitions since January 2006, half of them in Europe and South Africa, to cut distribution costs and spur sales of generic medicines.
2. It will spend about 100 million rand ($14 million) to upgrade the Be-Tabs Pharmaceuticals (Pty) Ltd. plant in South Africa it bought for 500 million rand last year. The facility will eventually produce Ranbaxy's anti-AIDS drugs for the South African market and may supply other products to its international operations.
“Go forth and multiply” has taken on a whole new meaning.
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
1. It made at least eight acquisitions since January 2006, half of them in Europe and South Africa, to cut distribution costs and spur sales of generic medicines.
2. It will spend about 100 million rand ($14 million) to upgrade the Be-Tabs Pharmaceuticals (Pty) Ltd. plant in South Africa it bought for 500 million rand last year. The facility will eventually produce Ranbaxy's anti-AIDS drugs for the South African market and may supply other products to its international operations.
“Go forth and multiply” has taken on a whole new meaning.
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
EXPENDITURE STRATEGY - COLES GROUP
Coles Group Ltd., the Australian retailer, put itself up for sale in February as its rebranding strategy failed to win customers and widened the performance gap with Woolworths. It hadn't spent enough on its supermarkets or inventory handling systems to stem market-share losses. It was forced to halt plans to convert all its Bi-Lo discount supermarkets into the more expensive Coles format after customers chose to shop elsewhere after the revamp of 60 percent of the 202-store chain.
Sometimes you need to sell your soul to survive.
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
Sometimes you need to sell your soul to survive.
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
Friday, May 11, 2007
REVENUE STRATEGY – HYUNDAI MOTOR
1. Hyundai, the South Korean automaker is desperate to convince American consumers that its cars and SUVs are worth premium prices.
2. Its quality is actually ahead of Toyota's in J.D. Power's Initial Quality Study, and behind only Lexus and Porsche.
3. It has an array of new models with quality and styling at levels unimaginable even as recently as five years ago and more discounts.
4. It is looking for a new marketing story focused on repositioning Hyundai as an overachieving, underappreciated brand that smart people are discovering.
5. It opted for San Francisco-based Goodby, Silverstein + Partners
6. Its campaign, due out by June, is expected to blanket TV, the Internet, and newspapers with data about safety ratings, quality, and value pricing using a tone of "disarming honesty." The idea is to create an environment where neighbors and co-workers of Hyundai buyers completely understand why they bought a Hyundai. It compared the automaker's difficulty persuading people to trust and admire Hyundai to Galileo's persecution for suggesting the earth rotated around the sun.
Why do they say you cannot keep a good man down?
[Click here for full story at: BUSINESSWEEK.COM]
2. Its quality is actually ahead of Toyota's in J.D. Power's Initial Quality Study, and behind only Lexus and Porsche.
3. It has an array of new models with quality and styling at levels unimaginable even as recently as five years ago and more discounts.
4. It is looking for a new marketing story focused on repositioning Hyundai as an overachieving, underappreciated brand that smart people are discovering.
5. It opted for San Francisco-based Goodby, Silverstein + Partners
6. Its campaign, due out by June, is expected to blanket TV, the Internet, and newspapers with data about safety ratings, quality, and value pricing using a tone of "disarming honesty." The idea is to create an environment where neighbors and co-workers of Hyundai buyers completely understand why they bought a Hyundai. It compared the automaker's difficulty persuading people to trust and admire Hyundai to Galileo's persecution for suggesting the earth rotated around the sun.
Why do they say you cannot keep a good man down?
[Click here for full story at: BUSINESSWEEK.COM]
EXPENDITURE STRATEGY – BARCLAYS BANK
1. Barclays Bank has announced it will be cutting 1,100 workers over the next three years as part of an efficiency drive at its offices in Poole, Dorset which handles back-office functions such as payment processing and IT support.
2. It was hoping to cut costs by automating many tasks, such as payment processing.
3. Unions would be working with Barclays to ensure as many staff as possible were redeployed or took voluntary redundancy.
4. It would be moving to a new, smaller building.
Continuous improvement is better than delayed crisis management?
[Click here for full story at: BBCNEWS.COM]
2. It was hoping to cut costs by automating many tasks, such as payment processing.
3. Unions would be working with Barclays to ensure as many staff as possible were redeployed or took voluntary redundancy.
4. It would be moving to a new, smaller building.
Continuous improvement is better than delayed crisis management?
[Click here for full story at: BBCNEWS.COM]
REVENUE STRATEGY – FINANCE COS
A growing number of sizable corporations are realizing that viewed in the aggregate, the working poor are a choice target. The lack of sophistication of borrowers helps ensure that their offerings remain big sellers.
1. Innovative and zealous firms have lured unsophisticated shoppers by the hundreds of thousands into a thicket of debt from which many never emerge. Many businesses have made financing more readily available to even the riskiest of borrowers. Armed with the latest technology for assessing credit risks ambitious corporations see profits in lending to the working poor.
2. Marketers use products as the bait to hook less-well-off shoppers on expensive loans.
3. Tax-preparation services offer instant refunds, skimming off hefty fees. Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Inc. focused on the less affluent people who wanted their tax refunds quick. It soaked up fees by preparing returns and also by loaning money to taxpayers too impatient or too desperate to wait for the government to send them their checks rather than encourage them to wait a week or two to get refunds for free.
4. Payday lenders, which provide expensive cash advances due on the customer's next payday, have multiplied from 300 in the early 1990s to more than 25,000. Wells Fargo & Co. and U.S. Bancorp now offer their own versions of payday loans, charging $2 for every $20 borrowed (based on a 30-day repayment period, that's an annual interest rate of 120%.)
5. Merrill Lynch & Co. works with CompuCredit to package credit-card receivables as securities, which are bought by hedge funds and other big investors.
6. BlueHippo, which sells well-known brands such as Apple computers and Sony televisions, tries to commit consumers to regular electronic debits, then stalls when they cancel orders or ask about receiving shipment. It refuses refunds but customers may use any funds paid to purchase other items from BlueHippo. Its prices are relatively high allegedly because of the added risk of dealing with customers who have poor credit.
7. CompuCredit has devised models to assess more than 200 categories of customer data, from the duration of past credit-card accounts to the number of bad debts. It is willing to work with those who have trouble paying their bills. It discloses interest rates and imposes fees up front so consumers won't be surprised later.
Households in the US earning $30,000 or less a year pay a higher average annual interest rate than households earning more than $90,000 a year: 56.1% higher on auto loans and 25.5% higher on mortgage loans.
Fair is foul and foul is fair?
Ignorance is bliss?
[Click here for full story at: BUSINESSWEEK.COM]
1. Innovative and zealous firms have lured unsophisticated shoppers by the hundreds of thousands into a thicket of debt from which many never emerge. Many businesses have made financing more readily available to even the riskiest of borrowers. Armed with the latest technology for assessing credit risks ambitious corporations see profits in lending to the working poor.
2. Marketers use products as the bait to hook less-well-off shoppers on expensive loans.
3. Tax-preparation services offer instant refunds, skimming off hefty fees. Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Inc. focused on the less affluent people who wanted their tax refunds quick. It soaked up fees by preparing returns and also by loaning money to taxpayers too impatient or too desperate to wait for the government to send them their checks rather than encourage them to wait a week or two to get refunds for free.
4. Payday lenders, which provide expensive cash advances due on the customer's next payday, have multiplied from 300 in the early 1990s to more than 25,000. Wells Fargo & Co. and U.S. Bancorp now offer their own versions of payday loans, charging $2 for every $20 borrowed (based on a 30-day repayment period, that's an annual interest rate of 120%.)
5. Merrill Lynch & Co. works with CompuCredit to package credit-card receivables as securities, which are bought by hedge funds and other big investors.
6. BlueHippo, which sells well-known brands such as Apple computers and Sony televisions, tries to commit consumers to regular electronic debits, then stalls when they cancel orders or ask about receiving shipment. It refuses refunds but customers may use any funds paid to purchase other items from BlueHippo. Its prices are relatively high allegedly because of the added risk of dealing with customers who have poor credit.
7. CompuCredit has devised models to assess more than 200 categories of customer data, from the duration of past credit-card accounts to the number of bad debts. It is willing to work with those who have trouble paying their bills. It discloses interest rates and imposes fees up front so consumers won't be surprised later.
Households in the US earning $30,000 or less a year pay a higher average annual interest rate than households earning more than $90,000 a year: 56.1% higher on auto loans and 25.5% higher on mortgage loans.
Fair is foul and foul is fair?
Ignorance is bliss?
[Click here for full story at: BUSINESSWEEK.COM]
REVENUE STRATEGY – TUI AG
1. TUI's tourism unit is merging with First Choice Holidays Plc to fend off competition from Web travel agents and discount airlines.
2. Marketing costs jumped on the combination of two airlines, Hapag-Lloyd Flug and Hapag-Lloyd Express, under the new brand TUIfly.com.
3. It is trying to curb the drop in freight rates this year as demand for fuel, computers, iron ore and other goods increases in China, the U.S. and other countries.
Multi-pronged strategies hit larger revenue?
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
2. Marketing costs jumped on the combination of two airlines, Hapag-Lloyd Flug and Hapag-Lloyd Express, under the new brand TUIfly.com.
3. It is trying to curb the drop in freight rates this year as demand for fuel, computers, iron ore and other goods increases in China, the U.S. and other countries.
Multi-pronged strategies hit larger revenue?
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
EXPENDITURE STRATEGY – TUI AG
TUI AG, Europe's largest travel company and the owner of the Hapag-Lloyd shipping line, would eliminate about 3,600 jobs, mostly in Britain, where it runs more than 650 Thomson travel stores.
The tour operator also scrapped its dividend.
Now the shareholder shares the burden with employees!
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
The tour operator also scrapped its dividend.
Now the shareholder shares the burden with employees!
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
REVENUE STRATEGY - CREDICORP
1. Credicorp Ltd., Peru's largest financial-holding company, boosted lending by 21 percent to $6.24 billion at the end of March and enlarged its portfolio by focusing on retail banking, while reducing its past due loans ratios.
2. It will invest some $30 million to $40 million in new branch offices this year to enhance its retail capabilities.
Revenue can be in the nitty-gritties
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
2. It will invest some $30 million to $40 million in new branch offices this year to enhance its retail capabilities.
Revenue can be in the nitty-gritties
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
EXPENDITURE STRATEGY – MARSTON’S
Brewer Marston's has sold 279 pubs, which include some smaller non-food pubs, for £82.5m to a property fund Piccadilly Licensed Properties because a smoking ban is set to come into force in the UK in July to increase the average quality of its tenanted and leased estate, and to place itself in a better position to take advantage of positive market trends, including growth in pub dining
Pub companies are selling off sites or converting them to include facilities to serve food.
Will the pubs of folklore disappear therein?
[Click here for full story at: BBCNEWS.COM]
Pub companies are selling off sites or converting them to include facilities to serve food.
Will the pubs of folklore disappear therein?
[Click here for full story at: BBCNEWS.COM]
REVENUE STRATEGY – BENQ
1. Benq Corp., the Taiwanese electronics company will return to its manufacturing roots, which began 23 years ago. The branded unit will keep the Benq name and be spun off on Sept. 1.
2. It will focus on Europe, which accounts for 33 percent of Benq sales, and rebuild the brand by making handsets that can access wireless Internet and mobile-phone networks, as well as download songs and video.
3. It will focus on the specialized handsets instead of competing directly against Nokia Oyj and Motorola Inc. because of the higher margins.
4. It will focus on developing new applications.
5. The company's computer products division will also benefit from getting some higher-margin manufacturing work from AU Optronics Corp., the world's third-largest LCD maker.
For revenue: build brand, play niches, play to strength, sustain benefactors
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
2. It will focus on Europe, which accounts for 33 percent of Benq sales, and rebuild the brand by making handsets that can access wireless Internet and mobile-phone networks, as well as download songs and video.
3. It will focus on the specialized handsets instead of competing directly against Nokia Oyj and Motorola Inc. because of the higher margins.
4. It will focus on developing new applications.
5. The company's computer products division will also benefit from getting some higher-margin manufacturing work from AU Optronics Corp., the world's third-largest LCD maker.
For revenue: build brand, play niches, play to strength, sustain benefactors
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
REVENUE STRATEGY - VOLVO
1. Volvo AB, the world's second-largest truckmaker, plans to spend 935 million kronor to build a Russian plant
2. It boosted European capacity 5 percent in the first quarter and will further increase production in the second quarter to meet the rising demand.
3. It has been spending money on acquisitions. It announced a friendly bid to buy Nissan Diesel Motor Co and would spend 7.4 billion kronor to raise its Nissan Diesel stake to 96 percent from 19 percent.
4. Volvo's construction equipment division earlier this year agreed to buy Ingersoll Rand Co.'s road building-equipment unit for $1.3 billion in cash to become the world's third-largest maker of construction equipment and better compete with Caterpillar Inc. and Komatsu Ltd., the world's two-largest makers of heavy equipment.
Service the sympathetic markets but work out the difficult ones too
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
2. It boosted European capacity 5 percent in the first quarter and will further increase production in the second quarter to meet the rising demand.
3. It has been spending money on acquisitions. It announced a friendly bid to buy Nissan Diesel Motor Co and would spend 7.4 billion kronor to raise its Nissan Diesel stake to 96 percent from 19 percent.
4. Volvo's construction equipment division earlier this year agreed to buy Ingersoll Rand Co.'s road building-equipment unit for $1.3 billion in cash to become the world's third-largest maker of construction equipment and better compete with Caterpillar Inc. and Komatsu Ltd., the world's two-largest makers of heavy equipment.
Service the sympathetic markets but work out the difficult ones too
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
Thursday, May 10, 2007
REVENUE STRATEGY - WALT DISNEY
1. Walt Disney Co., the second-largest U.S. media company, sacrificed sales growth by releasing fewer films that made more profit. (Successful movies at Disney often drive sales of DVDs and consumer goods such as toys and books).
2. It has used tie-ins to the “Pirates” movies to revamp attractions at the company's theme parks.
3. At the broadcast unit’s ABC it increased advertising rates.
4. It added new shows such as “Brothers & Sisters” and “Ugly Betty” to enhance syndicated sales.
5. It demanded higher affiliate fees for ESPN when cable-TV contracts came up for renewal. Deferred revenue increased by $85 million.
6. Theme-park ticket prices were increased
The first Q of revenue: Quality. (It induces the second Q of revenue: Quantity.)
If the quality of your products is the source of your bargaining power you can merchandize your products widely, raise advertising and admission rates, raise affiliate fees, or whatever.
If it is possible to tell which fewer films will make more profit, why was it not done earlier?
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
2. It has used tie-ins to the “Pirates” movies to revamp attractions at the company's theme parks.
3. At the broadcast unit’s ABC it increased advertising rates.
4. It added new shows such as “Brothers & Sisters” and “Ugly Betty” to enhance syndicated sales.
5. It demanded higher affiliate fees for ESPN when cable-TV contracts came up for renewal. Deferred revenue increased by $85 million.
6. Theme-park ticket prices were increased
The first Q of revenue: Quality. (It induces the second Q of revenue: Quantity.)
If the quality of your products is the source of your bargaining power you can merchandize your products widely, raise advertising and admission rates, raise affiliate fees, or whatever.
If it is possible to tell which fewer films will make more profit, why was it not done earlier?
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
REVENUE STRATEGY - SMIC
Chip sales in China, the world's biggest semiconductor market, may almost triple to $111 billion in 2011 from $39 billion in 2005 as more mobile-phones, computers and digital music players are made in the nation.
1. Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., China's biggest chipmaker, whose customers include Infineon Technologies AG and Elpida Memory Inc., is expanding to compete with bigger rival Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., which is expanding its plant in Shanghai.
2. It agreed to buy as much as $1.86 billion of equipment from Applied Materials, Inc. and five other companies in the U.S. over the next three years. The equipment will be used to produce 300-millimeter silicon wafers at Semiconductor Manufacturing plants in China.
3. It signed agreements with KLA-Tencor Corp., the second-largest U.S. chip equipment maker, Axcelis Technologies, Inc., Novellus Systems, Inc., Lam Research Corp. and Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates, Inc.
To sell more, produce more.
To produce more, buy more.
To buy more, sell more.
Or borrow.
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
1. Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., China's biggest chipmaker, whose customers include Infineon Technologies AG and Elpida Memory Inc., is expanding to compete with bigger rival Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., which is expanding its plant in Shanghai.
2. It agreed to buy as much as $1.86 billion of equipment from Applied Materials, Inc. and five other companies in the U.S. over the next three years. The equipment will be used to produce 300-millimeter silicon wafers at Semiconductor Manufacturing plants in China.
3. It signed agreements with KLA-Tencor Corp., the second-largest U.S. chip equipment maker, Axcelis Technologies, Inc., Novellus Systems, Inc., Lam Research Corp. and Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates, Inc.
To sell more, produce more.
To produce more, buy more.
To buy more, sell more.
Or borrow.
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
EXPENDITURE STRATEGY - EADS
1. European Aeronautic, Defence & Space Co., owner of planemaker Airbus, has a reorganization plan aimed at making up for the decline of the dollar against the euro. (Airbus has about half its expenses in euros, which has gained 6.2 percent against the dollar over the last year, while plane sales are priced in the U.S. currency).
2. The A380 cost EADS 2.5 billion euros in 2006 because of delays, higher expenses, settlement payments with airlines and charges for a suspended freighter version.
3. Airbus has a Power8 plan that will include 10,000 job cuts and the sale of plants in France, the Germany and the U.K. The plan aims to slash 2.1 billion euros from annual costs by 2010 and achieve 5 billion euros in cash spending until 2010.
Negligence or unforeseen circumstances?
[Click here for full story at: BUSINESSWEEK.COM]
2. The A380 cost EADS 2.5 billion euros in 2006 because of delays, higher expenses, settlement payments with airlines and charges for a suspended freighter version.
3. Airbus has a Power8 plan that will include 10,000 job cuts and the sale of plants in France, the Germany and the U.K. The plan aims to slash 2.1 billion euros from annual costs by 2010 and achieve 5 billion euros in cash spending until 2010.
Negligence or unforeseen circumstances?
[Click here for full story at: BUSINESSWEEK.COM]
EXPENDITURE STRATEGY – DEUTSCHE TELECOM
1. Deutsche Telekom AG, Europe's largest phone company, agreed to sell its Club Internet unit in France for about 500 million euros, part of a plan to sell 3 billion euros of assets in three years.
2. In November, it unveiled a four-year program to cut annual costs by as much as 4.7 billion euros. Payroll expenses account for about a fifth of the reduction.
3. By the end of next year, it aims to reduce headcount by 32,000 people.
4. The company has sold some office and hotel properties and agreed to sell a stake in its real- estate marketing arm.
Can’t there be a quarterly review of superfluous expenses even in good times to obviate the need for drastic painful crisis measures?
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
2. In November, it unveiled a four-year program to cut annual costs by as much as 4.7 billion euros. Payroll expenses account for about a fifth of the reduction.
3. By the end of next year, it aims to reduce headcount by 32,000 people.
4. The company has sold some office and hotel properties and agreed to sell a stake in its real- estate marketing arm.
Can’t there be a quarterly review of superfluous expenses even in good times to obviate the need for drastic painful crisis measures?
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
REVENUE STRATEGY – SOCIETE GENERALE
1. Societe Generale SA, France's second- largest bank by market value, plans to hire about 800 people at the investment bank this year to grow in areas such as equity derivatives.
2. It spent more than 2 billion euros last year on purchases in countries including Russia.
3. It needs to make more acquisitions or it risks becoming a takeover target
4. It counted 2,436 branches abroad at the end of March, and is seeking new opportunities in China after losing out to Citigroup Inc. in the battle for Guangdong Development Bank last year.
5. It also plans to grow in Algeria.
6. It has an option to take control of OAO Rosbank, which has Russia's second-largest branch network, for $1.7 billion by the end of 2008.
“And the Banker never wears a mac in the pouring rain”?
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
2. It spent more than 2 billion euros last year on purchases in countries including Russia.
3. It needs to make more acquisitions or it risks becoming a takeover target
4. It counted 2,436 branches abroad at the end of March, and is seeking new opportunities in China after losing out to Citigroup Inc. in the battle for Guangdong Development Bank last year.
5. It also plans to grow in Algeria.
6. It has an option to take control of OAO Rosbank, which has Russia's second-largest branch network, for $1.7 billion by the end of 2008.
“And the Banker never wears a mac in the pouring rain”?
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
REVENUE STRATEGY - CISCO
Consumer traffic on the Net this year could exceed corporate traffic for the first time because of the popularity of online video, which consumes far more bandwidth than do static Web sites or Internet-based phone calls. Video-on-demand and personalized video distribution could be a massive driver of network consumption.
So:
1. Cisco, the world's largest maker of networking gear, is stepping up its attack on big new markets - including the consumer. It has widened its focus to include regular folks in addition to the large corporations and telecommunications services providers that make up the bulk of its base.
2. Its 2003 purchase of Linksys made Cisco the market-share king in the home wireless router business.
3. In late 2005, it acquired set-top box powerhouse Scientific-Atlanta, just in time to ride a huge wave of new demand from its cable and telecom carrier customers.
4. It has begun to announce some stand-alone products, including a line of home phones, webcams for monitoring the kids, and storage devices for creating DVD-less movie libraries.
5. It wants to become the epicenter of a "Connected Home" where consumers use Cisco software to manage how all of their devices interact - TVs, PCs, and iPods if Apple signs on.
6. A key part will be a souped-up set-top box that melds many existing products into one, including the basic TV capabilities of Scientific-Atlanta with wireless networking know-how from Linksys. Consumers could use it to take content received over cable DSL and distribute it around the house. This device will provide a browser, so users could access all manner of Web content—videos off of YouTube, video podcasts, and the like.
7. There would be versions sold in stores under the Linksys brand, and others that would be provided by cable companies and other carriers.
8. The plan is for all of Cisco's consumer products to share a layer of software that would let them work easily together, while also being personalized by consumers.
9. It has been aggressively building a team of design specialists
10. The products will be based on open standards, enabling them to be compatible with a host of rival digital devices. It intends to add its own features on top of those standards, to make its products stand out.
The three ‘Fs’ of revenue: Focus, foresight and fearlessness
Will Cisco be able to focus also on individual consumers after a career focused on large corporations and telecommunications services providers? It has the foresight to know it must and must fearlessly set about taming a new terrain.
[Click here for full story at: BUSINESSWEEK.COM]
So:
1. Cisco, the world's largest maker of networking gear, is stepping up its attack on big new markets - including the consumer. It has widened its focus to include regular folks in addition to the large corporations and telecommunications services providers that make up the bulk of its base.
2. Its 2003 purchase of Linksys made Cisco the market-share king in the home wireless router business.
3. In late 2005, it acquired set-top box powerhouse Scientific-Atlanta, just in time to ride a huge wave of new demand from its cable and telecom carrier customers.
4. It has begun to announce some stand-alone products, including a line of home phones, webcams for monitoring the kids, and storage devices for creating DVD-less movie libraries.
5. It wants to become the epicenter of a "Connected Home" where consumers use Cisco software to manage how all of their devices interact - TVs, PCs, and iPods if Apple signs on.
6. A key part will be a souped-up set-top box that melds many existing products into one, including the basic TV capabilities of Scientific-Atlanta with wireless networking know-how from Linksys. Consumers could use it to take content received over cable DSL and distribute it around the house. This device will provide a browser, so users could access all manner of Web content—videos off of YouTube, video podcasts, and the like.
7. There would be versions sold in stores under the Linksys brand, and others that would be provided by cable companies and other carriers.
8. The plan is for all of Cisco's consumer products to share a layer of software that would let them work easily together, while also being personalized by consumers.
9. It has been aggressively building a team of design specialists
10. The products will be based on open standards, enabling them to be compatible with a host of rival digital devices. It intends to add its own features on top of those standards, to make its products stand out.
The three ‘Fs’ of revenue: Focus, foresight and fearlessness
Will Cisco be able to focus also on individual consumers after a career focused on large corporations and telecommunications services providers? It has the foresight to know it must and must fearlessly set about taming a new terrain.
[Click here for full story at: BUSINESSWEEK.COM]
REVENUE STRATEGY – BANK OF BARODA
Bank of Baroda Ltd., India's fifth- biggest lender by assets, is seeking to expand its overseas business, boost capital and meet record credit growth in the world's second-fastest growing major economy.
So:
1. It plans to sell at least $250 million of bonds to boost its capital. (Bond investors pay a lower price for subordinated debt than regular bonds as recompense for being paid later than other claimants in the event of a bankruptcy.)
2. The bank will meet investors in Singapore, Hong Kong and London next week to market the securities, which count as Tier-2 capital, one of the forms of capital that regulators require banks to hold to absorb losses
3. It has hired Deutsche Bank AG, Citigroup Inc. and Barclays Plc to arrange the sale.
4. It will later sell a $1.5 billion medium-term note program.
Do you ever worry about where all this growth is leading us?
Will everyone below the poverty line be uplifted one day?
Does planet earth have the capacity for all this growth (like the universe keeps expanding and changing the co-ordinates of infinity)?
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
So:
1. It plans to sell at least $250 million of bonds to boost its capital. (Bond investors pay a lower price for subordinated debt than regular bonds as recompense for being paid later than other claimants in the event of a bankruptcy.)
2. The bank will meet investors in Singapore, Hong Kong and London next week to market the securities, which count as Tier-2 capital, one of the forms of capital that regulators require banks to hold to absorb losses
3. It has hired Deutsche Bank AG, Citigroup Inc. and Barclays Plc to arrange the sale.
4. It will later sell a $1.5 billion medium-term note program.
Do you ever worry about where all this growth is leading us?
Will everyone below the poverty line be uplifted one day?
Does planet earth have the capacity for all this growth (like the universe keeps expanding and changing the co-ordinates of infinity)?
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
REVENUE STRATEGY – SUN MICROSYSTEMS
1. Sun announced two upcoming consumer-friendly Java software products—JavaFX Script for writing interactive Web sites and JavaFX Mobile for running software on mobile phones—designed to persuade the world's 6 million Java developers to use the technology to link older Java systems with newer software and to generate coherence.
2. JavaFX Script is supposed to address some shortcomings by enabling Java developers to write software faster and run it more quickly over the Web.
3. JavaFX Mobile is based largely on technology Sun acquired from SavaJe Technologies, which had developed a mobile-phone operating system that combined elements of Linux and Java. The software will target cell-phone makers in developing countries, and devices using it could appear in 2008 to move up the food chain.
4. The goal is to make Java more popular and generate demand for products based on the language at a time when Sun is struggling to stay profitable.
5. Sun is releasing all of its Java technology under the same open-source license as Linux because the popularity of Linux and other software that's published in the open has diminished developers' interest in Java.
[Sun has not yet published application program interfaces to its OpenOffice productivity suite or hosting storage for customers because that would put it at risk of competing with customers.]
Here comes the Sun, circumspectly but determined.
Is it working behind the scenes, as if possessed, to return from catch up to leading edge mode?
Can it not?
[Click here for full story at: BUSINESSWEEK.COM]
2. JavaFX Script is supposed to address some shortcomings by enabling Java developers to write software faster and run it more quickly over the Web.
3. JavaFX Mobile is based largely on technology Sun acquired from SavaJe Technologies, which had developed a mobile-phone operating system that combined elements of Linux and Java. The software will target cell-phone makers in developing countries, and devices using it could appear in 2008 to move up the food chain.
4. The goal is to make Java more popular and generate demand for products based on the language at a time when Sun is struggling to stay profitable.
5. Sun is releasing all of its Java technology under the same open-source license as Linux because the popularity of Linux and other software that's published in the open has diminished developers' interest in Java.
[Sun has not yet published application program interfaces to its OpenOffice productivity suite or hosting storage for customers because that would put it at risk of competing with customers.]
Here comes the Sun, circumspectly but determined.
Is it working behind the scenes, as if possessed, to return from catch up to leading edge mode?
Can it not?
[Click here for full story at: BUSINESSWEEK.COM]
REVENUE STRATEGY – BNP PARIBAS
1. BNP Paribas SA, France's largest bank by market value, added jobs at the company's investment bank and acquired Italy's Banca Nazionale del Lavoro SpA to help make up for slower growth at home, where higher interest rates have squeezed lending margins.
2. Earnings were boosted by 541 million euros in one-time gains, most of it from the sale of a stake in Paris-based clothing retailer Vivarte SA. 3.
It is still hiring to grow in areas such as equity derivatives and fixed income.
4. It will hold an investor day in London on the 20th of June on its investment bank.
5. It has spent more than $8.5 billion since 1999 buying U.S. banks including Commercial Federal Corp., Fargo, Community First Bankshares Inc.
6. It confirmed a target for 4 percent revenue growth at the domestic retail unit for the full year.
7. Last year's 9 billion-euro purchase of BNL gave it 810 branches and three million retail customers in Europe's most- lucrative consumer-banking market. The acquisition led to lower costs and increased revenue of 27 million euros in the three months, and in the next three quarters it will yield savings and extra revenue of 116 million euros.
The French way to Banking Revenue is no different: Add jobs in growth divisions; add branches in growth locations.
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
2. Earnings were boosted by 541 million euros in one-time gains, most of it from the sale of a stake in Paris-based clothing retailer Vivarte SA. 3.
It is still hiring to grow in areas such as equity derivatives and fixed income.
4. It will hold an investor day in London on the 20th of June on its investment bank.
5. It has spent more than $8.5 billion since 1999 buying U.S. banks including Commercial Federal Corp., Fargo, Community First Bankshares Inc.
6. It confirmed a target for 4 percent revenue growth at the domestic retail unit for the full year.
7. Last year's 9 billion-euro purchase of BNL gave it 810 branches and three million retail customers in Europe's most- lucrative consumer-banking market. The acquisition led to lower costs and increased revenue of 27 million euros in the three months, and in the next three quarters it will yield savings and extra revenue of 116 million euros.
The French way to Banking Revenue is no different: Add jobs in growth divisions; add branches in growth locations.
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
REVENUE STRATEGY – HEDGE FUNDS
Hedge funds are potential cradles of “Billion Dollar Babies”:
Renaissance Technologies’ Jim Simons made $1.7 billion in 2006.
Citadel's Ken Griffin made $1.4 billion
ESL Investments' Ed Lampert made $1.3 billion.
There are many ways to make - or lose – money at hedge funds.
1. Long-short funds bet that particular stocks will go down as well as up. The combination of bets to both the long and short side of a stock's performance reduces a portfolio's overall risk, while boosting returns.
2. Some hedge funds specialize in betting on mergers-and-acquisitions and corporate events like stock buybacks and dividend increases. The strategy overlaps with long-short equity, because M&A and special events are primary drivers of equity prices.
3. Mergers & Acquisitions funds can play both sides of the market: They can buy the shares of companies they expect to be taken over and sell short shares of companies that are likely to buy them. Shares of acquiring companies often fall because deals can boost debt and expenses.
4. Distressed-debt investors can take a passive tack, buying bonds in hopes that they will benefit from a turnaround or restructuring. One popular approach is to invest in credit default swaps, or insurance policies that protect bond investors from a drop in the value of their investment.
5. Hedge funds are taking more active roles in restructuring too. That active approach is best applied to large bankruptcies, where the potential payoffs can justify the labor-intensive approach.
6. Sophisticated hedge funds are buying enough debt in distressed companies to give them a seat on a bankruptcy-restructuring committee, where they have access to special information supplied by the company
7. Sowing discord in a bankruptcy case is another profitable approach. A capital-structure arbitrage is a bet on which creditors will make out best in bankruptcy reorganization.
Statutory Warning:
This is a zero-sum game. There have to be losers.
An estimated 83 U.S. hedge funds went under in 2006, eliminating $35 billion in assets.
[Click here for full story at: BUSINESSWEEK.COM]
Renaissance Technologies’ Jim Simons made $1.7 billion in 2006.
Citadel's Ken Griffin made $1.4 billion
ESL Investments' Ed Lampert made $1.3 billion.
There are many ways to make - or lose – money at hedge funds.
1. Long-short funds bet that particular stocks will go down as well as up. The combination of bets to both the long and short side of a stock's performance reduces a portfolio's overall risk, while boosting returns.
2. Some hedge funds specialize in betting on mergers-and-acquisitions and corporate events like stock buybacks and dividend increases. The strategy overlaps with long-short equity, because M&A and special events are primary drivers of equity prices.
3. Mergers & Acquisitions funds can play both sides of the market: They can buy the shares of companies they expect to be taken over and sell short shares of companies that are likely to buy them. Shares of acquiring companies often fall because deals can boost debt and expenses.
4. Distressed-debt investors can take a passive tack, buying bonds in hopes that they will benefit from a turnaround or restructuring. One popular approach is to invest in credit default swaps, or insurance policies that protect bond investors from a drop in the value of their investment.
5. Hedge funds are taking more active roles in restructuring too. That active approach is best applied to large bankruptcies, where the potential payoffs can justify the labor-intensive approach.
6. Sophisticated hedge funds are buying enough debt in distressed companies to give them a seat on a bankruptcy-restructuring committee, where they have access to special information supplied by the company
7. Sowing discord in a bankruptcy case is another profitable approach. A capital-structure arbitrage is a bet on which creditors will make out best in bankruptcy reorganization.
Statutory Warning:
This is a zero-sum game. There have to be losers.
An estimated 83 U.S. hedge funds went under in 2006, eliminating $35 billion in assets.
[Click here for full story at: BUSINESSWEEK.COM]
REVENUE STRATEGY - HEWLETT PACKARD
1. HP has recently propelled to the top of the PC market, ahead of longtime market leader Dell.
2. The star of HP's successful show has been the consumer PC business, which sells HP and Compaq-branded PCs through retailers such as Best Buy and Circuit City Stores. It has challenged Dell's business model of selling directly to consumers, cutting retailers and other distribution channels out of the process.
3. HP has a batch of new consumer and business-oriented notebook PCs.
4. The star of that bunch is the Pavilion HDX, a monstrous notebook with a 20-inch screen aimed at consumers with a heavy appetite for digital media. The launch coincides with the availability of Intel's latest chip platform for notebook PCs which combines the PC's microprocessor with components for wireless Internet connectivity, and which is also aimed at consuming power efficiently to save battery life. Prices for the HDX machine will start at $2,999.
5. HP's blade server business the star among the company's server roster.
6. HP was helped by a weak U.S. dollar, which added $800 million to $900 million for the company.
A business that has a face perhaps sells more than the faceless.
[Click here for full story at: BUSINESSWEEK.COM]
2. The star of HP's successful show has been the consumer PC business, which sells HP and Compaq-branded PCs through retailers such as Best Buy and Circuit City Stores. It has challenged Dell's business model of selling directly to consumers, cutting retailers and other distribution channels out of the process.
3. HP has a batch of new consumer and business-oriented notebook PCs.
4. The star of that bunch is the Pavilion HDX, a monstrous notebook with a 20-inch screen aimed at consumers with a heavy appetite for digital media. The launch coincides with the availability of Intel's latest chip platform for notebook PCs which combines the PC's microprocessor with components for wireless Internet connectivity, and which is also aimed at consuming power efficiently to save battery life. Prices for the HDX machine will start at $2,999.
5. HP's blade server business the star among the company's server roster.
6. HP was helped by a weak U.S. dollar, which added $800 million to $900 million for the company.
A business that has a face perhaps sells more than the faceless.
[Click here for full story at: BUSINESSWEEK.COM]
EXPENDITURE STRATEGY – IBM & AMAZON
Computer giant IBM and internet retailer Amazon have settled their counter lawsuits patent-infringement through negotiation and licensing.
Amazon would pay IBM an undisclosed sum of money.
Both firms agreed to allow the other access to some of its technology.
Life is very short and there’s no time for fussing and fighting my friends.
And adding to the cost of trespassing.
[Click here for full story at: BBCNEWS.COM]
Amazon would pay IBM an undisclosed sum of money.
Both firms agreed to allow the other access to some of its technology.
Life is very short and there’s no time for fussing and fighting my friends.
And adding to the cost of trespassing.
[Click here for full story at: BBCNEWS.COM]
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
EXPENDITURE STRATEGY - HONDA MOTOR
1. Raising cash dividends attracts more investors than buying back shares.
2. Honda Motor Co., Japan's second- largest automaker, plans to pay out more of its profit in dividends to boost shareholder returns that have lagged behind Toyota Motor Corp to lure more investors even as it forecasts profit will fall for a second year due to higher costs for aluminum and precious metals.
3. The company will pay out 30 percent of net income in dividends within two to three years compared with 25 percent this fiscal year. The automaker plans to pay 80 yen a share this business year, up from 67 yen a year ago. The company is paying 20 yen every quarter this fiscal year.
More investors = lower cost of capital
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
2. Honda Motor Co., Japan's second- largest automaker, plans to pay out more of its profit in dividends to boost shareholder returns that have lagged behind Toyota Motor Corp to lure more investors even as it forecasts profit will fall for a second year due to higher costs for aluminum and precious metals.
3. The company will pay out 30 percent of net income in dividends within two to three years compared with 25 percent this fiscal year. The automaker plans to pay 80 yen a share this business year, up from 67 yen a year ago. The company is paying 20 yen every quarter this fiscal year.
More investors = lower cost of capital
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
EXPENDITURE STRATEGY - PUBLISHING & BROADCASTING LTD
How do you tweak the cost of capital of a company with interests in Media & Gaming industries that individually have unequal capital costs?
Break the company into two – one company media; one company gaming.
1. Publishing & Broadcasting Ltd., Australia's largest casino and media owner, plans to split into two companies and pay A$2 billion ($1.7 billion) to shareholders to boost returns.
2. Investors will receive one share in the new companies and A$3 cash for each Publishing & Broadcasting share.
3. The split may help bring the market value of Publishing & Broadcasting's gaming assets in line with those of Las Vegas Sands Co. and MGM Mirage., the world's biggest casino operators. The shares of the three biggest gaming companies in the U.S. by market value, Las Vegas Sands, MGM Mirage and Harrah's Entertainment Inc., sell on average of 35.6 times estimated earnings, compared with Publishing & Broadcasting's multiple of 25.2 times earnings.
4. It will allow management to run the businesses separately, giving investors a choice of betting on the gaming or media industries. 5. The cash return to shareholders will be paid off Publishing & Broadcasting's balance sheet
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
Break the company into two – one company media; one company gaming.
1. Publishing & Broadcasting Ltd., Australia's largest casino and media owner, plans to split into two companies and pay A$2 billion ($1.7 billion) to shareholders to boost returns.
2. Investors will receive one share in the new companies and A$3 cash for each Publishing & Broadcasting share.
3. The split may help bring the market value of Publishing & Broadcasting's gaming assets in line with those of Las Vegas Sands Co. and MGM Mirage., the world's biggest casino operators. The shares of the three biggest gaming companies in the U.S. by market value, Las Vegas Sands, MGM Mirage and Harrah's Entertainment Inc., sell on average of 35.6 times estimated earnings, compared with Publishing & Broadcasting's multiple of 25.2 times earnings.
4. It will allow management to run the businesses separately, giving investors a choice of betting on the gaming or media industries. 5. The cash return to shareholders will be paid off Publishing & Broadcasting's balance sheet
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
REVENUE STRATEGY – DELTA AIR LINES
If domestic competition is too fierce for safe margins, seek revenue abroad. Even lower grade revenue?
1. Delta Air Lines hopes to boost revenues by serving a bevy of second-tier international destinations like Accra, Düsseldorf, Vienna, and Mumbai where lower-cost fiercely competitive rivals in the domestic network such as AirTran Airways, JetBlue, Southwest, and even US Airways don't fly.
2. Delta lagged far behind most legacy rivals such as American Airlines, Continental Airlines, and Northwest Airlines when it came to overseas markets.
3. It hired Glen Hauenstein from Alitalia, the Italian state-owned carrier. He has done a masterful job of designing routes that feed traffic into Delta's international flights.
4. It shifted focus to second-tier markets such as Nice and Venice, and emerging markets like Kiev, the capital of Ukraine even though its 214-seat Boeing 767s, which guzzle more fuel and give Delta more capacity than it needs in some of these fledgling markets.
5. In coming months, the carrier will launch direct service to new markets including Seoul and Dubai, and hopes to gain three to six slots at London's Heathrow Airport when the new pact liberalizing flights between the U.S. and Europe begins in March, 2008.
[Click here for full story at: BUSINESSWEEK.COM]
1. Delta Air Lines hopes to boost revenues by serving a bevy of second-tier international destinations like Accra, Düsseldorf, Vienna, and Mumbai where lower-cost fiercely competitive rivals in the domestic network such as AirTran Airways, JetBlue, Southwest, and even US Airways don't fly.
2. Delta lagged far behind most legacy rivals such as American Airlines, Continental Airlines, and Northwest Airlines when it came to overseas markets.
3. It hired Glen Hauenstein from Alitalia, the Italian state-owned carrier. He has done a masterful job of designing routes that feed traffic into Delta's international flights.
4. It shifted focus to second-tier markets such as Nice and Venice, and emerging markets like Kiev, the capital of Ukraine even though its 214-seat Boeing 767s, which guzzle more fuel and give Delta more capacity than it needs in some of these fledgling markets.
5. In coming months, the carrier will launch direct service to new markets including Seoul and Dubai, and hopes to gain three to six slots at London's Heathrow Airport when the new pact liberalizing flights between the U.S. and Europe begins in March, 2008.
[Click here for full story at: BUSINESSWEEK.COM]
EXPENDITURE STRATEGY – CANWEST
1. CanWest Global Communications Corp., Canada's biggest media company, is selling CanWest MediaWorks (NZ) Ltd, owner of New Zealand's most popular radio network, to raise money to revive its Canadian television stations, whose profit plunged 75 percent last year.
2. CanWest is also trying to sell its 56.4 percent stake in Ten Network Holdings Ltd., Australia's third most-watched television station.
3. For CanWest, this transaction allows it to further our objective of reducing debt and redeploying capital.
4. MediaWorks may pay a special dividend of 11 cents a share to distribute tax credits. The offer price will be adjusted accordingly if the dividend is paid.
Reducing debt is a good way to reduce expenses when return on equity is less than cost of debt.
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
2. CanWest is also trying to sell its 56.4 percent stake in Ten Network Holdings Ltd., Australia's third most-watched television station.
3. For CanWest, this transaction allows it to further our objective of reducing debt and redeploying capital.
4. MediaWorks may pay a special dividend of 11 cents a share to distribute tax credits. The offer price will be adjusted accordingly if the dividend is paid.
Reducing debt is a good way to reduce expenses when return on equity is less than cost of debt.
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
REVENUE STRATEGY – CHU MEI OPTPOELECTRONICS
If you have done your demand supply extrapolations accurately, and you need funds for investment in additional infrastructure to raise production to raise revenue, and the home country is dry, look abroad for the money. Luckily you live, work and party in a globalized world today.
Obviously, you need to bet on the newest products that are on sharp ascendancy mode.
1. Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp., Taiwan's second-biggest maker of liquid-crystal displays, is considering selling more shares overseas to help expand production of screens used in television sets.
2. The company may sell shares to raise the estimated $3 billion needed to build a new LCD factory to make screens measuring at least 50 inches diagonally.
3. Chi Mei will continue raising funds through syndicated loans.
4. Its focus on larger screens, which are driving demand for televisions, may help improve profit as sales of LCD TVs outpace other types of flat-panel technologies.
5. Chi Mei and other producers in the $70 billion industry have delayed expansion plans to ease global oversupply of screens, helping drive up prices of some panels.
6. Given that there aren't new factories coming into supply in the rest of the year and the first half of next year, panel makers' margins should improve.
7. Asian companies are drawn to the American or global depositary receipt market, which typically has a deeper pool of investors than their home countries. Chi Mei is likely to consider an ADR sale after the first half of next year.
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
Obviously, you need to bet on the newest products that are on sharp ascendancy mode.
1. Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp., Taiwan's second-biggest maker of liquid-crystal displays, is considering selling more shares overseas to help expand production of screens used in television sets.
2. The company may sell shares to raise the estimated $3 billion needed to build a new LCD factory to make screens measuring at least 50 inches diagonally.
3. Chi Mei will continue raising funds through syndicated loans.
4. Its focus on larger screens, which are driving demand for televisions, may help improve profit as sales of LCD TVs outpace other types of flat-panel technologies.
5. Chi Mei and other producers in the $70 billion industry have delayed expansion plans to ease global oversupply of screens, helping drive up prices of some panels.
6. Given that there aren't new factories coming into supply in the rest of the year and the first half of next year, panel makers' margins should improve.
7. Asian companies are drawn to the American or global depositary receipt market, which typically has a deeper pool of investors than their home countries. Chi Mei is likely to consider an ADR sale after the first half of next year.
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
REVENUE STRATEGY - MOTOROLA
Motorola faces slumping earnings at the company's handset unit after it slashed prices on its top-selling Razr model to compete with new devices from Nokia Oyj and Samsung Electronics Co.
1. It will overhaul marketing and product design to improve profit margins.
2. It plans to introduce more phones with cameras and video players.
3. It will find ways to make more basic phones cheaper to manufacture.
How long will it take to create a RAZR heir?
Why should it take so long?
Should not heaven and earth be shaken for it?
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
1. It will overhaul marketing and product design to improve profit margins.
2. It plans to introduce more phones with cameras and video players.
3. It will find ways to make more basic phones cheaper to manufacture.
How long will it take to create a RAZR heir?
Why should it take so long?
Should not heaven and earth be shaken for it?
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
REVENUE STRATEGY - ALCOA
1. Alcoa Inc. plans to make an unsolicited $26.9 billion cash and stock takeover offer for Alcan Inc. to create the world's largest aluminum producer as metal prices rally. That values Alcan at $73.25, or 20 percent more than its closing price on May 4. Including debt, the deal would be valued at $33 billion.
2. Alcoa and Alcan have been losing market share to producers in Russia and China as aluminum prices doubled the past four years.
3. Alcoa wants to increase focus on aluminum production, its most profitable business.
4. Alcan has more of its earnings and sales from primary metals and alumina and Alcoa does not, so putting the two together emphasizes a broader plate of products.
5. Alcoa and Alcan combination would create a company with 7.8 million tons of production capacity and $54 billion in sales.
6. Alcoa forecast $1 billion in savings within three years of acquiring Alcan.
7. Alcoa plans to resolve antitrust concerns by selling some assets. (Alcan was created from Alcoa-owned assets when the company was ordered by U.S. regulators in 1928 to break up its Canadian and foreign assets into a separate company.)
Inorganic growth - yes.
Cost synergies - yes (despite dual HQs at New York and Montreal?).
But organic growth?
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
2. Alcoa and Alcan have been losing market share to producers in Russia and China as aluminum prices doubled the past four years.
3. Alcoa wants to increase focus on aluminum production, its most profitable business.
4. Alcan has more of its earnings and sales from primary metals and alumina and Alcoa does not, so putting the two together emphasizes a broader plate of products.
5. Alcoa and Alcan combination would create a company with 7.8 million tons of production capacity and $54 billion in sales.
6. Alcoa forecast $1 billion in savings within three years of acquiring Alcan.
7. Alcoa plans to resolve antitrust concerns by selling some assets. (Alcan was created from Alcoa-owned assets when the company was ordered by U.S. regulators in 1928 to break up its Canadian and foreign assets into a separate company.)
Inorganic growth - yes.
Cost synergies - yes (despite dual HQs at New York and Montreal?).
But organic growth?
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
Monday, May 7, 2007
REVENUE STRATEGY - MICROSOFT
1. Microsoft is angling for a big fish in the online market and has been ramping up its ability to absorb large targets. It is willing to spend more on purchases.
2. It had considered buying Yahoo or striking up another kind of partnership with the Internet company, but that talks had stalled. The companies had last considered a tie-up in 2006.
3. It has been investing in financial, human resources, and IT systems can track on a daily basis how an acquisition is performing and generate reports to get newly acquired teams up to speed quicker once inside Microsoft.
4. It wants to find a way to accelerate the growth of business in consumer online both through acquisitions and in-house development.
5. Microsoft plans to pursue deals that can bolster its presence in Web searches for specific areas of expertise, along the lines of the acquisition of Medstory, which lets consumers winnow down searches for online health information.
6. The company also wants to do deals that can help it make money from its MSN properties Hotmail and Windows Messenger.
7. It has acquired roughly 150 companies since 1990.
Will an inorganic merger of Microsoft and Yahoo without a killer new product ever draw away the gathering gang of Googlers?
Will such mergers not cannibalize each other to give: sum not greater than the parts?
[Click here for full story at: BUSINESSWEEK.COM]
2. It had considered buying Yahoo or striking up another kind of partnership with the Internet company, but that talks had stalled. The companies had last considered a tie-up in 2006.
3. It has been investing in financial, human resources, and IT systems can track on a daily basis how an acquisition is performing and generate reports to get newly acquired teams up to speed quicker once inside Microsoft.
4. It wants to find a way to accelerate the growth of business in consumer online both through acquisitions and in-house development.
5. Microsoft plans to pursue deals that can bolster its presence in Web searches for specific areas of expertise, along the lines of the acquisition of Medstory, which lets consumers winnow down searches for online health information.
6. The company also wants to do deals that can help it make money from its MSN properties Hotmail and Windows Messenger.
7. It has acquired roughly 150 companies since 1990.
Will an inorganic merger of Microsoft and Yahoo without a killer new product ever draw away the gathering gang of Googlers?
Will such mergers not cannibalize each other to give: sum not greater than the parts?
[Click here for full story at: BUSINESSWEEK.COM]
EXPENDITURE STRATEGY - KODAK
Kodak announced first-quarter losses of $151 million.
So:
1. Kodak sold its health-care unit to Canadian outfit Onex for $2.35 billion.
2. It is also in the midst of a massive series of layoffs expected to total more than 20,000 as sales of its staple photographic film shrivel
Sticking to the knitting is fine.
But why wait until an axe is required on staff?
Why not a continuous rejuvenating scalpel?
[Click here for full story at: BUSINESSWEEK.COM]
So:
1. Kodak sold its health-care unit to Canadian outfit Onex for $2.35 billion.
2. It is also in the midst of a massive series of layoffs expected to total more than 20,000 as sales of its staple photographic film shrivel
Sticking to the knitting is fine.
But why wait until an axe is required on staff?
Why not a continuous rejuvenating scalpel?
[Click here for full story at: BUSINESSWEEK.COM]
REVENUE STRATEGY - MARUTI UDYOG
New product (replacing unpopular product) = more revenue
More production = more revenue in growing market
Overinvestment = problem
1. Maruti Udyog Ltd., India's biggest carmaker, introduced its first new sedan model in eight years to defend market share as Honda Motor Co. and Hyundai Motor Co. expand into Asia's fourth-biggest auto market.
2. It will sell the SX4 base model for 618,000 rupees ($15,220) in New Delhi 9 percent cheaper than the competing 1.5 liter Honda City (677,000 rupees).
3. The SX4 with a 1.6 liter gasoline engine is Maruti's fourth new model or upgrade in nine months.
4. The new model replaces the Baleno sedan
5. Maruti plans to introduce more sedans in India as higher incomes may encourage more people to upgrade to bigger cars. Sales of sedans gained 11 percent to 244,247 units in the year ended March 31.
6. Maruti is investing as much as $2 billion by 2012 to increase capacity and produce new vehicles.
7. Suzuki, which owns 54 percent of Maruti, is considering shifting some exports from Japan by shipping vehicles built in India to the Middle East and Africa.
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
More production = more revenue in growing market
Overinvestment = problem
1. Maruti Udyog Ltd., India's biggest carmaker, introduced its first new sedan model in eight years to defend market share as Honda Motor Co. and Hyundai Motor Co. expand into Asia's fourth-biggest auto market.
2. It will sell the SX4 base model for 618,000 rupees ($15,220) in New Delhi 9 percent cheaper than the competing 1.5 liter Honda City (677,000 rupees).
3. The SX4 with a 1.6 liter gasoline engine is Maruti's fourth new model or upgrade in nine months.
4. The new model replaces the Baleno sedan
5. Maruti plans to introduce more sedans in India as higher incomes may encourage more people to upgrade to bigger cars. Sales of sedans gained 11 percent to 244,247 units in the year ended March 31.
6. Maruti is investing as much as $2 billion by 2012 to increase capacity and produce new vehicles.
7. Suzuki, which owns 54 percent of Maruti, is considering shifting some exports from Japan by shipping vehicles built in India to the Middle East and Africa.
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
Saturday, May 5, 2007
REVENUE STRATEGY - IBM
1. IBM has made technology breakthroughs that could fundamentally change the way chips are made and dramatically improve their efficiency.
2. It has invented a polymer that assembles itself in sheets covered with precisely spaced slots—similar to the natural self-assembling process by which snowflakes form. That material is then used in the chipmaking process to create trillions of tiny air pockets, which replace less-effective silicon as the primary insulator.
3. These advances by way of nanotechnology will allow electrical signals on chips to flow 35% faster, or for the chips to consume 15% less energy. Chipmakers can also fine tune a chip to any combination of the two factors—say, a 17% speed boost and a 7% power savings.
4. IBM has already made chips using the new processes in its East Fishkill (N.Y.) fabrication plant, and it plans on starting up volume production in 2009 or sooner.
5. The advances will provide IBM with cost and performance advantages in the chips it makes for its own server computers and in chips it manufactures for others in the video-game, networking-equipment, and automotive markets.
6. It will share the technology with strategic partners AMD, Toshiba, Sony, and Freescale Semiconductor.
What Prof. Michael Porter of Harvard Business School’s Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness called ‘product differentiation strategies’ are perhaps the greatest revenue strategies.
And, one day perhaps, nano-nano-technology will grant us nearly everything in nearly nothing.
REVENUE STRATEGY - HINDALCO
1. Hindalco Industries Ltd., bought Novelis Inc. for $3.4 billion, to gain a fifth of the high-end aluminum market and access to U.S. customers including Coca-Cola Co. and General Motors Corp. The purchase wiped out $770 million of Hindalco's market value on concern the Mumbai-based group may take on too much debt.
2. It will borrow $3.1 billion, boosting the debt-equity ratio to 1.4 from 0.1 increasing annual funding cost by $248 million
3. It is tripling aluminum production to 1.5 million tons by 2012 to become one of the world's five largest producers
4. It is competing with Glencore International AG, the world's biggest commodities trader, Vedanta Resources Plc and six others for a 76.8 million euro ($104 million) smelter in Bosnia.
5. The acquisition by Hindalco gives Novelis access to a low-cost base to buy semi-finished aluminum and raises Hindalco’s revenue.
What makes for an industrial fairy tale?
Vertical and horizontal integrations that create:
Inorganic growth into great new markets
Organic growth in old and new markets
Cost synergies
Conviction to brave the wounds of debt
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
2. It will borrow $3.1 billion, boosting the debt-equity ratio to 1.4 from 0.1 increasing annual funding cost by $248 million
3. It is tripling aluminum production to 1.5 million tons by 2012 to become one of the world's five largest producers
4. It is competing with Glencore International AG, the world's biggest commodities trader, Vedanta Resources Plc and six others for a 76.8 million euro ($104 million) smelter in Bosnia.
5. The acquisition by Hindalco gives Novelis access to a low-cost base to buy semi-finished aluminum and raises Hindalco’s revenue.
What makes for an industrial fairy tale?
Vertical and horizontal integrations that create:
Inorganic growth into great new markets
Organic growth in old and new markets
Cost synergies
Conviction to brave the wounds of debt
[Click here for full story at: BLOOMBERG.COM]
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