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By Lisa Johnston
New products on display at the American International Toy Fair, held in N
LG.Philips LCD reported a dramatically higher net profit and sales performance, thanks to higher panel prices, for its third quarter that ended Sept. 28.
An un-audited earnings report based on consolidated Korean GAAP showed net income was $573 million compared to a loss of $351 million in the third quarter of last year. Operating profit was $758 million vs. a loss of $418 million for the prior year's third quarter. Sales rose 43 percent to $4.33 billion from the prior year's $3.03 billion.
Young Soo Kwon, CEO of LG.Philips LCD, said, “We are pleased with our financial performance this quarter, underscored by better than expected profit levels. These strong results reflect our focus on value based management including our continued diligence on reducing costs ... developing marketing initiatives focused on our customer base, and managing appropriate inventory levels given both the current and projected market demand.”
He added, “Additionally, better than anticipated cost savings this quarter of 9 percent in terms of USD came as a result of our product development effort and effectively managing the supply chain. We are well on our way to achieving this year's guided cost reduction of approximately 30 percent.”
Kwon also reported that its board approved an additional investment in a Gen 8 manufacturing plant with the target ramp-up in the first half of 2009.
The company reported it shipped a total of 3.1 million square meters of net display area in the third quarter of 2007, an increase of 11 percent quarter-on-quarter. The average selling price per square meter of net display area shipped was $1,364, which was an increase of about 7 percent compared to the average of the second quarter of 2007. The ending average selling price per square meter was $1,369, an increase of about 4 percent compared to the end of the second quarter of 2007.
For the third quarter of 2007, the cost of goods sold per square meter of net display area shipped decreased 9 percent to $1,071 from the second quarter of 2007.
This TWICE webinar, hosted by senior editor Alan Wolf, will take a look at what may be the hottest CE products at retail that will be sold during the all-important fourth quarter. Top technologies, market strategies and industry trends will be discussed with industry analysts and executives.


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February 21, 2024 | Procurement Software
AI technologies have become indispensable tools for digitally transforming traditional supply chain and procurement processes amidst volatility.
It is known that traditional supply chains follow a linear progression from material sourcing to manufacturing, distribution, and finally, to the point of sale. Unfortunately, disruptions at any stage can cascade, causing costly delays downstream. Each step relies heavily on the preceding one, leading to potential schedule disruptions.
On the other hand, digital supply chains leverage data generated at every stage to plan and respond dynamically to unforeseen delays. Unlike traditional chains, which often lack actionable insights, digital supply chains benefit from real-time big data, enabling more efficient management of transportation and logistics.
With AI, these digital systems can optimize operations further, enhancing responsiveness and resilience in the face of disruptions.
Here’s how AI helps create resilient digital supply chains:
One of the primary contributions of AI lies in its ability to provide unparalleled visibility across the supply chain ecosystem. By leveraging AI-driven tools, companies can gain insights into inventory levels and seamlessly monitor the movement of goods in real time. This enhanced visibility extends beyond direct suppliers, offering a holistic view that enables proactive responses to disruptions caused by various factors, including natural calamities, global pandemics, trade barriers and product recalls.
AI-powered solutions play a crucial role in monitoring market dynamics and customer behavior. Through the analysis of diverse data sources such as point-of-sale data and social media interactions, AI tools can detect shifts in demand patterns and anticipate supply chain disruptions.
For instance, when West Coast ports encountered unprecedented delays in September 2021, the US Department of Transportation responded by developing a national transportation supply chain dashboard. This dashboard tracked three essential indicators of goods movement from ports to retail stores: imported container volumes, US retail inventory levels, and the availability of consumer goods on shelves.
By monitoring these indicators in real-time, the system enabled the timely detection and response to any anomalies as they occurred. By providing real-time insights into market demand and sentiment, companies can swiftly adjust their strategies to mitigate potential risks and capitalize on emerging opportunities.
AI tools enable companies to swiftly evaluate and compare different response strategies by conducting simulations, detecting abnormal changes in supply and demand. These simulations assess the impact of each potential response on demand, supply, and recovery time from disruptions. By analyzing simulated outcomes and their effects on supply chain partners, companies can develop well-informed strategies in response to sudden changes. These strategies may involve adjustments to product design, pricing, or supplier selection.
For instance, AI can assist in designing resilient supply chains for medical countermeasures against bio-attacks or predicting the effects of implementing rationing policies in retail stores. Beyond crisis response, AI can proactively strengthen supply chains by recommending policy changes based on factors like seasonality and macroeconomic trends. This includes identifying optimal supply chain configurations, the number and locations of suppliers, and favorable contract terms.
AI fosters collaboration and information-sharing among supply chain partners, enabling seamless coordination and faster response times. By leveraging AI-driven platforms and predictive analytics, companies can optimize communication channels, identify potential bottlenecks and streamline processes across the entire supply chain network. Enhanced collaboration facilitates better risk management and enables stakeholders to work together towards common goals, ultimately strengthening the resilience of the entire supply chain ecosystem.
Collaboration across regions is essential to address risks in AI-enabled global supply chains, focusing on responsible AI development and ethical data practices. Ensuring ethical data sourcing and compliance with regulations is crucial for stable supply chains as AI integration grows.
Human oversight remains vital alongside regulatory measures to manage risks effectively. AI's impact on job roles within supply chains is significant, necessitating new positions while phasing out others. This underscores the need for specialized personnel like research scientists, chatbot developers, and AI ethics analysts. Given geopolitical challenges, supply chain managers play a crucial role in managing complex operations. As AI disrupts various industries, it reshapes the future of work, emphasizing the importance of AI and supply chain management convergence for economic stability and resilience.
Despite the challenges and uncertainties, the integration of AI into supply chain management offers immense potential for driving efficiency, agility, and sustainability. By embracing AI technologies and fostering synergy between human ingenuity and machine capabilities, companies can navigate the intricacies of modern supply chains and build robust frameworks for the future. As AI continues to evolve, its role in shaping resilient digital supply chains will become increasingly indispensable, paving the way for a more resilient and interconnected global economy.

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The Shops at Brickell City Centre (BCC) in Miami has expanded its dining count to 18 with the debut of six new food and beverage tenants.
Neighborhood restaurant The Henry from multi-James Beard award-nominated restaurateur Sam Fox opened this summer on BCC’s Level 1, at the crossing of Miami Avenue and Eighth Street. Café Americano now operates as BCC’s contemporary, Latin-inspired diner. Meanwhile, South Florida’s renowned Israeli Mediterranean destination Motek joined BCC, while Starbucks debuted last month on Level 3.
“Swire Properties has recognized that the pandemic-era popularity of outdoor dining continues. Brickell City Centre is uniquely equipped to offer exactly that, with outside retail space covered from rain by our Climate Ribbon, a sophisticated environmental management system,” said David Martin, senior vice president at Swire Properties. “We’ve collaborated with award-winning restaurateurs to cultivate the indoor/outdoor experiences offered at The Henry, Café Americano and Motek, with their patio seating continuing to be the most popular at BCC. The neighborhood’s walkability gives Brickell the feel of a European or South American street scene rather than a typical American downtown.”
Miami’s Miu’s Tea will offer its famed Milk Teas, Iced Tea Lattes, matchas and fruity beverages this fall with a new location at BCC. In 2024, Black Tap Craft Burgers & Beer will join BCC with its first Florida location.


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Deputies arrest two tied to perfume thefts in Livingston Parish
DENHAM SPRINGS - Two people were arrested Tuesday when a deputy spoiled their plan to steal more than $2,000 worth of perfume.
Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office said a deputy was patrolling the Juban Crossing shopping area when they recognized a vehicle tied to a crime in October.
The deputy said they saw the driver drop a passenger at Ulta Beauty and they quickly ran out of the store and jumped back in the car.
Chaquita Spikes, 45, and Marvielle Smith, 26, were arrested for stealing more than $2,000 in fragrances Tuesday and were both tied to stealing $500 worth of perfumes from the same store in October.
Desktop NewsClick to open Continuous News in a sidebar that updates in real-time.
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Staywarm heating price alert
THOUSANDS of elderly customers on Powergen's Staywarm fixed-price tariff for gas and electricity face soaring prices when their annual contracts come up for renewal.
This follows last week's announcement by Powergen that about six million customers not on fixed rates will see their gas bills increase by 9.6% and electricity by 8.9% from the end of the month.
This is the third rise for gas and the second for electricity announced by Powergen in less than 12 months.
About 350,000 customers are on the Staywarm tariff. The biggest rises will be felt by 35,000 Staywarm customers who are listed as high energy users. They have already been warned that they face large price increases from early next year. Allan Asher, chief executive at the Energywatch watchdog, says: 'We have yet to see the new higher-rate tariff for Staywarm customers identified as high energy users.
'But it seems unlikely the company would raise its energy prices for ordinary customers and not increase them for Staywarm customers.'
Asher says all Staywarm customers would be wise to compare any new deal from Powergen with other energy companies when their 12-month contract comes to an end.
According to Energywatch, Powergen is top of the list for electricity rises this year and second behind British Gas for gas price rises.
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The United States’ largest cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase (COIN), just reported second-quarter earnings, highlighted by $2.0 billion in net revenue for the quarter, up 27% from Q1 and the addition of 12 million verified users to reach a customer base of 68 million. Its net income rose from $771 million in Q1 to $1.6 billion in Q2, a gain of 108%.
Tuesday’s release is the company’s second earnings report since its public debut in April. Just as last quarter, transaction processing provided the overwhelming majority of its revenue. Of the $2.0 billion in revenue, $1.9 billion came from this segment with the rest derived from subscription and services revenue. In Q1, net revenue came in at $1.6 billion, consisting of $1.5 billion in transaction revenue and $56.4 million in subscription and services revenue.
These record numbers stand in contrast to the crypto market’s performance over the past three months, which have seen leading assets such as bitcoin and ether depreciate, largely on the back on further regulatory crackdowns in China, Tesla
Following a second strong quarter, analysts will now look to see if COIN can break away from its close correlation with bitcoin. When the exchange went public in April 2021 in the largest direct listing ever, bitcoin was just about to reach its all-time-high of $64,654. In turn, COIN reached as high as $429. Since then, the crypto market reversed course, punctuated by bitcoin falling below $30,000 and COIN dropping to a low of $208. However, the market has since recovered. Bitcoin is now trading at $45,582 and COIN has reached $269, down nearly 40% from its all-time-high four months ago.
Looking forward, many analysts will evaluate whether Coinbase's broadening set of trading pairs will make it the diversified crypto investment opportunity many expected.
One positive sign is the fact that trading volume in ether passed that in bitcoin for the first time. In Q1 2021, Coinbase supported $335 billion worth of trading volume with bitcoin and ethereum comprising 39% and 21% of this activity, respectively. In quarter two, total trading volume jumped to $462 billion but most notably ether’s volume (26%) was higher than bitcoin’s (24%).
Still, despite this impressive growth and the crypto market strengthening, challenges remain. Earlier this month, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler argued that the regulator needed more power to regulate crypto products, signaling he is ready to take a more active role in crafting crypto policy. Additionally, the recent inclusion of onerous tax reporting requirements on everyone from bitcoin miners to crypto software developers threatens to create an exodus of crypto companies from the U.S. in the coming years, which could dampen investor enthusiasm.


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Paist's aluminum toothpaste tube is exactly what your oral care routine has been waiting for.
And the Stuart Semple response to Pantone's 2024 Color of the Year is in.
Pantone’s 2024 Color Of The Year has us wanting to move down to the country and eating a lot of peaches.
Beauty brands face a more complex consumer landscape than ever, and a new generation of consumers is redefining what they consider luxury and premium as they expect brands to address sustainability and inclusivity in their offerings.
The greatest trick the devil ever played was convincing the world that he did not exist. And also 0% alcohol hard seltzer.
JKR gets its festive mittens on the holiday Coca-Cola campaign.


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Whirlpool Corporation, the parent company of KitchenAid, Whirlpool, Hotpoint and Indesit has outlined its achievements and vision for a sustainable future.
In 2019, Whirlpool Corporation says it reached its best rate of emission and energy reductions in over a decade, mostly by investing in wind turbines and on-site solar panels. By 2030, it is working towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions from its factories by 50%.
The company says it also has a goal to send zero waste to landfill at all manufacturing sites by 2022 and has introduced new systems and processes across the globe. For example, in the UK, re-usable coffee cups and stainless steel water bottles have been introduced, removing more than 158,000 single-use coffee cups and 56,000 plastic bottles from Whirlpool’s canteens.
According to its latest Sustainability Report, during 2019 Whirlpool Corporation over 96% of its waste was sent to sustainable recycling plants and of the 4% that didn’t 3.5% of its waste ended up in landfill and 0.5% was incinerated.
Eight of its manufacturing sites achieved zero waste to landfill
Ian Moverley, public affairs director for Whirlpool UK Appliances, said: “At Whirlpool, we believe that sustainability is vitally important and we are committed to improving our environmental efficiency, reducing waste and making positive changes that impact the planet in all areas of our business.
“Sustainability is a key issue that exists across all areas of the market, and at Whirlpool UK, we boast a portfolio consisting of highly efficient, functional and stylish appliances that are available at a variety of different price points. Our appliances allow consumers to save on their household bills, reduce their energy consumption and impact on the wider environment.”


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Huawei believes AI could double the value of the global digital economy in less than a decade, from $12.9 trillion now to $23 trillion in 2025.
Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to affect every aspect of the digital world. Huawei believes it could double the value of the global digital economy in less than a decade, from $12.9 trillion now to $23 trillion in 2025.
In the company’s Global Connectivity Index 2018, it reveals industries embedding AI into technologies across the enterprise market, including the Internet of Things (IoT), data centers and cloud computing.
This move to “Intelligent Connectivity” could create new business models, products, and services, creating a new wave of economic growth. We recently saw how Google thinks AI could assist people in daily tasks, like booking a table at a restaurant or at a hair salon.
Huawei does see a few issues in the short-term preventing this growth, the most prominent being the lack of AI talent. It said that governments need to start re-thinking the education system for the future generation, which will see traditional job roles moved from humans to robots.
For this new generation to succeed, according to Huawei, each country needs to focus more heavily on the emerging technologies that may play a huge part in our economy in the years to come. This may prevent what some project will be a mass unemployment era.
“We are now witnessing a paradigm shift initiated by AI,” said Kevin Zhang, President of Huawei Corporate Marketing. “According to the GCI study, advanced economies that saw growth from ICT development plateau are using Intelligent Connectivity to open new opportunities, while some developing economies are also finding ways to tap the new technology to speed up their own strategic growth plans.”


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A report in The New York Times, which cites several people “with knowledge of the products” including two Apple employees — the first time the company has been mentioned as a source on the new products and services — appears to confirm many of the rumours circulating about Apple’s NFC payment plans. Deals with American Express, MasterCard and Visa will mean that “iPhone owners will be able to use their devices as a sort of digital wallet, improving their ability to pay for items at select partner merchants without handing over cash or a credit card,” the report adds.
- Square arrives in the UK
- Nordic banks roll out first mobile payment services with support for Dankort
- Boston Fed calls for clearer value proposition to encourage mobile payments
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Premier Brad Wall says his successor should look to double agricultural exports over the next decade.
Saskatchewan’s outgoing premier says whoever succeeds him should aim to radically increase the province’s value-added agricultural exports, because “the sky’s the limit” as the world grapples with food security issues.
Brad Wall, in one of his final public appearances as premier, said it’s not unrealistic to imagine the $4-billion-a-year sector, which includes 300 companies employing 5,000 people, could double in size over the next decade.
“We’re the leaders, undisputed world leaders in this so we should be adding more value as we are now and set big goals — let’s double the exports within the next 10 years, and I expect we would be able to meet that goal,” Wall told reporters in Saskatoon.
In 2016, the last year for which data are available, Saskatchewan exported $26.5 billion worth of goods and services, of which agricultural products accounted for about $14 billion, according to the Saskatchewan Trade and Export Partnership.
Speaking on behalf of the federal agriculture minister, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said while Saskatchewan will be a major exporter of raw commodities for a long time, adding value boosts exports and creates jobs.
“This kind of innovation in something that plays to our natural strength in agriculture is just a perfect fit for Saskatchewan,” Goodale said moments after announcing a $17.5 million funding package for the Saskatchewan Food Industry Development Centre Inc.
The Food Centre is a non-profit supported by government at the University of Saskatchewan. The $17.5 million will be used to expand its new Agri-Food Innovation Centre. The funding is split between the federal and provincial governments, and industry groups.
Food Centre President Dan Prefontaine said the new facility is aimed at helping companies, from local operations to massive multinational firms, develop new food-based products and get them into the marketplace.
One example is Verdient Foods Inc., a Vanscoy-based pulse processing company launched last year by filmmaker James Cameron and his wife, environmental activist and former actor Suzy Amis Cameron. It is expected to become North America’s largest organic pea plant.
“(Companies are) looking at ingredients, and some of those ingredients are grown here in Saskatchewan (with) value-added processes in Saskatchewan. Pulses are a very good example of that,” Prefontaine said, referring to crops such as peas and lentils.
“Companies are starting to put more protein into their products. Some of the protein used to be traditionally soy; now they’re coming to pulses … We take the pulse protein and we formulate and manufacture a product so that it fits into their system, so they can use it.”
Wall said the value-added food sector’s growth over the last decade has been “remarkable,” creating both direct and indirect employment in the province — and helping the province diversify its economy beyond raw commodity production and extraction.
While many have raised concerns about Saskatchewan’s ability to export goods should the U.S. withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement, Goodale downplayed the threat of the 24-year-old deal’s dissolution.
“We need to keep our eye on the ball, eye on the objective, stay at the table, stay persistent and remember what’s at stake here.”


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Blog: How do you see 2017 panning out for your business?
Dean Best | 30 November 2016
just-food would like to hear your thoughts on 2017
What a year 2016 has been.
It has been a year that, geopolitically at least, will be defined by two votes on either side of the Atlantic - The ramifications of Brexit and of the election of Donald Trump are set to be felt way across all sections of business and society - and into next year and beyond.
Right now, we are running our annual Confidence Survey - now in its fifth year - to provide to our readers a snapshot of how they and their peers in the international food industry see the year ahead unfolding. The latest survey is live and takes just a few moments to fill in.
The survey is looking to get a flavour of the industry's outlook on areas including consumer confidence, M&A and regulation.
As a thank you for filling in the survey, you'll receive the results on email ahead of their publication on just-food.com next month.
Sectors: Baby food, Bakery, Canned food, Cereal, Chilled foods, Condiments, dressings & sauces, Confectionery, Dairy, Dried foods, Free-from, Fresh produce, Frozen, Ice cream, Meat & poultry, Natural & organic, Private label, Seafood, Snacks, Sustainability & the environment, World foods
Today (23 December) is just-food's last day before closing for Christmas. We'll return, raring to go on Tuesday 3 January - but of course there's been plenty of top-notch content that has gone live in...
The plethora of food manufacturing associations in the UK has been argued by some to be an impediment to the industry coming to a coherent position on the aftermath of Brexit and on what the sector sh...
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Shanghai-based chip maker ASR Microelectronic has completed a US$100 million series B financing led by IDG Capital and Wanrong Hongtu Fund, the company announced today.
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Honda Teases New Electric Sports Car Concept for Tokyo
Honda is looking to become fun again with a new battery-powered sports car.
Honda has had its share of sporty coupes. The Civic SI, CRX, Integra< Prelude, and S2000 name just a few of the iconic models that come to mind when pondering about the automaker's contribution to the market. Determined not to be left behind other manufacturers embracing the electric slide, Honda has teased a new concept to be revealed at the Tokyo auto show next month.
Honda's lineup is looking a little beige lately. Sure, the Civic SI existed, but up until the Civic Type R hit the market in the United States, there wasn't really a true sports car offering aimed at enthusiasts like there had been in the past. As it turns out, Honda has been working on something behind the scenes—just don't expect it to run on gasoline.
The automaker says that the car itself shares the very same platform as the Urban EV concept revealed last month. Unlike the more environment-friendly variant, the Sports EV is expected to be aimed at less of a commuter crowd and be more of an enthusiast-type vehicle.
It's not really clear what we can expect out of the Sports EV concept, besides its electric powertrain and some sort of artificial intelligence component. Given Honda's history of sports cars, and the trends of current EVs, it seems likely that the Sports EV concept will be rear-wheel-drive and produce somewhere around 200 horsepower. Additionally, since speculation of range could be a concern ( the Urban EV is only slotted for around 80 miles of range), a range similar to the Tesla Model 3 (around 220 miles) would be hoped for.
Though no additional details have been made public at this time, all we can do is speculate until next month's reveal. We've reached out to Honda for some additional details and will update this article if new information arises.


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Good Morning! Welcome to The Morning Shift, your roundup of the auto news you crave, all in one place every weekday morning. Here are the important stories you need to know.
1st Gear: Did You Reserve Your Tesla Model X?
I’m fascinated to see how the Tesla Model X does in the marketplace. Tesla’s invested a ton of money into production and they need it to be a big hit. It’s also far from cheap, but also stupid fast. And it’s coming at the end of this month, reports Reuters:
The Model X, eagerly awaited since it was announced in early 2012, will launch with a premium-priced special version called the Signature series that will cost between $132,000 and $144,000, a Tesla spokeswoman said.
It is customary for automakers to debut higher-priced versions of their cars before introducing standard models.
CEO Elon Musk tweeted that the first cars would be handed over Sept. 29 at the company’s factory in Fremont, Calif.
2nd Gear: Poetsch Aims To Take The Top Post
A day after it was learned Volkswagen Group CEO Martin Winkterkorn was unlikely to take the top spot as chairman, the conglomerate has selected the man they want to do the job: finance chief Hans Dieter Poetsch. One more from Reuters:
Europe’s biggest carmaker has been looking for a permanent successor to Piech, who was ousted in April after clashing with Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn over strategy but still wields influence through his family holding.
One day after proposing to extend the CEO’s contract by two years until the end of 2018, the supervisory board’s executive and nomination committees proposed to elect Poetsch, 64, as chairman, VW said on Thursday.
“Mr Poetsch distinguishes himself by strategic foresight, profound knowledge of the auto industry and great expertise in financial markets,” said Berthold Huber, VW’s interim chairman.
He’s a finance guy, not an engineer or a crazy person like Ferdinand Piech was, even though he has Piech’s support. It will be interesting to see what this bodes for the VW Group.
3rd Gear: Mercedes’ Tesla Fighter To Have 311-Mile Range
The “Tesla fighter” is the vehicle every automaker wants these days, and Mercedes is no exception. Here’s what’s coming from Tesla’s former partner in Germany, via Automotive News:
Mercedes-Benz is working on an electric car with a range of up to 311 miles that could compete with Tesla’s Model S battery-powered vehicle, development chief Thomas Weber told German magazine auto motor und sport.
“We are working on an intelligent concept for a highly attractive electric vehicle with a range of 400-500 kilometers (228-311 miles),” Weber said in an interview, adding that the car would come “soon.”
4th Gear: Health Care Deadline
Lots of stuff going on with the ongoing automaker-UAW negotiations. Here’s one, via The Detroit News:
Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co., facing a midnight Sept. 14 contract deadline, are considering a proposal floated by the United Auto Workers to create a health care co-op that pools together active workers from all three Detroit automakers.
“We’re discussing it and we’ll see where it goes, but again, it’s way too early,” Ford Motor Co. Executive Chairman Bill Ford said during a charity event Wednesday marking the 10th anniversary of the Ford Volunteer Corp.
5th Gear: Can Uber Succeed In Developing Markets?
Here’s an interesting one. Uber is partnering with Kia in Nigeria’s biggest city, Lagos, to boost the number of drivers in that city to 3,000. They’re working with Kia to reduce the down payment on new cars to get more Uber-drivers Uber-ing. But it’s a tough road, reports Bloomberg:
Challenges facing Uber in Lagos, the first sub-Saharan African city to have the service outside South Africa, include congested traffic and poor mapping quality, according to Lits. Another is that a relatively small proportion of Nigerians know how to operate a smartphone well enough to manage the trips, Ebi Atawodi, general manager for Uber Lagos, said in the same interview.
“The smartphone module is usually what trumps people,” Atawodi said. While Nigerian active mobile-phone subscriptions rose about 14 percent to 148.5 million in the year ending July, according to the Nigerian Communications Communication, fewer than 10 percent are for smartphones, or Internet-enabled devices. Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country with more than 170 million people, of which about 21 million live in Lagos.
On September 3, 1900, the first car ever made in Flint, Michigan makes its debut in the town’s Labor Day parade. Designed and built by a county judge and weekend tinkerer named Charles H. Wisner, the car was one of the only cars built in Flint that did not end up being produced by General Motors. In the end, only three of the Wisner machines were ever built.
Neutral: Will The Model X Be A Hit Or No?
And if it is, how soon until we start seeing Model X fighters?
Contact the author at firstname.lastname@example.org.


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Police in San Francisco said late Monday that they were investigating a brazen robbery at a high-end retail store in the center of the city, according to reports.
KTVU reported that the incident occurred at about closing time at a Neiman Marcus location. The report, citing witnesses, said display cases were smashed and items were lifted from racks inside the store before the suspects fled. A portion of the incident was captured on cell phone video.
Dion Lim, an anchor for KGO-TV, reported that city police confirmed the “shoplifting incident” at a Neiman Marcus at about 6 p.m. in Union Square. She tweeted that she was sent the video b a person whose wife works in the vicinity.


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60 Layers of Cake has been tasked to reposition the brand in the complex and highly competitive maize category and prime the brand for strong future growth. "In recognising the challenges of today's complex FMCG market landscape, our collaborative communication model is proving its worth in delivering strategic insights and creative solutions," comments Ben Wren, managing director of 60 Layers of Cake.
Along with repositioning the brand, one of the first tasks to be undertaken by 60 Layers of Cake will be to redesign the current Maize-in-a-Minute packaging. "As with all our clients, we strongly believe in the product and its potential and look forward to growing the brand with Bowman Ingredients," concludes Wren.
See link for more details http://www.60layersofcake.co.za/60-layers-of-cake-to-revitalise-maize-in-a-minute-brand/


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Update: See much more below, but here are the big things Google introduced: the new version of Android, called Jelly Bean, completely expected; the Nexus 7 7-inch tablet, also as expected; and, in a surprise, Nexus Q, a home media device. Also, software developers will be able to pre-order Google Glass, those wearable goggle computers, which cofounder Sergey Brin demonstrated as colleagues did a skydive from an airship to the roof of the conference building.
Vic Gundotra, Google's senior vice president of engineering and longtime emcee, opens up the proceedings for this fifth annual event. "We still have some surprises left," he promises.
Hugo Barra [spelling corrected], director of Android product management, starts off the keynote with the latest milestone: 400 million Android devices are out there now. Every day, 1 million new Android devices are activated. That's 12 every second.
OK, already, they're introducing the newest release of Android: Android 4.1, known as Jelly Bean. Lots of cheers--this is indeed the geekiest crowd imaginable.
Dave Burke, engineering director, describes something called Project Butter, an attempt to make Android much faster. I will spare you the details about things called VSync, triple buffering, and touch responsiveness. The latter, however, sounds interesting--Jelly Bean will anticipate what touch signal you might make next.
Now come the demos. One feature: You can move a widget, or app screen around the screen and the background widgets or icons get out of the way. You can also pick up a widget and throw it off the screen with a swipe to clean it up. There's a predictive keyboard that tries to anticipate the next word you're likely to type.
Also--to many cheers--offline voice typing. So Randall, the guy doing the demos, composes an email using just his voice--even without an Internet connection.
A new feature called Gesture Note (I think) will allow blind people to use swipes and voice to do input.
There's also a new camera app that essentially makes it easier to view, scroll through, and delete photos.
New notification features include the ability to share photos, say, to your Google+ friends without going to that application. In other words, the notifications are now actionable.


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Walgreens Expects Tax Law to Boost Earnings Up to 35 Cents Per Share
Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. (WBA) expects a tax benefit of more than $200 million in 2018 due to the tax overhaul legislation.
The pharmacy operator said Monday in a securities filing that the changes to tax policy will boost profit by 30 to 35 cents per share on an adjusted basis.
Though the new tax law is expected to benefit companies in the long term, many are expected to take hits in the current year due to a write-down of deferred tax assets. Walgreens has said it expects to be affected by a revaluing of its deferred tax assets but hasn't put a dollar amount on the impact.
Shares, little changed during premarket trading, have fallen 12% over the past 12 months.
Write to Imani Moise at email@example.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 08, 2018 08:58 ET (13:58 GMT)


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Phishing – Are you sure that e-mail is genuine?
Phishing – a scam by online fraudsters by using seemingly genuine e-mails to con users out of information such as passwords, bank details and credit card information.
The scam starts with an e-mail from what would seem to be a genuine supplier such as a bank, utility supplier, or mobile phone company asking for details to be updated by clicking on a link. This will then take the victim to another seemingly genuine website that will then harvest the victims details for nefarious purposes. In July 2012 users of the O2 mobile network received fake e-mails of this nature offering a £10 discount even though there was a genuine offer by the company for that amount following network outage.
In his own blog Richard Hodson, Head of Technology at Oval Insurance Broking discusses this scam in more detail and explains what to look for in a phishing scam and how to avoid being conned
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Retail has changed and it’s the use and dependence on technology which is at the heart of this change.
According to research by eDigitalResearch almost half of smartphone users did some pre Christmas shopping this year on their mobile device and tablet users are “second screening” whilst watching TV. This is the process of reviewing a product immediately after seeing it advertised on TV.


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Kansas State University researchers have patented the first plant-based resin of its kind that would be ideal for re-adherable painters' tape, labels, packing tapes, stationery notes and other adhesive uses. It also can provide shiny coatings.
"Painters generally finish projects with mounds of used tape made of low-quality paper that does not recycle," said Susan Sun, university distinguished professor of grain science and industry and lead researcher on the project. "If they could use biodegradable tape, like ours, it would greatly reduce the amount of waste."
In addition to adhesive applications, the resin could be used in coatings on wooden surfaces, slick magazine pages, bags of potato chips and other items needing shiny and protective surfaces that are either flexible or rigid.
Sun said the resin outperforms previous bio-based adhesives because it adheres to a surface for a longer period of time, has a longer shelf life and is more water-resistant. Because the substance is plant-based, its resources are biodegradable and renewable.
"Our resin is unique because it is made from soybean, corn and other plant oils," Sun said. "Currently available resins are made from petroleum-based products, which are less sustainable, and from plant fatty acids, which cost more to process."
The research has been presented at the International Material Research Conference in China, the Green Chemistry and Engineering Conference in Washington, D.C., the American Chemical Society National Meeting in Anaheim, California, and other events.


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Apple's (AAPL) iPhone business is starting to resemble what happened to the Motorola Razr phone.
Like Motorola's hit cellphone from nearly a decade ago, Apple's iPhone started off as a fashionable, high-end mobile device. But now that the iPhone has saturated the market, it has increasingly moved into the lower price bands. Apple is doing this now by keeping older model iPhones on the market, which can be had for free with a two-year wireless contract. Soon, Apple is widely expected to release a cheaper model iPhone to go after the low end of the market.
By comparison, Motorola's Razr phone went from luxury device to commodity item in just a few years. Motorola milked the phone for all it was worth and failed to innovate, ultimately falling behind rivals such as Apple's iPhone, which hit stores in June 2007. Critics say Apple's iPhone has lagged Samsung and others recently in terms of innovation. In particular, the iPhone's user interface and screen size look dated, they say. But Apple's next iPhone is expected to come in two or three screen sizes, and could have fancy features like fingerprint recognition, as IBD has reported.
Apple will face its biggest threat yet when Samsung launches its flagship Galaxy S4 later this month. It features a 5-inch display (vs. the 4-inch iPhone 5) and a 13-megapixel camera (vs. the iPhone 5's 8-megapixel camera). The Galaxy S4 also boasts a bunch of exclusive features such as an instant language translator, gesture control and advanced photo and video capabilities.
AT&T (T) will sell the Galaxy S4 starting at $200 with a two-year contract and a ship date of April 30.
In a report Tuesday, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster spelled out his worst-case scenario for Apple's cheaper iPhone cannibalizing sales of its full-priced phones. At worst, Munster expects 30% cannibalization of full-priced iPhones. In other words, for every three cheaper iPhones sold, one full-priced iPhone is not. He expects Apple to start selling an entry-level iPhone starting in September.
Apple's gross profit margin is likely to dip to 36.6% in 2014 vs. 38.6% in the December quarter. This assumes a $300 average selling price and 30% gross margin for the cheaper iPhone and a $620 ASP and 55% gross margin for the high-end iPhone, he said.
It's very possible that Apple could decide to sell the new cheap iPhone only in emerging markets, which would limit cannibalization of its high-end handsets, Munster says.
Munster rates Apple stock as overweight, or buy, but cut his price target to 688 from 767. Apple was up 1%, near 424, in the stock market today.


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Tesla drivers don’t appear to be scared off by the Federal Reserve’s rate hikes. The EV-maker began sounding out potential investors on Thursday for a new, $1.8 billion securitization of its electric-vehicle leases, its largest yet, according to preliminary marketing materials and Fitch Ratings.
The financing represents the biggest batch of leases from Tesla Inc.
to be turned into bonds since it began originating them in 2014, according to a Fitch presale report. The plan is for bankers to drum up interest in about $1 billion of notes split into five classes of bonds, with ratings of Triple A to Double A, while lower-rated tranches won’t be marketed for sale, according to preliminary marketing materials viewed by MarketWatch. Proceeds can be used by Tesla to make more leases, providing an alternative source of funding for the company beyond the corporate bond market. Tesla shares were 0.8% lower Friday, but up a stunning 123% on the year so far, according to FactSet. Early Friday, nearly 13,000 U.S. auto workers went on strike after labor talks between the United Auto Workers and the Big Three automobile makers failed in reaching an agreement. Tesla so far has fended off unionization efforts at its U.S. factories, writes MarketWatch’s Claudia Assis, which has resulted in about 38% lower wages at Tesla than workers at the Big Three. Related:Will UAW strike provide an opportunity for Tesla — and push up car prices? Stocks were lower Friday after , with the Dow


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Motorola Mobility has announced plans to cut 25 percent of its 2,000 Chicago employees, a spokesman for the company said Thursday.
Will Moss, senior director of corporate communications for Motorola Mobility, said the layoffs are part of an overall restructuring by parent company Lenovo.
Lenovo on Wednesday announced plans to reduce 3,200 people in its “non-manufacturing workforce around the world” following a 3 percent decrease in revenue from the previous year.
“Lenovo saw severe challenges in its main markets,” the company said in a release. “It faced significant declines in the global PC and tablet markets, as well as slowing growth and increasing competition – especially in China – in smartphones.”
The company said it plans to reduce expenses by about $650 million in the second half of this year and about $1.35 billion annually.
“To build long term, sustainable growth, we must take proactive and decisive actions in every part of the businesses,” Yuanqing Yang, Chairman and CEO of Lenovo, said in a statement.
Moss said the Merchandise Mart will continue to be the mobile device maker's headquarters and “the hub of our global R&D and design.”
“We’ll still have a substantial workforce there,” he said.


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Johannesburg, 11 July 2023: This year marks a decade since the passing of former president Nelson Mandela, and with Mandela Day approaching, one shopping centre is pulling out all the stops to honour the statesman’s legacy. Collaborating with the non-profit organisation 67 Blankets for Nelson Mandela Day, Eastgate will be hosting a curated exhibition of masterpiece blankets crafted in Madiba’s honour over the years. The exhibition was opened yesterday, by the organisation’s founder Carolyn Steyn.
Since its inception in 2013, 67 Blankets for Nelson Mandela Day has distributed well over 167,000 handmade blankets, and hundreds of thousands of scarves to those in need, setting four Guinness World Records in the process. The core purpose is mobilizing people locally and abroad to crochet and knit blankets and scarves, made with love while demonstrating the true meaning of ‘Ubuntu.’
Over the years, 67 Blankets for Nelson Mandela Day has transformed into a phenomenon – a movement that has captured the attention of South African and international celebrities as well as corporates and KnitWits for Madiba in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Cyprus, London, the USA, Ireland, Italy, and India.
The exquisite collection of prized blankets will be on display in Eastgate’s Strelitzia Court, until Mandela Day, 18 July 2023. Shoppers are invited to view the masterpieces on show and to support the project by donating wool, hooks, or needles; donating completed blankets, squares, and scarves; or by adopting a knitter, by partnering with someone who has the skills, but not the means, to buy the necessary materials. There will also be crochet classes for those who would like to learn the intricate craft.
“Supporting projects that have the potential to make a real difference in people’s lives is central to our purpose, and we are excited to host the magnificent collection of blankets at Eastgate,” Saadiyah Kahn, General Manager of Eastgate Shopping Centre. “I encourage shoppers to enjoy perusing the masterpieces on exhibit and to support the project wholeheartedly,” she added.


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Holidaymakers looking for inexpensive air tickets from South India to Singapore now have a greater choice of flights with the launch of new services from SIA, SilkAir.
The carrier is now running three new weekly flights from Hyderabad to Singapore.
SilkAir has taken its seven existing weekly flights on the route up to 10. This is the third time the airline has expanded the service in three months - an indication that interest in the route has risen steadily.
With the new services taken into account, the total of weekly flight options to Singapore from 11 Indian airports has gone up to 97. The airline also intends to launch more flights throughout India, with Pune, Pune, Jaipur and Lucknow believed to be among possible locations.
The new flights to Singapore connect Indian travellers to some 96 world destinations. In a special offer, the carrier is giving airport shopping vouchers to customers who are catching a connecting flight from Singapore.
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Sappi polls marketers on future of marketing
Wednesday, December 1, 2021
Sappi has commissioned Kantar to carry out a wide-ranging study on marketing effectiveness in the post-pandemic era, and said it aimed to “demystify tired marketing myths about print” as part of the project.
The South Africa headquartered manufacturer of pulp, paper and packaging products commissioned the study of marketers across the UK, Germany, France, Spain and Italy in Europe, as well as the US, earlier this year.
At least 200 specialists were interviewed per country, with a total of 1,208 interviewees.
The results are available in a special 16pp tabloid-format print piece A Glimpse into the Future of Marketing (And the Surprising Role of Print).
In the UK, the survey found the top three KPIs were: number of new customers/customer satisfaction, sales, and efficiency/ROI.
More than 80% of marketers overall said that trust was the most important attribute for customers at the time of purchase, and 72% said that a strong brand required “great brand image and positioning”.
Sustainability was also a key concern, with respondents reporting that it would be the most important marketing trend in the next 12 months – and an area where print on paper has a major role to play in terms of environmental regeneration and the circular economy.
While digital communication channels came top in terms of perceived importance, 54% of respondents described printed collateral as “essential” or “very important”, with 48% saying the same about printed advertising in newspapers or magazines.
Sappi Europe head of marketing operations Conor Evers said the survey results and accompanying publication backed up Sappi’s view that print can be “a surprisingly effective component in the modern marketing mix”.
“It’s time to demystify tired marketing myths about print and show how it can be used alongside other media to support today’s brands – and help them stand out from the competition,” he said.
Evers said the content underlined Sappi’s commitment to both the future of the print industry and the marketing needs of today’s brands, with the group continuing to invest in product innovation and new product launches.
Sappi described the report as being of interest for anyone who wanted to boost the ROI on their marketing spend and “get under the skin of brand desire”.
To order a copy, visit www.sappipapers.com/glimpse.


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3 CFL UPS: Efficient power backup solutions for lighting applications
Apart from lighting applications, they can also be used to charge devices like mobile phones, tablets, etc. or to power small appliances like a DC mini fan.
Budget 2019: Government to focus on promoting ease of living through various schemes
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the govern...
Post offices to provide LED bulbs under UJALA scheme in Haryana
While giving this information, Director, Postal Services Department, Haryana ...
UP Gets Rs 1,500 crore grant for meeting deadline on 100% electrification
The achievement came as a surprise to many as at the beginning of December, the state had faced a daunting task of energizing 55 lakh households.
LED bulbs to replace Bengaluru's 5-lakh street lights
BBMP Council, at its meeting, approved a proposal to replace 4.85-lakh sodium vapour street lamps with LED bulbs. The project is expected to result in a monthly saving of Rs 3.5 crore in electricity bill.
LPG & electricity still a dream for many Chhattisgarh villagers
Prem Lal’s family in Chakarbedha village was caught in a different problem. His wife Gomti Bai’s name figured in the list of beneficiaries but still they did not get an LPG cylinder.
Govt plans to phase out incandescent bulbs in the next 3 years
Govt may put gradual bans on production and sale starting with high voltage lamps, and encourage consumers to use energy efficient alternatives.
Haryana distributes 14.4 million LED bulbs till January 2018
Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar said that under the Ujala Scheme, 1,45,96,421 LED bulbs, 44,102 fans and 1,76,133 tubes have been distributed till January 2018.
India’s ‘Ujala’ to light up homes in United Kingdom
Ujala is globally one of the largest efficiency programmes and being run by Energy Efficiency Services Ltd, an energy services company promoted by Indian state-run power majors.
Copyright © 2019 Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All rights reserved. For reprint rights: Times Syndication Service


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Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander wants to focus on growing Missouri’s economy by building small businesses instead of attracting large corporations to the state.
Kander spoke to a group of several hundred entrepreneurs and local business leaders Friday in Columbia at the #Boom conference. Columbia’s Regional Economic Development Inc. held the event to foster entrepreneurship in Mid-Missouri. During his remarks, Kander talked about what can be done to stop “job poaching” and foster entrepreneurship in Missouri.
Kander said that attracting large businesses from one state and bringing them to another may temporarily benefit a local and state economy, but the benefits often don’t last once tax credits in a state expire. When a company jumps from state to state looking for tax breaks, it does not help state economies or the U.S.’s economy in the long run, Kander said. He called this practice “job poaching.”
“The truth is that job poaching, trying to move one big company to another state, drains the resources of a state,” Kander said. “It’s really money that can be spent on other things. Sometimes it works, but a lot of the time it’s just a way to not grow jobs, but to move jobs from one state to another. It’s just free agency.”
A year ago, Kander started the Business Outreach Office. Starting a business can often be about networking as much as it about the product itself. So, the Business Outreach Office helps connect entrepreneurs to existing organizations, like KCSourceLink a Kansas City-based organization that works to connect small businesses to the resources to help them grow.
Kander also wants corporations and small businesses to work together in Missouri. One way that Kander wants to create small business is by connecting entrepreneurs with large businesses.
“A lot of the large corporate partners are interested in growing local businesses within the state because it helps everybody,” Kander said. “Some of the larger Kansas City companies dedicate some of the space within their buildings to many incubators so that they will bring in entrepreneurs and budding companies to use their area as their workspace, which provides them with the ultimate mentorship from a larger successful company and automatic contacts throughout the community.”
In an interview after his talk Friday, Kander spoke about his plan to reform Missouri’s campaign finance laws. In January Kander proposed a plan to crack down on gifts to lobbyists and political action committees and introduced a plan that would ban all gifts from lobbyists and place limits on the amount of money that PACs can contribute to campaigns. In December Kander proposed a ballot initiative that would limit contribution limits to $500 per House candidate and $1,000 per senate candidate.
Kander said that by limiting the money that PACs give to campaigns, he hopes to make candidates more accessible to the citizens. Kander’s plan does not cap the amount of money that an individual can give to a PAC.
“I’m passionate about campaign finance reform,” Kander said, “because I think it’s important that the people of Missouri feel that they have a voice in their government.”


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WOMEN IN THE WORKPLACE 2017
The third annual Wall Street Journal Women in the Workplace dinner took place on Tuesday, October 10, 2017 at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York, NY. Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook COO and LeanIn.Org founder, and Dominic Barton, McKinsey & Company global managing director, discussed findings from the 2017 ‘Women in the Workplace’ survey. The report is a comprehensive study of 222 companies on the state of women in corporate America. Learn more>>
Read The Wall Street Journal’s special coverage of women in the workplace on wsj.com.
Editor in Chief
The Wall Street Journal
Gerard Baker is Editor in Chief of The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones, roles he assumed on January 1, 2013. Prior to his appointment, Mr. Baker served as Deputy Editor in Chief of the Journal and Dow Jones Newswires. Before joining the Journal, Mr. Baker was the U.S. Editor and an Assistant Editor of The Times of London, where he wrote news and commentary and oversaw U.S. coverage for the paper and online editions. From 1994 to 2004, Mr. Baker worked for the Financial Times as Tokyo Correspondent, and then from 1998 to 2002, as Washington Bureau Chief. From 2002 to 2004, he was the FT’s Chief U.S. Commentator. Before joining the FT, Mr. Baker worked for the BBC from 1988 to 1994, latterly as Economics Correspondent for TV and radio.
Global Manager Director
McKinsey & Company
Dominic Barton is the global managing director of McKinsey & Company. In his 29 years with the firm, Dominic has advised clients in a range of industries including banking, consumer goods, high tech and industrial. He leads McKinsey’s work on the future of capitalism, long-term value creation and the role of business leadership in society. Dominic has authored more than 80 articles on the role of business in society, leadership, financial services, Asia, history and the issues and opportunities facing markets worldwide.
Dominic is the co-chair of the ‘Focusing Capital on the Long Term’ initiative along with Mark Wiseman (CPPIB) and Larry Fink (BlackRock). He is a member of the Canadian Prime Minister’s Advisory Committee on the Public Service, a trustee of the Brookings Institution, a member of the Singapore Economic Development Board’s International Advisory Council, a member of the Asia Business Council and a board member of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. He is a Rhodes Trustee and an Honorary Fellow at Brasenose College, Oxford. Dominic is also an adjunct lecturer at Tsinghua University, Beijing.
Board Chairman and CEO
Brian Cornell is board chairman and CEO of Target Corp. He is responsible for Target’s global business, including more than 1,800 U.S. stores and Target.com, more than 320,000 team members and millions of guests. Cornell leads the retailer’s executive leadership team in accelerating Target’s performance, advancing its digital evolution and delivering on its “Expect More. Pay Less.” promise to guests. Cornell joined Target in August 2014 after more than 30 years in escalating leadership positions at leading retail and global consumer product companies, including three CEO roles and more than two decades doing business in North America, Asia, Europe and Latin America. His past experience includes time as both a vendor partner and a competitor to Target, and he brings insights from those roles to the company today. Cornell has served on the board of directors for Yum! Brands since September 2015 and is a past director of Polaris Industries, Inc. He also serves on the board for UCLA’s Anderson School of Management Board of Visitors, providing strategic guidance to the dean in advancing the school’s mission, as well as the boards of the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA), Catalyst, and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. Cornell joined the board of The Consumer Goods Forum in November 2016. Cornell earned a bachelor’s degree at UCLA in 1981 and attended Anderson School of Management.
Mary N. Dillon
Mary Dillon took the helm of Ulta Beauty in 2013, and since then, the company has achieved and sustained explosive growth and driven record sales and earnings. Ms. Dillon brings decades of experience leading consumer-driven brands to the country’s largest beauty retailer, and a passion for leveraging consumer insights and customer-focused strategies to build brand engagement and profitable growth. She guides an employee base of more than 34,000, 92% of which are women. Under her leadership, the company’s board has nearly 50% women, among the nation’s Top 10 of large companies in female board representation. A Chicago native and mother of four, Ms. Dillon is an active member of several nonprofit and civic organizations and believes strongly in giving back as a mentor. She is also a director of the Starbucks Corp.
Sheryl Sandberg is chief operating officer at Facebook, overseeing the firm and business operations. Prior to Facebook, Sheryl was vice president of Global Online Sales and Operations at Google, chief of staff for the U.S. Treasury Department during the Clinton administration, a management consultant with McKinsey & Company, and an economist with the World Bank.
Sheryl received a BA in economics summa cum laude from Harvard University and an MBA with highest distinction from Harvard Business School.
She is the author of the number-one best seller Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead and founder of LeanIn.Org, a global community committed to empowering all women to achieve their ambitions. Sheryl serves on the boards of Facebook, the Walt Disney Company, SurveyMonkey, Women for Women International, and ONE; is a member of the fund-raising council of the Second Harvest Food Bank; and co-chairs the StandUp for Kids campaign.
Sheryl lives in Menlo Park with her son and daughter.
STEPHEN A. SCHWARZMAN
Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder
The Blackstone Group
Stephen A. Schwarzman is Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder of Blackstone, a leading global asset manager with more than $[-] billion AUM, and has been involved in all phases of the firm’s development since its founding. An active philanthropist, in 2013 he founded Schwarzman Scholars at Tsinghua University in Beijing with a $100 million personal gift. Designed to educate future leaders about China, the program is modeled on the Rhodes Scholarship and at $[-] million is the single largest philanthropic effort in China’s history funded largely by international donors. Other signature philanthropy includes Mr. Schwarzman’s $150 million donation to Yale University for the establishment of a first-of-its-kind campus center in 2015, and his 2007 $100 million donation to the New York Public Library, on whose board he serves.
Global Management Editor
The Wall Street Journal
Nikki Waller is the global management editor of The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires, leading coverage of management, executive leadership and the future of work. Ms. Waller joined the Journal from the Miami Herald in 2008, expanding digital coverage of personal finance; she also created The End of Wall Street, an oral history of the financial crisis and the Journal’s first long-form video documentary. In 2010, she launched and led digital news coverage for Greater New York, the Journal’s metro section. Ms. Waller holds a bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University and a master’s degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL WOMEN IN SERIES
The Wall Street Journal presents “Women In”, an event series that examines and addresses the challenges and successes of women in the Workplace today. The series gathers prominent executives and global leaders from a variety of industries and disciplines. These events also feature industry-level insights conducted by McKinsey and Company.
Previous Events in the Series


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Texas offers job incentive to Office Depot
- Austin Business Journal
Texas will give Office Depot Inc. (NYSE: ODP) a $300,000 incentive to bring its inside sales organization to Williamson County, contingent on Williamson County commissioners approving incentives for the project, Gov. Rick Perry announced.
The move is expected to create more than 200 new jobs and millions in capital investment, according to the governor’s office.
The announcement comes as Boca Raton-based Office Depot has been under fire for outsourcing 80 jobs in the company's finance and accounting departments to Guatemala and India.
Palm Beach County Commissioner Burt Aaronson questioned the wisdom of the outsourcing given its a multimillion-dollar incentive deal with Palm Beach County to create 200 new jobs by August 2014.
Office Depot has said it is in compliance with that agreement and if it violates the deal it will pay back the money it has received.
The Texas incentive award will come from the Texas Enterprise Fund. The Austin Business Journal, a sister publication, reports that the new sales workers might be housed at the Amber Oaks office complex on Amberglen Boulevard near West Parmer Lane in Northwest Austin, according to this report from Community Impact.
Office Depot's inside sales organization, an extension of its field sales organization, will manage small and midsize business customers' accounts.
"Office Depot, the state of Texas and the Austin region have a partnership that goes back nearly two decades. We opened our first store in Austin in 1995 and are proud to call Texas the home for 156 of our retail stores," Office Depot Chairman and CEO Neil Austrian said in a news release. "The Austin region is a thriving business community with a talented workforce and we are looking forward to a successful new venture with our inside sales organization, which will be dedicated to serving many of our small business customers."
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Target Corp. (NYSE:TGT) [Trend Analysis] knocking active thrust in leading trading session, shares a decrease of -6.43% to 70.63 with around 19.61 Million shares have changed hands in this session. Target Corp. (TGT) reported that it reduced its annual forecast after the retail chain’s sales slumped last quarter, hit by what Chief Executive Officer Brian Cornell described as a “difficult retail environment.”
The company now expects earnings of $4.80 to $5.20 a share, excluding some items, compared with an earlier forecast of as much as $5.40. Target also trimmed its projections for sales in the second half of the year, blaming sluggish demand. The shares tumbled as much as 7.4 percent in the wake of the results.
The dour outlook renews concern that the retail economy is sliding into a deeper funk. While Cornell has been cutting costs to bolster profit, a strategy that helped earnings beat analysts’ estimates last quarter, the company seems less confident the approach will work in the second half. Slow technology sales and the transfer of its pharmacy operations to CVS Health Corp. have added to the challenges. The stock is going forward its fifty-two week low with 8.84% and lagging behind from its 52-week high price with -14.74%.
Likewise, the positive performance for the quarter recorded as 4.70% and for the year was -9.22%, while the YTD performance remained at -0.38%. TGT has Average True Range for 14 days of 1.61.
Shares of Renasant Corp. (NASDAQ:RNST) [Trend Analysis] swings enthusiastically in regular trading session, it an advance of 0.39% to close at $33.56. Renasant Corporation (NASDAQ:RNST) revealed that it has priced $60 million of its 5.00% fixed-to-floating rate subordinated notes due September 1, 2026, and $40 million of its 5.50% fixed-to-floating rate subordinated notes due September 1, 2031. The offerings are predictable to close on August 22, 2016, subject to customary closing conditions.
The Firm intends to use the net proceeds from the Notes offerings for general corporate purposes, which may include providing capital to support the Firm’s growth organically or through strategic acquisitions, repaying indebtedness and financing investments and capital expenditures, and for investments in the Bank as regulatory capital. Moving forward to saw long-term intention, RNST; experts calculate Return on Investment of 18.10%. The stock is going forward its fifty-two week low with 16.12% and lagging behind from its 52-week high price with -8.59%. RNST last month stock price volatility remained 1.69%.
American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE:AMH) [Trend Analysis] retains strong position in active trade, as shares scoring 0.36% to $22.47 in a active trade session, while looking at the shares volume, around 1.76 Million shares have changed hands in this session. American Homes 4 Rent (AMH) entered into a $1 billion credit agreement. The new credit agreement provides for a $650 million revolving credit facility and a $350 million term loan facility.
The credit agreement, which matures initially in August 2019, replaces the existing senior secured revolving credit facility. As of August 17, 2016, there were no borrowings outstanding under either the new credit facilities or the terminated credit facility. The firm has institutional ownership of 70.40%, while insider ownership included 41.13%. AMH attains analyst recommendation of 2.00 with week’s performance of -0.66%. Investors looking further ahead will note that the Price to next year’s EPS is 13.50%.


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When Serge Knystautas was building his website business, PrestoSports, he faced a typical startup problem: He needed software developers, and he was finding it hard to lure such in-demand workers when he couldn't promise them a steady paycheck.
When Serge Knystautas was building his website business, PrestoSports, he faced a typical startup problem: He needed software developers, and he was finding it hard to lure such in-demand workers when he couldn’t promise them a steady paycheck.
So Knystautas turned to oDesk, an online platform for hiring, managing and paying remote freelance workers of all kinds. From his Rockville, Md., headquarters, he scooped up developers based in Russia, China, Colombia and elsewhere to help PrestoSports build its system for hosting websites for hundreds of college teams.
PrestoSports has grown since those early days, now working with some 700 colleges, but oDesk remains an important part of its business model. More than a dozen technologists in Latin America today work for PrestoSports via oDesk.
Knystautas never meets oDesk workers before contracting with them, but the site has ways of reassuring him that he’ll get his money’s worth. It asks freelancers to pass tests to verify that they’re qualified for specific jobs. It shows reviews of their work for previous oDesk clients. And once freelancers are on the clock for Knystautas, an oDesk tool offers him screenshots and minute-by-minute logs of their progress, making it easy to ensure that they are on task.
By providing a marketplace and vetting tools for employers to connect with far-flung talent on an as-needed basis, oDesk and its sister site, Elance, believe they are at the heart of the ongoing revolution in the way work gets done.
“There’s an enormous amount of inefficiency in the world of work today,” said Fabio Rosati, chief executive of Elance-oDesk. “It makes zero sense to us when you have geographies where companies have tens of thousands of open positions, and you have other geographies with people sitting around and looking for work.”
Web-based freelancing platforms, he says, can bridge that gap, opening new employment possibilities on a global scale.
Elance, which started its online workplace in 2007, and oDesk, founded in 2005, have already gained traction, with a combined 8 million freelancers and 2.5 million business clients.
Freelancers are projected to pull in about $930 million via the sites this year. (After years as competitors, the two companies merged this year, though they maintain separate sites.) And it’s not just small businesses that are using the sites: Major corporations such as Unilever, Panasonic and Walt Disney Co. have used these platforms to hire or manage freelancers. Businesses in Australia, Germany, Britain and elsewhere are using Elance-oDesk to hire workers.
Elance and oDesk are some of the largest players in a digital temp industry that is expected to grow to $2.7 billion in 2014, according to research firm Staffing Industry Analysts. By 2020, the firm projects the market could grow to somewhere between $16 billion, by its most conservative estimate, and $46 billion, in its “aggressive, but possible” scenario.
The sites dramatically expand the labor pool by allowing employers to tap the talents of highly skilled knowledge-economy workers based virtually anywhere in the world.
Elance-oDesk also provides a suite of tools for online collaboration and management that facilitate long-distance teamwork, supervision and payments — tools that have proved especially useful to large corporations.
“The majority of our customers are companies with many, many different options to find talent,” Rosati said. “Our goal is to provide something far better, a superior alternative.”
Elance and oDesk are trying to continue to improve the process of pairing employers and freelancers: The merger gave them the benefit of each other’s research and development teams, and the combined organization is expanding, with plans to hire 80 people this year.
It’s free for freelancers to post profiles on Elance and oDesk and to apply for jobs. The sites make money by charging business clients a fee that equals a share of the total amount they paid the freelancer. Elance charges 8.75 percent; oDesk, 10 percent.


text:
공감이 가는 부분이 많다.
저물어가는 MS와 전략적제휴를 한것도 그렇고.. (노키아의 선택은 어떻게 될까?)
CEO의 전략적 직관이 얼마나 소중한것인지도 여럼풋이 느껴진다.
삼성의 대응과 LG의 실기..이에 따른 전략변화..
삼성의 Owner 중심의 대응과 LG의 늦었지만 Owner중심의 대응..
언제나.. 따라하기 전략인가 싶기도 하다.
읽어볼수록.. 기업 문화와 방향성에 대한 고민을 더 하게 만든다.
그리고 가끔 LG라는 기업의 한계를 보기도 한다.
How LG lost the smartphone race - full version
FORTUNE -- It was a fateful day back on Feb. 16, 2009. That's when LG Electronics' then-vice chairman and CEO Nam Yong met with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer in Barcelona, Spain. There, at the world's largest mobile industry trade show called the Mobile World Congress, LG and Microsoft inked an agreement for strategic collaboration. LG wanted to use Microsoft Windows Mobile OS as its platform for some 50 types of smartphones by 2012. The decision by the world's third-largest handset manufacturer to select Microsoft as the operating system for its smartphones was one of the most puzzling announcements to come out of the confab.
Yet Nam confidently told reporters that LG's smartphones using the Windows Mobile OS would be key to setting trends in the rapidly growing smartphone market. Ballmer concurred: "Microsoft's software technology and LG Electronics' hardware technology will provide users with an amazing mobile experience."
Microsoft had every reason to be happy. The market was shifting away from PCs toward mobile phones. Microsoft, which had been complacent thus far, was struggling in the mobile market, having already lost the upper hand to Apple and Google. So it was a surprise that LG, which had just edged out Motorola for third place in the global handset market, was joining forces with Microsoft. (LG had posted an 8.6% share of the global handset market in 2008.)
Many questions about LG's strategic choice needed answering. After all, Windows Mobile was a hastily cooked-up OS designed to keep up with Apple and Google. Microsoft had basically scaled down its PC-based Windows OS and squeezed it into a handset, making the OS painfully slow. Moreover, the problems with Windows Mobile were not restricted to speed. While in Barcelona, Ballmer was busy criticizing Apple's App Store -- not on product merit, but on the basis of Apple's closed system. Ballmer said it was important that the App Store be open, because he viewed openness as a basic requirement.
But with Windows Mobile, it would be impossible to match the App Store's application ecosystem in the short term. Apple, having just created a sensation with its iPhone, had not even bothered to show up at Barcelona. And yet, the rising star, LG Electronics, chose the setting sun, Microsoft.
Thus, right from the outset, LG started off on the wrong foot in the smartphone business. While pledging to make a slew of smartphones into 2012, it had no solution for the Windows OS's lack of applications.
The company also made another strategic mistake. LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company CEO and President Skott Ahn, who was also in Barcelona, said the key trend in handsets for 2009 would be the User Interface (UI). The UI is focused more on how one uses a handset, rather than on what to use, due to its focus on making usability easier. LG's Arena Phone, for example, uses touch screens to show function buttons in 3D. The touch screen was becoming the trendsetter among handset UIs, and now LG had gone one step further. LG's 2009 business strategy focused on making a more consumer-friendly interface. Stating that it would push for a convenient UI as its key strategy meant aggressive marketing efforts. LG even set in motion a plan to increase its product-planning staff.
In another part of the handset market, Motorola had already decided to collaborate with Google to launch its Android phone. After Motorola's eclipse by LG in global market share, it spared no effort in developing an Android phone with Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) in a bid to make a comeback. In Korea, the Pantech Group was also putting everything on the line to develop a new smartphone using Google's OS.
These competitors were just waiting for the chance to deal a blow to LG. They believed that the market's shift to smartphones offered them a golden opportunity. Pantech wanted to ride Google's winning streak, which had begun with its win against Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) in the OS market, and do the same in handsets. Meanwhile, LG stressed on the one hand a more user-friendly interface and more aggressive marketing and, on the other hand, Microsoft Windows Mobile, which was already proven to be a failure in the market with no applications store. And that's not to mention that LG was planning to wait three years to launch smartphones, as late as 2012.
Success only in the short-term
In 2009, at least, LG's strategy was paying off. It set a sales goal of 100 million units. It said it would post double-digit global market share. With Nam at the helm, it achieved both. It sold more than 100 million handsets, and market share climbed to 10.4%. LG's success in cementing its position as the No. 3 handset manufacturer in the world owed much to design.
The Chocolate phone, which it launched in 2005, triggered a design competition in the global handset market. It joined forces with the luxury designer brand Prada and launched the Prada phone, which sent handset makers scrambling to collaborate with other fashion designers. Samsung launched Giorgio Armani phones as a direct result of LG's lead.
LG, it seemed, was definitely thinking ahead of the competition. Nam, with 25 years in the electronics industry under his belt, is known as an intrinsically a professional manager who emphasizes the importance of marketing, of listening closely to and noting customers' ever-changing tastes. This meant the focus of Nam's handset strategy would inevitably switch to designs that would immediately grab consumers' attention.
The head of the LG Electronics Corporate Design Center, Paul Bae, well-known and respected internally for pioneering the shift to CDMA technology years before, led the design strategy. With him at the helm, LG was hot on the heels of Samsung with its new phones called Lollipop and Cookie. In the second half of 2009, glitzy girl groups and boy bands were advertising LG handsets. The brand was hot.
In the second half of 2009, however, the smartphone emerged as a game-changer. With the aggressive introduction of the iPhone into Korea, the market instantly changed from one of usability competition to a smartphone contest. The real errors in judgment began from this point on, and LG failed to see the pace of change. Upper management refused to even be briefed on smartphones. "[We] did know. It's just that the pace of change was faster than we had anticipated," recalls an LG employee who asked not to be named. "Moreover, LG Electronics was growing its top line. We had achieved the year's target in terms of sales and market share. [Management] said that the environment was changing, but it was difficult to single out any one problem."
The global financial crisis had blindsided LG. In the second half of 2008, the mobile operations, home entertainment, and air conditioning units of LG had all seen sales fall sharply, filling the company with a sense of crisis. Nam's focus on handset marketing, design and usability, which were directly linked with immediate performance, were in direct response to the company's need to recover shrinking sales revenues. LG's recovery in the first half of 2009 was impressive, and the mobile unit's operating income margin more than doubled over late 2008.
Yet there were some worrying signs. Sales revenues and margins began a downward curve from the third quarter of 2009 onward. "Yet LG did not declare a crisis, as they had done in late 2008," says a handset management consulting insider. "They probably felt yet another crisis management so soon after successfully overcoming the financial crisis could make the company look bad." The ROA Group, which analyzes and forecasts trends in the mobile market, points out that LG's response came too late compared with market expectations.
Failure to see the threat
LG had, in fact, completely missed the immediate threat from smartphones. The first half of 2010 was a failure. Smartphone sales dominated the market more quickly than had been anticipated. It goes without saying that Apple, the originator of the smash hit, had a great year. Taiwan's HTC, in collaboration with Google, also launched its Android phones and gained market share, which was a further blow to LG. Motorola (MOT, Fortune 500) likewise demonstrated considerable success with its Motoroi. One small piece of good news for LG was when Google scrapped its ambitions to create an Apple-like hardware division. At least Google could now become an ally to all handset manufacturers in their battle with Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500). Yet LG remained unwilling to cooperate with Google. Instead, it was obsessed by its deal with Microsoft.
But Microsoft was having its own problems. Its plans to launch a replacement for Windows Mobile kept being postponed. As Microsoft failed to come up with an effective solution, LG ended up the loser.
Unable to address the smartphone issue, LG had no choice but to depend on its feature phones. It came up with the Maxx phone, the only selling point of which was a piling on of hardware, which it said would enable it to compete with smartphones. It even showed a dependence on past glories from the second half of 2009, launching a New Chocolate Phone and even a Prada 2 Phone. These strategies were nothing more than a rehashing of past hits. Since it could not compete with its software, it attempted to surmount its difficulties through hardware.
Samsung comes on strong
Like LG, Samsung had initially missed the smartphone opportunity. However, Samsung made sure not to miss the next step. The first half of 2010 fully demonstrated Samsung's ability to catch up with a market leader. Samsung had an advantage in hardware, like LG. No matter how much Apple pushed its App Store, it could not afford to completely ignore hardware. Samsung, as a leading hardware company, maintained its advantage and began to augment its shortcomings in increments. It first launched the Omnia series and then quickly followed up with better smartphones, albeit incomplete models. This strategy paid off.
According to an employee of Samsung's wireless business division who spoke on condition of anonymity, the company in early 2010 was the busiest it had ever been in his entire career. The streets near the division were filled every night with employees working late and then unwinding with a drink or two. One department continued to roll out products to keep up with the market, while other departments worked feverishly on a smartphone strategy.
Samsung was attempting to do everything it could to keep up with rivals before the gap became insurmountable. Chairman Lee Kun-hee's return to the leadership of Samsung proved effective, too. The owner's return whipped the company into shape again, just as Samsung had started to lose its influence in the market.
On the other hand, the first half of 2010 was when LG was fully exposed to the impact of its weakness. "We had missed the moment but we could still have launched a smartphone in the first half which could have competed with Samsung's Galaxy S," an official at LG recalls. "Company employees even complained that the management could not admit that it had misread the market and had lost ground on smartphones, and that launching a smartphone at that moment would be an admission of this failure, and so they continued to drag their feet."
Because mobile execs enjoyed very high status within the LG Group umbrella, those who called the shots in the handset business were always well placed for career advancement. This made the management reluctant to admit to any failure on their watch. Moreover, a strong owner leadership style did not exist in LG at the time, with Nam being a typical management-oriented professional. Devising the 2009 business plan with a focus on performance and marketing, likewise, was a demonstration of his leadership style. His office was filled with ideas to save expenses and eliminate waste, customer insights, and ways to achieve more effective work performance. The latter even included guidelines on how to converse efficiently by phone and how to save time commuting. There was nothing on creative management or the next big idea.
It took more than six months for LG to come up with the Optimus Q. Its platform was the Android OS. Yet Optimus Q still lagged behind Samsung's Galaxy S and HTC's Incredible. In spite of using the same chip set, competitors used the Android OS 2.1 version, while the Optimus Q was the only one using the 1.6 version. LG intended to provide free upgrades later on. Even though the Android 1.6 gave sufficient performance for a smartphone, the market standard had already switched to 2.1. Once consumers felt the product was less innovative, the smartphone had little chance of survival, regardless of how well made it was. LG was once again behind the curve. Its lack of speed in responding to changes in the market held LG back throughout the first half of 2010.
When quality had been the deciding point, such as in design or usability, LG's decision-making structure had been successful. Yet when the market started to be driven by speed, LG began to falter. That has been most remarkable difference between Samsung and LG. Samsung moved fast enough to continue the chase while developing its proprietary OS, the Bada, in spite of its own weaknesses. LG, on the other hand, reacted too slowly in decision-making and changing direction to be able to catch up with its rivals. LG required the importing of the necessary components and software development from outside the company in order to begin a new paradigm, but Samsung already had the components at hand and only needed to put them together.
Many believe that Samsung actually has the ability to take the market lead, but its conservative organizational culture means it prefers to stay half a pace behind the market leader. LG always seems to chase from behind. It responds only after the trend changes.
This strategy of remaining the slow pursuer is not the only culprit. Smartphone innovations have been nothing less than technological shifts, where a handset market that was centered on hardware has had to transform to a focus on software. This could be read as a political shift as well. It is a diplomatic battle where handset manufacturers and software companies form and break alliances depending on the gains to be made from them. Just as had originally happened in the PC market, this appeared to be a duel between Apple and Microsoft. When Apple grew too fast, hardware companies including Samsung and Nokia (NOK) collaborated to form an anti-Apple front. It was around that time that LG's CEO Nam Yong and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer shook hands in Barcelona.
The Google factor
Ties changed again, however, when Google entered the picture. When Google gave up its Nexus One phone and announced that it would make the Android OS public, this pitted Google against Apple. Google had stepped into the fray when Microsoft failed to meet the high expectations of the industry and devise an OS that could compete with Apple. Microsoft's slump caused Google to have no qualms about dropping Nexus One. Hardware companies that were battling Apple all gathered around Google's Android banner. Yet LG, for some reason, still saw the market as Apple vs. Microsoft.
As the handset market realigned itself as a duel between Apple and Google, companies with outstanding hardware like LG and Samsung actually found themselves at more of an advantage. If the software were all Google, the market would involve competition for hardware. LG read this situation incorrectly. Samsung recognized the change in the market early on, and it had the necessary resources to instantly vault into a leading position as the most important handset manufacturer in the Google camp.
The diplomacy war did not stop there. Apple joined forces with mostly second-ranked telecom service providers around the world. A telecom service provider and a handset manufacturer are like husband and wife. The manufacturer makes products the telecom company needs, and the telecom company creates the environment the manufacturer needs.
Apple's alliance with KT [formerly Korea Telecom] has been in this vein, with KT aggressively adding Wi-Fi zones that benefit iPhone users. SK Telecom already had a tight partnership with Samsung. LG has been left dangling, its telecom service provider lagging behind as the third-ranked in Korea.
With each quarter of 2010 came reports of losses. LG's market share sank to under 20%, and the company posted $190 million loss in the third quarter of 2010.
Nam was relieved of his position as CEO, leaving dishonorably with three months left in his term. On Sept. 30, 2010, the outgoing CEO admitted in a farewell address to employees that his feelings of regret were all the more acute as the slump in the company's fortunes had started just as they were boasting of record sales performances and slapping one other on the back.
Can a founder's grandson save LG?
Nam's replacement was Koo Bon-joon, a 59-year-old grandson in LG's founding family. While to outsiders, this might be interpreted as a bad move reeking of nepotism, owner management can bring benefits. Rather than short-term gains, owner-managers can pursue longer-term strategies. And, as is often the case, an owner returns not because the company is in trouble -- but because he or she believes that the company can be saved. Koo's appointment signals that there is a road map in place for resuscitating the ailing company.
One sign of this is the Optimus 7, which launched last fall in Western Europe, Australia and Singapore. Using Microsoft Windows 7 as its OS, the phone has received laudatory reviews. CNET Australia called it "our pick of the Windows phone range so far" with "a complete package of design, features and usability," and gave it a 9.0 out of 10.
Since it was Microsoft's mobile software troubles that had led to LG Electronics' troubles, it could be Microsoft's resurrection that will herald LG Electronics' revival. Microsoft is already pushing the Windows Marketplace as a competitor to Apple's App Store.
If ex-CEO Nam was a gentleman, new CEO Koo is a fighter. He is one of the top electronics experts in the LG Group, having worked at electronics-related affiliates for 25 years. He was also one of the key figures behind the development of LG Display. Koo is said to be results-oriented, strict in punishing failure, and generous in rewarding success -- a management style that could accelerate decision-making processes along the lines of Samsung's. While CEO of LG Display, Koo always urged the company to be No. 1 in its sector. He even made LG Display employees greet one another with the words: "Let's be Number One." He emblazoned the words "First-place Company, First-Place Employee" on his business card, going against the overall LG Group's second-place strategy. When LG Display outstripped Samsung to top the LCD field, it was due in large part to Koo's efforts.
Koo's team has also been handpicked. Park Jong-seok has been named head of mobile phone development, elevated from his previous position running the R&D Center. Park has a reputation for strength during crisis, having headed the division that resurrected plasma-display TV after it was nearly eclipsed by LCD. At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in 2008, Park won the Best of Innovation award for the LG XCanvas BoBos PDP TV. It was a complete surprise to all, as plasma had been seen as a fading technology. Having been groomed to take the mobile helm during his tenure at R&D, his appointment was merely accelerated by the crisis situation. Havis Kwon will lead the Home Entertainment division, considered the epicenter of the business. He is known to be one of the most aggressive and decisive managers inside LG, who prefers to lead than to have to play catch-up.
Focus on recovery
For now, the outlook is positive. LG is planning its recovery mainly around the well-received Optimus 7. Koo's inaugural address to employees last October stressed that the least amount of complacency can lead to a company being overtaken by its competitors. In the months since, Koo has set about transforming LG from a marketing-centered to a technology-centered company. The change in the company's fortunes has begun.
The Koo-Park-Kwon trio is considered among the most aggressive in the history of LG. It is a rare set of appointments inside LG Group, which normally is said to place great importance on harmony. It goes without saying that innovation will continue as a result of these and other appointments. There is also a high likelihood that a slew of young executives will appear at the forefront of the leadership, as moves are afoot to promote a number of younger executives.
There's no time for complacency over at Samsung, which has begun its own Changing of the Guard after Chairman Lee Kun-hee declared that the company needed young blood at the top. The company has overhauled its leadership with Chairman Lee's return, CEO Lee Yoon-woo's resignation, and Choi Gee-sung being named CEO of Samsung. Internally, Samsung's flagship division has seen a change in its organization with some bold personnel replacements. Although not having graduated from a prestigious university, one employee widely acknowledged as a mobile phone expert has been named a team manager and executive, sending ripples throughout the company.
For LG, there may well be some bold acquisitions on the horizon. When ex-CEO Nam was at the restructuring unit of LG Group, he led negotiations to sell off LG Semiconductor, to Hyundai Electronics. That means LG lacks a semiconductor division like Samsung, putting it at a technological and cost disadvantage in mobile technology. With Koo's assumption of the helm, there is now discussion of a possible bid by LG to take over Korean semiconductor manufacturer Hynix.
As late as the first half of 2009, LG Electronics was congratulating itself on its highest-ever earnings. Just two years later, it was in acute crisis. By 2012, it is possible that it will have transformed its business, setting the trends after all that it predicted it would on the stage in Barcelona. LG's revival has already begun.
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