2008 December: Business

2008 December: Business

Anchor: Base Index
Other months: November January
Other areas: Climate computing education health international Internet science social technology Others
Topics: Agriculture banking carbon cartels climate competition conservation consultancy consumerism copyright corruption economics environment fraud free trade freight globalism management manufacturing marketing media mining money newspapers outsourcing pay policy politics privatism property publishing recycling social television trademarks wealth

(see also in Climate: Mitigation and National)

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Oliver Tickell, We need to turn carbon into gold, BBC, 2008 Dec. 9 (little meaningful progress seems to have been made at the UN climate summit in Poznan, Poland, says Tickell, author of Kyoto2; he calls on world leaders to back a deal that will raise the serious funds needed to deliver a low carbon future)
Richard Luscombe, Earnings will be gone with the wind, The Age, 2008 Dec. 9 (US farmers are creating a stink over a proposed "cow tax" that would penalise them for owning belching and flatulent cattle and pigs)
Kenneth Davidson, We can't afford an ill-fitting carbon cap, The Age, 2008 Dec. 8 (the Government must take a firm stance and set a tough target for greenhouse gas emissions)
Clean technology: Masdar plan, Economist, 2008 Dec. 6 (Abu Dhabi has embarked upon an ambitious plan to build a zero-emission clean-tech centre in the desert; will it work?; part of a Technology Quarterly)

Competition and Cartels

(see also Marketing)

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Protectionism: The battle of Smoot-Hawley, Economist, 2008 Dec. 20 (a cautionary tale about how a protectionist measure opposed by all right-thinking people was passed)
Pharmaceuticals: Patently absurd, Economist, 2008 Dec. 6 (the European Commission thinks Europe's drugs markets need fixing)

Consumerism

(see also Social and in Social)

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The science of shopping: The way the brain buys, Economist, 2008 Dec. 20 (retailers are making breakthroughs in understanding their customers' minds; here is what they know about you)
Shopping in the recession: Hard sell, hard times, Economist, 2008 Dec. 13 (the high street will stay in trouble)
Tom Fawcett, The psychological cost of Christmas, BBC, 2008 Dec. 10 (people can't resist the desire to be seen as generous—but may be storing up psychological as well as financial trouble for the New Year)

Copyright and Trademarks

(see also in Internet and Technology)

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Joel Gibson, Puzzled publisher at a loss for words, The Age, 2008 Dec. 19 (a marketing professor at the INSEAD business school in France, Philip Parker uses patented computer algorithms to copy information online and compile it into "studies" on niche subjects such as the econometric outlook for bath mats in India or web servers in the United States)
AP, Hasbro drops suit over Scrabulous, The Age, 2008 Dec. 16 (the changes to the Wordscraper application found on online networking site Facebook and games at Lexulous.com help distinguish them from Scrabble, RJ Softwares said)
AP, Russian trademarks winking emoticon, The Age, 2008 Dec. 12 (Russian businessman trademarks a combination of punctuation marks used to convey a wink in text messages and email)
Spore at top of the piracy charts, BBC, 2008 Dec. 10 (Will Wright's Spore tops the list of the 10 most pirated PC games of 2008 with 1.7m illegal downloads)
Microsoft tackles auction pirates, BBC, 2008 Dec. 5 (Microsoft has launched 63 separate lawsuits against people peddling counterfeit software on auction sites)

Economics and Policy

(see also Money)

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Darwinism: Why we are, as we are, Economist, 2008 Dec. 20 (as the 150th anniversary of the publication of On The Origin of Species approaches, the moment has come to ask how Darwin's insights can be used profitably by policymakers)
Paul Krugman, Germany's 'Frau Nein' is not seeing big picture, The Age, 2008 Dec. 18 (Europe's recovery is stymied by out-of-date ideologies)
Leon Gettler, Maths created meltdown, The Age, 2008 Dec. 11 (to fix the economy, regulators will also need to attend to people's psyches)
Ross Gittins, It's not inflation that's done us in; it's the long build-up in debt, The Age, 2008 Dec. 8 (central bankers have been like generals fighting the last war)
Dan Gardner, Homo sillyus strikes again, The Age, 2008 Dec. 6 (conventional economics works a treat when we act rationally; but what about that not-so-rational wild card—the human factor?)
Economics focus: The teetotallers' hangover, Economist, 2008 Dec. 6 (high saving and low private-sector debt have not shielded Germany and Japan from recession)
William Mellor and Le-Min Lim, Little guys in tiny huts may save the globe, The Age, 2008 Dec. 2 (with economies from the US to Japan in recession, the 2.8 billion people in Brazil, Russia, India and China may provide the consumer demand needed to counter the slump)

Environment and Conservation

(see also in Health and Science)

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Green iron: Treating industrial wastewater with scrap iron, Economist, 2008 Dec. 6 (can be a cheap and effective way to reduce pollution from factories; part of a Technology Quarterly)
Kenneth Davidson, Transport plan? The joke's on us, The Age, 2008 Dec. 11 (there is nothing new here—just more roads at the expense of the environment)
£5m fund to scrap fishing boats, BBC, 2008 Dec. 10 (owners of inshore fishing boats in England are being offered £5m by the government to scrap their boats and leave the industry)
Peter Ker, Eastern Victoria's health quickens development pulse, The Age, 2008 Dec. 5 (Eastern Victoria has better environmental health than the state's central and western parts, reviving debate on whether Victoria should be socially re-engineered towards Gippsland)
Geoff Strong, Trade leads to troubled waters as invaders take hold, The Age, 2008 Dec. 5 (our industries might be closing and going offshore, but we get something in return: Asterias amerensis from the North Pacific and Sabella spallanzanii from the Mediterranean, for example)

Fraud and Corruption

(see also in Internet and Social)

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The Siemens scandal: Bavarian baksheesh, Economist, 2008 Dec. 20 (the stench of bribery at Siemens signals a wider rot in Europe)
The Madoff affair: Con of the century, Economist, 2008 Dec. 20 (there are no heroes in the Madoff story; only villains and suckers)
Alex Berenson and Diana Henriques, Regulator admits it failed to investigate Madoff, The Age, 2008 Dec. 18 (Securities and Exchange Commission acknowledges it missed opportunities to discover what may be the largest financial fraud in history)
Banks hit worldwide by US 'fraud', BBC, 2008 Dec. 15 (some of the world's biggest banks have revealed that they are victims of an alleged fraud which has lost $50bn)
Siemens in corruption settlement, BBC, 2008 Dec. 15 (German industrial giant Siemens reaches a $1.3bn settlement in Germany and the United States)

Globalism and Free Trade

(see also in International)

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International man of mystery: Flying anything to anybody, Economist, 2008 Dec. 20 (the rise and fall of Viktor Bout, arms-dealer extraordinaire, shows a darker side of globalisation)
Trade and the world economy: Fare well, free trade, Economist, 2008 Dec. 20 (with the global economy facing its worst recession in decades, protectionism is a growing risk)
Michael Backman, Global economy now in uncharted territory, The Age, 2008 Dec. 18 (national economies are all so interdependent that none is immune to the crisis)
IMF sees world slowdown next year, BBC, 2008 Dec. 15 (the International Monetary Fund predicts the global economy may not begin to recover until late 2009 or early 2010)
Mark Landler, Global recession warning, The Age, 2008 Dec. 11 (the global economy is on the brink of a rare recession, the World Bank has forecast, with world trade projected to fall next year for the first time since 1982 and capital flows to developing countries predicted to plunge 50 per cent)
Martin Feil, Free trade has a real cost, and someone has to pay, The Age, 2008 Dec. 4 (Australia shouldn't shy away from protecting its major industries - all our major trading partners do it, and for good reasons)

(see also in Computing)

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David Hirst, More talk in fool's paradise, The Age, 2008 Dec. 15 (there can be no economic solution to the financial crisis while basic accounting is deferred)

Manufacturing and Mining

(see also in Science and Technology)

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Toshiba plans bike battery plant, BBC, 2008 Dec. 24 (Toshiba has announced plans to build a new factory to make its new super charge ion battery, SCiB, which can be used in electric vehicles)
Barry Fitzgerald, Beaconsfield trio comes up trumps, The Age, 2008 Dec. 18 (latest exploration results are believed to have boosted Beaconsfield Gold's ambitions to become a copper producer in western Victoria)
Jorn Madslien, Hertz car club targets urban drivers, BBC, 2008 Dec. 15 (one of the world's biggest car customers is launching a scheme this week that could threaten its suppliers—the world's carmakers)
Basic materials: Six firms in cyclical industries battle excess debt, Economist, 2008 Dec. 13 (lulled by expectations that industrialisation in China and other developing countries would ensure sustained demand, leading firms in the steel, cement and mining industries have entered the recession with far more debt than is normally viewed as prudent)
Luxury cars: Second-hand prices are plummeting as demand declines, Economist, 2008 Dec. 13 (in previous downturns the market for luxury cars was more resilient than the mass market, but not this time; since the credit crunch, the readily available finance that made buying a fancy car easy has disappeared)
Anne Davies, Battle to save US car industry turns ugly, The Age, 2008 Dec. 9 (GM should replace its chief executive if it receives emergency government loans to avert a likely collapse, says one of the most senior US Democrats, Chris Dodd)
Anne Davies, Car firms, running on empty, sound SOS, The Age, 2008 Dec. 4 (General Motors has revealed it needs $US18 billion, including $US4 billion in immediate loans, just to stay in business through December)

(see also Competition and in Internet)

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Robin Room, Tackle the alcohol problem at its source, The Age, 2008 Dec. 15 (police are left to clean up the mess caused by 'growing the market')
Advertising in America: How badly will television advertising suffer in the recession?, Economist, 2008 Dec. 13 (instead of the usual parade of expensive ads paying tribute to American consumerism, 2009's Super Bowl will reflect a country in recession and herald a grim year for the advertising industry)
John Fitzgerald, Booze and the larrikin: an ugly mix, The Age, 2008 Dec. 8 (the need for many Australian males to become violent when drinking is embedded in our culture and reinforced by the advertising industry)
Daniella Miletic, $1.6bn: the cost of direct marketing, The Age, 2008 Dec. 8 (unsolicited telemarketing calls cost Australians $1.58 billion a year in wasted time and more than half of households believe they should be banned)
Peter Douglas, Earning the economy we deserve, The Age, 2008 Dec. 5 (short-term self-interest must be replaced by a long-term ethical view if we want to transform markets for the better)

Media and Television

(see also Newspapers and in Technology)

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Matthew Ricketson, Local content minimum for ABC backed, The Age, 2008 Dec. 22 (the Federal Government should mandate minimum levels of Australian programming on the ABC, but only if it provides enough money for the broadcaster: poll)
Dan Harrison, Political junkies in line for TV fix into the wee hours, The Age, 2008 Dec. 9 (in a blessing for political junkies and insomniacs, a new television channel will beam the proceedings of Australia's parliaments into living rooms from next year)

Money and Banking

(see also Economics and Wealth)

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China to allow freer yuan trades, BBC, 2008 Dec. 25 (China says its currency can be used to settle trade in Asia, as it steps up efforts to limit damage from the global downturn)
Alan Greenspan, Economics focus: Banks need more capital, Economist, 2008 Dec. 20 (banks will need much thicker capital cushions than they had before the bust)
Edmund Conway, Credit crunch raises spectre of bank nationalisation, The Age, 2008 Dec. 18 (British taxpayers face paying billions of pounds more to prop up banks because PM's bail-out failed to stop the credit crunch, the Bank of England warns)
Barry FitzGerald, A big sum that added up to zero, The Age, 2008 Dec. 18 (it is of lingering interest to gravy train watchers out there—just where did the $US450 million go?)
Eric Johnston, Bank in botched $2bn deal, The Age, 2008 Dec. 18 (the Commonwealth Bank is in damage control after a monumental blunder forced it to abort a multibillion-dollar capital raising and compensate angry investors)
Investment banking: Wall Street's annus horribilis, Economist, 2008 Dec. 13 (next year will be little better than this one for investment bankers; their long-term future is none too bright either)
Bank regulation: National regulators are looking after number one, Economist, 2008 Dec. 13 (the idea of the international bank is coming under pressure; the argument that being in lots of countries diversifies risk looks thinner now that the downturn has the world economy in its grip)
Iceland: Cracks in the crust, Economist, 2008 Dec. 13 (Iceland's banking collapse is the biggest, relative to the size of an economy, that any country has ever suffered; there are lessons to be learnt beyond its shores)
Mirko Bargaric, Bottom line the only line that matters for banks, The Age, 2008 Dec. 12 (banks and corporations operate in a moral and social vacuum)
Vanessa O'Shaughnessy, Banks may give up on ATMs after fees shake-up, The Age, 2008 Dec. 11 (some fees for using automatic teller machines will disappear, and any fees levied by an ATM provider will have to be clearly displayed on the screen, under changes)
Paul Wilmott, The risks of risk management, BBC, 2008 Dec. 5 (banks now employ thousands of highly-qualified mathematicians to quantify risk for them; so why did they not foresee the credit crunch?; quantitative finance lecturer Wilmott explains how a failure to see beyond the numbers might be to blame)

Outsourcing and Consulting

(see also Pay and in Computing and Social)

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Ben Schneiders, Jobs becoming the new exports, The Age, 2008 Dec. 27 (sending jobs overseas, or offshoring, likely to emerge as hot political issue as businesses look to slash costs during the economic downturn)
Ben Schneiders, ANZ to cull local staff and send work offshore, The Age, 2008 Dec. 17 (ANZ steps up its aggressive job-shedding campaign, with the bank working on a plan to cut hundreds more local positions and send them to India)

Pay and Wealth

(see also Outsourcing and in Computing and Social)

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Peter Martin, Household wealth crashes, The Age, 2008 Dec. 19 (Australian households lose a quarter of their wealth in the global financial crisis began, with the latest official count putting the carnage at $700 billion)
Ben Schneiders, Big pay packets a result of 'slimy culture', The Age, 2008 Dec. 11 (greedy people and a "slimy culture", not market forces, are responsible for excessive executive pay, former Reserve Bank governor Bernie Fraser says)

Privatisation and Private Equity

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Edmund Conway, Credit crunch raises spectre of bank nationalisation, The Age, 2008 Dec. 18 (British taxpayers face paying billions of pounds more to prop up banks because PM's bail-out failed to stop the credit crunch, the Bank of England warns)
Waleed Aly, Privatisation risks conflict without limits, The Age, 2008 Dec. 13 (the trial of five Blackwater guards raises myriad legal and ethical questions)

Publishing and Newspapers

(see also Media)

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Matthew Ricketson, Tabloids, magazines fare worst in print's decline, The Age, 2008 Dec. 27 (circulation of broadsheet newspapers holding up, but tabloid newspaper sales falling and magazine sales falling further, according to Australian Press Council)
Max Suich, Facts spoil a good story, The Age, 2008 Dec. 15 (it may be that quality has declined on broadsheet newspapers, but blaming staff cuts is self-serving and ignores the real problems)
Newspapers in America: The Tribune Company files for bankruptcy protection, Economist, 2008 Dec. 13 (in 2007 the total circulation for daily newspapers was 51.2m, 14% lower than in 2000, according to the Newspaper Association of America)
Richard Perez-pena, Bankruptcy for media chain, The Age, 2008 Dec. 10 (Tribune Co, the newspaper and television chain that publishes the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune, has filed for bankruptcy protection)
Russel Howcroft, Journalism and advertising—a marriage of convenience necessary for both, The Age, 2008 Dec. 6 (much of today's mass market journalism is a result of the advertising that is required for our marketplace to function)
Matthew Ricketson, Facing future in grip of funk, The Age, 2008 Dec. 3 (the disintegration of the long-standing business model for newspapers, combined with the global economic downturn, has thrown the media into an existential funk)

(see also in Climate)

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Social and Property

(see also Consumerism)

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Booms and busts: The beauty of bubbles, Economist, 2008 Dec. 20 (property bubbles have painful consequences; they also have useful ones)
Ruth Williams, Canberra's guarantee is bugging the bush, The Age, 2008 Dec. 19 (rural Victoria is battling a drought, a possible locust plague and a wider economic slowdown. Now, a new problem is looming in regional towns)