Category: Uncategorized

 

Luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton and Burberry have been around for a long time and were very successful and gained a lot of loyal customers, however, recently it has been shown that theses luxury brands could be in trouble! In the past years, luxury companies are complacently selling their products to their already established customer base, ignoring the next generation, according to Pam Danziger at Unity Marketing, this could prove to hurt these luxury brands.

 

The rising new generations are very different from the older ones, as technology become a huge part of their life and as they grow with a global perspective in mind, their values, trends and personalities will be drastically different from the previous generation. This calls for a change in the marketing strategies of these luxury brands, and for their placements in the market. Another important factor to consider is the pricing of these brand names, with research showing that young people think that luxury brands are overpriced and aren’t worth the expense, it is really time for them to consider their pricing range to slowly satisfy and lure more young people to buy their products. In all, the point of difference between luxury brands and normal brands is the high quality and design they bring us, but as the definition of luxury brands are changing and so is our taste, thus it is important for companies to find their place in the market.

Reference:

http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/luxury-brands-dangerously-close-losing-191800427.html

 

The House Intelligence Committee has sent a warning report stating the threat that Huawei Technologies Ltd. and ZTE Corp, could pose on the American government and society as a whole.  In this report, the House Intelligence Committee warns American companies to avoid doing business with China’s two leading technology firms because they pose a national security threat to the United States. The report also claims that “China has the means, opportunity, and motive to use telecommunications companies for malicious purposes.”

Huawei Technologies Ltd. is currently the largest telecommunications equipment maker in the world, its products and services have been deployed in more than 140 countries and it currently serves 45 of the

 

world’s 50 largest telecoms operators. Recently, they are looking to expand into the American market, however, the panel’s recommendations will likely hamper Huawei’s ambitions to expand their business. With the booming economy of China and the debt that the U.S. owes, it’s hard to know whether this is real, or yet another U.S. story designed to protect the U.S. from competition in which they cannot favourably compete.

 

References :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huawei

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2012/10/08/china-tech-firms-security-risk.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Huawei.svg&page=1

To watch a video:

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/china-huawei-zte-threaten-u-national-security-interests-155302377.html

 

 

Recently, the Japanese car productions have either dropped by a significant amount or production sites were forced to close earlier than expected for the holidays; this reduction of output is a result of the protests, as a wave of anti-Japanese feelings sweep across the nation. The root to these anti-Japanese protests is the escalatingtension of the dispute over the ownership of an island

called Diaoyu in China and Senkaku in Japan. This island, located in the East China Sea between Japan and China, is close to key shipping lanes, rich fishing grounds, and there may be oil reserves in the area.  Due to ownership disputes of this island between China, Taiwan and Japan, large-scale protests have been staged in China.

It is interesting how a political event can have its effects on the economy; the dispute lead to drops in the shares of Japanese car companies, with Honda motor dropping almost 5%.  As I anticipate and observe the progress of the tension that builds between theses, what seems like estranged countries, I can’t help but wonder what the future economic relationship China and Japan will hold.

For more information about the Diaoyu Island dispute click here

References:

“Toyota and Nissan Scale Back Production in China.” BBC News. BBC, 26 Sept. 2012. Web. 02 Oct. 2012. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19725269>.

“Senkaku Islands Dispute.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 10 Jan. 2012. Web. 02 Oct. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senkaku_Islands_dispute>.

The bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holding Inc., a global financial service firm, in September of 2008 shocked the business world. Marking the largest bankruptcy filing in U.S. history, Lehman’s bankruptcy was not accidental. As early as in 2003 Lehman has borrowed significant amounts to fund its investments, however, due to the downturn in the market, Lehman was going through some financial hardships. Instead of positively facing and actively solving these problems, Lehman decided to lie on their financial statements, manipulating the public and the government. With laws confining “selling” toxic assets to other banks in the United States, Lehman instead entered into repurchase agreements with banks in the Cayman Islands, a trick that made Lehman Brothers look much healthier — on paper. However, lying about their financial state was not the only unethical thing Lehman did, Richard Fuld, head of Lehman Brothers, had taken about $300 million in pay and bonuses over the past eight years. Furthermore, Fuld is taking advantage and profiting $480 million from the bankruptcy, when in fact Lehman is holding over $ 600 billion in debt! They had screwed up on a truly colossal scale, and lined their pockets all the while. Lehman’s intentional manipulation of their accounting reports not only affected the investors, and rating agencies, on a larger scale it almost brought the entire United States’ economy to the brink!

An in-depth explanation of how Lehman pulled off the scheme:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSU7XHqvnlE&feature=player_embedded#!

references:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bankruptcy_of_Lehman_Brothers

 

http://www.wealthdaily.com/articles/lehman-brothers-enron-accounting-gimmicks/2375

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lehman_Brothers

image source:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/22/outrage-as-lehman-brother_n_128438.html