Category: News Articles

On November 16th, the banks in Ireland faced great troubles from the collapse of the “real-estate bubble”. This caused many investors to withdraw tens of billions of euros. The fear caused not only the loss of investors and liquidity funds, but also a government that was unable to provide a bailout. To save other countries from being hit by this terror of failing banks, European Union will be funding Ireland with €80- to €90-billion from their emergency rescue fund.

How did the banks in Ireland come to this in the first place?

They were undercapitalized. Since the collapse of real-estate caused such an enormous effect on the banks, it can be assumed that the banks were highly levered on lending out mortgages. They took a risk, and now they are in trouble. This is why Ireland needed an injection of liquidity, and a large one, from the European Union. The effects of this is still to be determined, but for now, these funds are merely a hope to stop the increasing fears of investors in Ireland.

Video: Infectious Sovereign Debt Risk

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Will Ireland life jacket keep others in euro zone from sinking?

To me, Facebook was simply a very popular website that people go on to socialize with others. It did not occur to me that Facebook is an entrepreneurial venture, and one of the most successful ones out there. It meets all the definition points of entrepreneurship: great amount of wealth creation, fast speed of such wealth creation, high risk, and high innovation.

Facebook creates millions in revenue from the advertisements on the website. Although this doesn’t seem like it can earn much, consider this: Facebook is the second most visited website in the world. Because of this, many businesses want their ads on this social website.

Facebook started in 2003, and until now, has only been running for around seven years. Yet, they became one of the fastest revenue-earning businesses, leaving MySpace in the dust.

It is impossible to say that Facebook did not face any risk. Of course they did. Tremendous risk, especially regarding privacy issues. However, they still took that risk, made necessary changes, and moved forward.

Facebook itself is an amazing innovation, and they are continuing to create more. On November 15th, 2010, it announced a new feature being released soon: the next generation of Messages. It includes chat via SMS, chat, email or Messages, and even provides an @facebook.com e-mail address that functions differently than normal e-mail.

Facebook, always making new innovations, taking risks, and bringing in revenue at shocking rates in short periods of time, is a very successful entrepreneur.

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How Exactly is Facebook Making Money? – Technology Blog

See the Messages that Matter – Facebook

If there is a SWOT analysis for Switzerland, and if it is compared with a SWOT for Canada, R&D would be a strength for the Swiss while it would fit into the Weakness section for Canada.

Brands from Switzerland are known for their quality and innovation hub. Victorinox is the company that produces Swiss army knives and other products such as watches. However, they do not simply produce old-fashioned knives anymore. They have been using the latest technology for their products, equipping laser pointers and USB drives with the blades. The parts of the blades are now manufactured using finger-sized machines, so that employees could spend time developing new tools.

How did Switzerland become such a known innovator in the world? The government supports production of new products or improving existing technology. The Innovation Promotion Agency funds R&D related projects, unlike Canada’s mediocre and strict funding.

The once insignificant Switzerland is now leading in the race for R&D. They promote and accept new ideas for future innovations, which moves them forward at lightning speed. Canada, however, is currently lagging behind. Although R&D is a weakness for our country, it can also be made into an opportunity. Canada needs to advance and catch up to Switzerland in the race for new technology.

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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/growth/switzerland-blazes-innovation-trail/article1750626/

Ethical issues arise in every country, but the recent intervention by the Japanese in the currency markets stirred up discussion in many countries, especially in the Group of Seven.

The Group of Seven, also known as the G7, maintains an unwritten rule of international finance that exchange rates should be “freely floating” and that currency should be determined naturally by investors. Japan, however, forcefully sold hundreds of billions of yen against the U.S. dollar to devalue its currency. The Japanese took advantage of its trading partners. For its own national well-being, Japan decided to risk the economy of the rest of the world.

Although many argue that Japan made a wise choice, and that the Bank of Canada should follow in its footsteps, I do not believe that it will be an ethical decision. It is not right to ignore the balance of the world’s economy by manipulating a country’s currency for its own benefit. Only, the Japanese seemed to love the idea.

Every man for himself. Is that ethical in the world of business? If every country only considered itself, I doubt that the human race would get very far.

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Article source: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/yen-move-changes-currency-landscape/article1707860/