Some costs cut down on other costs, as any businessperson knows. Microsoft’s focus on cloud computing — after its recent failed purchase of Finish multinational communications and information technology company Nokia — is showing proof of smart business, according to analysts who point to findings that chief information officers are already using or are planning to use … Read more
Who knows best what content users of social media want to see? According to Facebook in statements accompanying the roll out of their latest news feed update, users themselves. “We know that ultimately you’re the only one who truly knows what is most meaningful to you and that is why we want to give you … Read more
Of 541 European businesses polled on their intentions to expand in China this year, only 26 percent said they were “optimistic” about their companies being profitable in China, and only 56 percent said they had plans to expand in the Asian nation. The number marks a significant drop from the previous year, when 86 percent of … Read more
American trend forecaster Gerald Celente’s quip that “As U.S. wages war, China wages business” is more reality than wit. The New York Times reported on Sunday that Xi Jinping visited Pakistan in preparation of a $46 billion investment in infrastructure projects. Meanwhile, the Obama administration remains mired in the backlash following the deaths of two … Read more
The clock is ticking on the Greek debt agreement, and the smell of impending default fills the air. The Financial Times reported on Monday that the Greek government is prepared to forego €2.5 billion worth of payments due to the IMF in the next couple months, effectively plunging the nation into default. The southern European … Read more
It’s anyone’s guess… On Wednesday, March 18th, the Federal Reserve released an official statement and held a press conference regarding monetary policy and current economic conditions. In this statement, the Fed projected a decline in its inflation expectation, and revised projected GDP growth downward. These are both signs of a slowing economy, not the accelerating … Read more
The end of civil war brings fresh opportunities Foreign investment is a hot topic at the moment. The idea mostly, in the current climate, invokes criticism and anger, such as the recent Guardian opinion piece that lamented the selling off of British and London infrastructure to foreign investors. To compound this, there has been general … Read more
Prices keep getting steeper, and people’s tempers are rising almost at the same rate. That is the best manner in which the current situation of the Vancouver housing market, which has stirred debate in the last few years, can be described. Yet, there is an underlying issue which most are not willing to discuss. Every time … Read more
PARIS — French newspaper “Le Monde” revealed last night after a large investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists that between 2005 and 2007 more than €180 billion would have transited through a private bank in Switzerland, where world leaders, including kings and celebrities, hid their savings. According to the news organization, an HSBC subsidiary would have … Read more
According to a report by anti-poverty charity organization Oxfam America, the wealthiest 1 percent of people will possess global assets in excess of assets possessed by the rest of earth’s 7.12 billion people by next year. The percentage of global wealth owned by the richest 1 percent rose from 46 percent in 2009 to 48 percent … Read more
As gas prices plummet and many O&G workers face unemployment in the upcoming year, a new report has charted the transition from oil and gas to green energy in Canada. Better prospects for jobs–sun, wind and water are more widely distributed across the nation than oil fields–and clean energy business opportunities exist in many areas that have so … Read more
For Japan’s Premier Shinzō Abe, Abenomics, a three point economic strategy to revive Japan, will be the first task he has to attend to after his landslide victory in the Lower House election was announced on Monday this week. Abe’s conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and New Kōmeitō Party, its junior ruling coalition member, swept … Read more