Tag Archives: employment

Business/Economics, International, Technology, U.S.

Corporate Incompetence & What Economic Recovery? Another U.S. computer company, Dell, spends big, and loses big, in Taiwan. Want to work for Dell? Move to Taiwan

Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs named U.S. based Dell their third biggest foreign buyer, after Hewlett Packard and Toshiba.

This comes after Dell was ordered (some says ‘suggested’) by the Taiwan government to honor a pricing mistake on 19 inch monitors and pricey laptop computers.  The monitors were mistakenly priced at U.S.$15.00 and the laptops at $563.40.

Dell tried to get customers to pay full price, but was threatened with a $759,000 fine by the Taiwan government.

“To avoid further confusion to our customers and to facilitate further investigation Dell has made the difficult decision to close our Taiwan online store.”-Dell statement

Dell is still trying to get the Taiwan government to let them recoup their loses, and avoid something like this in the future, after all Dell spends about $10 billion on Taiwanese made products every year!

Buy the way, if you want to work for Dell, be willing to move to Taiwan.  As of November 27, Dell has at least 40 openings in Taiwan: “Thank you for considering a career in Taiwan at Dell”

Business/Economics, Technology, U.S.

Corporate Incompetence: Hewlett Packard cancels TouchPad, turns out it’s the number two selling tablet in the U.S.!

“76% of consumers who purchased a non-Apple tablet didn’t even consider the iPad, an indication that a large group of consumers are looking for alternatives, and an opportunity for the rest of the market to grow their business.”-Stephen Baker, NPD Group

On August 18, HP announced it was stopping production of its TouchPad tablet, citing poor sales.   Yet a survey by NPD Group says the HP TouchPad was the number two selling tablet in the United States, in 2011!

HP’s decision to cancel their TouchPad came just seven weeks after it was released.  That’s not long enough to give a new product a chance.  However, part of the reason for the HP TouchPad grabbing the number two spot, is that the price was dropped from $499 to an incredible $99!

This just seems like Corporate Incompetence to me.

 

 

Business/Economics, Idaho, International, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Is Hewlett Packard lying about investing in U.S. operations? Spends tens of billions of dollars in Taiwan, hires hundreds of Taiwanese while laying off hundreds of Americans

On November 25, the Taiwan government’s Ministry of Economic Affairs (MEA) recognized U.S. based Hewlett Packard (HP) as the number one foreign buyer of Taiwan made computer related products.

The MEA refused to give an exact dollar amount but said it was at least 10% more than what HP spent in 2010.  In 2010 HP spent U.S.$25 billion on Taiwanese products!

HP officials told the Taiwan media they plan on buying $30 billion worth of Taiwanese made products in the next two years.  On top of that they plan to hire hundreds of Taiwanese for their Taiwan operations.

This greatly contrasts with what Hewlett Packard is doing with it’s U.S. operations.  Slashing and burning operating budgets and laying off hundreds of U.S. employees.

In a recent interview, the new CEO of HP, Meg Whitman, said this: “We’re relatively pessimistic about the economic outlook in two of our three major regions. 2012 just looks tough to me.”

Apparently the United States is one of the two regions she’s pessimistic about, because that’s not what HP officials are saying about their Taiwan operations.  Several Taiwan media sources reported that HP officials feel very “upbeat” about the economic situation in Taiwan, and Asia in general.

In July HP bought back $10 billion of their own stocks, then laid off 500 U.S. employees in September.  At the beginning of November, news of more lay offs was leaked by people claiming to work at HP’s Boise, Idaho, factory.  Idaho media contacted HP and was told that a press release was in the works.  So far no press release.

 

 

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Global Economic War: Global Sovereign Open Fund dumping European bonds

Not even a week after it was revealed that the biggest insurance companies in Japan were dumping their European bonds, a major Japanese investment firm reveals it is doing the same.

Kokusai Asset Management says it has sold off all Italian, Spanish and Belgian bonds that were part of its Global Sovereign Open Fund!

The Global Sovereign Open Fund is the largest in Japan, with about U.S.$26 billion in assets.  Kokusai Asset Management says the European bonds they sold off had already lost 8% of their value from the previous year.

Business/Economics, International, Technology, U.S.

Global Economic War: Start calling it Amazon China

“The Chinese e-commerce market will have a lot of winners, and Amazon China will be one of them.”-Wang Hanhua, president of Amazon China

In 2004 U.S. based Amazon entered the Chinese market, by taking over Joyo.com, a Chinese online book store.  They now have a new name: Amazon China.

The new name is a result of explosive growth thanks to the domestic Chinese economy.  Amazon China just opened the largest operations center outside of the United States, in Kunshan, Jiangsu province.  According to Chinese media it covers 120,000 square meters (1,291,669 square feet)!

“We are fully aware of the potential of this business, but we need to be prepared in logistics, packing center and operation systems.”-Wang Hanhua, president of Amazon China

Amazon China accounts for one third of all of Amazon’s global sales!

Wang Hanhua says one of the secrets to Amazon’s success in China is continued investment into marketing innovations: “Amazon China’s strategy is to invest continuously and focus on the long term market; that’s the reason why Amazon didn’t question its investment into China when it didn’t produce high returns.”

Now why can’t more Corporate America companies do that here in the United States?

Business/Economics, International

Global Economic War & fighting Global Food Crisis: Communist Cuba starts Credit program for farmers

“The regulations ruling the new credit policy and other banking services will enter into force on December 20, aimed primarily at stimulating domestic production, which could generate incomes of foreign currency or replace imports.”-Cuban government statement

In July the Cuban banking sector started granting small loans to farmers, but in December much bigger loans will be made available.  The move is meant to increase local food production and decrease reliance on imported food.

The plan is part of more than 300 proposals adopted at the Sixth Congress of the Cuban Communist Party in April.  Cuba’s current leader, Raul Castro, is pushing to update the Cuban economic model.

 

Business/Economics, Idaho, International, Technology, U.S.

Global Economic War: Chinese owned Hoku about to start operations in Idaho. Will U.S. investigation into Chinese solar products put the brakes on Hoku’s operations?

“We believe the Department of Commence investigation will show that Chinese government and Chinese solar manufacturers are, and have been, engaged in illegal practices that threaten to decimate a vitally needed renewable energy industry.”-Gordon Brinser, SolarWorld Industries

After many problems affecting construction and causing long delays, on November 21, Hoku’s CEO, Scott Paul, announced they cleared a milestone in getting their Pocatello, Idaho, polysilicon factory up and running; connection to permanent electrical power supplied by Idaho Power.

Hoku also announced they will now be selling finished photovoltaic modules through a subsidiary called Tianwei Solar USA.  The finished products are made in China, by a company called Tianwei New Energy.  While Tianwei Solar USA is a subsidiary of Hoku Corporation, Hoku is actually a subsidiary of Tianwei New Energy, in China.

Now comes the U.S. Department of Commerce and the International Trade Commission.  They are investigating claims by seven U.S. based photovoltaic manufacturers, that Chinese based companies (like Tianwei, which controls Hoku) are breaking trade laws.

The International Trade Commission will render a decision around December 5.

Now comes China’s Ministry of Commerce.  In retaliation for the U.S. investigation into Chinese companies dumping their finished photovoltaic products on the U.S. market, the China Photovoltaic Industry Alliance claims the U.S. is dumping polysilicon at below cost prices in China!

So, Hoku’s polysilicon production for Chinese customers, mainly their majority owner Tianwei, is being threatened by an investigation by the Chinese government, AND, Hoku’s selling of Tianwei’s photovoltaic products is being threatened by an investigation by the U.S. government!

Hoku is trapped between a rock and a hard place.

WHAT ECONOMIC RECOVERY? HOKU, IDAHO, FINALLY TO START POLYSILICON PRODUCTION?

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Corporate layoffs & stock market games, part of Corporate America’s stock buy back scheme. Hewlett-Packard case in point

“We’re relatively pessimistic about the economic outlook in two of our three major regions. 2012 just looks tough to me.”-Meg Whitman, new CEO of Hewlett-Packard

“It’s an extraordinarily unimaginative way to use money.”-Robert Reich, former U.S. Secretary of Labor

What’s the former U.S. Secretary of Labor talking about? Why Corporate America buying back its own stocks.  Companies are able to do this because they are not spending money on research and development, and, according to a New York Times article, it’s the real reason companies are still laying off employees. They’re using the money they would have paid for the labor to buy back company stocks.

In November employees at the Boise, Idaho, Hewlett-Packard (HP) factory reported that layoffs were in the works.  In July HP bought back U.S.$10 billion of their own stocks, then laid off 500 employees in September.  HP officials avoided directly answering questions about layoffs in Idaho by saying they were working on a “press release”.  It’s been a couple of weeks now and no press release.

A lot of problems are being created by the way Corporate America is buying back their stocks.  For one it artificially increases the value of their stocks:  “Unless earnings per share are adjusted to reflect the buyback, then to base a bonus on raw earnings per share is problematic. It doesn’t purely reflect performance.”-John L. Weinberg, University of Delaware

Number two, it’ll delay any economic recovery: “It’s a symptom of a deeper problem, which is a lack of investment in the long term. If we’re not investing in research, innovation and entrepreneurship, we’re going to be a slow growth country for a decade.”-William W. George, Harvard Business School

And thirdly, it’s increasing unemployment, which is only adding to the downward spiral of the economy.

On November 22, Meg Witman, former eBay CEO, former California Gubernatorial candidate, and new CEO of Hewlett-Packard, was questioned about HP’s huge cuts in R&D.  Here’s her response: “It’s not (return on investment) in year one or two. I think the investments we make in 2012 you’ll start to see in 2014 and 2015. I wish I could tell you differently but it’s not true. And you’re right. We cut out a lot of muscle in R&D at this company and we have to invest back in it. It’s a long term play. I will tell you, this management team, we are now building HP, we’re building it to last. We’re not building it for next month or next quarter. We are building this company to be great over the next decade. And you’ll see improvements every single year. You’ll be able to measure us on how we’re doing. But we’re making some long term bets here because we can’t continue to run this company for the short term.”

Knowing that the latest trend in Corporate America is buying back their own stock, at the expense of R&D and employment, is that what Whitman means when she says “…we’re making some long term bets…”?

Whitman’s answer is confusing.  Traditional economics tells you that investing in R&D is a long term “bet”.  Yet Whitman calls it “short term”. 

So is that what Whitman means when she says we should see returns on investment in 2014/2015?  The investment meaning buying back their own stocks?

Anyone who’s taken economics, or business courses should know that traditional investment into your own company means R&D; to come up with more efficient ways to produce products, or coming up with new products/services, better marketing, etc.  But it does not mean buying back your own stocks.

Perhaps stock buybacks are the real reason there are layoffs coming for HP’s Boise operation, and officials are still trying to come up with a good sounding reason for their forthcoming “press release”?

Hopefully, since Whitman just started her job as HP CEO, she’s talking about a return to traditional economics. Hopefully it’ll mean an end to HP’s stock buy backs and a return to putting money into R&D and employment, she did say: “We cut out a lot of muscle in R&D at this company and we have to invest back in it.” Oh well, wishful thinking.

 

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Idaho farm tractors being stolen for scrap metal

“We’ve had a lot of scrap metal stolen. This is totally off the wall here.”– Jackie Morris, Power County Chief Deputy Sheriff

A farmer in American Falls, Idaho, had two old International tractors stolen right off his farm, in broad daylight.  Witnesses say they saw the tractors being hauled away on trailers pulled by pick up trucks.

The drivers of the pick ups were recognized as individuals who’re recently asking locals if they had any scrap metal they wanted to get rid of.

Farmers are being warned by law enforcement to inventory their farm equipment at least once per week.

 

Business/Economics, Idaho, Technology, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Former HP employee, and MBA holder, finds new job by NOT talking about his college education

“Nobody ever thinks, ‘Hey, I’m having trouble getting a job now.  Let me go get this extra degree and I’m sure I’ll still have trouble.’”-Nathan Bussey

In 2008, Idahoan Nathan Bussey lost his coveted job with Hewlett-Packard.  He used the unexpected time off to get an MBA.

Forget the rhetoric coming out of Corporate America, that they can’t find “qualified” applicants, Bussey discovered that having a college degree actually hurt his chances of getting a job.   That’s because the only jobs available don’t really require college.

This year Bussey took a job with a dreaded call center.  He did not tell them about his MBA, because it would’ve hurt his chances for getting hired.  He’s getting paid much less than when he was working for HP, but he and his wife are desperate: “We have no savings anymore. If something happened, if one of us got hurt or sick, we certainly would be in a much worse situation now.  We’ve used our buffer.  That rainy day fund is now gone.”