Multinational investment a 'dog-eat-dog' business

Although the Montreal job market is relatively healthy, the biggest local employment story this winter has been a negative one - the decision by Electrolux of Sweden to close down its plant in the Montreal suburb of l'Assomption.

As a result of that decision on Dec. 14, more than 1,300 workers are going to lose their jobs next year. Electrolux is moving the work to Memphis, Tenn., where Electrolux is building a new plant and local and state authorities have pledged $165 million in subsidies and tax breaks.

Global drug makers making strong comeback in India

Armed with a product patent regime and a string of large acquisitions, multinational drug companies are making a strong comeback in India.

Ten multinational companies (MNCs) — Daiichi Sankyo-controlled Ranbaxy, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Abbott which owns Piramal’s domestic formulation business, Pfizer, Abbott and Solvay combine, sanofi-aventis, Novartis, Merck & Co, MSD and AstraZeneca — accounted for 25.4 per cent, or Rs 11,840 crore, of the Rs 47,690-crore domestic pharmaceutical market in 2010 calendar year, according to IMS India.

Apple beats off move to reveal Jobs succession details

Apple has beaten off efforts to reveal succession plans for the time when Steve Jobs is no longer in charge of the company.

The proposal was made by the Central Laborers' Fund during the company's annual shareholder meeting.

Steve Jobs, who is on his third medical leave of absence, did not attend the event at Apple's headquarters in California.

HP shares sink 12% on disappointing outlook

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Hewlett-Packard disappointed investors on Tuesday with an outlook and sales that badly missed Wall Street's expectations.

As a result, shares of HP (HPQ, Fortune 500) fell 12% after hours.

Multinational companies open doors to 15 students from Gujarat tech centre

Fifteen students of Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT) were offered jobs by multi-national companies (MNCs) on the first day of the placements at the institute.

Talking about the offers received by students, Prof Saswat Bandopadhyay, head, environmental planning department and chairperson of placement committee, said, "Of the 132 students who have come for placements, around 15 have received job offers on day one of the placements. Among the companies that have offered jobs, GIFT and Atkins have offered employment opportunities to five students while GEC has offered jobs to two students."

Despite a visit from the great Polly Toynbee, UK Uncut protesters still don't understand how tax works

UK Uncut is back, and today’s victim is Barclays Bank. Inspired by the efforts of the Labour MP Chuka Umunna, who has forced the bank to reveal its low corporation tax bill, protesters have descended on branches of Barclays in outrage. Polly Toynbee herself even visited the one on Tottenham court road, tweeting about the “great comedy protest”. Just imagine the excitement! It must have been like a royal visit!

And it’s easy to understand the protesters. That Barclays has somehow managed to pay only around 2 per cent of its profits in corporation tax is astonishing. When the rest of us are paying ever more for deteriorating public services, this reinforces the idea that big corporations and the wealthy are being let off – in short, that we’re not “all in it together” after all.

Survey: Multinational corporations want better communications with managed service providers

Managed service providers have room to improve on their relationships with multinational customers, a survey of multinational corporations conducted by Virtela, an MSP with an international focus. Only one in five respondents gave its MSP high marks.

Better communications with customers could go a long way toward improving those results, the survey suggests. Nearly a quarter (24%) of respondents said MSPs should have a better understanding of their requirements, 29% said MSPs could improve satisfaction through more proactive notification of problems, and 24% said MSPs should provide more timely communication of status and issues.

Lord Green backs mobile internet to help drive global economic growth

Lord Green, the trade minister, has called on regulators to set “cohesive” international standards to encourage multinational companies to invest in new technology.

The former HSBC chairman said the telecoms industry needs to a set of global standards in order for the world’s economy to benefit from the “vast potential” provided by the mobile internet.

American Businesses Are Not Happy With Obama’s Proposed 2012 Budget

The business community is not overjoyed about the Obama administration’s proposed 2012 fiscal budget. It gives indications that there will be more than $200 billion in higher taxes for multinational firms, banks and oil and gas companies. These are mostly old proposals that have been vehemently opposed by corporate America.

NNPC retools for transformation

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has said that its recent restructuring was to enable the corporation adequately position itself for the envisaged transformation, which would boost the country’s oil and gas industry.

Sequel to this, the corporation assured multinational oil companies and other stakeholders in the industry, pointing out that the on-going reform was not targeted at their businesses but aimed at improving the business of oil and gas exploration in the country.

Renaissance announces record preliminary results

Multinational oil and gas services company Renaissance Services SAOG, one of the top ten offshore vessel operators in the world and among the top performing public companies listed on the Sultanate of Oman's bourse, has announced the preliminary results for the year ended December 31, 2010, which are subject to audit ahead of the company's annual general meeting next month.

Microsoft India head Ravi Venkatesan quits

Bangalore: Ravi Venkatesan, the chairman and public face of Microsoft’s Indian arm has announced that he will soon leave the company, in what will be the third exit of a senior executive from the company.

Interestingly, Venkatesan, who said he will now focus on finishing his book and will reassess his priorities, joined the company exactly seven years to the day, Saturday.

Jamaican gas retailers pumping up own brands

SEVERAL of the 'seven sisters' of the petroleum industry, such as Shell, Esso and Texaco, have dominated the Jamaican gasoline retail trade for decades. However, local players have forced their way onto the scene in recent years, gnawing at the market share of the multinational integrated oil giants.

A picture of the change is painted throughout the streets of Kingston where, dotted among the foreign brand names that once monopolised the industry, are local trademarks such as Michael's, Johnson's, Epping and Unipet (United Petroleum Jamaica).

PepsiCo adapts in China

SHANGHAI: PepsiCo, the food and beverage giant, is leveraging digital media and new product development as a means of driving growth in China, where popular preferences are evolving rapidly.

While the US trading climate has proved particularly challenging as a result of the economic downturn, the world's most populous nation continues to flourish.

Europe, US “using fake drugs crisis to boost pharma profits”

The proliferation of substandard, dangerous medicines in poor countries is being used by rich nations as an excuse to tighten intellectual property (IP) rules, boosting the profits of large pharmaceutical companies while making it harder for poor people to get access to the medicines they need, claims a new report.

The study, which is produced by international aid agency Oxfam, is particularly critical of the European Union (EU) for “pushing for stricter levels of IP protection that would limit access to medicines. In many cases, these efforts have been supported - both tacitly and overtly - by the multinational pharmaceutical industry,” it claims.

Consumption growth to spawn many M&As in the FMCG space

India, with one of the fastest growing consumption markets in the world, is critical to the growth plans of multinational consumer companies with a presence here, more so because of the lacklustre growth in the developed markets, as reported in The Economic Times. Many multinational companies such as Nestle, Unilever, Proctor & Gamble, Kraft, Gillette and General Mills have operations in India and, over the last couple of years, several others like United Biscuits and Excelsia have also made an entry, the report adds.

Multinational Banana Corporation Displaces Afro-Colombian Peace Communities

Since early December, hundreds of private contractors of multinational banana corporation Banacol have illegally invaded and occupied Afro-Colombian peace communities in the Curvaradó river basin in order to clear the land for banana cultivation. Their actions have been supported and assisted by local paramilitaries, army soldiers and municipal governments.

China’s drive for ‘Indigenous Innovation' and foreign multinationals

China's focus on developing what it terms ‘Indigenous Innovation' is putting foreign multinationals in a bind.

The electronics sector is dominated by foreign firms and last year Foxconn, the giant Taiwanese contractor for firms such as Apple and Nokia, got unwelcome attention because of a series of suicides among its almost 1m strong workforce in China.

Multinationals Keep Egypt Offices Shut, Workers Home

Multinational companies had no immediate plans to reopen Egyptian offices or bring back evacuated employees after President Hosni Mubarak's attempt to restore stability failed to placate protesters.