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Canadian auto supplier seeks to buy Checker Motors

| Sunday, May 31, 2009

Checker Motors Corp. is asking a bankruptcy court to approve its sale to a Canadian automotive supplier for $1.6 million.

Documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court say Windsor, Ontario-based Narmco Group LLC proposes buying Kalamazoo-based Checker, which has operated under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection since Jan. 16.

The Kalamazoo Gazette says Judge James D. Gregg will hold a hearing on the sale June 9 in Grand Rapids.

Checker produced taxicabs in Kalamazoo until 1984 before becoming a supplier of stamped metal parts to automakers, primarily General Motors Corp. Narmco also supplies GM and more than a dozen other automakers and suppliers.

The court documents do not mention the fate of Checker's Kalamazoo operations or its approximately 250 employees, should the sale be approved.

Source: http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D98HJBNO0.htm

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'Cotton carryover stocks may not decline in 2009-10' – Mr Butler, Cotlook

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The cotton sector has had a very tough time in the just completed cotton season. At just about the time harvesting for the new cotton crop had begun, the economic turmoil broke out, bringing down with it prices of all commodities including cotton to new lows.

Prices of cotton in the New York Futures markets had the misfortune of touching four year lows. This has made a lot of farmers across many major cotton producing countries like China jittery and acreage of cotton is expected to fall substantially.

To understand the actual condition of cotton market, in the previous few months and the current scenario, Fibre2fashion spoke to few proficient people from the cotton sector like Mr. Ray Butler, Chief editor of Cotton Outlook and Managing Director of Cotlook Limited, which provides market summaries, industry related and general news stories on the cotton industry.

We started by asking his views about cotton production in the next cotton season vis-à-vis the just completed season, to which he said, “Cotton Outlook’s initial estimate of 2009/2010 production was released in February, since when it has increased slightly, thanks mainly to USDA’s slightly higher projection of US plantings than suggested by the National Cotton Council’s earlier survey of farmers’ planting intentions”.

He continued by saying “Global cotton output is currently projected at close to 23.2 million tons, barely one percent less than estimated production during the 2008-2009 season”.

Further we tried to know the consumption pattern against production in the 2008-09 cotton season to which he explained by saying, “World cotton consumption fell during the 2007/2008 season for the first time in this century and the current 2008/2009 season has witnessed a substantial further decline, perhaps of the order of 11 percent, to around 22.5 million tons.

He also added that “According to Cotlook’s data, therefore, world carryover stocks have risen during each of the past five seasons and, based on present estimates, seems unlikely to decline in 2009/2010”.

We then questioned him about the impact on availability of cotton next year as Chinese farmers are expected to reduce acreage in 2009-10 season, to which he said, “Some of the more pessimistic assessments of the 2009/2010 season’s cut in China’s cotton area have tended to disappear in recent weeks, owing to the firming of prices, brought about by the Chinese governments macro-control policies”.

He carried on “Observers seem increasingly inclined to the view that, given no abnormal setbacks, the new season’s output will therefore be reduced only moderately compared with 2008/2009. Cotlook’s current projection is a decline of 550,000-725,000 tons and China’s import requirement will persist both next season and into the future but the magnitude and timing of imports remains largely in the hands of government, by dint of quota controls”.

In conclusion he said, “Cotton Outlook does not make price forecasts. The Cotlook A Index currently stands at 59.25 US cents per lb (CFR main Far Eastern ports), levels last seen at the end of January. The introduction of a forward Cotlook A Index for the 2009/2010 season is anticipated shortly”.

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Cotton imports may shoot up by 60%

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Thanks to the increase of nearly 25-40 percent in the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of cotton, implemented by the government of India, the country could end up importing a higher number of bales in the current cotton season.

International cotton prices are quoting at a discount ever since the government owned agency Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) started its procurement, forcing eligible importers to import cotton which is available at a lower rate.

Fibre2fashion spoke to Mr DK Nair, Secretary General of the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) was very forthcoming when he said, “About 500,000 bales (1 bale = 170 kg) of cotton has arrived in the country so far and another 500,000 bales may be imported in the remaining part of the current cotton year, since ours is the costliest cotton in the world today and mills are looking for cheaper options abroad”.

He added by saying, “An unprecedented increase in imports may lead to decline in prices for the new crop and if this happens, it would be the result of reckless government intervention in the cotton economy during this year. The Government needs to separate populism from policy and to recognise the interdependence of cotton farmers and textile mills”.

Mr KF Jhunjhunwala, Chairman of Cotton Textiles and Allied Products Research Foundation, and Past President of Cotton Association of India, said, “This year import of cotton till September will touch 800,000 bales out of which 500,000 will be extra long fibres and 300,000 bales would be medium and small staple fiber”.

“Every year we import approximately 600,000 bales of cotton so this year it will exceed by only 200,000 bales which is not a matter of concern, though it is tough to predict about the future because it depends on the behaviour of the weather and if it rains well situation will be good”.

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Online retailing gathers steam in Indi

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E-tailing, or online retailing, is catching up in India with major retailers setting shop online.

The latest one to join the bandwagon is the Tata group, which recently announced that it would open an e-mall for the group’s products in the next two months. Earlier this month, Vishal Retail launched its online shopping portal — Vishalmegamart.com.

It was the Future group’s foray into e-tailing in 2007 that started the trend, though Fabmall was the first e-tailer in India (it set up an online shop in the late 1990s). Shoppers Stop followed by its e-tailing venture in late 2008 and so did the Anil Ambani-owned ADAG group, which launched RelianceMoneyMall the same year.

The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) has pegged the e-commerce market in India at Rs 9,210 crore. The market is estimated to grow 30 per cent year-on-year. E-retailing comes under e-commerce.

E-tailing helps retailers build loyal customers and is aimed at selling in areas where they don’t have a physical presence. Sankarson Banerjee, CEO of Future Bazaar (the Future group’s e-tailing venture), says the foray has worked well for the group. “In FY09, Future Bazaar sold Rs 122 crore worth of goods, 1.5 per cent of total sales of the Future group. By 2011, we expect it to be 2-3 per cent. Worldwide, it contributes 7-10 per cent of sales,” he said . Electronic goods and apparel are the most bought products online.

Banerjee agrees, “Besides international audience, we get orders from J&K, Andaman & Nicobar, etc.” Ambareesh Murty, country manager, eBay India, concurs, “Online marketplaces help create trade between metros and Tier II & III cities by bridging the demand and supply gap.” Over a third of all products bought by eBayers in hilly areas (North East, Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh) are tech gadgets (mobile phones, digital cameras and USB drives). While women from the metros are buying a lot of sarees, the sellers are spread across various cities and towns of India, including manufacturing hubs and handicraft hubs like Devanagere (Karnataka), Chittaurgarh (Rajasthan), Lucknow and Kunnamkulam (Kerala).

Moreover, e-tailing helps retailers save on the real estate cost. Also, an e-tailer does not have to carry huge inventories and can cut supply chain costs. But Banerjee disagrees, “It has other cost factors like delivery, technology, etc. It’s not cheaper.”

This year, there will be more such ventures. Arvind Retail, which sells a small part of its apparels through third-party e-commerce websites, is understood to be planning a foray into e-tailing. TV18, which already owns a 24-hour home shopping TV channel and a price checking site, called compareindia.com, is also learnt to plannig an e-tailing foray.

But replicating the success such ventures have had in the developed world is a far-away dream considering the broadband bottleneck. Anand Ramanathan, manager, Business Performance Services, KPMG, says, “It’s a good complimentary service but I don’t see it making big contribution to sales in the near future.”

On if e-tailing is aimed at getting customers where reatilers don’t have a physical presence, Ramanathan said, “Not really, the retailer has to have physical presence for delivery. Consider the Fabmall (a part of Trinetra Super Retail Limited) story.” Fabmall also opened brick-and-mortar stores. Two years back, it was acquired by the Aditya Birla Group.

These new ventures will be pitted directly against established players like eBay, Indiatimes, Rediff and Sify. Murty says it will only help the established players. “We welcome the entry of reputed brands that consumers trust. The launch of IRCTC (Indian Railway’s e-commerce arm) to power sale of railway tickets has encouraged a whole new demographic to shop online. We see new e-commerce entrants helping increase the size of the market by encouraging new non-shoppers to turn online shoppers,” said Murty.

Incidentally, e-tailing is not limited to retailers. FMCG major Amway also launched its own e-tailing portal in 2008.

For the direct-selling company, the online medium is aimed at expanding the company’s existing distribution network across 500,000 Amway Business Owners and also to tap the vast semi-urban customers base with direct access to Amway’s product range.

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B2B Portals- “the new Age Shopping Sites”

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A portal can be defined as the root destination for users that combines web links, features and services. At its beginning it was used as a generic word for popular search engines and internet access providers such as AOL, MSN and Yahoo but in recent days it has bought revolution in covering and converging business websites, where a corporate portal or enterprise information portal acts as a source for employees, customers, suppliers and other associates of a company to access corporate information and web services. B2B portals refer to websites that are natured to carry out electronic business and manage considerable parts of corporate business processes.

A B2B portal brings you an uncountable number of advantages. They lace your business with features like faster and easier access to product information, quicker response to client requests and better support. This not only increases the existing customer base but also reduces the cost of acquiring new customer significantly. They allow a business power the benefits of e-commerce for promotion and branding for instance an export business. These B2B portals integrate the whole marketplace into one and let you choose from variety. You can either place an order for purchase or directly buy products using your credit card. Whole transaction is managed by a consolidated workplace reducing the time in document process. As far as your research is concerned the company directories and E-catalogs do a very good job. If you want to go more in-depth then refer to those user and expert reviews posted on these portals along with the buying guides detailing product features.

Other than providing ease to your costumers, B2b have got a lot to offer to you internal business functionality. It augments the performance of the supply chain management system, internal messaging system product content adding system. It not only gives bells and whistles to your information exchange and product adding mechanism but also increases your return on investment.

With all the above offerings B2B portals is the future to come. They are growing day by day and helping the import/export companies in making their business more effective. Whenever you need to avalanche your business to the next level, this is the new option, other than traditional advertising, with added cost effectiveness. Overall, B2B portals are the lifeline of ongoing leading business companies and therefore play an influential role in the success of any business.

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Mobile eCommerce - success means doing it right

| Friday, May 29, 2009

The promise, hype and expectation of South African eCommerce fulfillment, fuelled by the realisation that online procurement and supply-chain management could potentially trim costs and improve customer relationships, even after 10 years has fallen short.
In 2007, World Wide Worx study of internet shopping, predicted a contribution of at least 20% to the holiday shopping spend and that the trend showed that consumers were beginning to gain confidence in online gift shopping specifically.

Two years later and South Africa has still not perfected the formula nor managed to successfully bring online purchases mainstream. Approximately only half of the current internet users shop online. It is still very much a developing market with statistics predicting that internet usage figures alone are set to grow by a further 13% during 2009, providing some hope that with it, so will online shopping. Although online browsing has increased significantly with consumer's easily performing product price comparisons, most purchases are still taking place offline.

Although it is still a developing market, this year it seems that a new trend is being adopted by internet commerce-potential institutions. It is as if South Africa decided to skip completing the eCommerce cycle and jump straight onto mCommerce. For the South and larger African market mobile commerce would be a step in a potentially lucrative direction as the mobile platform is the most accessible form of internet access on the continent.

But how successful can this channel be if we consider that we've hardly scratched the surface on eCommerce?

Obstacles faced in eCommerce
Up to 2003 the biggest obstacle to eCommerce was the lack of a robust online payment platform and costs involved to create bespoke commerce solutions put many companies off from investing in developing this on their websites. Six years later the complications have finally mostly been ironed out, but the hesitation to leverage these systems still remains.

Bandwidth was another technical barrier, which also mostly lead to shopping carts and payment systems that were in place to time-out, leaving would be purchasers with the fear that their credit card would be doubly charged.

From the design and usability side, commerce websites in South Africa are not up to the commonly accepted Western Standards. When a website is not user-friendly and simple to navigate, drop-off rates are high, which result in the site not generating enough revenue.

Some companies also encountered delivery issues, and with the era of instant gratification for those individuals that were already net savvy, waiting for up to six weeks versus immediate satisfaction of store purchase was no contest.

Although by no means the only obstacles, having learnt from these, how can we make both eCommerce and mCommerce a success, and can we do this jointly?

Development considerations for e+mCommerce
It is hugely important to ensure that a website is initially built correctly. Don't have an add-on wish list for later, unless you are 200% sure that all the ‘wish-list' components will work with the existing website functionality. For example some might develop commerce functionality, but consider mobile commerce functionality as an afterthought. Ideally if the site is created on a XHTML platform, it would not require a full redevelopment at a later stage and could save companies fortunes.

Consult with usability and conversion experts and conduct user-group testing on the platform to ensure that it can cater to both ‘newbies' and ‘techperts'.

Ensuring that your website has a robust and simple ‘shopping cart' will minimise the purchase drop-off rates. One does not need to invest in bespoke carts to achieve this. There are many “off-the-shelf” products that cater to this and won't break the bank. By using “off-the-shelf” products can save up to 35% on maintenance and license fees alone. Commerce software products that have proven functionality include Magento, OSCommerce and Zend Cart.

Achieving success through Mobile Commerce
Mobile Commerce,, or mCommerce, include applications and services that are accessible from internet-enabled mobile devices (cellphones).

Mobile is the most accessible form of internet access on the African continent, therefore products and services in theory have a much wider chance for adoption if they are accessible through this platform.

Achieving success in mCommerce as with eCommerce very much relies on a sound technical structure. Making your website mobile friendly does not necessarily mean that you need to build an entirely separate website primarily for mobile. It is of course ideal to own a .mobi in addition to the .com or .co.za domain extensions indicating that your website is focussed and viewable on a mobile device.

There are dedicated mobi search engines, which can be utilised from both the desktop as well as mobile device. As with websites ensuring the structure is accessible by these search engines will also ensure that you gain increased visibility. XHTML hierarchies have ensured that both desktop and mobile search engines are easily able to read the content and classify it. Also, the website should automatically be enabled to transform itself to the mobile screen if developed in this coding structure.

Understanding mobile devices and their capabilities to render this structure is of vital importance. Ensure that it is compatible with the most prevalent cellphones and that updates for new phones could easily be implemented.

As with most things online, the marketing would be the biggest factor in achieving success. Comprehensive campaigns including press articles, social media and search are the primary channels to use to increase adoption rate.

FormFunction Digital Consultants Pty Ltd is one of the leading digital exploration and implementation companies in South Africa and takes pride as a strategic consulting business first and foremost. Understanding and hands-on experience with various web and social application platforms, successful eCommerce websites deployment in technologies including Magento, OSCommerce and Zend, and experience as one of the first agencies to create an iPhone application make them a natural forerunner in the field of mobile commerce in South Africa.

To understand how your company could potentially benefit from creating an eCommerce or mCommerce presence, contact FormFunction to arrange an objective and informative consulting meeting.

Source: http://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/16/36419.html

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Who will benefit from the ecommerce boom in China?

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Implications
Chinese ecommerce grew over 120% last year, projected to grow very rapidly in the next 3-5 year. who will benefit from the ecommerce boom in China? Portals like sina/sohu? search engine like baidu? any other potential players in the market?
Analysis
Chinese ecommerce grew over 120% last year, projected to be in high growth for the next 3-5 years. Now large companies such as Mcdonald, KFC, Haier, Gome, Lancome are all going ecommerce, who will benefit from the ecommerce boom in China? consumers of course, some businesses as well.

Companies that are already in this industry will no doubt thrive on the growth. Alibaba, who is not only the largest B2B ecommerce platform in the world, but also owns the largest C2C website in China - Taobao.com, though Taobao is not very proftable due to the free listing strategy(beats ebay out of China this way), it does have dominant position and could quickly turn into a cash machine once good model is implemented. Its new ad system had a pretty good feedback. Other large ecommerce companies such as dangdang.com and 360buy.com will likely to be on a short list of future public companies.

Baidu, and other search engines will be the largest indirect benefitors. They has been largely replying on advertising dollar from traditional SMEs. It's all going to start to change once ecommerce takes off. Google has hugely benefited from ecommerce. Chinese search engines will probably do the same. However, a couple of minor drawbacks for baidu are its technology and some doubtful business practices. SEM for ecommerce is very much data-oriented. Baidu need to have better technology to support advanced bidding and optimization. Baidu is also notoriously known for its somewhat bad practices such as, dont allow tracking, high fraud clicking, blacklist etc. They have to change before its too late. the only good thing is that they do have a very strong position in the market, and consumers dont have any other good alternatives to go to. (well google.cn is good, but its so damn hard to spell for Chinese )

Portal and vertical media will benefit as well. A lot of ecommerce companies will have to rely on advertising on portal sites to build their brands. Verticals are very good places to advertise to their target audience. We have already seen that the search engine traffic is not enough for ecommerce businesses in China. therefore portals and verticals could become good complimentaries of traffic source for large ecommerce businesses.

Networks, mostly performance based will experience a large growth as well. Analaytics, SEM based companies, leads generation and web consulting companies will somewhat benefit from ecommerce boom as well.

In a way, the nature of ecommerce, will bring Chinese online advertising to a new level where data became much more important. In the past, this area is hugely underdeveloped.

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B2B marketplace tool targeted at SMEs

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BANGALORE, INDIA: MyTradeBook.com has announced the launch of a free Web-based B2B marketplace tool that allows businesses to build networks, engage in interest groups, buy, sell and advertise products and services, recruit human resources and partner with organizations related to their business ecosystem.

The tool will be initially launched in India and United Kingdom followed by other English speaking countries.

Given the current economic scenario, this tool which is targeted at the small and medium enterprises (SME) segment offers Indian businesses a free online platform that helps create new markets and reach out to potential global customers.

Announcing the launch, Richard Tunstall, managing director, MyTradeBook.com said: "There are many SMBs that have products and services with global appeal, but are constrained with limited marketing budgets, which becomes even more pronounced in the current economic scenario. MyTradeBook.com is designed to cut through the clutter of the existing B2B marketplaces by offering users with effective ways to reach out, collaborate and showcase their products and services in a much more targeted fashion. What's more important is that they can do it for free."

Amalgamating the concepts of business networking and B2B marketplace, this unique tool allows users to join as well as create interest groups. This facilitates collaboration and discussion between users on their areas of interest opening up avenues for generation of new ideas and business leads.

Users can also advertise their products and services for free in the Trade Pages of the tool and these posted advertisements can be linked to various interest groups and can be viewed by other members offering users with an opportunity to target their ads at the most relevant people.

Apart from offering users with the ability to search Trade Page ads, crucially MyTradeBook.com, also allows users to share Trade Page posts with other social networking sites, creating viral marketing opportunities. Presents unique blend of B2B marketplace and social networking concepts.

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Hydraulic distributors in Kolkata

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The word ‘hydraulic’ refers to the exertion of liquid pressure on something to provide mechanical force. There are different types of heavy machines and tools where hydraulic pressure is used to provide them the power required to perform certain functions. It may sound very simple, but hydraulic pressure is capable of generating huge power which helps machineries perform heavy duties. Hydraulic machines and tools are very common in the mechanical industry and are largely used in construction works. Real estate developers are among the biggest takers of the hydraulic machines and tools because they work much faster than ordinary machineries and help constructors meet their deadline. These days, hydraulic machines and tools are of high demand all over the world and the distributors are earning heavily from their supply business.

Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal is among the most developed cities in India. In the recent times, the city has encouraged a number of real estate developers. Hundreds of real estate projects have come up in different corners of Kolkata and many more are under construction. Thanks to the continuous rise in the population in the city, the demand for house is at an all time high here, which has brought smiles on the faces of the developers. Just like all other places in the world, hydraulic machines are largely used in construction works in Kolkata. There are several hydraulic distributors in Kolkata who supply equipments to the developers on a huge scale.

Kolkata is a large city and hydraulic distributors have their shops in different parts. For a person who is not familiar with the streets and lanes of the city, finding out a hydraulic distributor’s shop is not very easy. Yellow pages do provide information on distributors of machines and tools but depending on such data is not a very smart thing to do as information on such books are not regularly updated. Internet is better.

You will find a number of B2B (Business-to-business) portals on the web that provide detailed information on all kinds of business-related topics. There are several Kolkata-based B2B portals from where you can get a clear overview of the city. Planned specially to cater to the needs of the business-class people, these portals are the best guides to the city. These B2B portals actually create a supply management chain for different entities of a business. They are a medium of communication between buyers and sellers, manufacturers and traders, dealers and wholesalers and of course between suppliers and consumers. As internet can be accessed at any time from any place, more people are opting for these B2B portals for their advantage. They are enlisting their names and profiles on these portals to make sure every time somebody search for people like them, they find their names on the lists.

If hydraulic distributors in Kolkata are what you are looking for just search for it on any city-based B2B portal and you will be provided with a list of names on your computer screen.

You will not only find their names and contact numbers but their full profile which will help you to take fast decision. Besides, you can make use of the interactive tools like live chat and free SMS to communicate directly with the distributors and get going with your business.

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Consumer M2M: The Approaching Mass Market-Beecham Research

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The rapidly emerging M2M (machine-to-machine) market is already a $50bn business with strong growth prospects. Traditionally a B2B (Business-to-Business) solutions/services market, a new report by leading analyst firm and M2M specialist Beecham Research (www.beechamresearch.com) predicts the coming of age of a growing Consumer market for M2M products and services that will rapidly catch up to the traditional business. The report entitled "Consumer M2M: The Approaching Mass Market" forecasts over 100m consumer M2M products being shipped within the next 5 years - with most of them being connected to cellular mobile networks.
"A fundamental change in the M2M arena is now under way", explains Georg Steimel, lead author of the report. "Today the M2M market is dominated by individual business solutions serving the needs of individual users. In contrast, the developing consumer market requires integrated solutions that offer simplicity and one-stop-shop availability that is easily enabled. To get to this requires new and innovative business models".

According to Beecham Research, the M2M market is still small compared with the worldwide mobile handset business. Nevertheless, new network connections for mobile handsets are rapidly slowing in many markets - particularly in Europe and North America. On the other hand, those for M2M are speeding up. "Mobile Operators need this business", says Robin Duke-Woolley, Founder and CEO of Beecham Research.

Yet M2M is very different to the mobile handset business, even for consumer products. Although using less airtime, it offers low cost of sale and low churn together with stable revenues and margins. "M2M is all about creating new service opportunities, even when it comes to consumer products", continues Duke-Woolley. "What we are beginning to see is highly innovative, new ideas being translated into new product and service opportunities over the next few years that will change our lifestyles."

Further details and the report itself Consumer M2M: The Approaching Mass Market are available through Beecham Research's website, at www.beechamresearch.com/reports.aspx or by e-mail to info@beechamresearch.com.

About Beecham Research:

Beecham Research (www.beechamresearch.com) operates globally and is focused exclusively on the M2M market - Remote Device Management and Services, also known as "The Internet of Things". Headquartered in London, UK, the firm also has offices in Boston MA, Bonn Germany and Milan Italy. The firm offers standard reports as well as tailored research and business development services, with staff who have long experience of business management in high technology supply and service companies as well as in consulting and market analysis.

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S Kumars leads race to acquire Barack Obama's tailor

| Thursday, May 28, 2009

S Kumars and private-equity firm Emerisque Brands will acquire bankrupt Hartmarx for $119 million.

Textile major S Kumars Nationwide Ltd (SKNL) is close to acquiring the tailor of US President Barack Obama. Hartmarx, the bankrupt US suitmaker, has accepted the bid of SKNL, along with British private-equity firm Emerisque Brands, according to this report.

Emerisque Brands U.K. Limited and SKNL North America B.V will acquire the firm for a total sum of $119 million. Hartmarx, based out of Chicago, had recently come to fame when it custom made the tuxedo Obama wore on Inauguration Day and the suit Obama wore on Election Night.

The offer by Emerisque and SKNL involves paying $70.5 million cash and a secured note worth $15 million. The two have also agreed to assume $33.5 million of Hartmarx liabilities. Hartmarx's biggest debtor is Wells Fargo. There are other players also in the race, who are interested in acquiring various brands and segments of the firm. Homi Patel is the Hartmarx Chairman and CEO.

The deal, also called a "stalking horse bid", which means an attempt by a debtor to maximize the value of its assets as part of or before a bankruptcy court-approved auction process.

Hartmarx, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January, could come under bankruptcy auction in June. Emerisque and SKNL have signed a breakup agreement, where Hartmarx will pay a $1.65 million break-up fee plus $2 million for expenses if it goes for a rival bid. Similarly, SKNL and Emerisque have agreed to pay $4 million termination fee if they abandon the bid.

S Kumars has been expanding its footprint across the world through its aggressive inorganic strategy. Last year alone it acquired around three firms. In May last year, it acquired a controlling stake in Italian fabric manufacturer, Klopman International. Then it also acquired Italian shirt fabrics maker Leggiuno SpA later last year. Another one of its acquisitions last year was Scottish fashion chain Internacionale.

To fund its inorganic strategy and expansion , the company has also been tapping private equity on a regular basis. S Kumars raised $220 million (Rs 900 crore) from Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC, who picked 25.4% in its subsidiary Reid & Taylor, last year. SKNL also raised $107 million from Hong Kong-based ADM Capital for itself and its retail arm Brandhouse Retail in 2007.

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Indian Manufacturers Suppliers Exporters Directory,Buyers and Sellers,B2b Business Directory India

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Sme.in opened the doors of global access for small and medium enterprises.

We are aware of the fact that every company wants to adopt latest marketing strategies to expand their business. And in today’s internet world, internet marketing strategies are the most sought after form of marketing. But the high costs linked with them makes them beyond the reach of small and medium enterprises. So after taking overview of the entire situation, sme.in was incepted in 2004. This online business directory’s primary objective was to promote the business of SMEs up to global level. This has been a joint venture of SMEBS and MIDC, Maharashtra. This portal is multi lingual, i.e. it is published in 16 international languages. The manufacturers from 177 countries are listed here. So this directory has enhanced product promotion in 177 countries with sixteen languages, which is really impressive

Today this B2B directory celebrates 5 years of its success in providing a cost effective solution for the small and medium enterprise for expanding their business in global market. It has gained a growing recognition from the very year of its launch. It has enjoyed popularity as more and more people got aware of its advanced and unique features.

So this portal has helped the SMEs to get global vicinity and generate prospective business leads from anywhere in the world. This site has actually helped in promoting the concept of globalization of the economy. This user friendly site has brought the global buyers and sellers on a single platform to interact with each other.

Source: http://www.prminds.com/pressrelease.php?id=7301

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6,000 exporters have gone bankrupt since Romania's EU accession

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Approximately 6,000 exporters have gone bankrupt since Romania's accession to the European Union, the main reason being the incapacity to pay VAT to suppliers, the President of the National Association of Exporters and Importers (ANEIR), Mihai Ionescu, said Wednesday.
Number of Romanian exporters has dropped from almost 16,000 to around 9,800, said the ANEIR head.
"The exporters did not have money to pay the VAT to their suppliers, after which they could not resist until the Fisc would return them the money," Ionescu explained.
The ANEIR president also said the exporters had been affected from the accession to the European Union until now by the currency risk, being strongly disadvantaged by the appreciation of the leu, especially when the rate reached up to 3.10 lei / euro, in July 2007.
Mihai Ionescu said that exports fell by 63% in the first decade of this month compared to the same period last year, which signals the worsening of the situation because of the financial crisis. The only exception was the automotive sector, where Romanian exporters were helped by the "Rabla (scrap cars)" programme in Germany, according to the ANEIR head.
The German government has recently introduced a 2,500-euro scrap incentive for owners of cars older than nine years, when buying a new model. Some consequences of the measure were not anticipated by the government. Thus, the German consumers would not give up their cars older than nine years for a new Mercedes, BMW or Audi, which remain expensive even with the bonus of 2,500 euro, and go for Dacia's 7,500-euro Logan model, where the reduction is 33% on the car's list price.
Dacia Logan sales in Germany increased six/fold in February, and the model has received the status of "ironic symbol of the crisis" on this market.

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Zinc, Lead futures trade down

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Base metals futures such as Zinc and Lead have traded in the negative zone at the MCX today as traders preferred to take short position eyeing slowing demand for base metals form consuming industry following global economic recession.

MCX Zinc May contract declined 0.88% at Rs 67.90 per kg as against its previous closing at Rs 68.50. It opened at Rs 68.25 and touched a low of Rs 67.40. (2.13 p.m., Thursday).

Zinc June contract opened at Rs 69.65 per kg as against its previous closing at Rs 69.50. It touched the lowest level of Rs 68.25 and last traded price for the same was Rs 68.65, down 1.22%. Zinc July contract shed 1.43%, at Rs 69.15 a kg. It opened at Rs 70.15 per kg and touched the lowest level of Rs 69.10.

Similarly, Lead June contract traded marginally lower at Rs 68.80 per kg as against its previous close of Rs 68.90 per kg. It tossed in the range of Rs 69.10-68.30 after opening at Rs 69.05. The open interest of the same was 1,446. Lead July contract slipped by 1.07% to Rs 69.30 per kg. It opened at Rs 69.75 as compared to its earlier close of Rs 70.05.

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India copper futures edge lower on rupee

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MUMBAI, May 20 (Reuters) - India's copper futures edged lower on Wednesday pressured by a strong rupee locally, which makes the dollar-quoted asset cheaper, analysts said. The most active June copper contract MCCM9 was 0.25 percent lower at 219.45 rupees per kg at 5:51 p.m..

The Indian rupee trimmed its early fall and rose as a large corporate and exporters sold dollars, but further gains were capped due to the drop in domestic shares. See [ID:nBOM424647]

A weak dollar against other currencies and higher equity markets limited the downside, they added.

The dollar hit its lowest level against a basket of currencies in more than four months as slight gains in U.S. stock futures prompted some investors toward perceived riskier assets. See [ID:nLK960296]

World stocks rose for the fourth session in a row on Wednesday and Wall Street looked set to open higher. See [ID:nLK465622]

"It is trading in a narrow range since three days," said Navneet Damani, an analyst with Anand Rathi Commodities. Copper may trade in the range of 218-224 rupees on Wednesday, said Damani. May zinc MZIK9 was 2.92 percent lower at 69.80 rupees per kg, while lead for May delivery MLDK9 was 2.67 percent lower at 69.15 rupees per kg at 5:53 p.m..

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Japanese textile major & Vardhman Group sign JV

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Nisshinbo Textile Inc, Japan and the Indian textiles major, Vardhman Group will set up a joint venture company to manufacture shirts in Ludhiana in Punjab, India, which will be exported as well as sold in the domestic markets, with Nisshinbo looking after export markets and Vardhman, local markets.

Nisshinbo is a world-class textile manufacturer, with comprehensive operations including spinning, weaving, knitting, finishing and sewing and the Vardhman Group is one of the largest textile conglomerates in India having footprints in specialized yarns, fabrics, sewing threads and acrylic fibre.

Fibre2fashion spoke to a senior company official at Nisshinbo Textile Inc in Japan, who confirmed the news of the joint venture with the Vardhman Group. The JV will install 250 stitching machines and will have an output of 1.2 million shirts per annum, which will be gradually increased to 1.8 million units per year.

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Cotton imports may shoot up by 60%

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Thanks to the increase of nearly 25-40 percent in the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of cotton, implemented by the government of India, the country could end up importing a higher number of bales in the current cotton season.

International cotton prices are quoting at a discount ever since the government owned agency Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) started its procurement, forcing eligible importers to import cotton which is available at a lower rate.

Fibre2fashion spoke to Mr DK Nair, Secretary General of the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) was very forthcoming when he said, “About 500,000 bales (1 bale = 170 kg) of cotton has arrived in the country so far and another 500,000 bales may be imported in the remaining part of the current cotton year, since ours is the costliest cotton in the world today and mills are looking for cheaper options abroad”.

He added by saying, “An unprecedented increase in imports may lead to decline in prices for the new crop and if this happens, it would be the result of reckless government intervention in the cotton economy during this year. The Government needs to separate populism from policy and to recognise the interdependence of cotton farmers and textile mills”.

Mr KF Jhunjhunwala, Chairman of Cotton Textiles and Allied Products Research Foundation, and Past President of Cotton Association of India, said, “This year import of cotton till September will touch 800,000 bales out of which 500,000 will be extra long fibres and 300,000 bales would be medium and small staple fiber”.

“Every year we import approximately 600,000 bales of cotton so this year it will exceed by only 200,000 bales which is not a matter of concern, though it is tough to predict about the future because it depends on the behaviour of the weather and if it rains well situation will be good”.

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BtoB Technology PR, Marketing Firm Arketi Group Offers Tips On Attaining Thought Leadership

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Learn how to create killer content, promote it and use it to generate leads for your business-to-business organization

05.26.2009 – Arketi Group ( www.arketi.com), a high-tech BtoB public relations and marketing firm consistently recognized as one of the nation's “Top BtoB Agencies”, offers tip to technology PR and marketing pros on how they can position their organization as thought leaders.

Business-to-business technology companies often face two combined hurdles: how to generate content for public relations and marketing campaigns, and how to increase leads for the sales team.

“In order to keep prospects energized and interested in your products or services, public relations and marketing teams must have relevant and compelling content to deliver,” said Mike Neumeier, APR, principal at Arketi Group. “Often companies struggle in developing original content to use for PR and marketing efforts because, simply put, they are focused on delivering their core business. This puts B2B marketers in a bind.”

1) Create killer content
One way to break out of this uncomfortable situation is to commit to a thought leadership strategy grounded in unique industry research. Architecting and executing focused survey campaigns is one of the strongest ways to deliver a unique form of thought leadership that generates persuasive content, and that can be leveraged across multiple marketing avenues.

Creating content your company can own also permits you to highlight your company’s expertise and differentiate it from the competition with fact-based data. By elevating the conversation to trends and issues – and away from features and benefits – you can stake a claim to a true thought leadership position. (For an example, click the Underwriter Survey on Xerox Mortgage Services’ homepage .)

2) Publish and promote your content
Now that the marketing team has content, how can they harness it?

From a PR perspective, news releases, bylined articles or interviews with subject matter experts rank high on the list for using your content. A series of presentations and panel events at trade shows are easy extensions and can be coupled with distributing the survey findings at the event.

In addition, thought leadership-based content also provides the information necessary to drive a series of webinars, whitepapers or direct mail efforts that extend beyond the usual product- or service-based marketing programs. These marketing efforts raise your organization above the expected marketplace messages and position you as a true industry discussion leader with new thinking and ideas. (See this in action for Sprint .)

3) Arm Sales with your content
Every industry has a unique sales cycle, but the common thread for most B2B companies is that the sales force always wants more leads. Today more marketers are using thought leadership-based content to generate leads.

Start by merchandising thought leadership content online. Create a sales sheet highlighting new industry insights and “fast facts” with professionally designed graphics and charts. This becomes a unique collateral piece for the sales team, as well as an effective website download offer that can attract site visitors, increase traffic and grow your leads database.

Survey findings can also be leveraged in customer and prospect e-marketing efforts. For example, pay-per-click campaigns can be constructed to help disseminate the information and also attract prospects to your website.

Thought leadership-based surveys support and complement other marketing tools such as whitepapers, presentations and media coverage. When using these calls-to-action on your website, don’t forget to employ the “give-to-get” model by adding a registration page for to capture the lead, before users can download the item. (Check out StatCom’s 2008 National Survey on Patient Flow Challenges and Technologies.)

With a smart thought leadership program, B2B companies of all sizes can create compelling and insightful content, repurpose it for multiple marketing efforts, and use it to support the lead generation efforts.

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