Author Archive
Author Alasdair White
I wonder if anyone else has noticed!
Listening to the news and reading the various media reports from the UK, Europe, and the USA, the politicians’ proposed solution to the world’s economic crisis is to encourage the banks and the public to revert to exactly the same behaviour that led, with a horrible inevitability, to the crisis in the first place. The politicians want the public to go out and spend, they want the banks to go out and lend, and they want the world to go back to what it was doing before. Clearly, they are bereft of ideas and policies to address the underlying problem. Read the rest of this entry »
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Author Alasdair White
Recent news shows that the US automobile industry is asking the US federal government for a $25 billion bailout and President-Elect Barak Obama supports this. What a pity that Mr Obama should nail his colours to the mast so early and on such an issue. Bailing out the big three carmakers is a fundamentally flawed idea that rewards the failure of management to develop a sustainable strategy. Read the rest of this entry »
Author Alasdair White
On a recent trip to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, I was unsurprised to discover that the city has little or no public transport and the preferred (and possibly the only affordable) method of transport are the ubiquitous Honda oms – the 125 cc cross between a genuine motor scooter and a small motorbike. Around 60% of the market is now in the hands of Chinese manufacturers but the Japanese are still the supplier of choice. The extraordinary thing is that in Ho Chi Minh City there are over 4 million registered motor vehicles of which 3.6 million are motorbikes and the number is growing by 350,000 per year.
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