#Danone announces €325m venture in #China worth 21.0% of the Chinese #dairy market; annual sales revenues should reach €500m, future 'big'—
Asad Yawar (@Mediolana) May 21, 2013
#Danone could profit from dire food adulteration record in the #PRC, especially dairy; trust perception 'imperative' tinyurl.com/njwsm3y—
Asad Yawar (@Mediolana) May 21, 2013
David #Beckham signs for #PSG, fresh from winning 2 league titles in #MLS with Los Angeles #Galaxy; teams up with #Zlatan #Ibrahimovic #QIA—
Asad Yawar (@Mediolana) February 01, 2013
Former #England midfielder will donate £150k/wk salary to Parisian children's home; dubbed 'future of CSR + football' tinyurl.com/cuxhc5v—
Asad Yawar (@Mediolana) February 01, 2013
#France joins conflict in northern #Mali; stability + viability of key African state, broader region 'at stake' tinyurl.com/avghrex #Azawad—
Asad Yawar (@Mediolana) January 13, 2013
Filed under Political Science, Politics
The period 2007- has arguably been defined by nothing more than the bad bets of private actors and the subsequent bailing out of said actors by increasingly bankrupt states. But while a significant percentage of the developed world public is familiar with the purported rescue of a large number of financial institutions, awareness of industrial bailouts seems to be much slimmer. Yet these are not insubstantial; moreover, as the case of PSA Peugeot Citroën illustrates (‘PSA’), they are almost as futile.
October 2012 saw the French government promise a total of €18bn to Banque PSA Finance, PSA’s in-house bank whose main function is to fund PSA customers’ purchases of new PSA cars. The assumed objective of this largesse is to keep Peugeot’s operations secure until 2016; in the interim, a restructuring programme and a hoped-for upturn in the contracting European automobile market are intended to lead PSA back into the promised land of profitability.
Yet on reflection, this seems to be yet another case of a state throwing money at a business which demonstrates little sign of ever being restored to full health – and which is likely to dump another large facture on the taxpayers’ collective doormat:
1. Recovery? What Recovery? Banking on a recovery in new car sales within the next year or so seems a hopeless strategy when the macroeconomic fundamentals of PSA’s main market of Europe are still characterised by uncertainty. The perceived need for external assistance – whether from the European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund or spare renminbi or rials – has long supplanted the days of easy consumer credit.
2. Fuel Economy. With household budgets in retreat and the cost of non-negotiable essentials such as food suddenly assuming a higher priority, rare and precious petrol is being scratched off the shopping lists of millions of European households; even in the car-addicted UK, 1.3m people forsook their cars in the 12 month period from July 2010 to July 2011. With most major cities in Europe boasting excellent public transport infrastructure, this trend can be expected to intensify.
3. A Personal NHS. Cycling and walking – two of the easiest ways to keep fit and be mobile – are both enjoying renaissances, and European urban planners are reconfiguring their cities accordingly. In some Scandinavian and German cities the obvious mobility option is already the cycle – but every journey biked is one not undertaken at the wheel.
60% of French workers declare that they have never cancelled a holiday for professional reasons vis-à-vis 28%/Taiwanese tinyurl.com/bt9k7r6—
Asad Yawar (@Mediolana) November 20, 2012
Filed under Culture, Economics, Psychology
#PSG global icon gets own French verb, puppet on Les Guignols de l'Info; Pétanque ball, Paris Métro line 'imminent' tinyurl.com/d5usabc—
Asad Yawar (@Mediolana) November 12, 2012
Most cumulatively expensive football player ever leaves Serie A for Ligue 1; move 'symbolic of Italian decline' tinyurl.com/chtpqaa—
Asad Yawar (@Mediolana) July 18, 2012
Former Juventus icon and France captain #Didier #Deschamps warns of own 'perfectionism'; Spain main 2014 WCQ rivals tinyurl.com/btf5mb4—
Asad Yawar (@Mediolana) July 09, 2012
Filed under Football
Michel #Platini posits #Euro2020 to be hosted across continent after only serious single-country bid comes from #Turkey tinyurl.com/84ulmfq—
Asad Yawar (@Mediolana) June 30, 2012
#PreInternet online system started in #1978 faces extinction on 30/06/2012; #Minitel still popular 'into late 1990s' tinyurl.com/76ra5y6—
Asad Yawar (@Mediolana) June 29, 2012
Filed under Culture, Technology
