Japan’s fourth quarter GPD growth of 4.8%, which was released today, exceeded economists’ expectations. However, although consumer spending rose by 1.1% on an annualised basis, this merely compensated for the 1.1% decline in Q3. In addition, wages rose by only 0.2% last year, barely up from a decade-long decline. Companies are preferring to pay down […]
Asian Chemical Connections
ExxonMobil turns a light shade of green
Rex Tillerson, chief executive of ExxonMobil, displayed a careful balance between supporting the oil industry and expressing concern over climate change in a recent speech.Does this indicate a shift in direction at Exxon post Lee Raymond, or merely a more cuddly and warm way of presenting unchanged policy? The reason why we are still dependent […]
Global Warming And The Impact On Ethylene
Please read this excellent piece from my colleague Nigel Davis, who is editor of the Insight section of ICIS news.Some further thoughts: if 46% of existing and 45% of future ethylene production is taken offline by flooding, just think of the impact on food pricing and distribution and the resulting social and economic chaos due […]
How To Get Rid Of Management Consultants
Fed up with receiving those obscenely large bills from trendy management consultants populated by wet-behind-the-ears Harvard graduates? Ever thought that a great deal of commonsense is all you need to run a business rather than theoretical nonsense? These guys, as the Financial Times reveals in its article about the Japanese mob, have restructured without the […]
Is India set to tank?
There seems to be a conspiracy of complacency about India. Read The Economist’s dire warnings. To be fair, the naysayers have been warning of an India collapse for years, But the longer that these imbalances are allowed to build, the greater might the collapse be when it happens
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