Lanka News – Lanka Gazette – Sri Lanka News Portal

and Ram Charan in high-powered strategy session

Size and economies of scale are key words in the apparel business, and Sri Lanka’s top apparel exporter Brandix has brought in a ‘big gun’ to help in its offensive to become a globally-significant player.Dr. Ram Charan, top business ‘guru’ and corporate strategist to some of the Fortune 100 companies, was invited to Sri Lanka to spend a whole day in session and to share his knowledge and experience with the group’s senior management this week.

Dr. Charan, the author of more than a dozen books (including ‘Leadership in the era of economic uncertainty’, ‘What the CEO wants you to know’ and the 2002 Best Seller – ‘Execution’) and behind-the-scenes consultant to companies like GE, Verizon, and Bank of America, addressed group management and CEOs of strategic business units and conducted a knowledge sharing workshop with selected leaders across the group’s interests.Dr. Charan described his role as helping the group’s management to see beyond its own industry and to share with it the ideas and practices of senior management of other industries. Describing Brandix as ‘world class,’ Dr. Charan noted that Brandix was a company willing to make investments in areas that other business entities were not willing to or unable to do. Referring to Singapore as an example, where Singapore Airlines had become a worldwide carrier even though there was no room for intra-country flying in Singapore; Dr. Charan noted that ‘this is where Brandix is now’ and asserted that the company was ‘building a jewel.’ Commenting on Dr. Charan’s milestone first visit to Sri Lanka, Brandix CEO, Ashroff Omar said, “Our plan is to be a mega supplier of apparel to a global market which amounts to a total value of US$ 100 billion. In this context, the strategic concepts, best practices and learnings of international companies that are much larger than we are, are particularly valuable.”

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Standard Chartered has begun rolling out a global brand campaign focused on its commitment to being a positive force in the markets where it operates across Asia, Africa and the Middle East. The campaign will help to establish the bank’s new brand promise, ‘Here for good’, underlining its distinctive approach to international banking and creating a strong platform for continued growth.

Standard Chartered has delivered record income and profit for seven successive years, winning customers and market share, even during the financial crisis. The new brand promise captures the ethos that has driven this achievement, one which has remained consistent throughout the bank’s 150-year history. A simple phrase with multiple meanings, ‘Here for good’ sums up Standard Chartered’s commitment to developing deep relationships with its clients and customers; its values, conduct and focus on sustainability; and its longevity, heritage and continued strong performance.

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The Government hopes to make Sri Lanka the miracle of Asia. This requires considerable direct foreign investment to come in so that the burden on the government for investment will be less. The IMF wants the government to reduce the budget deficit and hence more attention has to be paid to attracting direct foreign investment. The war and the uncertain environment was a deterrent to such foreign investment. This obstacle is now cleared.

But there are several other obstacles and one of the big deterrents is the lack of a free labour market. It all began with the United Left Front Government of 1970 which was dominated by the LSSP and CP ‘golden brains’. They were Marxists who did not want to promote Capitalism or free markets which is now recognised as an essential requirement for economic development. The Leftists passed the Termination of Employment Law which prevented employers from terminating the services of employees without the prior permission of the Commissioner of Labour.

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From the Amazon basin, natural rubber (NR) has become significant industries in the developing economies of South-East and South Asia. It is a vital commodity used in the manufacture of a wide range of rubber based products .It also plays a major role in the socio-economic fabric of many developing countries. Over 20 million families are dependent on rubber cultivation for their livelihood in the world NR market.The fundamentals influencing NR prices are demand and supply factors, while all other factors have indirect effects through changes in the fundamentals of demand and supply. For example, an improvement in the world economy leads to increased rubber demand, a fall in the price of NR relative to synthetics (SR) influences a declining share of SR in total rubber consumption, and a weak currency exchange in the producing countries encourages an increase in exports and concomitant output from these producing countries and hence a rise in world NR supply. Uncertain weather, including haze, has also affected production.

NR & SR consumptionInternational Rubber Study Group’s (IRSG) recent estimates indicate that, global rubber consumption was 21.4 million tonnes in 2009, compared to 22.8 million tonnes in 2008, a decline of -5.9%. While significant, this decline contrasts with the growth rate of -12.8% reached in July , indicating that consumption is finally starting to recover from the impact of the recent global economic downturn, as the declining rate has come down to – 5.9% at end December 2009 from – 12.8% in July 2009.

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The country’s banking watchdog – the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) is in the process of preparing a second phase of the Repayment Plan for depositors of the failed Golden Key Credit Card Company. The Nation Economist learns that Central Bank officials had intimated this to GK representatives from Colombo, Kandy, Negombo, Kurunegala, and Galle at a meeting held on May 23. Ceylinco Consolidated Chairman, Lalith Kotalawela has also summoned all directors of Golden Key and requested that an acceptable solution be given the depositors immediately. Kotalawela has also appointed a top wealth management expert in the country to probe into the assets and propose a repayment plan independent to that of Central Bank.

However, depositors have urged Kotalawela that the repayment plan should ensure that maximum possible amount of money will be repaid to the aggrieved depositors within a minimum possible time period. “We have been advocating all this time that any feasible settlement should be done after discussions with the Ceylinco Chairman and directors. Golden Key has no clear assets or properties. So, any final initiative has to come through Kotalawela and of course, subject to order of the Supreme Court,” Dushyanthi Hapugoda said. She said that it was regrettable that some directors were not concerned about the depositors but only about their remuneration and welfare. “If other directors were granted bail on the condition that they will work towards settling the repayment issue, they should do it with a sense of responsibility. If they do not, it needs to be brought to the notice of court,” Hapugoda said.

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By Azhar RazakSri Lanka’s motor traders having received one of their best news ‘post war’ on vehicle duty reductions last week said on Friday that they have still not decided on the revised prices and are looking forward to adjust them by the end of this week following a comprehensive check.

The traders also pledged that they would not increase their margins by taking advantage of the tariff cut but would rather pass the benefit to the consumer as it could help the industry to grow.”It is too early to ascertain what the new prices would be as we are still doing our calculations. However, based on the new tariffs the prices of vehicles on average could reduce by about 25 percent,”Ranjith Fernando, Chairman of United Motors Ltd (UML) – the importers of brand new ‘Mitsubishi’ vehicles told The Nation Economist.

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Publicity rights owned by Israeli university; carmaker says it paid firm to use the photo

By Robert SnellA university that owns Albert Einstein’s publicity rights is suing General Motors Co. for unauthoriSed use of the dead physicist’s image in an ad for the GMC Terrain.The Hebrew University of Jerusalem sued GM in U.S. District Court in California last week for more than $75,000, accusing the automaker of fraudulently using the likeness. Einstein willed his publicity rights to the school before he died at 76 in 1955.It is the latest advertising controversy for GM, which has struggled to perfect its marketing pitch since emerging from bankruptcy last summer.Chairman and Chief Executive Ed Whitacre Jr. was accused of stretching the truth in a recent commercial by saying the automaker had repaid its federal loans; GM made the payment using unspent loan funds and the government still owns 61 percent of the company.This month, GM hired a new marketing guru and changed advertising agencies for a second time in recent months for its largest brand, Chevrolet.”It may be GM thought, ‘Oh, he died and the rights are all public domain now,’ ” said John T. Brooks, a partner with Chicago law firm Foley & Lardner LLP who specialiSes in estates and trusts. “It’s old and cold and nobody’s got rights to it.”

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By Azhar RazakMicromax, one of India’s leading mobile handset companies launched its entry into Sri Lanka last week with aggressive plans to tap the huge untapped telecom consumer space. To begin with, the company is set to launch seven models of handsets (out of its full range of around 30 models) and 3G USB Data Cards ranging from less than 3,000 and up to 25,000 Sri Lankan Rupees.

“Micromax has entered into a distribution arrangement with Infinity Lanka Holdings Private Limited for its Sri-Lankan venture. Infinity in turn will join hands with Cellcity as partners to make Micromax products to be available in over 1000 outlets and 50 service collection centres island-wide,” Director Infinity Lanka Holdings, Ronald Muller told reporters at the launch. He said that all of the company’s phones and accessories that have been manufactured in India branded ‘Maxxmobile’ would be provided a one-year warranty assuring people the quality and service they are looking for at reasonable prices.

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to conduct ‘talent search in Jaffna’

Sri Lanka Cricket together with Nations Trust Bank will carry out a talent search programme on June 4 and 5 in Jaffna to identify the finest fast and spin bowlers in Under 15 -19 age groups. The objective of this programme would be to promote the game in all parts of Sri Lanka including the North and strengthen the future of Sri Lanka’s national cricket team.This talent search programme will be held at St. John’s College, Jaffna at which promising bowlers will be selected from a number of schools and these young cricketers will be given an opportunity to exhibit their talent.A MoU between Sri Lanka Cricket and Nations Trust Bank was signed at a ceremony at the Cricket Headquarters.

Chevron Lubricants Lanka Plc (CLL), the marketer of Caltex, Havoline, Delo and Lanka branded lubricants in Sri Lanka has achieved a profit after tax of Rs.375 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2010, up by a staggering 61 percent compared YoY. According to the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of CLL, Kishu Gomes, the main reasons for the growth was due to increased volumes (helped by the local industry growth of close to 5% post war), growth in export volumes, lower raw material prices (compared to 1Q last year) and better operational expenses (OPEX) management exercised by the company.

“We had also experienced a significant volume growth in the North and East due to the end of the war and with all the developments that is taking place there, the region is well poised to grow and could become a major market in 2-3 years time,” Gomes told the Nation Economist in a telephone interview.

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