While more than 95 percent of America's Top 1000 companies currently purchase directors and
officers (D&O) coverage, estimates are that fewer than 10 percent of privately-held companies and
non-profit organizations have made D&O coverage part of their overall risk-management strategy.
Within just the past few years, thousands of new laws and regulations have been
passed to eliminate lax and illegal corporate management practices. The laws
serve a vital purpose, of course, but they also create signifi cant new burdens on
millions of companies.
James E. Rogers is president and CEO of Duke
Energy, which supplies, delivers, and processes
energy for customers in North America and selected
international markets.
King Abdullah has
ushered in a new era of
prosperity for Saudi
Arabia. As reforms gain
ground, the inflows of
FDI are helping to
fast-track economic
modernization.
American companies are still recovering from globalization, technological
change, and hypercompetition that rocked their financial foundations
during the past two decades. But a new, hidden force is already cascading
toward them threatening to shake corporate structures even more violently, this
time from the inside out.
These are challenging times for American business. Within just the past few years,
thousands of new laws and regulations have been passed aimed at rooting out lax and
illegal corporate management practices. The laws serve a vital purpose, of course, but
they also create signifi cant new burdens on millions of ordinary companies.
In Ireland, the importance of the personal touch
can rarely be overstated. Human engagement is
a national habit, a central part of everyday life.
In recent years, Irish business leaders have
adapted this natural skill to create a culture of
world-class R&D.
Robert Stempel, who once ran General Motors, is today focused on changing
the dynamics of transportation, as chairman and CEO of Energy Conversion
Devices Inc. (ECD Ovonics), a 500-employee company in Rochester Hills, Mich.
Americans just love to
buy foreign - Japanese
cars, Swiss watches,
Russian caviar, Swedish
vodka, Saudi oil,
Colombian coffee, New Zealand
lamb, French perfume, Italian
fashions, computer components
from Singapore, and lots of good
things from China. And when it comes to investing,
America's appetite for foreign
equities has also been growing.
At most global organizations, travel management plays a
significant financial role. Since travel is typically a corporation's
second or third largest controllable expense, having
experienced travel management professionals manage
travel-related services provides measurable benefits.
Monitoring and analyzing travel expenditures is
essential for realizing cost control.
The festivities to celebrate the founding of the Great
Mongolian State by Chinggis Khan in 1206 have focused
attention on the country at an opportune moment.
In 2006, Russia has continued to
reassert its credentials as an increasingly
stable economy that is very well
regarded by portfolio and strategic
investors.
You've built a terrific Web site. Attractive
colors and layout. Engaging content. And a great
selection of products and services. Now comes
the hard part: how do you attract customers and
help consumers to find your Web site?
The IT and
telecommunications
markets are
changing quickly,
and the next 12
months will see a
wide variety of new
media and valueadded
services
launched.
To describe Qatar as 'an oasis in the desert,' is to use a well-worn cliche,
but in economic terms the small Gulf country is truly one of the world's
few emerging market oases.
The Ericsson Racing Team is one of the seven
teams to take on the great challenge of The Volvo
Ocean Race, the incredibly tough round the
world sailing event.
It's getting to be a "green" world, with regulatory
compliance and environmental performance driving
change in many fields. This is especially evident in
the world of commercial trucks, where diverse strategies
are being employed to meet the challenge of
operating efficiently and profitably in this new world.
Jigar Shah, CEO of Sun Edison LLC, represents
the kind of entrepreneurial innovation that will hasten our
transition to an energy future beyond fossil fuels. Behind
Shah: solar panels, manufactured by BP, that SunEdison
has installed at Whole Foods Market Inc., an organic
and natural supermarket, in Edgewater, N.J.
Alternative Risk Transfer (ART) is the name given to forms
of insurance not so long ago considered alternative to the
traditional model. The ART label has stuck, even though
more than half of U.S. domestic insurance last year was
structured using "alternative" techniques. The dominant
vehicle in the arsenal of ART is the captive insurance
company.
Having long been a regional pioneer in its economic and business development, the Kingdom of Bahrain is going to new lengths reaching across borders to promote common international business goals.
Business travel is on the upswing, and so are travel costs. According
to the National Business Travel Association's (NBTA) 2006 Business
Travel Overview and Cost Forecast, domestic airfares are expected
to rise six percent this year, hotel prices are projected to jump nine
percent, and car rental prices are predicted to climb five percent. "These cost increases, along with growth in the number of travelers
and trips per year, puts the spotlight firmly on travel procurement,"
said NBTA president and CEO Suzanne Fletcher.
Enter the world
of the Internet
Protocol. Ericsson is the
global leader in
a new way of
providing
converged
networks and
services - the IP
Multimedia
Subsystem.
What small islands lack in numbers, they can more than make up for in innovation. Finding new niches with which to compete on a global scale has been the order of the day for many in recent years, with diversification the new watchword.
Nowhere is the need for public-private partnerships more obvious than in Cape Verde and Madagascar, where infrastructure projects funded by public and private investors and donors are set to revolutionize the economy and open up huge markets.
So you want to build a web site for your business.
Or perhaps improve the one you have. May we ask why?
No, we don't want to discourage you. Practically every
business--from the corner store to the global solutions
provider--can profit from having a web site.
One of the great virtues of small
businesses is that they are...
well, small. Flexible. Manageable.
Transparent. Small businesses can turn on a dime.
Ideas are transformed into tangible
action in a flash. And the right measures
can be parlayed into big payoffs.
Copyright 2005 - 2008, by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.
