PM slaps down business minister over Murdoch remarks

In a statement, Cable said he fully accepted Cameron's decision, adding: "I deeply regret the comments I made and apologise for the embarrassment that I have caused the government."
Discussing News Corporation's bid, Cable told the undercover reporters: "I have blocked it, using the powers that I have got. And they are legal powers that I have got.
"I can't politicise it, but for the people who know what is happening, this is a big thing. His whole empire is now under attack. So there are things like that, that being in government... All we can do in opposition is protest."
Murdoch owns Britain's top-selling daily newspaper, The Sun, which backed Cameron's Conservatives in the elections in May.
The mogul was also reportedly one of the prime minister's first visitors when he took office after the vote.
A spokesperson for News Corporation had earlier said that it was "shocked and dismayed" by Cable's remarks, adding: "They raise serious questions about fairness and due process."
The Daily Telegraph first published remarks Tuesday by Cable indicating he could quit and "bring the government down" if the centre-left Liberal Democrats is pushed too far in compromising with the centre-right Conservatives.

Pak-India Business Council welcomes TAPI gas project

ISLAMABAD: Pak-India Business Council welcomed the Turkmanistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India (TAPI) gas pipeline project and termed it a historic step among the member countries. It met Monday with Noor Muhammad Kasuri in the chair and reviewed economic situation of the country and hurdles being faced in Pak-India trade. The project would help to fulfill the energy demands of Afghanistan, Pakistan and India besides strengthening the political and economic relations among the member countries. Council chairman said increasing energy demands of the country were ignored badly during last 50 years and domestic energy resources were sold out to a group to maintain their monopoly in the sector.

PM slaps down business minister over Murdoch remarks

EU regulators on Tuesday cleared News Corporation's attempt to buy a majority stake in BSkyB but the deal remains subject to a British regulatory review, which is due to report next week.
Cameron's spokesman said Cable's remarks "were totally unacceptable and inappropriate" and the prime minister took swift action.
"Following comments made by Vince Cable to the Daily Telegraph, the prime minister has decided that he will play no further part in the decision over News Corporation's proposed takeover of BSkyB," the spokesman said.
"In addition, all responsibility for competition and policy issues relating to media, broadcasting, digital and telecoms sectors will be transferred immediately to the secretary of state for culture, media and sport".
This includes responsibility for the communications watchdog.

PM slaps down business minister over Murdoch remarks

LONDON — Prime Minister David Cameron stripped his business secretary of key powers Tuesday over what he termed "totally unacceptable and inappropriate" remarks about media mogul Rupert Murdoch.
Cameron's spokesman said that Vince Cable, a senior Liberal Democrat member of the Conservative-led coalition, would no longer have a say in Murdoch's bid to take full control of pay TV giant BSkyB, and his department would lose other powers.
The prime minister acted after Cable told undercover newspaper reporters that he had "declared war" on Murdoch and planned to block his New Corporation's 7.75-billion-pound bid for BSkyB.
"You may wonder what is happening with the Murdoch press," Cable told the Daily Telegraph reporters, who were posing as constituents. "I have declared war on Mr Murdoch and I think we're going to win."

Engler Named Business Roundtable CEO

WASHINGTON—National Association of Manufacturers President John Engler has been appointed chief executive of the Business Roundtable, a group of leaders of the nation's biggest multinational companies, often tapped to advise the White House on policy.
Mr. Engler, a former Republican governor of Michigan and friend of George W. Bush, will be succeeded at the manufacturers' group by its executive vice president, Jay Timmons, a former Republican staffer and fund-raiser.
Mr. Engler, 62 years old, succeeds John Castellani, who had tried to work with the Obama administration on the stimulus, health care, cap-and-trade and other initiatives.
The twin appointments place GOP-leaning leaders at the helm of the capital's three most influential business groups: the Roundtable, NAM and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Medvedev joins scramble for India’s business

Like his peers, Mr Medvedev heavily promoted the complementary nature of his economy to India and pushed for a “modern” engagement across sectors including pharmaceuticals, defence and space technology.“I believe that trade between us does not nearly reflect our privileged partnership,” Mr Medvedev observed. “India is a comfortable partner especially in energy.”
He and Manmohan Singh, India’s 78-year-old prime minister who enjoys a high international standing as a statesman and a development economist, agreed a target of doubling bilateral trade to $20bn within five years to re-energise deep ties forged in the decades after India's independence

These now face competition from warming relationships with western powers, and the regional dominance of the Chinese economy.
Mr Obama, in a warmly received address to India’s parliament, described India as “emerged” rather than an emerging power and market.
They have also addressed India’s concerns about security in south Asia, and the threat of extremism from Pakistan and Afghanistan.

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Medvedev joins scramble for India’s business

Barack Obama, the US president, left India with more than $10bn worth of deals to help create jobs at home; Wen Jiabao, the Chinese premier, this week claimed $16bn worth of new business in a global scramble to do business with one of the world’s fastest-growing economies.

In return, the leaders of the United Nations Permanent Five countries have offered recognition of India’s standing as the world’s largest democracy and pledged their support for India playing a greater role in multilateral institutions, particularly a future seat at the UN Security Council.

Describing Moscow as a “major energy power”, Mr Medvedev on Tuesday stressed Russia’s role as a key energy supplier and an uncompromising stand on terror to single out his visit from the overtures of others. Among 15 agreements, he signed a pact to align India’s oil and gas companies with powerful Russian state-owned energy companies, like Gazprom, and an agreement to supply two nuclear reactors.

 

 

Medvedev joins scramble for India’s business

Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s president, has closed a remarkable chapter in Indian diplomacy during which five of the world’s most powerful leaders have flocked in quick succession to New Delhi seeking new business and closer political alignment.
The leaders of the UK, US, France and China preceded Mr Medvedev’s arrival on Tuesday with strong bids to take advantage of India’s fast-growing economy and give greater recognition to the country’s rising global stature.

Accompanied by some of their largest business delegations, they have struck deals to supply India with energy and military equipment. They have also sought ways to integrate Asia’s third-largest economy more fully into the world economy, and promoted its role in the governance of the global financial system.

Are you networking with the right people?

I met someone last week at one of my regular networking groups. When he explained what he did I advised him that the group may not be great for him and his business. He sold cosmetics and the group was made up of professionals and providers of business services.

He said, rightly, that everyone there either used or knew people that used the types of products he sold. I said that was true, but they were all there because they shared the same target market. They were not selling directly to consumers of domestic products so the best network for him would be with others selling directly to the same domestic consumers.

Successful networking is all about building relationships with the right people. A good place to start when selecting a networking group is to find one where the other members sell to the same target market as you.

Good Networking!

Dave Clarke

Something about Tata

Noel N. Tata has been one of the most reclusive business honchos in India. And he insists that it's his nature that makes him that way-and not a desire to keep a low profile. To our pleasant surprise, we found Tata an extremely engaging conversationalist, as he went about debunking common theories and wisdom about organised retail- a business he lives and breathes. Excerpts from his first full-length interview:

BT: But if your competition has 100 hypermarkets and you have 12, then he can call the shots?
NT: It's not that straightforward. Even at 100 hypermarkets, you will have less than 1 per cent of the large vendors' turnover. Scale alone does not bring profitability. If you have six or eight or 10 players all growing-they are all getting scale as well. If one of them decides that I am going to pass on my better margin to the customer, what do you do? You have to do the same and then that margin would disappear. Along with scale, customer service, location, pricing, product mix, availability are extremely important. If a customer comes with 100 items to buy and he only walks away with 60, he won't come back.

BT: One often wonders why Croma was created outside Trent. There's a perception that Bombay House felt Trent wasn't moving fast enough.
NT: At the time Croma was envisaged, we had our hands full with our own expansions. We had expansion plans for Landmark (books and music), expansion plans for hypermarkets as well as for Westside. Also, consumer durables (which is what Croma retails) is a completely different business. So, it was the right decision (to have Croma outside Trent). It possibly wouldn't have grown as fast as it has if Trent had tried to start it as another retail format. We are doing something else in the lifestyle area (with Westside). My sense is that it's only in India that retail is considered one industry. Nowhere in the world is the gamut of retail considered one industry. You don't treat manufacturing as one industry. You have cement, or automobiles or steel, each having its own competencies, each having its own quirks… so why does media or analysts treat retail as one industry? Also, the DNA of an organisation selling luxury is very different from the DNA of an organisation selling value.


BT: But your pace of expansion would seem slow…
NT: Our view is that retail, which appears on the surface to be a simple business, in reality is not. It is a business in which details are extremely important, where the front end needs to treat the customer as an individual even as the back end needs to be able to procure in bulk and get economies of scale… We grow our formats in stages. In Stage I, we open a pilot store to check customer reaction. In Stage II, we open 3-10 more stores to check for location advantage/disadvantage and for further fine-tuning to get a line of sight to profitability. Only once we are confident that the format can deliver profitability do we go in for further expansion.