Discriminatory Business Support and Stock Management in the Public Interest

Most stock market players would like to forget October 2008. The month has certainly ended on a sad note for me. I deeply regret the news I found at the following link:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7b516942-a91d-11dd-a19a-000077b07658.html

Though energy from arable land is a matter of some debate, Brazil is dynamic proof of the benefits of bio-fuels.

The NYSE: VSE symbol is not as prominent as some of the most infamous ones from Wall Street, but VeraSun Energy is a truly spectacular company. The national and world benefits of energy security from the land cannot be over-stated. The Bush Presidency will be remembered in bipartisan manner for bending over backwards to bail-out prominent banks. It is a sad commentary of our times that a company such as VeraSun Energy has had to fend for itself when in distress.

There is no merit in idle speculation. Each of us can support stocks that represent worthwhile activities. We can also use our democratic rights to support corporations that represent our economic interests. Please help to bail-out VeraSun Energy. This company is one of a rare breed that helps us move away from exclusive and crippling dependencies on crude oil.

I have no financial interests in VeraSun Energy.

Dubai Dynasty Lessons for the Business Management and Stock Exchange Worlds

Dubai is part of the Middle East, but stands apart from the rest of the region. The Dubai Dynasty has been in power for over 150 years. However, all accounts of the city-state and its surroundings are astounding in their celebrations of modernity.

The Dubai Financial Center is one of the most dynamic stock exchanges in the world. It is far from being the oldest, but the business culture of the Dubai Dynasty is an indelible part of history. How does the Dubai Dynasty manage such a becoming blend of the old and the new? I found an answer from oceans away. Here is a link to the secret of the business success of the Dubai Dynasty:

http://discussionleader.hbsp.com/kanter/2008/10/a-financial-turnaround-require.html?cm_mmc=npv-_-LISTSERV-_-OCT_2008-_-ORGDEV

The Dubai Dynasty is resolute in its practice of Islam. However, its approach to business is entirely secular. Islamic banking is very much in evidence throughout the sandy lands governed by the Dubai Dynasty. Yet there is no facet of cutting-edge business management technology that is not diligently followed in the governance of the Dubai Dynasty.

You can choose between a history of the Dubai Dynasty and the hallowed portals of the Harvard Business School. Your conclusions about the role of culture in managing business and picking stocks will be the same whichever route you take.

The Interactive Marketing Route to Business Recovery and Stock Price Management

Wall Street Main Street trade-offs are popular pivots of present public pre-occupations. That is why not everyone will celebrate the new trend in lofty financial circles reported below:

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=apYQpIAkblUc&refer=home

There are rays of sunshine between the dark clouds  of discriminatory Washington largess for erring banks. Certainly flocks of folk threatened with foreclosures will welcome opportunities to remedy their finances. There is no word about rewards for citizens who have met loan deadlines, but there is evidence that the era of rapacious consumer banking is halted if not stopped for all time.

A business crisis makes most people inward-looking. It is natural to attend to the wolf at your door before trying to protect others. However, professionally-run enterprises will put pressing customer needs first. That is why I commend administrative pressures and executive actions to strengthen loan counseling procedures by discredited financial institutions. It makes sound business sense to look after the welfare of your customers. It is a durable if subtle axis on which to pick stocks for investment during the coming week.  I predict improved times for the banks referred to in the link provided in this post. You can also make picks from other sectors and industries on the basis of Interactive Marketing improvements by corporations in distress.

Pick a Top Stock Wardrobe

The Apparel/Accessories Industry can be a safe harbor during a recession. Children, sports people, and changing seasons drive elements of demand that are not discretionary. This is not to say that the entire industry enjoys uniform demand trends. It is a matter of picking stocks with clear differentiation. Take American Apparel Incorporated (AMEX: APP) for example. The company brand grows from strength to strength. It represents excellent value for young people who want to look fashionable on limited budgets. Branding goes beyond the physical attributes of clothing: the company takes fairly clear and strong positions on matters of social importance. Distribution is another key strength for this stock. The brand is available through conventional outlets and online as well. The company is focused on the home market of North America, but services demands from other continents with aplomb.

October 2008 is set to close with the stock price at less than a third of the 52-week high. The Price to Earnings Ratio is below 20. I have no financial interests in the matter, and recommend this stock for the coming week without qualification.

How to Manage Your Stock Portfolio in Uncertain Business Times

Customer engagement is a panacea for the economic issues of today. This is a key difference between business management and academic economics. A healthy Quick Ratio makes nonsense of every credit crunch. Recession is history provided that you are adroit in giving customers what they want.

Consider Kraft Food Incorporated. The Forward Price to Earnings Ratio is well below 20. The Yield is 4.07. The Beta is just 0.5. The Payout Ratio has topped 65% over the past four quarters. Sales have grown by more than a fifth during the Most Recent Quarter. How can such stellar business performance be possible in a deadly mix of inflation and recession?

Take a look at the following link for an answer:

http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/Pages/home.aspx

Here is a case for a whole new approach to the stock market. This is what the Private Equity guys have done for decades. Appraise the value of a stock on the basis of what it delivers for customers. Buttress the numbers and ratios with specifics of Interactive Marketing transactions. You will win no matter what the Fed says and does.

Separate Grain Stock from Chaff with a Business Management Filter

Stock exchanges around the world smile today. Rallies are sharp. Doubts persist about whether stock price gains will endure. It is time to use business management concepts to make top stock picks.

Time is a primary factor in stock investment today. We simply do not know enough to make safe trading decisions as yet. Risks of short-term losses are as likely as any projected gains. However, the 12-month outlook is fairly certain. Basic Materials, and some industries of other sectors are set to rise as new governments take positions in Washington and in India as well. Brazil, China, Australia, and Russia are other major financial centers with stable and predictable futures.

All stocks are not equal. Business management separates corporations with excellent prospects for success from others that are over-leveraged. Unfortunately, retail investors in a stock market are not privy to business plans and their sensitivity analyses. However, we can review track records of past business performance and management statements as well. Independent retail audits of brand shares are also invaluable inputs to stock investment success.

Buy selected stocks before November 2008. You can look forward to handsome gains within the next 12 months. Post below or write to me to know more.

Clean Energy Lights Through The Stock Market Haze

The Sun leads a nearly endless array of clean energy sources. The business implications are as impressive as the environmental ones. Technology is a powerful driver, because not everyone can make thin solar panels. It calls for business management skills as well, for there are many alternatives to harvest the world market potential for new energy forms.

Hydrogen fuel cells and clean coal are other abundant new sources of energy. Neither has entered the stock market arena as yet, but they could do so soon. Wind energy stocks are available, but geo-thermal and tidal energy forms await entrepreneurs. Brazil leads the world in producing fuels from crops, but competition for arable land will separate stock market winners from others in this domain.

Politics has much to do with the clean energy business. The U.S. divides OPEC in to two opposed camps. Fluctuations in crude oil prices affect investments in the nascent clean energy business. It is a heady brew that confuses the stock market investment opportunity. However, no portfolio should be without clean energy stock investments. Right picks can drive through the market uncertainties decisively and profitably.

Do you have clean energy stocks in your portfolio? I would love to swap ideas and leads. Post below or write to drsbanerji@gmail.com 

Green Business Lights for Forestry and Wood Products Industry Stocks

This part of the economy has lost 60% of its market capitalization during the past 12 months. We cannot do without the Forestry and Wood Products Industry. That is why October 2008 is such an opportune moment in stock exchange history to buy in to the natural wealth of earth.

Stock options are limited. Not many organizations that own large tracts of forests are listed in any stock market. However, it remains difficult to make top stock picks since environmental and social accounting is not mandatory. Usual financial reports are not adequate to appraise the business value of a corporation involved in Forestry and Wood Products. You have to get your boots on and finger-nails dirty. Does the company treat its effluent. Is the re-planting program robust? Are local communities equal partners in the value-addition? 

Sustainability is a new and perhaps somewhat distasteful concept for some stock market veterans. However, people who work the earth have always lived by this credo. Green business comes to the fore in the Forestry and Wood Products Industry. Take your stock picks before the calendar turns to November 2008.

I have no stocks or financial interests in the matter.

Could a Boeing Strike Hit Your Business and Stocks?

No one gains from a strike, except for a trade union. The populist image of vicarious bosses is exaggerated. Strikes have taken place in corporations with the most enlightened of management teams and owners. Here is a link to a matter with which I have had multiple personal experiences:

http://ia.rediff.com/news/jan/18datta.htm

You can never take labor for granted. Neither should Unions hold exclusive sway over opinion-forming by employees. There is no alternative to building a continual process of dialog and grievance-redress. Executives should not shy away from public accountability for their privileges.

A recession is a double-whammy in terms of a strike. The aviation industry is a case in point. Steep falls in demand mark 2008 for this significant part of the world economy. Aircraft manufacturers and airline companies have few choices other than to hand-out pink slips. Executives are caught in clefts of cash crunches and bludgeoning labor costs.

It could happen to you. A Boeing strike is a universal threat for any business, big or small, wherever it may be located. The Human Relations function has tried to distance itself from the heat and dust of a strike, by forming Industrial Relations lackeys under its tutelage. Do not fall for this subterfuge if you are a business owner or a CEO, for a Boeing strike could hit you this Monday morning.

Post below or write to me for an assessment of your labor relations. Take concrete steps starting now to carry your employees through the uncertainty of a world in economic turmoil.

The New Business Management and Stock Investment Models of Amazon.com

Stock prices make for a desolate autumn 2008. That is in general terms. There are stocks which become ever better buys as prices head South.

Take Amazon.com for example. The October 2008 has fallen below half of the 52-week high. The Beta is 2.27. The management has cut guidance. What should stock investors do? Here are my five top reasons to recommend that you buy Amazon.com

1. The web-site is a winner. Take a look for yourself. You will find it hard to stop browsing. It is a Web 2.0 model with plenty of opportunities to express opinions. You could hardly ask for a better place to browse through books and shop for music.

2. The brand is entrenched rock-solid. Ask folks of all kinds. Amazon.com has an amazing top-of-the-mind recall percentage. It is the web site of choice for browsers all over the world. The share in the United States is remarkable.

3. The cost-structure of Amazon.com beats the book-shop format. The entire Retail (Specialty) Industry has suffered drastic Gross Margin reductions. However, Amazon.com has held on to its five-year record for this vital parameter through the looming recession. No one else is as protected against a negative economic cycle.  

4. Amazon.com remains best-poised to leverage a demand upturn. It can add a nearly endless array of products and services to its present platter of books and music. It could be something as mundane as flowers, or a high-value item such as jewellery and handicrafts. I wish the management would diversify sidewards faster though.

5. Liquidity is not an issue with Amazon.com. The Quick Ratio stays below 1. Long-term Debt is less than a fifth of Equity. The Interest Coverage is over 70. Reputed institutions hold most of the stock. You can hardly do better.

Amazon.com is an example, but it is not unique. You can use your disposable cash to build a stock portfolio of extraordinary value during the current market phase. Start right away before others begin to push stock prices northwards.

Assisted Living as a Business Management Response to Stock Market Depression

I feel sorry for my Prime Minister. Dr. Manmohan Singh functioned brilliantly under Mr. Narasimha Rao to pull India from the brink of national bankruptcy. He pledged our country's gold reserves to raise cash. He encouraged all stakeholders to revive economic growth. Diligent financial management was his Mantra. All this was many years ago.

Narasimha Rao is no more. Dr. Manmohan Singh is now at the helm of affairs. Has leadership weighed too heavily on his shoulders? He conceded yesterday that India must prepare for a reduction in the pace of economic growth. This is the difference between economics and business management. You can look for reasons to justify hopelessness, or you can deploy all resources to further aims.

Corrupt links between regulators and Wall Street have brought the United States to its financial knees. India is large and blessed. It need not hang-on to the skirts of this fading power as Europe so loves to do. That should not prevent anyone from taking leaves from the business management Mecca of the world. 

Talk of recession in the United States is exaggerated and futile as well.  It is more like the eclipse of dinosaurs on earth, even as new phyla took to the land and the sky. There are large swathes of business in the United States that flourish even as I write this post. Economists may not have heard of them, but then that may not be a bad thing.

Assisted Living is a thriving business in the United States. It is just what the doctor ordered for an ageing world. It is a better route to realty development than vacuous shopping malls. It is feasible to train most unemployed people, and to put them to work. Pricing and margins are sensitive issues, but that is why we need professional business managers.

Use Assisted Living to defeat the pessimism of stock market economists. Start an Assisted Living business. Invest in stocks of companies that are in this line of work. This is just one example. There are plenty of cash-generating opportunities if you know where to look. Put aside the newspapers and switch off TV as starts. Post below or write to me at drsbanerji@gmail.com instead.

Does Hocus-Pocus Business Management Threaten Your Stock Investment?

Most stock prices have declined of late. Such an obvious statement hides some extraordinary business performance. The most vocal executives are not necessarily highly skilled. Many self-effacing and low-profile ones produce better cash flows than their celebrity cousins.

It is true that nearly all macro-economic indicators are depressing. However, our concerns are with individual stocks, unless someone is a Head of State. That is why we can continue to garner wealth in the midst of a hostile environment. Steering clear of vagueness and irrelevance is the need of the hour. Focus on numbers rather than on qualitative assertions about what others should do. Here are my five favorite quantitative indicators to top stock picks during the week starting today:

1. The Forward Price to Earnings Ratio, backed by a consistent track record of meeting guidance,

2. Improvements in valid customer satisfaction survey findings.

3. Unequivocal guarantees about working capital valuations.

4. Gross Margins that nudge ever upwards.

5. Restructured operating costs, with deep cuts in the fixed ones.  

Do not accept excuses about these inputs not being in the public domain. Insist on verified answers to these five questions. Take your cash away from people who hide crucial facts under mounds of jargon. I am available to help with your stock picks and business development as well.

Microarrays for Business Success and Top Stock Picks

Microarrays divide the world in to three parts. The first does not know what microarrays are. The second does, but lacks business management and stock investing skills. The third appreciates both microarrays and business. This is a Mantra for stock market success. Microarrays are not alone. All business involves technology. Technology is academic science as long as it does not serve society by generating wealth. A technological route can take investors above market turbulence. 

Microarrays have already changed the face of health care. Diagnostic facilities are entirely different from the days when your physician was in medical school. Microarrays are vital in the fight against biological terrorism, and in the cause of food safety. Microarrays have decades of dividends in their folds because the business applications are nearly without limit. Human ignorance about the business potentials of microarrays is a colossal pity. It is also an immediate advantage for the discerning stock investor in the turbulence of Autumn 2008.

The pharmaceutical industry keeps Gross Margins of microarrays under tight wraps. Diagnostic laboratories are happy to follow suit. It is a mug's game for microarray costing is most sensitive to consumption volumes. Honest and capable regulators can change all that, but what is the use of wishful thinking? The action point is to use microarrays to start dynamic new enterprises. It is also a God-send opportunity for stock investment during the coming week.

Post below or write to me at drsbanerji@gmail.com to know more.

Tight-Credit Business Management Drives Stock Value

Equity makes executives complacent. A cash-crunch is better than any crash diet. Stocks gain while managers writhe in pain. Put the world liquidity crisis to work on your investment portfolio. Buy stocks of corporations that are conservative in leverage, which have Gross Margins many multiples of interest costs, which sell on rigid credit terms, and which excel in just-in-time inventories.

My personal learning curve with liquidity crises has been hard indeed. I had to take lessons in 'Finance for Non-Finance Executives' because I once used liberal credit to generate market and brand shares. I recoil with horror at memories of starting each working day juggling cash flows with my colleagues. However, that set of learning has never left my side. I now view all credit lines with suspicion. I support companies that are mean with cash, even though they are not lean with respect to this resource by any means. 

Write to me at drsbanerji@gmail.com or post below if you would like top stock picks based on excellence in cash-flow management.

Business Management and Stock Investment Lessons from google earnings

It is not simply a matter of good news in the midst of a recession gloom. Google earnings show a path through the uncertainty of the world economy. Build on e-commerce if you are a small business owner. Invest in innovative marketers if you are a stock exchange type.

Google introduces new products and features nearly every quarter. The company listens to all its customer groups, from the British Queen to isolated communities in remote areas, The corporation remains alert and nimble, its gargantuan success notwithstanding.

A vexed matter is that not all e-commerce ventures succeed. There are countless web sites that few people visit, for every one that is an enduring success. My tentative conclusion is that the second word is more important than the first one in the term 'Internet Marketing'. 

It may be that an outward-looking perspective can produce better business performance. Put internal objectives on back-burners. Provide whatever target customers want, as long as it is legal, ethical, and profitable.

Flexibility seems to be another market imperative. Technology certainly evolves. Competitor-moves cannot be controlled. Customers are notoriously fickle. The water-logic of de Bono could have more than just creativity benefits.

I have decided to spend some time reflecting on google earnings this week-end. It may help my business and stock investment advice as well.

Budget Your Business Through the Stock Market Haze

The stock market seems to be awfully confused. It is up one day only to crash the next. No country seems to be beyond the mayhem. Retail stock investors and small business people are pitiful victims. Wall Street has Washington. Regulators all over the world are at the beck and calls of big business. All main street gets are mouthfuls of nice-sounding words.

You are not alone. It does not matter if you are a novice at stock market trading. Your tiny business can grow regardless of what the TV anchors may say about the economy as a whole. How can you beat the general trend? Stay with this page to climb business rankings. Find ideas to take your business to a whole new plane. Remember that you can always post below or send me an email at drsbanerji@gmail.com for custom advice and help.

Let us take a first step today. Start using a Budget to steer course through stormy market waters. Do you have a Budget or know how to make one? Share your planning process with others, and take a look at mine as well. A budget process can be fun and useful at the same time.

The first part of a budget is to scan the environment. You need to take stock of your customers and where your business is headed. You have to project what could happen in future, and prepare for it from now. The future is never certain, hence a budget has to deal with ranges rather than with single and definitive numbers.

Environment scanning involves consultations with domain experts. These people are often academicians, working on technologies that could succeed tomorrow. Researchers, teachers, and authorities in the fields that affect your business are best placed when it comes to making educated guesses about everything that the future holds. 

A budget is also a great place to state objectives. These are not vague desiires, but wholesome descriptions of what a business should achieve. Budget objectives should cover market shares and profitability targets as well. Objectives are not limited to crass commercial considerations. Objectives about image and social responsibilities are just as important as those for growth and profits. 

Finally, a profit and loss statement is not enough for a budget. You need assumptions, activity targets, and contingency plans if something goes wrong. A budget serves as a life-raft when a business encounters choppy waters as we find in the stock market of today.

I would love to make a budget with you, and learn how you budget at the same time. Let's get started.

 

A Day for Reflection

I dedicate today to my treasured memories of Heinz Imhof. I am fortunate to have worked under his able leadership. Many of the ideas put forward in this web log have roots in my personal experiences of working with Heinz Imhof. He was able to steer complex global operations through difficult times. He laid the foundations for wealth from which I continue to benefit to this day. I salute his memory, and will strive to express the principles for which he stood.

A Healthy and Nutritious Stock to Keep Your Finances Well

I must confess to personal bias in recommending immediate investment in Nestle stocks. I use many brands of this company, and respect its methods of governance. However, my recommendation does have five professional supports.

Financial performance is the first reason to pick Nestle stocks. The holding company has an excellent model of simultaneously loose and tight controls on its subsidiaries throughout the world. All Nestle companies are profitable, managed conservatively, and have established enviable records of flying above market turbulence. You can look forward to dividends as reliably as the maturity of a bond, by holding Nestle stock.

Trust is my second reason. It is a hallmark of Nestle, and permeates the organization from the CEO down to the very limits of the organization. Nestle has detailed guidelines for senior executives, observes zero-tolerance for malfeasance, and does not wait for regulators to find defects in batches of production.

I love brands. They are the most stable of assets, though most investors do not include them in their analyses. Nestle has a famous stable of brands. Almost all new Nestle launches are successful. Nestle brand ranks are fortresses. Nestle is dynamic and evolves its brands to keep pace with new customer preferences.

Clever clustering is part of the Nestle brand Mantra. The company is able to address the needs of a diverse set of urban demographic groups. It relates closely to varied cultures from its idyllic Swiss base. Segmentation success makes Nestle stocks calm ports in all kinds of financial storms. 

Finally, Nestle stock investments are possible in all key country exchanges. You can invest in the Group company at Zurich, buy an ADR in the United States, or take ownership of subsidiaries in the country of your choice. 

I hold no Nestle stocks and have no financial links to the company. This should set your mind at rest about any hidden agenda I may have in recommending the stock to you.

I have other stocks like Nestle to suggest for your portfolio. Post below or write to me at drsbanerji@gmail.com to get top picks.

Pole position on stock market columbus day

Columbus polarizes the Americas. Columbus day is observed depending upon which calendar system you use. Most of us know it as October 12. Years like 2008 are pesky for they try and steal well-deserved holidays from our overworked weeks. Take a break today (13th) to put such calendars in their places, but stock market columbus day can cease no world trading. Shanghai, Mumbai, and Dubai are open, so you can afford to lose no profitable trades.

Chavez in Venezuela likes Columbus as much as he does Bush. Caracas crowds remember Columbus without affection. They even celebrate the destruction of one of his memorials. Perhaps Columbus is a hero for you. You may harbor some doubts about his pillaging ways but decide not to rock any boat of stability in your life. Either way, do not ignore stock market Columbus day for it is certainly a watershed for your financial investments.

Stock market columbus day is a symbol of the battles between Wall Street and main street. Perhaps all stock trading is that way. You either abrogate indigenous resources for selfish ends, or join a reservation for the impoverished. I hope you are not the superstitious type, for you can afford no stock trading break this 13th. There will be no better day soon for you to shed all stocks on wrong sides of the bail-out divide. Use this Mantra throughout the stock trading week that has started-in the influential Far East-if not as yet in your town. It will soon be town for the bulls to stir, but this week is strictly to shore-up King Cash. Jump ship on stock market columbus day, or writhe in regret all week.

Post below or write to me at drsbanerji@gmail.com for ER attention to your stock portfolio.

Economic Terrorism and Your Stocks

Economic terrorism can work by stealth. Powerful states use fancy terminology to disguise their economic terrorism moves. Thus, nations of white Caucasians use the term ‘sanctions’ to justify the hardships to which they subject peoples of countries they do not like. The Russians do not bother with words, and simply shut off heating gas for pesky neighbors at the height of winter.

 

The United States has been paranoid about economic terrorism in the past. The Japanese were stopped from buying sick steel mills. Even a President could not convince the nation that there was nothing suspicious about letting the cunning folk of Dubai run U.S. ports. Times have changed.

 

IBM made no attempts to hide its surrender of a laptop business to the Chinese. Citibank has had no hesitation in using an executive of exotic origin to borrow on bended knees from oil-rich sovereign funds. Close bonds between the White House and princely usurpers of power in the Middle East have kept most oil money from threatening democratic wealth creation.

 

There have always been links between funds and ideologies. We are fortunate that there have been no confrontations between block stock owners and the establishment until now. Sheikhs who own large tracts of London have left 10 Downing Street well alone. The Jews are at the other extreme. Their collective influence is so blatant and pervasive that we dare not question it. We need not either, for Israel threatens no one’s stock portfolio.

 

Russia has begun to offer possible leads to future economic terrorism all entities that would like to threaten the present uni-polar world order dispensation. The implications of Iceland seeking Moscow’s help to stave off economic disaster have earth-shaking implications. No lame-duck President has bothered to challenge this disturbing development. What if our enemies become our masters through stock market doors?

 

Economic terrorism is a real and present threat to your stock portfolio. It is high time to shed all stocks with large holdings of distressed financial institutions. Industries such as Aerospace & Defense deserve more of our funds, because sovereign wealth funds cannot get controls of them. The same strategy applies to all corporations with roles in homeland security.

 

Is your stock portfolio free of economic terrorism threats? Post below or write to me at drsbanerji@gmail.com if you need help to improve your financial security.