HSBC’s CEO says developing economies, new millionaires and trade will propel the change.
When the HSBC Board announced last year that we were moving the Group Chief Executive’s main office to Hong Kong, it prompted a number of reactions. Some asked if it was a first step towards moving HSBC’s headquarters away from London. Some wondered if we were going to split the bank into two. In fact, my move
had everything to do with our Group strategy. At HSBC ( HBC - news - people ) we have long been convinced that the world’s center of gravity is steadily shifting east and south. It’s a view we’ve held since...
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Ten Management Practices to Axe There is a plethora of advice out there, here are some that should be removed from the list.
So you’ve studied all the best sellers about how to make yourself into a better manager? Well, you can’t believe everything you read.
Every few years, a management book or philosophy emerges to change our thinking about the best ways to lead employees. From The One Minute Manager to Who Moved My Cheese?, new and revived leadership concepts have shaped the way we organize, evaluate, inspire, and reward team members. With so many
competing management theories in the mix, some ill-conceived practices were bound to take hold-and indeed, many have. Here’s our list of the 10 most brainless and injurious:...
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The big story in global equity markets in 2009 was the rebound in market valuations after the massive losses incurred as a result of the global financial crisis.
But rebound does not necessarily mean recovery. Despite impressive gains, only about one-third of large-cap global companies have recouped their downturn losses to generate net positive total shareholder return (TSR) for the two-year period 2008-2009, according to a new study by The Boston Consulting Group.
The Rebound Effect
The study analyzed 2009 TSR at more than 2,000 companies across 40 countries and 37 selected industry sectors and compared 2009 returns to those in 2008 to determine which companies, countries, and sectors have regained the losses they suffered during the collapse in equity values due to the financial crisis and
global recession. The study found...
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Internal Audit’s IT Blues Ignoring IT in risk-assessment audits due to a lack of training is risky business.
Making sure business units understand what they’re paying for can help drive IT cost control.
A holy grail for many companies is to reduce the 70% or so of their information-technology spend that is devoted to operating existing systems, thereby freeing up more resources for adding new capabilities. But the way costs are allocated across business lines and corporate functions can keep the goal out of reach.
Most companies use a "lump-sum" allocation method, distributing operating costs based on the revenue or head count of the various units. Despite its prevalence - in place at 72% of 183 organizations surveyed recently by the CIO Executive Board - the method typically provides little connection between the costs and
the volume of services actually consumed. Departments are not...
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Lien on Me Receivables-based financing is the new favorite line of credit.
CFOs eager to fill financing and liquidity gaps are turning to receivables for leverage.
When Belgium-based InBev bought U.S. beer king Anheuser-Busch in July 2008, payment flows to its suppliers dried up. One such supplier, Performance Cos., which prints point-of-purchase displays, received a notice from the beermaker saying that invoices would now be paid on a net-120 basis. That kind of hit to cash
flow can cripple companies, but Performance CEO John White took the news in stride. That’s because Performance has an asset-backed line of credit secured by its receivables from lender First Capital. While Anheuser-Busch InBev’s new payable policy might cause Performance to raise its prices, the company could
still get...
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As currency risk intensifies, companies of all sizes are taking steps to protect cash flows.
Just two years ago, EXL, a business process outsourcing company, didn’t have a treasury department. The finance staff and senior management watched currency fluctuations carefully, but they lacked an explicit policy to address the risk to their cash flows. That risk hit with a vengeance in 2008, when the $180 million
company confronted a $9 million foreign-exchange loss, largely as a result of losses on forward contracts and the revaluation of assets and liabilities due to the rapidly depreciating rupee in India, where many of the company’s employees are based. "The currency moved very rapidly and very suddenly," says Rohit Kapoor,
EXL’s chief executive officer and former finance chief. Such moves concern many companies these days; even small businesses now routinely operate in global markets, and the relationship between the dollar and many major currencies has reached new levels of volatility. EXL decided to invest in...
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Wondering whether or not your firm qualifies for part (or all) of the small business tax credit that's part of the healthcare reform bill? Look no further than the IRS.
The feds just released some guidelines on Frequently Asked Questions to help employers get the most out of the tax credit. Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, small businesses with fewer than 25 full-time employees and average annual worker wages of less than $50,000 can now receive a tax credit for
providing employees with a qualified health plan. Here's an example of the type of questions the IRS answers:...
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The alternative minimum tax (AMT) doesn't appear to be going away anytime soon.
According to one estimate, the number of individuals paying the AMT in 2010 could jump to more than 30 million.
Strategy: Determine if you could be hit by this "stealth tax" for the first time this year. In particular, investors may be blindsided.
Seven keys to success for a new audit committee chair.
Few roles are as demanding in the boardroom as chairing the audit committee. That said, the audit committee provides an ideal venue to understand the company, its operations and its challenges. And so, if you are new to the audit committee and have been asked to chair it, what should you be thinking about early in your
tenure?
The Basic Blocking and Tackling
Understand how the financial reporting works. This includes...
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Are you blind to the Truth? Changes in 1980’s Washington policies towards Wall Street helped create the bubble and the burst. Now how do we fix it?
Seven strategies for ferreting out critical feedback you’re not getting.
When the auto industry titans headed down to Washington on their private jets to ask for federal bailout funds in November 2008, it wasn't lack of intelligence that led to the faux pas. "How smart do you have to be?" says Richard Tedlow, author of the forthcoming book, Denial: Why Business Leaders Fail to Look
Facts in the Face - and what to Do About It, and professor of business management at the Harvard Business School. "I'm sure these people all scored very high on their SATs. It's not a question of I.Q. It's a question of being able to see the world from somebody else's point of view, which is very hard to do when the whole
world is conspiring to tell you what you want to hear." Turns out that's true all over,...
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A private equity investor outlines how an entrepreneur can position his or her business to attract potential backers. The decision to bring outside investors into your company will be one of the most important decisions of your life. Raising money through angel investors, private equity, or venture capital can put you on a path to great expansion and market share. Against that, you must weigh the loss of control you will incur, and the
increase in oversight you will most certainly experience. Still, for many companies-particularly those with serious growth ambitions-outside funding is a necessary precondition for success. So how can you prepare your business so that it will be attractive to potentail investors? Here are 9 suggestions:...
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Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the leader of American and NATO forces in Afghanistan, was shown a PowerPoint slide in Kabul last summer that was meant to portray the complexity of American military strategy, but looked more like a bowl of spaghetti.
"When we understand that slide, we’ll have won the war," General McChrystal dryly remarked, one of his advisers recalled, as the room erupted in laughter. The slide has since bounced around the Internet as an example of a military tool that has spun out of control. Like an insurgency, PowerPoint has crept into the daily lives of military commanders and reached the level of near obsession. The amount of time expended on PowerPoint, the Microsoft presentation program of computer-generated charts, graphs and bullet points, has made it a running joke in the Pentagon and in Iraq and Afghanistan. "PowerPoint makes us stupid," ...
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