Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Expanding Cultures: Google+: Kelly Saks' Story

News from Google Blogger ...

From time to time, we like to highlight bloggers who successfully use Blogger and other Google products. Today we're featuring how Kelly Saks from Kelly's Kloset reached a wider audience with Blogger and Google+. All about Kelly:  Kelly Saks, the blogger behind Kelly’s Kloset, is a fashion and beauty expert based in Miami, Florida. 4 Million fashionists

Australia could face a growing threat from large nations with huge populations but diminishing food and resources, a new study warns. Strategic analyst Dr Robert O'Neill said those threats could be akin to those which confronted weaker states in the 18th and 19th centuries Expanding Down Under

Hat tip to Mitchell in Beijing:
Chinese workers have stepped up their campaign to scupper India’s largest acquisition of a US company, warning of continuing disruption at a joint venture that is a central element of the $2.5bn cross-border deal. The Chengshan Group operates a large factory in Shandong province with Ohio-based Cooper Tire, which accepted a buyout offer from India’s Apollo Tyres in June.
Chinese workers at the joint venture went on strike shortly after the deal was announced, and late last month Chengshan asked a local court to dissolve the venture with Cooper. It is the first time Chinese industrial action has targeted a large offshore acquisition involving two foreign companies, exposing a new risk for multinationals operating in the country.

Chengshan managers and the joint venture’s workers complain that they were not adequately consulted over the Apollo offer. They also argue that the deal will burden their prospective Indian owner with too much debt and result in a clash of corporate cultures. The union representing the joint venture’s 5,000 workers said they would “not welcome” senior Cooper managers assigned to the factory. The workers agreed to resume their shifts at the weekend, but insisted that they would only produce Chengshan tyres while boycotting any work on Cooper Tire branded products. “People are angry that Cooper Tire has refused to respect the union and employees’ right to information, to make suggestions and to participate in democratic management of the factory,” the workers said in a statement. “As long as [Cooper] does not respond to our legitimate concerns in a reasonable and satisfactory manner, the strike will continue.” Chinese try to derail India-US tyre deal