Company lability The people vs tl the USA Along with creditors and shareholder, a third group is developing significant ‘ownership claims on American compa 1 SEALED Ai, the manufacturer of Bubble Wrap” should have beet o> tected from a financial collson ste as any product Wwapped in the Arm's Famous paste. The corporation's mar sins and growth prospects are goods Patent protection strong. Seer years Ans howeser, Sealed Air ade what fn Feospet can be seen at 2 clase Amestan Blunder: i thought ios merely acquiring ancier pisticpecas Ing company insted it wan bajng ‘el nightmare "The problem was the seller, WR Groce, conglomerate that now tes fn the edge of bankrapty fom asbestos ligation tomes pursuing Grace rok ned Sealed Ars rafts co be tes if cour could be convineed that slong ‘wit the seuisiton OF any Grace sue Sidary came Graces Tabs — Gespte the. fact that bestowed produc had never boen produced by {he fem which wae bought by Sealed [Ait When word of the ligation sped, Sealed Avs shares and bons wee bo hit hard. Raardes of the outsome. of the coun case, Sealed A at the di dan, i lead paying a higher cost foe levers, and higher cos for capa. Tiga (OF the many way in which compe rig can end up ing vast sums" of ‘rong in iit si coment td Sit. Pduetliby css ar he singe ‘nos commen are, lowed fin no pa Seti ery se conetng vim, lial propery, ployee fonder cca re acre ingly, shreholder scons: There sot Ing new abut the categorie themselves ‘wat has changed that each hat Tasome, in comes huge indy in isl, which hs bean i by ever le siemens pecs ligation vik i dia 1 nae, when the nancial matics do ve up 16 hse comers ey een Panic Arete the nde ots Fier fnaneing cha ean bcos imporant a ary preva vec ose teen Ofer dgton I nor the i fet fora companys shareprice decline Anca theres Thi i because any crm whe share pie le sap is expe 1 eal ation Law frre Sy these sus prompt mich acted change. Bur ts guesiomable whether they make ezonomi ene a thoy ply Ed up {Bking money frm fs share fn) and returning 0 them mins ee ubble Wrap™ protecive plastic film used to protet goods inrestrospect looking back othe pst under nisiske teeter in danger of falling trigger (n) mechanism that activates a process () to activate det out of hand becone snmanageable Taye fos — which ean be one third of she setlement| ezulation through tigation Om the fce fie why shout a compan that dots something won py the price This seme fuse ae all vy Amerie Tove the novels John GGieham and. movies such as En Bokovl wit Ja Rober The fu ‘e's therein icetve fra pin lawyer ora uy (© weigh up the broad cr eeonomit “consequences "of use Smads. agnns companies specially rmulbmiliandota punitive dommes eg for reform would no doubt be eter if there were mexe.pese ineration on the cox of gon ema, that ifomaton anes im poor 10 outright wane se Eh Hees peer Send ta Schoo Sate cours olen prove no dita while dia provided by far ‘ours canbe misknding. Mt ligation ip nemened and sete levi no Francia) ce With more er thse est cule cape. Fetal gees rote cllect dt fom comparison Employee beneis and pension pans for Stal sures note Ms ener The ‘Sime methodology could. be used to fompile infomation about ieation poeu, Rectng 9 srs hat vers have Bug smn Se Spee con hn a rnb of appeals and een thrown book mulkimliondlis ver th which had been treed by 2 repr {pb at a cr eae hat was estate to FF roth nly $4000 in compensation, Renal, the jes role must be te more closely ham. I Rot yer dear that anyone i teing Unie Tm aContinuous improvement The march of the mobiles 1s there no Kimit tothe potential market for mobile communications? “WHEN i comes t0 new designs for mobile phones the. model that was fannownced. Ist wesk” bya. startup Based in Arzong really" goes tothe limit shaped ike 2 bone i operstes only as a speakerphone picks up at ‘ataly when called s mounted on 9 fed stp for wearing around the neck, fand te labelled wiih lage paw = Decaase the esc a i cles 9 mobile phone for dogs. Fes MoSiiy, {he fm behind tis astounding deve, Doss of “connecting every member of your family even jour pet” Ethie is tot quite rcculous a it sounds Indeed, you can expect more ‘ample ofthis Kind of thing: The rea Son i thatthe mobileseecoms indy Is become a victim of own success With sales of or unite year, bile phones are smianeansy the words fost widespread communications Aesices, "computing. devices and con Sumer” clectonics. products Almost tvenbody in the developed world now Ths one, and roth i Booming in the developing world too China i. the worlds largest market for mobile phones and Aftca is the fastest row: Ing nthe least developed parts a the Woe. "entepreneus such 3s Baneladsts “telephone ladies” rent out rmobiies by the minute, puting phones Into the hands of even the poorest. the much quoted satis that ewo.irds of the weslds population has never made {phone eal no longer te 2 Pers esl the indy fata ly Tooking oF new sores oF root, Since itil not be ble wo vely on sub Seriber growth for muh longer And in the developed worl it cant rely on Subsrber growth even now: Hence the logic of selling phones for ck Anier untappel markt is phones Infants: Communic British fm has Heunched the Miko, a simple. phone aimed at four to eightyearals, wile SK Telocom in South Korea of asi iar deve, Eid with builtin satelite teaching: And even men every human, fat and dog asa phone, there are liars cars laptop computer, howe hold apllances and industrial machin fy. tall phone and some sensors fide a allover and it can call 8 Glossary start-up new, recently formed company untapped market potential market hich hasnt yet been exploited saturated (market) where there are more goods than people who want to buy them mechanic. before it goes. wrone ‘Daca, Jape’ leading mebile oper tog, estimates that dhe potential market for mobile phones in Japan s a east five times the numberof people, "another approach Is fo encourage people to eth exiting phones fore than ‘they doa the moment “hirigeneraion networks, whieh wil fer int of extra tapaciy, vl lad to Tower prises and. the industy hopes ‘more phone alls. Simlatly theres ‘much eeiement about “fhed-mabile Convergence a technology that allows Paple fo use their mabe handsets to fake cheap calls at home over fd Hine networks ~ again, it hope bostng nee tering mobile cover ae, 50 that subserbers can make calls taherever they are stother tachi Coverage is already available in under found railway. networks in many ‘es and tn two years i wl be fended. into what fs many peoples {as remaining phone ee environment peroplanes FYiien eveyone on eat is on the ‘hone all day Tong“ ellng their dogs fare or washing mactnes if noe each fother = will the marker Binaly be satu- ‘ated? No, There are already plans to Stream musi, video and other down fads to mobile phones in the ead of ‘ht, when networks resist emp ven being aslegp i seems. noad not prevent you fom sing our phone Evident, the industry has far 10 0, before it reaches the Timits of ‘aking’ desi to communicate m sem Unit 5Glossary {folly foalishness, lack of good ‘myopia. shor-sightedness ‘boom years years oF economic prosperity jess oe x ecole bolas es bee See See Investor beware! rat ht esl le Enon cele Freud, folly and finance ee ioe a ay Puma mies oer a Catron sme oon ed oe aig i dat Sasae ae ” = ‘why people are much more concemed Rese oe be er een ae SN Ce er comes det ils Mad ely ser fom a rene et i cc Sek caches ty ez Fe ete eee eewire Mee re Saco eres, oe a ry ee ya on iene ee Seo on eee ee Meare Pais oar Ses CSET: Len eeeane amen ga ee pes Peewsteeeypay Srbepe ewe ts 5 ee ee ae none. ee eee par nen on eis pea ee ERT SARE ONG Five oun Mee Bein p's Rema et a cies ee ee ae ee I scent wile SEE Se Mie laren arr aeme Sie Sey San ey gen mis gee oe et ae Se Sivas: Sram mecieee: mecrren aes orc ee eames Recetas ese aren meee Piece eee, Ureaceemcce y et eas wee pees treme te Recreate re belie oe ee Ln POS as Sen ree ee rae ares ie Sie ee Seite werakrennoe Se" Saletan es Poe eee, Sere meres meee acs Serafina. Tiacairasae: Seis sc ay teen Ce oes Cem me ee tos ces eee Bs eaom ois Unit omCompetitive advantage Crunch time for Apple Apple's Steve Jobs is having another go atthe mass market for computer 1 During the Rist week oF the yet ‘seve Joon the chief escuie of Apple Computer manages to look Ike the Hippsst bos ia his indusiy very Jonory, be coll stands ase while ‘her mir bones go 10 Lae Veet or the Consumer Eectromes Show. Then the second we, Mr Jb mount ate in sin francsco a Apples. MacWord oafrenc, There, © oot and sahs he tives Apples Inet products ll inoriably sunning in tele dig oe ut thi wock i Jobe went one sep fanher, Encouraged by the runaway sue cess ofthe fd and by roi hat were ‘ap by 36 per canton the same gure year eae, he sanounced wht in ‘ix, a new export at, Ise setling for being 3 niche payer selling Tease bot expensive computers the Fm etiming fo comes he mass ma er that i long ago cede to Mice, Dall and ober ‘That this challenge is even conceiv able sd emiey tothe fe which fing tem stengh co stent The els mie shave has gra” foes out onethird to eworhins in the pst yes, at the expense of cheaper “a ‘An Apple for everyone MEM Jats vane wo tack even that remain tid ofthe mate and his tek he unveled an ple fs payer the ied Shs, For MF Jobe ho has never ples dabbled he boo (For expliiyaternpaed 9 dominate any mane al thi ie npreedentes en though the iodo uals Apples computes by volume, mest Re fits revemaes cll come from te ‘computers SM kb still neds tf Apples longstanding problem ini core thine, which tate global mat Share in computes terns Sk 9 bout 3 per cent Using the ods suse ‘Windows computer uses might be the This ty Mr Jobs ako announced his most adal roc the Mac mins fullyege ba ty compute The ti, in Me Jobs's or thf BYODKM, or "beng your oom. dply, Keboard fd mouse” Bayer are expe 0 Pi in whnever ‘monitor. snd pepherals they ive tad, Lacing out thoes makes the Mac tint Apples fis tly tow cst compute, "so fa people who wre thinking of stching wil have no Glossary hip fashionable, trendy unveil ev cede give up, abandon dabble get invoived in a5 an amateu peripherals printers, scanners and other devices used with a computer revered respected and admired disclose Caring the pice st by leaving oo the peripherals 9 shew vay of min imising two rake i unto cant talse the ses and proft mango Apple's more expense models: arc is ifely to snap many Windows ses out (of thee nena and imo making the Mr Jobs hopes hat a is seamesty inna range of products grows fut ther Apple wil become he most revered brand th the digtal home and in cn sumer electronics Thi i wy Mi Jobs at opened real store around the wove their locations handpicked by 8 firmer Gap manager I als helps that That growth wil continue futher once Mercedes Nisan, oto and Fai have bined EMA and sed to oe od Sontols in heit seting, whos Snnounced by Mi Jobs tis we And it help that Mr Jobo the bos of sa, shel succes animated ii sua indent the word of entrainment eer than probably any otber bow ie indy opie leads the mahet fr online rst with Tunes. which woke only th he while cron pushing 1 hal sofware fom, indore Medi ina atiempe so make tthe indy ‘tandand. Mr Cater could ‘some fom behind once again. On he oer an Nr Jos hasbeen move cheamepect ths time around ~esigning Tues Yo work sh Windows rine cing mar Ketng dese forthe fo with Hew Pacdard- and! Motoola-and, wih this Sex announcements, fing ff om Pestion fom lower cot als It 109 Exo el which of hese nwo generals SS hg he La ae Unit 12m 103INVESTING IN DEVELOPMENT A path to helping the poor Microfinance institutions see the sense of investing in the developing world SIN New York, people are always tsking me the’ Same question’ Aeeande de Leseps says: Why do you ‘vant to lend money to poor people in Sereoping counties?” Mr de Lesseps 54) an international investment bank, fet ready answer, “The only way to solve de problems of poverty and tevor- ism in the world todas" he ay, "e through imvesumenc” Av a cower of BlucOrchard Finance, a corporate bask in Geneva, he is one ofthe leading ie ‘urs in the Woeld of microfinance, His firm manages fund that curently makes shout $50 millon in shoreterm Joans wo micooredit lending institons im more than 20 dewloping counts sound the world, and BhicOrchan and Is inestors make apron the form of interes payment othe loans tht they rake to such institutions, ‘Mictofinance institutions typically make lenin amounts of $1,000 0 ess {poor people in developing courses ‘who are ignored by commercial banks. microfinance specialists Cédric of a fcr.“ know that sounds peet- AAs a rus, microcredit ans are not Lombard and JeamPhiippe de Shreve, ty high? Me de Lesepe said. "But ou. bck by collateral avingne means of one-time ‘employces of the United we th semember that other forms of financial reovery forthe lender if they Nations Tocllavaable crit reve “ames are not repaid. But lading microcredit * "When de Lestps an his team are higher than tht instutons cain that only five per eatin country, they vs the central bank" Me de Lesps sid he believed that ‘microfinancing ventures are not purely being transformed from dust to being Glossary | SS ae rT) ‘countries is not only so that they can But they will die to pay you back aS a guarantee for a loan ter, of course, have to be his primary ° BlucOrchard typically charges two wo Vnterested in people's well-being _ (Copy © 20m) by The New York Times Co. Reprinted with prmsion Unit 6 ms