Finance

From Rags to Riches……

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Manjula Vaghela’s life is literally a story of rags to riches. This 60-year-old, who was a ragpicker until 1981, is now the proud head of a cleaners’ cooperative with an annual turnover of Rs 1 crore.

Earlier, Manjula used to work on the streets of Ahmedabad, barely earning Rs. 5 in a day. Little did she know that she would become the guiding light for many.

The cleaners’ cooperative headed by her has 400 members, most of them being former ragpickers. It provides cleaning and housekeeping services to 45 institutions and societies in Ahmedabad.

ragpicker

Picture for representation only. Source: Tawheed Manzoor/Flickr

As a ragpicker, Manjula’s work would begin at the crack of dawn. She would pick up her large gunny collection bag to scrounge and unearth recyclable materials from other people’s waste. At the end of the day, she used to sell the entire collection to a scrap dealer. The only advantage in this job was that ragpickers always formed collectives of their own.

Her cleaners’ cooperative called – Shri Saundarya Safai Utkarsh Mahila Sewa Sahkari Mandali Ltd (SSSUMSSML), initially consisted of 40 women. It was founded after Manjula and the women in her collective met Elaben Bhatt, the founder Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA).

By the time SSSUMSSML was formed, Manjula had already been married and had a son. But tragedy struck suddenly, leaving her as the only breadwinner in the family.

“National Institute of Design was the first institution to give business to us. Next, Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) hired our 15 women,” said Manjula, who was then the chief supervisor.

Over the years, Saundarya Mandali has grown through several levels of training. They provide cleaning services in institutions of national repute, residential societies, and have also worked during Vibrant Gujarat summits in the past. The women now use modern equipment like road cleaners, vacuum cleaners, high-jet pressure, micro-fibre mops, floor cleaners, carpet shampooing machines, scrubbers and extractors.

The next target for them is to make illiterate women tech-savvy, to ensure that they can understand the e-tendering process.

“Today companies and institutes issue e-tender for contracts and job work which we find difficult to fill as we are technologically challenged. But we shall overcome this too,” Hemaben Parmar, who has been associated with Saundarya Mandali for the last 20 years, told The Times of India.

Manjula also managed to earn enough to put her son through school and medical college. He is a doctor today. The college where he studied recently honoured Manjula and her son.

Source…..Nisha Chawla ….www.the betterindia.com

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படித்ததில் பிடித்தது …” ஒரு நிமிட கதை ஒன்று …”

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ராதிகா தயங்கியபடி வந்து சகுந்தலாவிடம் சொல்கிறாள்… “அம்மா, நான் ரமேஷை கல்யாணம் பண்ணிக்கலாம்னு இருக்கேன்…!”

அதைக் கேட்டு சகுந்தலா கொஞ்சம் கோபமடைந்தாலும், தன் பொறுப்பை உணர்ந்து, “யாரடி அந்த ரமேஷ்?” என்று கொஞ்சம் அக்கறையுடன் கேட்கிறாள்.

“அவர் எனக்கு அஞ்சு வருஷம் பழக்கம்மா. ரொம்ப நல்லவர். நேர்மையானவர். அவருக்கு என்னை ரொம்ப பிடிச்சிருக்கு. அவரை கல்யாணம் பண்ணிக்கிட்டா, வாழ்க்கை நல்லா இருக்கும்னு நம்பிக்கை இருக்கும்மா..’’ தீர்க்கமாய் சொன்னாள் ராதிகா.

சகுந்தலா எதுவும் பேசாமல் மவுனமாய் இருந்தாள். சற்று யோசித்த ராதிகா, ‘‘அம்மா! எனக்கு கல்யாணம் ஆகிட்டா, உங்களையும் அப்பாவையும் அம்போன்னு தவிக்கவிட்டுட்டுப் போய்டுவேன்னு மட்டும் நெனைக்காதீங்க. என்னைக்கும் உங்களுக்கு உதவியா இந்த வீட்ல இருப்பேன். இது சத்தியம்!”

இது சகுந்தலாவுக்கு சற்று தெம்பைக் கொடுத்தது. ‘‘சரி… இப்ப நான் என்ன செய்யணும்?’’ என்றாள்.

“பெருசா ஒண்ணுல்லம்மா, என் கல்யாண செலவுக்கு அப்பாகிட்ட பேசி ஐம்பதாயிரம் வாங்கிக் கொடுத்தா போதும்!”

“என்ன சொல்ற..? முழுசா ஐம்பதாயிரமா? ராதிகாவுக்கா? எந்த நம்பிக்கையில இதை கேட்கற சகுந்தலா?”

“என்னங்க பெரிய ஐம்பதாயிரம்..? அஞ்சு வருஷமா நம்மள அப்பா, அம்மான்னு கூப்பிட்டு நம்ம கூடவே வீட்டு வேலை செய்துட்டு இருக்கா. அவளை நம்பி ஐம்பதாயிரம் கடனா கொடுக்க முடியாதா..? மாசா மாசம் சம்பளத்துல கொஞ்சம், கொஞ்சமா கழிச்சுக்கிட்டா போச்சு!”

எதுவும் பேசாமல் ‘செக் புக்’கை எடுத்தார் சகுந்தலாவின் கணவர்.

source…..எஸ்.எஸ்.பூங்கதிர்…in http://www.tamil.thehindu.com

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One of India’s largest drugmakers is crashing after the FDA revealed it ‘significantly violated’ US regulations….

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— Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd, India’s second-largest drugmaker, has received a “warning letter” from US regulators over inadequate quality controls at three manufacturing plants producing drugs for cancer and other diseases.

The warning is the latest in a string of incidents that have hurt the industry’s reputation and slowed its growth in the world’s largest drug market, where India supplies more than 40% of the generic and over-the-counter medicines.

Dr Reddy’s said the FDA warning meant it would not receive US approvals for drugs made at the plants until it fixed the problems, a blow for business at a company that relies on the US for a majority of its sales.

Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Chairman Satish Reddy

REUTERS/Shailesh Andrade 

Chairman of Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, Satish Reddy, at a news conference in Mumbai on August 5.

The affected plants account for more than 10% of the company’s sales.

Dr Reddy’s said a production halt may not be required, but the news caught investors by surprise, sending shares to their lowest level in four months.

“We are probably looking at flat to declining earnings in FY 2017, while earlier we were expecting growth,” said analyst Nimish Mehta, founder of Research Delta Advisors.

Analysts warned the move by the US Food and Drug Administration would hit US sales for at least the next two years, as the launch of key products may be delayed.

“There is no indication in the warning letter that we need to stop manufacturing, but we will be examining the contents and deciding our strategy,” Dr Reddy’s CFO Saumen Chakraborty told the Indian television news channel ET Now.

The FDA inspected the company’s Srikakulam, Miryalaguda, and Duvvada drug-manufacturing sites in November, January, and February, and it almost immediately issued initial notices asking the group to rectify some problems.

But the company was unable to fix the issues to the satisfaction of the FDA, and it was hit with a warning letter. Such letters are issued by the agency when it finds a manufacturer has “significantly violated” its regulations.

“We had absolutely no idea it could escalate to this level,” Siddhanth Khandekar of ICICI Securities said.

 

Data records

Dr Reddy’s said the agency’s concerns with the plants related to quality-control procedures and how data was recorded. It did not provide details.

The FDA has already banned plants of other Indian firms, such as Wockhardt Ltd and Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd, a unit of the country’s largest drugmaker Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, after finding faulty, fudged, or incomplete data records in recent years.

Both companies have been unable to get their plants cleared by the agency, more than two years after the bans.

But analysts say the FDA considers data integrity issues to be the most serious, typically requiring at least two years to be remedied to its satisfaction.

Dr Reddy’s CEO G V Prasad said the group was revamping its quality systems as a result.

The FDA has increased the number of inspections of foreign plants supplying to the US over the past year, exposing quality-control issues at several Indian drugmakers. India plants of multinational drugmakers, such as Novartis and Mylan, have also come under fire.

Industry executives say they have been improving their manufacturing and systems, but sanctions continue.

Dr Reddy’s makes drug ingredients at the Srikakulam and Miryalaguda plants, and cancer medicines at the Duvvada plant.

(Reporting by Zeba Siddiqui in Mumbai; Editing by Anand Basu and Clarence Fernandez)

Read the original article on Reuters. Copyright 2015. Follow Reuters on Twitter.

Source….

” Get Ready to Face a Revolution in Financial Market …”

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COMING SOON : REVOLUTION​ ​IN FINANCIAL MARKET

If you want to watch the presentation by Mr. Nandan Nilkeni kindly go to the following link https://t.co/Y3VBCCHCyG and get the digital experience.

PREPARE YOURSELF FOR A REVOLUTION

​ ​

IN FINANCIAL MARKET

​ ​

WHICH NEVER HAPPENED IN THE HISTORY OF MANKIND!

-NANDAN NILKENI
Recently, Mr. Nandan Nilkeni, a founder team member of Infosys and generator of the concept of Aadhar made one presentation of the
impact this Aadhar linked cell phone will create and revolutionize the market in general and finance market in particular in India / world is a worth watching clip. I think the presentation of those 30 minutes will make you spell bound and speechless. How the technology is going to change the way we live in this world since the decades…. Major highlights of the presentation are as under.

1. There will be a massive disruption in financial services on back of technology revolution.

2. The telecom revolution has changed the desktop based environment to mobile interned based environment.

3. “WhatsApp movement” is the concept to understand this revolution because today 30 billion messages in a day are passed through WhatsApp in the world surpassing the SMS by large margin. This WhatsApp movement like revolution is going to take place in the world of finance making the concept of traditional banking and lending to go away.


4. We are moving from cash based society to cashless and digital society very very fast. Today India has more 900 million mobile users (More than 90 crores) which is a record in itself. The Aadhar when linked with the mobile set with IRIS authentication on will change the world we live in.

5. Today electronic clearing service NEFT-RTGS and IMPS have overtaken traditional payment system. With these 900 million mobile users, a mega trend is underway, which we are unable to apprehend. To put it in simple words, every mobile user will be an ATM.

6. When IRIS authentication (Biometric authentication linked with Aadhar server) will be on, the 900 million mobile users will be able to have online kyc, online authentication, online payment and online receipt on the basis of Unified Payment Interface (UPI). Smart phone will replace all type of debit and credit cards and Paytm like system will be fully operational. Physical cash to digital cash and digital cash to physical cash convertibility will be a game changer. Digital wallet and digital locker will revolutionize the security system. Enabling pear to pear payment system will do away many intermediaries and will be reimagining the infrastructure we have at present.

​ ​

7. The whole process will lead to explosion of innovation, death of many businesses and birth of new ventures and business. India will become data scare to data rich country in five years in both, on consumer and business side. Credit process and credit appraisal will become obsolete and online loan payment will become possible. Think of 900 million people coming on one platform and remain connected!!! Almost all functions of the bank, government and taxation department will be done by Aadhar linked phones. This is even more important in the sense that IRIS authentication on cell phone is available only in India, no one has this system in the world!!!

8. Friends, this is not far away because the IRIS authentication on cell phone is practically started and will become a mass reality soon. So prepare yourself to live in the digitalized India with absolute transparency, no paper work, no bureaucratic intervention, no tax terrorism and much much more.

If you want to watch the presentation by Mr. Nandan Nilkeni kindly go to the following link https://t.co/Y3VBCCHCyG and get the digital experience.
Source….Input from a friend of mine
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This Kerala Man Built an Aircraft. He Now Wants a Job….

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This Kerala Man Built an Aircraft. He Now Wants a Job

Saji Thomas has studied only till class 7 and has always been hooked on to electrical gadgets and their repairs

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:  After five years of painstaking efforts, Saji Thomas has built a small aircraft – all on his own – but now this 45-year-old from Kerala, who is speech and hearing challenged, yearns for a full-time job.

His wife Maria said that they have been married for 14 years and since then, all that she saw was her husband busy tinkering with small motors and machines she didn’t have a clue about.

“Initially I tried my best to dissuade him to get work as an electrician, but when I found all my efforts were in vain, I decided to support him in all his endeavours. Today the entire village (near Thodupuzha in Idukki district) is steadfastly behind him as he built a twin-seater ultralight aircraft, which has been filmed by the Discovery Channel,” Maria told IANS.

Mr Saji has studied only till class 7 and has always been hooked on to electrical gadgets and their repairs.

“The first thing he built was the frame of an helicopter. He got in touch with (former prime minister) Rajiv Gandhi, seeking money to buy an engine for it. It did not materialise because Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated (In May 1991). Then his interest shifted to building an aircraft and after five years of hard work, he fitted the small aircraft with the engine of a two-wheeler. Later it was given to a college nearby and they still use it to teach their students,” the proud wife said.

She said he then began work on this now successful two-seater and sourced all the materials from Bangalore.

“After a marathon five years of work, last year in April, it was taken to a private airline academy in Ambasamudram near Madurai. Since this aircraft has no licence nor does Saji have a licence to fly aircraft, he could fly it for a few minutes there. Later the chief instructor, a retired air force officer, also flew it for a few minutes. The aircraft flew only at a height of 20 feet as the rules are very strict,” added Maria.

Today the couple, who has a 13-year-old son Joshua, is still hoping for the government support.

“We see the present programme of Discovery Channel which has filmed his efforts as an eye-opener and it is expected to be aired soon. Our only wish is my husband gets a stable monthly job as by now he has sold a portion of our land to complete this aircraft. We live in a small two-room home built with the help of the local village council in 2001,” Maria said.

In all, Saji has spent Rs.25 lakh for his expensive hobby in the past more than 15 years.

Source….www.ndtv.com
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This Canadian giant is being haunted by its decision to challenge Airbus and Boeing……

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In 2004, Bombardier, maker of business jets and high speed trains, decided it was going to build a larger airliner.
Called the C-Series, the jet is meant to compete with Boeing’s 737 and Airbus’ A320 — which dominate the medium range airliner market.
Bombardier is a sprawling business, making everything from Learjet’s for wealthy businessmen to cars for New York’s subway system.
But the C-Series has become an anchor around its neck. More than a decade after the plan was conceived, the jets still aren’t in commercial service.

Bombardier spent $US5.5 billion on their development, and delays and cost overruns have meant its debt has ballooned. Ratings agencies are worried about future cash flow, and the shares have fallen by two thirds this year.

The company, which had nearly $US10 billion of debt on its books at the end of June, burned through $US1.6 billion of cash in the first half of 2015, according to Moody’s analyst Darren Kirk.

“Bombardier needs to the get the plane into service, prove that it is successful and generate more demand if it wants to correct its cash flow shortage,” he said.

With this as a backdrop, the Canadian firm will release its results for the third quarter on Thursday. Analysts expect sales and profits to continue falling, but a day ahead of the report investors got a glimmer of hope: Canada’s LaPresse reported Wednesday that Quebec may announce an aid package for Bombardier as well.

The company says things are better than investors recognise. The aviation business currently $US34 billion worth of orders on the books with $US22 billion in business aircraft and $US12 billion in commercial aircraft.
Bombardier’s relatively small size means it doesn’t require nearly as many orders as Boeing and Airbus to keep the factory busy, spokesman Yan Lapointe said.
And the company isn’t way off its target of 300 C-Series jets sold by the time the aircraft is ready to ferry passengers. Bombardier Aerospace vice president Ross Mitchell told Business Insider that, with the jet scheduled to enter service next year, the company has 243 firm orders on the books.

But the concern is that those orders aren’t coming fast enough. A whole year has come and gone since the last time Bombardier announced a new buyer for the C-Series, and one of its largest buyers so far, Republic Airways, could be about to bolt.

Republic, which originally ordered the plane for its now-sold Frontier subsidiary, has said it is considering backing off from its commitment to the aircraft amid a slowdown in its own business.

“The Republic Airways planes are never going to be delivered to Republic,” Airways News senior business analyst Vinay Bhaskara said in an interview.

In June, Bombardier flew both the CS100 and the larger CS300 to the Paris Air Show. The planes arrived at Le Bourget airport with great fanfare, but left without booking a single new order.

The painful thing for Bombardier is that there’s nothing wrong with the aeroplane. In fact, the C-Series has garnered generally positive reviews.

“The CS300 kills the Boeing 737 Max 7 and the Airbus A319neo in terms of ability and efficiency,” Bhaskara said.

Bombardier CS300 in Republic Airways livery.

At the Paris Air Show, aircraft leasing company, Air Lease Corp.’s president and CEO John Plueger told the Seattle Times that it’s not enough for people to like the plane because what Bombardier needs are orders.

It’s a stark contrast to Bombardier’s other aircraft. The company’s CRJ-Series regional jets are among the most in-demand aircraft of its type with nearly 2,000 examples in service. Its Q-Series turboprop airliner is a staple of regional airlines around the world with more than 1,000 of the planes in service. That’s on top of the company’s iconic Challenger, Global, and Learjet families of private jets.

Part of the problem is that the C-Series is tapping a part of the market that the world’s largest aircraft makers have deemed unworthy because of thin profits. Boeing and airbus both discontinued their regional jets, the 737-600 and A318.

All may not be lost.

Analysts such as Bhaskara predict room for as many as 2,500 planes in the 100-150-seat jet category, and Bloomberg recently reported that Bombardier is in talks about a possible order with JetBlue Airways.

Another major buyer, according to Bloomberg, could be United Airlines which told pilots it plans to order small jetliners, Bloomberg also reports.
There’s also room for the C-Series to recover as the older Boeing and Airbus aircraft are phased out and need to be replaced, said Tom Capital, Deloitte’s vice chairman and head of global aerospace and defence.

Boeing and Airbus are focusing on larger aircraft with longer range,” Captain said. “This has left an opening for others such as Bombardier to come in with new and efficient equipment.”

The trick for Bombardier now, is to turn that optimism into actual orders. And fast.

Source….. BENJAMIN ZHANG……..www.businessinsider.com.au

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Know this Word …” Social Security”

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Social Security

A general term used to refer to the programs mandated in the United States by the Social Security Act of 1935. With the amendments made to the act since then, it now consists of benefits for old age, survivors, and disability. Through social security, programs that provide assistance to certain segments of the public are administrated, such as Public Assistance.

Use Social Security in a sentence

  • After she retired, my mother started collecting Social Security payments in order to supplement her other forms of retirement income.
  • There are several people who rely on social security in the United States to meet all of there needs, they receive money from the government to help them survive either after retirement or if they become disabled and unable to work.
  • Your social security number is very important in the United States; it’s a number that signifies who you are to those who don’t know you.
  • Source….www.businessdictionary.com

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A 23-year-old Google employee lives in a truck in the company’s parking lot…!!!

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Google headquarters

Justin Sullivan/GettyGoogle’s headquarters.

When 23-year-old Brandon S. headed from Massachusetts to the Bay Area in mid-May to start work, he opted out of settling into an overpriced San Francisco apartment.

Instead, he moved into a 128-square-foot truck.

The idea started to formulate while Brandon — who asked to withhold his last name and photo to maintain his privacy on campus — was interning at Google last summer and living in the cheapest corporate housing offered: two bedrooms and four people for about $US65 a night (roughly $US2,000 a month), he explains to Business Insider.

“I realised I was paying an exorbitant amount of money for the apartment I was staying in — and I was almost never home,” he says. “It’s really hard to justify throwing that kind of money away. You’re essentially burning it — you’re not putting equity in anything and you’re not building it up for a future — and that was really hard for me to reconcile.”

Brandon S.

Brandon lives in this 2006 Ford, which cost him exactly $10,000.

He started laying the groundwork for living out of a truck immediately, as he knew he’d be returning to work full-time in San Francisco. A school-year later, he was purchasing a 16-foot 2006 Ford with $US157,000 miles on it.

It cost him an even $US10,000, which he was able to pay upfront with his signing bonus. His projected ‘break-even point’ is October 21, according to the live-updating ‘savings clock‘ he created on his blog, ‘Thoughts from Inside the Box.’

Brandon S.

The dark, minimalist space includes only a bed, a coat rack, and dresser.

His one fixed cost is truck insurance — $US121 a month — as he doesn’t use electricity, and his phone bill is handled by Google.

‘I don’t actually own anything that needs to be plugged in,’ he explains on his blog. ‘The truck has a few built-in overhead lights, and I have a motion-sensitive, battery-powered lamp I use at night. I have a small battery pack that I charge up at work every few days, and I use that to charge my headphones and cell phone at night. My work laptop will last the night on a charge, and then I charge it at work.’

The space is sparse and minimal, he says: ‘The main things that I have are a bed, a dresser, and I built a coat rack to hang up my clothes. Besides that, and a few stuffed animals, there’s pretty much nothing in there.’

Brandon can shower and eat on Google’s campus.

As for food and showers, that’s all on Google’s campus. He eats breakfast, lunch, and dinner at work, and showers every morning in the corporate gym post-workout.

So few expenses means significant savings: ‘I’m going for a target of saving about 90% of my after-tax income, and throwing that in student loans and investments,’ he says.

He graduated with $US22,434 worth of student loans, and has paid it down to $US16,449 over the course of four months. ‘As a conservative estimate (and taking bonuses into consideration), I expect to have them paid off within the next six months, saving thousands of dollars over the standard 10-year, or even 20-year plans,’ he says.

Additionally, saving on rent has allowed him to dine at nice restaurants and enjoy San Francisco more than if he opted for living in an apartment.

Brandon S.

Inside the box.

Another perk: His commute from a parking spot on the periphery of Google’s campus is a few seconds on foot, rather than a few hours sitting in San Francisco traffic.

Besides one friendly run-in with security after getting home late from a movie one evening, his truck lifestyle hasn’t been a problem. He was greeted by about 10 security personnel that night, but after showing them his corporate badge — and even offering to move the truck — they apologised for waking him and even said he had a ‘sweet setup.’

The trade off for such low-cost housing is space — and modern conveniences such as heat, air conditioning, and a bathroom — but Brandon says the 128-square-foot space is larger than any of the bedrooms he’s ever lived in prior, and he’s usually only home to sleep.

Brandon S.

Brandon is really only home to sleep.

The truck lifestyle provides more than financial freedom. It forces him outside of his comfort zone, an essential learning experience considering he hopes to travel the world in the future.

‘If I do plan on travelling the world, I’ll need to be comfortable with unconventional living situations, and this is certainly a good place to start,’ he writes. ‘Plus, there is never going to be a better time in my life for me to try this. I’m young, flexible, and I don’t have to worry about this decision affecting anyone else in my life.’

He’s not sure how permanent life inside a box will be, so he hasn’t put a deadline on it. ‘It’s been five months so far, and I don’t see it stopping soon for any reason,’ he says.

Business Insider has reached out to Google for comment on this story and will update if we hear back.

Source….KATHLEEN ELKINS    http://www.businessinsider.com.au

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These 16 companies control almost everything you buy….

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Powerful companies create brands and products that we might not know are theirs.

Companies’ signature brands add to their annual revenues and provide an edge to competition.

To determine how powerful each company is, we factored together fiscal 2014 revenue, the number of employees, and press mentions on Google News over the past year.

Here is a list of retail companies that own brands and products that we use every day.

 

Procter and Gamble

2014 revenue: $83 billion

 

Number of employees: 118,000

P&G is the global leader in consumer goods with an unparalleled production scale and international reach. Some of the top P&G brands are everyday household items such as Tide, Swiffer, Crest, Olay, Pampers, Pantene, Herbal Essences, Old Spice, Vicks, Gillette, and Head and Shoulders.

CVS

2014 revenue: $139.38 billion

Number of employees: 200,000

More people than ever pick CVS as their go-to spot for filling prescriptions, making it the biggest retailer of prescription drugs in the US. CVS, headquartered in Rhode Island, will purchase Target’s pharmacy and clinics businesses for about $1.9 billion, adding almost 2,000 pharmacies to its business.

eBay

2014 revenue: $17.9 billion

Number of employees: 34,600

In its 20th year of operation, eBay has a huge command over online shoppers spanning 203 markets worldwide. While it previously ran PayPal, it continues to run the online-ticketing-company StubHub.

Costco

2014 revenue: $110.2 billion

Number of employees: 195,000

Costco, which sells in bulk for lower prices, consistently outperforms competitors Walmart and Target. Costco’s Kirkland signature collection includes food, clothes, and household supplies. It’s more than just home goods and food — it’s also a growing force in car sales.

Starbucks

2014 revenue: $16.4 billion

Number of employees: 191,000

While some of its stores are also rolling out beer, wine, and gourmet-food options, Starbucks is the fifth-most-admired brand in the world, according to Fortune. With 22,000 retail stores in 66 countries, the Seattle-based coffee retailer spent most of 2014 dedicated to going green and launching plans to send its employees to college and hire more of America’s military families and veterans.

Nike

2014 revenue: $27.7 billion

Number of employees: 56,500

Selling sneakers, fitness tech, athletic clothing, and outdoor wear, Nike is predicted to outperform the industry for the next five years. Athletic gear is becoming a mainstream clothing staple — whether you actually work out or not — and no one does it better than Nike.

Kroger

2014 revenue: $108.56 billion

Number of employees: 400,000

Kroger is the largest supermarket chain by revenue in America. It operates more than 2,500 stores under some two dozen different banners. In addition to Kroger Stores, its groceries include Cala Foods, City Markets, Dillons, Foods Co, Fred Meyer Stores, Fry’s, King Soopers, Quality Food Centers (aka QFC), Ralphs, Food 4 Less, and Smith’s Food and Drug. It also owns Barclay, Fox’s, Fred Meyer, and Littman jewelers and the Kwik Shop, Loaf ‘N Jug, and Quik Stop convenience stores.

Coca-Cola

2014 revenue: $45.99 billion

Number of employees: 129,200

Chances are, you’ve consumed at least one of the 657 billion Coca-Cola products purchased annually. Powerade, Sprite, Fanta, Minute Maid, Vitamin Water, Odwalla, Smart Water, Simply Orange, Fresca, Dasani, Fuzi, Ciel, and Burn are all brands from Coca-Cola.

Disney

2014 revenue: $48.8 billion

Number of employees: 180,000

The Disney name is everywhere: toys, movies, television, apparel, and theme parks. Its last major movie release, “Inside Out,” brought in $7.4 billion worldwide at the box office, and the much-anticipated “Star Wars” sequel debuts in December.

McDonald’s

2014 revenue: $27.4 billion

Number of employees: 420,000

With 36,258 chains worldwide, McDonald’s food options are adapting to consumer trends in favor of fast casual by rolling out all-day breakfast and revamping some of its stores to launch the “create your own” gourmet-burger option.

McDonald’s lists eight countries, including China and Russia, as high-growth markets — aka locations with high expansion and franchising potential, which is important since a large majority of McDonald’s restaurants (about 80% by the end of 2014) operate as franchises.

PepsiCo

2014 revenue: $66.7 billion

Number of employees: 271,000

As America’s leading beverage producer, PepsiCo owns 22 of the most well-known food and drink brands in the world, including Gatorade, Frito-Lay, Tropicana, 7-Up, Doritos, Cheetos, Quaker, Lipton, Ruffles, Tostitos, Aquafina, Brisk, Fritos, and Starbucks ready-to-drink beverages.

Johnson and Johnson

2014 revenue: $74.33 billion

Number of employees: 126,500

Johnson and Johnson, a healthcare company, manufactures everyday-use, in-home products such as Neutrogena, Rogaine, Aveeno, Band-Aid, Neosporin, Bengay, Listerine, Splenda, Lactaid, and Visine.

Apple

2014 revenue: $182.9 billion

Number of employees: 92,600

Apple is the world’s most valuable brand, according to Forbes. Its products and services include the iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac, iPod, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Apple Music, and iCloud. It sells its products worldwide through its retail stores, online stores, and direct-sales force and third-party cellular-network carriers, wholesalers, retailers, and value-added resellers to the consumer.

Amazon

2014 revenue: $88.99 billion

Number of employees: 154,100

As the largest ecommerce site in the country, Amazon recently surpassed Walmart as the most valuable retailer in America in terms of market capitalization. Amazon currently owns over 40 subsidiaries, including Zappos, IMDb, GoodReads, AbeBooks, Book Depository, Create Space, and Audible. It also has a huge consumer-electronics market by including an e-reader and tablet and launched Amazon Instant Video, which has produced an award-winning original television series, “Transparent.”

Target

2014 revenue: $72.61 billion

Number of employees: 347,000

Target owns a number of exclusive food, clothing, and supply brands, including, Archer Farms, Market Pantry, Champion, Cherokee, Circo, Up&Up, Xhilaration, Merona, Mossimo, Room Essentials, Gillian & O’Malley, and Threshold.

Walmart

2014 revenue: $485.62 billion

Number of employees: 2.2 million

With 11,500 stores in 28 countries, Walmart’s scope is undeniable. Walmart is also the single-largest employer in America and announced earlier this year that it’s raising wages for 500,000 of its 1.4 million US workers. The company sits at No. 1 on the Fortune 500. Walmart brands include Equate, Ol’Roy, Dr. Thunder, Special Kitty, Price First, Play Day, Mainstays, and Sam’s Choice.

Source…..Marina  Nazario in http://www.businessinsider.com.au

Natarajan

Term of the Day…. ” What is Opportunity Cost ….” ?

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opportunity cost

A benefit, profit, or value of something that must be given up to acquire or achieve something else. Since every resource (land, money, time, etc.) can be put to alternative uses, every action, choice, or decision has an associated opportunity cost.

Opportunity costs are fundamental costs in economics, and are used in computing cost benefit analysis of a project. Such costs, however, are not recorded in the account books but are recognized in decision making by computing the cash outlays and their resulting profit or loss.

Use opportunity cost in a sentence

  • The CEO of Ace Corporation considered the merger that the competing company offered him, but after examining the opportunity cost he decided that the sacrifices were too high and the benefits were too low to accept the deal.

I would have gone to the movie since it cost less and the tickets were not refundable but I have to see this concert even if the opportunity cost doesn’t make sense to most people.

When deciding on whether or not to go back to college full-time, Jack included the opportunity cost of foregoing a stable paycheck in his decision.

Source…..www.businessdictionary.com

Natarajan