One out of fifty people use a top-20 "worst password", and one out of nine a top-500.
If you’re curious, these are the top three bad passwords…
… but let’s go read the full list, just in case… 
Tags: passwords, computer security
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According to Mercer, a consultancy firm, these are the most expensive cities in the world in terms of cost of living. The number next to each city is an index that compares it to the study’s base city, New York (100).
Tokyo 143.7
Osaka 119.2
Moscow 115.4
Geneva 109.2
Hong Kong 108.7
Zurich 105.2
Copenhagen 105
New York City 100
Beijing 99.6
Singapore 98
Of note: the only Latin American city in the top 50 is Caracas, Venezuela at #15 with an index of 93.3.
Tags: most expensive cities, cost of living
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Volvo
Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co. is said to be interested in bidding for Ford’s Sweden-based brand. Geely, China’s largest private automaker, is also interested.
Opel
Beijing Automotive tried to acquire GM’s Opel brand in May, but failed.
Hummer
Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co., a heavy equipment manufacturer, has agreed to buy Hummer from GM at $500 million. The deal, however, may face objections from Chinese regulators.
Saab
If three current bidders can’t finalize a deal, Beijing Automotive also wants to bid on Saab Cars, a Swedish division of General Motors.
Tags: Geely, Beijing Automotive, Beijing Automobile, Beijing Auto, Volvo, Saab, Opel, Hummer, Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co., Sichuan Tengzhong, GM, General Motors, automotive, auto industry, automotive industry, China, Chinese auto industry, Chinese automotive industry, Ford
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Harvard Business Review recently published a report indicating the "10 most common leadership shortcomings".
This list was based on analysis of 360-degree feedback data on 11,000 leaders, from which they evaluated the 10% least effective leaders.
The shortcomings are ranked by size of difference between successful and unsuccessful leader scores.
Lack energy and enthusiasmTags: leadership
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Posted by almcclymont
Harvard Business Review recently published a report indicating the "10 most common leadership shortcomings".
This list was based on analysis of 360-degree feedback data on 11,000 leaders, from which they evaluated the 10% least effective leaders.
The shortcomings are ranked by size of difference between successful and unsuccessful leader scores.
Lack energy and enthusiasmTags: leadership
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From the s+b book review of "Good Capitalism, Bad Capitalism, and the Economics of Growth and Prosperity":
"Countries where activities that promote growth are rewarded will grow faster than countries where this is not the case,” the authors write. And they are firm in their view that the contribution of entrepreneurs to growth is fundamental. To this end, the book offers four key pieces of advice to policymakers:
- Make it easy to start a business
- Enforce property and contract rights effectively and fairly
- Focus government policies on growth rather than redistribution, to minimize unproductive lobbying
- Ensure an open economy with strong antitrust policies to keep up the pressure from competition.
Tags: capitalism
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From the s+b book review of "Good Capitalism, Bad Capitalism, and the Economics of Growth and Prosperity":
- Make it easy to start a business
- Enforce property and contract rights effectively and fairly
- Focus government policies on growth rather than redistribution, to minimize unproductive lobbying
- Ensure an open economy with strong antitrust policies to keep up the pressure from competition.
Tags: capitalism
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Toyota recently took over the world #1 spot from GM, and in 2008 they want to sell an ambitious 10.4 million units which would put them well ahead of the pack.
We’ve all heard of the Toyota Way, the company’s management philosophy. Toyota’s production system receives the most focus, but a very big part of their success is their attention to detail, and how they communicate with and train employees in Toyota best practices.
Toyota thinks this is especially vital as they enter a new stage of growth and continue to expand across the world:
“It’s extremely important to have the same common Toyota Way infiltrated to employees in all corners of the world,” said Katsuaki Watanabe, the company’s president. “But on the other hand, in each corner of the world, in each region, there are inherent characteristics that need to be respected.” (New York Times).
That’s why Toyota is putting a big focus on training centers: they currently have one in Motomachi, Japan, another in Kentucky, USA, and are planning more.
At their Motomachi plant, 3,000 assembly line tasks have been translated into video manuals, showing "everything from the correct way to hold a screw to the best way to hold an air gun so that a worker’s hand will not tire in a few hours".
Of course Toyota is not immune to falling labor costs in low-cost countries such as China and India. And at the same time, Toyota takes care of its own. As NYT explains:
"… new ideas do not apply only to the trainees. At Toyota’s Tsutsumi plant, which builds the hybrid-electric Prius, Toyota has overhauled the way it delivers parts to the assembly line. The top floor of the plant, built in 1970, has been emptied and turned into a sprawling parts warehouse.
Workers on the plant floor used to choose the parts they needed to install on each vehicle from bins next to the assembly line. Now, a crew of workers upstairs loads the required parts into containers. The bins are placed inside the empty car bodies. Workers need only reach for the appropriate parts. After use, the bins are collected and sent upstairs to be refilled. The process… has cut Tsutsumi’s labor costs by 20 percent, said Osamu Ushio, general manager for the final assembly division, for two reasons.
First, cutting out the need to pick out parts shortened the training time for temporary workers, who make up one-third of the work force at Tsutsumi.
Second, older Japanese workers who are guaranteed lifetime employment by Toyota but can no longer handle the physical tasks of building cars can shift to loading containers.
That allows Toyota to deploy younger workers, often the temporary ones, who can work faster than their elders at lower wages. They earn about two-thirds of what permanent workers do, or as little as $10.50 an hour, with few benefits. Said Mr. Ushio: “We have to adapt to the changing environment.”
Tags: Toyota, Toyota Way, auto industry, automotive industry
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Who are the top automakers in China?
As you may know, all of the major manufacturers have joint ventures with local Chinese car companies, with varying results.
Currently, the big winners are Volkswagen on the foreign side, and Shanghai Auto on the local side. Both have stakes in two of the top three performers in China. Of note is Chery, the only Chinese car company to make the list as an independent automaker, i.e. without a joint venture.
Here are the top eight, based on August 2007 passenger car sales as reported by the National Passenger Cars Association:
The top three are on track to become the top sellers for the entire year, all reaching the 400,000 to 500,000 mark.
Tags: Shanghai Volkswagen, FAW-Volkswagen, First Auto Works, Shanghai General Motors, Shanghai GM, FAW Toyota, Chery Automobile, Chery, Dongfeng Nissan, Guangzhou Honda, Beijing Hyundai, auto industry, Chinese auto industry
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As a provider of dealer management systems to automobile dealerships in several emerging markets, we closely follow what happens in the auto industry in key regions around the world. I thought it might be interesting to share some of that information.
In the world’s major markets, auto sales are slowing at the same time that competition increases, so global auto manufacturers are setting their sights on big emerging markets like the BRIC countries: China, Russia, Brazil and India.
This series briefly discusses the promising future of the automotive industry in India. We’ve already looked at what GM, VW, Honda, Ford, Renault-Nissan, Hyundai, Toyota, local king Maruti Suzuki, and now we’ll look at local powerhouse…
Tata Motors is India’s largest manufacturer, and dates back to 1945. They are among the world’s top ten manufacturers, with annual revenue of $1.6 billion dollars.
Tata makes passenger cars, utility vehicles, and light, medium and heavy commercial vehicles for goods and passenger transport. Seven out of 10 medium and heavy commercial vehicles in India are Tatas.
When I was in India last year, I heard only good things about Tata. Not only regarding the public’s perception of the good quality of their cars, but much more importantly: Tata is seen as a company that truly and sincerely cares about the people of India. Tata Group invests 30% of its yearly after-tax profit back into the community. And they are a major supporter of India’s education system.
Tata’s low cost car plan
Tata threw down the gauntlet last year when they announced a small, 4-door, 1 lakh (1 lakh is 100,000 rupees, roughly $2,400 U.S. dollars) "People’s Car" to be released in mid-2008. The ultra-low cost is made possible by low manufacturing costs in developing countries, but also by something I just read: "much of it will be made of plastic."
This prompted some manufacturers to speed up their own similar plans, and others to voice either skepticism of the feasibility, or little interesting in following suit. Tata’s car is said to have a profit margin of under 3 percent. The car’s name has not been made public yet.
However, the 1 lakh ($2,400) target may not be feasible, as Tata Motors Managing Director Ravi Kant recently stated…
“High input costs and fuel costs have made it more challenging to maintain the price at 1 lakh rupees. To know whether we will offer the car at a higher level or not, we need to wait. The actual price of the car will be evident only closer to the launch."
Air powered car
Indian powerhouse Tata Motors is leading the way with the first commercial car to be powered by compressed air, called the City Cat, which is supposed to begin production this year.
The City Cat is based on high performance compressed air technology developed by MDI.
According to Engadget,
The City Cat runs on nothing but compressed air — which can be refueled at "air stations," and overnight using a built-in compressor — with a not too shabby top speed of 68 MPH and a range of 125 miles.
The Air Car designers are working on a hybrid version that can compress air while it’s operating, potentially making cross-India journeys possible.
It’s not completely emissions free travel since the problem of the source of the electricity (usually acquired from fossil fuels) has yet to be solved."
Tata’s main threat
Where does Tata see their main threat coming from?
Not Europe. Ratan Tata, CEO of the company, recently said that they are "not afraid of European carmakers, they don’t make cheap cars," but that rather that the "greater threat to us is when Chinese companies come to Indian market."
Currently there are no Chinese players in the Indian auto market.
Investment plans
Tata also is said to be ready to invest some $3 billion over the next three years to roll out new cars and commercial vehicles, including new versions of their Indica and Indigo models, and a range of new pick-ups and trucks.
Tata models in India
Other reading
Posts in this series:
Tags: People’s Car, Tata, Tata Motors, Indica, Indigo, Fiat, Fiat India, Fiat Palio, Ratan Tata, India, auto industry, automotive industry, India auto industry, Innovator’s Dilemma, Clayton Christensen
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