Ford pulled a very pleasant surprise amidst the crippling recession and ‘the worst market for American car manufacturers.’ The company is finally profitable, having recently reported a $1 billion profit for the third quarter period. It predicts to be “solidly profitable” in 2011.

Ford has had some dependable strategies and standard reasons such as cost-cutting, layoffs, and the cash for clunkers program. But there has also been another unusual, crucial, and extremely successful tactic: the use of social media. It seems that Ford has been gaining sales through it social media prowess.

‘This summer the company boasted that it had logged 13.2 million interactions with the public over social media.’ Having seen that ‘an uptick in positive social media interaction was responsible for Ford’s impressive profits,’ the company pursues its plans to spend ‘a full 25% of its advertising budget online this year, compared to 9% for the rest of the industry.’

Ford is cashing in on the ‘continued rise in social media’s popularity, and its online numbers reflect the buzz’: ‘more than 1.8 million YouTube views, more than 270,000 Flickr views and more than 1.8 million Twitter impressions, resulting in more than 13.2 million interactions.’ The @Ford Twitter account has 18 thousand followers.

Companies are starting to realize that the advertising game is now played online, away from the erstwhile and costly tri-media campaigns of television, print, and radio advertising platforms.

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Via Mediaite

There have been many explanations formed to render a clearer picture as to why the current global recession occurred after the burst of the housing bubble: ‘interest rates were too low, regulation failed, rising real-estate prices induced a sort of temporary insanity in America’s middle class.’ However, social analysts have found a more profound explanation in terms of ‘a lasting and fundamental shift in American culture—a shift in the American conception of divine Providence and its relationship to wealth.’

Some critics have noted that Christianity caused the financial crash. In a bid to grasp all possible explanation behind the global economic downturn, social analysts have turned to blaming religion. They have their solid reasons. ‘Over the past generation, a different strain of Christian faith has proliferated—one that promises to make believers rich in the here and now. Known as the prosperity gospel, and claiming tens of millions of adherents, it fosters risk-taking and intense material optimism. It pumped air into the housing bubble. And one year into the worst downturn since the Depression, it’s still going strong.’

According to Kate Bowler, a doctoral candidate at Duke University and an expert in the gospel, ‘among mainstream, nondenominational megachurches, where much of American religious life takes place, “prosperity is proliferating” rapidly.’ Bowler analyzed their sermons and teachings.

As Jackson Lears observes in his book Something for Nothing, there are ‘two starkly different manifestations of the American dream, each intertwined with religious faith. The traditional Protestant hero is a self-made man. He is disciplined and hardworking, and believes that his “success comes through careful cultivation of (implicitly Protestant) virtues in cooperation with a Providential plan.” The hero of the second American narrative is a kind of gambling man—a “speculative confidence man” who prefers “risky ventures in real estate,” and a more “fluid, mobile democracy.” The self-made man imagines a coherent universe where earthly rewards match merits. The confidence man lives in a culture of chance, with “grace as a kind of spiritual luck, a free gift from God”.’

Thus, the glut of self-confidence, self-righteousness, and tons of hope evoked by the prosperity gospel echoed in churches across the US, might have played a part in the economic collapse as its touted virtues may have well induced material ambition which is the precipice by which one can fall into the abyss of material greed.

Via The Atlantic

Reports and sources are hinting that Obama will concede to demand of Gen. Stanley Mc Chrystal and send nearly 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan and that too with plans of longer stay. White House has denied the reports about any such decision.

With war situation worsening in Afghanistan and number of casualties going higher every passing day and demand of more troops, a new Afghan strategy seems to be definitely on cards. It is expected that Obama will make announcements after returning from his scheduled China tour. According to sources and reports Obama may send 40,000 troops in phases and increase the total force to 100,000 troops which will stay for 4 years till Afghan army and police force are strengthened by Mc. Chrystal.

But the important pressing questions are, will this war ever end? Can troops win a war? When declaring war against terror on foreign soil by Bush is being seen as a flawed decision, why Obama wants to carry the burden of war for longer time and that too during the times of recession? And recent election fall-out in Afghanistan clearly shows that war torn nation needs to uproot and eliminate corruption as a first step towards nation building.

Via CBSNEWS

Recession seems to be looming large on everyone’s mind. Even a brand like Volkswagen has decided to talk about value for money. Instead of emphasizing on luxury, comfort, design and speed their latest Banknote campaign talks straight about money and savings. They have actually used banknotes of different denominations and stamped them with different distances to show how far one can travel in Bluemotion Volkswagen for the money one spends on fuel.

The Volkswagen Banknote campaign is very innovative, creative and appropriate for the financially difficult times. It is good thinking since it would be futile and obscene to talk about luxury and pleasure when everything from fuel to car has become unaffordable. Volkswagen subtly promises the true value for money that their customers can expect. The message of more distance for less money is direct and clear.

This thinking is not surprising since automobile industry is among the worst hit by financial crunch and advertising revenues are hit too. This campaign is very simple and wouldn’t have cost the company a lot. One can’t help but wonder is there a need of flashy expensive campaigns with celebrity brand ambassadors to sell the cars?

Via Invisible Red

The eye of the recession storm is said to have passed. The world is now slowly recovering from the greatest economic bust since the Depression. The US says it has edged out of the economic meltdown, Australia is said to have survived the recession easiest and earliest.

Anyone who comes from a typhoon-riddled country could attest that the eye of the storm is not the whole of the storm. This means that when the eye of the storm has passed, what follows are lingering elements that are still part of the storm. In fact, most of the deluge occurs after the passing of the storm’s eye.

This, then, is a new definition of the world ‘normal’ for the world economy. The concept of ‘normal’ is now redefined, though at a much lower scale. ‘Unemployment is still rising and much manufacturing capacity remains idle.’ But ‘better’ is always better even if the old can no longer be recaptured.

The G20 says, “A sense of normalcy should not lead to complacency.” This is perhaps the biggest lesson of the global recession. We must always be on guard from hereon, no longer assuming anything. Perhaps, also no longer trusting anything at face value or taking with a grain of salt the optimism of financial markets?

The onus of the recovery rests on policymakers across the globe. They are the ones that will bring back and, eventually, foster re-growth. There are two possibilities from hereon: ‘that the world economy returns roughly to its pre-crisis rate of growth, without regaining the ground lost’ and, more depressingly, ‘that growth stays at a permanently lower rate, with investment, employment and productivity growth all feebler than before.’

Via Economist.com

Because of the global recession that is said to affect the world’s poorest the most, the International Monetary Fund is in focus once again. The crisis has brought it back from the dead. ‘Two years ago the world’s main international economic institution was heading for irrelevance, its homilies ignored by rich countries, its advice despised in poorer ones and its lending unnecessary in a world flush with private capital. Today the fund is widely hailed as a flexible and innovative crisis-responder. It has committed over $160 billion in a host of new loans and credit lines, up from barely more than $1 billion in 2007. Its lending capacity is being trebled to $750 billion.’

The economic crisis has been good to the IMF, the official emergency lender in tough times. The institution is important once again. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, IMF chief, has pushed through ‘reforms that allow the fund to dole out large amounts of money fast, while convincing a broad array of countries, including rising powers like China, India and Brazil, to contribute to its coffers.’ He also wants the fund to grow to as much as $2 trillion.

But the IMF may not necessarily be seen as the panacea for these times of crisis. After all, it is still, first and foremost, a lending institution whose capital comes from rich-country governments.

There is the speculation that ‘emerging economies are unlikely to rely on it as a lender of last resort unless there are clear rules that promise free lending in future panics. Such promises, though necessary to convince the prudent to rely on the fund, will however tempt some countries to run profligate policies. At the same time the fund still has no clout over countries it does not lend to, even if their policies hurt the global economy (as the excess build-up of reserves, especially in China, surely did). This poisonous combination could fuel instability rather than assuage it.’

Via Economist.com

Foreign business investors are finding it still difficult to ever do business in China, in spite of the hope that it is China that will pull the world out of the recession.

Foreign business isn’t exactly booming in China. “China accounts for less than 2% of the global sales of drugs giants such as Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Bayer.’ On the other hand, ‘Procter & Gamble (P&G), a consumer-goods giant, is reckoned to generate only a bit over $3 billion annually in China, less than 5% of its overall sales.’ Over at the competition side, ‘Unilever is thought to sell less than half as much; its local operations are barely profitable.’

The global recession shifted the gaze of international business to China. Multinational business interests were ‘keener than ever to capitalize on China’s growth.’ But the potential of business boom in the communist regime is largely a myth.

According to Ronald Schramm, a visiting professor at the Chinese European International Business School, “Europe and America’s exports to China have remained broadly flat over the past year and amount to less than 7% of the total, even though shrinking exports to other countries flatter the figure. Even if the Chinese economy grows by the official target of 8% this year, the impact on Western firms’ total sales would be little more than a rounding error.”

China remains to be a tough business environment. There have always been ‘explicit legal impediments and hidden obstacles’ that persist to ‘hamper access to Chinese customers, despite China’s promises of reform when it joined the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 2001.’

Via Economist.com

One of the upsides of the recession is the impending end of the era of male dominance. Men who are more manly than their sex due to culturally-ascribed social norms of gender have been running the world for the longest time. Male dominance has had its supreme reign. Now, hard times bring about the death of macho. We are witnessing a revolution in evolution.

Finance capitalism is a macho world. With the collapse of it, the world saw the culprits of the current economic catastrophe: macho men’s clubs. The macho, thus, is its own undoing. The collapse of the male-dominated capitalistic sanctuaries is bringing about a ‘collective crisis for millions and millions of working men around the globe.’

In the United States alone, more than 80 percent of job losses have victimized men. The trend is similar in Europe. Male-dominated job sectors such as construction and heavy manufacturing are falling deeper and faster than female-dominated job categories such as public-sector employment, healthcare, and education. ‘By the end of 2009, the global recession is expected to put as many as 28 million men out of work worldwide.’

Some might argue that the reason why more job losses have befallen men than women is because there are fewer employment slots for women. But sex-disaggregated job loss statistics reveal the trend in developed regions such as the US and Europe where equal employment opportunity is a norm. In these places, women are as much employed as men. Hence, the argument bottoms out just like the state of mind called macho.

Via Foreign Policy

After several postponements, Beyonce’s Kuala Lumpur concert has been finally cancelled. The country asserts that its Muslim rules will be disrespected by the pop singer’s skimpy stage outfits and raunchy stage antics.

It’s not the first time that the country figures in global headlines for some controversial stuff. Malaysia has had ‘sodomy trials involving former finance ministers, anti-capitalism tirades by prime ministers, murder investigations involving high-ranking officials. Malaysia really could have its own CSI crime drama.’

Malaysia really has far more serious things to worry about, foremost of which are the effects of the global recession on its economy, temporarily soothed by a 67 billion ringgit ($20 billion) stimulus fund, and the overwhelming corruption that is said to be eating up the country where crony capitalism has been rearing its ugly head.

‘Transparency International ranks Malaysia behind Jordan, Cape Verde and Macau in its Corruption Perceptions Index. It’s a reminder that 12 years after the Asian crisis, Southeast Asia’s third-biggest economy needs to be far more aggressive in cleaning up politics and business.’

‘Foreign investors view with trepidation both in Malaysia and neighboring Indonesia’ the growing trend of Islamic fundamentalism. This poses a risk to the economy because ‘investors stop considering Malaysia a model of moderate Muslim democracies.’ The stringent stipulations imposed on Beyonce only point to the fact that Malaysia may not necessarily be the moderate Muslim country that the world thought it to be.

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Via Bloomberg

The world’s largest restaurant chain opened its first franchise store in Iceland in 1993, with then Prime Minister David Oddsson being the ‘first person on the island to consume a Big Mac.’ The island’s three McDonald’s restaurants will close at the end of the month after suffering profit losses due to the collapse of the krona.

McDonald’s in Iceland imports most of the ingredients used. The cost of these imports doubled over the past year. According to franchise holder Lyst, “We would have to raise our prices by 20 percent to get the margin needed on our products.  That would have sent a Big Mac to 780 kronur” ($6.36), compared with the 650 kronur it costs today. Our competitors all use domestic meat and lettuce and so on, while we are flying in these materials, which is extremely expensive.”

Iceland has been reeling under the global recession. The country currently relies on a $2.1 billion IMF loan, after three of its biggest banks collapsed, with cumulative debt that has grown more than 10 times the size of the economy.

McDonald’s, the world biggest restaurant chain, has been branded by some people as a ‘symbol of American colonialism’ that has ‘terrorized food culture all over the world.’ The Economist 2009 BigMac index reveals that the most expensive Big Macs are sold in Switzerland and Norway, while the cheapest are sold in South Africa and China.

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Via Bloomberg