Back to basics for Lakshmi Mittal. The Chairman of ArcelorMittal, the fifth World Fortune has signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the construction of a steel plant in India, Karnataka State, south of the country. A mammoth project with an annual capacity of six million tonnes which would require more than 5 billion euros of investment. In the crosshairs, the Indian market: "India needs more steel and we must take part in this growth," said Lakshmi Mittal.
It was a long ArcelorMittal looking to implement a major project in India. A similar agreement was thus created in 2006 to develop a huge site.The state of Orissa, north-east, had been chosen, but since the group steelmaker hardly be allocated land by local authorities.
Beyond the financial aspects, this new project is a highly symbolic Lakshmi Mittal. He might be born in Rajasthan, have raised and educated in Calcutta, the wire was broken long ago with his country of origin. If he cut his teeth in the small mill of his father, the tycoon starts very early in the assault on lucrative opportunities abroad. In Indonesia, Trinidad and Tobago, Mexico and Kazakhstan that makes the group a family empire of steel.
Other projects in northern India
The gap is widening even further in 1994 with the partition of the group.Lakshmi, his father and his two brothers did not agree and the company is split into two faxless pay day loans. In Lakshmi operations abroad to the rest of the family, the Indian Affairs. Since, like Anil and Mukesh Ambani, the richest two brothers of the world settle their disputes before the courts, Mittal have all the trouble in the world to reconcile. Incommensurate with the billions earned by Lakshmi, his two younger brothers were still able to grow and it is not uncommon for the two groups are fighting the same markets. Africa was the setting for these quarrels, in 2004 or 2008 in Liberia and Nigeria.
Gradually, Lakshmi was thus cut off from India. Yet holds an Indian passport, he could never win in his homeland.Stamped "NRI", acronym of Indians living outside their borders, it has long been criticized for its lack of involvement in Indian affairs. Ask in the streets of Bombay Indian captains of industry, the name of Mittal will systematically swept under the carpet, at the expense of the brothers Ambani, Ratan Tata or India's Richard Branson, Vijay Mallya.
With this comeback, Lakshmi Mittal India regilds therefore its image. Especially since the Indian adventure should not stop there way. In addition to this mill, ArcelorMittal plans to inject more than $ 20 billion in other sites in northern India.
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In an interview published Tuesday in the daily Les Echos, Christine Lagarde, economy minister, said France will contribute "approximately 90 billion euros" to support fund for countries in the euro area in need. The Minister said that this figure was calculated "based on the share of France in the capital of the European Central Bank, about 20%.
In an environment where financial markets are concerned about the explosion of debt and deficits States, Christine Lagarde said that this contribution has "no direct impact on either the level of deficit or the debt according Maastricht, since these are the guarantees that would be activated in case of default. "
The economy minister also reaffirmed that France "will take its commitment to reduce the deficit to 6% of GDP in 2011 and 3% in 2013.
Meeting in Brussels this weekend, the EU finance ministers agreed on a total of 500 billion euros. This plan includes a large fund of 60 billion euros plus a special mechanism of 440 billion euros in loan guarantees.
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Thirteenth day strike at the SNCF. The consequences are severe for the group, since the freight station will show a loss "dramatic at least 30 million euros," according to Pierre Blayau, the chief delegate to Geodis station, interviewed by Les Echos on Monday, which "is a cry of alarm".
But the situation is also difficult for its customers. For nearly two weeks, "only 50% of normal traffic of freight is secured," says the official. And the activity falls to 25% for combined transport."We try stopgap, concentrating our efforts primarily industrial ur hardest hit, as chemists, cereal, Danone, etc. quick pay day loan., "said Pierre Blayau.
He described the demand of the strikers to hold round tables "astonishing", although such meetings "already exist," he added, citing a few names of cities where he held shortly.
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They were euphemistically called the "very high salaries." These are the 133 000 full-time employees the more lucrative private sector who have received an average gross earnings of EUR 215 600 in 2007. Three times more than the "high wages" and seven times more than all full-time employees. The heterogeneity of this category is very large: the differences in annual revenues ranging from 84 500 euros to more than 13 million.
This category of the population does not know the crisis."While they represent only 1% of the workforce, people with very high incomes receive 5.5% of earned income, 32% of income from assets and 48% of the windfall revenues reported (capital gains, exercise of options), "INSEE noted in the 2010 edition of its publication The income and household wealth.
Between 2004 and 2007, the number of employees earning more than 100 000 per year has increased by 28% and those exceeding the half-million dollars … 70%! Since 2002, wages rose an average 5.8% per annum in real terms, against a 2.3% increase for all employees on the same period.Three focus areas more than half of these very high salaries: advice and assistance (including sector "business administration" including holding companies, the group headers), financial activities and trade activities Wholesale Guaranteed pay day loans.
West Paris in mind
40% of these very high salaries are salaried executives who earn on average 230 000 per year, 15% of financial professionals, such trader or chief of a financial service of a large company (290 000), and More anecdotally, for 0.8% of them, the athletes earning almost 450 000 euros on average per year.
Nearly nine in ten very high salaries (87%) are men."The more you go up the hierarchy, the higher the proportion of men increases," notes INSEE estimated 6% difference in pay between male and female quotas at this level of responsibility.
Another feature related to the experience, they are older (49 years on average) than high wages (45 years) and that all employees (40 years). Only 16% of them are under 40 years. Finally, nearly one in two lives in West Paris, in the three departments (Paris, Yvelines Hauts-de-Seine) where the head offices of large enterprises.
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The major French industrial firms they are partly responsible for the loss of competitiveness of French PMI meet their German competitors? The issue will arise next week at the show in Villepinte Industry.
"The major buyers French do not play the card of their industrial sector, which blocks the investment process, denouncing Vincent Schramm, CEO of Union business of technology and production (Symop). The organization of work in production chain, inducing greater solidarity between large corporations and their suppliers is a major theme of the General Industry. "To minimize production costs, the major buyers struggling to lower their purchase price and to encourage the relocation.They do not take into account the costs, like transportation, non-quality costs of monitoring … "adds Didier Bouvet, Director of Industry area in Bucci, a manufacturer of industrial robots. Instead, the big German companies to ensure their subcontractors markets for several years, re-creating a virtuous circle of local industrial production.
"In France, a supplier may lose its biggest customer overnight, without notice, regardless of financial risk taking. How an employer can invest calmly in such conditions without exposure to medium term? "Asks Didier Bouvet. However, the automation is a key to competitiveness that can withstand competition from Asia payday loan lenders . "The owners of PMI are often reluctant to robotize to preserve employment.In the long term it's a miscalculation, "said Vincent Schramm.
Robots: the late French
A study conducted for the Directorate General of competitiveness, industry and services (DGCIS) and Symop highlights the backwardness of French companies in the field of robotics. They are six times less robotic than their German and two to three times less than the Italian.
Park French industrial robots is between 17 and 18 years on average as against 10 in Germany, which further increases the competitiveness gap. However, since 1990 the price of a robot has fallen from 80% to 50 000 in average (130 000 taking into account all installation costs). In addition, 63% of robots are used by the principals of the automobile. Only one third of the 34 500 robots used in France are by companies with fewer than 1 000 employees.
Moreover, "the French PMI can still make many gains in productivity, argues Didier Bouvet. For example, the establishment of a production line and not through workshops can achieve significant gains. "Payroll taxes, nearly two times higher in France than in Germany (42.2% against 23 , 20%) are far from the only explanation for differences in industrial performance between the two countries.
The "opinion leaders" have not yet digested the crisis. The distrust that policymakers feel about financial institutions and banking remains strong, according to the Edelman Trust Barometer 2010 *. The distance is widening not just with the general public. The confidence rating of banks has melted most of the 22 countries of the investigation by the public relations agency. In the United States, for example, has dropped 39 points in three years, falling from 68% in 2007 to 29% in 2010. It is even lower in France, 21% in 2010 (against 41% in 2007).
The technology sector has the symbol
More generally, the confidence of elite companies to progress (54% of "opinion leaders" interviewed). Except in France, where it remains at a very low level (37% this year against 36% last year). If the banking and insurance are at the bottom of the table, the technology sector is racing ahead.Nearly 80% of elites trust it globally, and 70% in France. "The elites can not forgive the banking sector's responsibility in the crisis," Journet analysis Isabelle Rahe, president of Edelman France, in presenting the study. "Beyond the economic impact, it is the lack of transparency that is punished quite heavily."
Pessimism about the lessons learned from the crisis
The opacity of the financial system is well and truly under fire from critics. For 67% of respondents in 22 countries, transparency is a major asset in building the reputation of a company to the responsible management of human resources (63%) and civic attitudes (50%)."The elite give more confidence to businesses that engage in society beyond the creation of wealth and employment," says Antoine Harary, director of StrategyOne, the subsidiary of Edelman specializes in studies and assessments Marketing and Public Relations free credit report online .
But transparency and civic engagement are not everything. As stressed in the barometer makers fear that companies will not return to their "old habits", ignoring the lessons of the crisis. They are 68% internationally and 74% in France to expect that the famous "business as usual" make a comeback after the crisis. Pessimism up to nourish the hope that the elite opinion.That's about profound changes in their working methods that companies will be judged in the future.
* The 11th edition of the Edelman Trust Barometer was conducted among 4875 opinion leaders in 22 countries. The "opinion leaders", according to the criteria of Edelman, are graduates, who earn high incomes and are closely watching the news business and politics.
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Companies that have lost or gained the confidence of French in 2009
Edelman StrategyOne France and joined the research institute OpinionWay to conduct a further study with a sample of 1,000 French.These forty companies have found French or international, citing those in which they more or less confident today than in 2008. Notably, the Post is named in both charts.
• Winners
Google: 31%
E. Leclerc: 26%
Post: 26%
EDF: 24%
France TV: 21%
• Losers
France Telecom: 36%
Societe Generale: 33%
SNCF: 32%
Post: 30%
Total: 30%
Expenses related to health care, absenteeism, business closures and premature death: the National Institute for Research and Safety and the School of Arts and Crafts feel that the cost of stress at work has reached 1.9 to 3 billion euros in France in 2007. "An evaluation minimum, the study did not take into account only one stressor," the combination of strong pressure on (the tasks performed at rapid rates and subject to deadlines) and a lack of autonomy in carrying out the work. " This would represent a third of cases of stress, excluding for example the lack of support or recognition. Moreover, only cardiovascular disease, depression and musculo-skeletal disorders have been identified as diseases resulting from stress.
Turbulence, again, for the U.S. economy yesterday, the Financial CIT Group, a key player in SME finance – with more than one million customers – said he put himself under the protection of Bankruptcy Law. The figures speak for themselves: the extent of ILC assets are valued at about five billion dollars, it is the fifth largest bankruptcy in history of the United States. After those of Lehman Brothers (2008), Washington Mutual (2008), WolrdCom (2002), and General Motors (2008). However, CIT said in a statement that the process concerns only the parent, who hopes to reduce its debt of 10 billion dollars. The agencies of CIT and its subsidiaries should be able to continue operating. The group's difficulties have sharply accelerated in July.After having already injected 2.3 billion dollars in December, Washington has refused this time to rescue CIT.
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