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McDonald’s Corp. said Chief Executive Don Thompson was leaving, less than three years into his tenure, and promoted a company veteran to try to revive the fast-food giant from its worst slump in more than a decade. Steve Easterbrook, 48 years old, who started with McDonald’s in 1993 and is currently chief global brand officer, will succeed Mr. Thompson on March 1, becoming the company’s third CEO in the past decade. McDonald’s gave no reason for the abrupt retirement of the 51-year-old Mr. Thompson but it comes after two years of worsening sales declines in its core U.S. market that have so far defied management’s remedies. Net income last year fell nearly 15%, to $4.76 billion, and McDonald’s stock has been basically flat since Mr. Thompson took over in July 2012—a period when the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 36%. McDonald’s shares rose more than 3% in after-hours trading on Wednesday following the news, to $91.60. A spokeswoman said the retirement, announced after a regularly scheduled board meeting on Wednesday, was Mr. Thompson’s choice. In a statement, Mr. Thompson said Wednesday, “It’s tough to say goodbye to the McFamily, but there is a time and season for everything.” “Steve is a strong and experienced executive who successfully led our U.K. and European business units and the board is confident that he can effectively lead the company to improved financial and operational performance,” said Andrew McKenna, McDonald’s nonexecutive chairman, said in announcing the change. Left unclear for now is how Mr. Easterbrook will address the broad range of challenges McDonald’s faces. Its business is under attack from a host of smaller, more focused “fast casual” restaurants that are winning younger consumers with fresher and more customized offerings. These range from burrito chain Chipotle Mexican GrillInc. to upstarts like Shake Shack Inc., a boutique burger joint with 63 locations that is expected to raise up to $109 million in an initial public offering scheduled to price on Thursday. The Golden Arches also is wrestling with the effects of its own expansion over the years, with more than 14,350 locations in the U.S.—4.6 for every county in the country—and a menu that executives acknowledge has become so bloated with items that it has slowed service. Mr. Thompson’s team, including Mr. Easterbrook, has unveiled a host of proposed solutions in recent months. It announced last month plans to eliminate low-selling items from its menu, and to expand experiments with more customized offerings. That followed a restructuring of its U.S. operations designed to give regions more autonomy to offer locally tailored products. This month, McDonald’s launched a new marketing campaign in the U.S. with commercials and food packaging designed to refresh its longtime “I’m lovin’ it” slogan, under Chief Marketing Officer Deborah Wahl, who joined in March, and McDonald’s USA President Mike Andres, who took over in October. Still, McDonald’s said it expects January same-store sales to decline, after a 3.6% decline in global customer traffic last year, including a 4.1% drop in the U.S. “Don got fatally behind the last couple of years,” said John Gordon, restaurant consultant at Pacific Management Consulting Group. “And he hasn’t presented to the investment community that he’s moving quickly to solve these problems.” McDonald’s has a history of promoting within its ranks rather than recruiting outsiders, which comes with the risk that the changes won’t be substantial. But some investors and analysts think the potential to shake-up the business is still there with Mr. Easterbrook. “While Easterbrook is an insider, I think his expertise and focus on branding, media, and menu should give him credibility in the areas that McDonald’s is most needing change and improvement,” said Will Slabaugh, restaurant analyst at Stephens investment bank. Investor Bill Smead, CEO of Smead Capital Management, said that even though Mr. Easterbrook and Mr. Thompson have long been on the same management team, that doesn’t mean they have the same management style. “I think Don [Thompson] just wasn’t inspiring the franchisees or people around him in the way that they needed to be,” said Mr. Smead, whose firm owns about 168,000 shares of McDonald’s. Mr. Easterbrook has zig-zagged through McDonald’s corporate leadership roles, starting in London as a financial reporting manager in 1993. He climbed the ranks of its U.K. operations and in September 2010 was named the top brand officer. After just two months, he took over as the president of the European operations—then left McDonald’s less than a year after that. He then served stints as CEO of two British restaurant chains, PizzaExpress Ltd. and Wagamama Ltd., before returning to McDonald’s in June 2013 to head up global brand operations once again. Last March, McDonald’s broadened Mr. Easterbrook’s responsibilities to include oversight for corporate strategy and the restaurant solutions group as well as sustainability and philanthropy. Mr. Easterbrook has been vocal about McDonald’s need to make itself attractive again to “millennials,” often defined as the group born between 1980 and 2000, who are now in their mid-teens to mid-thirties. That age bracket once was a core demographic for the chain. Millennials “want to buy into a brand not just from it,” he said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal last summer. “What we’ve got to do is find interesting and engaging ways to share that information with millennials, not old-fashioned corporate lecturing.” Also on Wednesday, McDonald’s appointed Google executive Margo Georgiadis to its board, representing a push to improve digital capabilities and connect with younger consumers. Mr. Thompson, McDonald’s first African-American CEO, took the helm after nearly a decade of prosperity led by Jim Skinner . Mr. Skinner became CEO in 2004, in the wake of McDonald’s last big business downturn. Mr. Skinner helped turn around McDonald’s U.S. operations, which had been suffering from overexpansion. Under his tenure, he slowed new-store openings and focused on improving the company’s operations. McDonald’s steered through the recession relatively unscathed, partly by rolling out coffee nationwide, which helped make the company one of the most successful restaurant chains at the time. By Mr. Thompson’s appointment as CEO in March 2012, McDonald’s stock price had nearly quadrupled since 2003 on strong revenue and profit gains.

Is Nokia really in decline after a decade of dominance?

http://www.tremeritus.com/2014/03/10/job-placements-decline-despite-record-jobs-vacancies/ Job placements decline, despite record jobs, vacancies? March 10th, 2014 | Author: Contributions I refer to the Department of Statistics’s (DOS) Monthly Digest of Statistics January 2014 released a few days ago. Job placements declining? Under Employment Services – the ratio of New Registrants to Placements has declined from 48% in July to 45, 38 and 33% in October, November and December, respectively. (Note: Placements – Number of people who were placed into employment by the career centres. This includes those who found their own jobs after receiving services from the career centres.) Record jobs, vacancies – but harder to get jobs? With record numbers of job vacancies, vacancies unfilled over 6 months and jobs creation for locals, in the 2 reports published recently by the Ministry of manpower (MOM) – why is it that the job placement rate for locals is declining? No breakdown into Singaporeans & PRs? Why is there no breakdown of the job placement statistics into Singaporeans and Permanent Residents (PRs)? Previous Job placement rate just over 10%? However, according to previous Monthly Digest of Statistics’ reports, the ratio of Job Seekers Placed in Employment to Job Seekers Attended To was 14%, 18% and 12%, for 2011, 2012 and December 2012, respectively. More or less job seekers? Job seekers dropped from 100,504 to 24,500? According to media reports, “between January and November 2012, the number of people approaching the CDCs for training and employment assistance was 24,500, a 3 per cent drop compared to the same period in 2011. The success rates of those being placed into employment has also been higher in 2012. 11,800 were placed into jobs between January and November 2012, compared to 10,100 for the same period in 2011″ However, according to the Department of Statistics’ (DOS) Monthly Digest of Statistics Singapore June 2012, job seekers attended to by the CDCs and e2i, was 99,608 and 100,504, in 2010 and 2011, respectively, and job seekers placed in employment was 17,732 and 14,223, respectively. (“Easier to get jobs?“, Sep 7 and “Latest statistical highlights: Job placement rate drops to 14%, Jul 17) “Job seekers attended to” changed to “New Registrants”? It would appear that the Monthly Digest of Statistics was changed to “New Registrants”, instead of ”job seekers attended to”. This change has resulted in a dramatic increase of the job placement rate from 14 and 18 per cent in 2011 and 2012, respectively, to 36 and 49 per cent. What is the definition and difference between “New Registrants” and ”job seekers attended to”? Was this change announced to anybody? Job placement rate increase 172% (by magic)? So, this change has literally “by the stroke of a pen” increased the job placement rate in 2011 and 2012 by 157 per cent (36 divided by 14) and 172 per cent (49 divided by 18), respectively. So, how is it possible that 100,504 job seekers attended to by the CDCs and e2i in 2011, has dropped dramatically to only 24,500 job seekers approaching CDCs in 11 months (excluding e2i?)? Uniquely Singapore! Leong Sze Hian Leong Sze Hian is the Past President of the Society of Financial Service Professionals, an alumnus of Harvard University, Wharton Fellow, SEACeM Fellow and an author of 4 books. He is frequently quoted in the media. He has also been invited to speak more than 100 times in 25 countries on 5 continents. He has served as Honorary Consul of Jamaica, Chairman of the Institute of Administrative Management, and founding advisor to the Financial Planning Associations of Brunei and Indonesia. He has 3 Masters, 2 Bachelors degrees and 13 professional qualifications. He blogs at www.leongszehian.com.

Newspaper reports that CH 5 viewership is on a steady decline The main gripes are that CH5 shows are lame, old or boring. To be very honest I never watched CH5 after getting cable (although cable quality also dropped a lot) CH5 used to have a nice show in the 90s called Hey Singapore! but other than that, they don't really have anything memorable. I consider shows like PCK to be extremely lame.

China Housing Prices Decline NOVEMBER 8, 2011 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405...3449783572.html Accelerating Fall in Sector Signals Government Efforts Are Working, but Raises Fears About Growth By DINNY MCMAHON, ESTHER FUNG and JAMES T. AREDDY BEIJING

So where do we stand? How many more immigrants are we taking in from now till then? This is a hard question our top dogs have to answer and will no longer be based on cold hard "end-justify-means" old way of doing things purely from economic sense of achieving an attractive GDP. From CNA: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/sin...1151560/1/.html Low fertility rate, no immigration will lead to S'pore's population decline By Tan Qiuyi | Posted: 07 September 2011 1105 hrs SINGAPORE: Singapore's resident population will decline and become extremely aged if the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) is extremely low and if there is no immigration. This is according to a landmark study on future population growth and change for Singapore published on Wednesday by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS). The study produced four population scenarios based on varying TFR and immigration levels. The study said with TFR at 1.24 births per woman and zero net migration, Singapore's population will decline to 3.03 million in 2050. With 30,000 migrants added annually, the population projection is 4.89 million in 2050. And with 60,000 migrants added annually, the population projection is 6.76 million in 2050. The study also looked at a situation where TFR can be raised to 1.85 births per woman by 2025 with no new immigration. With such a scenario, the study said population size can still only hit 3.37 million in 2050. The ratio of working people (between the ages of 15-64) to the elderly will also decrease. For instance, with low fertility and 30,000 new residents a year, the ratio drops from 8.6 in 2005, to 2.7 in 2050. A key conclusion obtained from the study is that without immigration, the total population will decline, even if Singapore's total fertility rate rises from the current 1.15 to 1.85. The number of working people available to support each elderly person is also set to drop in all the scenarios. However, Dr Yap Mui Teng, who is a senior research fellow at Institute of Policy Studies, said immigration can reduce the dependency burden. Dr Yap said: "Under the scenario with higher net migration, there will be more people of working ages to support each elderly, compared to the scenario with low migration or scenarios with zero net migration." Amid growing concerns from the ground about overcrowding and stiffer competition from foreign labour, some asked if population growth is absolutely necessary and how much is enough. Associate Professor Paulin-Tay Straughan from the National University of Singapore said it is important for the government to determine how much population growth is needed to ensure a balance between a vibrant economy and the social health of society. She said: "That's why these projections are so important. For us to understand how the projections are made, so that as a community together, we agree that these are the opportunity costs we're willing to accept because we all want to strive for this quality of life." The government had earlier said it does not target a specific population size. The study also projected that there will be fewer young people in Singapore if fertility rate remains low. The number of young people under 14 years of age will go down by more than half from 699,000 in 2005 to 274,400 by 2050. - CNA/fa/ac

1. Despite the facts that we're seeing the emergence of better spec Korean cars but when we look at the Sales figure of Hyundai in Singapore, it has been declining since year 2004. Year 2004 = 13,796 Year 2005 = 12,860 Year 2006 = 10,007 Year 2007 = 5,440 and Kia is no where to be seen on the Top 10 list. 2. This make me pondering that a simple economy theory exists where when the economy is good, people will buy more expensive stuff than cheaper items. Regards,