China and Photovoltic (PV) Manufacturing

Energy crises is increasing day by day through out the World. China is trying its best to cope with the energy requirements of the time. In the first two financial quarters of 2010, Suntech Power Holdings Company Ltd. (Wuxi, China) surpassed previous industry leader First Solar Inc. (Tempe, Arizona, U.S.) in sales to become the world's largest solar photovoltaic (PV) manufacturer by revenue. During the third quarter of 2010, both Suntech and JA Solar Holdings Company Ltd. (Zhabei, China) surpassed First Solar in manufacturing capacities as well.

Such developments were hardly surprising to industry observers. This is a good pace of progress. Suntech and JA Solar are the tips of the iceberg in terms of China's enormous PV manufacturing industry, and such stories illustrate the slow consolidation of China as the undisputed center of the PV manufacturing world.

Clean energy manufacturing leaders

These trends have been establishing themselves for years, and are related to China's emergence in 2010 as the world's largest exporter and the economic powerhouse of the 21st century. However, PV manufacturing has unique conditions as an industry, and the reasons for China's dominance in PV manufacturing tell an important story with global relevance for other nations who seek to remain or become clean energy manufacturing leaders in the 21st century.

This report by Solar Server, with the assistance of iSuppli Corporation (El Segundo, California, U.S.), will cover the emergence of China as the world leader in PV manufacturing. Our focus is on recent developments in 2009 and 2010 and particularly shared characteristics of large Chinese PV manufacturers, as expressed by industry leading companies including Suntech, JA Solar, LDK Solar Company Ltd. (Xinyu, China), Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Ltd. (Baoding, China), Trina Solar Limited (Changzhou, China), and others.

Scale of the Chinese PV manufacturing industry

Chinese PV cell and module shipments have gained an increasing share of the world PV market every year since 2004. In 2009, the manufacturing operations of six of the top 15 cell manufacturers and seven of the top 15 module producers were based in China.

When taken together, Chinese manufacturers produced 3.84GW of PV cells and 3.60GW of PV modules during the year, representing roughly 2/5 of the roughly 10 GW of PV cells and the 8 GW of PV modules produced. China's market share of crystalline silicon (c-Si) PV is even higher, as c-Si represents the large majority of cells and modules produced in the nation.

As the scale of the global PV industry has grown and the factors leading to such changes have intensified in 2010, it is estimated that both total cells and modules produced by Chinese companies and market shares have increased as well.

Approval on Auto Loans

Normally it has been a problem which many people has to face while getting approved the loan for your car. Many time times it happen that people apply for the loan but due to their credit history their loans are rejected. There may be many more problems which may be faced while getting a loan or auto loan.

The current economic depression has affected millions of people. Many are seeing hard times. Most people are in desperate need of discounts on anything they find. Actually this desperation is the basic benefit for the banks which are giving loans. With a radical increase in unemployment, it has become difficult for several families to pay off all their bills. People are cutting down on their expenses as much as possible and are even neglecting financial obligations like those of their car insurance. This makes it all the more difficult to get any kind of loan approved. But fortunately, instant approval auto loans are available online for those having a poor or a bad credit score. At last if a person gets auto loan then many times it becomes very difficult to pay back that loan. this is the thing which a ban has to get ensure that if he can get its loan and interest amount back.

It is difficult for most people to get their car loans approved by a local bank. But this does not mean that they cannot apply for loans anywhere. These people can easily avail the online auto financing services which are available to them round the clock. These online services give them instant approval on auto loans. These loans are approved in less than a minute and customers can easily buy a car of their choice. These auto loans come with great offers from a number of different lenders. The best part of these loans is that the customers do not need to go out of their houses. The whole process can be accomplished by sitting in the comfort of their homes. Most people may believe that because they have a poor or a bad credit rating, their loans might not get approved by lenders. But the good news is that, today’s lenders are very much conscious of the tremendous economic crisis that had hit the country. They feel the after-effects of the crisis and keep their doors open, so that their profits do not go down. They are also worried as they can find themselves being unable to pay their bills.

Many online auto lenders today are offering instant approval on car loans to those individuals who have not been that fortunate enough to have good credit score. If you have been denied any loan approval in the past because of your poor credit, there is no need for you to get tensed. There are now several options open for you if you are looking to bring about a change in your future and restore your credit record. Many of those with bad credit records have got their auto loans instantly approved by applying online. Looking out for instant approval on auto loans online is the very first step in having this loan process work in your favor.

There are numerous online lending agencies which specialize in auto loans for folks with bad or poor credit history. This is very helpful if you’ve ever had trouble in getting your loans approved before. All you need to do is to fill up an online form. This will bring about several offers in less than a minute. These instant auto loans have also been helpful to those individuals who had to face a lot of trouble in keeping their jobs, just because of the lack of transportation. Don’t you think this to be a great idea to purchase your own car rather than availing public transport?

Ezautofinance.net Company offers bad credit auto loans for people with poor credit or no credit for new or used vehicles with flexible terms such as no money down and no prepayment penalty through the network of sub-prime lenders. Applying online for instant auto financing eliminates the applications or processing fees that are normally associated with getting a car loan. One must be think many times before applying an auto loan because sometimes this may be a very bad decision.

American Management

Management have been a big issue for many firms and associations. After a decade of painstaking research, we have concluded that American firms are on average the best managed in the world. This is not what we—a group of European researchers—expected to find. But while Americans are bad at football (or soccer, as it's known as locally), they are the Brazilians of Management. If you are good in management then you have a good talent in running an association

Over the past decade, a team from Harvard Business School, London School of Economics, McKinsey & Company, and Stanford has systematically surveyed global management. We have developed a tool to measure management practices across operational management, monitoring, targets, and people management. We scored each dimension on a range of practices to generate an overall management score, surveying over 10,000 firms in 20 countries. This has allowed us to create the first global database of management practices.

Let us see some findings after research.

Well managed firms thrash their poorly managed competitors

First, not surprisingly, we find that organizations with better management massively outperform their disorganized competitors. They make more money, grow faster, have far higher stock market values, and survive for longer. (For details see our previous HBR blog post.)

The American Management Century

Second, when it comes to overall management, American firms outperform all others. This U.S. dominance occurs in the manufacturing, retail, and health care sectors (but interestingly, not in high schools). Japanese, German, and Swedish firms follow closely behind. In contrast, developing countries like Brazil, China, and India lag at the bottom of the management charts. Southern European countries like Portugal and Greece appear to have management practices barely better than those of most developing countries. In the middle stand countries like the UK, France, Italy, and Australia, which have reasonable but not brilliant management practices.

Bottom dwellers drive the rankings down

While the ranking of countries is certainly eye-catching, the real story lies within the countries. Almost 90% of the cross-country differences are driven by the size of the "tail" of really badly managed firms within each country. Countries like the U.S. that excel have hardly any badly managed firms, while those like India that have low average scores have a mass of very badly managed firms pulling down their averages.

Every country has some world-class firms

But while there are many of these extremely badly managed, every country also hosts some excellent firms. Even bottom-ranking India has dozens of firms that use world-class management practices. A key takeaway is that individual companies are not trapped by the national environments in which they operate — there are top performers in all countries surveyed. Conversely, being in a world-class environment like the U.S. does not guarantee success. Even in America, more than 15% of firms are so badly managed that they are worse than the average Chinese or Indian firm.

What is the secret sauce of management success?

One of the biggest drivers of these differences is variation in people management. American firms are ruthless at rapidly rewarding and promoting good employees and retraining or firing bad employees. The reasons are threefold.

1. The U.S. has tougher levels of competition. Large and open U.S. markets generate the type of rapid management evolution that allows only the best-managed firms to survive.

2. Human capital is important. America traditionally gets far more of its population into college than other nations.

3. The U.S. has more flexible labor markets. It is much easier to hire and fire employees.

Many developing-country firms, even while trying to implement new techniques like Lean Management, ignore the fact that labor is different from other "inputs." Many of the Chinese firms surveyed did not even employ managers who spoke the same language as the workers, relying on interpreters or basic sign-language for communication. As you can imagine, this does not lead to a feeling of mutual support between management and workers.

But the U.S. should not be complacent. Other countries equal or better the U.S. in some of the other areas of management we examined, such as careful monitoring, lean production, and sensible targets. The manufacturing prowess of Germany, which has helped it weather the recent downturn so well, is built upon such advantages. Furthermore, although Chinese management practices are well below U.S. standards, they showed the fastest improvement since 2006 of any country we have looked at.

Changing the ranks and reaping the rewards

What lessons emerge for others wanting to reach the top of the ranking?

The answer is not for all firms to be more American but rather to consider some of the practices U.S. firms—and especially U.S. multinationals—continually exhibit and implement. Across all countries, organizations that properly incentivize talented workers, whether through promotion, pay, or other rewards, outperform others. As best practices spread and firms continue to implement these techniques they will narrow the existing gaps, reaping huge growth and profitability gains. To improve management we have to see many things. Let us see and keep reading.

Car Loan and Second Chance Auto Loans

To own a car gives you a different feeling than not owning it. You feel comfort while you know that a car is present in your porch which can be used by you any time. But one main condition that comes with purchasing a car is the application for loans. This is the most preferred method among all of us who either wish to purchase a car for the first time, or already have one. While applying for loans, it is important to see whether we have good credit score. A good credit record always works in favor of the customer willing to purchase a car. But, people who do not have a good credit score may as well apply for car loans.

You might be tired of traveling in a public transport. Is your bad credit report deterring you from buying a good car? These are no longer any issues, if you take the help of the web. The Internet helps you to find a suitable lender so that you can apply for second chance auto loans. Many lenders offer these types of loan programs to people who have suffered due to their existing economy. It does not matter if your credit score went down because of health issues, temporary unemployment, divorce, or any other reasons. If you have a stable income and are at least 18 years old you can always qualify to buy a new car or a used one despite of your credit history.

Several people have become unemployed over the last couple of years due to economic recession. Due to this, credit scores of most people have been damaged by late payments or even missed payments. Auto lenders recognize this and have come up with second chance auto loans to help you get back your lost position. These lenders know that by excluding anyone and everyone who has had issues regarding credit score, they will not be able to give out many loans.

Auto loans have their own advantages and disadvantages. Though you would be given the loan to buy a car of your choice, you need to be aware of some important things. Second chance auto loans are usually given to individuals with a bad credit history so you might get a loan at a comparatively higher rate of interest than the traditional loan.

The time period of your loan repayment is a critical issue with second chance auto loan. Some companies do not allow much time for repayment. This means that less your payback time, more will be your payment amount. So, keeping that in mind, you are required to do your homework first. Prior to your car loan application, draft out a monthly income statement to calculate the maximum amount that you can pay every month.

With the economy improving gradually, many lenders came up with second chance auto loans so as to help people rebound along with the economy. They can examine the economic situation you are currently in, and help you with your credit score to qualify for an auto loan so that you can purchase a new or a used car. In the current scenario it may be more difficult to purchase a new car due to many other restraints. But by second Chance Auto loans you may think about it.

What Can push down oil prices

Oil may be the main focus for U.S. like many other countries. As oil a very rapidly running out from the site. U.S. crude futures extended losses on Friday as sluggish economic indicators raised doubts about the sustainability of a recent acceleration in demand growth by top oil consumer the United States. Jobless claims in the U.S. unexpectedly increased last week as the manufacturing, construction and education sectors shed workers, a report showed on Thursday. Now let us have a factory activity. Factory activity growth braked to its slowest pace in 10 months in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region in June, raising concerns that an anemic U.S. economic recovery is faltering. U.S. light, sweet crude fell 21 cents to $76.58 in Asian trade, after settling down 88 cents at $76.79 a day earlier. That was down 12 percent from an early-May 19-month peak above $87, even after an 18 percent recovery from a trough below $65 on May 20. “There is still an element of caution,” said David Moore, an analyst at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
Today many jobs are connected with the oil business. Just think if oil vanishes from earth then how many jobless will be created due to the remote effects of it. The number will be so tremendous that almost it will look like that every one has become jobless.

“U.S. economic data is quite uneven and that’s raised doubts about the robustness of the economic recovery. Fundamentally, the market is not tight. Inventories are high and there is surplus capacity,” Moore said. But London Brent crude shrugged off the weak economic statistics, supported by easing concern about Spain’s sovereign debt woes. August Brent gained 2 cents on Friday to $78.70 after rising on Thursday. Spain’s Treasury does not need to sell any more bonds to deal with a 24 billion euro ($29.43 billion) bout of debt repayments in July, an economy ministry source said on Thursday. U.S. stocks rose in a late rally on Thursday, while European shares and the euro gained on reassuring demand for Spanish government bonds. Japan’s Nikkei average edged up 0.2 percent on Friday, climbing back towards a one-month high hit earlier in the week.

Brimming crude stockpiles at the Cushing, Oklahoma pricing point for WTI, which rose 200,000 barrels to 37.6 million barrels last week, put additional pressure on U.S. crude prices relative to European benchmark Brent, analysts including Moore said. Comparing August contracts, WTI was trading about 80 cents lower than Brent on Friday. The front-month July WTI contract is likely to behave more erratically as it nears expiry on June 22. “Often these things occur when there are high levels of liquidity at Cushing,” Moore said. “WTI expiry is getting close and you normally get some changes in positions.”

U.S. lawmakers accused BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward of evasion and ducking responsibility for the worst oil spill in U.S. history when he appeared before them on Thursday to answer charges his company cut corners on its blown-out Gulf of Mexico well.

The day is not so remote when Gulf of Mexico well will be facing oil less time forever, so it is the time to think about the future oil if it exists !

Future Fuel Business

If you have an experience to fly into any major city around the world and you will be greeted with a familiar sight: a sheen of brown smog that floats over the city. This smog comes mostly from cars etc.

Along with this smog comes carbon dioxide, the gas that's principally responsible for climate change. The steady increase in pollution has caused governments around the world to create legislation that will limit the volume of greenhouse gases that we can put into the atmosphere. The Australian Government has committed to reducing our greenhouse gas emissions by between five and 15 per cent below year 2000 levels by 2020.

In addition to reducing pollution, many nations, such as the United States, have talked about energy independence. That is, being able to generate energy, especially renewable energy, domestically without having to rely on imported oil either from unstable regions of the world or from regimes deemed unfriendly.

Today we are worried about our cars that if we will be able to run them in the future or not? Don't worry, the car will not disappear. But there may be chances that our current cars may be modified or entirely useless which is of the great concern. It may also happen that in future cars may be so costly that only few in a city would be able to buy them. Even as you read, today's scientists are researching tomorrow's fuels. Here are the three most promising candidates.

Hydrogen as a fuel

• Good: More energy rich per kilogram than petrol or battery-powered electric cars • Produces only water as exhaust • Refuels faster than electric cars
• Bad: Very expensive to produce • Difficult to store and transport • Incompatible with current infrastructure
• Bottom line: Although on paper it's an extremely promising fuel, high costs and problems with storage means that a lot needs to be done to make hydrogen the fuel of the future. This shows that a car will be a dream for many in future.
  

In many ways hydrogen is an ideal fuel. In fact, when scientists really needed a fuel that would go the distance, they turned to hydrogen to generate power on NASA's Apollo missions — hydrogen was used as a propellant for the Saturn V rockets, while hydrogen fuel cells were used to power the electronics inside the command modules — including the Apollo 11 mission that landed the first humans on the moon in 1969.

As hydrogen is gas under normal conditions, it's typically compressed under high pressure, in a similar manner to the liquid petroleum gas (LPG) that's commonly used in Aussie taxis and other high mileage vehicles. While taxis burn LPG instead of petrol in a normal internal combustion engine, hydrogen fuel cells are quite a different beast.

While fuel cells may sound fancy, they are actually quite similar to batteries. Like batteries, fuel cells generate electricity, meaning that any car that runs off a fuel cell is actually an electric car. Also like batteries, fuel cells mix two chemicals that react to produce an electric current.

However, the important difference with fuel cells is that, unlike batteries, they do not store energy internally. Rather, they have their "fuel" fed directly into the battery "cell", thus the term fuel cell. To simplify things, think of fuel cells as batteries that eat out, rather than bring their lunch.

Now keep on reading my blog for more information and Future guidance.

Can China Produce Future Cars

In the near future it is looking a big deal to produce a car of easy Fuel . Now question is which country is going to produce it. The days are not very far when we will find our current cars useless. Now let us have a look on the producers. One of the biggest Chinese car dealerships, Pang Da Automobile Trade, offered a €110m (£96m) cash injection to get Saab back on the road. Pang Da has handed over €30m for the delivery to Shanghai of 1,300 vehicles, enough perhaps to allow Saab to restart production this week.

But obstacles remain. Saab's suppliers need convincing that Spyker will be able to pay its bills regularly. And the biggest part of the deal with Pang Da, which will see the Chinese firm pay €65m for a 24% stake in the Dutch group, needs regulatory approval from Swedish stakeholders and the Chinese authorities – and that will take time. Saab has a complex ownership structure.

A bigger problem is that Saab needs to set up a manufacturing joint venture in China to gain exposure to the booming Asian market. But Pang Da is not a producer, so the hunt is on to find a Chinese carmaker prepared to join the alliance. Only then will Saab have any hope of a go-ahead from Beijing.

During its 20 years under GM ownership, Saab hardly ever turned a profit. The popular view was that as GM's finances deteriorated (it had to be bailed out by the US government in 2009), it starved Saab of investment.

But Spyker, headed by the enigmatic Victor Muller, has hardly been more successful. Last year, it produced just 32,000 cars, shy of its 50,000 target and well below the 120,000 that analysts believe it needs to break even. Hence the liquidity crisis.

According to Garel Rhys at Cardiff business school, Saab has been on borrowed time for years. "People call it a niche player but it's going up against the likes of BMW, which sells 1.2m units a year. Nor does it have a big backer like Audi, owned by Volkswagen. These days, you need to be a global player, and Saab isn't one."

Saab's heyday was in the 1970s and 80s, when it was one of the first car firm to popularize the turbocharger and the front-wheel drive.

Tim Urquhart, an analyst with IHS Global Insight, says recently Saab has been unable to differentiate itself from its German rivals. And it needs to come up with successful new models, in particular a replacement for its nine-year-old 9-3, its most popular car.

He says: "If Saab is going to work in China, it probably needs to go more upmarket. The Chinese don't want a reheated old-fashioned product. They want something classy and new."

Arguably, what Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation has done with MG Rover could be a template for Saab. SAIC is creating new models out of MG for the Chinese market, and slowly introducing them to Europe. The new MG6 five-door "fastback" is a case in point.

But that still leaves Saab fumbling for a Chinese manufacturing partner, and it must be a good one. SAIC is China's biggest carmaker. Geely, which took over Volvo last year, is the country's fifth-largest. "It's important they get in bed with the right company because the Chinese are looking to consolidate the sector, so an alliance with a two-bit player won't work," says Rhys.

Last week, Muller said he was optimistic about Pang Da, which he described as "a forward-looking, profitable and well-capitalised public company that sees enormous potential for our brand in their home market."

Pang Qinghua, chief executive of Pang Da, was equally enthusiastic, saying new products such as the new Saab 9-5 and 9-4X, "make this the right time for Saab to enter the Chinese market". Separately, Spyker said last week that a new version of 9-3 could be launched "at some point in 2012". Let us see what is the future plan of the day.

Business In Kuwait

Rules For Business In Kuwait:-The rules of commerce are in general similar to West European practice.
Any Kuwaiti or GCC national over 21 years of age may carry on commerce in Kuwait provided he or she is not affected by a personal legal restriction. But a foreigner (non-GCC national) may not carry on a trade unless he or she more Kuwaiti partners and the capital owned by the Kuwaiti partners(s) in the joint business is not less than 51 % of the total capital (60 % in the case of banks, investments houses and insurance companies). A foreign firm (including a partnership) may not set up a branch and may not perform any commercial activities in the country except through a Kuwait agent. Foreign individuals and firms may not acquire commercial licences in there own name nor may they own real estate locally.
The main laws regulating business in Kuwait, which have been amended several times since they were issued, are (a) The civil code (Law 67 of 1980), (b) The commercial code (Law 68 of 1980), and (c) The commercial companies law (Law 15 of 1960).
Is Business License Necessary ?

To do business, silences is necessary. General trading, contracting, importing and industrial license are issued by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry (MCI). For particular commercial activities, specific licences are requierd and these are often issued by the ministry that controls that activity, eg publishing licenses are granted by the Ministry of Information.
Business licenses are only issued to Kuwaiti nationals and Kuwait companies and. In some cases, to GCC nationals and companies. Costs are usually KD100 per licenses, All licenses require period renewal, normally even two years.
The right to import goods into Kuwait on a commercial basis is restricted to Kuwait individuals and firms who are member of the Kuwait Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI) and who have import licenses issued by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry (MCI).

Import License Is Required:
General import licenses, which must be renewed annually, allow any amount of a variety of products from any country to be imported any number of times. But special licenses are needed to bring in regulated products such as arms, ammunition and explosive, ethyl alcohol, drugs, pesticides, jewellery and precious stone, weights and weighing machines, vintage cars, etc; these too must be renewed annually. Special licences are also needed to import industrial equipment and spare parts; these are issued to industrial firms upon the recommendation of the public Authority for industry and are valid for a single use only.
To protect local morals, alcoholic beverages and materials used in making them, pigs, pork, pork and pigskin products (such as handbags, wallets and shoes), narcotics and associated plants and seeds, pornographic and subversive materials, are, among other items, prohibited. To protect local industry, items such as vehicles over 5 years old and goods manufactured locally are prohibited. Items injurious to health, such as air-guns, asbestos and cyclamates, are banned import from Israel and Iraq are banned absolutely.
All imports, as well as locally made items, must comply with Kuwaiti standard specifications (GCC), a set of common standards being devised under the GCC’s Unified Economic Agreement, apply, and if there is no suitable GCC, the product must adhere to international standards.