- •Vocabulary Commentary
- •All yours Manufacturing companies are increasingly using the Internet to give customers the impression of personal service. But true customisation needs new production techniques as well
- •Vocabulary
- •Can Bayer Cure Its Own Headache? Shareholders would like it to shed everything but health care
- •Vocabulary
- •«Байер» перестраивается
- •Nokia's next act Can the Finnish giant stay on top in an age of commodity phones and stalling sales?
- •Vocabulary
- •Canon Cutting Edge By trimming down to four product lines, it's making record profits
- •Halfway down a long road Carlos Ghosn's efforts to meld Nissan with Renault have become the stuff of management legend. But the alliance faces some daunting challenges
- •Can Ford Fix This Flat?
- •Vocabulary
- •Vocabulary
- •A Challenge From the Nimble Newcomers
- •Mergers & Acquisitions Will the latest cycle of European mergers produce better results?
- •Vocabulary
- •Vocabulary Commentary
- •Independent directors at big public companies need to be tougher
- •Vocabulary
- •Vocabulary
- •U r Sakd
- •Is there a nice way?
- •Simon London finds the post of chief operating officer falling prey to a new breed of executive with greater powers and access to the boss
- •The Bottom Line on Options
- •Unit 13 Consolidation
- •Will ceOs Find Their Inner Choirboy?
- •Пролетая над Таити
- •Vocabulary
- •Useful Words and Phrases
- •«Нортел»
- •The Numbers Game Companies use every trick to pump earnings and fool investors. The latest abuse: "Pro forma" reporting"
- •Vocabulary
- •Unit 15
- •I swear… Oaths are only a small step in the business of cleaning up American companies
- •Something must be done
- •Vocabulary
- •Holier Than Thou European sanctimony over American accounting scandals is misplaced
- •Et, the extra-territorial
- •Vocabulary
- •Revenge of the Bean Counters No longer frail in the face of fraud, accounting firms are thriving on new u.S. Laws that give them real clout
- •Half Measures
- •Bad for cfOs, Good for Investors
- •Хранители прозрачности или слуга двух господ
- •Unit 16
- •Up from the ashes Amid a global wave of business failures, American firms are more likely to get a second chance. Unfair competition, or a lesson for Europeans?
- •Eurotunnel vision
- •Vocabulary
- •Var crash
- •Vocabulary
- •Европа уходит за рубеж
- •Goldman's German revolution
- •Have Fat Cats Had Their Day?
- •Unit 18
- •Stronger foundations New proposals for regulating banks are both a step in the right direction and evidence of how hard it is to monitor the riskiness of the banking system
- •Vocabulary
- •Vocabulary
- •Английский характер
- •Unit 19
- •Conflicts, conflicts everywhere Was America wrong to scrap the laws that kept commercial and investment banking apart?
- •Vocabulary
- •Care To Buy Some David Bowie Bonds
- •In Europe, securitization is the hottest way to raise cash
- •Beautifying Branches
- •Instead of axing their branches, banks are inventing new ways to make money out of them
- •Slippery
- •Coffee, Tea, or Mortgage?
- •Life Branches?
- •The world's biggest retailer edges into financial services
- •Гросс-банки сокращаются
- •Feeding Frenzy
- •Tough Questions for aig's Auditors Regulators are probing if PwC let the financial shenanigans slip through
- •Watchdogs with Eyes Wide Shut As investigators pore over the books of aig, it's becoming clear that for years regulators failed to detect lapses
- •Goldman's German Revolution
- •Another Year, Another Scandal
- •Digging out at Allianz The German financial-services giant is back in the black — but still struggling
- •A Dedicated Enemy of Fashion Most companies claim to run their business for the long term. Nestle is one of the few that really does
- •More Pain, Waiting for the Gains Drastic action as gm's cash pile runs down
- •«Морган Стэнли» увольняет сотрудников, чтобы оставшиеся лучше работали
Digging out at Allianz The German financial-services giant is back in the black — but still struggling
WHEN MICHAEL Diekmann took over as chief executive of Allianz last April, the sprawling Munich financial-services empire was mired in its deepest crisis since World War II. The company's mainstay insurance business had been hammered by payouts for claims related to terrorist attacks and natural disasters, its assets were withered by a plunge in equity markets, and its Dresdner Bank subsidiary was swimming in red ink.
Critics questioned Allianz' financial stability after it posted a huge $1.45 billion loss. There were skeletons everywhere. "Whenever they pulled open a drawer, they'd find anotiier problem," says Sven Janssen, who follows Allianz for Metzier, the private bank in Frankfurt.
A year later, Allianz still faces huge challenges. But analysts say it's on track to emerge as a much stronger competitor to global rivals. The U-turn comes after Diekmann & Co. cut $2.3 billion in costs by slashing head count, auctioning off noncore holdings such as its stake in British insurer Ml. Assurance and AGF Life & Pension Brazil, and revamping key subsidiaries such as U.S. property-and-casualty underwriter Fireman's Fund Insurance Co. Investors have taken notice of the changes: Allianz' share price has risen 77% in the past 12 months.
"We have made significant progress," says Diekmann, 49. "And the capital market has acknowledged our efforts."
Business Week
• Text 8. Translate the text orally paying attention to the words relating to food. Can you explain the choice of these words?
A Dedicated Enemy of Fashion Most companies claim to run their business for the long term. Nestle is one of the few that really does
PETER BRABECK is used to the name-calling by now. Boring, lame duck, sleeping giant — he has heard them all. Sitting in his office in Vevey, overlooking Lake Geneva, the chief executive of the world's biggest food company is almost proud that Nestle has been dismissed as dull for much of its 136-year history.
What worries him far more are accusations that the Swiss group is swapping a consistent, long-term strategy of controlled expansion for an unbridled acquisition spree to pep up its growth rate — and that it is doing so just when dullness is back in fashion in the business world.
By any definition, Nestle is already a giant. It owns an array of global brands, including Nescafe, the world's bestselling instant coffee.
The company is keen to grow even bigger, and acquisitions have a role to play. While most of its previous takeovers were small, now Nestle has acquired a taste for big, expensive bites, and Nestle's finance chief, has even said the company would sacrifice its cherished AAA credit rating for the right deal.
For Mr Brabeck, there is no contradiction here — and certainly no change in strategy. As he points out, acquisitions have always been part of the Nestle way, with bouts of feeding usually followed by periods of digestion.
Nor does Mr Brabeck see anything wrong with a streak of opportunism, even at a high price, when a "filet mignon" comes up for sale. "They are very rare, those pieces," he says. "When you have such an opportunity, it fits strategically and you want to be a leader in that area, I don't see why you shouldn't act." By this definition, Ralston Purina was pure filet mignon — as, he concedes without bitterness, was Bestfoods, which was snapped up by Unilever, his nearest rival.
He describes Hershey, perhaps a little disingenuously, as "entrecote" — a slightly inferior cut of meat. After all, with a 43% share of American confectionery sales, it would give Nestle a big lead in the world's biggest chocolate market, where the Swiss group is currently number three.
The Economist
Notes
filet mignon [filemi'njon]- Fr. a thick, round cut of lean beef tenderloin broiled
entrecote [antrekot] - Fr. a boned rib steak
• Text 9. Translate the text orally. Make a list of words and phrases used metaphorically to describe the company's plight.