WARC (December 11)
“While China’s slowdown will continue to influence the economic landscape for other Asian markets – many marketers have seen budgets cut – bright spots are emerging, particular as India’s ‘mainstream’ consumer demographic continues to grow at pace.” Now expected to outpace China, India looks poised to add more mainstream consumers than China over the coming decade.
Institutional Investor (October 5)
In a recent survey “of 101 investors managing more than $1 trillion combined, 87 percent said they would support the activist campaign of a well-regarded investor if they believed change was necessary at the company in question…. Many of the investors view themselves as change makers, with roughly half saying their firms can meaningfully influence a company’s corporate governance.”
Reuters (September 28)
“Along with the ongoing decimation of Iraq’s Sunni population,” the Kurdish referendum “means that in practice ‘Iraq’ no longer exists. In its place is a Shiite state dominated by Iran, the de facto new nation of Kurdistan, and a shrinking population of Sunnis tottering between annihilation or reservation-like existence, depending on whether the United States uses the last of its influence to sketch out red lines or abandons the people to fate.”00
Tags: Annihilation, Decimation, Influence, Iran, Iraq, Kurdistan, Kurds, Referendum, Shiite, Sunni, U.S.
LA Times (August 3)
“In reality, a grand bargain with China” is unrealistic for North Korea. It would be difficult for China to shut down Kim Jong Un. Moreover, a grand bargain would “destroy America’s global influence, making it impossible for Washington to maintain stability in strategic areas, particularly in Asia and Europe. Indeed, merely proposing an agreement of this sort would make the U.S. into a paper tiger and compromise American credibility in Asia and around the world.”
Tags: Asia, China, Europe, Grand bargain, Influence, Kim Jong Un, North Korea, Stability, Strategic
New York Times (June 26)
“Mr. Trump’s demonizing of Iran, and his unwillingness to engage its government, could result in a broadening of the American military mission from defeating ISIS to preventing Iranian influence from expanding. This would be dangerous. Iran is a vexing state to be smartly managed, not assumed to be an implacable enemy.”
Tags: Broadening, Dangerous, Demonizing, Enemy, Influence, Iran, ISIS, Military, Mission, Trump, U.S., Vexing
Time (December 7)
“To his believers, he delivers change—broad, deep, historic change, not modest measures doled out in Dixie cups; to his detractors, he inspires fear both for what he may do and what may be done in his name.” Time magazine named Donald Trump their Person of the Year because he “had the greatest influence, for better or worse, on the events of the year.”
Tags: Change, Detractors, Fears, Historic, Influence, Inspires, Person of the Year, Time, Trump
Newsweek (November 1)
“Elon Musk could likely have more influence on America’s future foreign policy than whoever ends up as president” if he delivers on his promise of an all-electric version of his Model S car that matches “the driving distance of a gas-powered sedan at a comparable $30,000 price tag by 2020.” If he can pulls this feat off, “the geopolitical effects will be greater than anything since World War II. Maybe even greater.”
Tags: All electric, Driving distance, Foreign policy, Gas, Geopolitical, Influence, Model, Musk, President, Price, U.S.
Institutional Investor (January 3)
“The most powerful influence on current and future climate mitigation and practice is the sleeping giant: the consumer. When people wake up in the morning frightened that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet could detach from the continental shelf and cause an abrupt sea level change and all the geophysical mayhem that could accompany such an event, they might then make purchasing decisions calculated to alter commercial, industrial, municipal, national and international pollution practices and management.”
Tags: Climate mitigation, Commercial, Consumer, Industrial, Influence, Pollution, Purchasing decisions, Sea level change, Sleeping giant, West Antarctic Ice Sheet
New York Times (September 27)
Big money politics is reaching new highs in the U.S. “Top-tier Republican donors will pay $1.34 million per couple for the privilege of being treated as party insiders, while the Democratic Party will charge about $1.6 million.” Make that lows. “More big money can only leave less hope for voters concerned that the richest donors are buying ever more influence over politicians, with favoritism and corruption an inevitable result.”
Tags: Big money, Corruption, Democrat, Donors, Favoritism, Influence, Insiders, Politics, Republican, U.S., Voters
Wall Street Journal (May 28)
JPMorgan’s CEO Jamie Dimon told the “the truth about proxy advisory firms” when he urged investors not to blindly follow their guidance on corporate governance and shareholder votes. Firms like Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. and Glass Lewis & Co. “have enjoyed far too much influence over companies they don’t own and been subject to far too little scrutiny given their potential conflicts of interest.”
Tags: CEO, Conflicts, Glass Lewis, Governance, Guidance, Influence, Investors, ISS, Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan, Proxy advisory firms, Shareholders, Votes