Dollar General’s Cheshire Store Plan On The Rocks As Settlement Paid To Discriminated Long Beach Store Worker
Plans for a Dollar General appear to be stymied by a number of issues; settlement paid at $32,500 in a race discrimination lawsuit.
Dollar General Corp’s (NYSE:DG) attempts to open up a store in Cheshire, Massachusetts, seems to be stumbling. Town Administrator, Mark Webber, has put the brakes on the building permit approval after Building Commissioner, Gerald Garner, rejected it, as it was "unacceptable and incomplete”, not because of the fact that the design submitted did not address all the features or that it felt short of building codes and regulations.
Selectperson Robert Ciskowski inquired if the town council had the power to grant that permit, since the new zoning laws came into effect in the last meeting a few days ago, since Dollar General has not yet completed the building ‘permitting process’. Mr. Webber says that Dollar General is looking into the issue, even though it has conducted work on the system.
Selectperson Carol Francesco, on the other hand, says that the company is facing problems with the landowner, as the construction of a new store contains the 19th century Second Empire mansion. To this end, Dollar General Corp has decided that its engineering firm has persuaded it to move to another direction.
Meanwhile, the company has agreed to pay $32,500 in settling the discrimination lawsuit filed by a black employee in Long Beach, Miss., store. In the case filed by Demetrice Hersey, the company refused to promote her to a vacant position as the assistant manager because of her race. Instead, less qualified white people were hired for the position. The suit also stated that the employee was subjected to retaliation for even complaining about the company, denying the allegations. Black people are a majority in the Gulf Coast region, including in Mississippi, yet they are still targets of discrimination in their daily lives.
Eventually, an agreement has been settled whereby, in addition to the compensation, Dollar Group Inc. has agreed to maintain effective policies regarding anti-discrimination practices for all newly hired employees. These policies will be provided to all employees to ensure no future unfair conduct takes place, including a management-training program, on top of ensuring that discrimination complaints are properly investigated.
Dollar General stock price has remained flat at $75.93, even though the company was granted a “Buy” rating amongst analysts for its strong and accelerating revenue growth rate that has been outperforming other organizations for the past several years. It also witnessed improved earnings per share, despite having trouble with getting approvals for its store construction, especially when it is fighting a case in court for building one in West Virginia.
Toyota To Expand Its Philippines Factory Production
Toyota to take advantage from the automotive reforms in Philippines.
Japan’s renowned automotive manufacturer, Toyota Motor Corp.’s Philippine business wishes to expand the production capacity of its local plant. The company has plans to increase the capacity by 20 percent in the coming two years so that they can start taking advantage from the incentives offered by
The Philippines previously came up with a mechanism that will be providing various incentives to the minute automotive industry in the region. These incentives are likely to compound to $600 million and will span for a period of 6 years. The aim of this venture is to breathe in life to the automotive sector, maximize the declining outputs and cope up with the competitors giving them a tough battle.
Toyota’s Motor’s Philippines operation is basically a joint venture done with the GT Capital Holdings Inc. the local conglomerate. Both the companies are working towards increasing the production capacity to 20 percent which is now stuck at 10 percent from the current to be 40,000 per annum reported the vice chairman of the firm, Mr. Alfred Ty.
According to Mr. Ty "We need to improve efficiency and we have to expand. Our capacity is quite stretched.” He further added that the utilization plant has a rate of more than 90 percent currently.
Toyota Motors has been successful in maintaining a dominant position to captivate
According to the scheme devised by the company, an automotive firm can get benefits for a car model if that car actually has the potential to compete with the rivals. The agenda is to plan and make new investments in target production and assembly with a pumped up volume of 200,000 more than six years along with other requirements.
Toyota in Philippines would be able to take benefits through the incentive from its car Vios since the monthly production which was initially 2,000 is now expected to increase by 2,500 reported Ty.
Considering the output, the volume that will be required under this plan only two automotive company’s fall in the criteria to benefit from the incentives. This includes Mitsubishi Motors and Toyota Motor Corp reported
Hence, Toyota Motors is on the right track that will help them attain stability.
Novartis Chief Advocates Low Drug Pricings
Mr. Joe Jimenez advocates slashing the prices of drugs.
The chief executive officer of Novartis AG Mr. Joe Jimenez, who has also been appointed as the new President for the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries mentioned in an interview to the renowned Financial Times that the firm acknowledges the fact that Novartis along with other companies in the pharmaceutical business needs to come up with a new pricing model that will be solely based on the outcome of drugs. According to him, this is an attempt to keep the health systems of Europe afloat.
He has warned the pharmaceutical sector should not have this on their mind that they will get incentivized for those drugs that have marginal benefits above all other drugs. Or on the other hand, they should not go to extents in order to manufacture benefits for the industry.
According to Mr. Jimenez, “What’s coming is not a pretty picture for anybody in the next 10 years and unless we help reduce demand on the health system it is just going to mean more cost containment, more rationing of care and that’s not good for the industry."
The prices of drugs have become the talk of the town and have become a source of scrutiny all over the European market. The population of Europe is aging at a rapid pace thus these health care provider are struggling to keep pace with the market needs. This actually has resulted in a demand for the system to become more efficient and cost effective in the pharmaceutical market.
So in order to explain it, the drug manufacturing companies need to transform their strategy and move on from conventional businesses. These companies are currently launching a massive number of drugs with no concern about the effectiveness of these drugs. What they need to do is start considering the outcomes for patients and add more value to the drug.
The pharmaceutical firms have become a relatively softer target in terms of budget cuts since there have been many efforts that can minimize the level of wastage. According to BidnessETC, “The focus now is also more on preventive health care rather than on treating disease after their onset. This, as per Jimenez, will create a short-term disadvantage for pharmaceutical companies but in the long run turn out to be beneficial as it will free up essential cash in health care spending for high-value investments in researching on new treatments.”
Hence the more the prices are slashed, the better it will get for drug manufacturers.
Google Inc: Al Technology Might Not be As Harmful As Believed
The search engine giant is working on artificial intelligence and has assured the customers that it is not as harmful as people think it to be.
According to a press release that was recently held, it was announced that Google Inc would now be experimenting in the field of artificial intelligence for various purposes. However, this news was not taken as well by the industry as expected and many analysts were of the belief that this whole idea of AI is not going to work in a positive manner in the future. Also, many analysts suggested that this might end up disrupting the industry in the most malicious manner. In response to that, a report by the Wall Street Journal analysts was released only recently which stated that according to a new research made on AI, it has emerged that the threat that was previously believed to be received from the technology is actually not as destructing as supposed.
Reports have in the past exclaimed that artificial intelligence is a huge threat to the humanity in a lot of different ways, but as per the recent research, analysts are seen saying that the threat is not deadly at all. In fact, this new technology can be used by the search engine giant company to fulfill quite a lot of needs, all in a positive manner. A research that was seen to be carried out by eminent scientists a few weeks back has emerged with positive results about the technology and scientists who carried it out are of the opinion that the whole idea of AI being a deadly threat to humanity is an amusing idea because such a thing is nowhere near possible, unless misused.
In the past, prominent personalities like Microsoft’s founder Bill Gates, Stephen Hawking and Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk have all been noted to say that artificial intelligence is dangerous for human kind. This, however, has been dismissed by Suleyman, who is one of the founders of DeepMind, a company that works in the field of AI and was acquired by the search engine giants only last year. Suleyman is of the opinion that artificial intelligence is like every other innovation and creation that man has so far made. Just like machines like cars and washing machines, if not used with caution, the results might come out to be dangerous. In the same way, if used in the proper manner and as instructed, this technology can be used in a much better way without causing anyone harm.
Before Google Inc took over DeepMind, the company was seen to gain momentum over a research released by its management in which it stated that AI has helped computers play Atari SA games in a much more efficient way than humans.
Google And Amazon Are In The Race To Get A Hold Of Person's DNA Into The Cloud
The cloud genomics market is expected to grow to $1bn by 2018.
Google Inc. (NASDAQ:
There is intense competition with the two companies offering their cloud computer offerings, such as the Google Genomics and Amazon Web Services - providing a choice scenario for academic institutions and health care companies.
That growth is driven by the desire for a personalized medicine, which is to treat the patient based on his/her DNA profile, but making that happen will require data in enormous quantities to find out that particular genetic profile of those persons so that a suitable treatment is figured out.
Universities and drug manufacturers, on the other hand, are embarking on hundreds or thousands of projects in a bid to find the sequence of the genomes from hundreds of people, who are taking part in the medical studies.
Many of Google’s and Amazon’s clients spoken to, have said that they are highly appreciable for the two companies to take this leap since genomics data is a big task to store in their own computers, helping to control costs and can be easily accessed and shared.
In addition to storing DNA data, the companies are also going all out in developing the analytical functions to let the scientists make sense of the data – and this is where IBM and Microsoft are stepping in to exert their authority in the market.
Craig Venter, owner of the San Diego-based Human Longevity, which has privately been sequencing the human genome since the late 1990s, had been importing genomic data servers at the J. Craig Venter Institute in Rockville, Maryland, but the organization now uses the services of Amazon’s Web Services.
In a bid to lure customers to their side, Amazon and Google are each hosting well-known genomics data free for a limited period – and it seems that Amazon’s Web Services may be running as the winner for the time being.
Another sales pitch by the two companies is the use of analytical tools to fish out DNA variant that predicts the disease risk level from a pool of data. According to Google Genomics director of engineering, David Glazer, while academic and pharma companies will be the biggest customer, it will be overtaken by the use of clinical applications for the next decade. He further states that they are at the transaction point now.
Google’s stock price ended the day at $549.84, down 0.11% from the previous day.
Microsoft Releases A Low Cost $20 Phone For Customers
The software giant has planned to launch a new lost cost phone all over the world in collaboration with Nokia.
Microsoft project has announced that it will soon be launching an incredibly low-cost phone for its users, which will just be carrying a price tag of around $20. This new phone will be made in collaboration with Nokia Corporation and the software giant has made it evident that it will be continuing with the company’s idea of making cheap phones for markets where customers are not ready to spend too much on mobile devices. Currently, it seems like the mobile phone making firm is not carrying out any similar tasks in the field which is why the software giant has decided to get into work.
In countries where customers find it difficult to spend too much on expensive phones, Microsoft’s new venture will be helping those people phones that serve the purpose and not cost them much. The Nokia 105 that is the $20 phone being offered by the tech giant is offering more features in such a low-cost phones than the expectations of analysts. As per the press release, it is being seen that the new phone is going to come with 2G enabled along with a colored display.
The 1.4-inch screen will help the customers have a great experience for use. Along with that, the phone will be coming with a memory that will be carrying around 2,000 contacts of the users without any problem. Furthermore, FM radio will also be provided for the user for entertainment purposes. With such a low price tag, the fact that the phone is a dual sim one has surprised even the analysts who believe that the firm is making too many offerings in such a low price. The phone is scheduled to be launched in the coming weeks of June, only in some of the markets in the US as well as in other countries of the world.
One of the most important feature to be taken into consideration is that the battery like of the Nokia 105 is going to be commendable as it has been declared that the phone will have a strong like that is capable of going without charging for a whole month, something that is sure to attract the attention of customers in the developing countries.
As for the gaming section, one drawback for game lovers is that this phone will not be installed with games like Candy Crush and the users would have to go without them. However, the traditionally famous games like Snake Xenzia will be made available in the phone. All these features on the upcoming phone sound much better than the previous award-winning phone made by Nokia, which means this one is going to become popular with the crowd too.
McDonald's Needs To Learn How To Report Performance Effectively
McDonald's has certain areas where it can improve its services and attract consumers which it needs to focus on than reports.
McDonald’s Corporation, the hamburger giant recently reported that the company will not showcase the monthly
An increase in the
In order to overcome the turmoil, McDonald's restaurant decide to hire Mr. Steve Easterbrook as the new chief executive officer of the company. The new CEO has to overcome several obstacles in order to pave the company’s way to stability. The hurdles that the company is facing include cultural shifts, the dissension of employees regarding wages and the massive competition in store for them. None of the company’s competitors
The company that reports their position on a regular basis is those firms like WhatsApp, Snapchat, Twitter that already have a stable stream of money. However, it needs to be noted here that not all these firms are making money through consumers. Users do not really pay for these services and are mostly availing them free of cost. Their prime source of revenues is by advertising by those brands who wish to get limelight through these platforms.
So McDonald's need to realize here that the business they are doing is relatively different from the masses. Moreover, the company also made several blunders that bought them in the limelight and sabotaged their image even further. All this has piled up now and has added to their misery.
The company here needs to realize that the only way it can redeem its position is by coming up with food that appeals the masses. They are in the market to cater a diversified audience with different tastes and preferences then their menu should also be customized in
Hence, in a nutshell, McDonald's has certain areas where it can improve its services and attract consumers which it needs to focus on than reports.
