As outlined in Deloitte’s paper “2010 FIFA World Cup. A Turning Point for South Africa,” South Africa is reaping the rewards of hosting the Cup, including infrastructure improvements, an economic boost, and an increase of national pride.

“South Africa has been likened to a mix of the developed and developing world,” said Lwazi Bam, Public Sector Industry Leader, Deloitte Southern Africa. “On the one hand, a strong technological and economic base put it on a par with the well-developed nations of the world. On the other, infrastructure shortfalls have contributed to keeping it from realizing its full economic potential. This major global event is a catalyst for much-needed infrastructure improvements.”

The need to move tens of thousands of fans, teams, and accompanying supportpersonnel rapidly from one place to another prioritized the strengthening of South Africa’s transportation system.  The country completed much of the
first section of its new high speed Gautrain passenger railway and added bus lines.  Highways were upgraded and the city of Durban was able to finish the country’s first new green field airport in five decades.  These infrastructure projects have increased employment opportunities and provided workers long-term skills and training.

One of the challenges in building the infrastructure for the event was generating power without an unduly adverse environmental impact. New stadium facilities include such environmentally-friendly features as natural ventilation and rain water capture systems.

In addition, host cities have undertaken large-scale tree-planting projects in an effort to soak up excess carbon dioxide.  As a coal-dependent economy, South African faces challenges; however, these steps move the country toward greener energy sources.

To ensure security, the minister of police has consulted with officials from more than 30 different countries whose nationals are in the country, resulting in an unprecedented level of international cooperation.

Seeking to balance a welcoming atmosphere with rigorous security standards, 40,000 police officers, 25 percent of the country’s total force, have been assigned to the Cup.  All of these activities have required a renewed spirit of cooperation between national and local agencies and departments.

Greg Pellegrino, Global Public Sector Industry Leader, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, said;

“South Africa has already realized many of the benefits hoped for by any national host of a major international sporting event. The event has provided a boost to national infrastructure improvements, increased employment during the global financial crisis, and provided a unifying rallying point for a still-developing nation. Moving the FIFA World Cup from a developed economy such as Germany, to an emerging economy such as South Africa, and to a continent that has never hosted the Cup, creates an important precedent for future hosts such as Brazil in 2014,”

There is a great deal of enthusiasm, of the quixotic American kind that we are so familiar with, of going the environmental friendly mother earth way, and this enthusiasm is inspiring, or forcing, American companies that want to sell products to American consumers, to go green. In a way, like so many things American, the mass enthusiasm for something “good” is making the American corporate world – that lifeless and powerful entity – sit up and take notice, if only for a short time, if only to find a workaround.

However, until Americans find another cause to cheer for, these years of Gaia-love, to coin a term, are doing quite a lot of good to the environment. CEMEX is the proof of that.

CEMEX settled a lawsuit alleging air pollution at Victorville, the largest cement production plant in the USA. According to a Department of Justice release last year, “Under the terms of the settlement, CEMEX must meet new limits for these pollutants at the Victorville plant, one of the largest cement plants in the United States, including stringent new limits for nitrogen oxide that will reduce emissions by 1,890 tons per year, a nearly 40 percent reduction.”

Nitrogen oxide is one of the main pollutants from the cement industry. If CEMEX delivers on its promise to reduce Nitrogen oxide emission, that will be a tremendous good news to the people of Victorville, especially the children and the elderly, who are prone to suffer from respiratory problems if they inhale too much of nitrogen oxide.

Cemex is known to have installed a state of the art pollution control system at its manufacturing facility at Victorville. The move has cost it millions of dollars, noted a gleeful EPA, and it will help make the local environment much more habitable.

Every day in rush hour London, be-suited businessmen disembark from the morning train and ride off to their work destinations on odd looking fold up bicycles.

While the average person may not have considered it, a folding bicycle is an impressive feat of engineering. It needs to be easily collapsible yet maintain alignment to offer a comfortable and speedy ride – it’s a daunting task for any entrepreneur.

Back in the mid seventies a trained engineer who was working at the time as a landscape gardener was intrigued by the idea of building a bicycle ‘that could fit in your pocket.’

Andrew Ritchie designed several prototypes before launching his business in 1976, the business was named Brompton, after the Brompton Oratory church opposite his home.

Despite the bicycle’s ingenuity and Ritchie’s enthusiasm, bike manufacturers showed little interest, forcing him to go into production for himself. He had no problems selling his bikes, but between Ritchie and his single employee, he couldn’t build more than 300 a year from his little workshop in London.

Now the company has a turnover of £10million and is growing about 25% a year. About 70% of the bikes are sold abroad, particularly to the Netherlands, Germany, the USA and Japan. Amazingly, manufacturing still takes place in London.

The existing factory has the capacity for Brompton to double its output, and with another 15 years on its lease, there is no reason to doubt that Brompton will remain the best of British, made in the heart of London.

The purpose built factory is expected to be ready by early 2010, while the jobs will be created over the next three years.

The East Midlands Development Agency has been instrumental in negotiations with the Taiwanese company and a group of organisations that have spent three years working on securing the deal.

Bryan Jackson of East Midlands Development Agency said;

“It’s a great example of how regional development agencies can help bring investment into the East Midlands, I’m delighted at the job prospects this will bring for the local population, particularly at this difficult time for the economy. This is proof that manufacturing is alive and kicking in the UK.”

The manufacturer is forecasting a growth in the flat screen TV market as the economy begins to recover.

peter mandelson

Business secretary Peter Mandelson said that the car scrappage scheme would be extended to cover 100,000 more vehicles, but will still end in February 2010 as per the current agreement.

The £300 million scheme was launched in May and has so far seen 227,750 vehicles scrapped for new car orders, costing the government and the manufacturer £1,000 each on each transaction.

The government figure will now be raised to £400 million and will end either in February or when the fund runs dry, whichever comes first.

Mandelson said: “There are encouraging signs that the economy is picking up. But recovery remains fragile and uncertain, especially in manufacturing and one of its cornerstones, the car industry. This is not a blank cheque to the auto manufacturers but recognition that there is still a short term challenge to boost demand and confidence in the sector.”

Paul Everitt of the Society for Motor Manufacturers and Traders said the decision was an “extremely important decision that will inspire consumer and business confidence”.

The scheme has recently come in for criticism as only one in three vehicles purchased through it, are built in the UK, while other European countries are reaping the rewards from the government hand out.

That is all except Germany where  job losses are in line with what was first estimated when Magna made their bid for the Opel business. Magna appear to have agreed a deal with the German government that will see a pre agreed figure of around 2,600 job losses in the country with the guarantee of keeping all four of its plants open.

Opel employ 25,000 workers in Germany and the deal has been seen as a victory for chancellor Angela Merkel, as the country nears a General Election.

There are however,  no such guarantees for other factories throughout Europe where Opel employ around 30,000 workers and the company are looking to reduce that figure by around 8,000.

British unions have expressed concern about the long-term future of Vauxhall’s 5,500 UK workers and its two British plants in Luton and Ellesmere Port.

Spain’s Zarragoza plant is also under threat as Magna have suggested moving some of the production to Germany.

The government has said that the former directors known as the ‘Phoenix Four‘ plus chief executive Kevin Howe, may be banned from running other companies.

Despite the fraudulent claims the Serious Fraud Office does not intend to pursue a criminal investigation into the collapse of the company that saw 6,500 lose their jobs.

The full report on the scandal is contained in an 830 page document and although the financial remuneration is at the centre of the report it also publishes the following findings:

• Mr Beale bought software to “clean” data from his personal computer, a day after investigators were appointed, “despite being aware that we would want to image and then review the contents of his computer for documents relevant to our investigation”.

• Mr Stephenson paid more than £1.6m to a consultant he had a “personal relationship” with.

• Executives had exaggerated in statements to MPs the personal financial risks they were taking.

• There was evidence of a questionable briefing to the press by an adviser to former Trade Secretary Patricia Hewitt.

The former directors have hit back at the claims calling the report a witch hunt and government whitewash. They issued a joint statement to deny any wrong doing and added:

“Our remuneration was not the reason for the collapse. The real reason is the government bungled the last chance to save MG Rover,” said Mr Howe, chairman John Towers, ex-vice-chairman Nick Stephenson, Peter Beale and John Edwards.

I can’t really understand how an apology is going to help anything, 6,500 have lost their jobs and five executives walk away with forty two million between them. It was bad enough watching Fred Goodwin smiling his smarmy way out of RBS after making sure that he was set up for life, can the government just stand by and watch again?

The scheme has rejuvenated the new car market with figures for July, the first full month of operation, showing a year on year rise for the first time in 2009.

Trevor Finn, CEO of Pendragon says that the government scheme has led to a positive effect on car sales in what has been a very challenging market in the first half of 2009. Pendragon posted half year pre tax profits of £11.4million, a far cry from the £21.1million shown this time last year.

The car scrappage scheme was due to end in February but already the fund supplied by the government has passed the half way mark and looks likely to run dry within the next couple of months.

The scheme was introduced in line with other European countries including Germany and Spain as a short term measure to bolster the decline in the motor manufacturing industry. It has overall been a great success, but car dealers and manufacturers alike will find themselves in exactly the same position they started at if the scheme is not renewed, at least until the economy shows positive signs of recovery.

The government have made £300million available for the scheme, enough to fund 300,000 transactions.

Business Secretary Peter Mandelson says the scheme has been a great success, “A great deal for manufacturers and dealers, not to mention customers.” he said when announcing the news, adding that the scheme has contributed to 13.5% increase in car manufacturing.

Despite the boost to the market car sales remain over 22% down on the same period last year.

Car Scrappage Scheme

There are signs that the government initiative introduced to boost new car sales in the UK is having some effect on the new car market, the latest report from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) says that sales rose by 2.4% in July, the first annual increase in fifteen months.

Although there are no figures available  to show how many purchasers have taken advantage of the governments ‘car scrappage’ scheme, the SMMT are sufficiently impressed with the July figures that show an overall increase of new car registrations, from 153,420 units to 157,149.

SMMT CEO Paul Everitt said; “The impact of the scrappage scheme is clear and we are encouraged by the positive impact it has had, increasing new car registrations for the first time since April 2008.”

There is still a long way to go before the market returns to any normality as the report indicates that year to date sales remain lower than the same time last year, with a total of 1.082 million cars sold, against 1.401 million in the same period of 2008.

Small cars remain the top sellers, Ford’s Fiesta and Vauxhall’s Corsa lead the sales chart, with the same manufacturers topping the family car sales, with the Focus and Astra respectively.