Spar Group, a supplier of retail merchandising and other marketing services, has announced the structuring of a new joint venture in China with its new partner Shanghai Wedone Marketing Consulting. Shanghai Wedone Marketing Consulting is a comprehensive marketing management company that provides brand communication and retail marketing management service in China. The new joint venture [...]

Cutting costs can be quick and easy, but it isn’t a guarantee that you can grow profitability, according to a new report by Boston Consulting Group. Asset managers that BCG tracked in 34 major markets around the world for its study, “In Search of Stable Growth: Global Asset Management 2010,” were able to reduce expenses [...]

Lincolnshire-based Hewitt Associates, a global human resources consulting and outsourcing company, Tuesday said it entered into an agreement to acquire EnnisKnupp, a provider of investment advisory services to large institutional investors. This acquisition will boost Hewitt’s existing investment consulting capabilities in the United States and support its global growth plans. EnnisKnupp provides investment consulting services [...]

Insurance broker Aon Corp. announced its acquisition of human-resources consulting and outsourcing company Hewitt Associates Inc. for $4.9 billion in cash and stock to expand its consulting business. Aon will pay $50 per Hewitt share, representing a 41 percent premium to Hewitt’s closing stock price of $35.40 on Friday. Aon plans to integrate Hewitt with [...]

Strong brands have the power to create business value. They impact much more than revenues and profit margins. Strong brands create competitive advantages by commanding a price premium and decrease the cost of entry into new markets and categories. They reduce business risk and help attract and retain talented staff. Millward Brown Optimor created the [...]

The companies in this year’s 500 list slashed costs so fast and so deeply especially labor that even in a feeble recovery, their earnings soared. The long-awaited recovery is now under way, but it’s a slow, painful slog that’s short on trust and confidence and long on a drumbeat of numbers that mostly shift from [...]

You’ve seen the television commercials and the product reviews. But maybe, like many gadget lovers, you’re still debating whether you really need this new touch-screen computer from Apple. To help you make sense of the hype, here are answers to 10 common questions about the iPad, Apple’s much-anticipated “slate” computer, which goes on sale Saturday. [...]

HTML 5 in Internet Explorer may mean Microsoft is rejoined the league of civilized nations on browsers, but another Microsoft technology remains under lock and key more firmly than ever. Microsoft’s Silverlight media player has, with version 4 due next month, gone from being closed source but able to work on other platforms – the [...]

Dell is broadening its storage product range by OEMing EMC’s Celerra and Data Domain products, and developing its own object storage product. The background to this is the continuing and dramatic rise in the amount of semi- and unstructured information. This leads to a sheer storage capacity problem and to infrastructure problems, particularly when organisations [...]

Even in these tough times, surprising and extraordinary efforts are under way in businesses across the globe. From politics to technology, energy, and transportation; from marketing to retail, health care, and design, each company on the following pages illustrates the power and potential of innovative ideas and creative execution. HP Acquires 3Com for $2.7 Billion, [...]