Industry Insight
January 2008
New E-Newsletter Will Focus on
Manufacturing, Industrial Issues
Welcome to the first Industry
Insight, a new monthly e-newsletter from the State Chamber/AIA
that will focus on manufacturing and industrial news and issues. We hope you
will enjoy this new communication tool and find it useful and informative. If
you have not already done so, please add asccaia@arkansasstatechamber.com
to your e-mail contacts or mark it as a “Safe
Sender” to ensure that your Industry
Insight isn't sent to a “Junk Mail” or
“Spam” folder. For more information about this e-newsletter or to
offer ideas and suggestions, please contact Bill
Paddack at bpaddack@arkansasstatechamber.com.
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Workers’ Comp Committee Will Meet
in February
The State Chamber/AIA Workers’ Compensation Committee
will meet at 10 a.m. Wednesday, February 20, in the State Chamber/AIA Bob
Lamb Conference Room at 1200 W. Capitol in Little Rock.
Labor leaders have already approached leaders of our
committee about expediting negotiations on workers’ compensation legislation
for the 2009 legislative session. In this February 20 meeting, we will need
to identify issues that should be considered as management issues in
negotiations with labor. It is important that we bring together a diverse
group of business interests to discuss the workers’ comp issues that
might be included on a list of items to negotiate.
Please give some immediate thought to this, make plans to
participate in the meeting and send workers’ compensation issues that
you would like to see discussed to Kenny Hall
at khall@arkansasstatechamber..com.
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In a Win for Business Defendants, Court
Limits Third-Party Liability
The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 15 handed a solid win to
third-party defendants in securities litigation by shielding them from broad
“scheme liability” for their tangential role in corporate fraud.
The victory came in the much-awaited case of Stoneridge Investment Partners v.
Scientific-Atlanta Inc. and Motorola Inc., in which investor
groups that sued Charter Communications, a cable operator, for fraud also
pursued the companies that sold cable boxes that figured in some of
Charter’s fraudulent transactions. The decision was a major and
ardently sought victory for investment banks, accountants and vendors that
have become nearly automatic targets of class-action lawsuits that accuse
them of having engaged in a fraudulent scheme with the company that actually
issued the stock.
By a 5-3 vote, the Court said that because investors
victimized by Charter did not rely on any statements or omissions made by the
vendors Scientific-Atlanta and Motorola, the vendors could not be held liable
under Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The ruling,
authored by Justice Anthony Kennedy, may curb what business defendants have
portrayed as a relentless search by plaintiffs for alternative deep pockets
in securities class actions when the main company involved has collapsed.
“The petitioners in this case were seeking an
opening to go far beyond the law in search of deep pockets, and we really
don't need any more of that in our country,” said John Engler,
president of the National Association of Manufacturers.
Quentin Riegel, vice president for litigation at NAM,
told the Associated Press that the outcome “is important relief for
manufacturers.” He added that the
ruling will stop “creeping liability, attempts to expand primary
responsibility from one party to third parties who were not involved in
making misleading statements.”
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100 LM Glasfiber Employees Receive Career
Readiness Certificates
One hundred employees of LM Glasfiber’s Little Rock
manufacturing facility were presented Arkansas Career Readiness Certificates
(CRC) recently at the company’s training and production facility. LM
Glasfiber, the world’s largest manufacturer of windmill blades, was one
of the first companies in Arkansas
to participate in the Career Readiness Certificate as a pilot project.
LM Glasfiber hired its first 100 employees in Little Rock in September
using this new program, and has had no employee turnover since its
implementation. The Arkansas CRC is available to any job-seeking
Arkansan who completes the WorkKeys assessment, which is a comprehensive
skills assessment tool that gives employers a clear idea of a potential
employee’s knowledge and skill level. There is no cost involved to
obtain a certificate. Interested individuals should go to their local Arkansas Workforce Center
to begin the certification process.
Arkansas
businesses and industries are encouraged to participate in this new program,
which is sponsored by the Arkansas Department of Workforce Services, Arkansas
Workforce Investment Board, Arkansas Economic Development Commission and the
Arkansas Association of Two Year Colleges.
For more information on the Arkansas Career Readiness
Certificate Program, call 1-866-757-2999.
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NAM Predicts
Manufacturing Output Will Rise at 1.9 Percent Rate
According to the National Association of
Manufacturers’ 2008 Economic Forecast,
“U.S.
manufacturers see the economy slowing in 2008 – but not
slumping.” Written by NAM’s
chief economist, David Huether, the report “sees gross domestic product
rising by a sluggish 1.4 percent in the first half of the year, restrained by
rising energy prices and slowing corporate profits.” Still, the report
sees “a recession being averted,” and manufacturing output rising
in 2008 at 1.9 percent.
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Former Hino Official Joins AEDC Global
Staff
Hideichiro Chikahiro, former president of Hino Motors
Manufacturing USA, Inc., has been named director of the Arkansas Economic
Development Commission’s Japan Office. He replaces Yutaka Kajita who is
retiring and has been director of the Japan Office since 1995. Chikahiro
retired from Hino at the end of June 2007 after a 40-year career.
“The addition of Hideichiro Chikahiro to our staff
will be a tremendous asset to AEDC’s efforts to improve the
state’s visibility in the global marketplace,” AEDC Executive
Director Maria Haley said. “He brings years of experience to the table
and knows what it takes to do business on the world stage. He will help us
form lasting relationships, and we are fortunate to have him as part of our
team.”
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Arkansas World Trade
Center Plans Forum on Doing Business
With Japan
“A Forward Looking Vision of Arkansas and Japan,” a forum on doing business and
building strategic partnerships with Japan,
will be held from 8 a.m. to noon Monday, Feb. 4, at the Arkansas
World Trade
Center in Rogers. Co-hosts are the Arkansas Economic
Development Commission and the Japan External Trade Organization.
This initiative is designed to help small- to medium-size Arkansas companies and
entrepreneurs interested in expanding their business plans by entering the
Japanese market.
Maria Haley, executive director of AEDC, will introduce
the keynote speaker, Yutaka “Taka” Kajita, who is retiring as the
director of the AEDC Japan office. Kajita’s remarks will focus on the
state’s efforts to encourage Japanese corporate interest in Arkansas and his own experience to help Arkansas companies export to Japan. Haley will also address
AEDC’s future vision for its Japan
office and will introduce Hideichiro Chikahiro, the recently announced new
director of the AEDC Japan office, whose career included being president of
Marion-based Hino Motors Manufacturing USA Inc., owned by Toyota.
Hitoshi Hasegawa, chief executive director of
JETRO-Houston, will outline their programs and services. Success stories
presented by area executives currently doing business with Japan will be described by Lap Bui of Baldor
Electric, Ben Johnson of White River Hardwoods, Bill O’Conner of Tyson
Foods and Ron Medrano of Wal-Mart. Noted cultural adviser Robert Cunningham
will focus on business and social customs in Japan.
Admission is free. The Trade
Center is located at 3300 Market Street, Suite 400,
in Rogers. To
RSVP, contact Denise Thomas at 479-418-4800 or dthomas@arwtc.org.
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New Director Begins at Arkansas Manufacturing Solutions
Daniel Curtis became vice president for industry at the
Arkansas Science & Technology Authority earlier this month and thus
becomes director of Arkansas Manufacturing Solutions, which is an ASTA
program that assists the state's manufacturers in improving quality and
performance. He previously served as president and COO of Litmus LLC, a
technology development company. Prior to that Curtis was with George Fischer
Sloane, Inc. Curtis replaces Lydia Carson who left to become president and
CEO of Balm Innovations.
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Bush Touts Free
Trade Agreements in Meeting With Mayors
Global news agency
Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports
that President Bush “harnessed worrisome economic
‘uncertainty’ ” last week “to make a fresh plea for
lawmakers to approve stalled free trade pacts with Colombia,
Panama and South Korea.”
At an event with a dozen U.S.
mayors, Bush said, “By opening up markets, but having us treated
fairly, we'll have 100 million new customers. And I like that opportunity for
American farmers and workers and business people. I'm looking forward to
working with Congress to get these deals passed. These are pro-growth and
they're good for America.”
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Small Businesses Are Important to the Economy
Small businesses – those having fewer than 500
employees – represent 99.7 percent of all employer firms, statistics from
the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy show.
According to SBA, small firms:
·
Employ about half of all private
sector employees.
·
Pay more than 45 percent of total U.S.
private payroll.
·
Have generated 60 to 80 percent of
net new jobs annually over the last decade.
·
Create more than half of nonfarm
private gross domestic product (GDP).
·
Supplied 22.8 percent of the total
value of federal prime contracts in Fiscal Year 2006.
·
Hire 40 percent of high-tech
workers (such as scientists, engineers and computer workers).
·
Are 52 percent home-based and 2
percent franchises.
·
Made up 97 percent of all
identified exporters and produced 28.6 percent of the known export value in
FY 2004.
·
Produce 13 times more patents per
employee than large patenting firms, and their patents are twice as likely as
large firm patents to be among the 1 percent most cited.
If you would prefer not to receive Industry
Insight, please e-mail dmathis@arkansasstatechamber.com
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