Many banks in the Middle East already have an Islamic banking unit or even converting existing non-Islamic subsidiaries into Islamic ones. The report goes on to mention that compound annual growth rate of deposits at Islamic banks has risen 44% over the past 5 years.
A previous report by SIS International indicates that Islamic Banking has attracted a key market of banking clients, high net-worth individuals (HNWI’s), particularly in the Gulf. While Bahrain is traditionally known as a hub for Islamic banking, banks in the UAE and Qatar are making in-roads into the market by creating Islamic Financial Services subsidiaries.
Recently, a Singaporean Islamic Bank is expanding in the Gulf. Non-gulf Islamic Banks like DBS based out of Singapore have their eye on expansion in the Middle East. The Islamic Bank of Asia, a subsidiary of DBS, expanded in Bahrain in the past year. The bank is further considering expansion into UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar.
]]>The Potential Future For US Retail
Implications for US Market Research
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Copyright (C) 2008. SIS International Research. All Rights Reserved. This article does NOT necessarily reflect the opinion of SIS International's researchers, management or its affiliates. SIS International makes no representation as to the timeliness or accuracy of this information, and will not be liable for any decision made based on this information. See privacy statement and disclaimer for full limitations on liability.
US Generational Break Down
Matures (prior to 1946)
Baby boomers (1946-1964)
Generation X (1965-1980)
Gen Y/Millennials (1981-1994)
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Copyright (C) 2008. SIS International Research. All Rights Reserved. This article does not necessarily reflect the opinion of researchers at SIS International Research. SIS International makes no representation as to the timeliness of this information, and will not be liable for any decision made based on this information. See privacy statement and disclaimer for full limitations on liability.
The US Railroad System
US freight railroads are overwhelmingly privately owned – over 90 percent. Compared to passenger rail and freight railroads in other countries, they receive very little government funding. Most of the tracks where US freight railroads operate are owned by the railroads themselves.
Passenger Rail
Prior to Amtrak’s creation by the Rail Passenger Service Act of 1970, intercity passenger rail service in the United States was provided by the same companies that provided freight service. When Amtrak was formed, in return for government permission to exit the passenger rail business, freight railroads donated passenger equipment to Amtrak and helped it get started with capital infusion of some $200 million USD. Today, Amtrak is the only intercity passenger railroad in the continental United States.
Key Issues Facing the Industry
A. Legal issues
Freight Rail
One of the critical policies on transportation in the US concerns shortage of rail capacity that hinders the timely and reliable delivery of coal and ethanol to consumers. Without adequate rail capacity, the county could be awash in ethanol and coal but unable to use it. US rail operators concede that they have capacity problems and say they are pouring money and other resources into efforts to resolve them. The Association of American Railroads notes that from 1996-2005, railroad capital investments were 17% of revenue. However, rail operators are still asking for federal legislation for tax incentives to enable still more capital investment that would increase their efficiency and capacity.
The "Freight Rail Infrastructure Capacity Expansion Act of 2007” has been introduced to the Senate. It is intended to address the need for expanding the nation's freight rail capacity by allowing up to a 25 percent tax credit for the expansions.
Passenger Rail
The Passenger Rail Investment Reform Act makes key reforms to transition Amtrak purely into an operating company, creating a federal-state partnership to support passenger rail, introducing market-based competition to the system, and setting up an inter-state compact to maintain the heavily used Northeast Corridor service.
Under the legislation Amtrak will no longer carry the burden of maintaining tracks, stations, and other infrastructure. Amtrak will have the ability to be an operating company, focused solely on running trains safely and on time. Regional, state, or local authorities will be empowered to make decisions about service, planning where it is and what best meets local transportation needs. In addition they will ensure rail operators are providing a reliable, efficient, and cost effective service.
B. Social/Demographic issues
Mode of Transport
New York City has an extensive subway system, and the passenger rail is a highly used mode of transport. About two-thirds of all US passenger rail riders, and one in every three US mass transit users, lives in New York City; Chicago has a similar but smaller metro system
Security
One of the major concerns in passenger rails is terrorism. More than 12 million Americans travel on passenger rail lines each weekday, and because of its open nature, rail transit is considered an attractive terrorist target. While there have been no successful attacks on US rail systems recently, attacks on passenger rail systems around the world—such as the London Underground in 2005—highlight the vulnerability of rail travel and the importance of rail security for passengers.
A study by RAND, a nonprofit research organization, found that 80 percent of the worldwide attacks on rail systems were bombings, followed by sabotage (6 percent) and armed attack (6 percent). Explosives accounted for 77 percent of the weapons used in rail system terrorist incidents, with 8 percent of the incidents involving hoaxes or threats.
C. Technological issues
Emerging technologies in transport are involved in improving communications and safety. The following are some of these technologies.
• Wireless LAN Hotspots in Trains
A group called Railway Wireless LAN Services projects that over the next five years, 625 million people will be traveling on WiFi-enabled trains worldwide.
Mobile hotspots represent an opportunity for train operators to generate significant new revenues and to bring their onboard entertainment and business services into the 21st Century. On-train wireless solutions and service providers are to gain exclusive access to a captive audience of premium wireless internet users.
• Mobile Notification of Delays
Transportation strategists at IBM predict that soon, travelers will get notifications of train and bus delays via cell phone. Using sensors, GPS technology, and in-vehicle communications, an innovative transport system will send notifications of train and bus delays, or if an alternative route will be faster or more convenient. The same systems will allow schedulers to make real-time route corrections.
• Ultrasonic Technology for Rail Inspections
In 2006, a new technology using laser beam pulses was developed by researchers at the University of California in San Diego (UCSD) to find defects in steel railroad tracks, including hard-to-find internal cracks that can break under the weight of passing trains. This is an important breakthrough in railroad transport technology, because some of the worst derailments in the US have occurred on tracks inspected by the old technology, which often missed interior cracks in rails, causing train derailments.
Major Players in the US Rail Industry
According to the Association of American Railroads, railroad companies in the United States are generally separated into three categories based on their annual revenues:
• Class I for freight railroads with annual operating revenues above $277.7 million (2004 USD)
• Class II for freight railroads with revenues between $10 million and $50 million in 1978 USD
• Class III for all other freight railroads
The following are major US Railroads:
1. Amtrak
2. Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Railway
3. CSX Transportation
4. Kansas City Southern Railway
5. Norfolk Southern
6. Union Pacific Railroad
Trends, Opportunities, and Threats
Challenges and Opportunities
Recently, some key changes have occurred within the supply chain segments that have impacted the rail road industry, resulting in corporate changes to their service offerings.
First, the rail road industry is keeping pace with the strong demand for international intermodal traffic. However, the anticipated growth in volumes of imports suggest that there will be continuing pressure placed on current rail assets, requiring more efficient processing centers in the near future.
Second, in the past, ocean carriers have offered door-to-door service for international intermodal containers providing importers with a service called Inland Port Intact (IPI rates). This means that the container moves from the foreign port to the US port, to rail and to an inland destination from the inland intermodal rail terminal to the importers distribution center, all on the same Bill of Lading/Pricing process. However, the carriers have recently indicated a lack of will to support destinations inland beyond large distribution hubs, or beyond cities where they have significant volumes and can control empty container flow. This trend is essentially reducing the number of inland ports or gateways where service will be provided by the carrier. This shift reduces the number of destinations for the rail provider, increases the volume of destination-centric volume, and improves reverse logistics volumes from key gateways.
Third, the rail operators are no longer willing to support the traditional “rail-served” buildings that stand alone or are concentrated in specific areas of a community or city.
Lastly, the increased volume of imported vehicles will require that the rail carriers reengineer their approach to vehicle management and related assets. The US is preparing for an onslaught of vehicles from Chinese producers, with some entering the US by way of vehicles assembled in Mexico—thus providing access to that market in parallel.
The Logistics Industry Growth
The slowing US economy is derailing the growth of the logistics industry, specifically rail. But despite falling volumes, most rail providers and market analysts say rail rates are not dropping.
Demand for rail carloads has fallen 2% so far in the 3rd quarter of 2007, following a 3.3% overall decline in the second quarter. The Association of American Railroads (AAR) reports that combined cumulative rail carload volume for the first 35 weeks of 2007 on 13 reporting US and Canadian railroads was down 3% from last year, while container and trailer traffic was down 1.1%.
Despite the volume decline, analyst group Bear Stearns reports in its Supply Chain Indicator Study that rail rates increased by about 3.9% in the second quarter of 2007. The group notes that there is sustained momentum in rail rate increases in 2007, driven by expectations for long-term strong rail freight demand and ongoing tight rail capacity.
Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) CEO Matt Rose said the railroad's pricing should remain strong into 2008, but price hikes could "decelerate" if freight volumes remained soft. These bullish predictions are keeping companies like BNSF buoyant – the company announced in September 2007 that Berkshire notified the railroad that it plans to invest nearly $598 million USD in Burlington Northern stock on top of the 52.13 million shares it already owned
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One of the most substantial obstacle in today's business world is the lack of knowledge on how to find a relevant solution for a specific need. Essentially the site circumvents this obstacle by offering solutions based on a search query.
Yet 2 can enhance innovation and help limit the time necessary for development, a major expense for companies in today's fast-paced market. An example of the site in action is Procter & Gamble's listing its need for Metal Protection Technologies for use in Home or Commercial Automatic Dishwashing detergents.
Additionally, Research firms can use this tool to search for emerging technologies.
| Pitfall | Origin of Pitfall |
| Forgetting Demographics | Considering country homogeneous e.g. ignoring religious diversity |
| Useless Fact-Finding Trips | Ine ffective trips with little endings e.g. meetings in hotel, no exploration |
| Information at Face-Value | Di ffering data on competitor e.g. company has 3 sets of financial data |
| Market Overestimation | Overly optimistic projections e.g. product’s adoption rate |
| Dated Research | Market intelligence at one time e.g. ignoring new economic factors |
| Myopic CI Focus | Focusing only on competition e.g. neglecting political environment |
Our research on China's Generation Y has demonstrated that Chinese youth are strongly pro-China. Prior to the Olympics, our research showed that the youth held pro-China sentiments toward Taiwan. Further probing and analysis indicated a mild tension between the West and the East, which the youth handle on a daily basis from chatting on the internet to arguing with their traditional parents at home.
Our current tracking of China's youth indicates that Chinese youth are becoming more defensive to their integration to the world amidst the Olympic games.
SIS International Research published the first book on China's Generation Y, on the youth born between the years 1980 and 1990 based on extensive interviews with young peoples in Chinese urban centers. Michael Stanat, author of China's Generation Y and a Senior Analyst on youth marketing worldwide at SIS International, states,
"China's youth are facing China's first hurdle to its most important rendez-vous with the rest of the world in recent times. An attack on the Olympics is an attack on the new China and therefore an attack on the identity of China's rising youth who are the architects of such a culture. This perspective is necessary as the Olympics progress and the youth carefully scrutinize the reactions by others to China's major introduction to the world."
Since China's youth are bridging the gap between Western and Eastern cultures, the tension arising over the last few months is of significance to young Chinese individuals. According to Stanat, it causes them to further struggle to redefine their country's and their own image. Consequently, this tension weakens the allegiance that China's youth has towards the Global youth culture.
Secondly at such an impressionable and important event, this tension provides the roots of deep-seeded tension. Allegiances and associations will be reevaluated. The youth will not easily forget France's reaction to the torch relay or demonstrations throughout several Western countries. While it is unlikely that China's Generation Y will immediately boycott the brands that they hold dearly and that define them as a generation, they will not forget the events in other countries related to China's Olympics. These attitudes can impact buying decisions.
The Olympics are not just a sporting event to China's Generation Y. Essentially, this historic event is a proclamation of individual identity.
Culture can be simply defined as a way of life of people in a particular society. In a broad term, culture is a configuration of learned behaviour whose component elements are shared and transmitted by members of a particular community. People from the same cultural background have common trait, ideology, norms, belief, value system, consumption pattern, speak same language and use same currency. Different cultures show a tremendous spectrum of diversity in how a society perceives either a product, idea or service as well as what its members expect.
There are inhibiting factors that affect cross-cultural businesses, such as language barrier, currency, government policies, value systems, beliefs and norms of the society. Many international researchers sometimes get sub-standard data or findings from studies conducted outside their home country because of their believe in the concept of “self reference criterion” – a concept that makes an individual to act unconsciously in a foreign land the same way he behaves at home. A thorough understanding of product usage and attitude of people in a particular culture or society is paramount to data interpretation of cross-cultural or global studies rather than using the home country experience to generalize findings.
For instance, a product consumes by both genders and of all ages in a particular country may be consumed by a particular age group in another country. Similarly, urban and rural product in a particular country may also be urban product only in another country. Ownership of personal computer is high in western countries both in the urban and rural settings, whereas, this is regarded as a premium product among the elites that reside in the urban areas in a country like Nigeria. It will therefore be wrong to use the same research designs, sample structure and allocation of quota to urban and rural dwellings for study that concerns ownership of personal computer in Nigeria because it has worked elsewhere in the Europe.
Recently, a research agency based in Nigeria got a project to be conducted in Nigeria and Ghana. The management believed that every technique and strategy that worked in Nigeria will as well work perfectly in Ghana. To their amazement, things turned the other way round. Of important to mention is that 75% (15 out of 20 interviewers and supervisors) of the field personnel that were trained and briefed for the study pulled out after the 4 days training and briefing because they could not cope with the operational guidelines. As a way of ravaging the situation, a team of field force consisting of five top managers and other supporting staff was raised from Nigeria to carry out the study in Ghana. The big question is how can this team from Nigeria successfully operate in a strange environment?
The most devastating mistake any researcher could make is to assume that cultures hold the same values, use the same symbols, exhibit the same behaviour and go through the same purchase decision processes. To succeed in a different culture, you must adapt to the culture, its values, accepts its symbols, norms and reflect the appropriate behaviour.
By Ibhade Inegbenekalo, CEO
Market Surveys International Limited
Email: misi.research@yahoo.co.uk
Phone: 234 8062807319
Website: www.misi-ng.org
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Disclaimer: Views & opinions are solely those of the contributors and do not necessarily reflect SIS International Inc.'s opinions, views and methodologies. Under no circumstances will SIS, it affiliates, successors or assigns be liable for any loss or damage caused by anyone's reliance on information contained in this web site
There are about 17-20 players in this market. Most of these companies are either into marketing or into formulations. But India has companies that also manufacture enzymes used in different industries such as pharmaceutical, food processing, leather, detergents, paper and pulp and textile. These companies produce various enzymes and several other eco-friendly biological products. The product range and services are growing rapidly as the use of enzymes is gaining widespread acceptance. The Indian manufacturers are not only supplying to local market but are also exporting to number of countries.
Food expenditure is increasing on average in India as the country experiences economic growth, sparking western companies to step up investment. Food consumption is set to increase 9.4 per cent by 2012. However, this is a modest rate when considering the pace of the country's economic expansion, relating to just 4.3 per cent in per capita terms. The Dairy segment is becoming an attractive segment for new entrants. As the economy grows, we believe more people will buy dairy products from supermarkets rather than make them at home. Because of the increase in production costs related to raw materials, customers may reduce dairy milk solids using methods such as increasing the amount of water or air without compromising on taste.
Novozymes in 2007 had acquired the enzyme activities of Biocon Limited which till then was the market leader in India for industrial enzymes.
Danisco is opening up two new separate manufacturing units for functional systems and for enzymes to serve South-Asian customers. The plant will primarily produce enzyme blends to service the markets of animal nutrition, food and beverages, fuel ethanol, grain processing, laundry detergents and textiles.
Other Players are: Enzyme Development Corp., Dyadic International, Excel Industries and Concord Biotech, CHR-Hansen and Quest International
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