Monday, July 7, 2008
The Philippine shipping company Sulpicio Lines has asked a court to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) stopping the Board of Marine Inquiry (BMI) from proceeding with its investigation into the loss of MV Princess of the Stars. The passenger ferry capsised and sank off Sibuyan island on June 21 during Typhoon Fengshen (known locally as Typhhon Frank) with hundreds of casualties.
Sulpicio told the Manila Regional Trial Court that both Republic Act 9295 and the Domestic Shipping Development Act of 2004 removed the BMI’s power to investigate maritime incidents and that the investigation the board launched on June 25 is “irregular, illegal, and null and void”. They say only the Maritime Industry Authority is allowed to investigate accidents at sea.
Sulpicio also described the investigation as an ‘inquisition’ that was biased against Sulpicio from the start. They say “prejudgment” has increased the “pervasive negative publicity” surrounding the line, since negative accusations are most often published in newspapers. The company says one comment the board made was “Your vessel is not stable!” “You have no business being a safety officer!”
As a result Sulpicio is seeking ?650,000 from the BMI. This is split down as ?500,000 in moral damages, ?100,000 lawyer’s fees and ?50,000 further costs.
The House Committee on Transportation also launched its own inquiry into the disaster today. The case for the TRO will be heard tomorrow.
August
9
Taking A Company Public? Propaganda 101: Glittering Generalities And Testimonials
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Taking a Company Public? Propaganda 101: Glittering Generalities and Testimonials
by
James Scott
As a public company you\’ll be combating a multitude of obstacles and one of the most important is reputation management or perception management. People most often associate propaganda with governments. Corporations also make extensive use of it. While advertising may qualify as propaganda, it differs in some crucial ways. Advertising focuses on a call to action. Corporate propaganda predisposes consumers to respond to those calls to action, to consider new information about those corporations in the best possible light, or to consider competition in the worst possible light. Publicly traded and large privately held corporations have used these methods to accelerate their growth and success strategies and even take down competitors. This is a brief case study noting several examples of both positive and negative uses of propaganda in a corporate environment.
Propaganda is rooted in the word \”propagation\”, as it advances or spreads a desired way of thinking. Almost all methods do this by careful manipulation of semantics, usually abusing their proper use in the process to reinforce logical fallacies. The most effective propaganda combines appeals in ways that mutually reinforce their effectiveness. Because of that, almost all propaganda begins with …
GLITTERING GENERALITIES
The fewer details people consider, the less they approach decisions critically. That makes the decision more emotional, and emotions are easy to manipulate.
Over Simplification
Make certain the target market perceives the issue in simple terms. Too many details raise too many questions.
Unstated Assumptions
Ambiguous terms leave listeners responsible for their own inferences, regardless of the speaker\’s intended implications.
Intentional Vagueness.
Nobody need bother with the details once they invest in the concept.
Red Herring,
Send those who insist on details looking someplace else — because they will not find any here.
PASS! -Ivory Soap 99 & 44/100% Pure! It Floats!
Two words: Pure what? The fact that it floats has nothing to do with its level of purity of … whatever — but purity sells.
FAIL! -WorldCom
At a time when corporate statements became ever more vague, WorldCom raised it to an art form so effectively, that when the government learned about its daisy-chained subsidiaries (and $3.3 billion in accounting errors) a new law ended up changing accounting laws — Sarbanes Oxley, now called SOX for short. It also led to the collapse of Arthur Andersen accounting, and scrutiny for dozens of other major companies that Arthur Andersen had served.
TESTIMONIALS
Celebrities \”are models of behavior — the ultimate sellers. They sell us things. And because of the intimacy and kinship we feel for them, they humanize the process.\” (Derakhshani, 2007, p. 30)
Beautiful people
Quite simply, celebrities constitute modern royalty. Parasocial relationships with them are among the strongest, so they can heavily influence public opinion.
Anecdotal Accounts
Never let the facts get in the way of a good story
PASS! – GM-Clint Eastwood\’s appearance in the \”Halftime in America\” ad during the 2012 Super Bowl
While involving the auto industry in general, Clint Eastwood\’s immediately iconic \”Halftime in America\” commercial during the Super Bowl came on the heels of the GM bailout\’s success. Conservative pundits so solidly associated it with GM\’s relationship to the Obama Administration that they immediately branded it a political ad. However, that accusation seems to have faded with Eastwood\’s somewhat less dignified anti-testimonial at the 2012 Republican National Convention.
FAIL! -Lehman Bros.
Lehman Bros. here represents the first of several banks to collapse in late 2008. In this case the testimonial was not invited. The U.S. Secretary of the Treasury declaring globally on television that U.S. banks are failing equates financially to a security guard shouting \”Fire!\” in a crowded theater. It crosses over with appeal to authority.
For articles on
taking your company public
and
corporate structuring
check out Princeton Corporate Solutions\’ blog
Article Source:
ArticleRich.com
Saturday, July 9, 2016
On Thursday, World Champions Germany lost 2–0 to hosts France in the UEFA Euro 2016 semifinal. Antoine Griezmann scored both goals, netting six goals in the tournament. France is to play Portugal in the final tomorrow.
Germany had better ball possession and passing accuracy. But, moments before half time, captain Bastian Schweinsteiger was booked for a hand ball in the penalty area, and France were awarded a penalty kick. The Atlético striker Griezmann scored from the spotkick sending Maneul Neuer in the wrong direction. Les Blues were 1–0 up at half time.
In the second half, Jérôme Boateng was benched suffering from a ruptured muscle bundle. Later, Paul Pogba’s shot was half-cleared by Neuer, but Griezmann scored the second goal of the night and his sixth of the tournament.
Though Germany had far more completed passes — in the first half alone, more than the hosts in both halves combined — the World Champions were defeated. Griezmann was awarded the Man of the Match award.
Griezmann’s six goals in one Euro tournament is the most after Michel Platini’s record of nine goals in one tournament.
July 7, 201621:00 (UTC+2) | |||
Germany | 0–2 | France | Stade Vélodrome, Marseille Referee: Nicola Rizzoli, Italy |
Emre Can 36’Mesut Özil 45+1’Bastian Schweinsteiger 45+1’Julian Draxler 50′ | 0–1 (HT) | Antoine Griezmann 45+2′ (pen)Antoine Griezmann 72’Patrice Evra 43’N’Golo Kanté 75′ |