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Athens has scrambled to calm jittery investors and skeptical European Union partners that it can clean up its mess without any assistance. In mid-January the Papandreou government, which has to raise $75 billion to close its gaping fiscal shortfall, announced an ambitious three-year austerity plan to reduce the deficit to 2% of output by 2013. "Greece is playing by the euro zone's rules and it will put its house in order," Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou tells TIME. "To borrow words from an ad: Watch this space...
...Road Ahead Brussels has okayed the Greek austerity plan but warned that it will be subject to unprecedented monitoring. Joaquin Almunia, the European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs said Athens' targets were "ambitious" but "achievable." Importantly, Greece managed to raise about $11 billion in its first postcrisis bond offering on Jan. 25. But relief was short-lived. Within days the spread over 10-year German bonds, the European benchmark, reached a record high. The bottom line: until the Greek government delivers results, the pressure...
...business is in Eastern Europe. "That exposure is helping," he says. Aegean Airlines, which may have to move to short-term leases for some of its fleet, is also looking outward. In the last six months, the carrier added routes to Egypt, Israel and Turkey. Greece's $40 billion shipping industry - the country controls 22% of the world's oil-tanker fleet and nearly 25% of its cargo ships - should also prove immune from the financial maelstrom because of its global reach, according to Theodoros Veniamis, the president of the Union of Greek Shipowners. "Shipping is a cyclical business that...
...restore its vigor. It came at a critical time, given that any health care company has to be in a position to pivot off of whatever health care reform plan emerges from Congress. His strategy? Return to basics: strong leadership, better customer service and refocusing on what the $95.9 billion company has always done best--supply-chain management. "This is an entirely different company," says Mike Lynch, who heads Cardinal's medical-supply unit. "We've seen a much needed reinfusion of capital into our core businesses, a clarity of vision, a renewed sense of purpose. The optimism is palpable...
...Nearly 4 billion prescriptions are filled at 54,000 pharmacies across the U.S. each year. But getting medications from their makers into the hands of their takers is largely the job of a wholesaling oligopoly. Cardinal and its principal rivals--San Francisco--based McKesson Corp. and AmerisourceBergen, based in Valley Forge, Pa.--control 90% of the market, acting as middlemen to pool purchasing power and to guarantee 24/7 access to millions of medications...