Word: downturns
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...economic downturn has claimed another victim: Bennigan's Grill & Tavern, the 32-year-old chain of casual-dining fern bars. Amid sky-high gas and food prices and tightening consumer spending, the chain's Texas-based parent company declared bankruptcy July 29, saying it would shutter 150 eateries. While the franchise outlets remain open for now, Americans who want to peruse oversize menus for oversize portions of unremarkable food in unremarkable settings may soon have to check out Applebee's or Chili's. Or Ruby Tuesday or T.G.I. Friday's. Or the scores of other family-style restaurants serving deep...
...Dhabi's funds, and those in such places as Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, are part of an epochal shift in the economic balance of power toward the energy-rich Gulf. It helps that the downturn in the U.S. economy and the anemic dollar are offering up relative bargains. Shares in GE - the great symbol of American management prowess - have fallen by more than a quarter in the last year...
...automaker's motor plant in Huntsville, Ala., which builds V8 engines for Tundra and Sequoia, will continue to be provided various work projects through a program similar to the much-criticized "Jobs Banks" used by Detroit automakers that have supported workers during production cuts. "By using this downturn as an opportunity to develop team members and improve our operations, we hope to emerge even stronger," said Wiseman...
...makes no sense for the ECB to raise interest rates to fight frothy commodity-market prices, and Trichet himself signaled that the bank isn't planning any more rate hikes in the near future. But surging inflation poses a huge threat to Europe's chances of beating the downturn, especially when combined with weak growth. Inflation is perhaps the trickiest economic indicator to forecast: for example, over the past year, the ECB's staff has based each of its inflation projections on an assumption that oil prices will stabilize - and each time they have risen further, to a current level...
...Starbucks clearly did build too much too fast, and had the misfortune to do it just as a downturn in the economy and consumer spending made it harder for any retailer to turn a profit. Of the 600 company-owned stores due to close, some 70% were opened since October 2005, and most have another store in close proximity. Starbucks's strategy of cannibalizing its own sales - a store loses about 25% to 30% of its revenue when another outlet opens down the block - works when customers keep streaming in, but once foot traffic slows, as it has over...