China: new self-confidence fuels demand
Financial Times 6/14/2010
by Patti Waldmeir
With a hunger for extravagance born of decades of deprivation, China has risen so rapidly through the ranks of world luxury markets that Bain & Company, the consultants, estimated recently that China overtook the US last year to become the world's second-largest luxury goods market behind Japan. China has emerged from the financial crisis with a new self-confidence about its place in the world, including the world of luxury.
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Brands try to cultivate links with fine art
Financial Times 6/14/2010
by Scheherazade Daneshkhu
Bling and ostentation were acceptable in the boom years, but customers now want to feel less superficial about their spending: "There is a need to justify the premium price - brand is not enough," says Bain & Company, the consultancy. If a customer feels that a particular bag is akin to a work of art, or helps to keep craftsmanship alive, that could be reason enough to buy it. As a result, many luxury brands have recently emphasised their proximity to culture or heritage.
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Luxury groups adapt to the post-recession world
Financial Times 6/14/2010
by Helen Thomas
The lessons of a severe and wide-ranging recession are still being absorbed by the luxury industry, says Claudia D'Arpizio, a Milan-based partner at Bain & Company. "The winners were the most professionally managed companies, which had the ability to anticipate and react to the crisis," she says. "In particular, the biggest groups and the best brands within those groups outperformed".
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Weaker euro equals stronger airbus
Aviation Week 6/10/2010
by Joseph C. Anselmo and Robert Wall
A decline of more than 20% in the value of the euro against the U.S. dollar is bolstering the competitiveness of Airbus and other European aerospace manufacturers while eroding a pricing advantage that a weak dollar has provided to Boeing and U.S. suppliers for several years. The slumping euro "starts to level the playing field in terms of cost and price, but I am not sure it will have a huge short-term impact on U.S. players in terms of backlog or financial returns," says Michael Goldberg, the leader of Bain & Company's Global Aerospace and Defense practice.
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Changing dynamics - PE, VC funds closer to getting independent status as investors
Livemint.com 6/10/2010
by Shraddha Nair
India may finally be inching towards handing private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) funds independent status as investors. "It's the first time a government body will talk about PE and the role it can play in the economy," said Sri Rajan, a partner at management consultancy Bain and Company India Pvt. Ltd. "When we spoke to the regulators and said that in certain years, over 50% of the FDI (foreign direct investment) has come through PE, this got their attention since, till then, they didn't realize the impact of PE".
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