Planet Business

Compiled by LAURA SLATTERY

Shop Talk

While consumer advocates and competition enthusiasts debate the old “what if Walmart was in Ireland?”, “why isn’t Walmart in Ireland?” and “when is Walmart coming to Ireland?” questions, it’s worth taking a look at how the world’s largest retailer (bigger even than Tesco) is performing even without the joy of relaxed retail planning guidelines in the Republic. (It manages a presence in Northern Ireland through its ownership of Asda.)

The supermarket chain formerly known as Wal-Mart, now just plain old Walmart, is enduring mixed fortunes in a retail environment where customer cash is in even shorter supply than hyphens. While sales in international markets are soaring, revenues in its home US market have fallen for the fifth quarter in a row.

Imitation Economy

Ireland does not, as of yet, have a Department of Enterprise, Trade and Imitation. And yet the breakout business guru of 2010 has been a professor at Ohio State University who believes that imitation is the most financially astute form of flattery. Oded Shenkar, author of Copycats: How Smart Companies Use Imitation to Gain a Strategic Edge, writes that for every innovator such as Atari, there is a much more successful imitator such as Nintendo; for every Netscape, a Microsoft Explorer. Even firms who are not shy of the odd innovation simultaneously employ imitation strategies. Shenkar believes the economy that is best at imitation is China. It is a talent that will help it become more competitive. And yet it seems there is little danger of Brian Cowen appointing a Copycat Tsar.

Coming together

Debt-laden music label EMI has reported lower losses and a 5 per cent rise in revenues thanks in part to the release of the re-mastered Beatles back catalogue.

$1m

Sum given by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp to US Republicans.

Of course I have, like anybody else. I have indeed.

– Michael Fingleton, former boss of Irish Nationwide, admits to RTÉ’s business editor David Murphy that he has felt remorse about the taxpayer bailout of the building society.

The Question

What's in store for CRH?

Next week a rash of interim results will be unleashed on shareholders in Irish firms, and they don’t get any bigger than cement-maker CRH, which publishes its first-half earnings on Tuesday. The building materials group is, by some distance, the largest individual stock on the Iseq index, meaning the mood of the Dublin market is tied directly to its fortunes and vice versa.

While CRH had a relatively good recession, emerging as one of the winners from the US economic stimulus package, the outlook for the US highway construction sector is now much weaker, prompting analysts at Davy Research last month to downgrade its 2010 and 2011 earnings forecasts for the group.

CRH’s share price has drifted down, trading below €15 yesterday and registering its lowest closing prices in more than 18 months. Management indicated in July that deficit issues in Europe and uncertainty about the US economy were leading to a greater than anticipated hit on sales. Analysts and investors will be watching for signs the sales decline has eased.