Market Digest

The hiring landscape for executives is improving along with the rest of the labor market, according to new survey from CareerBuilder and HeadHunter.com. Thirty-one percent of employers expect to hire for executive-level positions over the next six months, up from 23 percent in October’s forecast.

The study also looks at the number of Millennials* who are in executive positions today and explores the deficits in diverse workers and women in executive roles. The survey was conducted by Harris Interactive from February 9 to March 2, 2012, among more than 2,000 hiring managers and human resource professionals.

Executive Hiring Outlook
Employers are recruiting senior leadership for a range of business functions, but certain areas will see the most focus. Of employers hiring executives, nearly a quarter (24 percent) will hire in business development, followed by information technology (23 percent), sales (22 percent), marketing (19 percent) and accounting/finance (19 percent). Read the rest of this entry »

Andrea Bocelli, the world’s largest-selling classical artist of all time with over 70 million CDs sold, has introduced a new line of wines with his brother, Alberto Bocelli. Since 1881, the Bocelli family has made small amounts of classic Italian wines on their Tuscan estate.  Now, for the very first time, they have expanded production, including partnerships with other growers, to introduce Bocelli Prosecco and Bocelli Sangiovese.

“When I return home after my long trips, the joy that I receive from the taste of wine from my land is hard to match.  It brings me back in time, to memories of my father, of him pouring the wine with a quasi-religious respect.  I would give anything for him to see what has been accomplished in the past few years. I am sure he would be proud,” says Andrea.

To bring the wines to the global market, Bocelli has partnered with August Wine Group, a leading importer and branding firm for Italian wines. Since 2006, the company has imported Bocelli’s micro-production cult wines under the company’s boutique banner, Small Vineyards. The Bocelli Family Wines brand represents a marriage of two very powerful trends: the undeniable success of Prosecco and Italian wine sales in general, and the phenomenal career of Andrea Bocelli, which has reached new heights in recent years, making him “the most popular opera singer of all time” according to the New York Times . Read the rest of this entry »

For the second year in a row, the SUBWAY restaurant chain has been awarded the Number One ranking in the Franchise Direct Top 100 Global Franchises Rankings, which recognized the brand for possessing “a clear business plan, a commitment to training and support, an ability to innovate and sensitivity to environmental issues.”

The criteria to rank franchises includes: system size based on numbers of units; sales revenue; stability and growth; and market expansion.

Don Fertman, Chief Development Officer would be the first to say, “It’s because of the franchisees! They’re the heart and soul of the Subway family. We know that our success depends upon their excellence in operating their restaurants. We take great pride in the hard work and effort made by the thousands of franchisees throughout the world and in the millions of customers that they serve.”

During the first quarter of 2012 the SUBWAY chain hit two important milestones—25,000 restaurants across the U.S., and operating in 100 countries, while opening 779 new locations around the globe. The current restaurant count is more than 36,700 locations worldwide, and the chain is well on the way towards its goal of ending the year with 2,500 additional units. Read the rest of this entry »

Driven by a surge in furniture and auto parts shipments to the U.S., containerized imports in March rose 7.3 percentover 2011. This increase to 1,373,301 20-foot equivalent units came on the heels of a 5.9 percent decline in February.

On a month-to-month basis, overall imports climbed 15.2 percent in March, following a contraction of 19 percent in February. For the first quarter, overall imports advanced 2 percent year-over-year to 4,032,857 TEUs, which compared favorably to the 1.5 percent forecast in the March 2012 issue of JOC Container Shipping Outlook.

“Latest TEU data supports my view of very modest imports growth through the second half of the year,” said Mario O. Moreno, economist for The Journal of Commerce/PIERS. “Although the US economy is showing signs of deceleration, it will likely be momentary as the FED has made it clear it is prepared to do more if conditions worsen. Imports growth should regain speed in the second half of the year.”

Imports from Asia for the first quarter barely rose 0.5 percent versus Moreno’s forecast of 1 percent. On a country level, shipments from China showed the most gains, up 13 percent, or 66,681 TEUs, to a total of 579,181 TEUs. This sharp jump in shipments from China is mostly owed to an easier year-over-year comparison with March 2011 base as the 2012 Lunar New Year came early, Moreno said. Read the rest of this entry »