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Daimler and BMW – and, to a lesser extent, Volkswagen, Nissan, Renault and Ford – are already ahead of the game in recognising that it will now be sustainable for increasing numbers of single occupancy cars to pour into already congested cities on a daily basis as they do now. BMW's alternative powertrain sub-brand, i – due to be launched later this year – addresses this with a full suite of mobility options, and while Daimler has not formed a separate division in which to wrap the work it is doing, it is starting to move well beyond the traditional role of car manufacturer andretailer.

The future standard is expected to provide guidance to all parties involved in the consumer product supply chain (designers, manufacturers, importers, distributors, retailers, etc). It should result in fewer preventable injuries, promote consumer confidence, provide an international benchmark to facilitate access to international markets, serve as an adjunct to regulatory approaches, offer a systems approach to product safety, level the playing field, educate suppliers, and more.

The company blamed poor lighting sales on the anaemic construction industry in developed countries, and said its gross sales in lighting would grow in the low single digits. But production capacity is being severely underutilised due to low demand, mainly in western Europe. Margins in the company’s lighting division fell to some 4 per cent, well below the 10 per cent margin in the first quarter.Philips also said low consumer demand in western Europe had hit its consumer products revenues. It also noted some impact from the expected spin-off of its television division to Hong Kong-based TPV, which it announced in April. The company will report that the audio-visual and media section of its consumer products division has fallen into the red. An analyst said Philips officers had told him that the spin-off of the TV business had created customer and retailer uncertainty and led to falling TV sales, which also hurt knock-on sales of other audio-visual products.

Much of the volatility in the cable market is tied to the raw material costs on the supply side. As a result, the pricing trends of cables and wires are not entirely driven by market demand. The market is also far from being homogenous, with the end user profiles ranging from wholesale purchasers, telecom operators, retail users, utility managers, power supply companies as well as enterprises. The leverage enjoyed by the buyers is by and large directly proportional to their off take and inversely proportional to the criticality of cables and wires to their operations. While the technology behind cables has remained consistent, it has not stayed static. As with most applied sciences, cables have witnessed a relentless stakeholder drive towards achieving better transmission with lesser resources. This has led to improvement and improvisations in the core conductor as well as its assembly technologies.