Naval Gazing

Under its post-war constitution, Japan is not allowed a navy, only a Self-Defence Force. Yet, today, the country has one of the largest, most sophisticated fleets in the world. Tensions with North Korea and China have also seen the country increasingly debating its military future. Monocle was given unique access to the fleet and asked leading analysts to assess the future of the region.
Chinese Cheques

All over Africa, Chinese labourers are hard at work building railways, roads and national stadiums. In return, the continent’s developing countries are selling their oil and iron ore to the Chinese. The figures are staggering: in 1999 trade between Africa and China was valued at €1.5bn, by 2000 it had risen to €31bn and by 2010 it is expected to hit €77bn. To underline their interest in the continent, on 30 January, the Chinese President Hu Jintao began an eight-nation African tour. Monocle travelled across the continent to witness the impact of the investment and diaspora.
Baja or Bust

If you’ve had enough of the Antwerp to Brussels commute, relocate your life. Every month we’ll take you to an emerging business hub and tell you everything you need to build a new company and enjoy a better standard of living. This month we’re in Ensenada, the Mexican town pulling in the wine growers of California, yacht builders and a generation of sharp entrepreneurs.
Germany’s Bottle Bank

Germany is the eighth biggest exporter of wine, shipping 280 million litres in 2005; but it’s also the world’s largest importer of wine, buying 1.19 billion litres the same year. Like France, the country has struggled against New World vineyards. Now the Germans are fighting back with a winning marketing tool: novelty bottles.
Reel Rebel

For the past eight years, Assaad Taha’s company, Hot Spot, has been making films for the Al-Jazeera TV network. His mission? To uncover and objectively report injustices through Arab eyes, while staying firmly opposed “to the notion of neutrality”. Not an easy task in an increasingly unstable political arena.
Good Migrations

For most of the last century, Italy’s population flowed outwards. But as the country grew richer, the outside began to trickle in, from Eastern Europe, North Africa and Asia. Today, the country’s roughly three million immigrants are growing into their second generation. For the first time its schools are graduating students who sound Italian, feel Italian and are Italian, but trace their roots back to other countries, forcing Italians to ask what exactly does it mean to be Italian?
Família values

Tourism is Brazil’s fourth biggest earner, generating €8.5bn and sustaining 1.1m jobs. Last year, Rio de Janeiro received more than two million international and five million domestic visitors, an increase of 120 per cent since 2000. On the eve of this year’s Pan American Games in Rio, hotshot hotelier Rogério Fasano is opening a second property in Brazil’s carnivale capital.
Last stand

Shoe production in the US has dropped 85 per cent since 1995 and around 90 shoe factories have closed as companies shift production overseas. Iconic American brands such as Timberland, Converse, Sebago, Johnston & Murphy and GH Bass & Co have all left. One of three remaining bespoke shoemakers in the country, Russell Moccasin survives, thanks to its recasting as a luxury brand in the Far East.

Brands Explained / Zürich

On the Shelf

Briefing

Coop is the second largest retailer in Switzerland after Migros, with about 1,500 outlets and 44,000 employees. In 2005, it had a turnover of €8.6bn. It has 20 per cent of the country’s food retail business. As well as supermarkets, the Coop group also includes petrol stations, hotels and a host of subsidiary companies. But what do you need to make a successful supermarket? In the first of a series on branding, we look at the companies that make Coop a star store.

Writers: Philipp Eigenmann,; Alicia Kirby,; Liv Lewitschnik

Photography: Tobias Madörin

01.

Shelving

Van Keulen

A Dutch family run firm with 500 employees and an annual turnover of €50m that specialises in shop-fittings for food retailers, pharmacies and dentists, among others. It has offices across Europe. In Switzerland it works with Coop and rival Migros. Associated business Van Keulen Kooien, sells pet cages all over the world.

02.

Card terminals

Telekurs

The business was founded in 1978 by a group of Swiss banks to establish and operate a new ATM system for the whole of the country – and Lichtenstein too. In addition to 5,521 cashpoints, Telekurs has 98,200 point of sale terminals which, in 2005, took 248 million electronic card payments. The head office is in Zürich.

03.

Product scanners

PSC

In 1974, the US firm Photographic Services Corporation was the first company to manufacture a barcode scanner. The first product to be scanned was a 10-pack of Wrigley’s chewing gum in the Marsh supermarket in Troy, Ohio. Today it supplies 24 of the top 25 US supermarkets and employs 800 people.

04.

Lights

Regent AG

Founded in 1908, Regent AG is the largest lighting company in Switzerland. A pioneer of “eye-friendly lighting”, it employs 515 people and says it takes 700 orders on an average day. Headquartered in Basel, it also has offices in Austria, Germany, Italy and France. Clients include the Calvin Klein store in Milan and the British Museum, London.

05.

Vents

Trox Hesco

The Swiss ventilation firm Hesco was taken over by Germany’s Trox Group in 1998. Today the combined company has an annual turnover of €270m and employs 2,700 people (although just 120 work for this division). The company regularly works with Coop and has supplied the cooling systems for the store’s Basel HQ.

06.

Uniforms

JAS

Named after founder Joseph Alain Scherrer, JAS provides uniforms for police forces and shop staff. Founded in 1980 in Aarburg, Switzerland, it employs 50 people. To make sure it can swiftly respond to trends in staff uniforms (style tip: polo shirts are very in), it employs freelance designers, two of whom went on to work for Hugo Boss.

07.

Cash register

IBM

IBM’s heritage is as a cash register business and it still leads the world in till technology. Its biggest European market is Germany. Walmart is also a major buyer. The company thrived during America’s Great Depression because it secured a government contract to maintain employment records for 26 million people.

08.

Carrier bags

Papier Mettler

The largest manufacturer of carrier bags in Europe, Mettler makes both plastic and paper. The industry is competitive and secretive; Mettler does not release sales figures and never attends trade shows. Founded in 1957, its HQ is Morbach, Germany. As well as working with Coop, it also has Burger King and MacDonald’s as clients.

Naval Gazing

Chinese Cheques

Baja or Bust

Germany’s Bottle Bank

Reel Rebel

Good Migrations

Família values

Last stand

Europe Briefing

Africa/Middle East briefing

Asia briefing

Oceania briefing

Americas briefing

Business Briefing

Air of superiority

Star board

On the Shelf

Culture Briefing

Culture Briefing

Architecture/Design briefing

Fashion briefing

On the Money

Well Played

Push my Button

Light Fantastic

Sunday best

Diary of a movie deal

Trigger Happy

Shop Front

Kabul and Wireless

Man of the moment

Class act

Back to black

Inventory No. 1

Samurai Golf Clubs

Genoa

Ann Curry

La Chaux-de-Fonds

Observation

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