Petronas retrenching some of its 51,000-strong staff more campanies to follow

 1MDB subsidiary SRC International Sdn Bhd yawning credibility deficit, must restore trust  the form of a battering in financial markets.the fall in the Ringgit’s exchange rate against the dollar, coming close to an all-time low recorded over two years ago.Shocks often have their origins in exuberance. It’s no different with the ringgit As 2015 came to a close, there was a flurry of reports from large international banks on why everyone should be bullish about the Malaysian currency as oil plunged to new lows.It was also a time when mega bets, running into hundreds of millions of dollars, were placed in offshore financial centres like Singapore and Hong Kong by global investors going long the Ringgit. Hedge funds, MNC banks and large corporates went long rupee-short dollars, as well as long ringgit and short other emerging market currencies such as Malaysian ringgit and and Philippine peso. These are bets in the non-deliverable forward market (NDF) – a cash settled forward market where currencies like ringgit, as the name suggests, cannot be delivered .

Government started to eliminate petrol subsidies when the oil price began to tumble and thus eased pressure on the government budget. Now that credible forecasts suggest that there’s unlikely to be an early reversal in the oil price trend, , other reforms must follow.the processes and structures that reinforce organisational stability.questions on speed and flexibility.the goal was to discover how often leaders and managers moved quickly when challenged, and how rapidly organisations adjusted to changes and new ways of doing things. Taken together, the two sets of questions provided the foundation for a simple matrix, comprising a speed axis and a stability axis. The matrix turns out to be a strong predictor of organisational health and performance. We describe companies that combine speed and stability as agile.

No one would expect sluggish companies to thrive. It’s equally reasonable to assume that success achieved through breakneck speed, without stabilising processes and structures underfoot, will be hard to sustain over the long term.

Yet, some executives might not only reasonably maintain that speed and stability pull in opposite directions but also hypothesise that they may be negatively correlated. Our latest research, however, confirms that the opposite is true.
Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) is considering retrenching some of its 51,000-strong staff as one of its options as the Malaysian state-owned oil company confronts the realities of low oil prices,
a voluntary separation scheme (VSS) for permanent staff is being considered by the Petronas management.The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that Petronas was planning to slash as much as RM50 billion (US$11.41 billion) in capital and operating expenses over the next four years.

Petronas, which brings in nearly half of Malaysia's oil revenue, will defer some of its projects, WSJ said, citing an internal memo by chief executive officer Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin.

The firm has been hit by a slump in oil prices, which fell to their lowest since 2003 on Monday. Prices have fallen by more than 70 percent in the past 18 months as exporters around the world pump out over a million barrels of crude every day in excess of demand.

In February last year, Petronas said it planned to cut capital expenditure by 10 percent and operating expenses by up to 30 percent in 2015.

It also said at the time that it would cut 2016 capital spending by 15 percent.

From “Why agility pays”)A new journey begins for Vedanta

Roma Balwani is responsible for driving Sustainability, CSR and Communications as a strategic function at Vedanta Resources plc, a London listed 13 billion dollar, globally diversified, natural resources company.

Roma Balwani shared with us her thoughts on sustainable growth.

1. Which are the main pillars of your CSR and Sustainability strategy?

As a group, we believe that Vedanta’s role is to create value for all our stakeholders. A shared destiny approach in our businesses will benefit the community and boost economic prosperity. Only by working in partnership with our communities will our business grow along with our shared financial, economic and social value and that will help us maintain our ‘License to operate’.

Integral to our core business strategy are Vedanta’s Core Values of trust, entrepreneurship, innovation, excellence, integrity, respect and care. Whatever the jurisdiction, we have our sustainable development model which comprises of four pillars; Responsible Stewardship, Building Strong Relationships, Adding & Sharing Value and Strategic Communications.

We use a Sustainability Framework which is aligned to international standards like IFC, ICMM and OECD guidelines through which we advance both our business outcomes and those of the communities and environment that surround us. We feel that through the implementation of the Framework, we can offer significant benefits beyond our operations.

2. What have been some of the greatest challenges in realizing your CSR and Sustainability goals in the past year, and how has your company overcome them?

Despite the volatile commodity market we have continued to focus on enhancing our sustainability performance over the last year. For Vedanta, the term ‘community investment’ is focused towards building interdependence and empowerment instead of dependence and philanthropy. The leadership team at Vedanta adds rigour to the process by encouraging young talents to think out of the box and leverage modern technology. We have now entered a performance-driven phase of our sustainability strategy, having put tried and tested systems into action in recent years. The significant improvements to our safety performance are testament to this.

Vedanta believes in the right of the community to free, prior and informed consent. Transparent communication with civil society is essential for the company, to be enlightened on the views about the company’s business operations and community expectations. We completed our most comprehensive, structured and collaborative community needs assessment exercise in India, reaching every village in the vicinity of our operations. The main concerns heard were about improving livelihoods (either in terms of employment or supplier opportunities with Vedanta) and the environment (primarily water and soil quality).

We have held meetings with the NGOs, to gain their view to the approach of our on-ground activities. We encourage stakeholder input, including from the UN, governmental and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and you will see outcomes of these partnerships. It also underlines our intention, going forward, to deepen our positive socio-economic impact, by partnering with like-minded businesses and organisations.

3. Keeping in mind the targets set in the Paris accord what do you see on the horizon for corporate sustainability initiatives? How can companies and government work together to achieve sustainability and CSR goals?

The Paris COP 21 was a historic event, and India played a major role in shaping the negotiations, with the government committed to an ambitious target of reducing carbon emissions relative to its GDP by 33% to 35% from 2005 levels by 2030.

As the global economy evolves to a low carbon model, specifically in India and other developing nations where we are operating, investment in clean technology is predicted to grow dramatically. As the global economy evolves to a low carbon model, investors will look more closely at climate-related risk and opportunity. We recognize that India, which is still in a developing stage and has a number of important priorities such as poverty alleviation, proper electrification and sanitation; all which need to be tackled while undertaking its energy transformation, so the government needs to set clear targets and road map in consultation with businesses.

4. What are your goals for 2016 and your priorities for the year?

Public expectations of big business have never been greater, and we are increasingly seeing companies held accountable for irresponsible and opaque practices around the world. As the mining sector plays a crucial role in fostering sustainable development in remote areas lacking basic facilities, our role is to harness the opportunities of global economic, social and environmental mega trends while mitigating negative impacts.

We are focusing on improving performance against our sustainability metrics, as well as managing community expectations as we continue to contribute towards the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Vedanta has a comprehensive, robust and successful sustainable development story to tell, and we intend to build more high-level partnerships and collaborative industry memberships to share our experiences.