Coca-Cola Co has offered to pay $2.3 billion for China Huiyuan Juice Group in a bid to become the largest juice manufacturing company in one of the biggest markets in the globe.

Coca-Cola Co is the biggest soft drink manufacturer in the world and after declining sales in North America, it is keen to expand its reach in overseas market. Coca-Cola’s acquisition of Huiyuan Juice will double its share of the juice market in China which is reported to be extremely competitive.

The $2.3 billion or $HK17.9 billion deal is the largest overseas acquisition for Coca-Cola Co which has agreed to pay $HK12.20 per share in cash. This is three times the last closing price of $HK 4.14 per share. The news of the deal led to an upsurge in the share prices of Huiyuan Juice Group which shot up by 167% to $HK11.06 on Wednesday morning at Hong Kong.

Beijing-based Huiyuan Juice Group is the biggest fruit and vegetable juice company in China on the basis of its 10.3% market share. Coca-Cola comes at second place with a market share of 9.7%. The deal will enable Coca-Cola to make greater savings on raw materials like fruit and packaging and this in turn will allow it to diversify into other beverages.

MegaFon, the Russian mobile phone company has announced that it will start selling Apple’s iPhone 3G in the country towards the end of the year.

MegaFon is the third largest mobile phone company of Russia and is keen to tap the huge market for 3G phones in the country which already has an estimated 500,000 earlier generation devices in use. On Tuesday, company officials announced that later this year Apple’s iPhone will be officially sold by MegaFon in Russia even though further details of the deal were not given out.

Officially the iPhone has not yet gone on sale in Russia, even though they can be found in the gray market where each device sells for about $1000 which is many times the present retail price of the mobile phone in US. Also Russians returning from abroad often get the phone for friends who then pay an additional $100 to get them activated in Russia.

The iPhone 3G from Apple is designed to offer web surfing features and video downloads at higher speeds as compared to its earlier versions. The phone made its debut in the United States in July this year and since then has caught the fancy of mobile phone users all over the globe.

Advertisements by Drug companies that directly target customers do not always translate into big sales, reports a new study carried out in Canada.

The results of the research were published in the online version of British Medical Journal. It reported that despite the multi-billion advertisement campaigns carried out by drug companies, the final impact on drug sales is at best moderate. According to an estimate in 2005, the pharmaceutical industry in the US spent around $5 billion every year in direct-to-consumer campaigns.

The study was carried out in Canada where the English-speaking provinces are exposed to drug advertisements from US media. The study thus compared drug sales in the English-speaking Canadian provinces to sales in French-speaking provinces. Prescription statistics, based on data provided by IMS Health Canada, were followed over a five year period. The results showed while the sales of two drugs, Enbrel and Nasonex, did not vary, sales of Zelnorm peaked by 40% in the English-speaking Canadian areas ever since the advertisement campaign began. However the impact was short-lived and a few years later, sales patterns in both regions became identical.

United States and New Zealand are the only two nations where direct-to-consumers drug advertisements are legal.

IRobot Corp is set to supply the US Army with military robots and related services in a deal estimated to be worth up to $200 million.

The publicly traded company, iRobot Corp has bagged a lucrative contract according to which it will supply the Robotic Systems Joint Project Office of the US Army with military robots, spare parts, repair and training services over the next five years. The indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity deal comes in the place of an earlier contract which expired in May this year.

The military robot to be sold by iRobot Corp to the armed services will primarily consist of the PackBot variety of which around 220 have been already been ordered by the US Army in July this year in a deal estimated to cost $17.5 million.
In June iRobot had already landed a $3.3 million, multi-year contract with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Army Research Office to develop Chemical Robots for unmanned search as well as rescue and reconnaissance operations in urban areas.

Other than the US Army iRobot Corp has also found favor with other security agencies. Last month the company launched the Negotiator robotic model which is a smaller version of the PackBot and can be used by the police as well as other public safety officials

Non-verbal cues play a significant role in how one communicates at the workplace. While you may be able to exercise control over what and how you speak, often other signals may complicate the message sent out to superiors or co-workers. Here are a few tips on sending the right cues for an effective, non-verbal communication.

Take out some time to reply to official e-mails. An incoherent, long-drawn out answer may confuse rather than clarify issues. At the same time a simple “OK” to a query may be viewed as terse or even rude. It is best to write a grammatically correct reply which directly addresses the issues in a clear and succinct manner.

Consider the signals sent out to co-workers or subordinates by your actions such as the perpetually closed door of your office. While closing the door is understandable in case of important calls or confidential meetings, a door shut all the time may signal your unwillingness to be approached by others. If you like to work with privacy, keep the door slightly ajar or when rushing to meet a deadline, tape a message on your door.

Finally, it is always prudent to give a balanced look to your workspace. While you might want to individualize your desk or cubicle, putting up items of too personal a nature might be considered unprofessional, politically incorrect or even downright offensive.