The month of October assumed great significance in the mergers and acquisitions calendar of this year as the announced volume and the withdrawn deal volume touched record highs.

A report compiled by a deal tracking firm Dealogic revealed that total volume of global mergers and acquisitions touched $451 billion in October, the largest month so far this year and up 30% from September. Also in this month deals of $120 billion were withdrawn, the highest monthly withdrawn volume in 2008 till date.

Felipe Pizarro, an analyst with Dealogic said that October saw 142 deals withdrawn globally, the highest number in any month on record. Also the five most active months based on the number of deals withdrawn have all occurred this year.

US companies were the most targeted in acquisitions as deals worth $237 billion were announced in October which marks the largest monthly volume of M&As on record. Most of these mergers were driven by large capital infusions into financial institutions by the US Treasury as a way of jumpstarting the lending process which had virtually come to a stop in the wake of the global financial crisis.

Four of the largest M&As in October were made by the US government which involved leading financial institutions like Citigroup, Wells Fargo & Co, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America Corp.

Osiris Therapeutics Inc has become the first stem cell company to earn quarterly profits but it is an achievement, analysts say, unlikely to be replicated by others in immediate future.

Osiris announced on Tuesday that it had booked $35 million from the sale of an implantable stem cell product to San Diego-based NuVasive Inc. The product named Osteocel is used in the treatment of bone fractures and has proved crucial in helping Osiris to emerge profitable by earning $3.5 million in the third quarter. Osiris further claimed that Genzyme Corp will invest as much as $1.38 billion to jointly develop stem-cell therapies in the treatment of blood cancers, joint damages and inflammation.

The success of Osiris may help other stem cell companies to attract investment and validate the field of stem cell research. However industry experts believe that it is early days and Osiris’ feat may be hard to match. This is because other stem cell companies are still in initial stage of studies needed to gain regulatory clearance before they can use their products as potential sources of treatment.

Osiris is based in Columbia, Maryland and has emerged as one of the frontrunners among companies propagating stem cell research for medical treatment.

Top European banks began the week with dismal news on their profits even as state authorities worldwide continued with schemes to bolster financial sectors and weakening economies.

French banking major Societe Generale reported an 84% fall in third-quarter profit but claimed that it was well capitalized to survive the global financial crisis. Commerzbank, Germany’s second-biggest bank, too posted third quarter net loss of 285 million euros. It also said that it would need an 8 billion euro injection from the state and another 15 billion euro in guaranteed funding to secure refinancing.

Likewise the biggest home lender in Britain, HBOS Plc hiked its hit from the value of risky assets and bad loans to more than 5 billion sterling pounds even as its takeover partner Lloyds TSB predicted a sharp drop in profits.

This evaporation of profits at the top level of European banking sector has prompted many of its state authorities to inject capital into their major banks in order to avoid a systemic meltdown. France has already set aside 360 billion euros for its finance sector and has even warned that the government might take direct stakes in banks if the latter do not use the funds to lend to businesses. Moreover the European Central Bank as well as the central banks of Britain and Australia are poised to cut interest rates still more in order to boost the credit process.

The Australian central bank slashed key interest rate by three-quarters of a percentage point to 5%, thus joining a global wave of rate cuts in an attempt to defuse the financial crisis.

The Australian Reserve Bank said in a statement that current international economic data shows that major economies are still reeling under the impact of the credit crisis. Besides than that even China and other parts of the developing world are slowing down as well. Under such circumstances it was necessary to bring down key rates so that there would be greater funds with banks in order for lending to businesses.

The recent rate cut carried out by the Australian central bank exceeded analysts’ estimates of a half-percentage point cut on Tuesday and was the third cut in just over two months. Last month, the Australian Reserve Bank reduced the cost of borrowing by a significantly full percentage point. Australian financial policy makers are taking advantage of the fact that unlike their American and Japanese counterparts, they have enough room to lower key rates in future.

Last week the US Federal Reserve already lowered its benchmark interest rate by half a percentage point to 1% while the European Central Bank is again expected to revise its rates on Thursday.

The right work culture in any organization forms the foundation of its success. This is because when employees understand and assimilate the dynamics of an ideal work culture, they perform to their optimum levels even as the consequent individual and business rewards keep everyone happy. Here are a few ways which can help a business organization to inculcate the desired work culture in its employees.

Work culture imparts a share sense of mission among the employees as it provides answers to questions like, “What is expected around here, what do we do and why do we do it”. if a business organization works to promote a sense of shared goals and clarifies every worker’s role in achieving those goals, employees will automatically be tuned to the work culture in the organization.

Another useful way to inculcate the right work culture is to offer clear, objective feedback. People learn more quickly and work well when they are told how they are doing.

Along with debriefing and summarising the performance of a worker, it is also important that the boss continue to offer sincere and positive reinforcement. Noticing an employee’s good performance and praising it goes a long way in inculcating loyalty in the worker towards an organization.