Por GEORGE MWANGI

La piratería en Somalia costó al sector del transporte marítimo y los gobiernos casi US$7.000 millones en 2011, con el secuestro de 28 barcos de un total de 237 navíos atacados, según un informe elaborado con información de gobiernos, la industria y la sociedad civil.

El coste es inferior al de 2010, estimado entre US$7.000 millones y US$12.000 millones, dijo la ONG One Earth Future Foundation en su informe publicado el miércoles.

En 2011 la industria de transporte marítimo soportó más del 80% de esos costos, mientras que los gobiernos sufragaron el 20% de los gastos asociados a la lucha contra la piratería, señaló el informe.

Aunque se registró un aumento en el número de ataques, el porcentaje de éxito cayó en 2011, sobre todo en la segunda mitad del año, en gran parte debido a un significativo incremento en el uso de guardas privados armados y efectivas operaciones navales.

Sin embargo, el precio medio de los rescates en 2011 aumentó, al igual que la duración de los secuestros. A pesar de esto, los rescates representan sólo el 2% del costo total de la piratería en 2011.

En 2011, se pagaron 31 rescates a los piratas somalíes, que de media ascendieron a US$5 millones frente a una media de US$4 millones en 2010, lo que supuso mayores ingresos para los piratas por menos secuestros.

FOR GIANTS FANS

The Cocktail

The Jack Rose

They are technically the New York Giants, but ask anyone who’s schlepped to MetLife stadium through the Lincoln Tunnel on a NJ Transit bus and you’ll learn that the Giants are very much a New Jersey team as well. The Jack Rose, a smooth, slightly sweet cocktail, also has a dual state identity: It was supposedly named after a New York mobster and is made with applejack, a spirit produced primarily in the Garden State that’s also known as “Jersey Lightning.”

2 ounces applejack

1 ounce lime juice

½ ounce grenadine

Shake ingredients with ice and strain into a coupe.

The Spirit

McKenzie Bourbon 45.5% ABV

Bourbon doesn’t only come from Kentucky—this one from New York’s Finger Lakes region is made mostly of a local variety of corn and aged in former Chardonnay casks from the area, giving the spirit a slightly buttery finish. The result is a smooth sipper with plenty of butterscotch and vanilla.

The Beer

Six Point Sweet Action 5.2% ABV

Brewed in Brooklyn, N.Y., Sweet Action is a mix of wheat beer, pale ale and lager styles, resulting in an easy-drinking brew that, like the Giants’ roller-coaster season, is a mix of sweet and bitter. Conveniently, it comes in a can so you can throw it at your television should Lawrence Tynes shank a field goal…not going to happen, though.

—Kevin Sintumuang

FOR PATRIOTS FANS

The Cocktail

Ward Eight

Boston’s most historic cocktail was invented, as one version of the story goes, in the late 1890s at Locke-Ober, one of the city’s oldest restaurants, to commemorate the election of a Democratic power broker to the State Legislature. Any similarities between this rumored fix and a Bill Belichick scandal are entirely coincidental. Essentially a whiskey-sour variation, this drink has sharp citrus and floral hints of dark fruit that round out rye’s spicy bite.

2 ounces rye whiskey

½ ounce lemon juice

½ ounce orange juice

1 teaspoon of grenadine

Shake ingredients with ice and strain into a coupe.

The Spirit

Privateer Rum 45% ABV

Since rum was the bedrock of New England’s early economy, root for the Pats with a bottle of this sippable, caramel-like Massachusetts rum. Made by a descendant of Andrew Cabot, a privateer during the American Revolution who used his fleet of agile ships to harass the British Navy (downright Welkerian), this is the stuff you’d expect the Patriots’ musket-firing mascots to drink.

The Beer

Pretty Things Jack D’Or 6.4% ABV

The Jack D’Or from Pretty Things, the beer-nerds’ brewery of choice in Massachusetts, is a riff on a Saison farmhouse ale. It has a complex, ever-changing rustic character that runs the gamut from dry to citrus. It’s exceptionally versatile, and finishes strong—just like the Patriots.

—Luke O’Neil

By JOANNE CHIU And DUNCAN MAVIN

Zhang Dazhong says his aim as chairman of Gome Electrical Appliances Holding Ltd. is to bring a little respect to one of China’s biggest retailers of consumer electronics. It’s a frank assessment from the retail veteran who became chairman in March after a long power struggle at Gome, whose founder and largest shareholder Huang Guangyu is currently serving a 14-year prison sentence for bribery and other illegal business practices.

“As chairman, of course what I need to do is direct growth and strategy,” says Mr. Zhang, who himself founded Beijing Dazhong Electric, a rival that Gome bought in 2007. “At the same time, I want our company to be respected. If we are, then I would say personally I have succeeded.”

In the six months since Mr. Zhang was appointed to his new role, Gome seems to have put some of its former problems in the past. The wrangling that had beset the board and major investors has waned. The company turned in a strong first-half performance—net profit was up 30% from a year earlier. And U.S. private-equity firm Bain Capital LLC, which paid $420 million for a 10% stake in Gome in 2009, has stated its continuing support for the company, denying some media reports that it was actively looking to sell its shares.

But there is still plenty of work for Mr. Zhang to do. Gome faces strong competition from other Chinese electronics retailers, and its aggressive plans for expansion into China’s less developed second- and third-tier cities will require a surge in recruitment and training as well as tough search for the right store locations.

Mr. Zhang, 62, spoke to Joanne Chiu and Duncan Mavin in Hong Kong. The following interview has been edited.

WSJ: Your appointment came at a time when there was severe disruption to management and a public disagreement among the main investors in the company. How difficult was it to come into the role against that backdrop?

Mr. Zhang: Gome’s survival skills are very strong. In Beijing, Gome and Dazhong Electric lived side-by-side for over 20 years. You could say we’ve fought like brothers, so we know each other like the back of our hands. The board of Gome asked me to join because of my understanding of the company. Yes, you say it was a difficult time. But it was also an opportunity. After a few months, everyone’s working well together and we hope the relationship will be a happy one. In the first half of the year, we’ve had a very good start.

WSJ: It’s very unusual for a company anywhere to have a major shareholder who is a convicted criminal and still retains influence despite being in jail, such as is the case with Huang Guangyu at Gome. Should shareholders be concerned about this?

Mr. Zhang: The past 30 years of China’s economic reform has been a complicated time. The entrepreneurs of China have made many mistakes here or there. Mr. Huang has risen from the lowest rung of society to build such a large corporation. Of course there may be mistakes made during that time. One should understand that. However, this is a listed company. Management and staff will try our best for the company and for society.

WSJ: What have you done to bring some stability to management?

Mr. Zhang: First of all, the composition of the board now has a better balance of interests. The five-year plan is very clear also. The team at Gome had always been strong and healthy. It is just that there were some individual shareholders and management that had problems between them. After my arrival in fact, everything went very smoothly. I’ve been learning and adjusting personally and I’m trying to merge my own management style with that of Gome.

WSJ: You sold your own private company to Gome. Was it ever your personal ambition to help run a publicly listed company?

Mr. Zhang: I was invited by the board of Gome to become chairman. I accepted the invite and will try my best. I don’t want to fail the people who invited me.

WSJ: How different is managing a listed company from running a private company?

Mr. Zhang: There are so many regulations. You have to comply and understand them. Everything has to be a lot more strict. When you’re managing your own company, you can be a lot freer. For a listed company, you have to think about what everyone else expects.

WSJ: Gome has announced aggressive expansion plans, especially in China’s less developed markets. What management challenges does that represent?

Mr. Zhang: The company has a lot of experience, so it shouldn’t be too difficult. We’ve moved into these markets pretty smoothly so far. In the five-year plan, there are some clear targets. Sixty percent of new shops will be in tier-two and tier-three cities this year. Our [internal computer] system is to be renewed this year. After the new system has come in, there will be recruitment and a need for major training effort.

Por MAXWELL MURPHY

La crisis financiera y sus consecuencias drenaron parte del salario y del prestigio de ser un experto en cerrar acuerdos en Wall Street. Esto le ha dado la posibilidad a algunas empresas de que contraten banqueros de inversión versado en adquisiciones y estrategias de capital para el cargo de director financiero, una posición asociada a menudo con la contabilidad.

El año pasado, seis banqueros de inversión dieron el salto al puesto de gerente de finanzas de una empresa grande que cotiza en bolsa. En 2010 no se registraron transiciones de este tipo, de acuerdo con la firma de cazatalentos Korn/Ferry International. La mayor parte de los seis hizo el cambio a una empresa que había conocido como cliente.

“Durante mucho tiempo fue imposible contratar algo parecido a un banquero de inversión, porque ganaban demasiado dinero”, dice David Crane, presidente ejecutivo de NRG Energy Inc., que el año pasado contrató como su director de finanzas a Kirkland Andrews, ex banquero de inversión de Deutsche Bank AG.

Crane dice que había hecho “un serio intento” con Andrews cerca de un año atrás para ofrecerle un puesto ejecutivo en NRG relacionado con la estrategia y las fusiones, pero Andrews había declinado, argumentando cuestiones personales. Cuando se abrió la posición de director financiero, Crane dice que Andrews fue uno de los primeros en la lista de candidatos.

El ex banquero dice que no le sorprendió el acercamiento de NRG, pero que tampoco estaba buscando la oportunidad. Andrews agrega que se siente a gusto con su nueva compañía porque había servido como asesor de la misma en el pasado.

De cara al futuro, dice que se ve a sí mismo avanzando al puesto de director de operaciones o presidente ejecutivo.

En mayo, Lee Shavel se convirtió en el gerente de finanzas del operador de bolsa Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. luego de dejar Bank of America Merrill Lynch, donde era director de banca de inversión para instituciones financieras en las Américas.

Shavel afirma que no buscaba irse de la unidad de Bank of America Corp. pero que el presidente ejecutivo de Nasdaq, Robert Greifeld, y el director general de finanzas saliente, Adena Friedman, lo persuadieron.

Shavel sostiene que los banqueros de inversión que hacen la transición a director general de finanzas deben tener confianza en el contador de sus empresas y la gente que maneja sus reportes financieros internos, porque los banqueros no necesariamente tienen experiencia en esa área.

Pero indica que sus antecedentes en la banca fueron útiles en varias iniciativas que ha lanzado Nasdaq desde que se sumó a la empresa, incluida una refinanciación de deuda. La reestructuración incluyó canjear deuda convertible de Nasdaq por una línea de crédito bancaria y una reactivación del programa de recompra de acciones de la empresa.

Más banqueros de inversión podrían convertirse en directores generales de finanzas con el tiempo, ya que más empresas consideran opciones estratégicas como desinversiones y adquisiciones, y la banca estadounidense enfrenta regulaciones más estrictas, afirma Joshua Wimberly, de Korn/Ferry. “La diversión se acabó en la banca de inversión y será un ambiente desafiante en los próximos años”, agregó.

Por su parte, Arun Dhingra, directivo de la firma de cazatalentos Egon Zehnder International, dice que el terreno está preparado para que más banqueros de inversión consideren un cambio en sus carreras y se conviertan en directores generales de finanzas.

Aunque por ahora las instancias son pocas, afirma que empresas de Estados Unidos que buscan realizar más compras en mercados en vías de desarrollo podrían considerar cada vez más a banqueros de inversión como candidatos a director general de finanzas.

By JENNIFER SMITH

Law firms are finally starting to recover from the recession, but they aren’t taking their young lawyers along for the ride.

Even as profits return, cautious partners with one eye on damaged balance sheets and the other on stingy clients plan to hang onto the lean silhouettes they acquired during the downturn.

That means little relief for young associates—who took on hefty law-school loans, only to run into layoffs and stagnant pay in the years since 2008—and fewer chances for new law-school graduates to get in on the ground floor. And the elusive brass ring of partnership has grown more remote.

“What happens if Greece falls apart again?” says Greg Nitzkowski, managing partner at Paul Hastings LLP, an international firm that has reduced entry-level hires by about a third since 2008. “We just think it’s prudent to plan as if this coming year is going to be a relatively flat year.…We’re not planning for a big upsurge in demand.”

Conditions at law firms have stabilized since 2009, when the legal industry shed 41,900 positions, according to the Labor Department. Cuts were more moderate last year, with some 2,700 positions eliminated, and recruiters report more opportunities for experienced midlevel associates.

But many elite firms have shrunk their ranks of entry-level lawyers by as much as half from 2008, when market turmoil was at its peak. Salaries and bonuses for those associates have remained generally flat. Meanwhile, a degree at a top law school can cost $100,000 or more.

Associates at prominent law firms say some of their peers hired during the boom years are happy just to have jobs at all. “The world has changed,” says a senior associate at a top firm.

During the downturn some firms pared associate ranks through layoffs and by delaying start dates for fresh law-school graduates. And many firms for routine tasks now use less-expensive alternatives to young associates, such as contract attorneys and outsourcing firms.

“Law firms basically focused a lot of head-count reductions during the recession on associate ranks, says Dan DiPietro, chairman of Citi Private Bank’s law-firm group. “They feel like the associate ranks are where they want them to be.”

White & Case LLP, an international law firm, plans to hire about 60 entry-level lawyers this year, compared with prerecession classes of 90 to 100.

“The efficiency of law practice has just changed dramatically in the past five years,” says Bill Dantzler, a hiring partner and head of the firm’s tax practice. “We don’t have to have these armies of young associates. It’s good for the clients, it’s good for everybody.”

That means reputable firms can be even more picky about whom they hire. While firms still compete for the highest-ranking graduates from Ivy League and other top law schools, it is a different story for solid candidates who lack gold-plated résumés. Students with lower class rankings or from second-tier schools who once would have made the cut “wouldn’t have a prayer of getting in now,” Mr. Dantzler says.

For those who do land jobs at big law firms, the hours remain grueling. In 2010 associates at firms with more than 700 lawyers billed an average of 1,859 hours—the equivalent of more than seven hours a day—according to the National Association for Law Placement.

As head counts fell, the average workload for those associates has risen 2.3% since 2007, or about 50 extra hours a year.

And the road to partnership is longer and more uncertain than in the past. Many lawyers now toil eight or even 10 years before being chosen. A decade ago, the most common partnership track took seven years. Other firms have thinned their top ranks of partners who didn’t bring in enough business, making it even tougher to elbow into a spot.

Partners at several large law firms also say they don’t plan to raise associate salaries, which haven’t increased since 2007. December bonuses remained roughly the same as in 2010, with first-year associates at elite firms such as Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP getting $7,500. The most senior associates received bonuses of $37,500 to $42,500.

“Most firms are hesitant to lock themselves into something they can’t sustain,” says Paula Alvary of consulting firm Hoffman Alvary. “While there is clear evidence that work levels are returning, they’re not at prerecession levels for most firms.”

Still, many people continue to pursue law as a career, not least because the median starting salary for entry-level lawyers at top New York firms is $160,000. That is nearly double the going rate in 1996, before the tech boom drove salaries skyward.

And phones are ringing again at law-firm recruiters. Junior lawyers who once clung white-knuckled to their jobs are loosening their grips and moving to corporations’ law departments or to law firms where they might have better shots at making partner.

Eric Fishman in 2010 took what many colleagues then saw as a huge risk when he left one of New York’s elite practices for midsize Pryor Cashman LLP, where he hoped to get more experience running cases and building a practice.

“There was little chance many of my peers would have considered a move from a big law firm at that time,” says Mr. Fishman, now a senior associate at the respected firm. “Now they’re less fearful; the economy is getting better.”

But the pace of such movement isn’t what it was. Before the downturn, firms lost between 25% to 30% of their associates after a few years, people in the industry say. R. Bruce McLean, chairman of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, says the attrition rate at his firm is around 15% now.

“It’s like lots of things in our economy,” he says. “The outlook is brighter, the anxiety level is diminished, but it’s not completely gone.…This is still a period of anxiety for our entire associate population. This is not what they anticipated when they started law school.”