Johnson & Johnson recently agreed to pay $21.4 million to the US Department of Justice and $7.9 million to the United Kingdom’s Serious Fraud Office for making improper payments and receiving illegal gains from its subsidiaries’ business practices in Greece, Poland and Iraq. Accused of violating anti-bribery laws, J & J was said to have…
Out of 178 countries responding to the annual corruption index published by Transparency International, business leaders ranked the oil, gas and mining industries as the most corrupt. The perceived level of corruption in the US increased between 2009 and 2010. The oil, gas and mining industries contained the most bribery and were shown to be…
The State of Arizona has passed controversial state immigration law that would place limits on the Federal government’s responsibility to determine immigration and foreign policy. Several parts of the Arizona law were blocked by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. These included the following obligations of state and local law enforcement officials:…
Begun in 2008, a year after SunRun, Sungevity uses a proprietary iQuote system to evaluate the appropriate system configuration, without having to make house visits. The system accesses satellite imagery as well as utility information directly and then prepares the offer. The financing arrangements are similar to those of SunRun. Their network of independent installers…
Founded in the Bay Area of California in 2006, SolarCity now covers 11 states with solar solutions for residential and industrial applications. They offer many of the same financing arrangements as their competitors; however, they have an extensive in-house staff of Engineers and installers who provide customized design and installation services. They are able to…
Begun in 2007 by cofounders Ed Fenster and Lynn Jurich, Stanford University colleagues, SunRun is a finance company that leases solar panels to residential owners. The company handles all of the purchase, installation and maintenance of the solar system through a network of local providers. The twenty year finance arrangements lock in energy costs for…