Ricoh executive vice president Ian Winham makes frequent trips down the acquisition road. Here, he offers insights on what works, and a novel idea on what’s next.

Maybe it’s time for Google to purchase a carmaker.

The long road to compliance is a daunting journey for many companies in today’s business environment—largely because the journey never quite ends. Once compliance is achieved, companies must adapt to changing standards in order to help retain their competitive edge. Jamie Stewart, UK managing director of Exact, explores the potential of enterprise solutions to tackle these challenges.

US food giant HJ Heinz is to acquire its first major business in Brazil, the world’s fifth most populous nation.

Heinz has agreed to buy an 80 percent stake in Coniexpress SA Industrias Alimenticias, which produces the Quero brand of tomato-based sauces, tomato paste, ketchup, condiments and vegetables.

Editors at Cars.com, a leading US on-line resource for buying and selling a car, are advising consumers not to let the price of gas panic them into buying hybrid or electric cars.

"When gasoline goes north of $4.00 a gallon, it changes the types of cars people shop for," said David Thomas, Cars.com senior editor. "We saw this in 2008 where the bottom fell out of the SUV market, and people gravitated toward smaller, and often hybrid, vehicles.

Switzerland-based engineering and construction group Foster Wheeler has won a contract to carry out an availability and reliability study on the possible expansion of Abu Dhabi’s Zirku oil processing facilities.

Foster Wheeler was awarded the contract by Abu Dhabi-based oil company Zakum Development Co (Zadco), formed in order to develop the Upper Zakum oil field on behalf of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and other shareholders, namely ExxonMobil and the Japan Oil Development Company.

The National Inventors Hall of Fame announced its 2011 inductees today, recognizing the inventors of the sensor that enables cameras in cell phones, and the Universal Product Code (UPC) which we all know now as the bar code on our shopping items.

N. Joseph Woodland and Bernard Silver will be recognized for their contribution to the invention of the UPC, the world’s most pervasive inventory tracking tool that has transformed the way consumers shop, and how businesses and retailers manage inventory.

Intermodal transportation is becoming increasing popular in the United States, with the price of road fuel likely to stay high for some time, and new government road safety regulations putting pressure on truck carriers.

Intermodal transportation integrates rail and truck services to move product to market more efficiently, using the rail network to carry cargo that would otherwise move via tractor trailer.

Urgent action is needed to restructure South Africa’s electricity distribution industry, with infrastructure and maintenance backlogs recently breaking R30 billion and growing at a rate of R2.5 billion a year, Deputy Energy Minister Barbara Thompson told energy industry delegates at the 2011 Energy Indaba conference this week.

The conference coincides with the controversial closure of EDI Holdings, the company set up in 2003 by the South African government to address the issue of energy distribution.

Dutch construction firm Ballast Nedam has agreed to take over a proportion of the activities of its bankrupt Dutch rival Heddes.

Nieuwegein-based Ballast Nedham will take on 16 projects, collectively worth around €100 million, as well as Heddes’ small-scale construction activities.

Heddes Bouw & Ontwikkeling’s 100 employees will continue to operate from the company’s head office in Hoorn.

Heddes filed for bankruptcy on 16 February, having suffered from the effects of the slowdown in the construction industry.

Deepwater drilling has recommenced in the Gulf of Mexico for the first time since the drilling moratorium was imposed in June after the BP oil disaster.

Although the moratorium was officially lifted last October, Noble Energy is the first to receive a permit to resume drilling at its Santiago prospect in the deepwater of the Gulf of Mexico.