James Chambers
is the contributing editor for the Healthcare community.
He's a stand-up guy
On the London trading floor of one of the big US banks, a few of the senior staff have taken to raising up their desks so they can stand up to work. Rumour has it, the first desk-raiser at the bank had a bad back. Those on the floor who followed him simply mistook this injury-motivated furniture re-arrangement for profit-hungry machismo.
Deborah Perry Piscione
is a guest blogger for the Leadership, Talent & Education community
Silicon Valley's Management Style
While many of us are sick and tired about hearing about how great it is to work at Google, here’s the bottom line: Google didn’t invent the idea of treating their employees really well – that was already embedded in the the Silicon Valley culture.
James Chambers
is the contributing editor for the Healthcare community.
Flying high
New research published this week shows that the CEOs of some of Europe's blue-chip companies routinely spend over 100 days on business travel. Last year, Elmar Degenhart, the CEO of Continental, the German tyre-maker, spent over 150 days away from head office, travelling to meet customers, employees, investors and analysts.
Brian Gardner
is the contributing editor for the Energy & Utilities community.
Crunch time for the ECB
Something is very wrong in Europe; unemployment floats near all time highs in the history of the single currency and the euro zone’s economic growth remains meagre at best. This would appear to be grounds for dynamic action on the part of both governments and the European Central Bank but such endeavours have been slow in coming.
Ibrahim Ibrahim
is a guest blogger for the Business Strategy community
Future of luxury
At its core, consumerism is about status. This is as true now as it has always been. Yet the notion of status is changing.
As an ever increasing number of newly wealthy consumers from emerging economies can now afford the status symbols, the premium whisky, the luxury watches, the latest ‘IT’ bag - the artifacts of prosperity, the luxury consumers from the developed economies are, in turn, no longer satisfied just to own the status...
James Chambers
is the contributing editor for the Healthcare community.
King of the banking world
Earlier this week, the outgoing governor of the Bank of England Mervyn King convened a panel of his high-profile friends to discuss the lessons that economists should learn from the global financial crisis.
Sara Mosavi
is the contributing editor for the Global Markets community.
A Persian Spring
The goldfish is swimming happily in the fishbowl. The smell of hyacinth is inebriating. And every biscuit tin in the house is overflowing with nana-made goodies. Every year, in the third week of March, Iranian families around the world get together and celebrate Noruz ("New Day"), welcoming in the New Year.
Robert Sadleir
is a guest blogger for the Energy community
Game changer
The UK's Green Construction Board recently announced only a "heroic effort" would allow the built environment sector to realise its carbon emission targets of 2050. Such a wan declaration heralds a downward spiral to carbon austerity if the UK's Carbon Budget is to be balanced. Policies are now required to support the development of a range of low-carbon and high-efficiency technologies within a pressing timescale.
Nick Jefferson
is a guest blogger for the Marketing community
The future is creative
The creative industries are fast becoming the darlings of the political and economic world, and not a moment too soon. For decades the UK has been viewed as a hub of creative excellence by those in the industry, with agencies and brands alike brimming with marketing and advertising innovations. But despite this, the attention fostered upon it by the government has always been minimal. This could be taken as a compliment; maybe the industry’s...
Pano Kroko
is a guest blogger for the Natural Resources & Environment community
The fragile Arctic
Climate change is melting the Arctic sea ice, not just displacing cute polar bears but posing a grave risk to the habitat for all species. Climate change impacts could very well be our cemetery moment, just as the asteroid impact was for the dinosaurs 120 million years ago.
Emily Evans
is the contributing editor for the Innovation community.
Stories of the Future
When the Grimm brothers collected fairy tales to publish in their Children’s and Household Tales, they recorded stories that had evolved over generations of tweaks, improvements and polishing by skilled story-tellers. Tales improve when tellers learn what causes a desired reaction in their audience. By re-telling the same story in slightly different ways and observing listeners’ body language, narrators learn which details...
Ibrahim Ibrahim
is a guest blogger for the Business Strategy community
Revisiting the shopping mall
Savills has a stark prediction for the US: the global property group sees 15% of America's 1300 biggest enclosed malls going out of business within 5 years. If correct, that could soon mean 195 dilapidating white elephants across the US.
Monica Woodley
is the contributing editor for the Financial Services community.
All tied up?
The insurance industry has not suffered the same reputation-damaging scandals as the banking industry, however, for some consumers, as insurers are financial institutions they have been tarred with the same brush – and need to prove their worth.
Melanie Senior
is a guest blogger for the Healthcare community
Tomorrow’s pharma
In a healthcare world that’s focussed on outcomes rather than treatments, innovation is whatever can help achieve those outcomes cost-effectively. Most cash-strapped payers would rather fork out for a technology shown to improve the often sub-50% compliance rates for existing treatments than pay for a new, more expensive drug that may offer only incremental benefit (assuming it’s taken appropriately).
Ibrahim Ibrahim
is a guest blogger for the Business Strategy community
Sharing is the new ownership
Increasing urbanisation and smaller dwellings mean we have less space for our stuff. The Self Storage Association says that in the UK the self storage market grew by 8% last year. Even so, Britons still have more than £2,800 of clutter stored in their attics, according to the Co-Op, suggesting that there is room yet for the self storage market to grow.