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Business Sense
288 posts
Firms eye sustainable CSR initiatives
Officials of the League of Corporate Foundations (LCF) expressed confidence that the private sector’s initiative to address the…
The many roles of an association CEO
I was invited by the Australasian Society of Association Executives (AuSAE) to the second run of its “Association…
Five things you should do to prepare your business for 2021
Small businesses around the globe are among the hardest hit as the health crisis continues to cause economic…
What They Don’t Tell You about Climate Change
Two years ago the world pledged to keep global warming “well below” 2°C hotter than pre-industrial times. Climate…
TPP Redux: Who Needs America?
Reviving the original Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade deal between 12 countries around the Pacific Rim, is technically impossible.…
The Oil Market Loses Its Head, Again
Only one thing spooks the oil market more than hot-headed despots in the Middle East, and that is…
Endangered Species: America’s Dwindling Global Influence
A year ago, Donald Trump was elected president. Many people predicted that American foreign policy would take a…
Token Resistance: Regulators Eye Initial Coin Offerings
“I’m gonna make a [whole lot] of money on August 2nd on the Stox.com ICO.” Written in July…
The Other Side of Paradise
The week of November 6-10 was uncomfortable for a host of well-heeled figures. In the frame were U2’s…
Is Social Media a Threat to Democracy?
In 1962 a British political scientist, Bernard Crick, published In Defense of Politics. He argued that the art…
Whatever Happened to Inflation?
A few years ago the news about the euro-zone economy was uniformly bad to the point of tedium.…
Shuffle & Deal: The Future of American Express
He is leaving with the share price rising and the October 18 announcement of earnings that were largely…
A Tsar Is Born
Seventeen years after Vladimir Putin first became president of Russia, his grip on the country is stronger than…
Not an Endangered Species: The MBA
The MBA is both revered and reviled. To boosters it has advanced the science of management and helped…
Land of the Giants: Commerce in the Age of Amazon and Alibaba
Shoppers will spend record sums online in the next few weeks—in China for Singles Day on November 11,…
Helping Globalization’s Losers
POPULISM’S wave has yet to crest. That is the sobering lesson of recent elections in Germany and Austria, where…
Big Blue Yonder: Can IBM Bounce Back Again?
TECHNOLOGY giants are a bit like dinosaurs. Most do not adapt successfully to a new age—what is known…
Making It in America: The Problem Is Finding Skilled Workers
“We are always short 10 to 20 people,” said Jack Marshall, manager of PPG’s plant in Oak Creek,…
The World’s Most Powerful Man
American presidents have a habit of describing their Chinese counterparts in terms of awe. A fawning Richard Nixon…
Beware the app trap
The new app for an upmarket British department store certainly looks the part. Released on Google Play, a…
The Bull Market in Everything
In his classic The Intelligent Investor, first published in 1949, Wall Street sage Benjamin Graham distilled what he…
Buried Treasure: How Much Is Hidden in Tax Havens?
Switzerland, which developed cross-border wealth-management in the 1920s, once was in a league of its own as a…
Investing and Gender: The Power of Daughters
Richard Nesbitt, former chief operating officer at the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, has long been an evangelist…
Silicon Valley on the Moskva
Arkady Volozh, the bearded cofounder of Yandex, Russia’s largest search engine, bristled at hearing his company branded “the…
Three Tests for Trump on Trade
In 1845 Frédéric Bastiat, a French economist, wrote an open letter to his national parliament, pleading for help…
America Holds the WTO Hostage
Eight months into Donald Trump’s presidency, the rules-based system of global trade remains intact. Threats to impose broad…
Does China Play Fair?
If President Donald Trump had slapped punitive tariffs on all Chinese exports to America, as he had promised…
Rethinking the Teaching of Economics
Economists can be a haughty bunch, but a decade of trauma has had a chastening effect. They are…
The Profits of Going Public Without the ‘Brain Damage’
By Andrew Ross Sorkin “It seems like a way of living in hell without dying.” That was the…
Closing in on cancer
The numbers are stark. Cancer claimed the lives of 8.8 million people in 2015, with only heart disease…
Seed Capital: The Business of Sperm Banks
Browsing websites that list sperm donors is weirdly similar to online dating. “Sanford is the total package,” one…
Phone Tag: Apple vs. Samsung Gets Fiercer
Never shy about hype, on September 12 Apple CEO Tim Cook presented the company’s latest iPhones to a…
Hurricane Price Gouging Is Despicable, Right? Not to Some Economists
When a devastating hurricane like Irma or Harvey arrives, stories about price gouging inevitably spread quickly. Recently, a…
An infrastructure for charging vehicles takes shape
A new phrase entered the Oxford English Dictionary in 2013: “range anxiety,” or the fear an electric vehicle…
What Machines Can Tell From Your Face
The human face is a remarkable piece of work. The astonishing variety of facial features helps people recognize…
Lilium, a Flying Car Startup, Raises $90 Million
As interest in flying cars continues to swell, one of the most prominent startups working on the technology…
Exchange Rate Shifts Lift the Global Economy
Sticklers for value have plenty of reasons to frown at financial markets. Much feels out of order, from…
How Government Policy Worsens Hurricanes’ Impact
THE extent of the devastation will become clear only when the floodwater recedes, leaving ruined cars, filthy mud-choked houses…
The Struggle to Make Accurate Long-Term Market Forecasts
WHAT is the right way to invest for the long term? Too many people rely on past performance, picking…
Bridgewater’s Ray Dalio Learns the Hard Way. His Book Shows How.
By Andrew Ross Sorkin IN 1993, Ray Dalio, the chairman of what is today the largest hedge fund in…
Day Trading in Wall Street’s Complex ‘Fear Gauge’ Proliferates
EACH morning, at the market’s open, Seth M. Golden, a former logistics manager at a Target store, fires up…
Co-living Is On the Rise in London and New York
MONDAY is “Game of Thrones” night at The Collective’s Old Oak building. Millennials congregate in TV rooms around…
Despite SEC Warning, Wave of Initial Coin Offerings Grows
The cautionary words of US regulators have done little to chill a red-hot market for new virtual currencies…
Nautical Nukes
After the events of March 11, 2011, when an earthquake and tsunami led to a meltdown of three…
Merck’s Leader Took a Stand. What About the Other CEOs?
By Andrew Ross Sorkin At what point do the CEOs of the largest companies in the United States…
Soccer Stars, Priced to Move
For professional soccer teams August often is the costliest month, the month when they make vast bids for…
A war against North Korea: It could happen
It is odd that North Korea causes so much trouble. It is not exactly a superpower. Its economy…
Can Trump Take a Bow for Stocks?
By Andrew Ross Sorkin “Business is looking better than ever with business enthusiasm at record levels. Stock Market…
While Other US Companies Flee China, Starbucks Marches In
By Andrew Ross Sorkin Google does very little business there. McDonald’s has agreed to sell its business and…
In Sign of Progress for Greece, Investors Eagerly Snap Up New Bonds
By Liz Alderman Moving to show it has overcome the worst of its financial troubles, Greece issued bonds…
Scaramucci on Trump: ‘He’s My Client’
By Andrew Ross Sorkin Here’s the thing about the Mooch: When he sets a goal for himself, he…
How Teachers & Technology Can Revamp Schools
In 1953 B.F. Skinner visited his daughter’s math class. The Harvard psychologist found every pupil learning the same…
Breaking Uber’s Vicious Cycle
It is said that Travis Kalanick, who resigned as Uber’s boss last month, has been reading Shakespeare’s Henry…
Pushing Back Against Populists
With the defeat of Marine Le Pen in her bid for the French presidency, establishment politicians in rich…
Bank of America Won’t Do Business With China’s HNA Group
By Alexandra Stevenson HNA Group says that Wall Street’s biggest banks are knocking at the door to do…
Is 100% Renewable Energy a Fantasy?
A widely read cover story on the impact of global warming in a recent edition of New York…
Billions in Chinese Purchases of Canadian Enterprises Raise Troubling Questions
By Kevin A. Wong No nursing home wants to be known for uncertainty and intrigue. So a Canadian…
The White House Is No Place for the Kids to Play
The hereditary principle is not only un-American but harmful to the children of great men, Benjamin Franklin declared…
Nelson Peltz’s Play for P&G: Honorable Intentions?
By Andrew Ross Sorkin Nelson Peltz hates being called an activist, let alone a corporate raider. The longtime…
Container Kingpin Sold to China
Stonecutters Island in Hong Kong used to be a favored habitat for poisonous snakes and eye-catching birds such…
Financing Longevity
In 1965 André-François Raffray, a 47-year-old lawyer in southern France, made the deal of a lifetime. Charmed by…
E-Commerce as a Jobs Engine? One Economist’s Unorthodox View
Retailing is dead. Sales clerks are losing their jobs by the thousands. The employment picture for young people…
The New Old: An Underrated, Underserved Market
‘There’s nothing wrong with bingo and chicken,” Tom Kamber said, but went on to explain that you won’t…
Pepped Up: Pensions, European-Style
THE story of the European Union is in part that of the steady accretion of power by its…
The Next iPhone Might Be…the iPhone
Apple has a new hit device, so popular that it has sold out across most of America and…
All-Clear for Banks Raises Fears of Return to Risk
By Nelson D. Schwartz It took a decade—and $200 billion in fines—but the big banks are back. The…
Struggling to Help Trade’s Losers
Brian Aunspach thought he had a job for life. After six years at a smelter owned by Alcoa,…
Big Banks Set to Pay Out Largest Dividends in a Decade
By Michael Corkery All of the America’ s largest banks passed the latest stress test recently, the first…
Nestlé Plans for Buybacks and, Perhaps, Acquisitions
By Michael J. De La Merced In revealing his investment position in Nestlé recently, hedge fund manager Daniel…
Blowout: Takata’s Bankruptcy Stems from Familiar Japanese Failings
Airbags are meant to make driving safer. For years, though, some made by Takata, a Japanese company, inflated…
Can Good Corporate Citizenship Be Measured?
By Andrew Ross Sorkin If you spend time around corporate boardrooms these days, you’ll hear the abbreviation “ESG”…
Modi’s India: The Illusion of Reform
When Narendra Modi became prime minister of India in 2014, opinion was divided as to whether he was…
The New General Motors: Smaller but More Profitable
The headquarters of General Motors towers over the other skyscrapers in Detroit’s city center, a reminder that the…
China Will Be Part of a Stock Index Provider, Opening the Door to Foreign Money
By Keith Bradsher & Alexandra Stevenson Chinese stocks will join an important global benchmark in a decision that opens…
Why Does North Korea Need So Many Missiles?
It is as if North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un wants to be seen to be flinging his…
Conglomerates Didn’t Die. They Look Like Amazon.
By Andrew Ross Sorkin The conglomerate was supposed to be dead, a relic of a bygone of era…
Europe’s Savior?
Florence Lehericy is a nurse, but she is now starting a new career as a parliamentary deputy for…
The Fed and Mr. Phillips
That central banks cannot endlessly reduce unemployment without sparking inflation is economic gospel. It follows from “a substantial…
Allied Irish Banks Could Be Valued at $14.9 Billion in IPO
The Irish government announced a price range for Allied Irish Banks that could value the bank as high…
CEOs Voice Confidence, But Deals Say Otherwise
By Andrew Ross Sorkin FOR the past several months, ever since the election, chief executives of the nation’s largest…
Terror and the Internet
THREE jihadist attacks in Britain in as many months have led to a flood of suggestions about how to…
The Future of Air Control: Is Privatization the Next Step?
IN June 1956 a TWA Constellation collided with a United Air Lines DC-7 over the Grand Canyon in Arizona,…
Four BRICs and a Great Wall
EMERGING markets have been through a great deal in the past four years. The “taper tantrum” in 2013, prompted…
Nordstrom Family to Consider Ways for Taking Chain Private
By Michael Corkery & Michael J. De La Merced IN an industry reeling from bankruptcies, vacant storefronts and plummeting…
5 Big Tech Stocks Build Market Euphoria, and Jitters
By Landon Thomas Jr. FACEBOOK. Amazon. Apple. Netflix. Google. Not only do they dominate our daily lives, but…
Britain’s Vanishing Political Center
Today Britain finds itself in a different era. The vote for Brexit has committed it to leaving its…
Venezuela’s Risky Bonds Draw Investors, and Protests
By Landon Thomas Jr. Venezuelan bonds would seem to be an unlikely target for global investors. The country…
Europe Backs a Bailout for Italy’s Oldest Bank
By Chad Bray European Union regulators said recently that they had reached an agreement in principle on a…
Virtual Vertigo: What If the Bitcoin Bubble Bursts?
Markets frequently froth and bubble, but the boom in bitcoin, a digital currency, is extraordinary. Although its price…
Loose Fitting: Global Monetary Policy Isn’t Tightening Yet
At its outset 2017 seemed likely to mark a turning point for global monetary policy. The Federal Reserve…
India’s Bad Debt Is Looking Better to Investors
By Anita Raghavan In India, the vultures are circling. These vultures are investors looking for opportunities in distressed…
A U-Turn at Ford
The abrupt departure of Ford chief executive Mark Fields, which the car giant announced on May 22, has…
Chain Reaction: Why Chemical Companies Are Mixing
These days, the hills of Languedoc in southern France turn green with the leaves of grapevines. This is…
Unity Technologies, Whose Engine Is Behind Pokémon Go, Agrees to Funding
By Michael J. De La Merced Unity Technologies, which makes software at the heart of Pokémon Go and…
Brazilian Uber Rival Raises $100M From SoftBank
By Vinod Sreeharsha A Latin American competitor to Uber —99—has raised $100 million from SoftBank of Japan to…
Why Israel Needs a Palestinian State
The victory of Israel over the Arab armies that encircled it in 1967 was so swift and absolute…
New Kids on the Blockchain
It is hard to predict when bubbles will pop, especially when they are nested within each other. It…
Lawyers Are the Big Winners in the Inquiry Into the Election
By Peter J. Henning The appointment of Robert S. Mueller III as special counsel to oversee the Justice…
UK Government Sells Final Stake in Lloyds Banking Group
By Chad Bray Nearly nine years after a government bailout during the financial crisis, the Lloyds Banking Group…
The Trump Trilemma
The currents of trade, President Donald Trump accepts, will ebb and flow. “Sometimes they can be up and…