From its beginnings in 1843, when The Economist newspaper was founded by a Scottish hat manufacturer to further the cause of free trade, The Economist Group has evolved into a staunchly independent global media and information-services company with intelligent brands for an international audience.
These days it appears advertisers may be losing the plot a little, as suggested by their choice of loony tunes, or questionable songs, chosen as backing tracks to big budget adverts. Consider this year’s Christmas advert for John Lewis, a British department store. The store opted for a version of The Smiths’ “Please, Please, Please…
Japanese companies are in a demographic pickle. The population which currently stands at 127m is predicted to fall by 40m in the next 30 years. This does not bode well for the workforce, which stands to suffer greatly due to a massive decrease in numbers. But what’s a country to do? As it turns out,…
In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson pledged a predetermined amount in order to back student loans. “This act”, he promised, “will help young people enter business, trade, and technical schools”. Unfortunately, this student loans programme was altered almost instantaneously. Originally intended to provide students with an education through “business, trade and technical schools, the programme was…
A trend that sees the rich paying higher taxes is currently taking the world by storm. France, Britain and the U.S. have all recently slapped their wealthier citizens with taxation increases in various shapes and sizes. This isn’t a bad thing. In fact, there are a few solid reasons that the wealthy should pay more…
Over 2,000 netheads from over 100 different countries recently gathered in Nairobi for the Internet Governance Forum (IGF). This conference is organised under United Nations auspices and excellently models what is often referred to as the “multi-stakeholder” model. This forum model dictates that all involved are able to have their say, and final decisions are…
Only a few years post its launch in 1995, public expectation was that Amazon would be crushed by its competitor Barnes & Noble. Contrary to expectations, it appeared to be the one now doing the crushing. On the 28th of September, Jeff Bezos, CEO offered the world a glimpse at the companies latest tablet: the…
