Reuters reports that European Union banks have shrunk their loan books by over $5.5 trillion since the global crisis of 2007-08. This, in an attempt to cut risk on their balance sheets, choking off credit to companies and stalling the region’s recovery. As a consequence, businesses hunting credit are now forced to look beyond wary EU banks for…
According to the Economist, the relationship between business and the state bears some resemblance to the Rhine in the Middle Ages. Like those Rhine boatmen, the companies operating within national borders must pay something towards the cost of supporting commerce, but if the tolls are excessive, trade will suffer. In such a scenario, some of the world’s 200…
We have all come to hold some knowledge, at least, about the wolves of Wall Street. But as for the barons of high-tech/wolves of the web – these guys tend to think of themselves as very different creatures from the barons of Wall Street. In the words of Steve Jobs, they are “the crazy ones, the…
As the debate rages on about whether an increase in the U.S. minimum wage will boost or hinder hiring, one aspect is more unambiguous: It would almost surely lift consumer spending. According to Bloomberg, while the effect will probably be positive, the magnitude of the improvement remains up in the air. Walmart, for instance, is…
ByTED
The Chief Economist at General Electric, Marco Annunziata is a financial virtuoso with a passion for technology. In this thoughtful TED talk, he explains and elaborates a bit more on the term “Internet of Things”. He takes a look at how technology is transforming the industrial sector, creating machines that can see, feel, sense and react —…
Why is it that so often the expected level of performance improvement from a process or system change is not fully achieved? Is this because the change manager fails to fully understand the interaction between the individual, the current process and the established organization? It is essential that the change manager fully understands how the…
