Late Payments Spark Action from UK Lawmakers
Small and medium-sized enterprises in the United Kingdom are experiencing major problems with late payments, particularly from larger customers. Some legislation is in place to assist small business,...
View ArticleIs Principled Foreign Policy Bad for Business?
Since the election of a new center-left government less than six months ago, Sweden has been carrying out a foreign policy experiment that politicians and business leaders worldwide are watching with...
View ArticleShell’s Big Bid For BG Group
Royal Dutch Shell, the venerable Anglo-Dutch oil company that rose from humble origins trading seashells to become an oil giant, is looking to secure future growth with a big bet: buying UK rival BG...
View ArticleGlobal Financial Instability: Still with Us after All These Years
Businesses are still living with the consequences of the global financial crisis, which burst onto the public consciousness with the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008. Few businesspeople...
View ArticleEmerging Markets Struggle to Realize Gains from Intellectual Property
Intellectual property — proprietary know-how — is either secret or licensed under strict controls in developed countries. Unfortunately, most emerging countries do not have the educational or state...
View ArticleUK Businesses Welcome Tories for Another Term
Incumbent United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron’s unexpected re-election this month is welcome news to most companies. His center-right Conservative Party (also called Tories) has had a...
View ArticleItalian Economy Stagnates as Long-Term Growth Potential Falters
“The car has finally restarted,” bragged Italian Prime Minister Mateo Renzi earlier this month while reporting on the addition of nearly 320,000 new jobs in first quarter 2015. However, the country’s...
View ArticleDefault Risk Rising for Brazil Corporations
Corporate debt in Latin America has been trending upward in the last five years, in the wake of easy global liquidity underpinned by unconventional monetary policy in developed economies. In 2014 Latin...
View ArticleAging Manufacturing Facilities Worsen Global Drug Shortages
More than 250 prescription drugs are considered in short supply in the US, including vital cancer drugs and antibiotics. One of the primary known causes for these shortages has been a spate of problems...
View ArticleThe Next Asian Tiger Could be a Philippine Island
With a population of more than 20 million people and vast natural resources, the Philippines’ second largest island, Mindanao, should be on the radar of global investors. However, a four-decades-long...
View ArticleCorruption, FIFA, and the Beautiful Game of Football
After years of inertia by global law enforcement agencies, the decision by US prosecutors to go after corruption within FIFA could return the beautiful game of football to its long-suffering fans. As a...
View ArticlePolitical Risk Looms over US Oil Imports
America’s oil industry has innovated and adapted at a staggering pace. However, regardless of oil price swings, the political-risk footprint of America’s oil supply continues to evolve. The US has...
View Article“Grexit” Talks: Kicking the Can Down the Road (Again)
A last-minute deal to avert a “Grexit” (as a Greek exit from the eurozone is dubbed) seems likely as eurozone leaders continue to meet in Brussels this week. But the crisis is far from over even if a...
View ArticleChinese Companies Surge in Global Rankings
Apparently the economy in China is still booming. The country’s economic prosperity has helped Chinese firms further invade the 2015 Financial Times’ FT Global 500 list, which was published in...
View ArticleEU Looks to Lift E-Commerce Hurdles
The free movement of goods, capital, services, and people is the cornerstone of the European Union’s single market. However, the benefits of free movement across the continent have not yet cascaded...
View ArticleSwitzerland: When Being a Safe Haven Becomes a Curse
Switzerland is still one of the best countries in the world for doing business. However, the value of the Swiss franc has soared against the falling euro. And that is causing financial problems for...
View ArticleBeyond Grexit: Large Financial Storms Threaten Banks Worldwide
While all eyes have been fixed on banks in Greece and the “Grexit” situation (a Greek exit from the Eurozone) in recent weeks, many have overlooked a new crop of financial storms that have been brewing...
View ArticleCompanies Rethink Supply Chains as Global Trade Evolves
The right supply chain strategy is central to a firm’s competitive edge. As more companies expand globally, deciding where to locate production processes is becoming increasingly complex. Offshoring...
View ArticleForeign Debt Could Stall Growth in Malaysia, Indonesia
“Original sin” — in an economic context — was coined to help explain how foreign borrowing and weak currencies sent Asia into a full-blown financial crisis in the late 1990s. Now the term has...
View ArticleWill China’s Woes Spell Trouble for Automakers?
For more than a decade, most of the world’s carmakers have gone all-in on China, wagering that its combination of rising wages, urbanization, and huge population would make it the center for global...
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