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Posts published in “Uncategorized”

Nissan’s newish boss wants to re-engineer the troubled carmaker

Remodelling the global alliance with Renault and Mitsubishi will be tougherNISSAN IS IN for a makeover. On July 15th the Japanese car giant will unveil what is rumoured to be a sleeker, more minimalist logo more in line with the contemporary aesthetic. To its boss, Uchida Makoto, the redesign is the outward expression of deeper…

Joining the S&P 500 may not be as big a boon as often assumed

New research suggests that the share-price premium for entering Wall Street’s flagship index isn’t what it used to beLAST MONTH Tesla reported second-quarter net income of $104m. This came as a surprise; the pandemic has pushed many carmakers into the red as cash-strapped consumers put off purchases. It also had Tesla’s investors aflutter, for it…

Swedish firms have outshone German ones in the pandemic

How two northern European corporate realms have weathered covid-19SINCE THE Middle Ages, when the Hanseatic League of merchant guilds dominated trade in northern Europe, the German and Swedish business worlds have been close. This remains the case. Both economies depend on exports, manufacturing and retail. Germany is the biggest market for many Swedish firms. Nearly…

Dealing with customer complaints

NOTHING IS MORE likely to sabotage a brand’s reputation than a customer complaint that goes viral. Social media often blow the problem out of proportion, leading television programmes and newspapers to pick up the story, which is invariably one that pits plucky members of the public against some heartless corporate Goliath. Consumer gripes—and stories about…

A question of judgment

A managerial quality that is hard to define but important to possessTHE PANDEMIC has required many people to make difficult judgments. Politicians have had to decide which restrictions to impose on citizens’ behaviour and individuals were forced to assess how much personal risk to take. Managers, faced with tough calls like which parts of their…

Businesses compete to battle California’s blackouts

Green companies vie not just to generate power but also to store and manage itDEPENDING ON WHOM you ask, California is a leader in clean energy or a cautionary tale. Power outages in August prompted stern critiques from Republicans. “In California”, Donald Trump tweeted, “Democrats have intentionally implemented rolling blackouts—forcing Americans in the dark.” In…

Bribery pays—if you don’t get caught

A new report tries to quantify the returns to multinationals from kickbacks they payMANY BIG companies may be struggling with depressed sales, but these are busy times for bribery-busters. Mexico is abuzz over allegations by an ex-boss of Pemex, the state oil giant, that several senior politicians received bungs from companies including Odebrecht, a Brazilian…

Big Tech is the new dividend royalty

IN THE SHARP-ELBOWED world of business, the dividends that firms pay to their shareholders are often considered a bloodless topic. Compared with share prices, they rarely set pulses racing. Corporate-finance theory says that dividends are largely irrelevant to a company’s underlying value and its shareholders’ wealth—just as withdrawing cash from an ATM machine doesn’t make…