Britain must get creative to shake off pandemic blues June 2, 2020 On Sunday 10th May, Boris Johnson announced the first tentative steps to reopen the British economy after weeks of being in the deep freeze. The heavily caveated plan has led the Prime Minister to “…believe we can be stronger and better than ever before. More resilient, more innovative, more economically dynamic…” Read more: London needs its hospitality [...]
Silver linings: How IBM’s reinvention highlights the rise of the cloud October 9, 2020 International Business Machines (IBM) shares rose almost six per cent yesterday after the tech firm announced plans to split its business into two public companies. IBM, which is one of the world’s oldest computer companies, will spin off its legacy IT infrastructure business by the end of next year and double down its efforts on [...]
Airbnb pinches new finance chief from Amazon ahead of expected IPO November 26, 2018 Airbnb has hired a former Amazon executive to head up its finance team as it looks towards an expected listing in 2019. Dave Stephenson, a 17-year veteran of the online retail giant who most recently served as chief financial officer of the worldwide consumer unit, will join the accommodation platform in January next year. He also [...]
Customer satisfaction levels suffer as retailers battle tough trading condtions January 23, 2020 Customer service satisfaction levels have suffered the longest decline since records began as retailers struggle to juggle meeting consumer expectations and facing the challenging trading conditions on the UK high street. The latest research showed that customer service satisfaction is at the lowest level since July 2015 with a score of 76.9. The top five [...]
The comeback kid: HMV tops Amazon in UK physical sales October 29, 2018 British entertainment retailer HMV has staged a comeback in the face of Amazon’s increased dominance to become the largest physical music retailer in the UK. In the 12 weeks to 23 September, HMV experienced market share growth for the second consecutive quarter to a total of 28 per cent, according to data published today by [...]
Need a way out of recession? Look to the stars November 23, 2020 “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills.” These words by President John F. Kennedy are as important today as they were [...]
Netflix to spend $100m on racial equality initiatives June 30, 2020 Netflix has said it intends to set aside approximately two per cent of its cash reserves for initiatives focused on supporting Black communities in the US, following widespread racial equality protests worldwide. It will start with an initial tranche of $35m, $25m of which will go into a new fund called the Black Economic Development [...]
Ai: The Competitive Advantage July 7, 2020 In recent years, it seems most discussions centered around technology and business innovation inevitably end up debating the future potential of Artificial Intelligence. While the longer term upside is seemingly limitless, and there is much debate about what the future of what AI might look like, what’s less understood is how AI works today – [...]
Businesses have done a good job as emergency policy makers – but they must not get complacent September 14, 2020 Government policy and regulation must at times play catch-up with reality. In recent times, this has been especially prevalent with the social and digital media giants, who have enjoyed free rein while policy makers struggle to work out how to deal with the potential harms they bring. But if we thought that the rise and [...]
How to write a lockdown novel – from a man who did just that November 4, 2020 Thierry Macquet, a Mauritian ex-at living in London, found himself stranded on the paradise island of his childhood when coronavirus rampaged across the globe. To stay sane, he decided to write a lockdown novel, Messages From an Adventurous Ancestor. Here’s how he did it, and some advice on how you can do the same as [...]