Proper corporate governance rules would save the UK from a crisis like Theranos September 11, 2018 The spectacular downfall of Theranos, the US healthtech company, makes a terrific story: a disrupter startup run by a university drop-out, who modelled her persona on Steve Jobs (right down to her black turtleneck sweaters), and became a virtual messiah figure for many in Silicon Valley. For those who aren’t familiar, Theranos promised cheap, accessible, pain-free [...]
Weapon of choice: How nutrition brand Grenade has exploded into the market November 12, 2018 Grenade is the kind of brand that just appears out of nowhere – you blink and suddenly the products are a staple stock in shops around the country. For those who have somehow missed the craze, Grenade is a food company specialising in healthy snacks – and now you’ve heard the name, you’ll probably start [...]
Lego beats British Airways, Gillette and Apple to top of UK consumer brand rankings March 12, 2018 Danish toymaker Lego has been voted the UK’s number one consumer brand in a survey of British shoppers. The toymaker, which is celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Lego brick this year, overhauled airline British Airways to top the so-called superbrand rankings for the first time. Shaving company Gillette took second spot on the list, [...]
The GKN break-up is a test for Melrose, don’t bank on a tax cut and Marc Bolland is not just any NED June 29, 2018 Vultures. Asset-strippers. Corporate predators. The board of Melrose has had these perjorative labels and more thrown at it in the months since its initial bid approach for GKN. This week’s approval by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States of the £8bn takeover removed the final obstacle to a deal that elicited greater [...]
How FMCG giants can beat the challengers June 18, 2018 It is not a good time to be a fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) giant. The old certainties of rising incomes, abundant retail space, and established marketing techniques are fast vanishing, and the pressure is on. According to the 2017 edition of the FMCG Global 50 from OC&C Strategy Consultants: “Revenue growth for the Global 50 [...]
Queen’s Birthday Honours: the full 2021 list June 12, 2021 Below the full list of names for this year ORDER OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) The Rt. Hon. Frederick Richard Penn Curzon, The Earl Howe. For political and parliamentary service. (Amersham, Buckinghamshire) ORDER OF THE BATH Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) [...]
Rachel Reeves, chair of influential cross-party BEIS business committee, has ‘serious concerns’ about Melrose’s hostile bid for GKN February 8, 2018 Rachel Reeves, the Labour MP who heads an influential cross-party business committee, has this morning voiced her “serious concerns” about Melrose’s hostile bid for engineering giant GKN. In a letter to business secretary Greg Clark, Reeves – chair of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Beis) Committee – said that Melrose’s £7.4bn bid “raises serious [...]
LinkedIn’s first job of the week is pretty sweet: A chocolate taster at Cadbury-maker Mondelez February 7, 2017 Feeling hungry for a new challenge? Have a taste for adventure and want to apply for a new job? Well, now's your chance. LinkedIn has unveiled its first job of the week and it is in fact a chocolate taster with the maker of Cadbury and Milka, Mondelez International. You may laugh, but chocolate tasting [...]
The sour notes from the Sainsbury’s boss show that business must do better May 4, 2018 “We’re in the money.” Lyrics made famous by Ginger Rogers and 42nd Street, more recently appropriated by Sainsbury’s boss Mike Coupe in an unguarded off-mic moment at ITV. But whereas the musical focused on the travails of those trying to make it on Broadway in the depths of the Great Recession, for Coupe it came [...]
Titans of history: Lessons from the entrepreneurs who built Britain November 15, 2017 The history of the modern world is bound up with that of Britain. There are many theories of how and why we spawned the Industrial Revolution and had such an impact on international affairs, but none is complete without accounting for the British people, and the entrepreneurs who built Britain and changed the world. In [...]