Schumpeter
Business and management
Britain's takeaway business
Pizza app
Apr 5th 2012, 14:03 by C. S.-W.
BRITONS love their takeaways. A £4.8 billion ($7.6 billion) industry has sprung up around the dietary needs of late night revellers and working families looking for a treat at the end of the week. But the recession has tightened belts both literally and figuratively: high calorie, high fat meals that give a taste of India, China and other nations are in decline. The industry has contracted on average 2.9% annually in the past five years, according to IBISWorld, a market research firm. Their message is clear: you can’t afford a korma if you aren’t earning a wage.
Higher education
iVy League
Apr 4th 2012, 16:49 by M.B.| NEW YORK
“THE first elite university to be launched in America in over a century.” Ben Nelson, who cut his entrepreneurial teeth as chief executive of Snapfish, a photo website, does not shy away from making big claims. But he has every reason to boast. On April 3rd Benchmark Capital announced that it will fund Minerva, which plans to welcome its first class of students in September 2014, to the tune of $25m—one of the biggest seed investments of a leading Silicon Valley venture firm ever. What is more, the new university’s advisory board will be chaired by Larry Summers, a former president of Harvard University, and count among its members Bob Kerrey, a former senator and head of the New School in New York, and Pat Harker, president of the University of Delaware and a former dean of the Wharton School.
Centrally cleared derivatives
Plumbing problems
Apr 3rd 2012, 19:20 by D.S. | BERLIN
STOCK exchanges have not been lucky in love recently. Deutsche Börse’s proposed merger with NYSE Euronext was blocked by regulators in February. Romances between the exchanges of Singapore and Australia, and between the Toronto bourse and the London Stock Exchange (LSE), have also fizzled.
James Murdoch resigns from BSkyB
The would-be emperor's slow striptease
Apr 3rd 2012, 16:25 by G.L. | NEW YORK
JAMES MURDOCH's resignation as chairman of BSkyB, announced today, looks like an exercise in damage limitation. The question is, damage to whom: BSkyB, or Mr Murdoch himself.
Cosmetics courtship
Propositioning the Avon lady
Apr 2nd 2012, 21:00 by V.v.B.
AFTER proposing three times in private last month, the persistent suitor went public. On April 2nd Bart Becht, chairman of Coty, a large maker of scent, sent an open letter to Andrea Jung, chairman and chief executive of Avon, with another proposal to take over the world’s biggest direct seller of cosmetics. Yet Mr Becht’s new and improved offer was again swiftly rejected by Ms Jung.
Money talks: April 2nd 2012
Turkey's vulnerabilities
Apr 2nd 2012, 17:58 by The Economist online
TURKEY'S growth is not all it seems, the euro rescue fund expands and clearing houses are causing concern
Apple and Foxconn
iAudit
Mar 30th 2012, 8:58 by M.B.| NEW YORK
IS IT possible to run an “ethical supply chain”? After the publication on March 29th of the first independent audit of the factories Apple uses in China, the iconic consumer electronics giant has definitely become the test case for whether multinationals can put an end to labour abuses. According to the long awaited report, which is considered one of the most detailed audits of a Chinese manufacturer to date, there were at least 50 “serious and pressing non-compliances” with Chinese law and Apple's code of conduct, including excessive overtime and other health and safety violations.
Money talks: March 26th 2012
More pain in Spain, but it's no Greece
Mar 27th 2012, 11:59 by The Economist online
A NEW 'jobs' act in America, Europeans agree to bolster their fire wall and the race is on to succeed Robert Zoellick as World Bank president
How to deal with muppets
Down with them!
Mar 26th 2012, 15:14 by A.W.
GREG SMITH’S resignation op-ed in the New York Times must surely take the prize as the most talked about resignation op-ed of all time. Mr Smith’s fans argued that his article was just one more proof that a once great company is on the skids. His critics (led by the giant squid itself) argued that there was no truth in the accusations—and that Mr Smith was motivated by rather baser motives (such as spite at only being paid $3m a year) than the desire to expose evil. But everybody agreed on two things. That a company that employs 12,000 vice-presidents is suffering from an advanced case of job-title inflation. And that treating companies like “muppets”—if that is indeed what Goldman Sachs does—is a terrible thing. Surely the first thing that successful businesses should do is love their customers?
Marketing start-ups
Geeks aren't known for their social skills
Mar 21st 2012, 16:05 by C.S | LONDON
HOLLYWOOD portrayed Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's boss, as aloof, disinterested and awkward in all manner of ways in "The Social Network". During important meetings with venture capitalists and potential investors Mr Zuckerberg's character became increasingly distracted and at one such appointment his business attire was a bath robe, pyjamas and slippers. (This made-for-the-movies moment actually stems from a real event, when Facebook made a pitch to Sequoia Capital.) Despite his apparent insouciance, Facebook secured enough capital to finance its business, turning it into one of the world’s largest companies. Facebook's experience, however, is rare.
Continue reading "Geeks aren't known for their social skills" »
Apple
A new cash dispenser
Mar 19th 2012, 21:24 by M.G | SAN FRANCISCO
APPLE has finally decided to part with some of the $100 billion or so of cash that lines its coffers. On March 19th the tech behemoth announced plans to start paying a quarterly dividend—its first since 1995—and to buy back billions of dollars of its shares. Investors in the company will now be watching closely to see what it does with the rest of its loot.
Money talks: March 19th 2012
An African opportunity
Mar 19th 2012, 18:56 by The Economist online
APPLE decides what to do with its cash pile, India proposes a barmy change to its tax rules and beer brewers eye potential riches in Africa
The dangers of equity investing
A stark message: save more
Mar 16th 2012, 15:14 by The Economist online
OUR finance editor and Buttonwood columnist discuss investments that used to deliver high returns, but are slacking today. Pension funds and individuals in America will suffer
Goldman Sachs, another take
Discovering greed
Mar 14th 2012, 18:05 by T.E. | NEW YORK
IN A sign-off downloaded immediately to smart phones in every financial firm, Greg Smith penned an anguished howl for the New York Times about his perception of Goldman Sachs. The investment bank, he concludes, has been lost underneath a tsunami of greed. His piece is sure to be dissected on numerous levels. One will be whether the firm was all that different in the past.
Goldman Sachs
A noisy exit
Mar 14th 2012, 16:49 by A.P.
MAN quits firm. Not a huge deal, you’d think, except this is a Goldman Sachs executive called Greg Smith resigning today in a blaze of publicity via an opinion piece in the New York Times. Mr Smith, after 12 years trying to live with his own conscience, finally had enough when the bonus round was over and left a firm whose “...environment now is as toxic and destructive as I have ever seen it”.
In this blog, our Schumpeter columnist and his colleagues provide commentary and analysis on the topics of business, finance and management. The blog takes its name from Joseph Schumpeter, an Austrian-American economist who likened capitalism to a "perennial gale of creative destruction"
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