A study to calculate the economic risk US industries face from climate change is being funded by New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, billionaire Tom Steyer and George W. Bush-era Treasury secretary Henry Paulson.
Five years after the onset of the global recession of 2008-2009, the sluggish pace of recovery and worries over employment and financial security continue to weigh heavily on consumer sentiment in developed economies. Consumers remain highly concerned about their jobs, personal finances, and economic future. Yet amid the lingering angst expressed in The Boston Consulting Group's 2013 Global Consumer Sentiment Survey, there are also encouraging signs.
Have you ever wondered why it is so easy for improved processes to go back to how they were performing before improvement? Why it always seems that, even if everybody follows the new instructions, the process still produces defects? Why it's so hard to maintain the benefits in the process after the projects are done?
Mexican bread maker Bimbo. Chinese electronics brand Haier. Taiwanese computer manufacturer Acer. A decade ago, those companies were largely dismissed by their larger, U.S. competitors. Now, they have taken over the lead in global market share in their respective industries. Can U.S. companies learn from their successes?
Pockets of the U.S. are primed for growth thanks to pro-business regulatory environments, educated workforces and reasonable business costs. Leading the way is Virginia which tops Forbes' eighth annual list of the Best States for Business. Virginia has ranked second the past three years, but returns to the head of the pack for the first time since 2009.
In good times and in bad, companies often struggle with whether or not to invest in innovation. In a recent Accenture survey, only 18 percent of chief executives at 519 companies across more than 12 industry sectors in France, Britain and the United States said their investments in innovation were giving them a competitive advantage. Forty-six percent said their companies had become more risk averse when considering new ideas. And CEOs are supposed to be the optimistic ones.
As ever-larger "megacities" become home to more and more of the world's people, the supply chains that bring essential supplies to these crowded populations will become increasingly complex.
Emerging markets are more important than ever, and they make up a large share of many multinational companies' revenues and growth. Yet even so, multinationals have not mastered these markets. That's because they are not playing to win.