Debt levels at China's 200 biggest companies increased by five times between 2007 and 2013 and financial pressures on them will likely intensify as the economy continues to cool, Standard & Poor's said.
Its name suggests a narrow focus on office supplies, but United Stationers Inc. is far more than a wholesale distributor of copy paper, notebooks, pens and staplers. The $5bn-plus company also supplies janitorial and breakroom supplies, provides industrial equipment to the welding, oil field and building construction industries, and has a major - and increasing - focus on helping thousands of resellers sell online to their business end-customers.
Global connectedness, measured by cross-border flows of trade, capital, information and people, has recovered most of its losses incurred during the financial crisis, according to the third edition of DHL's Global connectedness Index.
The road to creating user-friendly, science-backed, technology-enabled supply chains is paved with good sustainability intentions that get foiled by today's dynamic, global complexities. Achieving sustainability of scale requires involvement of the entire supply chain. To meet the needs of customers and markets, manufacturers need up-to-date and accurate information about their suppliers' materials and components.
Despite high hopes for Arctic business from mining to shipping as the ice melts rapidly and temperatures rise twice as fast as the global average, few firms say the sums still make sense.
The stage is set for strategic buyers. Uncertainty over macroeconomic issues may have dimmed the corporate lights on M&A plans in previous years, but 2014 is providing a more promising script. Debt financing is readily available; many corporations boast significant cash on their balance sheets; shareholders are clamoring for more than just share buybacks; and companies are scouring for targets at home and abroad with more immediacy than before. CEOs are viewing the M&A scene with more confidence than they have in a long time.
Every organization of significant size struggles with alignment. When you talk with CEOs, alignment is often the number one issue on their plate. Even organizations with as few as 25 employees often struggle with what seems like a simple problem: How do I get everyone on the same page?
For many of us trying to navigate the 21st Century, it's become sensible – healthy, even – to maintain a simmering, low-grade paranoia about the impending robot revolution. Advances in automation and robotics are impacting virtually every area of technology and industry.
Today, with increased marketplace volatility and the rising diversity of attractive customer segments, business models age faster than ever before - making business model innovation an important strategy for driving value-creating growth.
Think of the typical corporate merger as the meeting of two ocean liners. It's tough enough to combine the crews. But how do you mash together two engine rooms?