Regulators are coming for the app storesWHAT DOES it take to rein in two of the biggest companies on the planet? A coalition of Swedish music-streamers, South Korean politicians and Dutch dating apps, apparently. They seem to be succeeding where America’s federal government has failed: to force changes to the way Apple and Google run…
LUXURY BRANDS used to speak in monologues. News about their latest collections flowed one way—from the boardroom, via billboards and editorial spreads in glossy magazines, to the buyer. In the age of social media, the buyers are talking back. One group, in particular, is getting through to fashion bosses: influencers. These individuals have won large…
One need only look to widely publicized cases such as Theranos and WeWork to see that the most charismatic, convincing founders do not always make the best investments. What can VCs do to ensure that they invest in startup founders for the right reasons? The authors used LinkedIn data from the founders of more than…
New covid variants stall aviation’s upward flight pathWORK AND shopping have, for better or worse, been permanently altered by the pandemic. The airline industry hopes that its own covid-19 disruption proves temporary. Luckily for those deprived of holidays, visits to family and friends, or even the odd business trip, flying in 2022 will look a…
IN THE HEYDAY of Vietnam’s communist economy, comrades could expect their health care, education, housing and entertainment to be provided by the government. In the freeish-market Vietnam of today, those necessities are still purveyed by one dominant entity, albeit a capitalist one. Vingroup, the country’s biggest conglomerate, and its two listed subsidiaries, Vinhomes (a property…
A scandal at Britain’s P&O Ferries shows how not to handle redundanciesMANAGEMENT ENTAILS some unpleasant conversations, none worse than telling employees that they have lost their jobs. There is nothing enjoyable about giving people this kind of news. But it can be done well or it can be done badly—or it can be done in…
JEFFREY SONNENFELD is having what he calls a Marshall McLuhan moment—“15 minutes of prominence soon to subside back into obscurity”. That is because, not long after Vladimir Putin sent his troops into Ukraine on February 24th, the 68-year-old professor at the Yale School of Management drew up a list of firms withdrawing from Russia, helping…
The self-styled Technoking may be overextending himselfWHAT WILL he do with it? That was the big question after Elon Musk let it be known on April 4th that he had amassed a stake of 9.2% in Twitter, making him the social-media firm’s largest shareholder. Will the world’s richest man buy more shares or even take…
WITH EYES like saucers, nine-year-old Ralph Miles slowly removes his Quest 2 headset. “It was like being in another galaxy!” he exclaims. He has just spent ten minutes blasting alien robots with deafening laser cannons—all the while seated silently in the home-electronics section of a London department store. Sales assistants bustle around, advertising the gear…
Big oil’s most reluctant decarboniser lays out its green planDARREN WOODS made some revealing remarks this week about global warming. His ruminations matter in America’s oil industry for he is the boss of Exxon Mobil, the largest Western oil major. His firm has historically been less enthusiastic than rivals about taking climate change seriously. But…