Business and Economics

By Elsa Buchanan As the European Commission and the US are busy negotiating a free trade agreement, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), campaigners say they are increasingly worried citizens are losing their democratic privileges. While corporations are looking forward to an improved trade and regulatory cooperation between the US and EU, the opposition -which includes Pan-European civil society groups - is concerned that regulatory convergence will grind down hard-won social and environmental standards. "The thing with TTIP is...

By Stephen Angus Peter Junor  October represents a deadline for the various African blocs to negotiate and accept a free trade deal with the EU, a deal which has been on the table since Doha 2000. African relations with the EU are split into five blocs: West Africa, Central Africa, Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA), East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). As of now, West Africa and the SADC are the only two blocs to have...

By Philip Benton Recently I attended a talk here in London about digital currencies and how they could be the answer to our economic woes and the key to rebuilding our broken society. I went in with an open mind, keen to broaden my interest in the curious world of crypto currencies, but somehow came out with more questions than answers. The talk was hosted by ex-investment banker Simon Dixon and Max Keiser of The Keiser Report fame. The opening...

By Nathan Lee  The Financial Times has introduced a new scheme encouraging young authors to tackle emerging business themes. The Bracken Bower Prize has been launched by the FT alongside McKinsey & Company, organisers of the Business Book of the Year Award, with the aim of unearthing new talent and encouraging writers to research ideas that could fill future business books of the year. A prize of £15,000 will be given for the best book proposal and will be awarded...

By Jack Peat, Editor of The London Economic All this talk of the high street demise seems rather perverse walking along the streets of Shoreditch. The pop-up shops selling locally sourced produce and the wealth of arts and crafts ventures that litter the street are a massive f**k off to multinationals, demonstrating that with a bit of intuition local shops can thrive. But even Shoreditch, in all its hipster glory, seems to be changing. At the heart of Shoreditch, arguably...

By Jo Loft, Co-Founder & Client Services Director, Fanatica Social media. Online word of mouth. Web 2.0. Web 3.0. It enabled Cancer Research UK to raise an unprecedented £8m in less than a week. It allowed 3,000 people share the mug shot of a violent criminal in California in two days – because they thought he was good-looking. But, if you’re a business-to-business organisation, so what? Brands need to be top of mind when decision-makers come to make their purchase....

 By David Dumeresque of executive search firm, Tyzack Dynamic entrepreneurial spirit and the daily grind of managing a thriving organisation are both vital ingredients in developing sustainable growth in the early stages of a business. But such skills are rarely found in the same individual. Building a business to a turnover of say £50 million takes a different mind set and approach to innovating and creating a start-up business from scratch. Furthermore, taking it from £50 million to £150 million...

By David Binder The issue of economic inequality has once again been thrust into the spotlight by French economist Thomas Picketty’s new book ‘Capital in the Twenty-First century.’ Whilst his research has been discussed at great length elsewhere (the Washington Centre for Equitable Growth has produced a useful summary of some reviews) it is worthwhile to step back and consider the virtues of pursuing policies aiming to reduce economic inequality. In other words, is economic inequality in itself always a...

  By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Charity staff are hoping that a new programme will help them to get a head start in improving their services for carers. The new mentoring programme aims to bring business leaders into services for carers so they can use their expertise to help the services to thrive and grow. Leaders in the worlds of industry, pharmaceuticals, nursing, social care and the  public sector are among those who have already joined the programme and volunteered...