What digital disruptors can teach traditional retailers
Businessam Staff
July 13, 2017
MARKETING The big retail shakeout of 2017 is battering traditional chains of all stripes: Payless has filed for bankruptcy and is closing about 400 stores; Michael Kors, Ann Taylor, Abercrombie & Fitch, Guess, The Limited and Staples are all shutting locations; and department stores ranging from Sears to Macy’s and J.C. Penney are pulling the […]
What money managers miss in currency carry trades
Businessam StaffJuly 13, 2017
FINANCE A common trading strategy is the currency carry trade — borrowing in the currency of a country with a low interest rate and using the funds to invest in the currency of another nation with a higher interest rate, then profiting from the difference. For example, one popular carry trade is borrowing funds in […]
Why some companies need more tortoises, not hares
Businessam StaffJune 26, 2017
MANAGEMENT The New Yorker staff writer Malcolm Gladwell has a colleague whom he characterizes as a “neurotic tortoise.” That may not sound like a good thing to be. But according to Gladwell, a neurotic tortoise may be exactly whom we want to hire in certain jobs and professions. Named one of the world’s 100 […]
The retirement problem: What will you do with all that time?
Businessam StaffJune 26, 2017
MANAGEMENT You’re excited about retirement, right? You’ve worked hard for, what, four or five decades now? You’re due. No more early alarm. No more meetings. No more deadlines. No more office politics. Can you believe it? It’s just you — out on the links; puttering in the garden; taking care of your grand kids. […]
Taking the reins: How one CEO transformed his consulting firm
Businessam StaffJune 26, 2017
LEADERSHIP Not many of today’s CEOs can say they’ve spent nearly their entire career at their firm, but Boston Consulting Group’s Rich Lesser has. February marked his 30-year anniversary with BCG. Lesser took the helm in 2013 of the Big Three strategy consulting firm, now with 85 offices in 48 countries. For a corporate […]
Why Blockchain creates a new ‘architecture of trust’
Businessam StaffJune 19, 2017
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST: Wharton professor Kevin Werbach explains why the blockchain is upending the business world. Wharton legal studies and business ethics professor Kevin Werbach talks about the transformative potential of the blockchain, the underlying technology behind cryptocurrencies such as the bitcoin. While the adoption of cyber-currencies is running into headwinds, the blockchain is […]
To manage millennials, lead them well
Businessam StaffJune 19, 2017
MANAGEMENT A common view about the millennial generation – generally defined as individuals born between 1980 and 2000 – is that they can be difficult to engage and retain as employees. The stereotype suggests that they rapidly hop from one job to another, and companies that hire them grumble about bad attitudes and high employee […]
How business can take the lead on combating climate change
Businessam StaffJune 19, 2017
SOCIAL IMPACT President Trump’s announcement that the U.S. intends to withdraw from the Paris climate accord has focused a wide array of government and business interests on meeting the goals of the accord — with or without involvement of the current administration. At last count, mayors of nearly 300 U.S. cities and more than a […]