Market Trends & Consumer Behaviour
Far right makes electoral gains in Germany’s most populous state Summary Election results in Germany’s largest state, North Rhine‑Westphalia, show the far right increasing its share of the vote and picking up seats at the expense of some mainstream parties. The outcome complicates local coalition maths and sends a warning to national parties about voter […]
How CEOs Can Boost Employee Performance and Productivity in 2025 Summary This short guide outlines what CEOs need to know to lift employee performance and productivity in 2025. It defines the difference between performance (quality and impact of work) and productivity (output relative to input), lists seven common causes of low productivity identified by ActivTrak, […]
Institutions and Growth Dynamics in Latin America, 1801–2015 Summary This paper constructs annual data for seven Latin American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela) over 1801–2015 and tests how institutional quality affects growth via three channels: innovations (patents), investment (I/Y) and education (secondary and tertiary enrolment). Using new composite institution measures (contract‑intensive […]
Why Cobots Are Key to U.S. Manufacturing Success Summary U.S. factories are often older “brownfield” sites with complex, piecemeal infrastructure that make full-scale rebuilds expensive and slow. Collaborative robots (cobots) provide a practical route to modernise these facilities by integrating with existing systems, preserving workforce knowledge and location advantages, and improving throughput and worker safety. […]
TikTok ban: Details on when and how it could happen, Trump’s options Summary The US divest-or-ban law forces ByteDance to separate TikTok’s US operations or face a shutdown. The Trump administration — including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent — has signalled that commercial terms for a deal may be in place, and President Trump has hinted […]
Leadership Lessons: Karin Stevens, CMO of Overhaul Summary Karin Stevens joined Overhaul very early as the first hire outside the founding team and helped scale the company from a handful of people to more than 600 globally. In this interview she discusses her unconventional path into marketing (from the music industry and working as a […]
How to implement mental performance and resilience strategies that actually stick Summary Dr Paola Carr-Walker, a chartered clinical and forensic psychologist and author of the Mind Strength programmes, argues that workplace mental performance and resilience initiatives too often start strong and quickly lose momentum. Drawing on decades of psychological research, she outlines practical, evidence-based steps […]
Why managers wear masks Summary The author — a seasoned senior manager with long experience in local government and housing — argues that many managers adopt a ‘mask’ or persona when they move into leadership roles. They do this because organisational expectation demands alignment with senior decisions and corporate messaging. While this can project confidence […]
Why British workers keep getting pay rises despite weak hiring Summary Wage growth in the UK has continued to surprise: pay is rising even though hiring has cooled. The article explains that this disconnect is driven by a mix of persistent shortages in particular sectors, large negotiated public-sector and union pay deals, compositional effects in […]
The niche debt tool at the heart of Apollo’s private credit machine Summary This Financial Times piece (paywalled) examines a specialised form of debt that lies at the centre of Apollo Global Management’s private credit strategy. The article explains, at a high level, how the instrument has helped Apollo scale lending, generate higher returns and […]
