Bloomberg (October 31)
“Of all of the scary economic data that routinely streams out of Japan, this statistic should terrify you: $800 million.” The “staggeringly small figure” is the total value of completed venture capital deals for Japan in 2015. Representing Japan’s risk-adverse culture, $800 million “explains a great deal about why the world’s third-largest economy continues to struggle, no matter how much cash the central bank pours into it. Too few Japanese are starting new companies.” In comparison, 2015 venture deals totaled “$72 billion in the U.S. and $49 billion in China. Even tiny Israel managed $2.6 billion in deals.”
Tags: Central bank, China, Deals, Economic data, Israel, Japan, Risk adverse, Statistics, U.S., Venture-capital
The Week (October 31)
Designed to foster communication and collaboration, open office layouts are having a negative impact on employee productivity and satisfaction. “Overheard conversations can result in a 5 percent to 10 percent decline in the performance of cognitive tasks…like reading, writing, and other forms of creative work. Noise can impair workers’ ability to recall information and do basic arithmetic. It also can decrease productivity by as much as 86 minutes per day.”
Tags: Collaboration, Communication, Employees, Impact, Noise, Performance, Productivity, Satisfaction
