Wall Street Journal (June 22)
“Giant companies from McDonald’s Corp. to Intel Corp. are husbanding cash, cutting costs and tapping debt, all moves that bolster their resilience amid persistent uncertainty wrought by the new coronavirus.” Looking ahead, they are also trying to figure out “when it will make sense to economize less and spend more to avoid losing out to rivals once the recovery begins in earnest.”
Tags: Cash, Coronavirus, Costs, Debt, Economize, Intel, McDonald's, Recovery, Resilience, Rivals, Uncertainty
LA Times (May 28)
“Trump hasn’t been a victim of bias” as he made out while trying “to take a big, dumb bite out of the Twitter hand that feeds him.” In fact, “he’s been the prime beneficiary of the platforms’ lax and inconsistent enforcement of their terms of service. It’s richly ironic that the president would want to remove liability protections for the platforms that broadcast the damaging rumors and wild conspiracy theories he spreads about his rivals.”
Tags: Beneficiary, Bias, Conspiracy theories, Damaging, Dumb, Enforcement, Inconsistent, Ironic, Lax, Liability, Rivals, Rumors, Trump, Twitter, Victim
Bloomberg (June 10)
“Pity Europe’s banks. For years, they have been in retreat, losing business in their own back yards to Wall Street rivals. Now the battlefront is shifting – but what looks like an opportunity to gain ground may be just the opposite…. Shackled by sluggish economic growth at home and record-low interest rates that are crushing margins, European firms have been unable to compete with U.S. rivals in trading and capital markets. Those same dynamics look set to play out again in transaction banking,” which is set to displace fixed income as the largest revenue driver by 2020.
Tags: Banks, Battlefront, Capital markets, Economic growth, Europe, Fixed income, Interest rates, Margins, Retreat, Rivals, Trading, Transaction banking, U.S., Wall Street
Inc (April 19)
“The fast food business encourages fast thinking. Competitors strategize quickly in order to gain that extra percentage of margin, the chance to bite a tiny morsel out of their rivals. This leads them easily into going one way and then veering in the opposite direction. Perhaps one shouldn’t be surprised, then, at McDonald’s suddenly deciding it’s not quite as fancy as it promised to be.” After drifting upscale, it’s now “going another way” and simplifying its menu offerings.
Tags: Competitors, Fast food, Fast thinking, Margin, Menu, Rivals, Simplifying, Strategize, Upscale
The Economist (September 1)
“If Silicon Valley’s relative decline heralded the rise of a global web of thriving, rival tech hubs, that would be worth celebrating. Unfortunately, the Valley’s peak looks more like a warning that innovation everywhere is becoming harder.”
Tags: Decline, Innovation, Peak, Rivals, Silicon Valley, Tech hubs, Warning
Financial Times (February 26)
“Four months after a historic Chinese Communist party congress was expected to answer most questions about Xi Jinping’s second five-year term in office, China’s president has demonstrated that he can still ‘shock and awe’ his political rivals.” The Central Committee’s recommendation to scrap the ten year presidential term limit, almost ensures this protection will be written out of the constitution, further tightening Xi’s powerful grip on China.
Tags: Awe, CCP, China, Constitution, President, Rivals, Shock, Term limit, Xi
Institutional Investor (May 5)
“The adoption of technology, including blockchain, artificial intelligence, and big data, has made it possible for private-equity and hedge-fund managers to reduce their fees, placing competitive pressure on rivals still using a traditional fee model.”
Tags: Adoption, AI, Big Data, Blockchain, Competitive pressure, Fees, Hedge-fund, Private equity, Rivals, Technology
The Economist (July 9)
“Smaller rivals are assaulting the world’s biggest brands” causing some to wonder if billion dollar brands remain a viable strategy. Though “they make some of the world’s best-loved products,” large consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies are under assault. “For a time, size gave CPG companies a staggering advantage,” but their advantages are weakening and in some cases becoming Achilles heels. “The lumbering giants are finding it hard to keep up with fast-changing consumer markets.”
Tags: Advantage, Brands, Consumer markets, Consumer packaged goods, Fast changing, Lumbering, Rivals, Size, Strategy, Weakening
Wall Street Journal (July 5)
The downfall of former Politburo member Ling Jihua may mark the end of “paramount leader Xi Jinping’s purge of political rivals under cover of an anticorruption campaign.” It’s not likely to end the intrigue. “While the ‘tiger hunt’ for top-level cadres may be over, that doesn’t mean Mr. Xi has consolidated power. China’s political struggle continues in other guises. This will make government policies unpredictable and risks conflict spilling out into public view in ways not seen since 1989.”
Tags: Anticorruption, Conflict, Downfall, Ling Jihua, Politburo, Power, Purge, Risks, Rivals, Unpredictable, Xi Jinping
Bloomberg (November 28)
“Fierce rivals, Samsung and Sony also face many of the same problems: overstretched businesses, a dearth of game-changing products, hierarchical corporate structures and proud places in their national psyches. But South Korea’s Samsung is proving how nimble even huge legacy names can be. Sony should pay attention.”
Tags: Corporate structures, Game-changing products, Hierarchy, Legacy, Nimble, Overstretched, Rivals, Samsung, Sony, South Korea
