Financial Times (April 3)
“The tide in the debate over the UK’s continued membership of the EU is turning against those campaigning to remain. This is not surprising, but the weakness of their arguments is puzzling.” Relying on scare tactics and narrow appeals to economic arguments misses the mark. “The main economic factors in favour of EU are not trade, but research, science and innovation policy.”
Tags: Debate, EU, Innovation, Membership, Remain, Research, Scare tactics. Economic factors, Science, Trade, UK
The Economist (March 19)
“Companies are abandoning functional silos and organising employees into cross-disciplinary teams that focus on particular products, problems or customers. These teams are gaining more power to run their own affairs. They are also spending more time working with each other rather than reporting upwards. But the transition to “a network of teams” in place of conventional hierarchy has hardly been smooth. Managing teams is “hard” and research routinely uncovers lapses. And even when teamwork is well managed, things can be taken too far. “Even in the age of open-plan offices and social networks some work is best left to the individual.”
Tags: Cross-disciplinary teams, Customers, Employees, Functional silos, Hierarchy, Individual, Network, Open-plan offices, Problems, Products, Research, Social networks, Teamwork
Washington Post (March 5)
There has been a “great shift in what U.S. corporations have done with their money.” Companies once invested 40% of “every dollar that a corporation either borrowed or realized in net earnings.” This “went into investment in its facilities, research or new hires. Since the ’80s, however, just 10 cents of those dollars have gone to investment…. The money that once went to expansion and new ventures has gone instead into shareholders’ pockets.”
Tags: Corporations, Earnings, Expansion, Facilities, Investment, Research, Shareholders, Shift, U.S.
New York Times (November 30)
Japan canceled its 2014 whale hunt in the wake of a critical ruling from the International Court of Justice, but now stands poised to resume whaling in 2015. The new plan will reduce catches and raise the profile of scientists, but remains “a variation on the same evasion of treaty obligations, just as Japan’s insistence on ‘science’ as its prime motive rings hollow in a field where experts say nonlethal research already suffices.” The decision to resume the hunt is “a diplomatic embarrassment for Japan.”
Tags: Diplomatic, Embarrassment, Evasion, Experts, Hunt, Japan, Motive, Research, Scientists, Treaty obligations, Whales
Washington Post (November 10)
“The Federal Reserve has ended its roughly $3.7 trillion program of bond buying, leaving in its wake a host of hard questions. Did it strengthen the economic recovery? If so, by how much? What are the long-run effects? Should it be used again? We don’t have good answers.” Without more rigorous research, we won’t know whether or in what circumstances quantitative easing should be deployed in the future.
Tags: Bond-buying, Effects, Fed, Future, Quantitative easing, Recovery, Research
Institutional Investor (May Issue)
“When it comes to providing the direction that money managers find most helpful, they say, Mizuho and Nomura outpace the competition. These firms share top honors on the 2014 All-Japan Research Team, Institutional Investor’s 21st annual ranking of the country’s best sell-side analysts, by capturing 24 team positions each.”
Tags: Analysts, Competition, Direction, Honors, Japan, Mizuho, Money managers, Nomura, Ranking, Research, Sell-side
Cover (November 5)
“Over two-fifths (44%) of Brits say they are currently undergoing a period of stress, according to new research.” Money and job worries were the two biggest factors behind the UKs high stress levels. “Stress is most prevalent amongst 45-54 year olds with half (50%) saying they’re stressed, and least prevalent amongst the 55 and overs— with only 38% stating they are currently stressed.”
Institutional Investor (May Issue)
“Investors are clamoring for sell-side research as Japanese equities lead the world in gains…. For quite a long time—decades—most of the economic and financial news out of Japan was negative. Over the past six months or so, it has been overwhelmingly positive. Stock prices are up. Real gross domestic product growth is rising. Investor interest is at its highest level in years.”
Financial Times (April 10)
“Over a fifth of the world’s patent applications in 2011 came from Japan, eight times as many as from the UK. It is far better at turning basic research into commercial applications, with clear national priorities set by government and strong links between businesses and universities.” Japan has challenges, but knows how to face them. “The UK (and other countries) can learn a lot” from Japan.
“Over a fifth of the world’s patent applications in 2011 came from Japan, eight times as many as from the UK. It is far better at turning basic research into commercial applications, with clear national priorities set by government and strong links between businesses and universities.” Japan has challenges, but knows how to face them. “The UK (and other countries) can learn a lot” from Japan.
Tags: Businesses, Government, Japan, Patents, Research, UK
Institutional Investor (April)
Over 1,000 investment professionals were surveyed to select Institutional Investor’s 2011 All-Japan Research Team, the 18th annual. BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research shared the top spot with Nomura. Both firms captured 24 positions on the all star team. UBS (18 positions), Daiwa Securities Group (15 positions) and Citi (13 positions) rounded out the top 5.
Over 1,000 investment professionals were surveyed to select Institutional Investor’s 2011 All-Japan Research Team, the 18th annual. BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research shared the top spot with Nomura. Both firms captured 24 positions on the all star team. UBS (18 positions), Daiwa Securities Group (15 positions) and Citi (13 positions) rounded out the top 5.
