Too many bosses are using Covid-19 to indulge their Big Brother tendencies February 3, 2021 Controversy around technologies used to monitor employees is not new. However, against the backdrop of COVID-19 with office-based workforces operating remotely, businesses have struggled with how to effectively manage staff and have hastily deployed surveillance technologies. This knee-jerk reaction is perhaps understandable, but employers must be wary. The backlash can be severe, unexpected, and sometimes [...]
Asos purchases Arcadia’s principal brands to improve its own quality perception February 3, 2021 Online fashion giant Asos has announced it has beat competitors to purchase the four main Arcadia brands – Miss Selfridge, HIIT, Topman and Topshop – in order to become the number one fashion destination for young, fashion-conscious shoppers worldwide. Chief executive Nick Beighton said that the brands were a “natural fit” and resonated with their [...]
Debate: Was Asos right to pass over Topshop’s physical stores? February 3, 2021 Digital retailer Asos has picked up Arcadia’s principal brands – but they didn’t bother with the physical premises. A good decision? Mike Colling of the Kite Factory says yes: To bring great brands back to life you often have to cut away dead wood. The news that ASOS has bought Topshop & Miss Selfridge has [...]
Climate co-operation could be welcome boost to the special relationship February 3, 2021 A new US President always brings a renewed sense of hope and optimism, not only to the 50 states themselves but across the globe. Another norm in the early days of any new administration is a jostling for position from foreign allies and diplomats, not only to secure the trophies of early phone calls and [...]
Regulation must deliver transparency and protection for BNPL consumers February 2, 2021 In 2020 UK consumers reduced their collective credit card bill by £10bn, the largest annual reduction since records began. At the same time debit card usage increased sharply as consumers, locked down at home, adopted online shopping in huge numbers. The shift to debit cards has been happening for many years across countries. Millennials, in [...]
Forget the BBC, as Ofcom chair Paul Dacre would get his teeth into tech February 2, 2021 Almost a year after Priti Patel vowed to make Ofcom a regulator with teeth, the government looks poised to appoint Fleet Street Rottweiler Paul Dacre as its new chair. No one could accuse her of underdelivering. For many, Dacre’s political leanings (characterised by some as so far to the right as to be almost horizontal) [...]
The City’s Big Bang 2.0 might well be green-powered February 2, 2021 In the Chancellor’s recent interview with City AM, Sunak said he was confident that Brexit could lead to a new wave of innovation in the City of London and the UK seeing a ‘Big Bang 2.0’. Unfortunately, most of the commentary on business and Brexit has been around the traditional tropes of cutting red tape. [...]
Not another one: How to make video calling more productive (and more interesting) February 2, 2021 As the UK approaches the end of its first month of the latest lockdown, our experiences of working, studying and teaching from home are showing serious signs of fatigue. We are finding ourselves sitting in front of a webcam for the majority of our days, and whether we’re joining virtual business meetings, teaching, or hosting [...]
The City will be back – but in the meantime, it’s test, test, test February 1, 2021 The importance of redoubling our efforts to tackle the spread of this virus was underlined by the UK passing a tragic milestone of 100,000 deaths from COVID-19 last week. This is a trying time for us all but the quicker we can reduce the rate of infection, the quicker we can return to a semblance [...]
Government should rethink rates holiday as economy kicks back into life February 1, 2021 John Webber is Head of Business Rates at Colliers International News that John Lewis is under pressure to hand back millions of pounds in business rates relief received in this year’s retail rates holiday shows that the Government must re-think the way it uses the rates system to hand out support to businesses.. Last year [...]