Transparent pay: Could it work in your company? July 10, 2014 Profit margins may suffer, but accountability is likely to increase. Few issues provoke as much ire among colleagues as a gaping pay discrepancy. When Pimlico Plumbers made staff salaries public as part of a reality show for Channel 4, communications manager Karl Plunkett says the topic blew up “like a landmine”. Historical contingencies [...]
The volatility debate: Be wary of betting on a swift reversal July 7, 2014 Central bank policy has distorted many asset markets. Financial markets have been remarkably tranquil of late. Traders accustomed to the ructions of recent years are now starved of volatility, with the US equity “fear index” (the Vix) continually falling towards pre-crisis lows (see graph, bottom left). As Gemma Godfrey of Brooks Macdonald points [...]
Customer science: Dunnhumby CEO Simon Hay on the importance of data in online advertising July 6, 2014 Liam Ward-Proud talks to Dunnhumby chief executive Simon Hay. Before media agencies started making serious strides into consumer data and personalisation, customer insight firm Dunnhumby was busy helping Tesco (now its owner) reinvent the customer loyalty programme with Clubcard. Now, after buying German ad tech firm Sociomantic Labs this April, it’s planning on [...]
The end of event sponsorship marketing? How the World Cup lost its pull July 6, 2014 Event sponsorship is one of the oldest forms of advertising – when the Olympic games was first revived in Athens in the 1850s, it was at the behest of Albanian businessman and sponsor Evangelis Zappas. But with brands scrambling to get noticed amid the current World Cup marketing melee, there are signs that the centuries-old [...]
Lessons from the career of Amazon’s Jeff Bezos July 2, 2014 The remarkable success of Amazon’s founder shows the value of always asking “why”. Amazon recently turned 20, and Jeff Bezos, its founder and chief executive, can stake a fair claim as one of the most influential entrepreneurs of his generation. His company has reshaped the way books, clothes, electronics and thousands of other [...]
Focus on fees: How investors can build a low-cost portfolio July 1, 2014 Index and exchange-traded funds are increasingly popular, but don’t forget about platform fees With the new Isa (Nisa) rules now in force, investors are looking at how to get the most bang for their buck out of the new £15,000 annual allowance. And while the performance of investments is key, and low-cost tracking options will [...]
New Machiavelli: Political nous is crucial in offices July 1, 2014 Knowing your firm’s social networks will help you get things done. Niccolo Machiavelli gets a bad rap these days. His name is used as a byword for the ruthless scheming that makes some organisations toxic places to work. But according to a new paper – Power in Management and Organisation Science, by Peter [...]
The new Isa: Where to invest your beefed-up Nisa allowance June 29, 2014 The fund managers are tipping European equities and a focus on long-term capital growth through income With the new Isa (Nisa) annual allowance of £15,000 (up from £11,880 for stocks and shares Isas) due to come into force tomorrow, savers looking to top-up their investments are faced with a difficult choice. The popular play of [...]
The new Isa: How to become a Nisa millionaire in 26 years June 29, 2014 No one knows exactly how many Isa millionaires there are. Stockbroker Brewin Dolphin has in the past claimed that around 15 of its clients have over £1m of savings sheltered from the taxman in an Isa wrapper. But the number is sure to increase as the effect of the Nisa’s higher annual allowance takes [...]
The new rules of business dress: Is casual dying? June 26, 2014 It’s not just about perceptions – make use of “enclothed cognition” Ever since “business casual” exploded onto the sartorial scene in the 1990s, predictions of the death of smart business dress have come thick and fast. Levi’s posted an eight-page brochure titled A Guide to Casual Businesswear to around 25,000 human resource managers in the [...]
