We’ve hit peak stuff: Why we now spend on “doing” rather than “things” May 17, 2016 Earlier this year Ikea’s head of sustainability suggested the West was approaching “peak stuff” – the idea that consumer appetite to own ever more goods was probably waning. Indeed it seems that we’re seeing a fundamental shift in consumer behaviour from buying products to spending money on experiences. We’ve been keeping an eye on this trend at Visa [...]
Lessons from New York: Bigger is no longer better in the new world of ambitious scaleups May 17, 2016 Every business is a hypothesis based on a bet. And if you want to bet big, grow small. That’s the lesson I learned on a recent visit to New York to meet the scaleup businesses aiming to become tomorrow’s titans. Of course, think New York and you think big. The Big Apple, big business and [...]
Has craft beer lost its flavour to globalisation? May 17, 2016 It's 2001, it’s a Friday night, and I’m enjoying a well-earned sip or two of a raspberry-flavoured wheat beer after a hard week of college. The pub in question was the Greenwich Union, in southeast London. Only just opened in 2001, it housed some of the finest offerings from the local Meantime Brewing Company. These beers [...]
Accenture’s launching an artificial intelligence practice with IPsoft’s Amelia May 16, 2016 No sooner than one global consulting giant has jumped on board with the latest technology trend, another follows suit. Accenture is launching an artificial intelligence practice just a week after PwC did the same with drones, in a bid for a share of the multi-billion dollar and fast growing industry. The Amelia practice, named after the AI software [...]
Long Weekend: Healthouse Las Dunas in Marbella, the five star detox hotel with a menu created by a two-Michelin-starred chef May 16, 2016 The weekend: Smoke too much? Drink too much? Check into Healthouse Las Dunas, where they don’t let you do very much at all. Its detox programmes – lasting between two and 21 nights – use a blend of healthy fine-dining, medical consultations, cooking lessons and spa treatments to relax and re-educate its guests. Or just [...]
Warren Buffett gives Apple a much needed bump, disclosing billion dollar stake via Berkshire Hathaway May 16, 2016 Warren Buffett has snapped up millions of shares in Apple, giving the tech firm a much needed bump after a tough quarter for iPhone sales. The sage of Omaha has disclosed he had 9.81m shares in the firm as of 31 March in a regulatory filing for his investment firm Berkshire Hathaway on Monday. Share in [...]
How traditional banks can keep ahead of their fintech noisy neighbours in innovation race May 16, 2016 There have been plenty of reports about fintechs being bad news for banks, but in actual fact they may be the best thing to happen to traditional banks and the banking sector for a long time. No, really. Many have warned that the introduction of digitally savvy options into the retail banking sector will prove [...]
Google could face the EU’s biggest ever antitrust fine May 15, 2016 Google could be facing a multi-billion pound fine over its dominance of internet search in Europe just weeks after it was charged in relation to similar claims over its Android operating system The fine, due to be handed out by competition chief Margrethe Vestager in the coming weeks according to the Telegraph, would finally wrap up a six year antitrust investigation into Google's powers [...]
Apple just ploughed $1bn into this Chinese taxi startup May 13, 2016 So now we've found out exactly what Apple was planning to do with (some of) the vast amount of cash it has sloshing around its bank account. Overnight Didi Chuxing, a Chinese rival to Uber, which describes itself as "the world's leading one-stop mobile transportation platform", issued a rather gleeful statement overnight saying it had made [...]
Pharma is failing to spread the word about the millions of lives it saves May 13, 2016 Traders and canny investors take a keen interest in spread – the difference between the buy and sell price on any given market. They know that whatever they buy must bridge this gap before they can make a penny. Spreads are wider on stocks that are infrequently traded and, if they get too wide, traders [...]