Didi, the Chinese ride-sharing service, did more than run the American ride service, Uber, out of China. In my view, it destroyed the China El Dorado myth.
The El Dorado (“the golden one”) myth referred to a supposed city of gold somewhere in Latin America. Spanish explorers went looking for wealth for Spain and rewards for themselves.
You may know someone like this at work: optimistic and resilient, they appear to bounce through challenges drawing on an internal strength that helps them work through problems they encounter at work. Always hopeful and positive about the future, they treat stressful events as a “one-off” situation, appearing to have a built-in buffer that protects them against both ordinary and extraordinary events. Perhaps this is even you.
The countries comprising the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) region (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives) commonly known as South Asia face serious healthcare affordability and accessibility challenges.
The U.S. electric power sector burned through a record amount of natural gas in recent weeks, a sign of the shifting power generation mix and also a signal that natural gas supplies could get tighter than many analysts had previously expected.
This Great Graphic from Bloomberg shows the September light sweet crude oil futures contract since peaking in early June near $52.75. It reached a low last week of about $39.20.
The turn last week came on news that although oil inventories rose gasoline inventories fell dramatically. The recovery seemed to have stalled at the end of last week near $42.40 but it was given a new lease on life by reports of an OPEC meeting next week. OPEC President Al-Sada (Qatar) seemed to try to make the most of the informal meeting.
Another oil price downturn threatens to deepen the plunging levels of investment in upstream oil and gas production, which could create a more acute price spike in the years ahead.
Oil and gas companies have gutted their capex budgets, necessary moves as drillers went deep into the red following the crash in oil prices. However, the sharp cutback in investment means that huge volumes of oil that would have otherwise come online in five or ten years now will remain on the sidelines.
Is the need for feminism dead? Saatchi & Saatchi boss Kevin Roberts seems to think so, at least in the advertising industry. He’s been put on leave for saying the gender equality debate in his industry is “over”.
Uber has announced its exit from the Chinese taxi market by merging with arch-rival Didi Chuxing in a US$35 billion deal. Uber is selling its operations to Didi, with Uber China investors receiving a 20% stake in Didi, according to reports.
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a vital role in the economic growth of a country. Specifically, in developing countries where poverty, unemployment, low income per capita, low literacy rate, and high inflation and interest rates can hinder economic growth, SMEs contribute significantly to the national income and provide employment opportunities (Moktan 2007).
There is a growing body of international research that suggests that companies with gender-diverse boards are better corporate citizens. These companies comply with legislation and they have initiatives in place to meet their shareholders’ and stakeholders’ social and environmental demands.
