Uber did Everything Right, but it’s not Chinese
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...
Measuring Your Workers Psychological Capital
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...
South Asia Healthcare Innovation Moves Ahead
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 countries comprising the South...
Are Conditions Setting the Stage for Higher Natural Gas Prices?
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...
A New OPEC Meeting May Give Oil New Life
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...
Conditions now Could Set Up Higher Oil Prices Later
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...
Workplace Feminism: Practice Makes Perfect
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”. Is the need...
China 1: Uber 0
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....
External and Internal R&D would Benefit Pakistani and Indian SMEs
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,...
Memo to the Boardroom: Add Women
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. There...
Updating my Status to Homebuyer
People interact with their family, friends and coworkers on a daily basis, both through online social networks and in real life. The effects of such social interactions on economic and financial decision-making, however, are not well understood. Do such interactions...
September Oil is Losing a Technical Battle
Today's 2.5% fall in the September light sweet crude oil futures contract extends the decline that began on June 9. It is the third consecutive loss and the fifth loss in the past six sessions. There are two important points...
Lithium’s Run is Likely not Over
So far, lithium has been the hottest metal of 2016, beating out gold, with exponential demand expected over the coming years. Although the price trajectory of the metal has been subdued in recent months, the fundamentals behind the long-term...
How Secure is Your Blockchain?
Ethereum, a network designed to extend blockchain technology to uses beyond crypto-currencies, has been gaining traction around the world. Billed as “a decentralized platform that runs smart contracts…without any possibility of downtime, censorship, fraud or third party interference,” Ethereum has been enthusiastically...
‘Power to the People’ through Online Petitions
If you have recently signed an online petition - and then observed a result from it - you are far from alone. Once niche, websites such as Change.org, ipetitions.com and Avaaz.org have moved into the mainstream, shifting influence from organisations into the hands of...