Chinese export restrictions throw a spanner in the American bidding war for the hit short-video appINVESTORS IN BYTEDANCE have got used to being caught between superpowers. They were still taken aback on August 28th, when an update to China’s export-licensing regime blocked the sale of the hot Chinese technology firm’s prize asset—the American arm of…
FEW FIRMS struggle with too much success. One is Naspers, a South African media group founded in 1915. In a prescient bid to diversify away from newspapers in 2001 it paid $32m for a large stake in a piddly Chinese startup. Tencent, the startup in question, has since morphed into a gaming and messaging behemoth…
After years of having one of the worst attitudes in the industry, James Corden is about to get the Ellen DeGeneres treatment. Finally! Talk show host James Corden is in hot soup after reportedly channeling his inner Ellen DeGeneres.| Source: Matt Sayles/Invision/APJames Corden is about to get the Ellen DeGeneres treatment.After years of reportedly having…
The Dow Jones rallied 340 points Thursday.Strong U.S. GDP helped boost investor sentiment.Dow bulls went haywire midday after a strong round of polling for candidate Joe Biden.Positive risk sentiment returned on Thursday, as investors bought the dip in the Dow Jones after initial jobless claims and Q3 GDP beat forecasts. Dow bulls must now look…
October 29, 2020 What will it take for you to feel safe at work again? In this episode of HBR’s advice podcast, Dear HBR:, cohosts Alison Beard and Dan McGinn answer your questions with the help of Ethan Bernstein, a professor at Harvard Business School. They talk through what to do when your essential employees are…
What makes a brand durable even as business models, technology and consumer behavior radically change? They key is that durable brands are adaptable brands — even legacy ones. To create durability, apply the MACE framework: 1) Mastery: Give your consumers non-transferrable rewards for using your products and engaging with your content; 2) Accessibility: Make your…
Mentors are important during a crisis, especially for those on the front lines. During the current Covid crisis, doctors, nurses, grocery store workers, postal carriers, and many others have been navigating physical danger, complexity, and uncertainty, with no end in sight. Now more than ever they need emotional support. But they can’t always turn to their…
Reliance Industries buys Future Group, its closest competitor in bricks-and-mortar retailA FEW YEARS ago Future Group was seen as, well, the future of Indian retail. From humble beginnings making trousers in the 1980s, Kishore Biyani, its founder, built 2,000 shops in 400 cities across India, selling all manner of consumer goods. That is second only…
October 28, 2020 When Facebook’s Chief Technology Officer Mike Schroepfer joined the company in 2008, it was about to hit 100 million users – today they serve 2.7 billion. He joins Azeem Azhar to explore how they planned for infrastructure resilience to cope with such explosive growth, and why Facebook has invested so deeply in…
Too often in a crisis, leaders resort to command-and-control leadership, focusing on rigid goals and rules to sustain the operations of their organizations. Instead, they should look to define the purpose behind their organizations. That shouldn’t be a top-down exercise: In examples from the NHS to private corporations and nonprofits, we can see that the…