How two northern European corporate realms have weathered covid-19SINCE THE Middle Ages, when the Hanseatic League of merchant guilds dominated trade in northern Europe, the German and Swedish business worlds have been close. This remains the case. Both economies depend on exports, manufacturing and retail. Germany is the biggest market for many Swedish firms. Nearly…
LIFE ON THE road has become a lot tougher since the 1980s, when Schumpeter spent a year driving a battered old lorry with several tonnes of four-hooved cargo around the western United States. The cab was too cramped to sleep in. The radio only played AM. And sweat would drench his shirt as he swerved…
Japanese companies cannot afford to anger either a big market or a big allyWHEN ABE SHINZO became Japan’s prime minister for a second time in 2012, relations with China were on the skids. Tensions over disputed islands brought the two countries to the brink of conflict. Japanese car dealerships in China were set ablaze. Protests…
Berkshire Hathaway gambles on five businesses that look a lot like his ownWARREN BUFFETT famously likes his businesses simple to understand and transparent. Why, then, has his conglomerate, Berkshire Hathaway, poured $6bn into 5% stakes in Japan’s five biggest trading houses? Mitsubishi, Itochu, Mitsui, Marubeni and Sumitomo do not appear to meet either criterion. They…
Nine pharmaceutical giants pledge to uphold scientific and ethical standards rather than rush a coronavirus vaccineTHE WORLD’S 7.5bn people want a vaccine for covid-19 as soon as possible. One person needs it by November 3rd. As President Donald Trump limps towards election day, he wants to report real medical progress against the disease. Earlier this…
The Hungarian low-cost carrier looks better placed than rivals to thriveTHE MOOD among airline bosses can seem uniformly bleak. For good reason: air travel may not return to pre-pandemic levels until 2024. Not a week goes by without an airline sacking thousands of workers. Against this gloom, Jozsef Varadi, who runs Wizz Air, cuts an…
David Cote, the industrial conglomerate’s ex-boss, has written an excellent—and useful—memoirTHE MEMOIRS of chief executives can be exercises in pompous self-justification or, just as bad, in grandiose philosophising about social and political trends. Occasionally, however, a corporate titan writes a book that is both readable and a practical guide for managers hoping to follow in…
Japanese-born canned coffee is conquering America. Its Japanese purveyors are notIN THE 1970S Japan gave the world pocket calculators and the Walkman. A less well-known Japanese invention of the era was canned coffee. Fifty years on, the country remains the biggest consumer of ready-to-drink brews, guzzling 3.1bn litres per year, half the global total and…
From September 15th the Chinese telecoms giant will no longer be able to buy vital semiconductorsHUAWEI IS ON the ropes. From midnight on September 14th the Chinese technology giant will be cut off from essential supplies of semiconductors. Without chips it cannot make the smartphones or mobile-network gear on which its business depends. America’s latest…
China’s leading water bottler has a blistering stockmarket debut“WE ARE NOT manufacturers of water. We are porters of nature.” So goes a famous quip by Zhong Shanshan, the 66-year-old founder and boss of Nongfu Spring, China’s most popular brand of bottled water. On September 8th the Hangzhou-based bottler listed on Hong Kong’s bourse to spectacular…