NW Consulting Blog

Future Vision

Leaders of multinational companies are grappling with fundamental questions about how to operate globally in a fragmenting world. The answer lies in reimagining their organizations for an evolving business environment.

Back in 1959, our former colleague Gil Clee cowrote an article in Harvard Business Review that urged CEOs to embrace the challenge of creating “world enterprises.” Given the rapid expansion of international trade taking place at that time, the article advised CEOs “to view [their] responsibility as global in scope … and to organize [their] corporation in such a way that its major decisions are considered and made in the light of world conditions and opportunities.”

Future Vision

Mega-IPO’s 70% fall towards delisting is costly blow for Malaysia

FGV’s problems have weighed on its biggest shareholder and, by extension, taxpayers in the country.[KUALA LUMPUR] When Facebook went public in 2012, the world’s next-largest listing that year was a company from Malaysia best known for producing cooking oil.Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase and Deutsche Bank lined up with the country’s biggest banks to manage the US$3.3 billion initial public offer (IPO) of FGV Holdings, which outperformed the social media giant in the initial months of trading.

Future Vision

This Is Why America Needs Public Media

This article has been updated to include new information about the passage of a bill defunding public media.When the private sector doesn’t provide an important service, the government often steps in. That is why the framers established the U.S. Postal Service; they believed no one else would deliver the mail to the entire country. Many places in America, especially in rural communities, would not have a library without public funding. Police departments, the military, Medicare, Social Security and public education offer other examples.So does public media, including PBS, NPR and their local affiliates. As newspapers and television stations across the country fold, public radio and TV stations can be among the few sources of local news in rural areas. During storms and floods, radio can be the sole source of information when electricity goes out. After floods in Kentucky this year, a listener in the city of Hazard who had been without power and cellphone service wrote to her local public radio station to thank it for being her lifeline. At its best, public media is a classic public service — something that provides large benefits and that the private sector often fails to provide.

Future Vision

‘Where’s the money going?’: why Brazilian towns awash with royalties from oil are still among the poorest

Since the first big finds in the 1940s, Brazil’s politicians have vowed all of its people would benefit. But in some oil towns, one in four people still live below the poverty line.Though 60 miles (100km) apart, the Brazilian municipalities of Presidente Kennedy in Espírito Santo state and Campos dos Goytacazes in Rio de Janeiro state have one big thing in common: oil. Since late in the last century, their public funds have been bolstered by billions in royalties from oil finds in the offshore Campos Basin.Yet despite having significantly more resources than other towns and cities in Brazil, both still face problems such as poor sanitation and healthcare, inadequate social housing and state education as well as corruption scandals.

Future Vision

Can BRICS Countries Capitalize on the Shifting Landscape of Global Trade?

Right now, leaders of the BRICS group of nations are preparing for their annual summit which takes place in Brazil—the country holding the rotating presidency.Trade and investment are high on the agenda. In May, BRICS trade ministers agreed to “enhance solidarity by enhancing trade and investment cooperation.” They also called for the multilateral trading system to be strengthened and expressed concern about unilateral and protectionist measures that are fragmenting global trade.The BRICS has five long-standing members (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) and five newer members (Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, UAE, and, most recently, Indonesia). Other countries have been invited to join, including Saudi Arabia.

Future Vision

Actually, China can’t put Australia over an economic barrel

Contrary to widespread commentary, Australia’s trade exposure to China doesn’t put Beijing in a position to apply powerful economic coercion on this country.To understand why, we first need to recognise that in cases of economic coercion the aggressor starts from a disadvantaged position. After all, cutting off economic exchanges also hurts it, and the target isn’t inclined to fold because the change being pressed is not in its interests.