CW11

Anglo-German relations

Affection for Britain brews in Germany (BBC News)

Constant debate about the direction of Europe may seem to pit state against state, but in Germany there appears to be some support for David Cameron’s “obstinate” stance – and a sneaking regard for Britain in general. I am currently trying to help German politics get a little calmer. The office of one of the Green MPs in the Bundestag, you see, has made a collective decision to switch from coffee to tea.

Business skills

Six tips for being a good facilitator (Danny Beckett Jr)

Have you ever asked what makes a good facilitator? Have you, while facilitating a meeting or a discussion asked, “Am I doing a good job or do I really suck at this”? I can honestly say that I have asked this question several times while leading both meetings and discussions.

Human resources

Society: German welfare overhaul remains controversial (DW)

Less support for the long-term unemployed, cuts in the health care system, a higher retirement age: “Agenda 2010” was Germany’s biggest social reform package in the post-war era, but its effectiveness is disputed.

Language

Languages on the internet: The keenest Wikipedians (The Economist)

William Gibson once said “The future is already here—it’s just not very evenly distributed.” I’d include Wikipedia, the wonderful, sprawling, open-source and free online encyclopaedia, as part of the future. It also seems to be quite unevenly distributed.

Retail

Successful global growers: What we can learn from Walmart, Carrefour, Tesco, Metro (Forbes)

Global expansion is the mantra of the world’s four largest retailers. Leading the pack is U.S. based Walmart, registering sales of $466.1 Billion in 2012, followed by French based Carrefour with sales of $112.6 Billion. At $96.8 Billion, U.K based Tesco is third with Germany’s Metro in fourth place with sales of $90.5 Billion.  Each of these behemoths have seen rapid growth in new fast-developing countries where each has invested in stores.   Much can be learned from their successes and their failures.

Tesco reacts to profits fall with price promotion (The Guardian)

Tesco has launched its biggest price promotion since suffering its first fall in profits in 20 years. Britain’s biggest supermarket on Monday launched “price promise”, which will compare prices at the tills and issue coupons if customers’ shopping would have been cheaper at Asda, Sainsbury’s or Morrisons.

 

CW10

Business travel

Fitting in fitness (The Economist)

Exercise is all too easy to neglect at home, let alone when you are on the road. To start with, the logistics are off-putting. How many outfits should you take? Can you squeeze in your running shoes along with your suits and gadgets, without needing to check in a bag? Then you have to get there, tired and jet-lagged, find somewhere with the Swiss ball and cross-trainer you need, and actually do your workout. All this requires planning and discipline—a bit like exercise itself, in other words.

Corporate espionage

Cyber menace: Digital spying burdens German-Chinese relations (Spiegel International Online)

Companies like defense giant EADS or steelmaker ThyssenKrupp have become the targets of hacker attacks from China. The digitial espionage is creating a problem for relations between Berlin and Beijing, but Chancellor Angela Merkel has shied away from taking firm action.

Germany

Nostalgia stokes demand for East German brands (The Local)

Products “Made in GDR” may be consigned to history, but many East German items are still flying off shelves, as the nostalgia for brands from the failed communist country remains strong.

Human resources

How to inspire your employees to make them more engaged (The Business Journals)

We’ve all experienced bad customer service, whether from a bored sales clerk, a disgruntled receptionist, or an unhelpful telephone operator. Aside from the subpar service that they give, each of these employees has one key aspect in common: They are unmotivated to excel on the job.

 

CW9

Business

France’s work ethic: Flâneurs on the treadmill (The Guardian)

A US industrialist claims the French don’t want to work. In fact, the opposite is the case.

Will there finally be free trade between Europe and the US? (The Foreign Report)

On 13th February, Barack Obama, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso announced that both the US and the EU will prepare to launch negotiations on a so-called “Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership” to boost their struggling economies. A free trade agreement between the two would create the largest economic alliance in the world, a relationship that already accounts for around €455bn in trade, as well as millions of jobs on both continents.

Entertainment

Oscars 2013: Daniel Day-Lewis makes Hollywood history (BBC News)

Daniel Day-Lewis has made Oscars history by becoming the first man to win the best actor prize three times.

Food safety

Farmers markets may be exempt from new food safety rules (Post-Tribune)

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has released two new proposed food safety rules as it looks to prevent the foodborne illnesses that it says results in approximately 3,000 deaths and 130,000 hospitalizations each year. However, the new rules would only target large farms and food producers.

Human resources

14 things successful people do on weekends (Forbes)

Spencer Rascoff is only 37. Yet, the Harvard grad and father of three has already accomplished so much.He co-founded Hotwire.com and served as a VP for Expedia; he held the roles of CFO, vice president of marketing and COO at Zillow; and in 2008, Rascoff was promoted to chief executive of the popular real estate information site.Wondering how the Zillow CEO has achieved and maintained his success? His weekend routine has something to do with it.

Politics

Italian election results: An interactive guide (The Guardian)

Who will win the Italian elections, taking place today? This interactive graphic is by Umberto Marengo, a PhD researcher at Cambridge University and co-founder of YouTrend/Quorum, an Italian start-up specialising in opinion polls.

Technology

Google Glass: What you need to know (Tech Radar UK)

Are Google’s glasses more than just a gimmick?

Travel

Visit Germany: Visit the Allgäu, Germany’s largest winter sports region (DW)

Breathtaking downhill slopes, comfortable family-friendly pistes, delightful cross-country trails, seemingly endless toboggan runs – in the Allgäu, you can always find what’s just right for you.

 

CW8

Currencies

G-20 statement warns against currency wars (Daily Yomiuri Online)

The Group of 20 economies wrapped up a two-day meeting Saturday with a statement strongly warning against currency wars, while giving “Abenomics” a virtual free pass. The joint statement, issued by finance ministers and central bank chiefs, cautioned G-20 members several times against monetary policies aimed at intervening in foreign exchange markets.

Fashion

Zalando to slow expansion to focus on current businesses (Bloomberg)

Zalando GmbH, a German clothing and shoes online retailer, plans to enter fewer European markets this year to focus on growth at existing businesses.

Food

Horsemeat scandal is a Europe-wide problem (ABC News)

This week the scandal over horsemeat in hamburgers and lasagne has spread beyond Britain, revealing cracks in the Continent’s food supply chain. Authorities are now trying to trace the meat’s circuitous path across Europe to prevent future problems.

Germany

An introduction to “Those Germans” (DW)

We’re punctual and reliable, we’re badly dressed and we have no sense of humor. True or false? Read on to find out what other clichés we’ll be examining in our special series on the German identity.

Human resources

Fraud Factory: Helping careerists get ahead as a ghostwriter (Spiegel Online International)

In Germany, higher education titles help people in business circles burnish their credentials and get ahead. But instead of doing the work themselves, many busy careerists are employing ghostwriters to write their doctorates for them instead. One ghostwriter reveals the flaws of the educational system.

Shifts and nights replace nine-to-five for Germans (The Local)

Germans are increasingly working nights and shifts, leaving the treasured nine-to-five work model behind while one in four work at weekends, figures from the government show.

Politics

Scott Warren: Can Obama save politics? (The Huffington Post)

President Obama’s State of the Union was aggressive and meaty. From immigration reform to gun control, to raising the minimum wage and universal pre-school education, Obama clearly wants to make a mark in his second term. But regardless of the policy ambitions, Obama raised another theme that should, but has not yet, received bi-partisan support: reigniting citizen involvement in our political process.

Sport

Exclusive – The case against Oscar (City Press)

A bloodied cricket bat is the central piece of evidence in the unfolding murder investigation into Reeva Steenkamp’s death. City Press can reveal that police are investigating different scenarios involving the bat – one of which is that her boyfriend, Olympic hero Oscar Pistorius, used it to viciously assault her.

 

CW7

Business

Hamish McRae: Europe has to play to its many strengths (The Independent)

What can Europeans – and let’s just accept that Britons are Europeans – do that others cannot do just as well or better?

Economics

Interactive currency-comparison tool: The Big Mac index (The Economist)

THE Big Mac index was invented by The Economist in 1986 as a lighthearted guide to whether currencies are at their “correct” level. It is based on the theory of purchasing-power parity (PPP), the notion that in the long run exchange rates should move towards the rate that would equalise the prices of an identical basket of goods and services (in this case, a burger) in any two countries. For example, the average price of a Big Mac in America at the start of 2013 was $4.37; in China it was only $2.57 at market exchange rates. So the “raw” Big Mac index says that the yuan was undervalued by 41% at that time.

Human resources

Four CIA secrets that can boost your career (The Wall Street Journal)

The truth is, spies rely on psychology far more than they do on technology. Instead of gizmos or gadgets, CIA officers use behavioral techniques to elicit secrets from people and organizations — techniques that are broadly applicable enough to be used in even the least cloak-and-dagger of settings. I wrote my book, “Work Like a Spy: Business Tips from a Former CIA Officer,” with the intention of identifying and explaining spy tradecraft in such a way that it can be used in any workplace. Here are four examples of lessons from the clandestine world that corporate America can use.

Politics

Why do politicians use business jargon? (BBC)

Going forward. Leverage. Level playing field. In the business of politics, politicians increasingly use corporate buzzwords. Why, asks Sally Davies.

Sport

Why we love to run (The Guardian)

It’s tough, it hurts – and yet more than two million of us in the UK run at least once a week. Why? Adharanand Finn explains the enormous pleasure it brings – and how we’re actually hardwired to do it.

 

Don’t underestimate Wikipedia

Wikipedia’s English portal, and to a lesser extent its simple English portal, is a wonderfully rich source of vocabulary for thousands of different business and specialist topics. From human resources management to the Aggregate Demand-Aggregate supply model to PRINCE2 project management methodology to reinsurance to almost any topic you can think of- you’ll find it on Wikipedia.

And while Wikipedia might not teach you anything new about your field or job, it will expose you to a lot of new and subject-specific vocabulary.

Why not give it a try? It’s a great learning resource – don’t underestimate it!

(Please feel free to recommend any Wikipedia pages that you think are particularly good in the comments section below.)

 

CW6

Economics

The Nordic countries: The next supermodel (The Economist)

Smallish countries are often in the vanguard when it comes to reforming government. In the 1980s Britain was out in the lead, thanks to Thatcherism and privatisation. Tiny Singapore has long been a role model for many reformers. Now the Nordic countries are likely to assume a similar role.

Davos wisdom, 2013: Five lessons from the global forum (Time)

One of the best descriptions of Davos I ever heard originated with my friend David Rothkopf, the CEO of Foreign Policy, whose book “Superclass” is perhaps the definitive chronicle of Davos man. “Davos,” he says, “is a factory in which the conventional wisdom is manufactured.” If that’s true, it’s worth knowing what was churned out of the factory this week as the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting wraps up today. Here’s my top 5 list.

Germany

Volunteers wanted: Locals help save Germany’s shrinking towns (Spiegel Online International)

While a graying population affects all of Germany, small rural towns have been hit the hardest. To counteract the demographic trend and make up for lacking resources, many communities are asking citizens to pitch in — for free.

Human resources

Psst… This is what your co-worker is paid (The Wall Street Journal)

Office workers have grown accustomed to knowing the intimate details of each other’s lives—from a colleague’s favorite cat video to a boss’s vacation fiasco. Now several private-sector firms are letting employees in on closely held secrets: revealing details of company financials, staff performance reviews, even individual pay.

Pets

Why dogs are smarter than cats (The Wall Street Journal)

With half as many neurons in their cerebral cortex as cats—and half the attitude, some would say—dogs are often taken to be the less intelligent domestic partner. While dogs drink out of the toilet, slavishly follow their master and need a chaperone to relieve themselves, cats hunt self-sufficiently and survey their empire with a regal gaze.

Sport

The 15 Best Super Bowl 2013 Commercials – VIDEO (The Daily Beast)

Rating the big game’s top ads is an annual rite. These advertisements will make you laugh, cry, and, well—mostly laugh some more. Get those nachos ready and settle in for a rerun of The Daily Beast-certified best Super Bowl commercials.