13/05/2022
It’s not simple to reform a system that more than 500 million farmers, workers, and employees around the world depend on, and that plays a critical role in people’s health. Yet pressure from stakeholders has never been stronger: consumers are demanding sustainable products and services, investors are shifting to sustainable investments, regulators are implementing new […]
04/05/2022
The Returns of Top Cryptocurrencies in 2021 2021 saw the crypto markets boom and mature, with different sectors flourishing and largely outperforming the market leader, bitcoin. While bitcoin only managed to return 59.8% last year, the crypto sector’s total market cap grew by 187.5%, with many of the top coins offering four and even five-digit […]
20/04/2022
Investors in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) expect to dramatically increase their sustainable assets. In fact, sustainable assets are projected to grow from 21% of total assets in 2020 to 47% of total assets in 2025. In this graphic we outline the top five ESG challenges that European investors face amid this shift. […]
05/04/2022
Visualizing the EU’s Energy Dependency In response to Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. and EU have imposed heavy sanctions aimed at crippling the Russian economy. However, these bold actions also come with some potentially messy complications: Russia is not only one of the world’s largest exporters of energy products, but it is […]
29/03/2022
Mapped: Global Happiness Levels in 2022 What really makes people happy? While countless academic researchers have tried to get to the bottom of this, the truth is, it’s a complicated question to answer. Happiness levels depend on a number of factors, including one’s financial security, perceptions of social support, feelings of personal freedom, and much […]
11/03/2022
Map Explainer: Key Facts About Ukraine The modern state of Ukraine was formed nearly 30 years ago after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Since then, the country has often made headlines due to political instability and the looming threat of a Russian invasion. In the map graphic above, we examine Ukraine from […]
07/03/2022
International trade was equal to 65% of Ukraine’s GDP in 2020, totaling to $102.9 billion of goods exchanged with countries around the world. In 2014, Russia’s annexation of Crimea contributed to a 30% year-over-year drop in Ukraine’s 2015 trade value ($75.6B). Now, Ukraine’s international trade has been irreversibly disrupted since Russia’s full-scale invasion on February […]
25/02/2022
Amidst supply chain issues and inflated shipping costs, global trade continued to grow last year, reaching an estimated $28 trillion in 2021—a 23% increase compared to the year prior. Which countries are the central nodes of the global trade network? While China is currently the world’s largest trading partner, this hasn’t always been the case. […]
24/02/2022
There’s a new title in the C-suite: chief ESG officer. While top executives with “ESG” in their title are new and not yet widespread, this role is an opportunity that companies may consider as they face increasing pressure to address environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues; companies like C.H. Robinson, Royal Caribbean, and Verizon have […]
23/02/2022
As warnings of an imminent Russian attack on Ukraine proliferate, news networks and social media have featured clips of Russian armed forces training, exercising, and preparing to fight. Less visible are Russia’s formidable cyber forces that would be preparing to unleash a new wave of cyber-attacks on Ukrainian and western energy, finance, and communications infrastructure. Whether an […]
22/02/2022
Large consumer and retail players from Nordstrom to Yelp are moving quickly to serve this group of influential customers. Indeed, while inclusive consumers tend to be younger, female, and more racially diverse, they include men and women across ethnic backgrounds, income levels, and age groups. Given this diverse and ubiquitous representation, the inclusive consumer holds […]
17/02/2022
I thought I might kick off by sharing a few reflections on how far COP26 helped us move towards a net-zero economy, and what some of the implications to business are. These remarks are really formed by four different sets of insights. In the year running up to COP, we helped create the fact base […]
26/11/2021
Even before Covid, the balance of Black Friday consumption was slowly tipping toward e-commerce. But 2020 was the year of extreme tilt, with nearly twice as many consumers opting to stay home and buy online instead of going out to stores (100 million versus 58.7 million). The good news is that as a digital event, […]
24/11/2021
We have borrowed a page from the corporate world—namely, the balance sheet—to take stock of the underlying health and resilience of the global economy as it begins to rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic. This view from the balance sheet complements more typical approaches based on GDP, capital investment levels, and other measures of economic flows […]
11/11/2021
Gross domestic product (GDP) measures the value of goods and services that an economy produces in a given year, but in a global context, it is typically shown using country-level data. As a result, we don’t often get to see the nuances of the global economy, such as how much specific regions and metro areas […]
09/11/2021
To help prevent the worst effects of climate change, a growing number of companies are pledging to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. In fact, the percentage of companies declaring a net-zero target nearly doubled from 2019 to 2020. With urgency building, how can companies and investors approach net-zero emissions? The above infographic from MSCI highlights […]
21/10/2021
From consumers to policy makers, many economic actors are backing sustainability—and creating a powerful portfolio opportunity for investors. The use of environmental, social, and governance factors (altogether known as ESG) is increasingly informing investment decisions. But although ESG investing has grown in prominence in a few short years, there’s a disconnect: To properly capitalize on […]
14/10/2021
FOR THOSE worried about the health of European democracy, the departures were all the more welcome for being so unexpected. After a decade in which populist governments have undermined the rule of law and moulded the state to their advantage across central and eastern Europe, two leaders accused of manipulating the political system lost power […]
12/10/2021
The World’s Top 100 Most Valuable Brands in 2021 In 2020, the global economy experienced one of the worst declines since the Great Depression. Yet, while the ripple effects of COVID-19 have thrown many businesses into disarray, some companies have not only managed to stay afloat amidst the chaos—they’ve thrived. Using data from Kantar BrandZ, […]
07/10/2021
Bringing the World Into Focus: A Guide to MSCI Indexes Economic development around the world has led investors to consider broadening their investment exposures. But with nearly 30,000 equity securities available globally, the universe is far too large for an investor to filter by themselves. In this sponsored infographic from MSCI, we explain their index […]
05/10/2021
The employment landscape is constantly shifting. While agricultural jobs played a big role in the 19th century, a large portion of U.S. jobs today are in administration, sales, or transportation. So how can job seekers identify the fastest growing jobs of the future? The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects there will be 11.9 […]
29/09/2021
As China’s consumer base grows larger and more enticing to international brands, many global companies have begun investing heavily in localizing their products to meet the needs of the Chinese market. KFCs in China sell soy milk, fried dough sticks, and congee; Volkswagen launched a whole series of new models designed specifically for China; Starbucks […]
28/09/2021
The pandemic resulted in global wealth taking a significant dip in the first part of 2020. By the end of March, global household wealth had already declined by around 4.4%. Interestingly, after much monetary and fiscal stimulus from governments around the world, global household wealth was more than able to recover, finishing up the year […]
05/08/2021
Ranked: the Top 50 Most Innovative Companies in 2021 This year has been rife with pandemic-induced changes that have shifted corporate priorities—and yet, innovation has remained a top concern among corporations worldwide. Using data from the annual ranking done by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) using a poll of 1,600 global innovation professionals, this graphic ranks […]
03/08/2021
Once in a generation (if that), we have the opportunity to reimagine how we work. In the 1800s, the Industrial Revolution moved many in Europe and the United States from fields to factories. In the 1940s, World War II brought women into the workforce (if not the C-suite) at unprecedented rates. In the 1990s, the […]
30/07/2021
This year has been rife with pandemic-induced changes that have shifted corporate priorities—and yet, innovation has remained a top concern among corporations worldwide. Using data from the annual ranking done by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) using a poll of 1,600 global innovation professionals, this graphic ranks the top 50 most innovative companies in 2021. We’ll […]
08/07/2021
Asia is already the world’s consumption growth engine and is likely to reinforce that position over the next decade. Disregarding Asia’s consumer markets would mean missing half the global consumption story. Asia’s consumer markets are not only a story of scale, but also one of diversity and shifting preferences and behavior caused by powerful demographic, […]
09/06/2021
The internet is intangible, and because you can’t see it, it can be hard to comprehend its sheer vastness. As well, it’s difficult to gauge the relative size of different web properties. However, this map of the internet by Halcyon Maps offers a unique solution to these problems. Inspired by the look and design of […]
08/06/2021
Prolonged lockdowns because of COVID-19 outbreaks have acted as an accelerant for a number of trends, such as the dramatic shift to e-commerce and evolving consumer behaviors and preferences. Another big visible trend is the increased scrutiny from multiple stakeholders on sustainability issues that affect product strategy, sourcing and supply chain, and access to capital. […]
01/06/2021
From widening wealth disparity to the environmental ramifications of economic development—the growing focus on global sustainability is a clear sign of the times. Research reveals that when a sustainable ethos is applied to policy and business, it typically bodes well for economies and people alike. By providing benchmarks for those decisions, indexes like Yale’s […]
27/05/2021
With the migration to remote work over the last year, cyberattacks have increased exponentially. We saw more attacks of every kind, but the headline for 2020 was ransom attacks, which were up 150% over the previous year. The amount paid by victims of these attacks increased more than 300% in 2020. Already 2021 has seen […]
20/05/2021
Mapped: The Top 10 Billionaire Cities in 2020 In 2020, the world gained 493 new billionaires—that’s one every 17 hours. For the last seven years, New York City has been home to more billionaires than any other city in the world. However, last year marked a monumental shift in the status quo. Beijing has […]
14/05/2021
Fact Check: The Truth Behind 5 ESG Myths In 2021, investors continue to embrace environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investments at record levels. In the first quarter of 2021, global ESG fund inflows outpaced the last four consecutive quarters, reaching $2 trillion. But while ESG gains rapid momentum, the CFA Institute shows that 33% of […]
14/05/2021
Fact Check: The Truth Behind 5 ESG Myths In 2021, investors continue to embrace environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investments at record levels. In the first quarter of 2021, global ESG fund inflows outpaced the last four consecutive quarters, reaching $2 trillion. But while ESG gains rapid momentum, the CFA Institute shows that 33% of […]
28/04/2021
Mapped: The 25 Poorest Countries in the World Having looked at the richest countries in the world, which nations are at the bottom of the list in terms of GDP per capita, in nominal terms? This map looks at the world’s 25 poorest countries by this metric. Country GDP per capita (USD) 🇧🇮 Burundi $263.67 […]
27/04/2021
The Briefing The richest country in the world is Luxembourg with a GDP per capita of over $109,000 The world’s 25 richest countries are located across North America, Europe, Asia, and Oceania Mapped: The 25 Richest Countries in the World Which are the richest countries in the world, by nominal GDP per capita? This […]
23/04/2021
The Briefing The FAATMAN stocks have a collective market cap of $8.3 trillion On average, these Big Tech companies generate a whopping $416,768 of revenue each minute Big Tech Just Keeps Getting Bigger It’s becoming increasingly difficult to wrap your head around just how massive some big tech stocks are getting, especially since they […]
22/04/2021
Which Asian Economies Have the Most Sustainable Trade Policies? To say that Asia has benefited from international trade is an understatement. By opening its economies to the rest of the world, the region has become a leading exporter in many of today’s most important industries. Trade has also improved Asia’s quality of life, lifting over […]
20/04/2021
The Briefing Private equity (PE) deal valuations by EV/EBITDA are increasingly rich and are hitting higher double-digit figures 2021 is expected to be another home run year for PE, with 20% of buyouts estimated to be priced above 20x EV/EBITDA The Ballooning Valuations In Private Equity Deals Private equity is getting increasingly expensive. As a […]
16/04/2021
The Briefing The top 10 hedge fund managers take home an average of $1.3 billion a year in earnings The hedge fund industry manages over $3 trillion in assets Hedge funds often have a two-and-twenty fee structure, charging 2% on all assets under management (AUM), and 20% on profits The Top 10 Hedge Fund Managers […]
14/04/2021
The Briefing Due to global warming, 28 trillion tonnes of ice have melted in just over two decades Over half (58%) of this global ice loss occurred in the Northern Hemisphere Visualizing Earth’s Global Ice Loss Between 1994-2017 Nearly 70% of the Earth’s freshwater is locked up in glaciers and ice caps, ground ice, and […]
12/03/2021
Visualizing Countries by Share of Earth’s Surface There are over 510 million square kilometers of area on the surface of Earth, but less than 30% of this is covered by land. The rest is water, in the form of vast oceans. Today’s visualization uses data primarily from the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) to rank […]
10/03/2021
Can you remember a year more life-changing than 2020? Over a million lives were lost in the pandemic, oil prices turned negative, and protests swept the streets. At the same time, 10 years of technology advancements seemed to happen in mere months—and now vaccinations are rolling out at a record speed. Below, we round up […]
25/02/2021
Visualizing the Most Populous Countries in the World India’s population is projected to surpass China’s as soon as 2022. While this is consequential on a global economic level, it also leaves other population trends overlooked. For instance, Nigeria is projected to have more people than the U.S., the world’s third-largest country by […]
23/02/2021
The Most Innovative Countries, Ranked by Income Group Innovation can be instrumental to the success of economies, at macro and micro scales. While investment provides powerful fuel for innovation—the relationship isn’t always straightforward. The 2020 ranking from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) reveals just that. The above map breaks down the most innovative countries […]
18/02/2021
Strong brands create an emotional link with consumers, and tech brands are no exception. In fact, Google, Amazon, Netflix, and even eBay rank as some of the most searched consumer brands worldwide. It’s hard to imagine life without these household names, but how do brand preferences shift and change across internet searches worldwide? This […]
18/02/2021
Retail is undergoing an unprecedented transition. The internet has led to new sales channels and new opportunities to reach out to customers, and globalization has opened markets and introduced new competitors. Then COVID-19 happened, rocking the industry to its core, as stores around the world closed and consumers had no choice but to order online. […]
16/02/2021
CEOs and corporate leaders are awash with uncertainty due to the persistent transmission of COVID-19, shifting regional dynamics, fluctuating customer demand, and transformational technology disruptions. For industrial companies—those within advanced electronics, aerospace and defense, and automotive and assembly—the decisions made today about their strategy, products and services portfolio, and sustainable performance transformations could have […]
09/02/2021
In August 2019, the U.S. Business Roundtable, the leading gathering for Fortune 500 CEOs, stated that “each of our stakeholders is essential. We commit to deliver value to all of them, for the future success of our companies, our communities and our country.” This re-orientation acknowledges widespread concerns that companies who focus only on their […]
19/01/2021
Women are more risk averse than men on average — at least that’s what research and received wisdom seem to suggest. Women take fewer risks when picking stocks, investing in venture capital, and making acquisitions, for example. There are various explanations for these differences in appetite for risk. The most common one holds that in […]
14/01/2021
Businesses have spent much of the past nine months scrambling to adapt to extraordinary circumstances. While the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic is not yet won, with a vaccine in sight, there is at least a faint light at the end of the tunnel—along with the hope that another train isn’t heading our way. 2021 […]
12/01/2021
The year 2020 was incredibly rough, but with one big bright spot at the end. A once-in-a-century global pandemic — an unfathomable tragedy — devastated lives and economies. But in a miraculous display of scientific prowess, Pfizer, Moderna, and other pharmaceutical companies produced what appeared to be highly effective Covid-19 vaccines by December. After a year of […]
11/01/2021
The sight of Hangzhou’s railway station packed to the rafters during China’s Golden Week holidays in early October was a powerful symbol of the country’s swift recovery from Covid-19. With mobility restrictions long lifted, more than 600 million Chinese crisscrossed the country to visit family and friends — providing an important boost to domestic consumption […]
10/12/2020
Still, many questions remain and in all my years of scenario planning, I’ve never seen uncertainty like that which has arisen from the COVID-19 pandemic. Leaders are in need of guidance as to how to plan for the months ahead. Salesforce has been tracking the many uncertainties surrounding COVID-19 since March and developed a range […]
08/12/2020
“Our findings should motivate policies that increase the availability and reduce the cost of nutritious foods, as this will help children grow taller without gaining excessive weight for their height,” said Dr Andrea Rodriguez Martinez, the study’s lead author. “Household poverty and food insecurity rates have increased. Essential nutrition services and supply chains have been […]
04/12/2020
Around the world, half a billion people, including close to 85 million in the United States, avoid allergens when shopping for food and beverages. The number of American children who experience food allergies has been growing about four times faster than the population has for at least 20 years. They aren’t alone: evidence suggests that […]
01/12/2020
llustration by Rocio Egio Back in May, Unilever’s CEO predicted that consumers would eat healthier during the Covid-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, the CEO of McDonald’s remains confident they’ll return to Big Macs and other familiar favorites. Certainly, both can’t be right. Or can they? Organic and healthy food sales are in fact surging — but so […]
25/11/2020
None of this could have been done without economic growth. And that is what free-market-oriented economies, in their many different varieties, have delivered better than the alternatives. Think of West Germany versus East Germany; South Korea versus North Korea; or Costa Rica versus Cuba. And yet, there is palpable anger and distrust with the idea […]
22/10/2020
“One of the things we’ve discovered in our work with the World Economic Forum is the importance of remote learning. Delivering skills at a distance is absolutely essential in a time when so much is changing,” he said in an interview with the Forum. “And frankly, coming together to learn new things is more difficult.” […]
14/10/2020
Stewart Cohen/Getty Images Over the past decades, rapid digital transformation has enabled organizations to completely reimagine the way they work and manage talent. From reliable video conferencing platforms, to digital collaboration software, to ubiquitous cloud-based connectivity, and a data-centric approach to strategic decision-making powered by the synergy between artificial and human intelligence, an imaginary worker […]
09/10/2020
Cactus Creative Studio/Stocksy New technologies have been disrupting business for decades, especially since the internet became widespread in the late 1990s. But a new wave of innovation, centered on artificial intelligence, big data analytics, and the internet of things, is now intensifying the pace and magnitude of disruption. AI-powered advances by themselves, according to a […]
14/09/2020
RICARDO ARDUENGO/Getty Images The world’s retailers face a host of challenges. Even before the pandemic, many brick-and-mortar retailers were struggling. Now, as we emerge from the liminal space of nationwide lockdowns into new psychological and social territory, shoppers will be anxious about whether visiting stores will increase their exposure to the virus. Adding to the […]
11/09/2020
Roiled by the COVID-19 pandemic, many consumer organizations are wondering how they can survive and thrive in a time of unprecedented uncertainty. Even after the pandemic subsides, we face an unpredictable future that demands more flexibility than ever before. But while the COVID-19 crisis is unique to modern history, a look at prior global disruptions […]
02/09/2020
In much of the Northern Hemisphere, it’s back-to-school season. But this year’s preparations are fraught with added anxiety as educators, public-health officials, and parents try to balance the need to reduce the spread of the coronavirus with the desire to get students into more productive learning environments. The first priority of every school system must […]
27/08/2020
Colin Hawkins/Getty Images Typically, consumers’ supermarket shopping habits are stable and slow to change. When people do dramatically change their behavior around buying food and beverages, it’s usually driven by a major life event such as having a baby, moving to a new town, or changing jobs. The Covid-19 crisis is, of course, changing everyone’s life […]
26/08/2020
Technological progress is enabling machines to complete many of the tasks that once required human beings. That new automation revolution will have a major effect on employment in the coming years. Nearly every job will change, many quite profoundly, and the overwhelming majority of today’s employees will need to develop new skills. Preparing for the […]
04/07/2020
Climate change poses an urgent threat demanding decisive action. Communities around the world are already experiencing increased climate impacts, from droughts to floods to rising seas. The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report continues to rank these environmental threats at the top of the list. To limit global temperature rise to well below 2°C and […]
30/06/2020
Dealing with the coronavirus crisis and its aftermath could be the imperative of our times. Indeed, we have argued that it augurs the “imminent restructuring of the global economic order.” As Ian Davis, one of our previous managing partners, wrote in 2009 in the midst of the global financial crisis: “For some organizations, near-term survival is […]
29/06/2020
Lyubov Ivanova/Getty Images Companies must confront racism at a systemic level — addressing everything from the structural and social mechanics of their own organizations to the role they play in the economy at large. We know that diversity programs have historically failed, but there are proven ways to improve hiring programs, interrupt bias at the […]
26/06/2020
Didier Marti/Getty Images More than 9,000 foreign firms operate in Hong Kong, among them 1,300 from the United States. So when the Chinese legislature recently passed a new security law intended to prevent “secession, subversion, terrorism and foreign interference” in Hong Kong, many CEOs and top executives began wondering about the business implications. The U.S. State Department added to […]
24/06/2020
Illustration by Aaron Marin In the midst of a pandemic, I don’t think we ever expected to see one of the most energized social justice movements in the past few decades. Emboldened by the movement, many are engaging in more frank discussions about the role race plays when it comes to funding opportunities for early-stage […]
23/06/2020
In a matter of months, the COVID-19 pandemic has transformed the world almost beyond recognition. And yet the international cooperation that is so essential to confront a shared threat has been nowhere to be found. This should not be a surprise: our failure to respond effectively to the COVID-19 crisis reflects deeply entrenched – and […]
19/06/2020
Governments’ economic responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have included an array of measures to help people and businesses weather the storm. Small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) are in an especially difficult position. Plunging demand has forced them to lay off workers, and many don’t have the financial resources to survive in this climate. In many […]
04/06/2020
When a team of top executives from a North American bank entered a converted warehouse run by a European telecom giant, they couldn’t believe what they were seeing. Engineers were live-coding in small teams with designers and businesspeople and reviewing the results right away with customers. They were making adjustments to feedback on the fly. […]
02/06/2020
At organizations pursuing digital transformations, more than seven in ten survey respondents say the progress of these efforts has slowed or stalled at some point. In their latest McKinsey Global Survey on the topic, 1 1. The online survey was in the field from May 16 to May 31, 2019, and garnered responses from 1,256 C-level […]
30/05/2020
IF A VENGEFUL deity were to design a weapon to wield against the global supply chains that characterise modern business, it might well hit on a virus which hit production facilities all around the world. In the face of covid-19, though, the sinews of business have, for the most part, held up remarkably well. Air […]
29/05/2020
Amid the humanitarian crisis that has upended lives and cast a veil of uncertainty over the future, one thing is clear: we are living in a much more digital world. As governments around the world institute nationwide lockdowns, the demand for digital services and products, from both customers and employees stuck at home, has hit […]
27/05/2020
There’s a popular meme going around that neatly captures the tipping point of digital. It’s a short questionnaire asking who is driving your digital transformation. The first two options are “CEO” and “chief digital officer.” Below that, highlighted with a bright red circle, is “COVID-19.” The coronavirus pandemic is a humanitarian crisis that continues to […]
07/05/2020
As the coronavirus pandemic spreads across the globe, threatening both lives and livelihoods, consumer-packaged-goods (CPG) manufacturers continue to play an important role: producing essential items we all rely on for our health and well-being. CPG leaders have focused on meeting this demand while guarding the safety of employees and customers. At the same time, forward-thinking […]
06/05/2020
Martin Barraud/Getty Images The outbreak of Covid-19 has forced organizations into perhaps the most significant social experiment of the future of work in action, with work from home and social distancing policies radically changing the way we work and interact. But the impact on work is far more profound than just changing where people work; […]