In this article, Jonas Törnblom discusses the unique way in which major urban development projects are governed in Sweden and calls for smarter approaches to planning and managing today’s cities using innovative waste policy functions, which replace traditional manual methods of collecting waste with sustainable fully automated waste collection systems that use an underground pipe network.
Collective Life Capital: The Lost Ground of the Economy
In this analysis, the author definitively explains collective life capital as the missing base of the economy under systemic attack by life-blind market globalisation, and exactly defines the life-value standards and compass to steer out of a cumulatively eco-genocidal disorder to real economic sustainability.
The CFO’s Changing Role: Growing Challenges Demand New Skills
Scott Davis of UPS, Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo, Joe Kaeser of Siemens AG, and Gregory Hayes of United Technologies: they’re just a few of the high-profile CFOs who became CEOs in recent years. And although most CFOs don’t get tapped to lead their organizations, these four are part of a growing trend that is seeing the role of the Chief Financial Officer move from numbers-only to becoming a key strategic partner.
Long Decisions: Exploring New Ways To Decide What To Do
By Michael Mainelli and Robert Ghanea-Hercock
Today, with a smart phone, any individual on the planet has access to the power of most recorded knowledge. Over the past two decades, connectivity has spawned social networks, chat rooms, usenets, blogs, wikis, bulletin boards and other ways of communicating. As we communicate more, and arm ourselves with more information, we face the difficult challenge of how to make decisions. If the First Enlightenment was about science – “How we know what we know”, then our Second Enlightenment might be about decisions.
Greek Parliament Passes Debt Agreement, but European Democracy is on its Knees
Almost as soon as the Greek deal was agreed, it began to come apart at the seams. Passage of the necessary legislation through the Greek parliament led to Syriza splitting in two as Alexis Tsipras, the Greek prime minister, drew on the votes of the right to force through a deal which is worse than anything that was on offer before the referendum on July 5.
Civilised Cities: A New Model of Sustainable Urbanisation with Chinese Characteristics
By Bao Zonghao
The title of the civilised city, which is awarded every three years since 2005, has been the highest comprehensive accolade for Chinese cities. Hundreds of cities and their residents in 31 municipalities, provinces and autonomous regions have strived for the title. A total of 85 cities were conferred with the title by 2015.
What the Iran Nuclear Deal Means – and What it Doesn’t
By Scott Lucas
Iran and the 5+1/E3+3 Powers (US, Britain, France, Germany, China, and Russia) have at last completed a comprehensive nuclear agreement after years of discussions and threats of conflict. The deal sets out requirements for keeping Iran’s nuclear programme from producing nuclear weapons, and establishes a timeline for lifting sanctions that have pushed the country to the brink.
Overfished Ocean Strategy: Powering Up Innovation for a Resource-Deprived World
For most of the history of modern business, we have enjoyed falling prices on nearly all raw materials, which has made us dangerously oblivious to the shaky foundations of our global market economy. But the tides are turning: the new era is upon us. It is time to look into the facts – and to prepare a strategy for dealing with them.
Recasting International Development in a Post-Recessionary World
By Stephen McCloskey and Gerard McCann
Globalisation has been a mixed blessing for international development. Below, Stephen McCloskey and Gerard McCann argue that greater resilience is required from development sectors to demand policy intervention, while generous resources are needed to push on from the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and finally eliminate the poverty gap between the global North and South.
Globalization And Systemic Risk
By Ian Goldin and Mike Mariathasan
For most of the world’s growing number of inhabitants, greater connectivity has been a blessing. The world is connected; individuals are connected, firms are connected, and governments depend on each other more than ever. Below, Ian Goldin and Mike Mariathasan conclude that insufficiently managed globalization might drive us toward a world of overly complex interdependencies, with the resulting cascading shocks encouraging more local rather than more globally connected politics.
EDITOR'S PICK OF THE WEEK
The Performance and Transformation Orchestrator: The CFO’s New Mandate in the Age of AI
By Terence Tse
CFOs are evolving into AI-driven transformation orchestrators, balancing finance, technology, and strategy while upskilling teams, managing risks, and driving measurable business value.
A key insight from this year’s AI for CFOs event, organized...
