By Nick Lambe – Managing Director, Links International
Good news…. I’m not going to mention either the US elections, banking woes or the significant fluctuation in Sterling exchange rate this week!
Here are some articles about global business news that I have enjoyed reading over the past week:
Baring Private Equity Asia expands Cath Kidston in Asia…
Baring Private Equity has increased its stake in Cath Kidston to 80% through the acquisition of a further 40% from TA Associates and highlights the potential for the floral brand in Asia, along with its new collaboration with Disney. Furthermore, William Flanz, the former Gucci boss, has been appointed chairman, further highlighting their expansion plans in the region.
Definitely something cheesy here…
President of US firm Castle Cheese, Michelle Myrter, could face a sentence of community services in a soup kitchen for her part in passing off large quantities of fake cheese as 100% Parmesan. Apparently fake cheese is a big issue in the US and some firms are introducing a “True Cheese” trust mark and randomly testing products in stores. I don’t know about you, but if I was buying cheese from Castle Cheese, who are based in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania, something just wouldn’t smell right!
Tech firms’ diversity threatens the future of London tech industry…
With the likes of Sheryl Sandberg (Facebook CEO), Meg Whitman (CEO at HP) and Marissa Mayer (CEO at Yahoo) championing diversity in the global tech space, it appears that London tech firms are still struggling with the diversity concept, with almost half of the 40,000 tech firms in London not believing that a diverse workforce improves company growth and 1,000 of these having all male staff. With the global growth of this sector coming from India and China, if the firms in the UK do not have a diverse and digitally-enabled workforce, will these firms be able to compete and collaborate on the international stage?
Disclaimer: This column is designed to be a lighthearted weekly update on the global business news that I enjoyed reading. We would welcome your thoughts, comments and suggestions. Please do not hesitate to contact us.
More next week…
Read previous editions of The Week That Was:
issue 1
issue 2
issue 3
issue 4
issue 5
issue 6