Over the past decade the number of zombie companies – generally recognized as enterprises unable to pay interest on debts and being over 10 years old – has soared. Now they represent a serious problem to the global economy. A problem seemingly devoid of easy solutions, closing zombies and allowing more profitable and vibrant firms to fill the resultant gap demands widespread reform.

Traditionally associated with Chinese state-backed firms flushed with cheap credit and guaranteed contracts, the problem extends around the world and would be a serious danger in the event of another re...

Saudi Arabia has attempted to wean the economy of being heavily reliant on oil for a while. Previous iterations of economic reform have come and gone, yet there has been little progress to report.

Now, however, the Vision 2030 strategy (originally announced in 2016) is being enacted in what is an extremely ambitious attempt at not only creating a sizable non-oil based economy but shifting the country from being mainly public sector to private sector. Vast sums of money are being invested and big social changes are taking place. However, major problems must be overcome for success t...

Accounting has been marred by a wave of failures, and in the wake of this the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has conducted a review of the market. A range of proposals have been put forward to combat challenges within the industry, in which the four largest auditors dominate and multiple barriers to entry prevent challenger firms from gaining a foothold. Concurrently, accounting as a discipline looks less and less effective at accurately reflecting modern businesses, and the field looks ready for reform.

Key Highlights

- Provides an outline of a number of recent f...

The cannabis market has great potential for generating more profits for investors and companies in the future. The industry has grown massively following the legalization of recreational cannabis use in Canada, making the country the trading center for legal marijuana in the world. At the moment, there are not many companies involved with marijuana exclusively making the competition fierce, leading the industry to grow even bigger.

The three leading companies, Canopy, Aurora and Tilray, which are involved with marijuana exclusively, will lead the market to new levels; however, comp...

For many years legal services was a market in which meaningful change was largely absent. Now that is changing. Advances in technology are driving reform in areas such as virtual law, smart contracts and artificial intelligence.

Big legal firms are most adaptable, having the most resources, but competition to utilize cutting-edge technology is intense. Even for the casual user of legal services, the future is going to look very different to the traditional model. However, other trends are less attractive. Fake lawyers remain a big problem and frequently target migrants and other vu...

By 2019, the Pharmacy Benefit Management market is forecast to grow to $283bn. Acting as the ‘middle men’ of America’s healthcare system, PBMs process and coordinate the delivery of prescription drugs, and act as intermediaries between payers and other value chain constituents. It is one of the least regulated sectors of the health care system, lacking transparency, choice, and ripe with conflicts of interest.

It is known that PBMs actively engage in conduct that harms the American consumer. Yet, there is increasing pressure on the industry both from healthcare buyers and politicia...

HTC, a Taiwanese tech firm, was once a smartphone market leader after experiencing rapid growth internationally - yet its time at the top proved fleeting. The company experienced a precipitous decline in sales and quickly vanished from the imagination of many smartphone consumers. Now management are pinning hopes on a turnaround plan, though correcting fundamental problems of the business will not be easy.

HTC declined at speed thanks to poor marketing, a confusing product range, foreign competition, bad business decisions and other related factors. For a brief period, the smartpho...

The trade war between the United States and China began as an attempt by US President Donald Trump to correct what he saw as an unbalanced trading relationship with the second largest economy in the world. However, retaliatory tariffs from China were meted out. Both countries to varying extents, and in different parts of their respective economies, are under pressure due to trade barriers.

Some economic benefits and problems can be attributed to tariffs. For the most part, however, the trade war has exacerbated existing trends. Beyond inflicting some hurt on another economy, the fu...

Very large organizations are usually shaped by the style of leadership imposed by the CEO. Structures and cultures vary according to the person at the very top of a company. Some CEOs thrive when working in one area of the economy but then fail in others, unable to adapt. Others, typically those leading a group of companies, have found success by concentrating on company culture, granting power to those lower in the hierarchy to take meaningful decisions.

Meanwhile, other CEOs run their businesses according to harsh financial reality - Mike Ashley being a well-known example - due t...

In the increasingly competitive world of retail, department stores are struggling. This case study takes a close look at the major trends which have transformed the landscape in which department stores operate, how this has ultimately led to their downfall and whether they will be able to bounce back in the future.

Over the past couple of decades China has become a leading story in the economic development of Africa. Through loans, grants and direct investment, Beijing has established a huge presence in countries which traditionally fall outside of major western interests. Yet for all the touted economic gains, problems have emerged; debt levels in some African states are alarmingly high.

However, some countries have done well out of China, playing a clever game of international diplomacy. China has benefited from a relative lack of attention given to Africa by western powers, but that is beg...

Heralded as the future of personalized transport, autonomous cars have caused much excitement among car companies, industry journalists and some segments of the public and government. Unquestionably major advances have been made but the future in which drivers are redundant remains some distance away.

Despite the expected wait, a lot is changing. China is maneuvering to become the leading global player, catching up to rivals in the US. New infrastructure is being discussed and the regulatory environment is undergoing significant reform. Yet doubts remain as to how soon any promises...

Power generation is experiencing a series of trends which will shape the market for decades to come. Coal is seemingly on a terminal decline, to be replaced by natural gas, and renewable energy is making substantial strides to become more commercially relevant.

Advances ensure new power sources are moving closer to becoming part of the mainstream, with problems such as using renewable energy on demand now being solved. Leading companies in power generation must stay ahead of the development curve in these areas – failure to do so will mean allowing rivals to gain crucial competitiv...

When taking into account that internal combustion engines vehicles sales will be banned in the UK by 2040, the question of what will the multimillion-dollar industry of fuel retail do, springs to mind. This case study examines the how the concept of service stations is changing to take advantage of new opportunities and build a business model that will survive the decrease in fuel retail.

Retail will experience significant change over the coming years. Some brands holding a large number of physical stores have struggled against the rise of pure online enterprises. Success for some has been found through creating highly adaptable business models.

A key area for major retailers is next-day delivery services, and these are likely to reform in response to rising discontent concerning employment regulations. Elsewhere technological advances are predicted to not only change how consumers shop but how the underlying business structure functions too. Retail companies are en...