Unicorns are start-up companies, typically in the tech and finance space that have reached the advantageous position of over a $1bn market capitalization and remain in privately owned hands. These are effectively the cream of the crop of start-up opportunities and many have been serious disruptors in their traditional industries, rising rapidly to become very large businesses in what is often a short period of time.

Unicorns get a great deal of publicity not least because of their size, but also many are often preparing for stock market listing and trying to display the superiority...

Despite a slowdown in economic growth in multiple markets, the global luxury goods market has remained in healthy growth in recent years. Chinese buyers are now one of the most important groups in the global luxury market, in fact the Asia Pacific region as a whole is the fastest growing market globally and will play an increasingly important role in the coming years. A number of brands have reported positive results in 2017-2018 and as a result of this there has been a period of significant merger and acquisition activity, with a number of high value deals taking place.

As a new g...

Rare earth elements (REE) are now essential to produce a plethora of high-tech goods, from jet engine turbine blades to smartphones and sophisticated batteries contained in electric cars. Demand is soaring, and the need for companies and countries around the world to gain a suitable supply is shining a light on developments in the REE mining industry. China continues to dominate consumption and production of rare earth elements, but signs production is expanding outside of the leading Asian economy are growing in number. Yet this has helped to create a tense geopolitical global environme...

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...

According to the UN, a megacity is a city which has exceeded 10m in population and the number of megacities is accelerating dramatically. In today’s world, megacities and their surrounding economic areas are so pivotal to the global economy that they are being seen more like the city states of old. Some megacities today have economic outputs far in advance of entire countries and their global influence as a result makes them more important in many respects. Increasingly these cities are run in an autonomous fashion with their own governing bodies and budgets and as a result some are expe...

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...