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For the past couple of years, the headlines have been full of economic tales of woe and hardship. 2020 was dominated by existential crises as we wondered if life and business would ever get back to normal. The post-pandemic, Brexit reality of 2021 is one of the shortages in everything from CO2 to people, while inflation, debt and potential interest rate rises have heightened fears of another painful economic bust.
The UK economy has seemed to be teetering on the edge of economic catastrophe for the past two years. Industries have shut down, routes to overseas markets have become a labyrinth of complexity and costs have ballooned.
2021 saw more than US$5 trillion worth of M&A deals as more than 62,000 companies around the world changed ownership. For context, that is the equivalent of the entire German economy. No wonder banking and consultancy bonuses have led to a shortage of champagne.
Buying another company has increasingly replaced R&D to become the preferred growth and innovation strategy across many sectors of the global economy. As markets continue to grapple with the aftermath of the pandemic and a treacherous geopolitical landscape, the lack of stability needed to grow organically have seen the number of deals reaching record levels.
With news that more than a fifth of UK employers plan to make redundancies over the next quarter, the UK’s leading recruitment agencies are in for a torrid couple of months. Irrespective of whether or whenever the economy emerges from lockdown, hiring is unlikely to feature in many companies’ plans for the foreseeable future.
Coca-Cola are leading the way in showing how major multinationals are having to rethink their bounce back strategy. Killing 200 “Zombie Brands” is a bold but necessary step for the US drinks giant.
One thing that news channels, politicians and the general public have been unanimous on over the past three years has been that the pandemic has been bad for business.
Motorsport is racing back into the public consciousness as Formula 1 revs up its engines for the start of the 2023 season. After the excitement and drama of the 2021 season, 2022 was fairly processionary. However, with the launch of new cars, new teams and other changes on the grid, excitement is starting to build for another epic battle this year.
UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak has told younger members of the UK workforce to get back to the office and that continued working from home will harm their careers. But as the country emerges from the pandemic, how work is carried out in Britain has changed, and both government and employers need to embrace the latest revolution.
The government seems keen to assign a scapegoat for the current supply crisis sweeping Britain. Food shortages are increasing by the week and looming fuel shortages exploded from a potential problem into a full-blown national crisis.