BUSINESS

If There’s A Big Dockworkers Strike In The US Here’s What To Expect — Brown Bananas, Crowded Ports, Empty Shelves
BUSINESS, Journalism, TOP FOUR

If There’s A Big Dockworkers Strike In The US Here’s What To Expect — Brown Bananas, Crowded Ports, Empty Shelves

Brown bananas, crowded ports, empty shelves: What to expect if there’s a big dockworkers strike in the US. Whether you’re buying a can of sardines or a screwdriver, getting products to consumers requires that supply chains function well. The availability of labor is essential in each link of the supply chain. That includes the workers who make sure that your tinned fish and handy tools smoothly journey from their point of origin to where they’ll wind up, whether it’s a supermarket, hardware store or your front door. Amazingly, 90% of all internationally traded products are carried by ships at some point. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was hard not to notice the supply chain disruptions. For U.S. ports, there were many bouts of congestion. Demand for goods that were either ...
Diversity On Corporate Boards — What The Numbers Say
BUSINESS

Diversity On Corporate Boards — What The Numbers Say

What the numbers say about diversity on corporate boards. Through the decades, corporate boards have been mostly white and mostly male. That started changing in the early 1970s. Fueled by the historic gains of the Civil Rights Movement that broke down racial and gender barriers, a variety of social groups such as the National Black MBA Association and the National Organization for Women pressured corporations to build diversity programs into their management structures. Over the years, a dramatic change has occurred. My latest research on the corporate boards of the top 50 companies from 2011 to 2023 shows that the percentage of whites dropped to 73.6%, the percentage of men dropped to 65.3% and, rather remarkably, the percentage of white men dropped below 50%, to 49.5%. My research inc...
US Oil And Gas Production Surged, Under Both Trump And Biden-Harris, Despite Very Different Energy Goals
BUSINESS, TOP FOUR

US Oil And Gas Production Surged, Under Both Trump And Biden-Harris, Despite Very Different Energy Goals

Under both Trump and Biden-Harris, US oil and gas production surged to record highs, despite very different energy goals. The United States is producing more oil and natural gas today than ever before, and far more than any other country. So, what roles did the Trump-Pence and Biden-Harris administrations play in this surge? The answer might surprise you, given the way each has talked publicly about fossil fuels: former President Donald Trump embracing them, and President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris focusing on reducing fossil fuel use to fight climate change. Under each of the three most recent presidencies, Republican and Democratic alike, U.S. oil and gas production was higher at the end of the administration’s term than at the beginning. That production has both pr...
Regulating Cannabis — Here’s What Can Be Learned From Colorado And Washington
BUSINESS, TOP FOUR

Regulating Cannabis — Here’s What Can Be Learned From Colorado And Washington

26 states may soon need to regulate cannabis – here’s what they can learn from Colorado and Washington. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has made moves to reclassify marijuana, making it a type of legal but regulated medicine, like Tylenol with codeine or some steroids. With the reclassification, 26 states where cannabis is currently illegal will need to decide whether they want to take action to stop the sale of cannabis in their state or figure out how to regulate the newly legal drug. A few states such as North Carolina have laws on the books saying cannabis will automatically become legal once the federal change goes into effect. But the regulation of cannabis is nothing new in Colorado and Washington. These two states have more than a decade of experience writing and enf...
A Grocery List Could Be The Next Best Thing To Predicting Your Credit Score
BUSINESS

A Grocery List Could Be The Next Best Thing To Predicting Your Credit Score

No credit score? A grocery list could be the next best thing. How you shop and what you buy at the grocery store can predict whether you pay your credit card bills on time, our new research shows. As marketing professors, we wanted to learn about alternatives to traditional credit scores. So we teamed up with a multinational conglomerate that, among other things, runs a large supermarket chain and a credit card issuer. By analyzing consumer-level data from those two business units, we were able to see how 30,089 individuals shop and manage their finances. We found that people with more consistent grocery shopping habits are more likely to pay their credit card bills on time. These are people who tend to shop on the same day of the week, spend about the same amount each month, buy s...
Here’s Some Tips For Young Investors Getting Into The Market
BUSINESS

Here’s Some Tips For Young Investors Getting Into The Market

Young investors: Here’s some tips for getting into the market. You’ve likely heard of Minecraft. It’s a simple game where you slowly place blocks and craft items from containers to castles and entire cities. You’ve probably also heard of the first-person shooter Call of Duty (COD), where players navigate fast-paced war zones. Like gaming, investing is all about how you approach it. You can build slow but safe, like in Minecraft, or you can go fast and risk more, like in COD. If you’re a young person who has just gotten your first paycheck or saved a tidy sum from your first job, you might be thinking about how to invest your money. However, the stock market can be a daunting place. Fortunes are built and lost in days. You can take the fast approach and risk it all on getting the bi...
Why Is Competition So Important For Prices?
BUSINESS, Journalism, TOP FOUR

Why Is Competition So Important For Prices?

What is competition, and why is it so important for prices? This article is part of The Conversation’s “Business Basics” series where we ask experts to discuss key concepts in business, economics and finance. It’s hard to remember a time before the cost-of-living crisis dominated news headlines. Most of us would certainly like it to be over. But the fundamental question at its heart – which points to the problem we have to solve – seems simple. What determines the prices we pay? The cost of producing goods and services is certainly one big factor in determining how much we pay for them. So, too, is what we’re prepared to fork out. But when we talk about lowering prices, we often also talk about increasing competition – the number of firms vying to sell us a particular offering...
Court Held That Fearless Fund Venture Capital Firm – Must Suspend Its Strivers Grant Contest Limited To Black Women Who Are Majority Business Owners
BUSINESS

Court Held That Fearless Fund Venture Capital Firm – Must Suspend Its Strivers Grant Contest Limited To Black Women Who Are Majority Business Owners

Court blocks grants to Black women entrepreneurs in case that could restrict DEI efforts by companies and charities. In a 2-1 vote on June 3, 2024, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit held that the Fearless Foundation – the charitable arm of the Fearless Fund venture capital firm – must suspend its Strivers Grant Contest. The contest is limited to Black women who are majority owners of businesses. The Conversation asked Angela R. Logan, a scholar of nonprofit administration and diversity, equity and inclusion policies, to explain the significance of this case, American Alliance for Equal Rights v. Fearless Fund Management, and what’s at stake. What is the Fearless Fund? Ayana Parsons and Arian Simone, two experienced Black entrepreneurs, established the Fear...
In The Labor Case That Could Hinder The Government’s Ability To Intervene In Some Unionization Disputes The Supreme Court Sides With Starbucks
BUSINESS, TOP FOUR

In The Labor Case That Could Hinder The Government’s Ability To Intervene In Some Unionization Disputes The Supreme Court Sides With Starbucks

Supreme Court sides with Starbucks in labor case that could hinder government’s ability to intervene in some unionization disputes. The Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Starbucks in a case that could make it harder for a federal agency to enforce labor laws in disputes that can arise during organizing campaigns. On June 13, 2024, the court announced that eight of the nine justices had signed onto a decision, written by Justice Clarence Thomas, on the Starbucks Corp. v. McKinney case. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson concurred overall with the decision but dissented on some key points in a separate opinion. The Conversation U.S. asked Texas A&M law professor Michael Z. Green to explain the significance of the court’s decision and how it could affect the right to organize unions in...
Executives And Political Firestorms
BUSINESS

Executives And Political Firestorms

Risky business: Why executives keep finding themselves in political firestorms. Back in March 2022, Disney’s then-CEO Bob Chapek said that his company wouldn’t take a public stand on Florida’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill. Four days later, he yielded to rebukes from LGBTQ employees, reversed his decision and criticized the bill publicly. In the ensuing political firestorm, the state of Florida revoked Disney’s 55-year-old favored tax and regulatory status, sparking legal disputes that lasted well into 2024. Chapek, deeply weakened, was fired not long after the controversy broke, in November 2022. Disney may be a unique case, but it isn’t alone. Business leaders are increasingly at risk of political sparks igniting into firestorms that can devastate their companies. For example, in...