One of the interesting sub-plots of the Big Law vs New Law debate is the way in which workers (partners and their equivalents, salaried partners, employees) are motivated.
Guest post: The hollow middle since 2008
I call it the hollow middle, but Knowledge@Wharton prefers ‘disappearing middle.’ Here’s what, writing in their pages, the CEO of the Cambridge Group, identified as ‘a growth strategy consulting firm that is part of Nielsen,’ has to say about it. Continue reading “Guest post: The hollow middle since 2008”
Guest post: Good news for the SFO in Innospec – jury convicts former CEO and sales director
Dennis Kerrison and Miltiades Papachristos were found guilty [on Wednesday 18 June] at Southwark Crown Court of conspiracy to commit corruption. In a nutshell, that they gave or agreed to give corrupt payments to public officials and other agents of the Government of Indonesia as inducements to secure, or as rewards for having secured, contracts from the Government of Indonesia for the supply of fuel manufactured by Innospec. Continue reading “Guest post: Good news for the SFO in Innospec – jury convicts former CEO and sales director”
Guest post: Is sustainability improving corporate and professional ethics?
The ethical dimensions of in-house practice are a significant source of academic and practical interest, as the recent investigation of GM suggests. I have the pleasure of doing two projects where I engage with in-house lawyers on ethical questions: one on the ethics of legal practice and the other on legal risk. So it was with great interest that I read Bond Dickinson report Beyond Responsibility: The emerging role of legal counsel in sustainable business. Continue reading “Guest post: Is sustainability improving corporate and professional ethics?”
Guest Post: Our battle for market share (why growth is not dead)
It has become bromidic to observe that we’ve moved from a linear growth market, ever up and to the right, to one of flat demand (did someone say, “growth is dead?”). We are, in short, in a battle for market share.
Welcome to the rest of the economy. Continue reading “Guest Post: Our battle for market share (why growth is not dead)”
Guest post: Pfizer’s placebo promises (why AstraZeneca may have been right to reject the ‘final’ takeover bid from Pfizer)
In front of the Commons Business committee last week, Ian Read, chairman and chief executive of Pfizer, made two points in relation to Pfizer’s commitments, assuming it were to succeed in acquiring the Anglo-Swedish drug manufacturer AstraZeneca. Continue reading “Guest post: Pfizer’s placebo promises (why AstraZeneca may have been right to reject the ‘final’ takeover bid from Pfizer)”
Guest post: Pfizer’s bid for AstraZeneca – what can the government do?
On April 28, Pfizer announced a possible offer to buy AstraZeneca, presumably having thought an announcement was required by rule 2.2 of the Takeover Code. The result is that, under the relatively new ‘put up or shut up’ rule now embodied in rule 2.5 of the Code, Pfizer has until 5 o’clock on May 26 – the 28th day after its announcement – in which to make a firm offer.
Continue reading “Guest post: Pfizer’s bid for AstraZeneca – what can the government do?”
Guest post: Paralysed by uncertainty? Snap out of it
‘Never before has our future seemed so shrouded in fog and noise,’ I’ve written, and discussed its paralytic effects on our decision-making. Comes now academic vindication of just how strong the effect is. Continue reading “Guest post: Paralysed by uncertainty? Snap out of it”
Guest post: three leading indicators of success
This is a sequel, in a yin-yang fashion, to an earlier guest post, ‘Three leading indicators of failure‘. What might the equivalent indicators be for success, or outperformance?
Continue reading “Guest post: three leading indicators of success”
Guest post: Boring, boring Irwin Mitchell – there’s more to life than floating
It’s not often that I feel sorry for law firm PR people, but I sense that Irwin Mitchell is getting a little fed up with being asked when the firm is going to float. Continue reading “Guest post: Boring, boring Irwin Mitchell – there’s more to life than floating”