One of the ironies of the recent oil spill debacle in the Gulf of Mexico is that the oil and gas industry is most often credited with devising and putting to use so-called scenario planning. This management tool is meant to anticipate major changes in the environment – from disaster to depression, to blown pipes in deepwater rigs – and to enable organizations to create plans for immediate strategic response. // Read More

Over the past couple of years many millions of words have been written by a whole host of different commentators on the whys and wherefores of the global economic crisis. Some of those commentators are highly respected, some are less so, some are old and experienced and some less so. With the benefit of 20-20 hindsight, however, much of this analysis isn't particularly revelationary - by and large it points to the same basic contributory factors: Global trade imbalances, excessively loose monetary policy, poorly regulated financial institutions, undercapitalised banks, and misaligned incentives for those running our financial institutions. All undoubtedly played their part. // Read More

On Wednesday morning last week the £1 sterling in my pocket could buy a full $1.47 worth of George Washington's on the foreign exchange markets. On Wednesday afternoon the UK's Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, stood up in the House of Commons to present his emergency budget, which outlined a virtually unprecedented set of cuts in public sector spending and tax rises which will affect "every man, woman and child" in the whole of the UK. // Read More