Case studies Archive

As the last glimpses of summer weather start to fade away, and the sounds of barbecues, sprinklers and soccer chants disappear to be replaced by the crunch of fallen leaves, a familiar feeling is creeping back into our lives. It’s not the Great Hallowe’en Countdown, nor is it the ever-earlier onslaught of pumpkin-spiced lattes. No, it is that dreaded back-to-school sensation felt by children and parents (and now workers) alike. As academic institutions pr...

‘It is still the largest cash transaction ever,’ says Karl Mahler, the multi-award-winning head of investor relations at Basel-headquartered pharma giant Roche, of the company’s acquisition of Genentech, which in 2009 was a part-owned subsidiary of Roche. ‘We had to get more than $40 bn out of the system and we had to do it in the middle of the Lehman crisis. Now that really was a bear market.’ Mahler describes the experience as ‘the most horr...

Supply chain disruption has caused a notable rise in costs and further negative impacts are expected during the rest of the year, according to a survey of mainly US-based CFOs by Deloitte. In the quarterly poll of finance chiefs, 44 percent say supply chain issues have increased costs by 5 percent or more this year, while 32 percent expect a reduction in sales for the remainder of 2021. But the shortages and delays caused by the Covid-19 pandemic have not aff...

One of the challenges of stakeholder capitalism – where companies work in the interests of all stakeholders, not just shareholders – is how to balance the needs of different groups. For example, decisions that are good for investors, such as cost-cutting or automation of factory processes, may be painful for the workforce. But investment in stakeholder value should not be viewed as detrimental to shareholder value, argue the authors of a ...