From Oslo I attended an economic briefing from the Chief Economist of a major European bank yesterday. It was fascinating to hear the financial crisis and recession described from the perspective of the OECD, where the recession has been much worse than in North America. For example, Germany’s GDP fell 6.5% from its peak, with [...]

Do you remember when gas stations offered auto repair and maintenance services and teenage male employees filled your gas tank without an extra charge? Then you remember the corner gas price wars in which two gas stations located opposite one another on a busy street corner used penny differences in the price of a gallon [...]

Conde Naste is rebalancing its portfolio, with consulting firm McKinsey & Company at its side. The global strategy-guru firms (McKinsey, Bain & Company, etc.) are like the Big 8 (now 4 and counting) accounting firms that bring “credibility” to management’s decisions. If the esteemed McKinsey & Company said to get rid of Gourmet Magazine, it [...]