Author: Guest editor

By Professor Stan Siebert, Professor of Labour Economics Department of Management The BBC reports that over the past year, pay rises on average have failed to keep up with the cost of living. At the same time, we know that in April OFGEM will be raising its energy price cap, perhaps by over £500, and … Continue reading “Jobs, jobs, jobs!”

By Professor Tony Dobbins, Professor of Employment Relations and HR Management President of the British Universities Industrial Relations Association A recent UK Parliament House of Commons Library briefing paper on flexible working by Professor Tony Dobbins* considers remote and hybrid work patterns during the coronavirus pandemic and implications for working futures. Although flexible working has long been … Continue reading “Pandemic increases impetus for more employee choice over flexible working”

By Dr Jing Du, Lecturer in Finance Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham. The UK government amended the Climate Change Act in 2019 to formally set the goal of achieving net zero by 2050, becoming one of the first countries in the world to establish net zero in the form of legal act. In order … Continue reading “Climate Change and Green Work: Several Ways to Deliver Net Zero Commitment”

By Dr Alessandro Gerosa Department of Marketing, University of Birmingham On 15 March 2020, while Italy was in the midst of the despair caused by the first Covid-19 wave, an Italian magazine reported a very puzzling news: Giuseppe Conte, the Italian Prime Minister, was the most searched query on the Italian Pornhub. Highly read romantic … Continue reading “How memetic cults are changing politics and beyond”

By Professor John Bryson Department of Strategy and International Business, University of Birmingham On Christmas Day 2021 we should all reflect on those who must work to ensure that most of the UK population are able to enjoy this festival. Christmas Day is set aside for family and friends and is a time for gift-giving … Continue reading “Keyworkers and the million people who will be working on Christmas Day”

By Professor John Bryson Department of Strategy and International Business, University of Birmingham There is another, darker side to Christmas though, as this can also be a time for cyber attacks on companies and individuals. Christmas is a special time of the year. For the retail and hospitality industries this is a critical period, with … Continue reading “Smartphones, spiking, cyber awareness and avoiding Christmas fraud”

By Dr Roshan Boojihawon, Senior Lecturer in Strategy Department of Strategy and International Business, University of Birmingham Not every retailer knows how to be agile, so let us try and learn from those who do – ballerinas! Supply chains are volatile, unpredictable, messy, and disrupting every retailer’s plans to ensure as normal a Christmas as … Continue reading “Merry retailing: the story of how Ballerinas saved Christmas”

By Dr Charika Channuntapipat and Dr Sarah Montano University of Birmingham Consumers have been looking forward to Christmas 2021 after the last minute cancellation of Christmas 2020, where family celebrations were limited to the 23rd to 27th December and the vast majority of England were in Tier 2 or Tier 3. With the arrival of … Continue reading “Buying ‘one-time wears’ and self-gifting: a new kind of Christmas”

By Dr Jing Du, Lecturer in Finance Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham. The latest UK Household Finance Index (IHS Markit) shows that households in the UK hold renewed pessimism about their financial outlook over the next 12 months. Due to sharply increased inflation, British residents are experiencing higher prices on their everyday goods and … Continue reading “Surging inflation and you: some ways to win the war”

By Professor Aditya Goenka The Department of Economics, University of Birmingham There will be a crisis if the fears about the nature of the new variant are realised. The news of rising infections and protests against control in Europe have been overshadowed by the report of the Omicron (B.1.1.526) variant. Despite its inclination for no … Continue reading “The new Omicron variant: will the UK response avert another crisis?”