Business Spotlight 2019

An overview of our main stories from the past year

THE BIG PICTURE

• Diesel cars in the desert, USA 1/19 • Relaxing in a mock prison, South Korea 2/19 • Cannabis shortage, Canada 3/19 • Amazon deliveries, India 4/19 • Farming pearls, Japan 5/19 • Goodbye to the jeepney, Philippines 6/19 • Educating nomads, Nigeria 7/19 • Banning sex dolls, South Korea 8/19

BUSINESS SKILLS

SERIES: LEADERSHIP • (1) Learning to lead 1/19 • (2) Change management 2/19 • (3) Leading across cultures 3/19 • (4) The role of ethics 4/19 • (5) Motivating yourself and others 5/19 • (6) The importance of decision-making 6/19 • (7) Improving team performance 7/19 • (8) Trust in the workplace 8/19 PERSONAL TRAINER • Branislav Pelak: Understanding other cultures 1/19 • Moira O’brien: Speaking in public 3/19 • Laszlo Zoltan: Communicating in international teams 4/19 • Sean Bailey: Running a German company in the US 5/19 • Anne Neppare: Preparing for a negotiation 6/19 • John Kent: A personal SWOT 7/19 • Miguel Pinto: Working in several languages 8/19

CAREERS & MANAGEMENT

FEATURES • Personality testing: Myers-briggs 1/19 • The business of coaching 2/19 • Why we aren’t getting enough sleep 3/19 • Dealing with office noise 4/19 • Preparing for retirement 5/19 • Starting a business 6/19 • Tips for concentration: How the experts stay focused 7/19 • Rivals at work 8/19 EXECUTIVE EYE • Mediocre management makes mediocre workers 1/19 • Dealing with cynics at work 2/19 • Personal development plans 3/19 • Setting targets and negative consequences 4/19 • Beta male vs alpha male leaders 5/19 • Consultants and their clients 6/19 • Openness and trust 7/19 • Alienated workers 8/19 HOW TO… • Deal with a workaholic boss 1/19 • Work effectively from home 2/19 • Deal with depression at work 3/19 • Be a better listener 4/19 • Stay relevant 5/19 • Give job advice to your kids 6/19 • Deal with impostor syndrome 8/19 OPINION • Margaret Davis on journalism and the essence of a good career 7/19

DEBATE

HEAD-TO-HEAD • Is space exploration a waste of money? 1/19 • Should seasonal clock changes be abolished? 3/19 • Can we trust online reviews? 4/19 • Should small coins be eliminated? 5/19 • Should alcohol be banned on flights? 6/19 • Should homeschooling be allowed? 7/19 • Should there be a meat tax? 8/19

FACTS & FIGURES

• LEGO 2/19 • Artificial intelligence 3/19 • USA vs China 6/19

GLOBAL BUSINESS

FEATURES • Brexit: Romanians in Britain 1/19 • Consumer brands: Bravery or marketing? 2/19 • Silicon Valley: Powerful tech companies 3/19 • Selling: The Kardashians; the ABC theory 4/19 • Public transport in Hong Kong 5/19 • USA vs China: Control of the world economy 6/19 • Brexit: A journey to a divided homeland 8/19

INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

FEATURES • Denmark: Green and populist? 1/19 • United Kingdom: From stability to chaos 2/19 • Czech Republic: At the heart of Europe 4/19 • Diversity in the workplace 5/19 • Italy: Economics and emerging populism 7/19 • Spain: Searching for stability 8/19

JARGON BUSTER

• Evangelize 1/19 • Fit for purpose 2/19 • Back of the envelope 3/19 • Kick into the long grass 4/19 • Open the kimono 5/19 • On the table 6/19 • Drink the Kool-aid 7/19 • Baked in 8/19

LANGUAGE TESTS

Small talk: Essential for business success 1/19 • Marketing: Methods and terminology 2/19 • The environment: How green is your business English? 3/19 • Politics: A current topic of discussion 4/19 • Interpersonal skills: Influencing others 5/19 • Presentations: Making a good impression 6/19 • Logistics: The language of moving goods 7/19 • Research and development: The science behind new products 8/19

TECHNOLOGY

FEATURES • Robotic bees: Flight of the bumble drones 1/19 • Speech therapy: A new treatment for stuttering 3/19 • Text generator: Is AI dangerous in the wrong hands? 4/19 • Components: The man who takes things apart 5/19 • Technology to help disabled students 6/19 • Electrical car production in the UK 7/19 • Facial recognition 8/19 ENGLISH 4.0 • The future of money in action 1/19 • The Davos revolution 2/19 • Is this the end of Apple’s empire? 3/19 • The challenges of climate change 4/19 • Fortnite and the changing world of work and play 5/19 • Religion, language and Industry 4.0 6/19 • Trendsetter Mary Meeker 7/19

VIEWPOINT

IT’S PERSONAL • Millennials and restaurants 1/19 • Modern slavery 2/19 • Dogs and marketing 3/19 • Hydrogen cars 4/19 • Saving the high street 5/19 • Reducing plane travel 6/19 • Prearranging communication 7/19 • Houseboat property trend 8/19

WORK & RELAX

IN THE ZONE • Travelling with the boss 1/19 • Conversations at work 2/19 • The demands of work and family 3/19 • Decluttering at work and at home 4/19 • Self-help guides 5/19 • Dress codes at work 6/19 • Pets in the workplace 7/19 • Swearing at work 8/19

WORKING WORLD

THE RIVALS • Sydney vs Melbourne 1/19 • SAP vs Salesforce 2/19 • University of Oxford vs University of Cambridge 3/19 • Volkswagen vs Toyota 4/19 • Nestlé vs Unilever 5/19 • Jürgen Klopp vs Pep Guardiola 6/19 • Bitcoin vs Libra 7/19

AND FINALLY…

ONE QUESTION • Dr James Mccabe on business storytelling 1/19 • Carole Trosch on visiting Buckingham Palace 2/19 • Professor Peter Coveney on laptop quantum computers 3/19 • Niamh O’brien on playing the Irish harp 4/19 • Philippe van Parijs on the need for English in the EU after Brexit 5/19 • Tim Phillips on resilience 6/19 • Helena Mcgivern on how human factors can save mothers and babies 7/19 • Who am I? John Bercow 8/19

SPECIALS

100TH ISSUE • 100 top business tips from experts, taken from the first 100 issues of Business Spotlight 2/19 • BUSINESS ENGLISH TODAY Changes in business English; the legacy of Adam Smith; tips and trends for learners and trainers 7/19