David Olive’s biz quiz,
Fashion-forward colours to free trade. Take David Olive’s 2014 biz quiz
Trends 1. The “fashion-forward” colour for 2015 in apparel, home furnishings, cosmetics and other goods, according to the Pantone Color Institute, the authority on the “colour of the year” since 1990, is: a. radiant orchid b. marsala c. oatmeal 2. An Atlantic magazine correspondent said marsala did not evoke “a sophisticated natural earthiness,” as Pantone claims, but instead: a. “the gunk lining corners of frat-boy dormitory bathrooms” b. “freaky dried blood” c. “elementary-school mystery meat” d. all of the above 3. Facebook Inc. and Apple Inc. unveiled a new employee benefit this year: a. coverage for laundry expenses for executive wardrobes b. free on-site workplace meals c. up to $20,000 (U.S.) toward the expense for women of freezing their eggs 4. True or false: In the past 12 months, hackers have caused huge data breaches at Target Corp., Home Depot Inc., Sony Entertainment, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Neiman Marcus Group, Adobe Systems Inc., and Barnes & Noble Inc., among others. Watch for falling objects 5. The price of gold dropped this year by: a. 9 per cent b. 14 per cent c. more than 40 per cent 6. By December, the world price for oil had dropped: a. 11 per cent b. 19 per cent c. more than 40 per cent 7. Largely as a result of the oil market weakness, the loonie dropped in value against the U.S. dollar to a 51⁄ 2- year low of: a. 94 cents b. 91cents c. less than 86 cents The world scene 8. With which of the following countries or regions is Canada not negotiating a free-trade deal? a. European Union b. Russia c. almost all countries bordering the Pacific Rim d. China e. Japan f. South Korea 9. Vladimir Putin’s theft of Crimea earlier this year triggered Western sanctions on Russian oil and gas purchases, which has driven him to cosy up with one of the few buyers of Russia’s petroleum output:
a. India b. North Korea c. China 10. As a result of the Kremlin’s increasingly hostile regard for Internet privacy, Google Inc. said it will relocate from Russia its: a. advertising sales force b. computer software engineers c. “Google Doodle” artists 11. In his speech to the European Parliament in November, who gave the European Union a failing grade on citizens’ mistrust of aloof EU institutions, and EU member nations’ insensitivity to refugees and other immigrants; EU policies that promote austerity rather than job creation; and a failure to bring about “a rediscovery of the dignity conferred by work”? a. Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, former chief economist at the World Bank b. Pope Francis, first non-European pontiff in more than a millennium c. Stephen Lewis, former UN ambassador and UN envoy for HIV/ AIDS in Africa. 12. Reaction to that admonition was greeted by the European parliamentarians with: a. stunned silence b. walkouts during the speech c. repeated waves of applause Reversals in fortune 13. The “new and improved” postbankruptcy General Motors Co. was forced to recall a massive number of: a. faulty drivetrain components b. faulty ignitions c. faulty batteries 14. Which wasn’t the worst of it. GM was shown to have covered up the problem, which is linked with several fatalities, for: a. 2 years b. more than 3 years c. about 10 years 15. Giant Japanese auto supplier Takata Corp. was forced to recall 16 million a. malfunctioning turn-signal mechanisms b. potentially defective airbags c. improperly installed mufflers linked to at least five deaths and 139 injuries worldwide. 16. Worse, Takata long asserted that it didn’t know the cause of the fault or which auto brands were affected (Ford, Toyota, Honda, BMW and Acura are among them), even though Takata executives had known of the potentially fatal problem since: a. 2012 b. 2010 c. 2004 17. A celebrity-studded marketing campaign by the Gap Inc. to tout its apparel as everyday comfort garb, with the tag line “Dress Normal,” has: a. boosted the chain’s sales by 14 per cent since the campaign was launched earlier this year b. become the apparent culprit in declining sales at Gap since the campaign’s launch, reinforcing the fashion industry’s belief that “aspirational” (i.e. fantasy) messages are the ticket to success c. triggered a lawsuit from NBA star LeBron James that he was unfairly shunned as a Gap celebrity shill 18. Which “cheap and cheerful” apparel chain is closest to breathing its last? a. H&M b. Abercrombie & Fitch c. Zara 19. In July, Consumer Reports, the product-testing organization, said McDonald’s burgers placed where among 20 leading chains? a. 3rd b. 7th c. 20th 20. In a drastic streamlining of a bloated menu that has slowed down service, McDonald’s Corp. said it will scrap several offerings, including which of these three it introduced last spring alone: a. McWraps b. Egg White Delight c. blueberry pomegranate smoothies d. a and c e. b and c Always fresh, now foreign 21. Burger King International Inc., which paid $12.5 billion to acquire Tim Hortons Inc., is in turn controlled by a slash-and-burn private equity team consisting of: a. three Kuwait emirs b. four Brazilian billionaires c. 17 Saudi sheiks d. seven Wall Street derivatives traders 22. Among its conditions for approving the deal, Ottawa demanded that: a. the circumference of Timbits be increased 15 per cent b. the Tims’ workforce not be subjected to profit-boosting layoffs c. Stephen Harper be granted continued access to Tims for photo-ops I won’t drink to that 23. A recent Toronto Star investigative report revealed a noncompete deal that the 30,000-member Restaurants Canada, for one, says is raising prices for consumers. The deal was negotiated between: a. Loblaw Cos. and Metro Inc. grocery chains b. Bank of Montreal and Bank of Nova Scotia c. LCBO and the Beer Store The dismal science 24. Which of the following have warned late this year that Canadians are over-indebted, notably in mortgages, and that house values, especially in Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary, are 10 per cent to 30 per cent overvalued? a. Fitch Ratings b. Moody’s Investor Services c. Stephen Poloz, governor of the Bank of Canada d. all of the above 25. According to Equifax, the credit data firm, total consumer debt in Canada is $1.5 trillion, or an average per Canadian of: a. $1,200 b. $5,800 c. $20,891 26. A recent report by the International Labour Organization (ILO), a UN agency, shows Canada’s share of the income pie among the G20 biggest economies ranks: a. 4th b. 7th c. 18th 27. StatsCan reported in December that the portion of Canadians living in poverty in 2012, the latest year for which data is available, is: a. 6.4 per cent b. 9.7 per cent c. 13.8 per cent 28. StatsCan reported that for children living in sole-parent households headed by a woman, the portion living in poverty is: a. 11.8 per cent b. 29.3 per cent c. 44.5 per cent Chauncey Gardner moment of the year 29. In a December address to the Economic Club of New York, a. Joe Oliver, federal finance minister b. Stephen Poloz c. Justin Bieber mused about how the dystopian economic vision of Margaret Atwood’s novel The Year of the Flood could be a model for the future and asked, “Does anyone besides me wonder what the banking system looks like in the background of Star Trek” (in which money has been eliminated)? Leona Helmsley moment of the year 30. At which airline was Cho Hyunah stripped in December of all executive titles at the carrier after swearing at the chief steward and a flight attendant for having been served macadamia nuts in a bag, not a dish, and then delaying takeoff by forcing the plane to return to the terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport to expel the chief steward, hav- ing first demanded that he kneel while tendering an apology to her? a. Cathay Pacific b. Singapore Airlines c. Korean Air Lines d. Thai Airways International Annals of the C-suite 31. As of January, Mary Barra, 52, was the first woman to head: a. a pharmaceutical giant, GlaxoSmithKline PLC b. a major automaker, General Motors Co. c. a major defence contractor, Lockheed Martin Corp. 32. Tim Cook, successor to Steve Jobs at Apple Inc., made news this year by: a. talking up an experimental iPhone app that can size up a first date’s personality disorders b. coming out as the first openly gay CEO of a Fortune 500 company c. partnering with Hermès on the design of the forthcoming Apple Watch 33. CEO John Chen has been leading the corporate turnaround at: a. J.C. Penney Co. Inc. b. BlackBerry Ltd. c. Best Buy Inc. 34. Barack Obama is still addicted to his “CrackBerry,” and so is which celebrity, who said of her BB smartphone at an October tech conference in California that “it’s in my heart and soul.” a. Rosie O’Donnell b. Kim Kardashian c. Rachael Ray 35. At $260 billion, the newly public Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., a China-based e-commerce giant whose number of active buyers hit a record 307 million in November, boasts a market cap bigger than: a. eBay Inc. b. Amazon.com Inc. c. IBM Corp. d. General Electric Co. e. all of the above 36. In June, the board of American Apparel Inc. (AA) ousted founderCEO Dov Charney, citing: a. AA’s failure to turn a profit in all but one of the previous 17 quarters b. allegations of his sexual misconduct with employees c. the collapse of AA’s shares to penny-stock status 37. The Montreal native Charney is now eligible for the Hall of Shame of Canadians who flamed out in the U.S., which includes all but which name below? a. Bernie Ebbers, former CEO of WorldCom Inc. b. Conrad Black, former CEO and chairman of Hollinger International Inc. c. Scott Livengood, former CEO of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. d. Real estate developer Robert Campeau, founder of Campeau Corp. Jargon watch 38. “Bleisure,” which sounds to us like a skin-care issue, is a term coined this year by John Scott, CEO of luxury hotel operator Belmond (the former Orient-Express Hotels), to mean a. business and pleasure b. business and leisure c. bleach and assure (Belmond’s faultless dry-cleaning service) Anniversaries 39. Tetris was invented 30 years ago by a. Törvald Sorenssøn in Sweden b. Alexey Pajitnov in Moscow c. Edgar Campion-Stafford in Cambridge, England. d. Willard Smith in Palo Alto, Calif. 40. The fall of Berlin Wall 25 years ago triggered: a. the collapse of the Soviet empire two years later b. a 33-per-cent plunge in the former Soviet bloc’s per-capita income and a tripling of Russians living in poverty, to about 30 per cent c. the European Union’s embrace of eight former Soviet bloc countries d. all of the above 41. The explosion of a Union Carbide insecticide plant at Bhopal, India — the worst industrial accident in history, killing 3,000 people within days and tens of thousands more in the following years — occurred in: a. 1994 b. 1984 c. 1974 42. Facebook was launched: a. Five years ago b. 10 years ago c. 15 years ago 43. Amazon.com Inc., the world’s largest online retailer, first went live: a. 10 years ago b. 20 years ago c. 25 years ago 44. Users who are active on Facebook daily account for what portion of the world’s population? a. 0.7 per cent b. 2.3 per cent c.12.3 per cent All the toppings 45. Lyndsay Borschke’s fledgling Toronto-based Tuck Shop Trading Co., which makes cottage-inspired apparel and other gear, was launched into prominence by this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, where film director Lena Dunham and actor Hilary Duff were among celebs seen wearing Tuck’s entirely Toronto-made toques. There are Tuck toques for how many Toronto neighbourhoods? a. 7 b. 13 c. 28 Overdue innovation of the year 46. Which firm this year retrofitted the Kinostar De Lux Multiplex in the Moscow suburb of Khimki, replacing theatre seats with double beds for maximum comfort in watching a movie? a. Sleep Country’s Russian franchisee b. Ikea c. Simmons Bedding Co. He said it 47. Who said, of being at loose ends, that he “did what everyone does when they have nothing to do: consult?” a. Millard (Mickey) Drexler, CEO, J. Crew Group Inc., on his ouster from Gap Inc. b. Joe Mimran, founder of Joe Fresh, on the acquisition of his Club Monaco by Ralph Lauren c. Scott McNealy, on Oracle Corp.’s purchase of his Sun Microsystems Inc. 48. On why his firm won’t renew its membership in the American Legislative Exchange Council, an advocacy group that has tried to thwart climate-change legislation, which top executive explained: “We should not be aligned with such people. They’re just literally lying.” a. Yvon Chouinard, founder, Patagonia Inc. b. Eric Schmidt, chairman, Google Inc. c. Jeremy Schwartz, CEO, Body Shop International PLC 49. “Obviously, we’re hoping to find success in female incontinence,” said the CEO of which company that seeks to capture a bigger share of the adult-diaper market: a. Colgate-Palmolive Co. b. Procter & Gamble Co. c. Johnson & Johnson Inc. 50. In a December interview with the Montreal Gazette, who said Stephen Harper is affected by “a stubborn authoritarianism” and noted that, in describing Harper, he has quoted British historian Thomas Macauley’s view of King William III — that he had “an almost repulsive coldness?” a. Margaret Atwood b. Thomas Mulcair c. Conrad Black d. Joe Clark Answers 1)b 2) d 3) c 4) True 5)c 6) c 7) c 8) b9) c 10) b 11) b 12) c 13) b 14) c 15) c 16) c17) b18) b19) c 20) e 21) b 22) b 23) c 24) d 25) c 26) c 27) c 28) c 29) b 30) c 31) b 32) b 33) b 34) b 35) e 36) b 37) c 38) b 39) b 40) d 41) b 42) b 43) b 44) c 45) c 46) b 47) b 48) b 49) b 50) c