#global strategic business report

[chloedecker0]

Maximizing Retail Profits: Harnessing B2B Price Optimization Software

In the ever-evolving world of retail and e-commerce, businesses are constantly seeking ways to gain a competitive edge. Among the many strategies employed, B2B Price Optimization and Management Software stands out as a game-changer. Price optimisation and management (PO&M) software solutions enable businesses to oversee and optimize the prices of their goods and services. These services also provide a growing range of sales intelligence advice, such as best-next-action suggestions and customer churn warnings. In the industry, vendors either focus on back-office price management and product management roles, or they focus on providing real-time sales intelligence to sales representatives and B2B digital commerce websites, or both. Quadrant Knowledge Solutions, a leading global advisory and consulting firm, has recognized the significance of this technology in their report, “B2B Price Optimization and Management Applications, 2023”. Quadrant Knowledge Solutions focuses on helping clients in achieving business transformation goals with Strategic Business, and Growth Advisory Services. 

Download the sample report of Market Share: B2B Price Optimization and Management Software

Understanding the Retail and E-commerce Landscape 

The retail and e-commerce industry is a highly dynamic and competitive space. Companies within this domain face the continuous challenge of pricing their products right to maximize profitability while staying attractive to their customers. In this context, pricing becomes a critical element of their strategy. Let's delve into some of these challenges: 

Rapidly Changing Market Dynamics: Retail and e-commerce markets are highly volatile, with ever-shifting consumer preferences and market trends. Adapting to these changes in real-time is essential to stay competitive. Without the right tools, businesses risk making pricing decisions that are out of sync with market realities. 

Intense Competition: In retail and e-commerce, competition is fierce. With numerous players offering similar products or services, pricing becomes a key differentiator. Setting prices too high can drive customers away, while pricing too low can erode profit margins. 

Complex Supply Chain and Cost Structures: The retail and e-commerce sector often deals with complex supply chain operations and cost structures. Understanding the true costs associated with a product or service is essential for setting optimal prices. Traditional methods of cost calculation can be time-consuming and error-prone. 

Customer Behaviour and Expectations: Today's consumers are more informed and price-sensitive than ever before. Their buying behaviour can change rapidly in response to various factors, including promotions, discounts, and market trends. Retailers must be agile in responding to these changes. 

Competitor Pricing Strategies: Keeping a constant eye on competitor pricing is crucial. Businesses need to respond promptly to pricing moves made by competitors to remain competitive. Manual tracking and analysis of competitor pricing are arduous and inefficient processes. 

Download the sample report of Market Forecast: B2B Price Optimization and Management Software

B2B Price Optimization and Management Software: A Necessity 

B2B Price Optimization and Management Software is the solution to these challenges. This technology leverages advanced algorithms, data analytics, and real-time market insights to help businesses make data-driven pricing decisions. It empowers retail and e-commerce companies to optimize their prices efficiently while taking into account factors like demand fluctuations, competitor pricing, and customer behaviour.

Talk To Analyst: https://quadrant-solutions.com/talk-to-analyst

[zvaigzdelasas]

China’s Ministry of Commerce announced Thursday that export controls on antimony would take effect Sept. 15. Antimony is used in bullets, nuclear weapons production and lead-acid batteries. It can also strengthen other metals.

“Three months ago, there’s no way [any] one would have thought they would have done this. It’s quite confrontational in that regard,” Lewis Black, CEO of Canada-based Almonty Industries, said in a phone interview. The company has said it’s spending at least $125 million to reopen a tungsten mine in South Korea later this year.

Tungsten is nearly as hard as a diamond, and used in weapons, semiconductors and industrial cutting machines. Both tungsten and antimony are on the U.S. critical minerals list, and less than 10 elements away from each other on the periodic table.[...]

China accounted for 48% of global antimony mine production in 2023, while the U.S. did not mine any marketable antimony, according to the U.S. Geological Survey’s latest annual report. The U.S. has not commercially mined tungsten since 2015, and China dominates global tungsten supply, the report said.[...]

The U.S. has sought to restrict China’s access to high-end semiconductors, following which Beijing announced export controls on germanium and gallium, two metals used in chipmaking.

While tungsten is also used to make semiconductors, the metal, like antimony, is used in defense production.

“China has a declining tungsten production, but tungsten is absolutely vital, far more than antimony, in military applications,” said Christopher Ecclestone, principal and mining strategist at Hallgarten & Company.

He expects China will put export controls on tungsten by the end of the year, if not in the next month or two.[...]

Starting in 2026, the U.S. REEShore Act prohibits the use of Chinese tungsten in military equipment. That refers to the Restoring Essential Energy and Security Holdings Onshore for Rare Earths Act of 2022.[...]

China is acting more in retaliation “against what it views as an intrusion into its national interests,” Markus Herrmann Chen, co-founder and managing director of China Macro Group, said in an email.

He pointed out that China’s Third Plenum meeting of policymakers in July “put forward a completely new policy goal of better coordinating the entire minerals value chain, likely reflecting the further heightened supply importance of ‘strategic mineral resources’ for both business and geoeconomic interests.”

Stupid games:[X] Prizes [20 Aug 24]

[mariacallous]

Even as a growing number of foreign governments commit to protecting the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex (LGBTQI+) people, others are actively marshaling their resources against them. From the Hungarian government’s legal and political attacks on LGBTQI+ people to Iraqi legislation that punishes those who “promote homosexuality” and increases criminal penalties and fines for same-sex relations, the negative trends are significant and concerning.

In many places, politicians blame LGBTQI+ people for a wide array of societal ills to boost their popularity at home and their geopolitical interests abroad, distracting from the real economic, social, and political challenges their countries face. In Georgia, for example, the ruling party may have used anti-LGBTQI+ rhetoric to manipulate the political landscape ahead of elections. Meanwhile, in Lebanon, a country long considered relatively welcoming for LGBTQI+ people in the Middle East, one activist described a political leader’s rhetoric as “the manufacturing of a moral panic in order to justify a crackdown, and to deviate public attention away from their unpopular policies.”

Although human rights are seen by some as a lower-priority foreign-policy issue for the United States than so-called hard security threats, the failure to protect them abroad can have significant negative consequences for U.S. interests. Now more than ever, the United States needs to push back against foreign-government repression of LGBTQI+ rights while also doing this work at home. As U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken put it recently, this matters “not just because we have a moral imperative to do so,” but because doing so “helps strengthen democracy, bolster national security, and promote global health and economic development.”

Across a range of issues, it’s clear that anti-LGBTQI+ policies and rhetoric can cause significant damage to many of the United States’ top foreign-policy priorities.

To start, efforts to repress LGBTQI+ rights are often a canary in the coal mine for more severe persecution to come. A 2022 report found, for example: “From Nazi Germany to genocide in Darfur to the breakup of former Yugoslavia, the imposition of ‘moral’ codes that directly assault sexual and gender identities and freedoms came before widespread state-led physical violence and atrocity crimes.”

The targeting of LGBTQI+ people can also be a precursor to, or occur alongside, abuses against other vulnerable populations. The Taliban-promoted sexual assault of and life-threatening attacks on LGBTQI+ people, for example, have occurred concurrently with brutal restrictions on women’s and girls’ participation in education, work, and other aspects of public life. Likewise, vicious torture of gay men in the Russian Republic of Chechnya has taken place against a wider backdrop of long-term human rights abuses by Chechen authorities.

Erosion of LGBTQI+ human rights can also signal and exacerbate the breakdown of democratic norms and institutions, including restrictions on independent media and judicial review, serving as a bellwether for the state of civil society more generally. Russia’s recent detention and prosecution of LGBTQI+ people have paralleled its crackdown on independent journalists, human rights defenders, and civil society.

Countries in which the human rights of LGBTQI+ people are less respected also frequently have greater levels of corruption, partly because discriminatory legal regimes create barriers to reporting wrongdoing by corrupt officials, making LGBTQI+ people an easy target for extortion. Corruption, in turn, compounds other pressing problems: It degrades the business environment, drives migration, and impedes responses to public health crises and climate change. States with endemic corruption are also more vulnerable to terrorist networks, transnational organized crime, gang-related criminal actors, and human traffickers. This is, in part, because threats to transparent and accountable governance are among the root causes of radicalization, and restrictions on LGBTQI+ and other civil society organizations reduce the capacity of those groups to mitigate the conditions conducive to violent extremism, terrorism and other criminal activity.

Not only are anti-LGBTQI+ policies a drag on economic growth, but they are also detrimental to public health. Punitive laws fan the flames of stigma and discrimination, in turn making vulnerable communities reluctant to seek life-saving and public health-protecting services. Across 10 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, for example, HIV prevalence in countries that criminalize homosexuality is five times higher among men who have sex with men than in countries without those laws.

Taken together, the failure to protect LGBTQI+ people’s human rights can create disastrous effects for U.S. interests. State-sponsored discrimination and violence undercut the United States’ tremendous investments in international anti-corruption efforts, counter-terrorism programs, economic development, and public health. And, as the COVID-19 pandemic made clear, a disease threat anywhere can quickly become a disease threat everywhere. The same can be said for terrorism, corruption, and economic instability. When governments target LGBTQI+ people, they also increase the chances that the symptoms and consequences of this repression will spread in their communities and across borders.

Given the stakes, it is crucial that the United States uses the tools and powers it has to promote accountability for human rights abuses and mitigate their harms to U.S. citizens and businesses.

In this respect, the recent heightened repression by the Ugandan government is illustrative. In May 2023, Uganda signed into law the Anti-Homosexuality Act (AHA), which mandated the death penalty for certain “serial” offenses and a 20-year prison sentence for the mere “promotion” of homosexuality. Although the legislation was decried by human rights advocates, it was lauded by some of Uganda’s geopolitical partners as evidence of shared interests. Shortly after the legislation was passed, the late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi visited Uganda and made the unfortunately common—and demonstrably inaccurate—claim that homosexuality is a Western import. He also identified opposition to Western support for LGBTQI+ people as “another area of cooperation for Iran and Uganda.” In similar fashion, an editorial on the pro-Kremlin Tsargrad website summarized the law as “a geopolitical victory [for Russia], which they see as the direct result of years of their hard, methodical work [on a] global anti-LGBTQ hate campaign.”

The AHA was the final, egregious straw amid an ongoing decline in respect for human rights, including of LGBTQI+ people, and democratic backsliding in Uganda, and the United States’ response was swift and comprehensive. Underscoring the link between the violation of the human rights of LGBTQI+ people and broader harms to American interests, U.S. President Joe Biden described the law as part of an “alarming trend of human rights abuses and corruption.” The United States issued a business advisory; updated the U.S. Travel Advisory and Country Information Page for Uganda; expanded existing visa restrictions to include those repressing vulnerable populations, such as human rights advocates, LGBTQI+ people, and environmental defenders; supported the World Bank’s decision to pause Uganda’s access to new funds; and imposed sanctions on the Commissioner General of the Uganda Prisons Service for widespread violations of human rights, including credible reports of physical abuse of political opposition and LGBTQI+ people. President Biden also determined that Uganda did not meet the eligibility requirements of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), “on the basis of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights.”

Although the law remains in place, these actions and international attention have had effect: Uganda’s government has not conducted widespread roundups of or ordered death sentences against LGBTQI+ people. But violence, abuse, and evictions have increased in the country, and arrests of LGBTQI+ people have persisted and likely risen under an earlier, colonial-era law that criminalizes same-sex conduct.

As the situation in Uganda demonstrates, the United States has options to respond to foreign governments that fail to uphold their human rights obligations. These measures can be unilateral, as is the case for issuing travel advisories or removing trade preferences, or multilateral, which could involve working with the United Nations, the World Bank, or other multilateral institutions. They can also be affirmative, as opposed to punitive—for instance, expanding humanitarian and development assistance for human rights defenders and mobilizing private sector capital to support businesses that operate consistent with international non-discrimination standards.

As with all diplomatic efforts to address wrongdoing, the choice among these options will vary depending on circumstances, such as whether a government is launching a new campaign against LGBTQI+ people or has an older but little-enforced criminal law on its books. Inevitably, the importance of raising human rights concerns will be weighed against other U.S. priorities, and human rights will not always prevail. However, increasingly, LGBTQI+ issues are being integrated into bilateral relationships, even when doing so is not easy and when quiet diplomacy is the only option. In all circumstances, consultation with LGBTQI+ civil society must be prioritized in weighing the benefits and risks of action to ensure that efforts do not contribute to backlash or negative repercussions for LGBTQI+ people on the frontlines of global human rights movements.

In a recent State Department convening on LGBTQI+ rights in U.S. foreign policy, Secretary Blinken made our commitment clear, telling civil society leaders: “Our promise is this: We will be with you every step of the way. We’ll persevere with you. We’ll listen to you. We’ll learn from you. We’ll help resource and support your fight. And we’ll bring our strength together with yours so that finally together we can build a world where all people are genuinely free—free to be who they are, free to love who they love.”

Although this work may have been in the spotlight during Pride month, it requires our focus year-round. Indeed, our national security depends on it.

[theculturedmarxist]

The contradictions of China-bashing in the United States begin with how often it is flat-out untrue.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the “Chinese spy” balloon that President Joe Biden shot down with immense patriotic fanfare in February did not in fact transmit pictures or anything else to China.

White House economists have been trying to excuse persistent US inflation saying it is a global problem and inflation is worse elsewhere in the world. China’s inflation rate is 0.7% year on year.

Financial media outlets stress how China’s GDP growth rate is lower than it used to be. China now estimates that its 2023 GDP growth will be 5-5.5%. Estimates for the US GDP growth rate in 2023, meanwhile, vacillate around 1-2%.

China-bashing has intensified into denial and self-delusion – it is akin to pretending that the United States did not lose wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq and more.

The BRICS coalition (China and its allies) now has a significantly larger global economic footprint (higher total GDP) than the Group of Seven (the United States and its allies).

China is outgrowing the rest of the world in research and development expenditures.

The American empire (like its foundation, American capitalism) is not the dominating global force it once was right after World War II. The empire and the economy have shrunk in size, power and influence considerably since then. And they continue to do so.

Putting that genie back into the bottle is a battle against history that the United States is not likely to win.

The Russia delusion

Denial and self-delusion about the changing world economy have led to major strategic mistakes. US leaders predicted before and shortly after February 2022, when the Ukraine war began, for example, that Russia’s economy would crash from the effects of the “greatest of all sanctions,” led by the United States. Some US leaders still believe that the crash will take place (publicly, if not privately) despite there being no such indication.

Such predictions badly miscalculated the economic strength and potential of Russia’s allies in the BRICS. Led by China and India, the BRICS nations responded to Russia’s need for buyers of its oil and gas.

The United States made its European allies cut off purchasing Russian oil and gas as part of the sanctions war against the Kremlin over Ukraine. However, US pressure tactics used on China, India, and many other nations (inside and outside BRICS) likewise to stop buying Russian exports failed. They not only purchased oil and gas from Russia but then also re-exported some of it to European nations.

World power configurations had followed the changes in the world economy at the expense of the US position.

The military delusion

War games with allies, threats from US officials, and US warships off China’s coast may delude some to imagine that these moves intimidate China. The reality is that the military disparity between China and the United States is smaller now than it has ever been in modern China’s history.

China’s military alliances are the strongest they have ever been. Intimidation that did not work from the time of the Korean War and since then will certainly not be effective now.

Former president Donald Trump’s tariff and trade wars were meang, US officials said, to persuade China to change its “authoritarian” economic system. If so, that aim was not achieved. The United States simply lacks the power to force the matter.

American polls suggest that media outlets have been successful in a) portraying China’s advances economically and technologically as a threat, and b) using that threat to lobby against regulations of US high-tech industries.

The tech delusion

Of course, business opposition to government regulation predates China’s emergence. However, encouraging hostility toward China provides convenient additional cover for all sorts of business interests.

China’s technological challenge flows from and depends on a massive educational effort based on training far more STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) students than the United States does. Yet US business does not support paying taxes to fund education equivalently.

The reporting by the media on this issue rarely covers that obvious contradiction and politicians mostly avoid it as dangerous to their electoral prospects.

Scapegoating China joins with scapegoating immigrants, BIPOCs (black and Indigenous people of color), and many of the other usual targets.

The broader decline of the US empire and capitalist economic system confronts the nation with the stark question: Whose standard of living will bear the burden of the impact of this decline? The answer to that question has been crystal clear: The US government will pursue austerity policies (cut vital public services) and will allow price inflation and then rising interest rates that reduce living standards and jobs.

Coming on top of 2020’s combined economic crash and Covid-19 pandemic, the middle- and-lower-income majority have so far borne most of the cost of the United States’ decline. That has been the pattern followed by declining empires throughout human history: Those who control wealth and power are best positioned to offload the costs of decline on to the general population.

The real sufferings of that population cause vulnerability to the political agendas of demagogues. They offer scapegoats to offset popular upset, bitterness and anger.

Leading capitalists and the politicians they own welcome or tolerate scapegoating as a distraction from those leaders’ responsibilities for mass suffering. Demagogic leaders scapegoat old and new targets: immigrants, BIPOCs, women, socialists, liberals, minorities of various kinds, and foreign threats.

The scapegoating usually does little more than hurt its intended victims. Its failure to solve any real problem keeps that problem alive and available for demagogues to exploit at a later stage (at least until scapegoating’s victims resist enough to end it).

The contradictions of scapegoating include the dangerous risk that it overflows its original purposes and causes capitalism more problems than it relieves.

If anti-immigrant agitation actually slows or stops immigration (as has happened recently in the United States), domestic labor shortages may appear or worsen, which may drive up wages, and thereby hurt profits.

If racism similarly leads to disruptive civil disturbances (as has happened recently in France), profits may be depressed.

If China-bashing leads the United States and Beijing to move further against US businesses investing in and trading with China, that could prove very costly to the US economy. That this may happen now is a dangerous consequence of China-bashing.

Working together (briefly)

Because they believed it would be in the US interest, then-president Richard Nixon resumed diplomatic and other relations with Beijing during his 1972 trip to the country. Chinese chairman Mao Zedong, premier Zhou Enlai, and Nixon started a period of economic growth, trade, investment and prosperity for both China and the United States.

The success of that period prompted China to seek to continue it. That same success prompted the United States in recent years to change its attitude and policies. More accurately, that success prompted US political leaders like Trump and Biden to now perceive China as the enemy whose economic development represents a threat. They demonize the Beijing leadership accordingly.

The majority of US mega-corporations disagree. They profited mightily from their access to the Chinese labor force and the rapidly growing Chinese market since the 1980s. That was a large part of what they meant when they celebrated “neoliberal globalization.” A significant part of the US business community, however, wants continued access to China.

The fight inside the United States now pits major parts of the US business community against Biden and his equally “neoconservative” foreign-policy advisers. The outcome of that fight depends on domestic economic conditions, the presidential election campaign, and the political fallout of the Ukraine war as well the ongoing twists and turns of the China-US relations.

The outcome also depends on how the masses of Chinese and US people understand and intervene in relations between these two countries. Will they see through the contradictions of China-bashing to prevent war, seek mutual accommodation, and thereby rebuild a new version of the joint prosperity that existed before Trump and Biden?

This article was produced by Economy for All, a project of the Independent Media Institute, which provided it to Asia Times.

[darkmaga-retard]

Technocracy is a system pitted against all others, including capitalism, Marxism, and outright Fascism. However, it will use those other systems to achieve its goals of Scientific Dictatorship. The Trilateral Commission kickstarted modern Technocracy in 1973 and devised a policy of using mass immigration as a tool to break down Western society. Peter Sutherland did it in Europe. Anthony Blinken is doing it in the U.S.

No other continent suffers from an immigration crisis. Not China. Not Asia. Not South America. Not Africa. Not India or Russia. What Trilateral policy did in Europe is working on America, with similar results.

Wade though this thoughtful paper and consider the author’s conclusions:

“The oligarchs that wish to see Technocracy established can capitalize on the ramblings of the real far-right minority by framing all dissent against the emerging Technate as “extremism.”

Perhaps more crucially, by perpetuating the left-right paradigm, pitting the identitarian movement against the advocates of identity politics, populations can be mired in pointless debates. This irrelevant distraction, embodied by the vacuum of party politics, leaves the global public-private partnership free to push ahead with the rollout of Technocracy while the people engage in counter-productive arguments and continually fail to recognize their real enemy: the oligarchs. ⁃ Patrick Wood, TN Editor.

In the UK, the so-called far-right‘s stance on immigration is said to be driven by “the Great Replacement conspiracy theory.” According to the influential global think tank the Institute for Strategic Studies (ISD):

“The Great Replacement” theory was first coined by French writer Renaud Camus. Identitarian movements across Europe (including in Austria, the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Germany) have used the theory to recruit others to their cause, claiming their countries and national “identities” are under threat due to increasing immigrant populations.

It is true, in part, that Camus made this argument. Some elements of his philosophy are racist and do offer apparent rationales for religious bigotry. It is also true that Camus has been influential in the rise of the identitarian movement, which is perceived as “right-wing.” Identitarianism broadly stands in opposition to identitiy politics, considered progressive or “left-wing.”

While the identitarian movement generally opposes multiculturalism and defends ethno-culturalism, identity politics largely holds that states foist structural inequality of opportunity upon people based on their personal characteristics—such as their ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation and disability, etc. Those who oppose multiculturalism perceive identity politics as a deliberate attempt to dilute or even eradicate their culture.

These sociopolitical and philosophical concepts have a massive “influence” on our polity, public discourse and society. The right vs left paradigm is thereby created and perpetuated through the constantly reported clash between the identitarian movement and identity politics.

Those who espouse the Great Replacement theory often cite the comments of Peter Sutherland (1946 – 2018) as evidence that there is a cohesive “plan” to replace European culture. Sutherland was “influential” in guiding the development of the EU and the World Trade Organisation (WTO). He was a banker, business man, lawyer and politician. Sutherland sat on the Bilderberg steering committee, he was chairman of Trilateral Commission European division and the European Round Table movement.

[alvinstrat]

Why Senior Managers Should Have Subject Competencies

I have spent many years reporting to people who lack expertise in what I do, which works if they are reasonable and trust me to do my work. After all no one knows everything, that is why they hire and delegate to others.

However, if they are unreasonable then it becomes hard to do serious work.

The CEO of a cybersecurity company should have deep knowledge of cybersecurity and tech. He doesn't need to be up to date or at the cutting edge as he will be spending more time at a strategic level making business decisions but he needs at least intermediate level of knowledge so he can make the right decisions and strategies.

George is an accountant, not a tech person, who understands codes, systems, architecture, etc well.

Being competent is important! Much more important than working long hours, etc. A good software engineer can solve in an hour what a lousier engineer takes weeks to think through.

[seepunkrun]

Notes from the Nov 12 OTW Public Board Meeting

Today's Agenda:

Decisions made since the last public board meeting

Welcome new Board members

Announce officer roles

Diversity update

Any other business

Decisions taken since last meeting:

Approved Finance requests

Approved new chairs for Fanlore, Support, and Strategic Planning

Granted preliminary approval for complaint management system

Created Twitter report for impersonation account

Approved new committee formation - Board Assistants Team

Approved new chairs for Board Assistants Team

Signed onto a letter opposing the Stop CSAM Act introduced in the US Senate

This meeting ran much more smoothly than the last due to the new rules and the way questions were handled. The first roll call showed 91 guests, and the last showed 88. Anh, as president, ran the meeting and got through the cut and paste business quickly, leaving 40 minutes for questions.

The diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) update was very brief but contained long awaited news:

We're delighted to announce that we've signed a contract with a consulting firm, who will be working with us on an organizational culture audit. (If you were wondering about the unlabeled $96,000 line item in the budget, this was it!) The consulting firm has already completed an initial survey and begun interviewing volunteers, and will continue this process over the next few weeks. DEI subject matter experts will be involved and consulted throughout the process. We are incredibly excited to work with them and make the OTW a better, more inclusive place!

Later, in response to my question asking for more details, Zixin said they would not be sharing information about the firm in order to protect them from possible harassment and that they don't have a sense of how many people at the firm will be working on this or for how long. They expect a preliminary report by the end of January 2024 and will give updates at the next public meeting.

Considering how long we've been waiting for progress on the DEI consultant, getting a report from them by January feels lightning fast, but history suggests the next Board meeting won't be until March, so it'll probably be a while before that information reaches us.

Also of note was the question of paid staff: Has the board been looking into hiring a volunteer to look into hiring paid staff? Is there a timeline for hiring paid staff?

Kathryn S responded:

We do have a timeline for Paid Staff Transition in our Strategic Planning 2023-2026: The Volunteers & Recruiting Committee has been working on finding an external HR firm for the organization for several months. There are two main goals behind for the OTW behind this initiative: • To help the OTW create a better environment for its volunteers by reviewing our current org-wide policies and procedures and creating new ones when needed; • To help the OTW transition from a fully volunteer-based organization to hiring our first employee. The committee has interviewed several firms, but the size and global scope of the OTW's volunteer and user bases make it a complicated project. They are still meeting with candidate firms and exploring potential alternatives.

I asked a follow up to this, a request for an update on the search for a Paid Staff Transition Officer, but it did not make it before the Board during the relevant conversation, or in the meeting at all. I used the double arm (o//) to indicate it was a follow up question, but it still depended on votes to get in front of them, which feels like a flaw in the system, but I'll get an answer eventually, see below.

People asked a lot of good questions, and we got answers for the promised ten, even though it made the meeting run about twenty minutes longer than its scheduled hour. Some of the topics covered: confidentiality policy for Board and the emergency procedures promised to volunteers; Finance investing OTW's money to avoid being solely dependent on donors; evaluation and improvement of the Constructive Corrective Action Procedure (CCAP procedure); progress on the ToS review; proposed subcommittee to handle complaints and conflicts within the OTW; complaint management system for volunteers.

If you'd like to learn more, I recommend joining the OTW Discord and reading back through the #public-board-meetings channel, which is pretty straightforward now that Board members are the only ones allowed to post there. If you've already joined, you can use this link to jump to the top of the Nov 12 meeting.

The meeting closed with the news that the Board is planning to release a high-level overview of their timeline that includes their goals for the 2023-2024 Board Year at the next public meeting.

The questions that didn't get answered during this meeting will be answered in the #questions-answers channel starting in two weeks. So expect those around November 26, when the Board will begin posting weekly Q&A threads.

[tieflingkisser]

Meta’s new AI council is composed entirely of white men

Women AI leaders remain overlooked in Big Tech

Meta on Wednesday announced the creation of an AI advisory council with only white men on it. What else would we expect? Women and people of color have been speaking out for decades about being ignored and excluded from the world of artificial intelligence despite them being qualified and playing a key role in the evolution of this space.  Meta did not immediately respond to our request to comment about the diversity of the advisory board.  This new advisory board differs from Meta’s actual board of directors and its Oversight Board, which is more diverse in gender and racial representation. Shareholders did not elect this AI board, which also has no fiduciary duty. Meta told Bloomberg that the board would offer “insights and recommendations on technological advancements, innovation, and strategic growth opportunities.” It would meet “periodically.”  It’s telling that the AI advisory council is composed entirely of businesspeople and entrepreneurs, not ethicists or anyone with an academic or deep research background. While one could argue that current and former Stripe, Shopify and Microsoft executives are well positioned to oversee Meta’s AI product roadmap given the immense number of products they’ve brought to market among them, it’s been proven time and time again that AI isn’t like other products. It’s a risky business, and the consequences of getting it wrong can be far-reaching, particularly for marginalized groups.

[...]

Women are far more likely than men to experience the dark side of AI. Sensity AI found in 2019 that 96% of AI deepfake videos online were nonconsensual, sexually explicit videos. Generative AI has become far more prevalent since then, and women are still the targets of this violative behavior.  In one high-profile incident from January, nonconsensual, pornographic deepfakes of Taylor Swift went viral on X, with one of the most widespread posts receiving hundreds of thousands of likes, and 45 million views. Social platforms like X have historically failed at protecting women from these circumstances — but since Taylor Swift is one of the most powerful women in the world, X intervened by banning search terms like “taylor swift ai” and taylor swift deepfake.” But if this happens to you and you’re not a global pop sensation, then you might be out of luck. There are numerous reports of middle school and high school-aged students making explicit deepfakes of their classmates. While this technology has been around for a while, it’s never been easier to access — you don’t have to be technologically savvy to download apps that are specifically advertised to “undress” photos of women or swap their faces onto pornography. In fact, according to reporting by NBC’s Kat Tenbarge, Facebook and Instagram hosted ads for an app called Perky AI, which described itself as a tool to make explicit images. 

[...]

The current development of AI embodies the same existing power structures regarding class, race, gender and Eurocentrism that we see elsewhere, and it seems not enough leaders are addressing it. Instead, they are reinforcing it. Investors, founders and tech leaders are so focused on moving fast and breaking things that they can’t seem to understand that generative AI — the hot AI tech of the moment — could make the problems worse, not better. According to a report from McKinsey, AI could automate roughly half of all jobs that don’t require a four-year degree and pay over $42,000 annually, jobs in which minority workers are overrepresented. 

[philosophicalscribe]

Introduction🌿

Hello Community! You can call me Ashi.

(Pronounced as "Aa-Shi")

Occupation:

Finance Intern/Industrial Trainee.

Hybrid work structure, remotely and on site (3:2 weekdays).

(Not mentioning the name of the firm to maintain the confidentiality of my organization's clients and abide by the ethics of my professional governing bodies)

Academic Journey:

Currently pursuing ACCA with a focus on Financial Reporting and Audit and Assurance.

Also, preparing for the CA Final, due in November 2026.

Graduated BCom and pursuing BSc in Applied Accounting and Finance from Oxford University as my second and international undergraduate program—weekend classes, online—Faculty of Eastern Studies (starting October 2024).

Global prize winner for all three ACCA knowledge level exams.

Qualified CA Inter in November 2023.

About Me:

INFJ, 22-Year-Old - Born in May 2002

Languages: English, Hindi.

Place: India

Interests: Reading, writing, philosophy, and aspiring content creation in the future.

Hobbies and Personal Pursuits:

Though currently focused on my academic goals, I have a passion for philosophy and literature, particularly the works of Nietzsche, Kafka, and Marcus Aurelius, as well as Eastern philosophies like Advaita, Taoism, and the Bhagavad Gita. These are my best friends for solitude.

I see myself as a poet and writer at heart, though I rarely write anymore due to my academic and professional commitments.

Whenever I get time, I love to read about human motivation, drive, and desires, essentially human behavior and motivation science.

One can say, I'm inclined towards understanding myself and the world, through the Lense of data and experiment driven studies.

Basic Inclination:

I have a great inclination towards thinking and seeing things from different perspectives. I think and think and think a lot. If I could ask for anything, it would be a room full of books where I can read endlessly, without thinking about the corporate ladder. Thanks to capitalism for making me a finance bro. :D

Future Goals:

Current Pursuits: While my immediate goals include becoming a Chartered Accountant affiliated with two different accounting bodies, ACCA and ICAI, and advancing in the accounting & finance domain, I aspire to explore teaching and educational content creation in the future.

Short-Term Goals: Passing my exams. 😄

Aspiration: Interested in teaching and content creation, mainly educational and philosophical; aspire to pursue these someday. I also hope to engage in social commentary on life, politics, policies, psychology, etc., as a part-time hobby.

Perspective on Goals: I believe that as we move forward in life, our plans evolve with the new data we acquire. I strive to learn everything I can without deeply identifying with any materialistic profession or possession.

Subjects I'm Dealing with in the ACCA Coursework:

Knowledge Level:

Business and Technology (BT) - 100/100

Management Accounting (MA) - 98/100

Financial Accounting (FA) - 97/100

Skills Level (Yet to Appear):

Corporate and Business Law (LW)

Performance Management (PM)

Taxation (TX)

Financial Reporting (FR) - (IFRS, IAS, and GAP)

Audit and Assurance (AA)

Financial Management (FM)

Strategic Professional Level (Yet to Appear):

Strategic Business Leader (SBL)

Strategic Business Reporting (SBR)

Options - 2 of these: (yet to decide).

Advanced Financial Management (AFM)

Advanced Performance Management (APM)

Advanced Taxation (ATX)

Advanced Audit and Assurance (AAA)

Subjects I'm Dealing with in My Undergraduate Coursework:

Financial Accounting

Management Accounting

Corporate Finance

Business Law

Economics

Quantitative Methods

Financial Markets and Institutions

Auditing and Assurance

Taxation

Business Ethics and Corporate Governance

Subjects I'm Dealing with in My CA Final Coursework:

Financial Reporting (IND-AS)

Advanced Financial Management

Advanced Auditing and Assurance, and Professional Ethics

Direct Tax Laws & International Taxation (UK Tax)

Indirect Tax Laws

Customs and Foreign Trade Policy

Integrated Business Solutions (Multi-Disciplinary Case Study with Strategic Management)

Why Studyblr?

Studying remotely, working remotely, and visiting the office twice a week is an isolated journey. I want to ensure I’m seeing my progress visually and can get feedback on my performance. This often builds self-efficacy because learning takes a tangible form.

What You’ll Find Here:

A mix of my raw thoughts, reflections, and study progress.

Daily check-ins on productivity. I often record my study hours and focused office hours where I’m working on some projects together because what I learn at work often helps me in my academic journey.

Insights into my academic journey and personal growth.

Occasional musings on philosophical ideas and life’s reflections.

I don't promote perfect schedules and manufactured productivity as humans are prone to make errors, and imperfection is a part of life.

Philosophy:

Inspired by the concept of Vairagya, I believe in taking actions that satisfy the soul rather than just the senses. Everything comes with a sense of duty and not for personal pursuits, as personal pursuits often gives rise to ego, attachment, and fears.

Connect:

Feel free to join me on this journey. Let’s learn and grow together!

PS: Let’s keep moving on the journey.

Last updated - 30/07/24

[dom-22]

Master Data Governance Solutions - PiLog

Master Data Governance Solutions: Unlocking the Power of Data Control

Master Data Governance (MDG) solutions provide a structured framework for managing, controlling, and ensuring the quality of essential business data. These solutions establish policies, processes, and standards to maintain the integrity, security, and consistency of data across an organization. They focus on governing the lifecycle of critical master data such as customer information, product data, and financial records while making sure it remains accurate and compliant with regulatory requirements.

Key Features of Master Data Governance Solutions:

Data Policy Enforcement: MDG solutions define and enforce policies to maintain consistent data standards across all systems.

Data Stewardship: They assign roles and responsibilities to data stewards, who oversee data quality, resolve issues, and ensure data remains compliant.

Data Quality Monitoring: Continuous monitoring tools detect and correct data quality issues like duplicates, inconsistencies, and inaccuracies.

Audit Trails & Compliance: MDG solutions track changes and ensure that all modifications adhere to industry regulations and internal governance standards.

Workflow Management: Automated workflows manage data validation, approval, and updates across multiple systems.

Benefits of Master Data Governance:

Improved Data Quality: By applying rigorous standards, MDG ensures high-quality data that fuels accurate reporting and decision-making.

Regulatory Compliance: MDG solutions help businesses adhere to global data privacy regulations, reducing the risk of non-compliance penalties.

Enhanced Collaboration: With well-governed data, different departments can collaborate seamlessly, relying on accurate and up-to-date information.

Data Security: Governance solutions ensure that sensitive data is properly protected, with controlled access and strict usage guidelines.

Why Master Data Governance is Essential:

In today’s data-driven world, businesses rely on accurate and trustworthy data to drive strategic initiatives. However, without a strong governance framework, data can quickly become inconsistent, redundant, or insecure. Master Data Governance Solutions enable organizations to take control of their data, ensuring it is reliable, compliant, and ready to support growth.

Learn more at: https://www.piloggroup.com/lean-data-governance.php

[masllp]

Accounting Outsourcing India: Why MAS LLP is Your Ideal Partner

In today's fast-paced business environment, companies are increasingly turning to accounting outsourcing as a strategic move to enhance efficiency, reduce costs, and focus on core business functions. India, with its vast pool of skilled professionals and cost-effective services, has emerged as a global hub for accounting outsourcing. MAS LLP is at the forefront of this trend, offering top-notch accounting outsourcing services that cater to the diverse needs of businesses worldwide. Why Choose Accounting Outsourcing India? Cost Efficiency: One of the most significant advantages of outsourcing accounting services to India is the substantial cost savings. Indian service providers offer high-quality services at a fraction of the cost compared to Western countries. This cost advantage allows businesses to allocate resources more effectively and invest in growth initiatives.

Access to Skilled Professionals: India boasts a vast talent pool of accountants, chartered accountants, and financial analysts. These professionals are well-versed in global accounting standards, ensuring that your financial records are accurate and compliant with international regulations. Focus on Core Business Activities: By outsourcing accounting functions, businesses can free up valuable time and resources. This allows management to focus on core business activities, such as strategic planning, marketing, and product development, which are essential for long-term success. Scalability and Flexibility: Outsourcing accounting services to India offers businesses the flexibility to scale up or down based on their needs. Whether you require full-time accounting support or specific services like payroll processing or tax filing, Indian outsourcing providers can tailor their offerings to suit your requirements. Why MAS LLP is the Right Choice for Accounting Outsourcing India MAS LLP has established itself as a leading provider of accounting outsourcing services in India. Here’s why partnering with MAS LLP can be a game-changer for your business: Comprehensive Service Offerings: MAS LLP provides a wide range of accounting services, including bookkeeping, payroll processing, tax preparation, financial reporting, and more. Their comprehensive service offerings ensure that all your accounting needs are met under one roof. Experienced Team: The team at MAS LLP consists of highly qualified professionals with years of experience in the accounting industry. Their expertise in handling complex accounting tasks ensures that your financial records are in safe hands. Advanced Technology: MAS LLP leverages the latest accounting software and technologies to deliver accurate and timely services. Their use of advanced tools ensures that your financial data is processed efficiently and securely. Customized Solutions: Understanding that every business is unique, MAS LLP offers customized accounting solutions tailored to your specific needs. Whether you’re a small business or a large corporation, they have the expertise to cater to your requirements. Commitment to Quality: MAS LLP is committed to delivering high-quality services that exceed client expectations. Their focus on accuracy, compliance, and timely delivery has earned them a reputation as a trusted partner in the accounting outsourcing industry. Conclusion In an increasingly competitive global market, outsourcing accounting functions to India is a strategic move that can provide significant benefits. With MAS LLP as your partner, you can rest assured that your accounting needs will be handled with the utmost professionalism and expertise. Whether you’re looking to reduce costs, improve efficiency, or focus on core business activities, MAS LLP offers the perfect solution for all your accounting outsourcing needs. For more information on how MAS LLP can assist your business with Accounting Outsourcing India, contact them today.

[joshuajamesposts]

How AI is Revolutionizing Digital Marketing Tools in 2024

wanna know How AI is Revolutionizing Digital Marketing Tools in 2024 look no futher . in this blog i have outlined the perfect way to help you know the insights of ai revolutionizing digital marketing tools in 2024

introduction

The digital marketing landscape is evolving at a breakneck pace, and artificial intelligence (AI) is at the forefront of this transformation. As we step into 2024, AI-powered tools are revolutionizing how businesses approach digital marketing, offering unprecedented levels of efficiency, personalization, and insight. In this article, we'll explore how AI is reshaping digital marketing tools and why incorporating these advanced technologies is essential for staying competitive.

The Rise of AI in Digital Marketing tools in 2024

AI has become an integral part of digital marketing strategies, with 80% of industry experts incorporating some form of AI technology in their marketing activities by the end of 2023. This trend is only expected to grow as AI tools become more sophisticated and accessible.

here's the top must have digital marketing tools in 2024 

Stats & Facts:

Adoption Rate: By 2023, 80% of industry experts were using AI technology in their marketing activities (Source: Forbes).

Market Growth: The global AI in the marketing market is expected to grow from $12 billion in 2022 to $35 billion by 2025 (Source: MarketsandMarkets).

Enhancing Personalization

One of the most significant impacts of AI on digital marketing is its ability to deliver highly personalized experiences. AI algorithms analyze vast amounts of data to understand consumer behavior, preferences, and trends. This allows marketers to create tailored content, recommendations, and offers for individual users.

Example: E-commerce giants like Amazon and Netflix leverage AI to provide personalized product recommendations and content suggestions, resulting in higher engagement and conversion rates. According to a study by McKinsey, companies that excel in personalization generate 40% more revenue from those activities than average players.

Stats & Facts:

Revenue Increase: Companies that excel in personalization generate 40% more revenue than those that don't (Source: McKinsey).

Consumer Preference: 80% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase when brands offer personalized experiences (Source: Epsilon).

Improving Customer Insights

AI-powered analytics tools are transforming how businesses gather and interpret customer data. These tools can process and analyze large datasets in real-time, providing deep insights into customer behavior, sentiment, and preferences.

Example: Tools like Google Analytics 4 use AI to offer predictive metrics, such as potential revenue and churn probability. This helps businesses make informed decisions and refine their marketing strategies.

Stats & Facts:

Predictive Analytics: Companies that use predictive analytics are 2.9 times more likely to report revenue growth rates higher than the industry average

Data Processing: AI can analyze data up to 60 times faster than humans

Automating Routine Tasks

Automation is another area where AI is making a significant impact. AI-driven automation tools handle repetitive tasks, freeing up marketers to focus on more strategic activities.

Example: Email marketing platforms like Mailchimp use AI to automate email campaign scheduling, segmentation, and even content creation. This results in more efficient campaigns and improved ROI. In fact, automated email marketing can generate up to 320% more revenue than non-automated campaigns.

Stats & Facts:

Revenue Boost: Automated email marketing can generate up to 320% more revenue than non-automated campaigns

Time Savings: AI can reduce the time spent on routine tasks by up to 50%

Enhancing Customer Service with Chatbots

AI-powered chatbots are revolutionizing customer service by providing instant, 24/7 support. These chatbots can handle a wide range of queries, from product information to troubleshooting, without human intervention.

Example: Companies like Sephora use AI chatbots to assist customers with product recommendations and booking appointments. According to a report by Gartner, by 2024, AI-driven chatbots will handle 85% of customer interactions without human agents.

Stats & Facts:

Interaction Handling: By 2024, AI-driven chatbots will handle 85% of customer interactions without human agents

Cost Savings: Businesses can save up to 30% in customer support costs by using chatbots

Boosting Content Creation and Optimization

AI is also transforming content creation and optimization. AI tools can generate high-quality content, suggest improvements, and even predict how content will perform.

“Aspiring to create top-notch content become a leader in the industry?

well here's the price drop alert for high quality content masterly course from digital scholar to enhance your branding viral on the social media, google better rankings

Example: Tools like Copy.ai and Writesonic use AI to create blog posts, social media content, and ad copy. Additionally, platforms like MarketMuse analyze content and provide optimization recommendations to improve search engine rankings. According to HubSpot, businesses that use AI for content marketing see a 50% increase in engagement.

Stats & Facts:

Engagement Increase: Businesses using AI for content marketing see a 50% increase in engagement

Content Generation: AI can generate content up to 10 times faster than humans

Enhancing Ad Targeting and Performance

AI-driven advertising platforms are changing the way businesses target and engage with their audiences. These tools use machine learning algorithms to analyze user data and optimize ad placements, ensuring that ads reach the right people at the right time.

Example: Facebook's AI-powered ad platform uses advanced algorithms to target users based on their behavior, interests, and demographics. This results in higher click-through rates (CTR) and lower cost-per-click (CPC). A study by WordStream found that AI-optimized ads can achieve up to 50% higher CTRs compared to non-optimized ads.

Stats & Facts:

CTR Increase: AI-optimized ads can achieve up to 50% higher click-through rates

Cost Efficiency: AI-driven ad platforms can reduce cost-per-click by up to 30%

Predictive Analytics for Better Decision-Making

Predictive analytics powered by AI enables marketers to forecast trends, customer behavior, and campaign outcomes. This allows for proactive decision-making and more effective strategy development.

Example: Platforms like IBM Watson Marketing use AI to predict customer behavior and provide actionable insights. This helps businesses tailor their marketing efforts to meet future demands. According to a report by Forrester, companies that use predictive analytics are 2.9 times more likely to report revenue growth rates higher than the industry average.

Stats & Facts:

Revenue Growth: Companies using predictive analytics are 2.9 times more likely to report higher revenue growth rates

Accuracy Improvement: AI can improve the accuracy of marketing forecasts by up to 70%

Enhancing Social Media Management

AI tools are revolutionizing social media management by automating content scheduling, analyzing engagement metrics, and even generating content ideas.

Example: Tools like Hootsuite and Sprout Social use AI to analyze social media trends and suggest optimal posting times. They also provide sentiment analysis to help businesses understand how their audience feels about their brand. According to Social Media Today, AI-powered social media tools can increase engagement by up to 20%.

Stats & Facts:

Engagement Boost: AI-powered social media tools can increase engagement by up to 20%

Efficiency Gains: AI can reduce the time spent on social media management by up to 30%

The Future of AI in Digital Marketing tools

here's the top must have digital marketing tools in 2024 

As we look ahead, the role of AI in digital marketing will only continue to expand. Emerging technologies like natural language processing (NLP), computer vision, and advanced machine learning models will further enhance AI's capabilities.

Example: AI-powered voice search optimization tools will become increasingly important as more consumers use voice assistants like Siri and Alexa for online searches. By 2024, voice searches are expected to account for 50% of all online searches.

Stats & Facts:

Voice Search Growth: By 2024, voice searches are expected to account for 50% of all online searches

NLP Advancements: The global NLP market is projected to reach $43 billion by 2025

Conclusion

AI is revolutionizing digital marketing tools in 2024, offering businesses new ways to enhance personalization, improve customer insights, automate routine tasks, and optimize their marketing efforts. By leveraging AI-powered tools, businesses can stay competitive, drive higher engagement, and achieve better ROI. As AI technology continues to evolve, its impact on digital marketing will only grow, making it an essential component of any successful marketing strategy. Embrace the power of AI and transform your digital marketing efforts to stay ahead in the ever-changing digital landscape.

[mariacallous]

Earlier this year, McKinsey executives found themselves in serious political trouble. The Financial Times reported that their China branch had boasted in 2019 of its economic advice to the Chinese central government, while a McKinsey-led think tank prepared a book which advised China to “deepen cooperation between business and the military and push foreign companies out of sensitive industries.”

McKinsey, which had previously gotten media attention for promoting China’s Belt and Road initiative, responded with a statement saying that China’s central government had never to its knowledge been a client, and stressing its “75 year history of supporting the US government.” But the damage was done: Senior Republican policymakers called for McKinsey to be banned from tens of millions of dollars in federal contracts.

Once, information brokers like McKinsey could advise governments and share data across national borders with little controversy. Now, they are being forced to make hard choices—and not just by U.S. politicians. The Beijing branch of the Mintz group, a consultancy specializing in due diligence, was raided last year by Chinese authorities, which had apparently started worrying that accurate statistics about the Chinese economy were a national security threat. Bain, which provides detailed advice to corporations, was raided a month later.

These changes in practice go hand in hand with changes in regulation. Although China has eased off on some of the harshest implications of its new rules preventing the export of data, businesses still face serious uncertainty over what information they can export and what they can’t. The U.S, long notoriously lax in its treatment of sensitive data, has acquired a newfound zeal to prevent the export of certain kinds of information and moved sharply away from its past blanket support of “free cross-border information flows.”

Not so long ago, consultancies and other information brokers could work easily with different clients in different countries. Just as they talked to competing firms, they advised competing governments. In 2015, when senior McKinsey partner Lola Woetzel hoped the think tank’s book “provides useful input for the planning and development of China’s technology enterprises and government institutions,” she likely didn’t think she was making a controversial statement.

But what may have seemed banal then may now be depicted as smoking gun evidence that companies are helping the enemy. For decades, business leaders assumed that globalization meant market expansion. Their big worry was gaining and keeping market share, and competing with their rivals. Now, they are being thrown unprepared into a world where globalization means geopolitical risk—and information is the riskiest asset of all.

Top officials in Washington and Beijing no longer see economic information simply as the fuel for innovation and better business services. Instead, they worry about economic confrontation and act on fears over what might happen if there was an actual war, where data could power artificial intelligence, disinformation or surveillance. As markets become battlefields, government leaders begin to worry about who has crucial information about the contours of the combat zone—and who they might be sharing it with.

That is why leaders on both sides of the Pacific are ratcheting up actions aimed to limit the exchange of strategic information. Semiconductors—where the U.S. has imposed extensive restrictions on the export of tools and expertise—took the first hit. Now, business consultancies and compliance groups are in trouble. Soon, it may be everyone.

Once, information brokering seemed to be politically risk free. When political consultancies like McKinsey were criticized, it was usually left wingers deploring their business advice, not centrists and conservatives condemning their work with adversary governments. As governments realized they needed greater information and access, they started to rely more on international consultants, which worked with many clients in many countries.

Consultancy firms were already crucial middlemen in the globalized economy, providing advice and shaping so-called best practices. Big companies in Beijing could see what their peers in Boston were doing, and adapt it to local circumstances. Consultants began to do the same for government clients. Other major international businesses, such as accountancy firms and data brokers, got in on the action, providing governments with specialized information that they didn’t have themselves.

Just as specialized compliance firms told business how to raise capital or make safe investments under different regulatory regimes, business consultancies advised governments how to attract investment, optimize public service delivery, and learn from what other regulators were doing. Governments saw themselves as innovating and competing for market share in a global economy. That seemed to allow information brokers to become middlemen for governments too.

Businesses are rarely happy when an information broker offers advice to an economic competitor as well as to themselves, but they can live with it, so long as confidentiality is preserved. When governments thought of themselves like businesses, they could accept the same rough bargain.

All that has changed now that governments worry less about market competition and more about security competition. What once seemed like market advice to competing governments may now seem like trading information with the enemy. Building up an adversary’s economy may help fuel a military machine that might someday be used against you, and providing data and information might directly enhance their arsenal. Microsoft offered to “relocate” cloud computing staff from China amidst dire pronouncements from the Biden administration that cloud computing might help adversaries train AI.

These sweeping changes explain McKinsey’s current troubles. Business activities that seemed innocuous a few years ago may be depicted as near-treasonous today. Companies that did not directly engage with foreign governments, but that just gathered market information, face similar dilemmas. Chinese regulators justified their action against Mintz by claiming that the company had conducted “foreign-related statistical investigations.”

In a world of geopolitical competition, even apparently innocent collection of economic data can be penalized harshly. After all, other governments could potentially use such data to discover and exploit economic vulnerabilities, discovering which businesses have financial relationships with which, or which rely on foreign technologies that might be weaponized against them.

The U.S. has already acted to choke off China’s access to certain highly advanced semiconductors, and has targeted businesses with close relationships to China’s military.

China has cut off foreign access to key data on business relationships and technological advances, which it fears may be deployed against it.

Chinese officials have also complained furiously at U.S. actions, but their rhetorical conversion to the gospel of free exchange of information is belated and hypocritical. China does not just censor its own citizens and try to silence dissidents abroad. It has spent decades enthusiastically trying to force reporters and information companies to comply with the party line, exploiting the vulnerabilities of parent companies, which want access to China’s market.

When Bloomberg ran a story on the corruption of China’s party elite, the government searched its bureaus and ordered state-owned companies not to lease Bloomberg terminals. Bloomberg reportedly killed a second story that would bring the corruption story closer to Xi Jinping, suspending, and later firing, the reporter responsible, reportedly for revealing what had happened.

The U.S. and China have each made efforts to limit the economic repercussions. Jake Sullivan, the White House national security advisor, has taken to using the more anodyne term “derisking” as an alternative to “decoupling,” and has stressed that the U.S. wants a “small yard, high fence” approach that would limit China’s access to a limited number of “foundational” technologies, while allowing continued financial and informational exchange elsewhere. China has partly rolled back a national security law that would have made it vastly more difficult for companies to transfer internal data across borders.

But even so, the trend seems to point toward more restrictions on information exchange rather than less. It is nearly impossible to define what “foundational” technologies are in advance, or to keep the yard small when a bipartisan coalition wants to dramatically expand it. And while some in China’s complex internal political system might want continued international exchange of trade and information, national security hawks are ascendant, suggesting that the future may see more rather than fewer restrictions on information exchange.

Nor are traditional information brokers like McKinsey—or even Ernst & Young—the only plausible targets. The U.S. Congress has started investigating whether cranes used at U.S. ports are phoning back to the mothership in China, while the E.U. worries about Chinese produced airport screening equipment The data revolution means that nearly every major business is an information broker, and hence at risk of being targeted or pressed into service as a possible unwilling combatant.

Indiscriminate data collection has itself become a risky bet as the logic of national security devours the globalized economy. TikTok’s business model and its Chinese roots have led U.S. politicians to see it as an urgent national security risk. That is why they swiftly passed legislation intended either to force its sale or shut down its U.S. operations. Biden administration executive orders limit cloud service providers and data brokers from sending data to China. Elon Musk has had to hustle and build an alliance with Baidu to get China to consider approving Tesla’s compliance with data security laws.

Every prominent international business that extensively gathers data risks unwelcome attention and action. And nearly everyone is gathering data. So what can businesses do to minimize the risk of being McKinseyed?

The first and most obvious step is to map their exposure. Companies need to understand how much they have become information brokers, the specific information and data that they have collected, and the different jurisdictions that they are exposed to. Very often, data practices are consigned to middle management and company lawyers—but they now pose potential existential risks.

As a result, capacity needs to be built at the level of top management. Senior executives in strategic sectors of technology, such as semiconductor production, have had to educate themselves in a hurry about how geopolitics is transforming their business model.

Some businesses will have to consider reforming their internal organizational structures to make themselves more robust. McKinsey itself is moving toward a more centralized risk management system to make it less likely that ambitious partners, hungry to grow their client relationships, create risk for the firm as a whole.

But for some businesses, the best step may be the most radical one—considering whether they want to be in the business of information gathering and brokering at all. As Fourcade and Healy suggest, the drive to gather data on everything was at least as much the result of businesses piling in on what everyone else was doing, as of cool consideration of the possible business model.

Others may want to support national privacy and data protection laws that they previously opposed. Such laws provide them with a potential legal shield against foreign demands for data and information that would hurt their reputation and get them into political trouble back home. Finally, businesses may find themselves increasingly forced to choose between the U.S. and China.

Information brokers like McKinsey and Bain have long been criticized for their association with a particular model of globalized capitalism. That model is in trouble—and so are the businesses that helped propagate its gospel. As information increasingly comes to be seen not solely as an economic input, but also as a source of geopolitical risk and disadvantage, McKinsey won’t be the last information broker to end up being targeted by angry politicians.

[coochiequeens]

While I'm not sad that an industry that exploits women is filing for bankruptcy I am pissed that a lot media will identify the new owner of the franchise as a woman and feed into negative stereotypes about women and money.

A 2022 Miss Universe judge is revealing why the organizer behind the event has filed for bankruptcy just days before the next main event.

"I think the outrage about a trans woman coming to Miss Universe and preaching, 'Bring the power back to women,' couldn't be more of an oxymoron," television host and reporter Emily Austin said Thursday on "Varney & Co."

"I think her company in Thailand has its own financial issues," she continued, "but socially and morally it's just wrong. And people are starting to catch on that."

Thai business tycoon and transgender activist Anne Jakrajutatip of the JKN Global Group bought the Miss Universe organization for $20 million in 2022. Jakrajutatip, who has international fame as a transgender celebrity, described the purchase at the time as "a strong, strategic addition to our portfolio."

But one year later, the franchise itself appears unstable

2022 Miss Universe judge Emily Austin, right, said on "Varney & Co." that the event organizer's bankruptcy was "absolutely" caused by the transgender owner's "socially and morally" wrong controversy. (Fox News)

A public document sent to the Stock Exchange of Thailand from JKN Global Group declared "JKN Global Group Public Company Limited (the ‘Company’) has filed a petition for business rehabilitation with the Central Bankruptcy Court under the Bankruptcy Act B.E. 2483 (1940) (as amended) (the ‘Bankruptcy Act’) on November 8, 2023, the Central Bankruptcy Court has subsequently issued an order to accept the petition for business rehabilitation of the Company on November 9, 2023."

The Miss Universe Organization published a subsequent announcement declaring that due to "the current financial situation… we confirm that Miss Universe 2023 will be held in El Salvador on 18 November 2023, where a top notch experience provided to our fans will remain our top priorities." [sic]

For the first time, this year’s Miss Universe pageant is slated to feature at least two transgender contestants — Miss Portugal, a flight attendant named Marina Machete, and Rikkie Kollé, the first transgender Miss Netherlands. Spain’s Ángela Ponce was the pageant’s first trans contestant in 2018, but did not advance to the finals.

Austin argued Thursday her belief that transgender women should not be permitted to compete in the high-caliber pageant.

"If you want to empower women, the way to do it is not demeaning women and belittling women by allowing men, or biological men who became a woman, to come into an industry like sports, like beauty pageants, come all dolled-up plastic — [they're] beautiful men, by the way — and start dominating women's industries. That's the opposite of women's empowerment," Austin explained.

The 2022 judge added that many decisions are based around a contestant’s interview, and expressed how a transgender woman’s life experiences may not be comparable to a biological woman’s.

"The interview comes from your life story and how as a woman, you've evolved and you want to change the world. So if you grew up a man and you decided to become a woman, I don't think you have a true woman's, feminine story. You don't know what period cramps feel like, I'm sorry. You don't know what it's like to walk down a stage during that time of the month and really say: this is femininity," Austin said.

"You are a man who identifies as a woman, and that's fine," she added. "But don't start coming into women's industries — have a line, have a boundary. That's the problem."

[darkmaga-retard]

Andrew Korybko

Sep 16, 2024

Compliance would amount to damaging its own soft power and grand strategic interests.

The Hindu cited unnamed government sources to report that “U.S. officials have spoken to the Ministry of External Affairs about joining their actions against what they call ‘Russian disinformation’, by revoking accreditations and designating their journalists under the ‘Foreign Missions Act’. However, while the Ministry has been silent on the issue, government officials said that the debate on sanctions is not relevant to India.” The US should have known that India wouldn’t ever capitulate to its demands.

The decades-long Russian-Indian Strategic Partnership has been rejuvenated over the past two and a half years since the special operation began after India stepped up to preemptively avert Russia’s potentially disproportionate dependence on China. Time and again, India has responded to American pressure to distance itself from Russia by redoubling their relations, which is predicated on accelerating tri-multipolarity processes with a view towards jointly midwifing complex multipolarity (“multiplexity”).

On the soft power front, a survey carried out by India’s prestigious Observer Research Foundation in late 2022 showed that their country’s youth regarded Russia as their most reliable partner. Meanwhile, a US-based global business intel company confirmed two months later that adults view Russia as the country most allied to their own. This backdrop explains why so many were confused over the summer when it was discovered that RT and Sputnik had shared inconsistent depictions of India’s territorial integrity.

[elsa16744]

What is ESG Investing? What is the Best Way to Get Started? 

ESG is the next big thing in investing. It offers real-world performance factors that help investors consider how companies impact the regional community when making investment decisions. They also develop strategic thinking to work toward sustainable development goals (SDGs). This post will discuss what matters in ESG investing and to get started. 

What Is ESG Investing? 

ESG investing means investors utilize the three types of compliance metrics of corporate impact metrics to screen the target companies’ stocks or funds. Moreover, corporations seek to attract such investments through responsible and sustainable business practices. 

If investors want data on the beneficial effect of a company’s operations on the local community, they can use ESG services. They can get reports from a data-driven survey concerning the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) compliance standards. 

ESG audits enable informed investment decisions and portfolio management strategies. Investors can monitor whether a firm delivers its promised SDG metrics using such inspections. Likewise, consider the investors who invest their capital into the businesses that provide their employees with fair wages and respect. 

How to Get Started with ESG Investing? 

1| Specify Which Metrics Matter the Most to You 

Investors must identify the ESG metrics, like forest preservation or tax transparency, before selecting a stock or asset class. They must also consider how all metrics have a unique significance in several industries. For example, carbon and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission risks will differ across data centers, agricultural businesses, and construction firms. 

If an organization wants to attract investors using sustainability performance, it can benefit from ESG consulting. Consultants understand the investors’ conceptualization of an ESG-first enterprise of investors and how companies can work towards improving their operations to fulfill them. 

2| Determine Realistic Goals 

Depending on the scope of the energy transition, adopting greener resources and production technologies can financially burden a business at the initial stage. So, investors, regulators, and entrepreneurs must use real-world data to estimate the progress rate of compliance improvement initiatives. 

An organization or exchange-traded fund (ETF) can fail to retain investors if the compliance milestones remain distant. Accordingly, administrators involved in regulatory policy changes that can impact an industry’s ESG dynamics must consider how long the corporate world will need to modify its operations. 

3| Mitigate Greenwashing Risks 

Companies might advertise their brand as “eco-friendly” or socially responsible. However, investors must watch out for the greenwashing attempts. Greenwashing refers to magnifying a company’s sustainability commitments with no on-ground implementation. 

An enterprise might declare it opposes discriminatory practices while showing inaction when an employee experiences workplace harassment. Another example can be an energy distributor not reducing its usage of coal and petroleum derivatives as fuel. 

Therefore, investors and fund managers must cross-verify the “green claims” that a target company makes during press releases or marketing campaigns. 

4| Get ESG Ratings Using Multiple Frameworks 

To test the legitimacy of a corporation’s SDG commitments, a rating mechanism based on multi-variate performance analytics can help in ESG investing. Today, many sustainability accounting frameworks exist. For example, the global reporting initiative (GRI) allows sectorial modules. 

Each GRI criterion addresses a family of interdependent services and products. So, an agricultural business will use a separate GRI standard, differing from the modules used in technology, finance, and manufacturing firms. 

How can investors get started with ESG score comparisons? Some online databases offer preliminary insights into how different brands and ETFs compete in this space. However, more extensive data becomes available through paid platforms or experienced consultants.  

Conclusion 

ESG criteria will empower investors to evaluate the ecological or social risks associated with how an enterprise handles its operations. Fund managers and similar financial institutions can gain a more objective outlook on stock screening using industry-relevant assistance. 

Furthermore, combating the greenwashing risks will be challenging if you are a sustainability investor, but extensive analytical models will come to your rescue. Finally, investors must refer to multiple sustainability accounting frameworks or databases to check a firm’s compliance ratings. This approach is how you get started with ESG investing. 

Nevertheless, manual inspection is time-consuming, and ESG ratings keep changing due to mergers and new projects. So, collaborating with data partners capable of automating compliance tracking, controversy analytics, and carbon credit assessments is vital.