The World of Business

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Business
**The World of Business**

Insights into the business world – featuring content from BBC Radio 4’s In Business programme, and also Global Business from the BBC World Service.

Latest Episodes:

Antony Jenkins talks to Kamal Ahmed Dec 03, 2015

Show notes

The former Barclays CEO, Antony Jenkins, talks to Kamal Ahmed

Global Business: The Rise of the Executive PA Oct 22, 2015

Show notes

The executive personal assistant is a job that requires utmost discretion and an inbuilt ability to know what the boss needs before they need it. In an age where many administrative tasks are being delegated to computers, the human touch of the skilled executive assistant is gaining value in the corporate suite. Sathnam Sanghera finds out how the role of the Man Men secretary has evolved into the contemporary assistant and discovers how indispensable these modern day multitaskers are to the success of a CEO and their company.

Global Business: The Violins of Cremona Oct 15, 2015

Show notes

Cremona in northern Italy is the original home of the Stradivarius violin and now - several centuries later - master craftsmen are still producing hand-made violins and exporting around the world. But how can such a niche industry survive in the modern world of mass production?

What makes a company last? Oct 08, 2015

Show notes

Peter Day asks whether companies really should still be built to last in today's hi-tech internet world. What are the characteristics of those that stand the test of time? Many do learn to change or even re-invent themselves while others, such as Woolworths, have disappeared altogether. In interviews with business leaders and entrepreneurs he discusses whether longevity still matters.

Producer: Caroline Bayley

Global Business: Online Shopping in Rural China Oct 01, 2015

Show notes

In some villages in rural China they're replacing the sounds of chickens and farm life with something very 21st century. In the village of Qing Yan Liu, four hours south of Shanghai, they've created a world of bubble wrap and sticky tape. The people here have embraced going online to become an internet shopping hub. In the eyes of the Chinese Premier this could be the future of rural China. He hopes that more and more places will copy what has happened in “China’s Number One E-Commerce village”. He wants to avoid what is happening in many other villages where all the young people have left in search of work and the place is gradually abandoned. Peter Day visits three countryside villages to hear how online shopping is transforming life in rural China. Producer: Charlotte Pritchard.

China Going Green Sep 24, 2015

Show notes

China is the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases.

Many Chinese dream of seeing blue skies and white clouds but rarely do because of the smog. Often the daily routine is to wake up and check the pollution levels to decide if it is safe for children to play outside, or if a filter mask should be worn for protection.

Ahead of December’s UN Climate Change summit, Peter Day reports on the Chinese ambitions to make China ‘go green’. Many people say the Chinese aren’t given enough credit for their efforts and argue the West will be shocked when it realises the extent of their actions. But can that ambition become reality? Peter Day reports from Beijing and beyond and asks when will the Chinese be able to breathe more easily?

Global Business: A Tale of Two Farms Sep 17, 2015

Show notes

Peter Day continues his reports from the drought stricken central valley of California. This week he visits two family farms. Both grow fruit and nut crops. Both reflect the central role of migration and water in Californian history. They were founded by incomers; one from Japan, the other Mexico. But that is where the similarities end. These farms are separated by heartless geology. One has access to good quality groundwater, the other does not.

Producer : Rosamund Jones

Global Business: The California Drought Sep 10, 2015

Show notes

California has some of the world's most productive agricultural land. It puts fruit and vegetables on America's tables and exports huge amount of produce too; nearly all of the almonds we consume come from there. But the state is also enduring a severe drought, now into its fourth year. Farm land is being fallowed, farm workers are losing their jobs and thousands of wells are drying up. Some farmers believe that this year is the tipping point. If rain does not fall in the winter, they'll be unable to farm next year. But others have had some of their best years during these testing times. Peter Day explores what happens when water becomes the most valuable commodity there is.

Producer: Rosamund Jones

Global Business: Steinway Sep 03, 2015

Show notes

For more than 150 years, Steinway and Sons have been building handmade pianos to please the ear of the most discerning musicians. Their sound fills concert halls around the world. Why? Is it simply because they're the best; the best marketed or is there another reason?

Peter Day visits one of Steinway's two factories, in Astoria New York, to find out what gives this instrument its prized status in the concert world and ask if this once family owned firm can keep its place on the world stage.

Producer: Sandra Kanthal

Global Business: Graphene Aug 27, 2015

Show notes

It would take an elephant balanced on the tip of a pencil to break through a sheet of graphene the thickness cling film. That's the description those promoting this new wonder material like to use to illustrate the strength of graphene. The atomic material was isolated by two scientists at Manchester University in 2004. Now, just over a decade and one Nobel prize later, Peter Day visits the newly opened the National Graphene Institute. Its aim is to bring business and science together, to develop potential future uses for graphene. Will this strategy succeed where Britain’s past attempts to spin out scientific discoveries have not?

Producer: Sandra Kanthal

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