Italian businesses Keeping it in the family Patriarchs are reluctant to cede control of the companies they built RAISED in an orphanage, Leonardo Del Vecchio started selling spectacles in Belluno in northernItalyin 1967. Today his company, Luxottica,...
Germany's economy Watching the wages Germany's economy stutters, even if the fundamentals are strong BLAMING Germanyor at least the austerity prescribed for the euro zone by Chancellor Angela Merkelfor Europe's ills may be popular in France. But Germ...
Popping property bubbles Choosing the right pin House prices in Europe are losing touch with reality again. Deflating the bubbles will not be easy THE Swedish word bo means to live; sambo to cohabit. As more people struggle to get on the housing ladd...
Alaska's bush country Hunting for dividends The virtues and shortcomings of Eskimo capitalism ALASKANS like to talk about how distant the rest of America feels. In downtown Anchorage, with its familiar fast-food restaurants and hotel chains, this lin...
公共汽车 Buses Up to speed Copying the capital is even harder than it looks FEW Britons feel passionate about buses. Unlike the railways, they spur few protests or angry letters in local newspapers. On August 26th IPPR, a left-leaning think-tank...
French political fiction What if it were true? When truth really is stranger than fiction ONE pleasure of the French summer is the publication of political fiction in media usually busy with the soap opera of real political life. During the holidays,...
Ceasefire in Gaza A war without winners Sadly, the end of the fighting is unlikely to mark the beginning of the peace THE chances are that the latest of more than half a dozen ceasefires inGazawill holdat least for a month or so, while the sides talk...
Accounting for brands Untouchable intangibles Sometimes you see brands on the balance-sheet, sometimes you don't COCA-COLA is worth 79.2 billion, according to Interbrand, a consultant. That does not seem excessive for the brand responsible for making...
Bank of America was reported to have reached a settlement with American regulators to pay around 17 billion for mis-selling mortgage-backed securities in the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis. It is by far the biggest penalty levied on a single com...
Online gaming Streaming down the Amazon Why Amazon is buying a video-game streaming site ON OCTOBER 4th 2013, tens of thousands of gamers packed the Staples Centre inLos Angelesto watch SK Telecom T1 triumph over Royal Club in the annual finals of Le...