The Next China Is Still China: “There is no substitute for the Chinese market. China accounts for a staggering 30% of global manufacturing and 18% of global GDP, surpassing the European Union and trailing only the United States. With nearly five million STEM graduates each year (more than the total number of US degree graduates across all fields!), China is well-positioned in an era of technological automation, artificial intelligence, and data-powered innovation. However, the strategies that once propelled businesses to success in China are no longer sufficient. A new playbook is needed.”
NYTimes: “A technology — known as plug-in, balcony or garden solar — is already enormously popular in Germany, in part because you can buy a kit for less than $600 at IKEA. It’s a small solar panel system, often producing up to 1,200 watts of electricity, or generally more than a refrigerator consumes, that you can affix to a wall, hang on a railing or prop up in a garden — and then plug directly into a wall socket. With the help of a small device called a micro inverter, it pumps electricity into your household circuits to offset your power demand.”
Manu Joseph: “The best way for a startup to survive in Indian politics is to promise it’s temporary. You can achieve a lot in this world if you reassure people you are not permanent.”
FT: “McKinsey’s assessments of aspiring junior consultants include a “problem-solving” interview that presents candidates with a typical client challenge. This might be how to reallocate and retrain beauty advisers for a cosmetics company, or whether a truckmaker should invest in electric fleets. “We are trying to mirror the problems they will encounter,” says Marie Christine Padberg, partner of talent attraction at the consultancy. Since the end of last year, McKinsey has added a new component to the recruitment interviews: the use of AI. It wants candidates to show how they use it to research and analyse data, test and refine their ideas.”
