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What to Expect When Selling a Business: A Conversation with Jordan Gerber at Caber Hill Advisors

To help businesses, investors, and deal professionals better understand the evolving M&A market, Rob Connolly – a partner in and leader of LP’s Corporate Practice Group – shares a sequence of conversations with M&A experts. Below is his conversation with Jordan Gerber, a Managing Director at Caber Hill Advisors, an M&A advisory firm that focuses on helping privately-held, middle-market businesses transact with strategic or private-equity-backed buyers. Jordan has over 25…

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Divorce: what is fair in love and war?

On divorce, how can you know what a fair financial settlement is going to look like? How much should you receive from your spouse or pay them? No formulas are available to give us a definitive answer; just a couple of key words being “fair” and “reasonable”. So, what will fair look like in your case, when fairness, sometimes likened to beauty, is in the eye of the beholder? In short,…

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Stanford conference explores education technology in the age of AI

“We want students to thrive throughout their whole life, and we want them to have the educational experiences that lead to that thriving,” said Professor Susanna Loeb in the opening panel of the 2024 Accelerate Edtech Impact summit at Stanford. “We want that for all students. We don’t just want that for students from well resourced families, and we don’t just want that for students who are motivated and engaged…

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Better guidance equals better reporting: Navigating the Supply Chains Act for year 2 reporting

Updated guidance for entities (Guidance) has been published with respect to the reporting obligations under the Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act (the Supply Chains Act). The revisions provide significant clarification in several areas where there was previous uncertainty, including with respect to the definition of “assets” and the type of activities that will trigger a reporting obligation. The Guidance also includes tips for avoiding…

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Podcast: Microsoft’s chief scientist on AI’s untapped potential

JAIME TEEVAN: Thanks, Molly. It’s a pleasure to join.  MOLLY WOOD: So, you have the most fantastic-sounding job at Microsoft. Can you tell us a little bit about it? What was Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s initial vision for your role? And then what’s your day-to-day like? JAIME TEEVAN: Yeah, I do have the most fantastic job, so you are right. [Laughs] My job is to drive research-backed innovation in our core products.…

  • Post category:Microsoft
  • Reading time:26 mins read
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Global Economics Intelligence executive summary, October 2024

Global growth is expected to remain stable and slow into next year, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Its World Economic Outlook report, released in October, predicts global annual real GDP growth to be 3.2% in both 2024 and 2025, rising to 3.1% in five years’ time, a performance it describes as mediocre compared with the prepandemic average. Unsurprisingly, forecasts for 2024 and 2025 see emerging markets and developing…

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  • Reading time:10 mins read
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25 tech and infrastructure problems to solve before we can reach net zero

As the earth continues to warm and concerns increase over climate risks ranging from extreme flooding to heatwaves, world leaders are gathered in Baku, Azerbaijan, for another round of climate discussions at COP29. For companies, the strategic consequences of climate action — particularly in the face of rising global uncertainties — are top of mind. Corporate leaders are thinking about how to meet their own net-zero goals, and how to…

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  • Reading time:8 mins read
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Get Your Wallets Ready – The Price of Patents Are Going Up!

Attention, inventors, in-house counsel, and anyone with a vested interest in the world of intellectual property: the USPTO just issued its final rule for patent fees. This is a follow-up to the 2023 proposal—but with a slightly softer landing. Starting January 19, 2025, the cost of securing those all-important patent rights is going up—because inflation, higher examiner pay, and new small-entity discounts have left the USPTO needing more revenue to…

  • Post category:Seyfarth Shaw LLP
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Eat, Drink and Be Merry – The federal government announces temporary GST/HST holiday on qualifying goods

On Nov. 21, 2024, the Department of Finance announced temporary goods and services tax/harmonized sales tax (GST/HST) relief on certain qualifying goods as part of the federal government’s wider announcement titled More money in your pocket: A tax break for all Canadians. While the authors generally support substantive tax reform to address Canada’s declining productivity and relieve inflationary pressure on the cost of living for Canadians, temporary GST/HST relief on…

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Microsoft shares latest intelligence on North Korean and Chinese threat actors

This year at CYBERWARCON, Microsoft Threat Intelligence analysts are sharing research and insights representing years of threat actor tracking, infrastructure monitoring and disruption, and attacker tooling. The talk DPRK – All grown up will cover how the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) has successfully built computer network exploitation capability over the past 10 years and how threat actors have enabled North Korea to steal billions of dollars in cryptocurrency…

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Robotics for Environmental Innovation

When researchers need to collect data about a worksite’s soil quality, they can run into several problems. Using excavators to access sites can be challenging, expensive, and may limit the ability to collect samples. Once an excavator does return a scoop of soil, scientists must still collect soil samples by hand for shipping and analysis at an off-site commercial lab. In short, their work is often dirty, dangerous and expensive.…

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Anti-Business Sentiment Is Uniting Political Opposites

This commentary originally appeared in Time. This week’s news regarding the Biden Administration’s effort to force Alphabet to divest Google Chrome is consistent with shared anti-big business sentiments in large parts of the Republican right. The attack on American pillars of U.S. prominence, including technology, the food industry, pharmaceuticals, financial services, and higher education—all the envy of the rest of the world—hints an anger that is now bringing together America’s…

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Warning: Upgrade your personal operating model

“Update now or risk losing access to your company’s systems and services.” Executives have likely seen this kind of message regularly sent to their company-issued mobile phone or computer. And when it pops up, they know exactly what it means and why: upgrading a device’s operating system can help protect it against bugs or unlock new features for more effectiveness. As a leader, updates to your own operating system can…

  • Post category:McKinsey & Company
  • Reading time:23 mins read
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What If Listening Could Change Everything?

What if listening could change everything? This raw and captivating episode with guest Avi Kluger reveals how listening and the “space between” people can unlock new ways of seeing, feeling and transforming, and profoundly reshape how we lead, connect and grow. A pioneering researcher in feedback and organizational behavior, Avi shares his personal journey to understand the power of listening and its potential to unlock unexpected depths in ourselves and…

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Faculty Senate upholds 2020 Scott Atlas censure, discusses school initiatives

The Faculty Senate voted against rescinding its 2020 censure of Scott Atlas, a Hoover Institution fellow who advised President Donald Trump on COVID-19 matters, following a lengthy discussion on Thursday.Deans from the Graduate School of Business, School of Engineering, School of Humanities and Sciences, and School of Law also shared their guiding priorities with the senate during the last meeting of the fall quarter.In response to a senator’s question, Provost…

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Seeing is believing—or is it? How online images fuel gender bias

From TikTok and YouTube to Google Images and AI-driven art generators, visual content is dominating the digital world. More than 3.2 billion images and 720,000 hours of video were posted on the internet every day in 2023, and that figure is rapidly growing. “The production and circulation of images is on a whole new scale,” says Douglas Guilbeault, an assistant professor of organizational behavior at Stanford Graduate School of Business.…

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Men more willing than women to accept robot care in old age, Oxford study finds

The study, published in the journal Community, Work and Family, assesses people's attitudes towards having robots caring for oneself, providing services and companionship, when one is infirm or elderly.  The study draws on data from 28 European countries, factoring in local determinants such as GDP, women’s labour force participation rates, and spending on elderly care. The lead author, Professor Ekaterina Hertog, Associate Professor at the Oxford Internet Institute & the…

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Derivative Carriers Don’t Exist in the Air Industry, Says the NMB in Swissport

In a recent advisory opinion following the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) referral, the National Mediation Board (NMB) ruled on whether the Railway Labor Act (RLA) applies to Swissport Cargo Services, LP, a third-party ground service provider for airlines (i.e., a “derivative carrier”). Deviating from nearly 40 years of history, the NMB held that the RLA does not cover Swissport or its employees, reasoning that Swissport is not a “common…

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British expats frozen out of the UK State Pension

The UK State Pension can be a useful top up to your retirement income. But if you’re living in some overseas countries, you might find your pension payments are frozen at lower rates, meaning you’re losing out on increasing amounts. George Howard, our Chartered Financial Planner in Dubai, takes a look at the facts. Paying your National Insurance contributions during your working life should mean that you can enjoy a…

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Swings in Building Permits Can Help Predict Financial Downturns‌

Nearly a century ago, economist and Maryland congressman Clarence Long called the building industry “probably the most strategic single factor in making or breaking booms and depressions.” Since then, economists have tried to tease apart the complex relationship between housing markets and the economy.‌ Building permits give you a nice signal of investors’ beliefs about the local economy. It’s a connection between Main Street and Wall Street. A flurry of…

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The Tasks of Building Trust Between the Countries of the Global Non-West and the South

One of the foundations of this approach was the Bandung Conference of 1955. Non-Western countries for the first time proclaimed their common goals and objectives. The declaration of this conference recorded the commitment of non-Western countries to the common cause of fighting Western colonialism and imperialism, the recognition of the principle of equality of all participants and differences between them, as well as the joint promotion of common interests in…

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What will it take for working women to rise?

Change can be challenging—and slow. Case in point: a decade of research on Women in the Workplace, conducted by McKinsey in partnership with LeanIn.Org, discloses several areas where women still lag behind their counterparts. In this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, McKinsey senior partners Alexis Krivkovich and Lareina Yee speak with global editorial director Lucia Rahilly about where women’s experiences have improved, stalled, and even worsened over the past ten years, as…

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  • Reading time:19 mins read
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Award-winning broadcaster Hannah Fry joins Cambridge as Professor of the Public Understanding of Mathematics

Fry brings outstanding experience to the role of communicating to diverse audiences, including with people not previously interested in maths. She will follow in the footsteps of giants of public engagement with mathematics, including David Spiegelhalter and the late Stephen Hawking as she joins the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (DAMTP).“I’m really looking forward to joining the Cambridge community,” said Fry, “to those chance encounters and interactions that…

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Building a Consistently Excellent Culture: Bain’s Manny Maceda

Topics Culture Champions Building a healthy culture is one of the most important — and hardest — leadership jobs. These articles, based on a webinar series and research by Donald Sull and CultureX, share actionable advice from leaders whose cultures produced exceptional business results and a world-class employee experience. More in this series subscribe-icon Subscribe Share Aleksandar Savic The strongest corporate cultures have a handful of core values that are…

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OFCCP Releases FY 2025 Corporate Scheduling Announcement List and Scheduling Methodology

Seyfarth Synopsis: The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (“OFCCP”) issued its FY 2025 Corporate Scheduling Announcement List (Release 1) (“CSAL”) today.  This list provides advance notice of 2,000 compliance reviews, which OFCCP plans to schedule although the exact timing is unclear.  Federal contractors and subcontractors should review the list to determine whether they have been selected for an upcoming compliance review. OFCCP has posted its FY 2025 CSAL identifying the…

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Defying the odds to find fintech app success: A conversation with Nays’ Ceyda Yalçın

When İşbank decided to design a daily banking experience for the next generation, it found itself in a sector with more than 600 fintechs already competing to capture an exploding market with the tens of millions of young, digitally savvy customers. The bank assembled a team and challenged them to develop a banking app in just six months. The team delivered, and only three months into the pilot launch of…

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  • Reading time:15 mins read
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Ethiopian wolves reported to feed on nectar for the first time

New findings, published in the journal Ecology, describe a previously undocumented behaviour of Ethiopian wolves (Canis simensis). For the first time, these have been reported to feed on the nectar of Ethiopian red hot poker flowers (Kniphofia foliosa) – the first large carnivore species ever to be documented feeding on nectar. In doing so, the wolves may act as pollinators, perhaps the first known plant-pollinator interaction involving a large carnivore.…

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New study reveals the explosive secret of the squirting cucumber

The squirting cucumber (Ecballium elaterium, from the Greek ‘ekballein,’ meaning to throw out) is named for the ballistic method the species uses to disperse its seeds. When ripe, the ovoid-shaped fruits detach from the stem and eject the seeds explosively in a high-pressure jet of mucilage. This projectile launch – lasting just 30 milliseconds- causes the seeds to reach speeds of around 20 metres per second, and land at distances…

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Vintage Big Game fashion makes a comeback

Stanford student traditions have helped define campus life since the university’s founding. But, as senior Sydney Kaminski learned this quarter, not all have had staying power.“There are a lot of Stanford traditions that have been lost to time,” she said.For months, the art history student has been investigating a Big Game tradition that faded out decades ago. In the process, she has uncovered connections to the histories of Asian immigrants…

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Professor Anthony Harnden appointed as the new Chair of the MHRA

Professor Anthony Harnden has been appointed as the new Chair of the Medicine and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).Anthony is a Professor of Primary Care in the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences at the University of Oxford, having first joined the department in 1992. Until the end of December 2024, he is a registrant Council member of the General Medical Council and Chair of the Renumeration Committee. Anthony…

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Five Ways Leaders Can Get People to Speak Up

Behind every failure is a team of people who were afraid to dissent and debate. But research shows that leaders can take specific actions to elicit constructive challenges. Celia Moore and Kate Coombs November 20, 2024 Reading Time: 7 min  Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images The Research A team of researchers at Imperial College Business School conducted a field study within a financial institution that included the recording of…

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OFCCP Issues First FY 2025 CSAL, Targeting 2,000 Establishments of Supply and Service Federal Contractors and Subcontractors for Audits

Quick Hits On November 20, 2024, OFCCP published a CSAL that identified 2,000 establishments of federal supply and service contractors and subcontractors for compliance reviews. The CSAL operates as a “courtesy notification” to a contractor that an OFCCP compliance review will be undertaken; the compliance review process begins when the company establishment receives a scheduling letter from OFCCP. OFCCP published the methodology it used for developing the November 2024 CSAL,…

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Unlocking Opportunities in the Age of Digital Finance

Emerging technologies like big data, AI and blockchain are reshaping finance. New products, such as platform finance, peer-to-peer lending and robo-advisory services, are examples of this transformation. These developments raise important questions: How concerned should traditional financial institutions be? What strategies can fintech and “techfin” (technology companies that move into financial services) disruptors adopt to secure their place in this evolving landscape?There are two main threats to the traditional finance…

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Post-Election Chaos: 3 Ways to Keep Psychological Safety Intact

According to a survey by the American Psychological Association, nearly 70% of Americans view political discourse as a significant source of stress, and workplaces are no exception. In fact, SHRM reports that political and social tensions have driven workplace incivility to an all-time high this year. No wonder, the ripple effects of political divisiveness can mean conflicts, disengagement, and heightened stress levels—creating a chaotic environment that’s difficult to manage. Amid…

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The true cost of methane abatement: A crucial step in oil and gas decarbonization

Methane emission abatement and flaring reductions are central to global decarbonization, especially for the upstream oil and gas (O&G) sector. Upstream O&G accounts for roughly 7 percent of total global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and half of that comes from methane.Since 2021, when many O&G players committed to the Global Methane Pledge (GMP), the call to cut methane emissions has only grown stronger. Regulatory, corporate, and social pressures are mounting…

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  • Reading time:9 mins read
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Lifting Sanctions: The Chinese Option

Modern literature on economic sanctions focuses on the effectiveness of their application. Scholars and practitioners are interested in the extent to which sanctions help achieve certain political goals – force a political change, cause damage, limit the development of the target country, etc. Much less attention is paid to the issue of lifting or easing sanctions – why do countries that initiate sanctions reduce them? How long-term and sustainable is…

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Is China geared up to deal with the Trump onslaught?

In September, the governor of China’s central bank was first to announce a series of monetary easing measures, triggering high levels of market volatility as initial enthusiasm about the eagerly awaited response from the authorities gave way to disappointment over the lack of a fiscal component. The measures announced, mainly targeted at the real estate sector, included a cut in the reserve requirement ratio for banks, a reduction in residential…

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  • Reading time:8 mins read
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Digital twins: The key to unlocking end-to-end supply chain growth

The post-COVID-19 era has created lasting fissures in the supply chain. Amid increasing globalization, rising customer expectations, and double-digit shipping growth, supply chain organizations—not just manufacturers and suppliers but also the warehouses and transporters they rely on—are under duress. They grapple with issues related to operational efficiency, demand forecasting, inventory management, and fulfillment. This complexity affects every part of the supply chain in every industry: retail, technology, automotive, industrial, food…

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  • Reading time:11 mins read
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How AI Changes Partner Collaboration

Explore six steps for using AI with external partners in new ways to drive product and business model innovations. Margherita Pagani and Thomas H. Davenport November 20, 2024 Reading Time: 8 min  Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images In a time of constant change and evolving customer expectations, the ability to innovate quickly is no longer an option but a strategic necessity. Innovation is driven by creativity — the ability…

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What is organisational health? Insights from Oil and Gas HSE podcast

Jen Gramolt, Partner of Q5 on building safer, more efficient workplaces Explore the early November Oil and Gas HSE podcast episode where host Russell Stewart interviews Jen Gramolt, Partner at Q5. They discuss the concept of organisational health, its impact on safety and efficiency, and practical strategies for fostering a resilient workplace culture. This episode is essential for leaders in energy and beyond. Reading time: 2 minutes What is organisational…

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