Welcome to the election of professors, offering a weekly curated selection of FT articles from and for the Faculty of Business School to connect classes with current events and develop critical student thinking.
Read all appearances in www.ft.com/bschoolpicks. Save this connection to bright To receive e -mail that warns you of any new edition. Look for labels for relevant topics to illustrate the lesson points.
Comments or contributions? CONTACT bschool@ft.com.
Microeconomics
Flying gold becomes better ‘Trump’s trade’
Label: Goods, gold, prices, supply and demand
Briefing: Troy ounce gold pricing has increased to nearly $ 3,000, hitting a new record. This marks an increase of seven percent since Donald Trump took office in January. Given that during the same period, the S&P 500 increased less than two percent and the US dollar fell 2.4 percent against a basket of other currencies, some argue that gold is the ‘Best Trade trade’. Both UBS and Citigroup expect the rods to continue its direction.
Classroom application: This article provides an opportunity for the faculty and students to analyze the gold market in particular, as well as the supply and demand framework in general.
question:
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What key factors of the demand have contributed to the last increase in the price of gold?
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Role role do factors play in the supply of price raising?
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How do US tariffs and US dollar strength affect the gold price?
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What roles do the interest rates and actions of the Central Bank play on the impact of gold prices from a demand perspective?
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Is there any speculative or behavioral factor that runs short -term price movements in the gold market, and how do these interact with traditional supply and demand forces?
StefanLecturer, University of St. Gallen
Macroeconomics, international venture
US companies falling back on credit at the fastest pace in nearly a decade
Tags: Delinquencies, interest rates, federal reserve, corporate borrowing
Summary Credit specialists are concerned about the possible effects on the economy as US corporations are predetermined for their loans at the highest degree in over eight years. The latest tariffs are partly to blame for the trend, which can have an impact on corporate financial health. Analysts are concerned that these changes can present more important economic difficulties in the future.
Class application: This article offers an opportunity for students of faculties and students to discuss the financial basis of American companies doing business internationally.
Questions:
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Do you believe that the last growth of loan defaults is a transient problem or an indicator of a more serious economic downturn? Why?
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Which sectors will most likely be affected by these economic difficulties?
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Reactions what possible reactions can different industries have?
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What signs would you ask if you would be a financial analyst to determine if this trend would continue?
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Effects what possible effects would there be an increase in credit defaults to investors, consumers and overall economic trust?
Greg stollerMaster Lecturer, Business School Questrom University University Boston
Strategic management, technological innovation
How little Chinese beginning of he deepseek rocked Silicon Valley
Summary This article details how Deepseek, a modest Chinese lab, built a large linguistic model on a bootstrapped budget that can automatically learn and improve itself without human supervision. The discovery of an advanced model at a significant lower cost has redefined the competition factors in the global one. The company’s access has challenged the created business models of technology giants, causing a reassessment of competitive dynamics in the industry of it.
Class application: Deepseek’s rapid climbing offers a persuasive case of ‘divisive innovation’, illustrating how developing players can challenge tasks by reconfiguring competition factors (speed – and one side of resources, such as resources for competitive advantage). This scenario offers rich materials for discussions on strategic management, competitive advantage and global competition for technological innovation. I have used this article for discussions with both my groups Emba and DBA.
Questions:
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How does Deepseek differ from global technology giants from one side of the market? That is to say, what, if there are, competition factors in all value curves, the Deepseek language model presents it to the global industry?
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How is Deepseek’s entry any different from the entry of global technology players such as Meta and X? That is to say, does Deepseek’s entry present an increase in skills, or skills that destroys technological change?
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How should the technology companies in charge respond to developing competition as a deepseek to maintain their market position?
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What are the broader geopolitical and economic implications of Deepseek’s progress for the global technology sector?
Luke GebelAssistant Professor, Global Health Business School, London University College
Business and good social, innovation in practice
Beginnings seeking to challenge China’s drowning in rare minerals
Label: Innovation, technology, electronics, durability, production
Briefing: Some beginners of the United Kingdom and North America are pioneering the recycling of electronic waste to extract rare land minerals. This is a way to help meet the growing demand for rare soil minerals, essential for low carbon technologies, diversifying resources and localization of production. One of these beginnings, hypromag, efficiently recovers the magnet from the disk drives thrown into the solid drives. The company is expanding its operations with new plants in the United Kingdom, Germany and US, aiming to decentralize the rare production of land and create sustainable, internal supply chains.
Classroom application: This article offers a platform for the faculty and students to explore innovation in practice that is being driven by a combination of geopolitical tensions, increasing emphasis on stability and market demand.
question:
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What is meant by the term “circular economy” and how do these initial technologies represent an application of this concept?
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Why is the United Kingdom Government particularly interested in these developments?
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In what ways are the two recycling processes in similar and different article?
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Which units have provided funds and/or investments in the two beginnings profiled in this article (Hypromag and Cyclic Materials)?
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What risks to their business models may both companies have to predict?
Tom DavisClinical Assistant Professor, Joseph M Katz Graduate Business School, University of Pittsburgh
Work and career, leadership, management, human resources
Gen Z has returned against taking middle management roles
Tags: Career, Corporate scale, middle management, General z
Summary New employees are increasingly moving away from middle management roles, preferring instead to advance in their careers by developing individual skills rather than managing others. Employees have come to accompany long -hour middle -old management roles, endless firefighters and tedious personnel management. They prefer control over their schedules and balance of work and life and no longer trust that tireless work and loyalty to the corporation will be rewarded with the safety and success of the career.
Class application: This article offers a platform for the faculty and students to consider the social contract between companies and their employees and discuss ways of developing effective leadership within companies that move forward.
Questions:
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How do General Z employees see and new workers with their companies with their companies, and how has that social contract changed over time?
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What values and interests guide the behavior of General Z and new employees, and how can companies make in these interests to motivate their workers?
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Can companies do to encourage new employees to receive middle management roles?
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Do companies and middle managers need, and how can medium management roles evolve to be important and applicable to today’s labor power?
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What is the role of technology, and I specifically, in the formation of middle management roles in the foreseeable future?
Age -ageHigh Lecturer, Questrom Business School, Boston University
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