Business Daily

How brands forge strong relationships with music, from Cognac brands like Hennessy and Courvoisier to Coca Cola's Sprite. Elizabeth Hotson speaks to cultural critic and music journalist Candace McDuffie about the history of Cognac in African-American culture, and to journalist Oris Aigbokhaevbolo about the efforts of Hennessy to associate with hip hop in Nigeria. Aaliyah Shafiq, group director for the Sprite brand at Coca Cola explains the success of its partnership with hip hop in the US dating back to the 70s, and Marleen Heemskerk from branding agency First Day of Spring, describes the potential pitfalls for brands wanting to tap into the music scene.

(Photo: Hip hop artist Missy Elliot with a bottle of Courvoisier at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2019, Credit: Getty Images)

As the holiday lettings platform prepares for an IPO, what is Airbnb doing to clamp down on bogus, unregulated and unsafe property listings?

Ed Butler speaks to Wired magazine journalist James Temperton, who uncovered one complex London-based scam involving fake listings, sham reviews and a block of grubby apartments that was in flagrant breach of the city's property rules. London councillor Heather Acton tells us she is horrified by the findings.

So is Airbnb allowing professional landlords to profit by side-stepping property regulations and taxes? According to Murray Cox of the campaigning website Inside Airbnb, it is hard to gauge the true scale of the problem worldwide, because the online platform has been so cagey about releasing data.

(Picture: Young man in despair sat on a dockside with his baggage; Credit: pankration/Getty Images)

Could the much-hyped technology of 3D printing have found a useful application - producing personalised prescription pills?

Ed Butler visits the lab of Dr Mohamed Alhnan at King's College London, to see this cottage manufacturing process in action - in this case making caffeine tablets. Meanwhile entrepreneur Melissa Snover has launched the world’s first 3D-printed personalised and chewable vitamin supplement provider, called Nourished.

But what about prescription pills? Can this technology reliably produce powerful medicines at scale, and meet the necessary regulatory requirements? Karen Taylor, research director of the Centre for Health Solutions at Deloitte, isn't so sure.

Producer: Joshua Thorpe

(Picture: White pills against a red background; Credit: BiffBoffBiff/Getty Images)

Should employers simply stop asking job applicants if they have a criminal record? Tamasin Ford speaks to one American bakery that did exactly that. Lucas Tanner of the Greyston Bakery in New York explains why his Buddhist founder opted for a policy of "open hiring" - no questions, no interview, no CV, no background checks.

Today there is a campaign to "ban the box" that applicants must tick to indicate whether they have a past conviction. But doing so has perversely led to greater racial bias in employment outcomes, according to Jennifer Doleac of the Texas A&M University. Instead of making the ban obligatory, Nicola Inge of the UK charity Business in the Community suggests that a more productive approach may be to encourage employers to make it part of their own hiring policies.

Producer: Edwin Lane

(Picture: Man's handcuffed hands; Credit: fotoedu/Getty Images)

What will happen to our working lives when the robots take over? Daniel Susskind, an economist at Oxford University, discusses his new book A World Without Work. He talks to Ed Butler about the effects on employment, the link between automation and inequality, and whether something like a universal basic income could be a solution.

(Photo: A humanoid robot on display at a trade fair in 2018, Credit: Getty Images)

Is the European farm subsidy system being left vulnerable to corruption? Each year the EU pays out billions of euros to landowners. But a New York Times investigation found that in parts of Eastern Europe, EU farm subsidies have created what it calls a "new kind of feudalism". We speak to the New York Times investigative reporter Matt Apuzzo, and we hear a response from the European Commission's agricultural policy spokesperson Daniel Rosario.

Producer: Joshua Thorpe.

(Picture: A combine harvester on a corn field. Credit: Getty Images).

Does the backlash against globalisation ignore the huge benefits of world trade? And how realistic are post-Brexit Britain's ambitions to become a global trade powerhouse?

Manuela Saragosa asks Cambridge economics professor Meredith Crowley how much access the UK can expect to retain to the European market, given that the country wants to diverge from EU regulations. It's an example of a problem that all countries in our globalised economy face - the "globalisation trilemma".

Meanwhile Fred Hochberg, former head of the US Export Import Bank and author of Trade Is Not a Four-Letter Word, says that without free trade we wouldn't have wonders of the modern world such as the iPhone or the taco bowl.

Producers: Laurence Knight, Frey Lindsay

(Picture: Container ships docked at Port of Felixstowe in the UK;. Credit: Getty Images)

Virtual Reality is finding a surprising new application - training managers how to handle delicate situations such as dismissing employees or giving presentations.

Manuela Saragosa looks at how the technology is being used to play out scenarios such as consoling a sobbing staff member, or responding to a heckler in the audience, all while in the safe space of VR. Plus producer Josh Thorpe tries out Microsoft's latest augmented reality headset, the HoloLens 2.

The programme features interviews with Marianne Schmid Mast, professor of organisational behaviour at the University of Lausanne; Alexis Vartanian, chief technical officer at French VR company TechViz; and Microsoft director of communications Greg Sullivan.

Producer: Josh Thorpe

(Picture: Man wearing virtual reality headset; Credit: xubingruo/Getty Images)

Tesla's share price has tripled in the last six months - can anyone stop it, or even make sense of it?

Ed Butler speaks to Craig Irwin, stock analyst at Roth Capital in New York, who is perplexed by the latest crazy surge in Tesla's valuation, even though he wouldn't particularly describe himself as a Tesla bear. David Bailey, professor of business economics at Birmingham Business School in the UK, says that the optimism is being driven by a growing perception that the electric vehicle revolution may finally be upon us.

But one industry veteran remains hugely sceptical. Bob Lutz has served on the board of all three of America's giant carmakers, and pours scorn on the idea that we will all be driving electric anytime soon.

Producer: Edwin Lane

(Picture: Tesla Roadster launched into orbit by one of Elon Musk's SpaceX rockets; Credit: SpaceX via Getty Images)

The business impact of the coronavirus outbreak. Ed Butler speaks to the BBC's Robin Brant in Shanghai about the partial return of Chinese workers in the city. Bloomberg economist Maeva Cousin discusses the economic impact on China and global supply chains. Mike Bowen, vice president of Prestige Amaritech in Texas, one of the few manufacturers of medical masks outside of China, explains why a shortage of masks globally is not good news for his business. Laurie Garrett, Pulitzer prize-winning author of a book The Coming Plague, explains why she's concerned countries like the US are underprepared for outbreaks like the coronavirus.

(Photo: A women wears a mask while walking in the street on January 22, 2020 in Wuhan, Hubei province, China. Credit: Getty Images)