The World of Business

The World of Business episodes:

• 09.24.2020

  Still in Business

  For the final programme of the series, John Murphy returns to a selection of businesses that have come through this far. A fabric and haberdashery shop, a fruit farmer and a micro-pub. What’s their story of survival, what did they...

  
• 09.17.2020

  Building Back Better

  The pandemic and the resulting recession have led to widespread calls to recognise that we now have a once in a generation opportunity to re-think how we put the economy back together again. Research shows we can help our economy...

  
• 09.10.2020

  Wine, Widgets and Brexit

  As Brexit talks between the European Union and the UK got under way earlier this year, before anyone was using the word “pandemic”, Caroline Bayley began following two companies which both export to Britain– one in France, one in Germany...

  
• 09.03.2020

  The Tree Trade

  Politicians keep promising more trees – seen as good for the environment and for fighting climate change. Trees are also big business sustaining vital rural jobs. So will lots of new planting keep everyone happy? Chris Bowlby explores forestry’s future...

  
• 08.27.2020

  The March of Robots

  Robots and Artificial Intelligence have been moving into our workplaces for years. But is now the time that they will become fully established and take over some jobs entirely? Is the march of the robots going to get louder now...

  
• 08.20.2020

  Black Business Matters

  Sparked by the Black Lives Matter protests around the world that followed the death of George Floyd, companies are wading into the conversation on racial inequality. With a focus on diversity in business, there was also interest and investment in...

  
• 08.13.2020

  Keep up at the Back!

  The UK fitness industry employs twenty thousand people and is worth an estimated £5 billion to the economy. But - like most other industries - it shut down overnight in March. Some teachers and trainers made swift decisions to move...

  
• 08.06.2020

  The Gatwick Effect

  The coronavirus pandemic and the associated global economic lockdown have had a dramatic impact on businesses across the UK, perhaps none more so than on the aviation industry and airports like Gatwick, usually the UK's second busiest. The consequences, though,...

  
• 07.30.2020

  The Jobs Challenge

  As the UK emerges from the coronavirus lockdown, millions of employees are still furloughed – either fully or part-time – with most of their salaries paid by the government. But how many of them really have jobs to go back...

  
• 05.24.2020

  Oil Shock 2020

  The oil price has crashed - for a while some producers were even paying customers to take it away. It's like no oil shock the industry has ever seen before. Lesley Curwen sets out to discover what difference cheap oil...

  
• 05.14.2020

  Adapt to Survive

  2020 hasn't been good for British business - certainly not since Covid-19 showed up. The global pandemic and the lockdown imposed to try to fight it have affected individual livelihoods and those of many companies. John Murphy talks to some...

  
• 05.07.2020

  Economic Recovery in the USA

  With the highest Covid19 death toll in the world, and 26 million Americans claiming unemployment insurance, the US economy has taken a massive hit. But how quickly can it bounce back? Will America’s economy will be strong enough to pull...

  
• 04.23.2020

  Economic lessons from pandemics past

  In the 14th century the world was devastated by plague, known as 'The Black Death', in the 20th century a deadly form of influenza struck infecting around a quarter of the world's population. Since then HIV, Ebola and more have...

  
• 04.16.2020

  Working From Home

  Since the Covid-19 ‘lockdown’ began, vast numbers of people have been toiling away at home for the first time: converting living rooms and bedrooms into makeshift office space, wrangling with technology, and juggling family life with working hours. How are...

  
• 04.09.2020

  Could carbon offsetting save the world’s forests?

  Honey bees, cow dung and mulch - the company in Zimbabwe that is protecting the forests in order to offset carbon emissions. As Charlotte Ashton wrestles with ‘flight shame’, she wants to find out where her money goes if she...

  
• 04.02.2020

  Supply Chains vs Covid-19

  Ruth Alexander examines whether the complex global web of supply chains can hold up under the enormous pressure of the coronavirus pandemic. Looking further into the future, she and Jonty Bloom ask whether this global shock has shown that...

  
• 01.25.2020

  Indonesia’s new capital

  Indonesia’s capital Jakarta is sinking, and struggling with traffic and pollution. The government’s solution? To build a new capital on the island of Borneo instead, better known for its jungles and orangutans. How will this work? Former BBC Indonesia correspondent...

  
• 01.23.2020

  Making fashion sustainable

  Fashion is a hugely polluting industry and is under enormous pressure to become more sustainable. From the way cotton is grown, to the use of synthetic materials and the conditions in factories where our clothes are made - these are...

  
• 01.18.2020

  Hydrogen: The answer to Climate Change?

  Hydrogen is a volatile gas with an image problem, but hydrogen evangelists think this could be the ‘magic molecule’ which will solve the world’s air pollution and cut carbon emissions dramatically. Manuela Saragosa presents the final part of this special...

  
• 01.16.2020

  Is the UK up for sale?

  Jaguar Land Rover, Cadbury, Weetabix are but some of the many British brands now owned by foreign corporations. The UK has one of the highest rates of company takeovers by new overseas owners. Sometimes these deals rescue a struggling business...

  
• 01.11.2020

  Australia’s Coalface

  Australia is stubbornly sticking to providing much of its power through coal. While many countries around the world are eschewing fossil fuels, (because of their environmental impact), the Australian government continues to give the all-clear to new coal mines,...

  
• 01.09.2020

  Zimbabwe's Food Crisis: Can Old Crops Fix New Problems?

  Every day people dig into sadza, a maize based meal, but there’s a problem. Zimbabwe’s getting much drier and maize can’t cope. Crop failures have partly contributed to food shortages this year leading to more than 7 million people needing...

  
• 01.04.2020

  Germany’s Energy Transition

  Germany has long been considered a leader in renewable energy – a model even for others to follow with its subsidies for wind and solar. Householders were encouraged to put solar panels on their rooves as early as two...

  
• 01.02.2020

  Selling Britain

  Whatever happens in British politics, Britain's reputation has changed. What does this mean for its global business image? Chris Bowlby discovers what's ahead for Brand Britain.

  
• 12.28.2019

  Clean Cooking in Rwanda

  More than seventy percent of households in Rwanda cook over wooden and charcoal fires. This means women often sit for hours every day in smoky conditions which can damage their health, increasing the risk of respiratory infections, heart disease, strokes...

  
• 12.26.2019

  The Business of Beethoven

  "Beethoven's arms were bigger than the piano" says concert pianist Stephen Hough at his Steinway. "I sense him pushing at every moment - as if he's in a cage saying 'Let me out'". To mark the 250th anniversary of the...

  
• 12.05.2019

  The pub is dead! Long live the micropub!

  Since 2001 the UK has lost a quarter of its pubs. They've shut their doors for good. High taxes, high prices, supermarket competition, even the smoking ban have all been blamed. But there are new types of pub, the micropub,...

  
• 11.28.2019

  Keeping the Lights On

  As Britain’s sources of electricity change, along with significant changes in demand, how will the lights stay on? The major power blackout that hit the UK in early August – the worst in more than a decade – was an...

  
• 10.26.2019

  What is the value of women’s work?

  Iceland has taken radical measures to reduce its gender pay gap. These aren't just about equalising pay when men and women do the same job but when they do different jobs of equal value. That's proved to be quite a...

  
• 10.19.2019

  Belarus: Harvesting the whirlwind

  The irradiated lands around the Chernobyl nuclear reactor were large, prosperous, and lively collective farms until the reactor exploded in 1986. Seventy percent of the toxic radiation fell in Belarus – a small, agrarian country in which most people lived...

  
• 10.12.2019

  Can Liberian rubber bounce back?

  A victim of the “resource curse”, Liberia is one of the poorest countries in the world, in spite of being rich in natural resources. Rubber is one of the country’s biggest exports but few Liberians have benefitted from this multimillion...

  
• 09.29.2019

  How Politics Broke up with Business

  Why have politicians gone from cosying up to businesses, to turning a deaf ear to their concerns? Jeremy Schwartz – a CEO himself – finds that the love affair was starting to become toxic long before Brexit, and asks whether...

  
• 09.19.2019

  Flying Green

  Flying, for many of us, is now routine. For a few of us it is a weekly, maybe even daily, event. At the same time global protests, concerned with the pressing danger of climate change and the need to reduce...

  
• 09.08.2019

  The Business of Clicks

  Online retail spending has increased more than four fold in the last ten years - it now accounts for almost one in five pounds we spend shopping. But whilst times are tough for our high streets, e-retailing is far...

  
• 09.07.2019

  India’s fashion industry

  India has emerged as one of the world’s fastest-growing fashion markets and is expected to touch $60 billion by 2022, which will make it the sixth largest in the world. This is due to its rapidly growing middle class and...

  
• 08.29.2019

  Managing Volunteers: Free and Easy?

  Twenty million Brits give their time for free each year. From the National Trust to the hospice coffee morning, the Samaritans to the local football club, huge parts of our world rely on volunteers. But how easy is it...

  
• 07.06.2019

  Berries Galore!

  Strawberries at Christmas? No problem! And as cheap as ever? Yes, of course! Many of us have become used to buying whatever fruit and vegetables we want, whenever we want, no matter the season. Strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and blueberries are...

  
• 06.29.2019

  Who are Huawei?

  Chinese technology company, Huawei, is the world’s biggest supplier of network telecoms equipment, and with a research budget of up to $20 billion, its ambition is to be even bigger still. However, it’s also one of the most controversial businesses...

  
• 06.22.2019

  Business Making an Impact

  Climate-change scientists have warned that the clock is ticking, environmental campaigners are blocking the streets, but until now the world of business has kept itself out of the fray. That is changing. From multi-billion dollar investors, to leaders of international...

  
• 06.15.2019

  The Berlin Airport Fiasco

  One thing Germany does well, you might assume, is infrastructure and transport. Think again. For Global Business on the BBC World Service, Chris Bowlby’s had a rare behind the scenes tour of Berlin’s new airport. It’s billions over budget, already...

  
• 05.23.2019

  Plastic Backlash: The Business Response

  The last eighteen months have seen a global public backlash against plastic. Everyone talks about the huge impact that Sir David Attenborough and the BBC's Blue Planet series has had in raising public awareness about the damage that 8 million...

  
• 05.18.2019

  Guyana: Getting Rich Quick

  Guyana, a country of just 750,000 people wedged between Venezuela and Suriname on the north-east coast of South America, has never had an oil industry. But a series of recent discoveries in its waters has revealed billions of barrels of...

  
• 05.02.2019

  Getting Hired

  The face-to-face interview can be life-changing. But it comes with risks attached, of bias on the part of the interviewer, or nerves on the part of the candidate. Lesley Curwen looks at the fast-changing process of getting hired in companies,...

  
• 04.25.2019

  Green Shoots: growing food in UAE’s deserts

  Can the United Arab Emirates grow its own food? The Desert kingdoms today import 90% of their own food, at great cost. And each year consumption increases by 12%. This raises issues of food security, price and environmental damage –...

  
• 04.18.2019

  Behind the Facades

  The relationship between landlord and tenant is an important, often unseen, dynamic that most of us don’t give much thought to. And yet, it's reshaping high streets up and down the country. High rents are blamed for the collapse of...

  
• 04.11.2019

  The Irresistible Rise of eSports

  Its top stars can earn millions of dollars a year, without breaking into a sweat. They train for hours a day and have legions of fans, who fill stadiums to watch them. But these aren't normal sports stars. They're part...

  
• 04.04.2019

  A Tale of Two Towns

  Much has been made of the death of the high street, but some places are staging a comeback. The government has announced this Spring a £1.6bn Stronger Towns Fund to help less well-off areas. Six hundred million pounds of that...

  
• 03.09.2019

  Portugal’s Ocean Economy

  As the global economy slows and the search for new areas of growth becomes more intense, many countries are looking beyond their coastline to the vast, untapped potential of the sea. The “Ocean Economy” is now attracting attention from governments,...

  
• 03.02.2019

  Light Bulb Moments and How to Have Them

  There’s more money spent on innovation today than ever before. Yet the process by which we come up with ideas is still poorly understood. If only we had a better grasp of how great ideas are generated, we would have...

  
• 02.23.2019

  Uruguay: the World’s Marijuana Pioneers

  Five years after Uruguay became the first country to allow the sale of recreational marijuana, what does a legal cannabis industry look like? When the small South American nation of Uruguay made it legal to grow and buy marijuana for...