Philippa Kaur

FOR YEARS ExxonMobil was the top dog among the world’s private-sector oil companies. It was the biggest of the Western majors, and the best-managed. It regularly posted higher returns on capital than its peers and enjoyed superior stockmarket valuations. This led to an arrogance among its chief executives that infuriated not just greens but even other oilmen. In 2003 Lee Raymond, a former boss with a ferocious temper, bragged that “everyone at this company works for the general good—and I’m the general of that general good.”More recently ExxonMobil appeared to have lost some of this braggadocio. Between 2016 and 2020, together with the rest of the industry, it eked out meagre returns as oil prices languished. At the same time it was hounded by climate activists and asset managers concerned about environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. The lowest point came three years ago when it suffered an unprecedented defeat at the hands of Engine No.1, an obscure activist fund that managed to get three climate-minded directors elected to its board. More

Every day seems to bring fresh bets on artificial intelligence (AI). In the past few weeks CoreWeave, an AI cloud-computing company, and H, a French AI startup, have raised hefty sums of money. On May 26th it was Elon Musk’s turn. The tech billionaire’s startup, christened xAI, said it had raised $6bn at a valuation of $24bn. Investors include Silicon Valley stalwarts such as Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz, two venture-capital (VC) giants, and an investment fund with ties to the Saudi royal family. Their backing puts xAI’s firepower in the big leagues, alongside model-builders such as OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, and Anthropic (see chart). Can Mr Musk compete with the AI superstars?This is not his first foray into AI. Mr Musk co-founded OpenAI, then left after falling out with Sam Altman, its boss. In April he told investors that Tesla, his electric-vehicle maker, should be viewed as an AI firm. Never one for modest ambitions, Mr Musk wants his latest venture, which he launched last July, to “advance our collective understanding of the universe”. More

Not since the 1980s have Japanese businesses generated so much excitement. Japanese companies’ profit margins have doubled in the past decade or so. They are forking out twice as much to their owners in the form of dividends and share buy-backs as they did ten years ago. Shareholder-friendly changes to corporate governance in Japan have caused foreign investors to flock to the country once again. Having languished for decades, the Nikkei 225 index, which tracks the value of the country’s largest listed firms, is up by 25% over the past year (see chart 1). In February it at last exceeded the record it set in 1989, just before Japan’s bubble burst.Much of this success reflects Japan Inc’s transformation over the past 35 years. Faced with economic torpor at home, brought on by the stockmarket crash and an ageing population, Japan’s industrial giants have spent the past few decades hunting for growth abroad. In 1996 revenue booked by the foreign subsidiaries of Japanese manufacturers was just 7% of their total sales. Last year that figure reached 29%, a record high. More

Dear Max, My employer has a policy of allowing dogs in the office. Almost everyone there seems to think this is tremendous but I don’t like the things. (To be honest, I don’t like people either but I accept that they should be allowed to come to the workplace.) Is there anything I can do, or do I have to grin and bear it?You are not alone: I probably get more letters about this topic than any other. It’s very hard to admit to disliking dogs, so lots of people end up suffering them in silence. You could talk to HR about ending the policy, but would risk being known to all your colleagues as the psychopath who hates puppies. It’s much better to try to subvert the system. My advice is to say that you need to bring another type of much less acceptable animal to the office. If pressed, use the word “wellness” and hint at discrimination if they do not seem keen. With luck they will reach the conclusion that it is best simply to ban all pets. More

In the electronics department, every television is tuned to the same channel, showing a commercial for a cosmetics brand. At the end of the aisle is a sponsored stall promoting bags of popcorn. The music wafting through the air on the in-store radio is occasionally interrupted by advertising spots. Even at the checkout, a few final commercials pop up on screen to catch customers before they leave.Anyone strolling around a branch of Walmart, as more than 200m Americans do each month, will see thousands of goodies on offer. Increasingly, its shoppers are being served up as products, too. Walmart, the world’s top retailer by sales, has discovered that there is serious money to be made in selling access to its customers. On May 16th the company reported that its booming advertising business had helped it deliver a 9.6% increase in operating income, year on year, for its quarter ending in April. As it carpets its physical and virtual stores in commercials, the company is taking a growing share of the ad market. More

After three days in the great outdoors, gnawing anxiety sets in. The air may be fresh but the woman in the advert is not. The backs of her knees have begun to emit an unusual smell. Luckily for her fellow campers, she has packed a tube of Peach and Vanilla Blossom Whole Body Deodorant Cream, a fresh product launched in January by Secret, a personal-care brand.Americans have long had a particular aversion to stench. Last year they bought $6.6bn worth of deodorant, the equivalent of nearly $20 per person—more than in any other rich country, according to Euromonitor, a research firm. Lately companies like Secret have been encouraging them to hunt out odours from their feet to their “underboobs”. Google searches for “whole-body deodorant” shot up by 1,000% in the year to March (albeit from a low base). More

Global gabfests tend to be gloomy affairs these days. Bigwigs bemoan the state of geopolitics, wring their hands over existential risks, urge greater global co-operation—and go home with little to show for it all. The Africa CEO Forum, a gathering that took place on May 16th and 17th in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, offered a welcome contrast. As bosses, politicians and financiers gathered to discuss the role of Africa’s private sector in spurring its economic development, the tone was refreshingly practical.Instead of dwelling on the grand sweep of history or the changing world order, the conference’s attendees knuckled down for discussions on how to boost cross-border commerce and strengthen local supply chains. Permeating all of this was a conviction that Africa must take control of its own economic development. As Aliko Dangote, the boss of Dangote Industries, a Nigerian conglomerate, and Africa’s richest man, summed up, “We Africans will have to do it. If we wait for foreigners, it’s not going to happen.” More

Lululemon, a CANADIAN maker of yoga outfits, does not have many things in common with Rolls-Royce, a British engine manufacturer. One thing they do share, along with scores of other foreign companies, is space in the sprawling Embassy Manyata Business Park in Bangalore. Hundreds of others, among them Maersk, a Danish shipping firm, Samsung, a South Korean electronics giant, and Wells Fargo, an American bank, have offices within a few miles. Many more of these white-collar outposts can be found in cities including Chennai, Pune and Hyderabad.Back in the 1990s global firms such as General Electric, a once-mighty conglomerate, began to rely on Indian workers to perform tedious tasks such as filling in forms and patching software for mainframe computers. Over time much of that drudgery was absorbed by Indian outsourcers such as Infosys, TCS and Wipro. Now foreign firms have begun to think bigger about the types of white-collar jobs that can be done by India’s cheap but well-educated workers. Many have set up “global capability centres” (GCCs) to offshore tasks from data analysis to research and development (R&D), helping fuel a new wave of services-led growth for India. More