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Video: Can the Tools of Finance Help Combat Climate Change?

I work on trying to understand the motivations and the drivers of investors’ preference for green investment. I try to understand how can investors use the financial insurance that they have access to better ensure themselves against potential climate change damages or damages from regulation of climate change. ‌ I think, by now, most people realize that climate change could have potentially very large implications for the economy, and financial…

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Kenneth Goodson named vice provost for graduate education and postdoctoral affairs

Kenneth Goodson, professor of mechanical engineering and senior associate dean for research and faculty affairs in the School of Engineering, has been named Stanford’s vice provost for graduate education and postdoctoral affairs, Provost Jenny Martinez announced. His tenure begins April 1. “I’m thrilled that Ken has agreed to be the next vice provost for graduate education and postdoctoral affairs. Ken is an example of an excellent mentor who truly cares about…

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Our Guide to the Spring 2025 Issue

subscribe-icon Subscribe Share Lessons Learned From Outside Innovators Simone Ferriani and Gino Cattani Key Insight: When creative thinkers bring fresh ideas to an organization, it can spark innovation — if they can find supportive allies. Top Takeaways: People from outside an organization can offer a unique perspective that challenges established norms and catalyzes innovation. But that won’t happen if these unconventional thinkers find themselves in an environment where insiders don’t…

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FTC Requests Stay of Appeals to Challenges to FTC Non-Compete Rule Citing New Administration

Sebastian Pichler, Unsplash On March 7, 2025, lawyers for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed motions requesting a 120-day stay of the agency’s appeal of district court decisions in the Fifth Circuit and Eleventh Circuit, which had blocked the FTC’s proposed ban on non-competes (the “Rule”) in the Ryan v. FTC and Properties of the Villages (“POV”) v. FTC cases, respectively. The nearly-identical filings cite the change in presidential administrations…

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Copilot in the C-suite: Grant Thornton’s Sandie Boswell on supporting employee wellbeing 

Tax specialists typically put in long hours to meet client deadlines. After the COVID-19 pandemic, audit, accounting and consulting firm Grant Thornton Australia noticed its people were especially tired and introduced a “nine-day fortnight,” essentially giving employees a day back every two weeks to rest and recharge.  Sandie Boswell, chief managing partner for tax at Grant Thornton Australia based in Sydney, is a big advocate and takes an afternoon each…

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How the Most Resilient Companies Adapt to Disruption

Global risks are rising, and many companies are struggling with how to adapt. The World Economic Forum’s 2025 Global Risks Report makes it clear that challenges like escalating global tensions and conflicts, climate change, economic instability and supply chain disruptions are interconnected and build on one another. And they’re here to stay.Meanwhile, US president Donald Trump’s tariff threats are creating more unpredictability in global trade.Companies have no choice but to constantly adjust their strategies. For many…

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  • Reading time:10 mins read
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Powering productivity: Operations insights for 2025

In an era of persistent change, how can companies foster an environment that empowers employees to anticipate, respond to, and even leverage unexpected shifts in the business landscape? In this episode of McKinsey Talks Operations, host Daphne Luchtenberg is joined by McKinsey Senior Partners Dan Swan and Ruth Heuss, global co-conveners of McKinsey’s Operations Practice, to explore strategies and approaches to technology, workforce planning, and sustainability that will help organizations remain agile…

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Water resilience: Closing the funding gap for utilities

Recent years have seen the publication of a number of reports about how water and wastewater utilities in the United States can become more resilient, particularly when it comes to addressing rapidly aging infrastructure, optimizing operational efficiencies, and contending with increasing water demand. There has been significantly less discussion about how state and local leaders (including mayors and county offices) can help water utilities invest in resilience. We believe that…

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Routine asthma test more reliable in the morning and has seasonal effects

Using real world data from 1,600 patients, available through a database created for speeding up research and innovation, the team also found that its reliability differs significantly in winter compared to autumn.Asthma is a common lung condition that can cause wheezing and shortness of breath, occasionally severe. Around 6.5% of people over six years old in the UK are affected by the condition. Treatments include the use of inhalers or…

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Who’s in Control?

Topics Column Our expert columnists offer opinion and analysis on important issues facing modern businesses and managers. More in this series subscribe-icon Subscribe Share In times of uncertainty, people seek the comfort of control. Compensatory control theory, developed by researchers in 2009, suggests that when people feel a lack of control in their environment, they often try to restore it “by imbuing their social, physical, and metaphysical environments with order…

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Cybersecurity In Construction: How To Effectively Mitigate Cyber Risk

Towfiqu barbhuiya, Unsplash The construction industry’s reliance on digital data and devices has reshaped the construction process. When used properly, digital technology facilitates collaboration and increases productivity. However, growing dependence on digital innovation has also rendered construction companies a prime target for cybercriminals. The stark, inescapable reality is that the construction industry has been experiencing an alarming increase in cyber attacks over the last five years. Construction companies should mitigate the…

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Companies in Mexico Must File Annual Tax Reports by March 31, 2025: What to Know About Profit-Sharing Obligations

Quick Hits Companies in Mexico must file their tax returns by March 31 of each year. Annual corporate tax returns show the yearly financial results of any entity and whether there were gains or losses. Tax returns are the starting point for the obligations mandated by the FLL regarding profit sharing. General Content and Rules for the Annual Tax Return In the annual tax return, taxpayers file a report of…

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4 keys to the future with Microsoft 365 Copilot for Finance, now in public preview

Every day, the work of public finance professionals provides the financial foundation upon which all government activities can be assured, from delivering basic services to ensuring overall economic stability. In a world of rapid change, however, public finance organizations at all levels of government are straining to meet new demands. Across industry sectors, 80% of finance teams report challenges in their ability to do strategic work beyond operations.1 For public…

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How Judy Marks leads Otis Worldwide Corporation through uncertainty and technological evolution

Judy Marks is one of a few dozen women leading a Fortune 500 company. Otis Worldwide Corporation has been making elevators for more than 170 years, so it has seen its share of change over the decades. So has Judy. Not long after joining Otis as president in 2017, she quickly became CEO and led the company through a spin-off from its former parent to become its own, independently traded…

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The Changing Role of CFOs: From Financial Manager to Change Agent

The last few years have thrust CFOs into the limelight. The pandemic’s end, the persistence of work-from-home (WFH) plus ongoing economic uncertainty have all fundamentally shifted the CFO’s job description. Beyond just managing financial operations, CFOs are emerging as key leaders in understanding and improving performance across their organizations. By centralizing data across functions, communicating insights based on that data, and influencing a company’s culture, CFOs are in a unique…

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Mexico: an economy endangered by US trade tensions

Mexico has gone to considerable effort, reducing migrant flows by 66%, putting soldiers on the border, handing drug traffickers over to the US authorities and proposing to match US import tariffs on Chinese goods. The country is even considering withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).Mexican markets have proved relatively stable, with the peso even appreciating slightly, regaining some of the value it had lost since the US election. This reaction…

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A Renewed Surge of Interest in Nuclear Energy and the Threat of an Arms Race

On March 10, a discussion on nuclear energy and the outcomes of the IAEA Board of Governors session took place at the Valdai Club in Moscow. The event was moderated by Anton Bespalov, Programme Director of the Valdai Club. Mikhail Ulyanov, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to International Organizations in Vienna, emphasized that the rotation of IAEA observers at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) was conducted through Russian territory…

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Stanford to introduce revenue-sharing model for athletes

Stanford will increase scholarship totals and introduce a revenue-sharing model that will provide direct benefits to student-athletes, the latest move by the university in response to a college athletics landscape that has seen seismic shifts in the last few years. These actions follow from the expected settlement of litigation against the NCAA and college athletics conferences, known as the “House case.”  The settlement, which is expected to receive final court approval…

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Expert Comment: What is the ‘digital gender gap’?

The spread of the internet and mobile phones has been one of the most significant technological revolutions of the 21st century.Digital technologies have become integral to many aspects of our lives and have brought wide ranging benefits to many, including greater information, better connectivity, and access to services in more cost-efficient ways.Why is digital gender equality so important? Our work has shown how women who own mobile phones and use the…

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Three Things to Know About M&As and Technology

Radar Here’s what recent research says about the impact of technology on mergers and acquisitions, and vice versa. Kaushik Viswanath March 10, 2025 Reading Time: 1 min  Topics Radar Brief insights on emerging trends in management from the opening pages of MIT Sloan Management Review’s quarterly print magazine. More in this series subscribe-icon Subscribe Share Mergers and acquisitions are a key growth strategy for companies — and we may see…

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EEOC Prioritizes Campus Antisemitism: What Employers Need to Know

By: Ridhima Bhalla, Andrew L. Scroggins, and Christopher J. DeGroff In a March 5, 2025 press release, Andrea Lucas, the Acting Chair of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), emphasized the agency’s plans to prioritize holding universities and colleges accountable to prevent the creation of hostile work environments for Jewish employees. This emphasis follows other directives from the new administration. On February 3, 2025, President Trump issued Executive Order…

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New York Health Data Requirements Potentially Ahead: Understanding the Newly Passed Health Information Privacy Act

Quick Hits New York lawmakers passed a health information privacy bill that, among other obligations, would require entities to obtain authorization to collect, use, or sell an individual’s health information unless it is “strictly necessary” for certain purposes. The bill broadly defines regulated health information to include data that goes beyond traditional protected health information (PHI) and broadly defines regulated entities to include New York entities and certain non-New York…

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More durable goods: Key impacts of Québec’s new repair and durability regulation for manufacturers and merchants

On Jan. 22, 2025, the Québec government published its draft regulation (the Proposed Regulation) on the right to repair, following the assent of Bill 29: An Act to protect consumers from planned obsolescence and promote the durability, repair, and maintenance of goods (the Act) in Oct. 2023. The Proposed Regulation provides valuable clarification and guidance on the modifications introduced by the Act towards favouring durable goods, particularly with regard to…

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How real-world businesses are transforming with AI — with more than 140 new stories

Updated March 10, 2025: The post contains more than 140 new customer stories, which appear in italics at the beginning of each section of customer lists. The post will be updated regularly with new stories. One of the highlights of my career has always been connecting with customers and partners across industries to learn how they are using technology to drive their businesses forward. In the past 30 years, we’ve…

  • Post category:Microsoft
  • Reading time:111 mins read
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Oxford researcher reveals hidden Alfred Tennyson text using innovative imaging techniques

Dr Michael J Sulliivan, Credit: John Cairns Dr Sullivan’s team has been using multispectral imaging, along with X-ray fluorescence and fibre-optic reflectance spectroscopy, to explore previously hidden parts of manuscripts. Multispectral imaging involves capturing a variety of images in different spectral bands, or wavelengths, from infrared to ultraviolet. By imaging a manuscript with over 40 different illuminations, the research team was able to draw out details beyond the normal visual…

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More than 70 local school pupils will attend Oxford for sport and education as community initiative doubles in size

The Oxford Young Sport Leaders Programme began as a pilot with Greyfriars School in the autumn of 2023 and includes sport sessions with University athletes and interactive sport-related workshops led by Oxford academics and departments.The success of the pilot led to an expansion of the Programme in 2024, when The Oxford Academy and Oxford Spires Academy joined Greyfriars School in a joint programme last summer. Twelve boys and girls in…

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Sporting Goods 2025—The new balancing act: Turning uncertainty into opportunity

The sporting goods industry faced a difficult environment in 2024. Softer growth prospects, persistent inflation, and cautious consumer spending all tested companies’ resilience. Despite these hurdles, the industry managed to sustain a growth rate of 7 percent a year from 2021 to 2024 (Exhibit 1). The growth outlook for 2024 to 2029 is projected at a slightly more modest 6 percent a year, driven by a slowdown in the Asia–Pacific,…

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European automotive industry: What it takes to regain competitiveness

The automotive industry—including OEMs of passenger cars and trucks, suppliers, and downstream players such as aftermarket or financing providers—is a major part of Europe’s economy. These players collectively account for 7 percent of Europe’s GDP, providing about 13.8 million direct and indirect jobs. In 2019, the European Union dominated the global automotive market, hosting ten of the top 20 suppliers and four of the top ten OEMs by revenue. Yet…

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How to Strategize in an Out-of-Control World

Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images During the past few years, company strategies have been disrupted repeatedly by major shocks like the COVID-19 pandemic, the outbreak of war in Ukraine and the Middle East, and breakthroughs in generative AI. In the first months of 2025, a stream of political surprises has been impacting company agendas — and further upheavals seem likely. This turbulence is having a real impact on business:…

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South Carolina House and Senate Introduce Legislation on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Quick Hits South Carolina state lawmakers introduced parallel bills in the state House and Senate that follow other recent executive and agency actions at the federal level and offer additional details not present in federal executive orders, such as definitions of “promoting DEI.” Proposed amendments to the South Carolina Code would require certification of compliance to the General Assembly, as well as require the state auditor to conduct periodic compliance…

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May you live in interesting times: Canadian procurement and potential bans on American companies

This ironic curse of unknown origin seems to be our current plight, so much so that any article written today will be out of date tomorrow. Accurate predictions require a time machine, but the current uncertainty appears to be with us for the unforeseeable future. What appears certain is that trade conflicts and the potential acquisition of Canada have galvanized Canadian spirits (with already imposed restrictions on American ones). There…

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Unveiling ‘Spreadsheet Champions’: A documentary premiere at SXSW

The world of competitive spreadsheets is about to take center stage at this year's South by Southwest (SXSW) with the world premiere of Spreadsheet Champions. Produced by GoodThing Productions, this documentary delves into the fascinating world of the Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) World Championship, shining a spotlight on the Excel category and the incredible talent it attracts. Organized by Certiport, a Pearson VUE business, the MOS World Championship is a…

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Free Pre-K Gives Parents’ Income a Long-Lasting Boost‌‌

Unlike parents in many other high-income countries, American parents are largely on their own until their kids are old enough for kindergarten when it comes to childcare and schooling. But over the past two decades or so, municipalities around the country have started rolling out public pre-kindergarten that is available to all children, usually at age three or four, regardless of income level—what has become known as universal pre-kindergarten (UPK).…

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Beyond the start-up phase: Recipes for growth at mobility companies

The invention of the automobile in the late 1800s soon attracted entrepreneurs. Car manufacturers sprung up across the world, with the number in the United States increasing from 30 in 1899 to about 500 by 1910. The early industry’s hallmark was rapid and constant innovation, which included the introduction of V-8 engines, the replacement of hand cranks with electric starters, and the addition of folding tops for weather protection. By…

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At SIEPR Economic Summit, Jonathan Levin discusses impact of Stanford research

Name the businesses leading the artificial intelligence arms race and it’s likely that Google, Nvidia, OpenAI, and Anthropic, among others, come to mind. What do these four companies have in common? Their founders are Stanford alumni.Jonathan Levin, the president of Stanford and a senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR), made this point during the kickoff session at the 2025 SIEPR Economic Summit – but not…

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ONCA rules on the ultimate limitation period in the context of municipal building permit claims

The recent decision of the Court of Appeal for Ontario in Huether v Sharpe, 2025 ONCA 140, clarifies what constitutes a “continuous act or omission” that is sufficient to toll the running of the 15-year ultimate limitation period in s.15(2) of the Limitations Act (Act). Background The Township of McMurrich Monteith (Township) issued a building permit (Permit) for the construction of a dwelling in 1986. Inspections conducted by the Township…

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How AI Can Improve Hiring

Anyone who’s had a hand in hiring and recruiting knows that finding the right person for the job is often difficult and expensive. Typically, organisations assess candidates using a combination of interviews and static tests, such as those that evaluate logical and verbal reasoning or behavioural traits. This process takes up significant time and resources. Moreover, studies suggest that without careful structuring and design, these hiring methods can suffer from low validity and fail…

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Three Years of Conflict: Results for Ukraine

The list of liabilities, however, is equally significant. First and foremost, Ukraine has suffered enormous human losses. Hundreds of thousands of men have been killed or wounded. The loss of human capital has been exacerbated by the large number of refugees and émigrés, many of whom are reluctant to return. Given Ukraine’s already challenging demographic situation following the collapse of the USSR – marked by low birth rates and high…

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Latest results from 20+ year Oxford study reveals ongoing impacts of global crises on young people

Researchers from the University of Oxford have followed the lives of 12,000 children in Ethiopia, India (Telangana and Andhra Pradesh), Peru, and Vietnam since 2002, informing meaningful policy change to improve the lives of children and young people growing up in poverty. Preliminary findings from the seventh survey round, with the participants now aged 22 and 29, have been released today, and underscore the urgent need for policy action to address the…

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Supporting Black entrepreneurs in Canada: A Q&A with Groupe 3737’s Louis-Edgar Jean-François

Louis-Edgar Jean-François, CEO of national non-profit Groupe 3737, joined Ravi Latour, BLG partner and co-chair of the firm’s Race Action Committee, for a conversation in honour of Black History Month 2025. The discussion touched on how Groupe 3737 is fostering innovation and entrepreneurship in Black communities in Canada and how organizations can best support Black talent. BLG has been a proud supporter of Groupe 3737’s initiatives since 2022 and was…

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