Enhancing supply chain efficiency with agentic systems

  • Post category:Microsoft
  • Reading time:13 mins read

The supply chain challenge continues  Retailers and consumer goods companies have faced constant change, particularly in supply chains. New sales and distribution models, such as online sales, omnichannel approaches, direct-to-consumer sales, and complex ecosystems, have evolved. External disruptions are frequent, with 90% of leaders reporting supply chain challenges in 20241. …

Returning to the office? Focus more on practices and less on the policy

  • Post category:McKinsey & Company
  • Reading time:21 mins read

The world of work is still in flux as many companies continue to follow hybrid and work-from-home models. At the same time, Fortune 500 companies such as Amazon, JP Morgan Chase, and Nike moved to mandated in-office policies of at least four days a week in 2024, and more organizations,…

Expert Comment: Paris AI Summit misses opportunity for global AI governance

Following previous summits at Bletchley Park (2023) and Seoul (2024), global leaders re-convened at the Paris AI Summit this month to find a shared direction for the regulation of artificial intelligence (AI). The Declaration agreed at Paris, signed by fifty-seven states and bodies such as the UN, the OECD, and the…

CoDa marks new era for computing and data science at Stanford

As computing and data continue to influence nearly every facet of society, Stanford University is committing to the future of both with the opening of the new Computing and Data Science (CoDa) building."}">svg]:su-mt-3 md:[&>svg]:su--mt-2 lg:[&>svg]:su-mt-4 [&>svg]:su-w-41 [&>svg]:su-h-43 md:[&>svg]:su-w-[97px] md:[&>svg]:su-h-[102px] su-mr-8 lg:su-mr-19">sAs computing and data continue to influence nearly every facet…

Webinar: Drafting Restrictive Covenants That Work – Insights from Recent Legal Battles

  • Post category:Seyfarth Shaw LLP
  • Reading time:4 mins read

Denys Nevozhai, Unsplash 2025 Trade Secrets Webinar Series REGISTER HERE Thursday, February 27, 20251:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. Eastern12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. Central11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Mountain10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Pacific About the Program Restrictive covenants continue to face evolving legal challenges and heightened regulatory scrutiny. With…

EU-Mexico’s new trade deal: What about a trilateral trade tango with Canada?

  • Post category:BLG law firm
  • Reading time:10 mins read

In 2018, the first Trump Administration imposed tariffs – on purportedly national security grounds - on all imports of steel and aluminum, including from Mexico and Canada, its trading partners since 1994 in the North American Free Trade Agreement.1 In 2019, Canada and Mexico agreed to renegotiate the NAFTA. The…

AI at Work: Let’s talk about AI pricing strategies

  • Post category:Microsoft
  • Reading time:7 mins read

When your company is investing in AI, it can be hard to gauge ROI. What use cases will generate the most value? How will you measure ROI? With these big questions looming, it’s understandable that leaders might feel uncertain about answering one of the most basic questions: how much should…

New study highlights ways to future-proof cocoa production

This Valentine’s Day, millions of pounds worth of chocolate will be exchanged as gifts, but climate change and biodiversity loss imperil future global supplies of this treat. A new research study led by the University of Oxford and published today (14 February) demonstrates that sustainable agricultural practices that both protect…

What do US consumers want from e-commerce deliveries?

  • Post category:McKinsey & Company
  • Reading time:12 mins read

Consumers still love to shop online, but growth in e-commerce is no longer likely to be as frenzied as it was in recent years. E-commerce sales in the United States soared to 18 percent annual growth between 2019 and 2023. Our analysis suggests that sales could now normalize at a…

Brussels Centralism Threatens to Cause Even Greater Economic Damage to Europe

Undermining sovereignty According to certain political elites, Europe’s economy is facing a “state of emergency” due to sanctions against the Russian Federation, energy crisis, the trade war with China and the United States, Trump’s tariffs rhetoric – not to forget the ongoing debt crisis in many of the Member States.…

The Future of Artificial Intelligence: A World Without Secrets?

On February 13, 2025, the Valdai Club hosted an expert discussion dedicated to the future of artificial intelligence. Anton Bespalov, moderator of the discussion, invited the participants to address the prospects of a technological confrontation between China and the United States and Russia's place in it. Ruslan Yunusov, Co-Founder of…

Global Private Markets Report 2025: Private equity emerging from the fog

  • Post category:McKinsey & Company
  • Reading time:27 mins read

To the casual observer, 2024 may have felt like yet another difficult year for private equity (PE) globally. Fundraising remained tough—down 24 percent year over year for traditional commingled vehicles, marking the third consecutive year of decline. Investment returns were muted, especially compared with buoyant public markets. Our analysis reveals…

Navigating the New Energy Landscape: Key Takeaways from Trump’s Recent Executive Actions

  • Post category:Seyfarth Shaw LLP
  • Reading time:5 mins read

In a decisive shift from the prior administration’s energy policies, President Trump has enacted a series of executive orders aimed at bolstering domestic fossil fuel production and overhauling the permitting process for energy projects. These actions underscore the administration’s commitment to achieving energy independence, expediting infrastructure development, and reinforcing the…

New York Federal Court Ruling Highlights a Potential Pitfall in Settlement Agreement Enforcement

  • Post category:Ogletree Deakins
  • Reading time:4 mins read

Quick Hits New York’s General Obligations Law (GOL) § 5-336 and Civil Practice Law and Rules (“CPLR”) § 5003-B both impose strict requirements on nondisclosure clauses in matters involving discrimination claims, including that the inclusion of such clauses in a settlement agreement be at the plaintiff’s preference. The U.S. District…

Regulation of renewable energy projects in B.C.: Streamlined approval processes for project development

  • Post category:BLG law firm
  • Reading time:4 mins read

What to know Building capacity for renewable energy projects is a key priority for the current British Columbia government and they have recently announced that they will introduce new legislation for renewable energy projects in the spring of 2025. If passed, the legislation will expand the authority of the British…

Securing DeepSeek and other AI systems with Microsoft Security

  • Post category:Microsoft
  • Reading time:10 mins read

A successful AI transformation starts with a strong security foundation. With a rapid increase in AI development and adoption, organizations need visibility into their emerging AI apps and tools. Microsoft Security provides threat protection, posture management, data security, compliance, and governance to secure AI applications that you build and use.…

Why ASEAN Centrality Still Matters

During the second half of the 1990s and the first decade of the 21stcentury, the family of ASEAN-centric institutions expanded to include the ASEAN Regional Forum on Security (ARF), the East Asia Summit (EAS), the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting with Dialogue Partners (ADMM+), the Expanded ASEAN Maritime Forum (EAMF), and…

Restoring wildlife habitats in wealthy nations could drive extinctions in species-rich regions, experts warn

Some efforts to preserve or rewild natural habitats are shifting harmful land use to other parts of the world – and this could drive an even steeper decline in the planet’s species, according to a team of conservation scientists and economists led by the University of Cambridge.   Researchers from over a…

Five ways B2B sales leaders can win with tech and AI

  • Post category:McKinsey & Company
  • Reading time:14 mins read

B2B sales leaders today stand at a crossroads. The environment they face is dynamic and challenging. Economic growth is uneven across the world, competition is evolving, and B2B customers are adopting many more consumer-like behaviors, seeking more robust buying experiences, and showing a willingness to find alternative vendors. How can…

Venezuelan 2023 TPS and CHNV Parole Get the Axe—What Employers Need to Know

  • Post category:Seyfarth Shaw LLP
  • Reading time:7 mins read

By: Dawn Lurie, Mia Batista, and Fanny Wong On January 20, 2025, the Trump administration issued the Securing Our Borders executive order, citing national security, crime prevention, and the protection of American interests as justification for terminating categorical parole programs for certain Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans. Then on February…

The evolving tariff threat: The impact on the automotive industry

  • Post category:BLG law firm
  • Reading time:4 mins read

February has brought about a dynamic and evolving situation surrounding the threat of tariffs impacting several key sectors, including the automotive industry. From the 30 day “pause” of 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico to the recent imposition of 25 percent tariff on steel and aluminum, with a “no…

NEW BOOK: Navigating a Toxic Work Environment for Dummies

  • Post category:Civility Partners
  • Reading time:3 mins read

Does your workplace feel like a daily battle for survival? Endless conflict, backstabbing, bullying, and leadership that turns a blind eye… Sound familiar? For too many professionals, the workplace isn’t a place of productivity and growth; it’s a source of anxiety and stress. Toxic behaviors, dysfunctional cultures, and unchecked hostility…

Creating a modernized defense technology frontier

  • Post category:McKinsey & Company
  • Reading time:18 mins read

The defense ecosystem today is at a critical junction, ripe with opportunity for private capital, the traditional defense industrial base (DIB), and other commercial players such as hyperscalers to take critical roles in leading disruption within the innovation pipeline. Yet the window to reorient how public and private organizations invest…

How Does the Gaza Redevelopment Plan Tie into Maritime Politics?

President Donald Trump has made some intriguing headlines pointing towards the potential plan of the United States of America to take over the Gaza Strip, aiming to transform it into the “Riviera of the Middle East”. This plan involves relocating the Palestinian population, a move widely criticised as ethnic cleansing…

How top performers use innovation to grow within and beyond the core

  • Post category:McKinsey & Company
  • Reading time:8 mins read

Innovation and growth are inherently linked. Companies that build new businesses and develop new offerings, processes, or business models are better able to capture growth opportunities and hedge against disruption in a highly uncertain business environment. This conclusion was forcefully reinforced in our recent survey of 1,039 companies around the…

A Better Way to Compare Yourself to Colleagues

Depending how it’s done, comparing oneself to colleagues can be either motivating or demoralizing. Consider these tips on making productive comparisons. Michael Matthews, Thomas Kelemen, and Mark Bolino February 12, 2025 Reading Time: 5 min  Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images As social animals, we constantly compare ourselves with other…

Taste the Rainbow of Sanctions – Cannabis Company Violates Skittles Permanent Injunction

  • Post category:Seyfarth Shaw LLP
  • Reading time:4 mins read

What happens when a party attempts to sidestep the strict guidelines of a court order?  A cannabis company’s non-compliance with an injunction illuminates the consequences of playing with fire.  Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company v. Terphogz, LLC U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Case: 1:21-cv-02357.  In 2021, Wm.…

Ramadan Starts Soon: Considerations for Employers

  • Post category:Ogletree Deakins
  • Reading time:5 mins read

Quick Hits Employers may need to provide religious accommodations to Muslim workers during the month of Ramadan. Ramadan will begin on the evening of February 28, 2025, or March 1, 2025, depending on the moon. Ramadan will end on the evening of March 29, 2025, or March 30, 2025, with…

Fear not the black box: How responsible AI adoption can drive innovation and productivity

  • Post category:BLG law firm
  • Reading time:7 mins read

AI arms races. The Stargate Project. Billions of dollars of investment. Current headlines about artificial intelligence read like science fiction. But these rapid technological developments (along with significant amounts of hype) are very real, and can be anxiety-inducing for lawyers and in-house counsel trying to understand how AI — and…

Prioritise vaccine boosters for vulnerable immunocompromised patients, say scientists

The findings, published today in Science Advances, suggest that such individuals will need regular vaccine boosters to protect them and reduce the risk of infections that could be severe and also lead to new ‘variants of concern’ emerging.Almost 16 million people worldwide are estimated to have died from Covid-19 during…

How banks’ core technology might benefit from an ‘omnistack’

  • Post category:McKinsey & Company
  • Reading time:15 mins read

Core technology remains a huge challenge for the banking industry, with a majority of financial institutions still running on mainframe-based systems because switching to other options is such a monumental task. In this episode of Talking Banking Matters, McKinsey payments sector expert Roshan Varadarajan speaks with one of the entrepreneurial…

Inspiring Sheldonian Series continues to celebrate intellectual curiosity and diversity of thought

‘Are we alone in the universe?’ and ‘What does it mean to be human?’ were among the questions explored when another large audience of staff, students and alumni gathered at the Sheldonian Theatre to enjoy the University’s second Sheldonian Series event on Tuesday 11 February.Launched in Michaelmas and convened by…

Cambridge signs sustainable research agreement

Developed collaboratively by representatives from across the UK’s research and innovation sector, including universities, research institutes and funding organisations, the Concordat is a commitment and shared ambition to embed environmental sustainability in research practice, culture, and approach throughout the signed organisations, and collectively as a sector. "Not only is the Concordat…

Signs You Can’t Ignore If You’re Doing Business In California

  • Post category:Seyfarth Shaw LLP
  • Reading time:10 mins read

California Employers, Watch For Sharp Turns Ahead If you operate a business in California, you know how difficult it is to keep up with ever-changing legal trends. California employers should review and refresh their workplace postings each year to keep up with legislative changes and annual minimum wage increases. Various…

Keeping Cool: Understanding Nevada OSHA’s Heat Illness Prevention Guidance

  • Post category:Ogletree Deakins
  • Reading time:6 mins read

Quick Hits Nevada OSHA has introduced a new regulation to protect employees from heat illness, with enforcement starting on April 29, 2025. The heat illness regulation requires Nevada employers with more than ten employees to create a written safety program and conduct a job hazard analysis (JHA). Employers are required…

Leading the way to a safer internet together

  • Post category:Microsoft
  • Reading time:7 mins read

Celebrate Safer Internet Day 2025 with Minecraft’s CyberSafe AI: Dig Deeper. Promote online safety and practice responsible AI use with your class. Each year, Safer Internet Day unites people around the world to spotlight critical topics like cyberbullying, social networking, and digital identity. The need for cyber safety education and…

Is Your Board Stuck in the Wrong Gear?

  • Post category:INSEAD Knowledge
  • Reading time:4 mins read

Companies like WeWork have experienced this shift. During periods of rapid growth and expansion, the board likely took a more passive approach, trusting former CEO Adam Neumann’s vision and strategies. However, as the company faced challenges and scrutiny, the board became more active, intervening in decision-making and even replacing the CEO.Likewise, during…

Majority support moderation on social media platforms, global survey shows

The global debate on whether and how social media content should be regulated has flared up again in recent months. Citing freedom of expression, the platform operators X and Meta have relaxed regulations intended to restrict discriminatory statements. Meanwhile, Australia has banned social media access for children under 16.There is…