Britain's most admired, scenario-based cash planning and more.
Here its managing director and management and PR consultant Sarah Waddington shares five things that caught her attention and might interest you and your organisation too.
1) The arrival of Clubhouse
Clubhouse is the newest and most hyped social media app on the block. The premise of this audiobased social network is that you join a voice chat room and take part in or just listen to a free-flowing conversation on a topic of interest to you. Some conversations are moderated, others aren’t and none are recorded by the app – although a number of users have already used YouTube streaming to do so. Still in development, only those on iOS can access the app (work on an Android version is ongoing) and the only way to gain entry is through an invitation from an existing member. While yet to establish itself, Clubhouse presents some interesting opportunities for brands, for example by offering the chance to create curated conversations around topics related to brand purpose and extend communities that way.
2) Britain’s Most Admired Companies
Published in Management Today, Echo Research has unveiled the 2020 winners of Britain’s Most Admired Companies. The survey is the longestrunning corporate reputation study in the UK and this year’s results acknowledge businesses which have demonstrated transformational leadership, shown resilient teamwork and put people first in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Topping the list is Halma, the global group of life-saving technology companies, which was commended for its well thought-out, purposeful, long-term strategy, while Tesco was singled out as the most admired company for its response to COVID. Attributes of the most admired companies range from strong management and a sound business model through to innovation, diversity and inclusivity and communication.
3) Birdwatch
A new trial being piloted in the United States is employing a community-based approach to combatting misleading information on Twitter. Birdwatch is a bid to reduce the amount of misinformation on the site, which has grown significantly in recent years. Anyone interested in its progress can follow @Birdwatch, which published its first dataset on 1st February.
4) Facebook News The launch of Facebook News sees the tech giant build a more personalised news experience on the social networking site. The UK launch is the first outside the US and involves partnerships with the Telegraph Media Group, Channel 4 News, Daily Mail Group, the Guardian, the Economist, DC Thomson, Financial Times and Sky News. The Guardian reports that “Facebook said the investment was intended to “support the industry in building sustainable business models”. However, it will also be seen as a strategic play by the company aimed at discouraging wider international regulation of the news media market – by showing that it is prepared to support local publishers without government intervention.” 5) Scenario-based cash planning McKinsey has reported an increase in scenario-based cash planning as organisations attempt to manage uncertainty and ensure they have sufficient cash reserves. According to the management consultancy, five areas of best practice have emerged. These include considering future states for the business that are different enough to foster meaningful debate; managing complexity by concentrating on just a few fixed variables; linking scenario planning to specific outcomes; having the right amount of modelling granularity; and choosing the right type of modelling approach to suit the needs of the business.
