• The missing first rung

    The missing first rung

    AI is changing how junior employees gain essential professional experience. Business Quarter examines the implications for career development and leadership pipelines, with insights from mthree, h2h, and HGS Europe.


  • What businesses want from today’s Autumn Budget

    Businesses are seeking certainty ahead of today’s pivotal Autumn Budget. With investment plans weak, employers want relief on operating costs, predictable taxation, and practical support for growth.


  • How Dario Amodei is building Anthropic differently

    Dario Amodei has captured attention with his warnings about AI. In this Business Quarter profile, his leadership decisions at Anthropic are equally consequential — shaping how the technology giant balances commercial ambition with safety and accountability.


  • Why consumers are looking past green imagery

    Consumers are demanding more than familiar symbols of corporate sustainability. New research suggests authenticity, visible processes, and recognisably human creative are becoming more important as brands try to turn environmental claims into credible communications.


  • European M&A deals of the month: July 2026

    July’s European deal market rewarded scale, infrastructure, and operational depth. Five major transactions showed buyers paying substantial premiums for established networks, recurring revenue, specialist technology, and market positions that would take years to recreate.


  • Youth skills agenda shifts towards AI judgement

    Youth skills policy increasingly depends on combining AI and judgement. World Youth Skills Day arrives as more than one million young people remain outside employment, education, or training.


  • US M&A deals of the month: June 2026

    June’s US dealmaking concentrated around AI, platforms, infrastructure, and pipelines. SpaceX, Fox, Martin Marietta, Merck, and AbbVie led a month in which buyers paid for scarce routes to capability, scale, customer access, and future growth.


  • UK M&A deals of the month: June 2026

    June’s UK dealmaking became a sharper contest over listed-company value. Prologis, EQT, Castlelake, Ingredion, and Bridgepoint shaped a month of foreign approaches, take-private pressure, strategic consolidation, and outbound expansion, with boards testing whether public-market discounts should translate into control.


  • Burnham growth pitch faces delivery test

    Burnham’s devolution pitch has drawn cautious support from business leaders. Entrepreneurs and technology executives welcomed his focus on business rates, skills, and regional growth, but warned that delivery will depend on practical policy, local capacity, and digital infrastructure.


  • The cost of good work is changing

    Employment reform is reaching rotas, payroll, and manager decisions. The UK’s Employment Rights Act 2025 will test workforce planning, absence management, manager capability, and productivity in organisations that have relied on informal flexibility.