Global Business Voice

Is the global recession late?

AGN Global Business Voice:
In this edition, we asked our global panel of SME business advisers - “where is the recession?”. The AGN Global Business Voice (GBV) panel comprises 44 senior accountancy and business advisory professionals from leading financial advisory and consultancy firms across the world.

In June 2019, the economic expansion of the US reached its tenth anniversary and the longest period of sustained economic growth on record. However, commentators have been saying for some time that the global economy is due a significant “adjustment”….but it’s late. Where is it? Across the major economies we can see bullish share valuations and increasing profits. Trump has occasionally criticised the Federal Reserve for not cutting interest rates, and stating they should be introducing a round of QE. Why? When the economy is so… “tremendous”?

Aritificial Intelligence and the Entrepreneur 
The fourth industrial revolution?

AGN Global Business Voice:
The world is musing over the potential impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Forrester predicted “A greater than 300% increase in investment in artificial intelligence in 2017”, and Sundar Pichai CEO of Google wrote in 2016 that; “The last 10 years have been about building a world that is mobile first. In the next 10 years, we will shift to a world that is AI first”.

Bitcoin or bust? 
The crypto-currency goes from $600 to $17,000 in a year and splits our panel of experts

AGN Global Business Voice:
Only 12 months ago you could buy a Bitcoin for about $600; now the same thing would cost you around $12,000. In December, that figure was $17,000.
Bitcoin is one of the so-called ‘cryptocurrencies’ but the most successful by far: its market value has at times been greater than that of Disney or IBM. In fact, Bitcoin is bigger than the total currency supply of Denmark!

Cyber Security: The international threat to business continuity

AGN Global Business Voice:
The largest and arguably most powerful ransomware attack the world has seen started to infect IT systems on Friday 12 May. The ‘WannaCry’ virus threw organisations in the UK, US, Russia, Germany, China and more into meltdown: 157 countries were involved in the attack.

Globalisation: Good, bad and protectionism

AGN Global Business Voice:

A key theme of the World Economic Forum in Davos was the impact on the world of economic and corporate globalisation. President Xi of China opened the Davos with a speech praising the merits of global free trade. But on Friday, US President Trump finished the week calling for a protectionist approach for American businesses. We sought the views of the AGN Global Business Voice panel on these themes, and in particular their views on the impact on national businesses (those whose markets are mainly within national boundaries). 

Trump elect, an international business reaction

Our latest Global Business Voice survey tackles the US election, the surprise result and its impact on SME businesses around the world.
In overview, nearly two thirds of our global panel think that the election of Donald Trump could be less positive for SME business globally than if Hillary Clinton had secured victory – a view shared equally in North America and around the world. Similarly downbeat, just over half of the panel believe that business trade opportunities between the US and other countries will now decrease. However, interestingly in this case, a third of the North American panellists thought the opposite.