The strength of the Gulf countries

The Gulf economies are among the richest and most vibrant on the planet, helped by a Brent crude oil price that rose back to over $90 per barrel last week. A $3.5tr fossil-fuel bonanza is being spent on everything from home-grown artificial intelligence models and shiny new cities in the desert, to filling the coffers of giant sovereign-wealth funds that roam the world’s capital markets looking for deals. As the cash flows in, the chaos shows signs of receding, thanks to the biggest burst of diplomacy for decades. Saudi Arabia and Iran have negotiated detente in a rivalry that has lasted since the Iranian revolution in 1979. Civil wars in Syria and Yemen are killing fewer people, as their sponsors seek de-escalation. Following the Abraham accords between Israel and some Arab governments, Saudi Arabia is considering recognising the Jewish state, 75 years after its creation. The region’s global clout is rising — four countries are about to join the BRICS club of non-aligned powers that want a less Western-dominated world.

(Adapted from “The New Middle East Has More Money And Less Mayhem. For Now,” by The Economist, published on September 7, 2023)

The trend of quiet cutting

Workers are waking up to emails and team-meeting requests with a jarring message: They aren’t fired, but their jobs are gone. People on the receiving end of these memos describe running through a range of emotions, from relief that they’re still employed to a sense of dread that their bosses secretly want them to leave. They are also facing a labour market that isn’t as robust as a year ago, leaving many to believe that the best option is to stay put and hunt internally for a better fit. Adidas, Adobe, IBM and Salesforce, among others, have reassigned employees as part of corporate restructurings. Mentions of reassignment, or similar terms, during company earnings calls more than tripled between last August and this month, according to data from AlphaSense, a financial-research platform. For companies that spent several years — and significant money —to hire top talent, reassigning workers to new roles can be a way to fill jobs vital to future plans while trimming costs.

(Adapted from “You’ve Heard of Quiet Quitting. Now Companies Are Quiet Cutting,” by Ray A. Smith, published on August 27, 2023, by The Wall Street Journal)

Enhancing performance management

The adoption of robots is improving companies’ ability to recognise and reward good employee performance. Within every organisation, leaders face a fundamental question: How do we get the best from our people? One of the most common methods is offering monetary rewards — usually, periodic bonuses — that are linked to performance. Because so much work is done in teams and managers can’t monitor the specific activity of each employee or accurately measure individual performance, many organisations choose to pay bonuses based on team or company performance rather than on individual performance. In our research, we have found that companies that adopt robots improve their ability to measure human performance.

(Adapted from “How Robots Can Enhance Performance Management for Humans,” by Bryan Hong and Lynn Wu, published on July 19, 2023, by MIT Sloan Management Review)

India’s foreign news coverage

When Narendra Modi visited Washington in June, Indian cable news channels spent days discussing their country’s foreign-policy priorities and influence. This represents a significant change. The most popular shows, which consist of a studio host and supporters of the Hindu-nationalist prime minister jointly browbeating his critics, used to be devoted to domestic issues. Yet in recent years they have made room for foreign-policy discussion, too. Mr Modi has also given the channels a lot to discuss: a visit to France and the United Arab Emirates in July was his 72nd foreign outing. India’s presidency of the G20 has brought the world even closer. Meetings have been scheduled in over 30 cities, all of which are now festooned with G20 paraphernalia.

(Adapted from “What India’s Foreign-News Coverage Says About Its Worldview,” published on August 16, 2023, by The Economist)

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, September 11th, 2023