Insights

Our own Grant Thornton International Business Report conducts worldwide surveys that poll business leaders across the world markets, and fully 54% of respondents reported feeling a sense of economic optimism in Q2 2018 – far higher numbers than in previous years.

Since its inception, the digital realm has been an economic “wild west.” Laws and regulations written in the “brick and mortar” world often do not apply or are, for all practical purposes, unenforceable in the digital counterpart.

In the natural world, the big winners are not always the strongest or fastest, but rather the ones that are best at adapting to changes in their environment. The business world follows similar rules – and its current environment is changing more rapidly than at any time in history, thanks to the digital revolution.

Do you tailor your donor communications by age group? Grant Thornton’s Global Not for Profit Leader, Carol Rudge, explains why you should

Vibrant cities attract people to live, work or invest in them. So what should you be focusing on if you're a city planner? How can you help your city function smartly and create sustainable growth for all?

Effective cash management is a critical success factor for any business. To fund growth, invest in new infrastructure or mitigate short term downturns, having strong visibility and control of day-to-day cash is a must.

Artificial intelligence is a concept that remains much discussed but poorly understood. There are popular speakers who preach its potential, predicting that we will soon live in an automated world where human work is no longer necessary.

Global businesses today use a wide variety of tools in their communications strategy to stay connected – intranets, emails, mobile phones, Skype, texts and instant messaging among them. Revolutionary as they may be for transforming how business is conducted globally, they still provide no substitute for sending a trusted, capable employee on an overseas assignment to solve a problem or lead an initiative in person.

Thailand may soon join several countries in taxing digital services and products that are provided by foreign e-commerce operators. In July 2018, the Thai Cabinet approved of a draft law that, if enacted, will see Thailand imposing value added tax (“VAT”) on foreign operators that provide services and content through the internet or electronic media to Thai consumers.

For the average large Thai organisation included in the study, just $0.7 million was lost through the direct result of attacks. Indirect effects accounted for $6.7 million of the lost money, while induced losses accounted for the remaining $5.3 million.

Executive recruitment used to be a much simpler industry in terms of entry as well as sustainable performance. Before networks like LinkedIn and dedicated job-searching websites, businesses had little choice but to connect with executive candidates via a third party.

For many businesses, international expansion and growth brings new opportunities across new markets. However, managing an internationally mobile workforce can pose significant challenges in effectively tracking where employees are working. In turn, these challenges complicate the tax and reporting obligations that arise across a diverse employee population working across borders.

As companies grow in size, the challenge of keeping everyone on the same page becomes ever greater. In the minds of many executives, the most natural solution seems to be an increased tendency toward top-down control.

With the recent closures of Toys “R” Us (U.S.), Maplin and Topshop Australia, we investigate whether the internet is killing off physical stores and offer practical advice to dynamic retail businesses on how to avoid going under.

Whether it’s robotics, artificial intelligence or the cloud, advances in technology present a golden opportunity for the finance function. But what’s the best way to maximise potential gains: an enterprise-wide solution, or a more targeted approach?

In the final part of this article, we continue our examination of how customs rules for free trade agreements (“FTAs”) should be modernised to meet the needs of a digital economy.