Welcome to Professor Pick. Business school teachers will provide weekly curated FT article selections to connect classrooms to current events and develop critical thinking for students.
Read all submissions at www.ft.com/bschoolpicks. Save this link in Maft and receive an email alerting you with each new edition. Search for tags for related topics to describe educational points.
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Micro Economics
The rising money will become the top “Trump Trade”
Tags: Product, Gold, Price, Demand and Supply
Summary: Gold price per troy ounce has risen to almost $3,000, reaching a new record. This marks a 7% increase since Donald Trump took office in January. Some argue that gold is the best “Trump trade” given that the S&P 500 rose below 2% over the same period and the US dollar slipped 2.4% against baskets of other currencies. Both UBS and Citigroup hope that bullion will continue to be bullish.
Classroom Application: This article provides opportunities for faculty and students to analyse the gold market and the overall framework of supply and demand, especially.
question:
What are the major demand-side factors that have contributed to the recent surge in gold prices?
What role do supply-side factors play in the surge in prices?
How do US tariffs and US dollar strength affect gold prices?
What role do interest rates and central bank actions play in affecting gold prices in terms of demand?
Are there speculative or behavioral factors that drive short-term price movements in the gold market? How do these interact with traditional supply and demand forces?
Stefan Legge, Lecturer at St Gallen University
Macroeconomics, International Entrepreneurship
US companies lag behind loans at the fastest pace in nearly 10 years
Tags: late, interest rates, federal reserve, corporate borrowing
Summary: Credit specialists are worried about the potential economic impact as US companies default on loans at the highest rate in over eight years. Recent tariffs are partially condemning the trend and could affect the financial health of businesses. Analysts are concerned that these changes could lead to more significant economic difficulties in the future.
Classroom Application: This article provides an opportunity for faculty and student students to discuss the financial foundations of US companies that conduct business internationally.
question:
Do you think the recent increase in loan defaults is a sign of a passing problem or a more serious recession? why?
Which sector is most likely to be affected by these economic difficulties?
What are the reactions to different industries?
If you were a financial analyst to determine whether this trend would continue, what indication would you look for?
What potential impact will an increase in loan defaults have on investors, consumers, and general economic trust?
Greg Stoller, Master Lecturer, Boston University Questrom Business of Business
Strategic management, innovation
How small Chinese AI startup Deepseek shocked Silicon Valley
Summary: This article details how Deepseek, a modest Chinese AI lab, has built a large language model on a bootstrap budget that can be automatically learned and improved without human supervision. The launch of cutting-edge models at significantly lower costs has redefine the factors behind the global AI competition. The company’s approach challenged the established high-tech Giants business model and encouraged a reassessment of competitive dynamics in the AI industry.
Classroom Application: Deepseek’s Rapid Ascent offers a compelling case study on “disruptive innovation” and shows how emerging players can challenge existing players by reshaping the factors of the competition (i.e., how players compete – on metrics from the market side, such as cost – on resource side, such as sources for accessibility, speed, and competitive advantage). This scenario provides a wealth of material for discussions on strategic management, competitive advantages and global competition for innovation. This article was used to discuss both the EMBA and DBA cohorts.
question:
How does Deepseek distinguish it from global high-tech giants from the market side? So what is the factor in competition across the value curve that Deepseek’s language model introduces into the global AI industry?
How is the entrance to Deepseek different from the entrance to global high-tech players like Meta and X? So does Deepseek’s entrance introduce an improvement or ability to destroy technological change?
How should current tech companies respond to upcoming competitors like DeepSeek to maintain their market position?
What are the geopolitical and economic impacts of Deepseek’s breakthrough on the global technology sector?
Luka Guebel, Global Business School for Global Business School, University College London
Business and social good, real innovation
Startups seeking to challenge China’s tensions over rare minerals
Tags: Innovation, Technology, Electronics, Sustainability, Manufacturing
Summary: Several startups in the UK and North America are pioneering e-waste recycling to extract rare earth minerals. This represents a way to meet the growing demand for rare earth minerals, essential to low carbon technologies. One of these startups, Hypromag, efficiently recovers magnets from discarded hard disk drives. The company aims to expand its operations at new factories in the UK, Germany and the US, diversifying rare earth production and establishing a sustainable domestic supply chain.
Classroom Application: This article provides a platform for faculty and students to explore the innovation of practices driven by a combination of geopolitical tensions, increased sustainability and market demand.
question:
What does the term “circumstance economy” mean? How do these startup technologies represent the application of that concept?
Why is the UK government particularly interested in these developments?
How do the two recycling processes highlighted in the article look similar?
What entities provided funding and/or investments to the two startups featured in this article (Hypromag and Cyclic Materials)?
What risks are there in the business models that both companies may need to predict?
Tom Davis, Clinical Assistant Professor, Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business, University of Pittsburgh
Work and career, leadership, management, human resources
Gen Z opposed taking on the role of middle management
Tags: Career, Corporate Ladder, Middle Management, Gen Z
Summary: Young employees prefer to advance their careers instead by developing individual skills rather than managing others. Employees now associate the role of middle management with long hours, endless firefighting and boring HR management. They prefer to control their schedule and work-life balance, and no longer trust that their hard work and loyalty to the company will be rewarded with career safety and success.
Classroom Application: This article provides a platform for faculty and students to consider social contracts between companies and their employees and discuss how to develop effective leadership within the company in the future .
question:
How do Gen Z employees and young workers view their relationship with businesses? And how has that social contract changed over time?
What are the values and interests that guide the actions of Gen Z and young employees, and how can companies use these benefits to motivate workers?
What can companies do to encourage younger employees to take on the role of middle management?
Do businesses need middle managers? And how should the role of middle management be evolved to be relevant and viable in today’s workforce?
What is the role of technology, particularly AI, in shaping the role of middle management in the foreseeable future?
Moshe Cohen, Senior Lecturer at Boston University Business School
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