Want to keep up to date with the latest developments in finance, but you are short of time? Don't worry. CFO South Africa weekly collects 10 of the most important articles from international media for your convenience.
1. How to Predict Which Employees Will Leave
Increasingly advanced predictive algorithms take into account everything from performance evaluations to conflict avoidance to timely task completion.
2. Beat the Odds in M&A Turnarounds
While M&A deals and turnarounds are individually hard to pull off, combining the two can be even more challenging. Yet based on our research, including an analysis of roughly 1,400 M&A-based turnarounds between 2005 and 2018 in which the target had experienced a drop in performance before acquisition, we have identified six factors that can help acquiring companies improve their odds of success.
3. Is HR the Most Analytics-Driven Function?
A recent global survey on which I collaborated with Oracle suggests that HR is right up there with the most analytical functions in business — and even a bit ahead of a quantitatively-oriented function like Finance. Many HR departments are making use of advanced analytical methods like predictive and prescriptive models, and even artificial intelligence.
4. Amazon's 4 Keys to Success, According to Jeff Bezos
In this interview at the George W. Bush Presidential Center's Forum on Leadership, Jeff Bezos credits four principles within Amazon's core values. "We go back to them over and over again," he says. "And if you look through each thing that we do, you will see them run straight through everything."
5. How companies can help midlevel managers navigate agile transformations
Agile organization models have less hierarchy and fewer conventional managers. Here’s how executives making the move to agile can keep their valuable former managers engaged and motivated.
6. Private Companies Grow Anxious Over Global Demand
Top executives at private companies are dramatically more concerned than they were a year ago about a potential lack of demand for their products and services. Almost half (45%) of the 300 CEOs and 300 CFOs surveyed by PricewaterhouseCoopers during the first quarter cited the issue as a top threat to business growth. That was 28 percentage points higher than the proportion of executives who held that view in the opening quarter of 2018.
7. What should an open-door policy really mean?
There is an open and lively debate about the virtues and pitfalls of an open-door policy. On one side, we have the argument that managers should view themselves as coaches and always be available to employees.
8. The quest to digitally preserve the built world, from Notre-Dame to Easter Island
The booming 3D-scanning industry, which has its roots in robotics, offers hope to heritage sites damaged by accidents, climate change, and the simple passing of time.
9. Allianz Global Investors CFO on maximising intellectual capital
Markus Kobler, the finance head of the asset manager owned by insurance giant Allianz, reveals how the group is ensuring its people are using technology to drive value.
10. Most CFOs Rely On External Support for Major Initiatives
In this Q&A, Robert Half’s Tim Hird and Protiviti’s Jay Thompson discuss the top reasons CFOs are turning outside their organizations for support.
