John Kay

Why do we use no more materials today than a century ago? Modern economic growth is about better rather than more

A report to CE International plc (formerly the Church of England) on the management challenges it faces.

Although the progress of grief is predictable, it is also slow. Sell on denial, buy on depression, was my advice to investors last year and it looks still valid today.

There are historic lessons to be learnt from the recent high definition format war: the importance of the installed base and the unpredictability of consumer markets.

Mr Buffett’s success demonstrates the weakness of one economic theory, the efficient market hypothesis, and the strength of another – the central role that the pursuit and defence of economic rents plays in modern corporate life.

The corporation’s unique identity is defined by its distinctive capabilities. The matching of distinctive capability to market and industry is the process that defines “our space”.

People who hold to a single idea, or a fixed design, generally lose in chess, as they lose in battle, in business and in economics.

Christmas shopping in Marylebone High Street provides insight into the internalisation of externalities and the relationship between corporate governance and business strategy.

Farewell to ICI, Britain’s leading industrial company for most of the 20th century. As a national institution, ICI nurtured some of Britain’s best management talent and developed the skills and knowledge behind the country’s most successful postwar industry.

The mistake both authors and publishers of business books make is to confuse a book about “what I did” with a book about “how to do it”.