1 UK construction in recession first time in four
years (Katie Allen in The Guardian) The UK’s construction industry has slipped
back into recession for the first time in four years, according to official
figures that show the sector was struggling even before the vote to leave the
EU.
Experts say the drop in business and consumer
confidence since the referendum will further dent construction activity in the
months ahead. The Office for National Statistics said output dipped 0.7% in the
second quarter of 2016, following a drop of 0.3% in the previous three months.
It is the first time there have been two consecutive quarters of falling output
– a technical recession – since 2012, when the eurozone debt crisis shook
confidence across Europe.
Economists put the industry’s troubles down to
government spending cuts and a blow to private sector investment plans from the
referendum. A recent business survey by the data group Markit suggested
pressure had intensified after the referendum. The PMI report signalled the
sharpest contraction since mid-2009.
2 Italian growth stagnates (BBC) Italy's economy
failed to grow between April and June as the country struggled with its
creaking banking sector. GDP growth shrank to 0% in the second quarter compared
to 0.3% in the first quarter.
Germany's economy also slowed in the second quarter,
albeit less markedly than had been expected. Europe's largest economy expanded
by 0.4%, down from 0.7% in the first quarter, but above forecasts of 0.2%.
Overall, a second estimate of GDP across the
eurozone confirmed that growth halved to 0.3% from 0.6% in the first three
months of the year. GDP also fell across the 28-nation European Union to 0.4%
from 0.5% between the first and second quarters.
Italian Prime Minister Mario Renzi, is battling to
reduce the bad debt in its banking sector, which is currently buried under
€360bn worth of bad loans. Monte dei Paschi di Siena, Italy's third largest
bank and the world's oldest lender, is saddled with €46.9bn of bad debt.
France recorded no growth between April and June
after GDP rose by 0.7% in the first quarter, boosted by business from the Euro
2016 football tournament. In contrast, Greece reported a rare rise in GDP -
which increased by 0.3% compared to a 0.1% fall in the first quarter. Holidaymakers
are choosing the likes of Greece and Spain over politically volatile Turkey.
3 Being a thought leader (Karen Tiber Leland in San
Francisco Chronicle) If your goal is to position yourself as a thought leader,
then you need to engage in a branding process to legitimately position yourself
at that level. The following is a bird’s-eye view of each level.
Phase One: Platform Development—Brand Design and
Strategy. This is all about developing a solid platform on which you can build
your brand and market your business. It requires defining, articulating, and
declaring your brand and then translating that into places (online and off)
where people can effectively engage with your business.
That probably doesn’t come as news to you; however,
if you’re like many of my clients, your tendency is to move quickly past this
first phase and jump headlong into the more exciting work of spreading the
word. The problem is, I’ve seen far too many people haphazardly rush into
building buzz for their brand (Phase Two), only to drive traffic back to a
website and/or social media sites that don’t hit the mark.
Phase Two is about Brand and Buzz Building—Brand
Expansion and Acceleration. With your platform solidly in place, you’re ready
to take on some serious buzz building. There are hundreds of significant
tactics you can use to build brand and buzz, but unless you’re a Fortune 500
company, you likely won’t have the time or money to pursue them all.
The trick is to sit down and carefully consider
which tactics (based on your business, brand, personal preferences, time,
money, and energy) you're going to include in your overall brand- and
buzz-building strategy.
Phase Three is about Thought/Industry Leadership—Brand
Authority. Making that leap generally requires the following three steps. A.
Adding something new through academic research, clinical research,
experimentation, field study, and sometimes just old-fashioned, deep,
reflective thinking.
B. Being a trusted source of information. Being a
requested speaker at industry conferences, a go-to source for media interviews,
and a contributor to blogs, leading websites, and publications are all
indications that you’re poised for thought/industry leadership. C. Consistently
generating high-quality content. Thought/industry leaders create traditionally
published books, ebooks, blogs, articles, podcasts, webinars, online products,
and more.
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