Europe

For its sheer scope, daring, and size, Wirecard is being compared to Enron. What happens next seems both predictable and inevitable from a global governance perspective. By Andrea Bonime-Blanc and Michael Marquardt The original version of this…

Despite being a global business consultant I have only shared this story with a few close friends before. My father was born in 1936 in a German town called Kassel, northeast of Frankfurt. The oldest…

I remember the email well, although this was more than 15 years ago. Working as a global business advisor, it came from a potential business partner in mainland China and it started out promising. “Planning…

As we all try to make sense of how this global health crisis has impacted our personal and business relationships, several observations stand out to me. Observations Countries where citizens have always been good at…

This is my 29th year living and working in the United States after immigrating from Germany in 1991. While developing international business strategy over the years I have come across many differences between Germans and Americans. Some…

As I have traveled the world over the past three years since Donald J. Trump was inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States of America, I have stared into the disbelieving and disillusioned…

As a very young boy growing up in West Berlin, Germany, I thought every city was surrounded by a concrete wall. As I grew older, I remember feeling angry learning about the abuse of power…

A little more than a month ago, on September 24, federal elections were held in Germany. Chancellor Merkel’s party, along with its Bavarian sister party (the CDU/CSU) lost many seats in parliament but she still…

For corporate directors, Volkswagen AG’s “Dieselgate” is a textbook case of how a lack of effective corporate governance has led to worldwide criminal investigations and a loss of public confidence. Corporate directors and millions of…

In 2013, American technology magnate Michael Dell said that “mobile will figure out health care … before health care figures out mobile.” Initially, he was right, but during the past year the healthcare industry has…

Volkswagen AG (VW), with annual revenues of $244 billion in 2014 and some 600,000 employees worldwide, now stands accused of systematically circumventing and violating environmental safety rules and regulations the world over, possibly for years….

I immigrated to the United States from Germany almost 25 years ago, so I may be a little biased when I proclaim that United States democracy (despite all its pitfalls) truly does offer the world…

Twenty-five years ago, I was 19 years old and living in what was then West Berlin. In my last year of German high school, I often worked as a security guard at night to earn…

There was a story in the news recently about SABMiller Plc, one of the world’s largest brewers, working with 6,000 pub owners in South Africa to – among other things – significantly improve the quality of…

What does a Berliner who lives in the United States do in Hong Kong? He talks about his experience almost 25 years ago when the Berlin Wall came tumbling down! 2014 is a year of…

I spent the past couple of days in Washington, D.C. in advance of German Chancellor Merkel’s visit to the United States. One of the fascinating conversations I had centered on the fact that many medium-sized…