There is no shortage of candidates for the title of the most dangerous business idea of the moment. Management-by-algorithm may remove what humanity there is left in the corporate world. The office-less future may dissolve workers into angst-ridden atoms. I want to suggest a less obvious contender for the title: “social purpose.” The idea of social purpose can be ...

If tech billionaires were targeted by China’s rulers last year, it looks like the millionaire civil servants are next. “Zero Tolerance,” a new five-part documentary jointly produced by CCTV and the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the powerful anti-corruption agency, signals just that. In the nine months ending September, CCDI opened about 407,000 cases and punished 438,000 people, the most ...

  It’s official: Americans are paying up for their favourite goods. December saw the biggest 12-month gain in inflation since 1982. Last week, Procter & Gamble Co. raised its sales outlook for the year to the end of June on the back of higher prices. In the three months to December 31, organic sales (which exclude the impact of currency ...