Economy, Strategy & Finance Briefs
2018
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Tighter labor markets for blue-collar and low-paid service occupations
September 28 | Frank Steemers, Former Senior Economist, The Conference Board | Comments (1)The threat of labor shortages is more acute in blue-collar and low-paid services occupations than in white-collar occupations.The main reason: The working age population is solidly and uninterruptedly growing for college educated, but shrinking for those without a college degree.
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Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence, Customer Experience and Innovation from Adobe’s Chris Duffey
September 25 | Terrence Sooley, Program Director, Customer Experience Leadership Conference, Supplier Relationship Management Conference and Procurement Seminar, The Conference Board | Comments (0)Artificial Intelligence is the most effective method for engaging customers, fueling innovation, and accelerating personalized customer experiences. AI is a differentiator in the customer experience space because it can capture enormous amounts of data, analyze it quickly, and produce targeted, personalized experiences that engage consumers. Being able to deliver personalized, empathetic customer experiences quickly, will allow organizations to secure happier, more brand loyal customers.
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Customer Experience: Lowe's, Ingredion, and B|O|S head toward “North Star”
September 24 | Joan Greco, Program Director, Innovation Master Class, Customer Experience Conference, and Women's Leadership Conference, The Conference Board | Comments (0)Regulatory, structural, and behavioral challenges give companies an opportunity to differentiate themselves on customer experience. Enterprises in heavily regulated fields can differentiate by melding compliance into superior CX. For manufacturers, making the impact on the customer tangible for those far from direct customer contact creates opportunities for improved training and metrics. For retailers, competition for customer attention drives CX leaders to design for emotional connections.
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The Risk of a UK Recession is Growing
September 18 | Ilaria Maselli, Former Senior Economist, The Conference Board | Comments (0)Continued uncertainty over the outcome of Brexit negotiations is not helping. Unemployment in the UK now stands at its lowest level in four decades. Gross domestic product growth at the start of the third quarter of 2018 also shows an economy in decent shape, having grown faster than in the prior two quarters.
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Global Job Satisfaction: Worker satisfaction driven by universal job components
August 29 | Frank Steemers, Former Senior Economist, The Conference Board | Comments (0)For the first time we are comparing job satisfaction globally. In the latest 2018 Q1 report of The Conference Board® Global Consumer Confidence Survey, a new global survey conducted in collaboration with Nielsen, workers in 64 countries were asked the same question: “To what extent are you satisfied with your current job?” Interestingly, all around the world workers have similar reasons to wake up every day and go to work.
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Can consumer spending keep pace with a torrid US economy?
August 20 | Brian Schaitkin, Former Senior Economist, The Conference Board | Sumair Sayani, Vice President, The Demand Institute and Nielsen | John Forsyth, Consumer Dynamics Leader, M&C Center, The Conference Board | Comments (0)With all the positive economic indicators, consumer facing businesses are asking some important questions: How is this sunny picture reflected in the actual near-term spending decisions of US consumers? And looking ahead, is consumer spending more likely to be the fuel that keeps a soaring US economy aloft—or the drag that is going to bring it back down?
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Greatly Delayed Pickup in Recruitment: A Brief Account of How American Business Woke Up to GDPR Through the Lens of Online Job Ads
August 06 | Brian Schaitkin, Former Senior Economist, The Conference Board | Agron Nicaj, Associate Economist, The Conference Board | Comments (0)For US firms, upgrading data protection compliance procedures will not just be a concern related to European operations. California has passed a measure, The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, which is partially modelled after GDPR. An examination of The Conference Board Help Wanted OnLine® (HWOL) Data Series illustrates the mix of IT, legal, managerial, and marketing talent that companies will need to meet these new compliance challenges without sacrificing their digital ambitions.