The Bottom Line – Détails, épisodes et analyse

Every year has its business highs and lows which we don't often get an opportunity to chew over on The Bottom Line.

This year is different.

To mark our end of term, we thought we’d reflect on the business year and look at some of the highs and lows across the business landscape, creating our very own (and very unofficial) Bottom Line Business Awards.

Three panellists, three categories, three nominations.

Joining Evan are: JESSICA SPUNGIN, Adjunct Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at London Business School SIR KEN OLISSA, Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London and Chair and founder of Restoration Partners, a bank for entrepreneurs And NISHMA PATEL ROBB, current Executive Member of Women in Advertising and Communications Leadership, founder and CEO of The Glittersphere and formerly Marketing Director at Google UK

PRODUCTION TEAM: Producers: Drew Hyndman and Alex Lewis Editor: Matt Willis Sound: Rod Farquhar Production co-ordinator: Rosie Strawbridge

Private schools in the UK are mostly registered as charities – but they are also businesses – businesses in the sense that they sell a service to paying customers.

They’ve recently been in the news because the new government has said it will remove their exemption from VAT.

In this episode we take a look at the business of private education: how it works, how much money is made and what will happen when exemption from VAT is removed from school fees.

Evan Davis is joined by: Geoffrey Stanford, Head of Royal Grammar School Newcastle Jesse Elzinga Head of Sevenoaks School Cheryl Giovannoni, CEO, Girls' Day School Trust (GDST) Duncan Murphy, Director of Education, MTM Consulting

PRODUCTION TEAM: Producers: Drew Hyndman and Alex Lewis Editor: Matt Willis Sound: Rod Farquhar Production co-ordinator: Rosie Strawbridge and Janet Staples

Simon Beckerman is the founder of Depop, a platform where people can buy and sell pre-loved fashion, it currently has around 35 million registered users. He sold the company to Etsy for £1.25 billion in 2021.

Simon grew up in Italy to British and Italian parents who he describes as rebels in their own way and even as a teenager he knew he had to build his own business because ‘I was unemployable’

His latest business, is DELLI a food app connecting independent retailers with consumers. Evan asks about the key personal and business-related decisions that got him to where he is today.

The Decisions That Made Me A Leader is a mini-series from The Bottom Line. It features one-on-one interviews with entrepreneurs and business leaders, including Duncan Bannatyne, Martha Lane Fox, and the boss of Depop, Simon Beckerman. All of these episodes are available on BBC Sounds and you can also watch them on BBC iPlayer. To find the series, just search: The Decisions That Made Me A Leader. You can also watch the series on BBC iPlayer. To find the series, just search: The Decisions That Made Me A Leader.

Host: Evan Davis Producers: Paige Neal-Holder and Farhana Haider Assistant Editor: Matt Willis Senior News Editor: Sam Bonham Commissioning Editor: Hugh Levinson

A BBC News Long Form Audio production.

WPP boss Karen Blackett talks to Evan Davis about building a racially diverse business.

The Black Lives Matter protests have prompted boardroom soul-searching about how to engage a more racially diverse workforce. Good intentions have been around for decades and have encouraged much talk about removing biases from mainly white corporate cultures. But this has still not led to the change people want. Hardly any large UK firms have black, Asian or minority ethnic chief executives.

Evan Davis and guests explore the practical solutions to achieving racial equality at work and the potential benefits to the economy.

Guests

Karen Blackett, OBE, UK head of the ad giant WPP

Dr Kamal Munir, reader in strategy and policy at the Judge Business School, University of Cambridge

Judith Hackitt, independent director at HS2 LTD Kike Oniwinde, founder and CEO of The Black Young Professionals Network

Producer: Lesley McAlpine

Produced in association with The Open University

Has staying at home during lockdown made us think more about our travel habits? Are you less likely to want to get on a bus or a train to get to work or are you itching to get on the next available flight? And what about the business travel industry? Are companies realising tele-conferencing is now just as acceptable and a cheaper option than a business flight? Evan Davis and guests discuss.

GUESTS

Laura Shoaf, managing director, Transport for West Midlands

Simon Jeffrey, policy officer, Transport and Devolution, Centre for Cities

Michael Valkevich, vice-president, Global Customer Group, EMEA, CWT

Presenter: Evan Davis

Producer: Julie Ball

Editor: Hugh Levinson

Zoom meetings and working from home. Two habits which office workers have picked up during the enforced lockdown. But will these behaviours habits stick? Some believe that if more of us choose to work from our spare rooms on a regular basis, this will have profound implications for offices, commuting, human interaction and productivity. Evan Davis and guests discuss whether current predictions about the death of the office are over-exaggerated.

Guests

André Spicer, Professor of Organisational Behaviour, City's Business School, University of London Rachel Higham, Managing Director of IT at BT Katrina Kostic Samen. Head of Workplace - Strategy and Design, Development. KKS Savills

Produced by Lesley McAlpine

The programme is produced in association with The Open University

Evan Davis and guests ask if now is the time to exploit scientific research more effectively to help business recover from the coronavirus crash. The UK has traditionally been better at basic science research than its commercial exploitation - with examples ranging from computing to the discovery of graphene, where international companies have benefited more from those discoveries. The Bottom Line examines the government’s idea of creating an agency, similar to the legendary US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), to invest in, and commercialise UK science and technology projects.

The US agency DARPA, was set up to invest in technology after they got behind in the space race with the Russian launch of the Sputnik in the 1950's. Although the agency's remit is to work on defence projects, several of its discoveries have spawned more commercial uses, most famously the Internet. Now the UK government wants to emulate this success for civil applications in the hope of encouraging new business sectors of the economy, post-Covid 19. Can it work? Evan Davis and guests discuss.

Guests: Mariana Mazzucato, professor in the economics of innovation and public value, University College London Luke Georghiu, professor of science and technology management, Alliance Manchester Business School Arati Prabhakar, former director, Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Naomi Krieger Carmy, head of Societal Challenges Division, Israel Innovation Authority Producer: Julie Ball Produced in partnership with The Open University

During the pandemic, businesses have faced severe tests, from supply chain shocks to fluctuations in consumer demand. How resilient are companies in dealing with the unknown? In recent years the focus has been on getting costs down, creating lean supply chains, and delivering returns to shareholders. But has that emphasis left supply chains insecure in the face of shocks? Will companies learn to value resilience over mere efficiency?

Guests

Dr Sandra Bell, founder and chief executive of The Business Resilience Company. Michael Davies, guest lecturer at the London Business School and founder and chairman of Endeavour Partners Poonam Gupta, founder and chief executive of PG Paper Guy Gratton, associate professor in aviation and the environment at Cranfield University

What have you learned about yourself in lockdown? What is it you crave, what have you found you barely miss? Evan Davis and guests contemplate life after lockdown and changing consumer habits. A surge in the sale of bikes, toilet roll panic buying, and flour flying off the supermarket shelves. Will these consumer habits stick? Have we learned to value other things in life than shopping? Or will we just want to borrow and spend at the first possible opportunity?

Guests:

Kate Ancketill, founder and CEO, GDR Creative Intelligence Richard Walker, managing director, Iceland Foods Jonathan Cole, managing director, Velorution Kate Nicholls, chief executive, UK Hospitality

Producer: Lesley McAlpine