NEWS & INSIGHT
Estimates suggest that 34 per cent of the world’s population will be over 50 years old by 2030. This shift in demographics comes with clear implications for business and was the subject of a recent event held at Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina (UCA). The Silver Economy Forum focused on how ageing populations are impacting the future of work and the sustainability of retirement systems. It also considered the opportunities of tapping into the ‘silver market’, said to be worth $15 trillion worldwide. “In education, for more than two centuries we have been stuck in an incorrect paradigm because the system is designed for young people under 25 years of age,” said director of UCA Business School Juan Pablo Manzuoli in a panel on continuous learning. “A large part of the population is left out because 60 per cent of people worldwide are over 25 years old… it is important to talk about an educational paradigm that considers all stages of life,” Manzuoli continued, before suggesting that the term ‘university’ is replaced by ‘universeniority’. Another panel focused on how businesses must factor age diversity into their thinking, alongside other aspects of diversity. Director of the Humanist Business Management Centre at UCA Business School Adriana Sirito highlighted the importance of intergenerationality and longevity from a company perspective. She also discussed the value of promoting training, awareness and sensitisation of these issues, with a view of shared responsibility between the government, civil society organisations, companies and citizens. In addition, a panel on the aforementioned ‘silver market’ looked at how institutions, as well as companies, can benefit by catering to the needs and ambitions of the over-50s. Discussions over the changing requirements of retirement systems, meanwhile, focused on the need to prepare citizens by providing greater financial education. TBD AGEING POPULATIONS AND THE FUTURE OF EDUCATION SCHOOL: UCA Business School, Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina COUNTRY: Argentina
Despite all the progress made by modern technology and the advantages this has created when working remotely and with far-flung teams, it seems that location can still a ect the e ciency and success of a business. Research led by Durham University Business School assistant professor Ivan Lim has found that making a bank branch easier for managers to visit from headquarters impacts on that branch’s performance. The research centred on an investigation of flight route patterns in the US and, in particular, changes that lessened the time taken to travel between a bank’s headquarters and its branches. It found that when the time to get to a bank branch was reduced, it led to a 5.5 per cent increase in mortgage-lending volume, relative to nearby branches that did not see a drop in travel time from new airline routes. Branches that became easier to reach also exhibited better performance, being 1.7 per cent less likely to default than others. The researchers say that such branches enjoy an uptick because an increase in monitoring from managers based at the bank’s headquarters holds the branch and its employees to higher standards. Without the in-person scrutiny, employees are more likely to become ine cient and put less e ort into their work. “Over the past 30 years, the average distance between a bank’s headquarters and its constituent branches has increased from approximately 80 miles to 350. While there are certainly benefits in banks expanding and increasing their geographical reach, there are also real concerns, particularly in terms of how distant branches are being overseen by headquarters,” said Lim. The research highlights the importance of retaining some in-person monitoring in this new era of technology and recommends that banks pay closer attention to branches that are more distant, as well as those that managers from headquarters can reach easily. Published in the Journal of Money, Credit and Banking , Lim’s research was conducted with Durham University Business School colleague Louis Nguyen, as well as Linh Hoai Nguyen and John Wilson from the University of St Andrews. EB PROXIMITY BREEDS BANK BRANCH EFFICIENCY SCHOOL: Durham University Business School COUNTRY: UK
Ambition NOVEMBER 2023 | 11
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