The Bottom Line with Evan Davis

Handling the company board is a delicate art. Stephanie Flanders' three guests have spent many years around the top table – they share their tips for mastering the hidden agendas and clashing egos. They also swap thoughts on the risks and rewards of running large incumbent companies as opposed to smaller startups.

The product that made us: Evan Davis’s guests tell the stories of a product that has shaped the fortunes of their companies. They also discuss firing people - how easy should it be to dismiss an employee?

Is Europe in decline? Or are its current woes mere bumps on the road to greater prosperity? Evan Davis and guests also debate the pros and cons of silos, those invisible barriers that can develop in almost any organisation.

Roads, bridges, tunnels, pipelines, runways, cables - Evan Davis and guests examine the costly business of building and running infrastructure. They also debate the pros and cons of media training.

Big brands vs own-labels. Evan Davis and guests swap thoughts on the evolution and hierarchy of brands. Who has the upper hand in the many battles being fought between big consumer brands and shops’ own-labels? They also consider consumer tastes – do their own customers have good taste, or do they just buy what they’re given?

Capital allocation - do deserving companies get the money they need for investment, or do the undeserving get more than they should? Evan Davis asks his executive panel how well the market distributes capital to the right businesses.

How do top executives spend their time each day? What does running a company actually involve? Evan Davis asks his guests to reveal the inner secrets of their diaries. They also consider the so-called Shareholder Spring – how investors are rebelling against corporate pay.

How restrained should business be when selling products to customers that aren't necessarily that good for them? Plus, the psychology of competition - how focussed are companies on their rivals? Evan Davis and a panel of top executive guests debate the issues.

Evan Davis and his guests discuss different types of employment contracts and ask how far employers should go in checking their employees' behaviour. Featuring Nick Buckles, CEO, G4S, Eric Born, CEO, Wincanton and Jason Iftakhar, Co-founder, Swifty Scooters.

Europe is top of the agenda as Evan Davis asks his executive guests about the outlook for the Euro, and the risks and opportunities in the global economy more generally.

Hard-boiled or soft-hearted - when is it right to be tough at the top? Evan Davis and his executive guests debate ruthlessness in business. Plus, capitalism in places that business overlooks - they also talk about investing and selling in deprived areas.

Anatomy of a decision. Evan Davis and guests discuss executive decision making using examples from their professional life. They also swap thoughts on stress – their own and that of their employees.

Good leadership - can you turn a mediocre manager into a brilliant boss? Self-help books and management courses may try, but good leaders are still hard to come by. So what does great leadership consist of, and do Evan's three guests have it? They also discuss dematerialisation - could their companies survive using 20% less of everything?

Cock-up or conspiracy? Evan Davis asks his executive guests about mistakes and malpractice in business - why they occur and how best to avoid them.

Reinventing a business is something this week's panel have all had some experience of - they work in pubs, cinemas and telecom services. But what are the possibilities and pitfalls of reinvention? They also swap ideas on what they think our children should be taught at school.