Think: Business Futures

Most media outlets talk about Russian sanctions in reference to their effect on an economy... But what about their impact on people? Does forcing a recession on a nation of mostly innocent civilians require a deeper level of ethical enquiry? And are the associated business boycotts and pullouts a moral decision, or they just what's best for the corporate bottom line? Guests: Carl Rhodes - Dean and Professor of Organisation Studies at the UTS Business School & Steven Hamilton - Visiting Fellow at the Tax and Transfer Policy Institute at The Australian National University.

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the what, where, when and how we shop - presenting a range of opportunities for business unlike anything we've seen before. So what are the changes? And how can businesses capitalise? Guest: Ofer Mintz - Associate Head of the UTS Marketing Department and Author of The Post Pandemic Business Playbook.

Crypto is here to stay. Individuals, businesses and banks have all jumped on board - so its time to ask some simple questions. Do we pay tax on crypto? If so, when? And in an ever-evolving, technologically driven, decentralised world - how will tax authorities keep up? Guests: Roman Lanis - Associate Professor from the UTS School of Accounting and Shane Brunette - Founder of Sydney-based tech start-up Crypto Tax Calculator.

Over the past 18 months, COVID has demonstrated the need for a well funded health system. The cost of dealing with a pandemic has been most clearly borne by our hospitals. So how does the Australian healthcare system stack up comparatively? Guests: •Kees Van Gool, Deputy Director and Professor at the Centre for Health Economics Research and Evaluation at UTS and researcher on the ICCONIC project

In the past few years, businesses have begun signalling their support for traditionally progressive ideas like marriage equality and environmental sustainability. This has been called woke capitalism, where multinational corporations enter the public sphere by taking and amplifying political positions. Corporations talk a good game on social credibility, but can we rely on them when the going gets tough? Or are they just following public sentiment to profit? And how does this newfound corporate morality impact on liberal democracies? Guest: •Carl Rhodes, Professor of Organisation Studies and Dean of the UTS Business School and author of Woke Capitalism: How Corporate Morality is Sabotaging Democracy

We're coming up to the most wonderful time of year - Christmas. Tinsel is up and Mariah Carey is blaring through shopping centre speakers. Most retailers make around 30% of their annual income from this time alone. But is consumer confidence still high after a long year of covid lockdowns? And will issues with global supply chains led to empty stockings under the chimney? Guests: •Sanjoy Paul, senior lecturer in operations and supply chain management at UTS •Brian Walker, CEO and founder of Retail Doctor Group

While the attention is on COP26 and Glasgow, there was a less discussed meeting of international leaders going in Rome. On Sunday, the leaders of the G20 endorsed the OECD changes to international tax laws designed to crack down on multinational companies. Tax havens and profit shifting are key targets, as well as creating new rules for the digital era and ending the race to the bottom for corporate taxation. So, what's in the rules? Who are the winners and losers? And will it actually work? Guests: •Roman Lanis, associate professor in accounting at UTS •Miranda Stewart, professor in tax law at Melbourne University

As Australia heads towards reopening its international border for the first time since the pandemic began, migration has been flagged as critical to the Australian economic recovery. Last year was the first time that more people left Australia than arrived since World War 2. Immigration has been critical to Australian economic growth for nearly 80 years, but has the way temporary migrant workers have been treated soured the appeal? Will there be an influx of migrants to help Australia grow its way out of debt? Guests: •Jock Collins, Professor of Social Economics at UTS •Gabriela D'Souza, senior economist, Committee for the Economic Development of Australia

Technology platforms have become ubiquitous in our lives, effectively public utilities despite being run by private corporations. For years, Google operated on an ethos of "Don't be evil" before quietly retiring the phrase from their code of conduct. More and more questions are being asked about how these businesses are run and their overarching impact on our lives, as well as the access they have to our information. Facebook has been the subject of numerous inquiries of late regarding its internal leaks about conduct. This week, Rana Foroohar, global business columnist and associate editor at the Financial Times and global economic analyst for CNN joins Roy Green, emeritus professor at UTS for a wide-ranging conversation about big tech, its expansive reach and whether a big state can reign in these platforms. This is an edited conversation taken from the UTS Vice Chancellor's Democracy Forum 2021.

The plant-based meat industry in Australia is booming. Australians forked out $185 million for meat alternatives in 2020, and the industry is only set to grow from here. As more of us look to ditch meat, or eat less of it, there are questions being asked about the seemingly healthy alternatives. Many are highly processed to simulate meat, which raises the question: just how "plant-based" are they? How much bigger will this industry get? Are we headed for a world without meat, or is it just phoney baloney? Guests: •Natalina Zlatevska, Associate Professor of Marketing at UTS •Hope Johnson, Senior Lecturer of Business and Law at Queensland University of Technology Producer / Presenter: Josh Green

Evergrande is the name on everybody's lips. China's second largest property developer is struggling to service debts of up to US$300 billion. With Evergrande in a trading halt and on the verge of collapse, there's a broader question to ask about what this means for Australia. Australian iron ore has helped build the Chinese property market which has been the engine of their economic growth. If the Chinese economy suffers a slowdown, will this impact Australian exports? What should the trading relationship between these two countries look like? Guests: •James Laurenceson, Director of the Australia-China Relations Institute at UTS •Tim Harcourt, Industry Professor and Chief Economist at Institute for Public Policy and Governance at UTS •Bob Gregory, Professor Emeritus at the Research School of Economics at ANU and former member of the Reserve Bank of Australia Board

After a slow start, Australia is surging ahead in vaccine uptake. The number of Australians who are unsure whether they'll get the jab has plunged from heights in May of 29% down to around 9%. As NSW and Victoria get closer to restarting their economies, vaccine saturation is going to be critical to reaching herd immunity whilst limiting the number of people who will get a serious infection. So how do we identify and break through those final barriers of vaccine hesitancy to keep people safe while reopening Australia? Is FOMO going to be enough to convince free riders to get off the sidelines and get vaxxed? Guests: •Leonora Risse, economist and senior lecturer at RMIT University •Ofer Mintz, associate head of the marketing department at UTS Business School •Paul Burke, deputy director of the Centre for Business Intelligence and Data Analytics at UTS Business School

Are you thinking of quitting your job? You're not alone. Overseas, people are switching careers or leaving the workforce in such volumes that it's being called The Great Resignation. COVID-19 has shifted many people's priorities or motivated some to pursue their dream career, while others are sick of employers putting excessive demands on their time. Australians have remained loyal to their employers so far, but this week we're asking whether the big quit is coming down under. Guests: •Kyoung-Hee Yu, associate professor at UTS •Cat Wratten •Nusardel Oshana •Liam Unwin

Public universities in Australia are in a dire state. This week, two reports outlined that 1 in 5 academics have been made redundant over the past year and that the government's changes to funding student places, last year's Job-Ready Graduates program, doesn't cover the cost of cuts made in years prior. International students were the third largest export in Australia prior to COVID-19, and universities have become heavily reliant on their fees to cover teaching and research costs. But with borders closed and no additional government support forthcoming, can these institutions continue to meet demand as the financial support runs dry? Guests: •Alison Barnes, NTEU national president •Mark Warburton, honorary senior fellow at the Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education •Roy Green, emeritus professor at UTS

It's no secret that water is essential to life as we know it. By 2025, it's estimated that over 60% of the world will live in water stressed areas. So it's no shock that access to and ownership of water is big business. Australia has the most sophisticated market system for the trading of water entitlements, predominantly built around the Murray-Darling Basin. But does the market work effectively? Should something as valuable as water be commoditised like shares? Guests: •Mike Young, professor of water policy at the University of Adelaide •Scott Hamilton, author of Sold Down the River