Remote Work Could Forever Change Business Models 

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has created tens of millions of company “branch locations” in neighborhoods around the country, as employees work from home — a policy that, as the virus keeps spreading, has no end in sight at many organizations.

With many companies reporting no adverse effects on worker productivity — and COVID-19 only intensifying the e-commerce surge — more business models are shifting online, according to the 2020 Business Leaders Outlook Pulse Survey by JPMorgan Chase, the New York-based global financial-services firm.

In the survey of 520 executives from U.S. middle-market companies conducted in late June, 56 percent had implemented or planned permanent remote work-based changes to their operating models. Also, 54 percent reported that they had instituted or are planning a more online operating model to respond to shifting consumer habits.

According to JPMorgan Chase researchers, strategies for a new era of online business include (1) keeping remote-work compatibility in mind when choosing digital tools, (2) enhancing digital-security protocols, especially with employee email, and (3) updating risk-mitigation plans to proactively prepare for the next disruption.

Ethanol

Brought to you by biomass: A clear, colorless alcohol produced mostly from feedstocks like corn or sugar, ethanol is often blended with gasoline or diesel fuels for a cleaner-burning fuel. It’s been a fuel source for two centuries, but its genesis as a global commodity began with the oil pricing and embargo crises of the 1970s.

Where does it come from? According to the Renewable Fuels Association, the U.S. is the world’s largest ethanol producer, generating 15.7 billion gallons in 2019. The U.S. (which largely uses corn for production) and Brazil (which produced 8.5 billion gallons last year, typically using sugarcane) supply 84 percent of the world’s ethanol.

What’s it used for? Nearly all (more than 98 percent) of U.S. gasoline contains ethanol, which is also used as a food additive as well as in such personal-care products as cosmetics and household products like cleaners, paints and lacquers. 

And that’s a fact: In recent years, scientists have sought a method to convert carbon dioxide into ethanol. The most recent breakthrough: In August, a team of researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy and Northern Illinois University announced their discovery
of an electrocatalyst that converts carbon dioxide and water into ethanol.

17%

Share of CPOs or chief supply chain officers (CSCOs) who are women, according to the 2020 Women in Supply Chain Survey conducted by Gartner, the Stamford, Connecticut-based global business research and advisory firm, and Achieving Women’s Excellence in Supply Chain Operations, Management & Education (AWESOME), a Chicago-based nonprofit organization. 

While that figure is a 6-percent year-over-year increase, the survey of 177 respondents found proportionally fewer women at the senior manager, director and vice president levels than in 2019. “(T)he survey showed that women don’t consistently make it through the pipeline,” said Dana Stiffler, vice president analyst with Gartner’s supply chain practice.