The Bottom Line

What does a financial engineer do? A mechanical engineer may design a machine, one that does a task or overcomes an obstacle, but what problems does modern finance solve? Can the clever manipulation of debt, equity or derivatives, really make human beings better off? Some think finance is a bit of a racket, designed to extract money from the enterprise of others; others think modern finance is a m...

From the design desk to the shop window, how do fast fashion brands deliver the latest trends in double-quick time? Evan Davis and guests discuss fabric, factories and a nimble supply chain. Guests: Catarina Midby, Sustainability manager, H & M; Carol Kane, Co-founder and Joint CEO, Boohoo; Kim Winser, Founder and CEO, Winser London. Producer: Sally Abrahams.

Whether it's high-profile sports events or blockbuster art exhibitions, companies like Adidas and Unilever spend millions of pounds on sponsorship - to get their brand associated with sporting or artistic excellence. The global sponsorship market is worth more than 30 billion pounds a year, but what happens when negative publicity - like Fifa's World Cup corruption scandal - starts to tarnish a br...

Companies like Royal Mail, Saga and the AA have recently listed their shares on the stock market. It gives them access to plenty of money to help them grow, but also means they're subject to public scrutiny. Evan Davis and guests discuss why firms decide to float and how they must adapt to becoming a plc. Guests: Martin Clarke, CFO, the AA; Dan Wagner, CEO, Powa Technologies; Gillian Karran-Cumber...

Volkswagen is dealing with a corporate crisis following the emissions rigging scandal. Evan Davis and guests discuss. Guests: Sir John Egan, former CEO, Jaguar, former Chairman, Severn Trent Lord Browne, former CEO, BP Lucy Marcus, CEO, Marcus Venture Consulting Arndt Ellinghorst, Senior MD, Evercore ISI Producer: Sally Abrahams.

How do you value something like a painting? What makes one artist worth more than another? Who decides what is in vogue and why do they have so much power in the art world? Evan Davis presents a discussion on taste and value in the art world with a panel including the British artist Grayson Perry. Guests: Grayson Perry - Artist Valeria Napoleone - Collector and Patron Ralph Taylor - Director, UK B...

Food deflation, the rise of the discount grocers and continuing price wars. Evan Davis and guests discuss who are the long-term winners in the supermarkets' battle to gain market share. Guests: Mark Price, Managing Director, Waitrose Steve Murrells, CEO, Co-operative Foods Kevin Gunter, Chairman, Fulton's Foods Producer: Sally Abrahams.

Who needs qualifications for success? Three business leaders tell Evan Davis how they made it to the top after leaving school with just one A'Level between them all. Two of the guests explain how, having dyslexia and being labelled failures at school, made them even more determined to make a success of their lives. And they'll explore whether the skills to be an entrepreneur can be taught in the c...

Despite widespread predictions of their demise and amid falling numbers of readers, newspapers are still with us. How are they adapting to the challenges of digital technologies? The industry is split on the issue of whether or not to charge readers for online. What is the best business model for newspapers to survive and prosper? Evan Davis and guests discuss. The guests this week are: John Riddi...

Despite widespread predictions of their demise and amid falling numbers of readers, newspapers are still with us. How are they adapting to the challenges of digital technologies? The industry is split on the issue of whether or not to charge readers for online. What is the best business model for newspapers to survive and prosper? Evan Davis and guests discuss. The guests this week are: John Riddi...

The British love fast food. Each year we munch our way through thirty billion pounds worth. On The Bottom Line this week Evan Davis and guests discuss the burgeoning burger market. There are new challengers to the traditional big boys, like Five Guys, who claim to offer better quality burgers and a "casual dining experience." Whilst one old famous brand from the 1970s, Wimpy, is attempting to make...

How to spot the next Google, Paypal or LinkedIn? Three successful entrepreneurs tell Evan Davis how they use their own money to back promising start-ups. Guests: Sherry Coutu, founder, Cambridge Business Angels Fiona Cruickshank, founder, Gabriel Investors Suzanne Biegel, founder, Clearly Social Angels Producer: Sally Abrahams.

Outsourcing has had a bad press over the years: What with taxpayers being charged for tagging offenders who were dead, the fiasco over security at the London Olympics and the earlier trend for companies to shift operations to call centres in India. Evan Davis and guests look beyond the negative headlines to examine the pros and cons of getting an outside supplier to do some of your work. And they'...

The scandal at FIFA is just the latest story of corporate corruption to dominate the news. What steps can businesses take to avoid getting caught up in corruption, particularly in countries and sectors where bribery is the norm? What is legitimate business conduct and what crosses the line into illegality? Evan Davis and his guests discuss: Emma Sharma, Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer for the...

If your business venture doesn't succeed, how can you be sure it's worth trying again before admitting defeat? More than 50% of businesses fail within 5 years, yet for many, failure is a necessary part of success. Even Bill Gates and Steve Jobs didn't get it right first time. Evan Davis's guests discuss the important lessons they've learned from their business mistakes and speak candidly about the...

Why is UK productivity lower than in many other countries? Evan Davis begins a new series of The Bottom Line by looking at the productivity problem. The programme asks what productivity really means and how different sectors go about measuring it. Evan hears from three chief executives in three different sectors: manufacturing; advertising and health. How can productivity be measured and improved...

Phone hacking, financial mis-selling and fraud: How do companies recover from scandal and negative headlines? Evan Davis and guests discuss the skills and strategy required to bounce back. Guests: Niall Booker, CEO, Co-operative Bank Mike Darcey, CEO, News UK Stephen Hester, CEO, RSA Producer: Sally Abrahams.

Premier League Chief Executive Richard Scudamore joins Evan Davis and guests to discuss the economics and business of football. In light of the recent Premier League TV deal, worth a staggering £5 billion pounds, this week Evan and guests discuss its implications for football both in the UK and in other markets. Whilst the top players can expect even bigger salaries, how will the deal impact on fa...

Whether you're selling breakfast cereals, criminal tags or excavator buckets, expanding your business overseas can be a game changer. But when's the right time to export and which countries should you target? Evan Davis and guests discuss the ups and downs of trading internationally. They'll share their stories on why it can be easier to sell abroad than at home, how to adapt products for a new ma...

Sock Shop, Golden Wonder and Lehman Brothers: big names that once dominated the high street, the supermarket shelves and the financial world. They faded from view, yet still exist today. What prompted their demise? How did they lose market share? Evan Davis and guests discuss the rise and fall of these iconic companies and explore whether they can ever reach the success of their golden years. Gues...

The science and psychology of the queue. This week Evan and his guests look at how businesses manage queuing. We're often told that queuing is one of those quintessential British habits which embodies our sense of fair play: that we should wait our turn. Despite technological innovation. queuing remains one of those unavoidable things we all have to do: be that on-line, waiting for a bus or to pay...

Artificial snow, a plastic hairbrush and a non-spill baby beaker: How do you turn an idea into a successful business? Three entrepreneurs discuss with Evan Davis the process of designing a product and getting it onto the market. How do you finance the project and what's the best way to protect your design from copycats? We'll hear how one inventor risked everything in a legal battle against a comp...

It's soft, shiny and rare. A symbol of love, of power, of wealth - gold has been prized for thousands of years, its value rises and falls as the economies round it fluctuate. Yet there's only a limited supply of it and demand is high: for jewellery, technology, by central banks and investors. But after more than a decade of rising prices, the value of gold is down. So how to make money from this p...

Naked bath bombs, in-store coffee shops and customer satisfaction charts: Evan Davis and guests discuss some of the secrets to retailing success. Each of them runs of a chain of stores but with hundreds, even thousands of outlets both here and abroad, how do they maintain their brand identity? And what persuades customers to buy their products ahead of their rivals'? Guests: Mark Constantine, Foun...

How should we price services? By the hour? By results? Or by the difficulty of the task? And what impact does each model have on how businesses are run? In the first of a new series Evan Davis and guests look at the history of how we've priced our time and expertise and why this may be about to change. Guests : Christopher Saul, senior partner, Slaughter & May Debbie Klein, UK CEO, The Engine...