News
Business News in Brief: Women miss out on top jobs because they’re too kind and emotional
Ben Hamilton
December 1st, 2017
Share
This article is more than 7 years old.
In other news, business fear cyberattacks the most apparently, but will that change now a former finance minister has been appointed editor of Børsen?
Cracking the code of the Danish workplace (photo: Pixabay)
Tina Overgård, a headhunter and partner in the recruitment agency Genitor, says that women tend to do worse than men in personality tests assessing how good a business leader they will be.
Men fill 85.8 percent of the top posts at Danish companies and boards.
Too emotional, too kind
Speaking to the P1 radio program ‘Høje hæle, store beslutninger’ (‘High heels, big decisions’), Overgård said women tended to score highly in the category ‘emotional reactions’, which is a disadvantage as it suggests you will be less calm. Likewise, scoring highly for ‘kindness’ can be a disadvantage as well, she said.
And during the interview process, Overgård contends, men are more likely to be asked open-ended questions that enable them to give longer, more nuanced answers.
Living in fear of a cyberattack
Risk strategists working in crisis management in both the Danish public and private sectors fear cyberattacks the most, according to a survey carried out by Beredskabsstyrelsen, the emergency management agency, and Dansk Industri. Some 65 percent of the respondents at 225 companies and public institutions said they feared a cyberattack, with 63 percent fearing an IT crash and 49 percent wary of their suppliers failing them. Some 29 percent had experienced a cyberattack over the past two years. A cyberattack on Maersk this year cost the shipper an estimated 1.9 billion kroner.
Surge in spinout company numbers
There were more spinout companies launched in Denmark last year than ever before, according to the report Viden til Vækst 2016 (knowledge for growth), which started monitoring levels in 2000. Mainly set up by researchers at universities and hospitals, 90 have been launched in the last five years. Spinout companies tend to be more successful than other startups, employing on average 10 people after six years of operation, compared to 1.7 at other entrepreneurial businesses. The Technical University of Denmark (DTU) is the country’s hotbed, accounting for 34 over the last five years.
Minister appointed Børsen editor
Bjarne Corydon, 44, the former Socialdemokratiet finance minister (2011-15), has been appointed the editor-in-chief of Børsen. Corydon, who has no prior experience as a journalist and is stepping down as a director of the consultancy firm McKinsey’s, told DR he was looking forward to working in a “completely independent media” to which he would bring a “quality agenda” and “growth agenda” to improve sliding sales. “I will help our readers and anyone interested to better understand and discuss what is happening in Denmark, and I feel well prepared for it,” he added. The move reflects a growing trend. His UK counterpart when he was finance minister, George Osborne, is now the editor of the London Evening Standard.
Consortium wins Metro contract for Sydhavn
A German-French consortium has won the Metro tender to build the five stations and tunnels that will make up the extension of the Copenhagen underground system in Sydhavn. Hochtief Infrastructure and Vinci Construction Grands Projets saw off seven other bids to land the 9.1 billion kroner contract, which includes a 30 percent buffer for extra expenses. Both have experience working in Denmark – Hochtief previously worked on the Metro in Nordhavn; Vinci is involved in the Fehmarn Tunnel project. The Sydhavn stations will be based at Ny Ellebjerg, Mozarts Plads, Sluseholmen, Enghave Brygge and Havneholmen. It is expected to be completed in 2024.
READ MORE: Copenhagen Metro may be extended
Q3 slump a temporary economic blip
Some of the nation’s top analysts have said there is nothing for Denmark to worry about following a 0.6 decline in economic growth over the third quarter of 2017. Signe Roed-Frederiksen from Arbejdernes Landsbank told TV2 that the decline was a “temporary blip”, mostly caused by stalling car sales as Parliament debated new car tax and registration measures, and that purchases have picked up again following a favourable outcome. The country has enjoyed economic growth of 2.1 percent over the first nine months of 2017 compared to the same period last year.
Pledge to regulate co-operative housing grey areas
A cross-parliamentary group has signed an agreement to introduce new regulations for the co-operative housing (andelsboligforening) market, which many believe has entered uncharted territory since the explosion in prices, thus requiring more rules. It is feared that may co-operative buildings could face financial problems due to the nature of their mortgages while sales are increasingly involving brown envelope payments and illegal valuations.
Top honour for pension firm
PensionDanmark has been named Europe’s best pension company at the Investment & Pensions Europe Awards for the third time in five years. It also picked up an innovation award at the ceremony in Prague earlier this week. Meanwhile, in related news, two Danish pension funds – ATP Group and PKA – have been included on the world’s most responsible allocator list, the BWII Leaders List. Canada, with six funds in the top 25, has the highest representation.
Danish Crown posts healthy results
Danish Crown has announced a 2 billion kroner profit on turnover of 62 billion kroner for its fiscal year of 2016-17. A dividend of 1.44 billion will accordingly be shared by the company’s 7,600 shareholders, most of which are farmer suppliers to the meat company. A dip in revenue at its British company Tulip was offset by raising its prices in the country, and the company benefited from the 500 million kroner sale of its US subsidiary Plumrose in March.
Nykredit calls off IPO following stake sale
Financial institution Nykredit will not be going ahead with an IPO is 2018 following the confirmation that its owner Forenet Kredit has sold a 16.9 percent stake in the company to five Danish pension funds for 11.6 billion kroner. Forenet Kredit owns 80 percent of the financial services group.
Largest ever retail day
Black Friday was the largest ever single trading day in Denmark, reports payment service provide Nets. An estimated 2.117 billion kroner changed hands, up 5.8 percent on last year. Some 13.6 percent of the trade was conducted online.
Share
