D2B Season 12 (2021)
D2B 200
A Maple Syrup Shortage?
12/29/2021 – In our 200th episode of Down to Business English, Skip Montreux and Samantha Vega report on the sticky situation in the maple syrup industry. Is the world heading toward a maple syrup shortage? What has put us in this situation? And what steps are being taken to avoid a potential crisis?
D2B 199
Stephen Devincenzi from SEND7
12/24/2021 – Skip Montreux speaks with Stephen Devincenzi – the founder and host of the English learning podcast SEND7 – Simple English News Daily in 7 Minutes.
D2B 198
Inflation
12/15/2021 – Skip Montreux and Samantha Vega explore the topic of inflation. What is inflation? What causes it? Are we entering a period of runaway inflation not seen since the 1970s?
D2B 197
Risk Management with Corinna Andony – Part 2
11/30/2021 – In this second part of a two-part interview, Corinna Andony tells Skip about her path to becoming a risk analyst, as well as opportunities in the industry for those interested in pursuing this type of professional career.
D2B 196
Black Friday – the mother of all sales (redux)
11/23/2021 – In this rebroadcast of D2B 146, Skip Montreux and Samantha Vega talk about the history of this annual sales event.
D2B 195
Risk Management with Corinna Andony – Part 1
11/23/2021 – Skip Montreux speaks with risk analyst Corinna Andony. In this first part of a two-part interview, Corinna explains what risk management entails and the two branches of risk management.
D2B 194
Homeless students & Anime internships (unplugged)
11/17/2021 – Skip Montreux and Samantha Vega discuss two news stories that have recently caught their attention. Samantha talks about help for homeless university students in the USA, and Skip reports on an anime animator internship program sponsored by Netflix in Japan.
D2B 193
COP267
11/8/2021 – Dez Morgan fills in Skip Montreux on what is happening on the ground in Glasgow, Scotland at the United Nations Climate Change Conference – otherwise known as COP26.
D2B 192
Chipageddon
11/4/2021 – Skip Montreux and Dez Morgan discuss the global semiconductor shortage – Chipageddon.
D2B 191
The Great Resignation
10/28/2021 – Skip Montreux and Samantha Vega discuss The Great Resignation happening in the US and around the world.
D2B 190
Facebook under fire … again
10/13/2021 – Skip Montreux and Samantha Vega discuss the recent whistleblower leaks coming out of Facebook.
D2B 189
Vertical Farming
9/30/2021 – Skip Montreux and Dez Morgan explore the relatively new concept of Vertical Farming. What are the advantages and disadvantages of farming this way? Is it the future of commercial agriculture?
D2B 188
Corporate fraud and criminality
9/18/2021 – Skip Montreux and Samantha Vega discuss two corporate legal cases. The bankruptcy of Purdue Pharma and the fraud trial of Elizabeth Holmes, CEO of the bio-tech company Theranos.
D2B 187
Ten Years of Tim Cook
9/8/2021 – Skip Montreux and Samantha Vega take a look at Tim Cook’s career. What did he do before he joined Apple? How did he become Apple’s CEO? How has Apple grown under 10 years of Tim Cook as CEO?
D2B 186
China’s regulation crackdown
8/31/2021 – Skip Montreux and Dez Morgan discuss the various regulations the Chinese government has introduced over the past year. What is behind this trend to regulate different sectors of the Chinese economy?
D2B 185
Scarlett Johansson vs. Disney
8/21/2021 – Skip Montreux and Samantha Vega discuss Scarlett Johansson’s lawsuit against Disney over the release of Marvel’s Black Widow. Why did she file this lawsuit? What was Disney’s reaction?
D2B 184
Whisky – The Water of Life
8/13/2021 – Dez Morgan and Skip Montreux report on the rebirth of the Whisky industry in Scotland, the history of whisky in Japan, and developments in the nascent whisky industry in China.
D2B 183
COVID Hodgepodge
8/7/2021 – Dez Morgan reports on three issues that are loosely related to the effects of the COVID pandemic on business. The nature of work, an increase in cybercrime, and the decrease in the quality of customer service.
D2B 182
Climate Change & the economy
7/29/2021 – Skip Montreux and Samantha Vega take a deep dive into the impact climate change is having on the global economy. What are governments and corporations around the world doing to deal with the issue?
D2B 181
Aviation & Aerospace Industry Update
7/15/2021 – Skip Montreux and Dez Morgan talk about recent developments in the aviation and aerospace industry. Will supersonic air travel be back in business soon? And what is up with Jeff Bezos going to space?!
D2B 180
Career Profile – Marie Ohashi
6/24/2021 – Marie Ohashi, Executive Director of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Japan, talks to Skip Montreux about a career path that has taken her from Japan to Canada to the UAE and back to Japan.
D2B 179
The Global Minimum Corporate Tax
6/15/2021 – Skip Montreux and Dez Morgan take a close look at the agreement reached between the G7 on setting a global minimum tax rate for multinational corporations.
D2B 178
Ransomware
5/27/2021 – Skip Montreux and Samantha Vega discuss the rising threat that cybercrime and ransomware have on businesses around the world.
D2B 177
The European Super League
5/14/2021 – Dez Morgan explains all the details surrounding the recent European Super League Controversy to Skip Montreux.
D2B 176
Non Fungible Tokens
5/1/2021 – Skip Montreux and Samantha Vega explain Non Fungible Tokens. What are NFTs? How do they work? Do they have any real value?
D2B 175
Bottlenecks & Choke Points
5/23/2021 – Skip Montreux and Dez Morgan talk about the Suez Canal incident and its impact on the global supply chain.
D2B 174
The GameStop Short Squeeze
5/25/2021 – Skip Montreux and Samantha Vega talk about the recent short squeeze of GameStop stock that cost institutional investors billions of dollars in losses.
D2B 173
Amazon vs. Parler
2/23/2021 – Samantha Vega and Skip Montreux discuss the recent lawsuit between Amazon and Parler. Is this a case of Big Tech. censorship? Or is Amazon being socially responsible?
D2B 172
UK update from Dez Morgan
2/5/2021 – We touch base with our long lost cohost – Mr. Dez Morgan. He gives us an update on what he has been doing since returning to the UK from the UAE in 2019, the COVID-19 situation in the UK, and the recently agreed upon Brexit deal.
D2B 171
Blowing in the Wind – the wind energy industry
1/18/2021 – Skip Montreux and Samantha Vega take a look at the history of the wind power industry, discuss whether it is as environmentally friendly as it claims, and report on why competition is heating up in this energy sector.