Stories Of Business

Two people enter a ring, a mat or a patch of open ground. A crowd gathers. There is a contest of strength, balance, technique and endurance, but what the spectators are watching depends enormously on where they are. In an American arena, the wrestlers may be performing an elaborate rivalry whose outcome has been planned in advance. In Senegal, a wrestling contest can bring together sporting ambition, traditional ritual, sponsorship and neighbourhood pride. In a Japanese sumo tournament, the...

The mobile phone was once a remarkably straightforward proposition. Somebody needed to speak to somebody else, and a small device made that possible without either person being tied to a particular place. The phone liberated communication from the home, the office and the public telephone box. Over time, however, that same device became something much more complicated. It absorbed the camera, the diary, the map, the music player, the bank branch, the travel ticket, the newspaper and...

An event begins long before anybody arrives. Somewhere a contract is signed, a ballroom is booked, a field is measured, a road closure is discussed, a caterer is asked whether 800 meals can become 950, and somebody opens a spreadsheet containing timings that will eventually determine when hundreds of other people move. Then, on the appointed morning, the doors open and the machinery is expected to disappear. The guest should see the wedding, conference, basketball game, music festival or...