Insight bites

Globalisation survey

A reader survey to examine how British businesses are dealing with deregulation of European markets and globalisation is being conducted by Financial Director magazine, Manchester Business School and consultancy Collinson Grant. The survey will form the foundation for a major study into how companies are facing up to competitive pressures.

Dotcom bubble is over …

The ratio between the Nasdaq and S&P500 indices shows that the dotcom bubble has been “fully deflated”, argues Schroder Salomon Smith Barney in a circular to clients headlined “The return of rationality?”

– … or maybe it isn’t

Capital flow to the internet sector has slowed significantly since its peak in the first quarter of 2000, though it hasn’t yet returned to the pre-bubble trend, says an American e-commerce report by Merrill Lynch. VC internet investment in 2000Q4 was $13,710m, 17% less than 1999Q4, but still more than three times the figure in 1998Q4.