Shows / The Bottom Line
The Bottom Line
Evan Davis hosts the business conversation show with people at the top giving insight into what matters
Episodes
- The Bottom Line
Decisions That Made Me: Claire Daniels (Trio Media, CEO)
Grief hits everyone differently. For Claire Daniels, it changed her life; she had been working as the head of marketing for a technology firm and believed…
- The Bottom Line
Decisions That Made Me: Julian Metcalfe (Itsu and Pret A Manger)
An early passion for the high street meant Julian Metcalfe was determined to get into retail from the get-go. He and his partner Sinclair Beecham founded Pret…
- The Bottom Line
Decisions That Made Me: Sonnaz Nooranvary (House of Sonnaz, upholsterer)
Sonnaz Nooranvary thought she’d have to be a doctor or a lawyer to please her parents but struggled academically thanks to a combination of dyslexia and ADHD…
- The Bottom Line
Decisions That Made Me: Alan French (Thomas Cook, CEO)
When high street travel firm Thomas Cook collapsed in 2019, it triggered the biggest ever peacetime repatriation, with 150,000 holidaymakers needing to be…
- The Bottom Line
Running a Business: The Bottom Line Answers Your Questions
How would you invest £100k? Do entrepreneurs have super-human levels of optimism? How can you keep ownership of a great idea? In a first for The Bottom Line…
- The Bottom Line
Self-checkouts: Have Shops Reached Peak Self-Scan?
Self-checkouts have become a staple in supermarkets, fast food chains and other shops, but now some companies are reconsidering their use. Evan Davis explores…
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London's Stock Exchange: why aren't companies listing in Britain anymore?
After a year in which a number of big companies decided to list in New York rather than the UK, Evan Davis asks what can be done to attract firms to the London…
- The Bottom Line
Repairs: How Can Businesses Make Money From Fixing Things?
With the success of the BBC programme The Repair Shop, Evan Davis examines the business opportunities of companies which offer to repair things from clothes…
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DEI: Are Businesses Dumping Workplace Diversity?
Major US businesses have begun ditching or scaling back their diversity initiatives. Will UK firms be next? Evan Davis is joined by three guests who specialise…
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Robots On the Doorstep: Is This The Future Of Food Delivery?
Evan Davis talks to the Estonian Ahti Heinla, co-founder of robot delivery firm Starship Technologies, which is hoping to expand across the UK. Evan hears…
- The Bottom Line
Unbossing: Can We Work Without Managers?
Can businesses operate without managers? It's an idea Amazon, Meta and Citigroup are exploring. Evan hears from the leaders of three companies who've already…
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A Four Day Week: Less Work for More People?
Evan Davis explores if working the traditional five day week could be replaced by working four, eight hour days. Could working more efficiently benefit…
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Decisions That Made Me: Sir John Hegarty (The Garage Soho, Founder)
The advertising exec behind some of the most successful adverts of recent decades shares some of the decisions that have influenced his career, including an…
- The Bottom Line
Networking: Will It Actually Help Me Get a Job?
Evan Davis gets up-to-date tips on finding a new job and hears how the process of making yourself stand out to an employer has changed over the years. Episode…
- The Bottom Line
Decisions That Made Me: Dana Denis-Smith (Obelisk Support, CEO)
Career clarity can be hard to find in the middle of a demanding 9 to 5, but sometimes getting away from it all for a while can make you realise what you really…
- The Bottom Line
Decisions That Made Me: Jordan Brompton (Myenergi, Co-founder)
When your background differs from the people working with and around you, it’s easy to feel judged by the assumptions people make about you from class to…
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Decisions That Made Me: Julian Douglas (VCCP, Global CEO)
When do you start that side hustle you've always talked about doing? What if it gets you fired from work? And even if you do leave, make your success and build…
- The Bottom Line
Decisions That Made Me: Rob Law (Trunki Suitcases, Inventor)
When your business is about making products, and the factory you use gets into trouble, that’s potentially a big problem. Do you try to find another one, or do…
- The Bottom Line
Decisions That Made Me: Tom Pellereau (Stylideas, Inventor)
When inventor Tom Pellereau was on the verge of launching his latest invention for his fashion company, Stylideas, he couldn't have known what a key decision…
- The Bottom Line
Decisions That Made Me: Elmarie Marais (GoCrisis, Founder)
What do you do when you’re unhappy at work? Maybe you’re burnt out from long hours? Or you see the way your employer does things and think to yourself “surely…
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Ideas: How To Turn Your Dreams Into Business Reality
You've had a brilliant business idea. At least, you think you have. What do you do next? Evan Davis speaks to three successful entrepreneurs- including former…
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Marketing: How Effective Is Fear In Advertising?
Why do advertising agencies use fear to get us to part with our money? Advertising agencies and marketing people use different techniques to push our buttons…
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Google: The Couple That Took On The Tech Giant
When Shivaun and Adam Raff's shopping and price comparison website all but vanished from Google's search results just days after launching, the pair began a…
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Evacuation: How to Rescue a Business From a War Zone
When a company finds itself facing war or natural disaster how can it get staff out of harm's way, and is there any chance of ensuring business as usual? Evan…
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Debt: Do Collectors Deserve Their Bad Reputation?
It must be one of the most-maligned professions out there - on a par, perhaps, with traffic wardens - but debt collectors perform a vital service to businesses…
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Side Hustles: What's It Like Balancing Two Jobs At Once?
Side hustlers are seemingly everywhere - some surveys suggest they account for around half of UK workers - and stories of getting rich quick and abandoning the…
- The Bottom Line
New Tech: How Smart Is the Smart Energy System?
The UK's power grid is undergoing a huge shift towards renewable energy, but running homes and businesses solely on this new form of electricity will be a…
- The Bottom Line
The Bottom Line (unofficial) Business Awards
Every year has its business highs and lows which we don't often get an opportunity to chew over on The Bottom Line. This year is different. To mark our end of…
- The Bottom Line
The business of private schools
Private schools in the UK are mostly registered as charities – but they are also businesses – businesses in the sense that they sell a service to paying…
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Being the new broom
All eyes have been on the new prime minister as he, and his team of ministers, settle into their jobs running the country. In this episode we consider the…
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The Business of Dying
Managing the rituals of a loved one's death can be both bewildering and expensive. And although no-one wants to think about it being like buying a holiday or…
- The Bottom Line
Is copyright going wrong?
Copyright law has been around since 1710. Back then it only applied to books. Now, it covers music, sport, film, television, video games, anything really. It…
- The Bottom Line
Is work getting more intense?
Millions of employees in the UK are now able to work flexibly – fitting their job around their home life. Many in office jobs, can finish early on a Friday…
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Hype
Every brand wants attention, to be seen as a must-have, but how do some manage stratospheric levels of popularity? It might happen organically, perhaps even by…
- The Bottom Line
Electric Cars: Made in China?
China produces more than half the world's electric vehicles and is scaling up exports, but there are concerns its manufacturers would have an unfair advantage…
- The Bottom Line
Dragon's Den's Duncan Bannatyne
With the entrepreneur, philanthropist and author. The Decisions That Made Me A Leader is a mini-series from The Bottom Line. It features one-on-one interviews…
- The Bottom Line
The Decisions That Made Me A Leader: How Ice Saved My Life
Evan Davis sits down with Richard Walker the Executive Chairman of Iceland foods a company founded by his father. Richard started at Iceland Foods in 2012 from…
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The Decisions That Made Me A Leader: How To Retire Before 30
Evan Davis sits down with Timo Armoo, the founder of social media advertising business Fanbytes, which he set up when he was 21 with two friends. Aged 27 he…
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The Decisions That Made Me A Leader: I Started My Business From Mum's Spare Bedroom
Krisi Smith started Bird and Blend Tea company with business partner Mike knowing very little about tea or running a business. She drew up their mission…
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The Decisions That Made Me A Leader: Lastminute.com's Martha Lane Fox
Martha Lane Fox was first catapulted into the public eye during the dot.com boom as co-founder of lastminute.com the online agency she set up with Brent…
- The Bottom Line
The Decisions That Made Me A Leader: The Depop Story
Simon Beckerman is the founder of Depop, a platform where people can buy and sell pre-loved fashion, it currently has around 35 million registered users. He…
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In the eye of a crisis
Evan Davis makes up crisis management scenarios to see how three CEOs handle a business emergency. To make it more realistic none of the guests know what the…
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Rethinking retirement
A typical career, for many, involves some kind of progression, or at least the expectation of it, until we stop and retire. But is there a better model? Evan…
- The Bottom Line
Where's the life in nightlife?
The UK’s biggest nightclub operator recently announced the closure of around half of its venues, and with them almost 500 jobs. REKOM UK, which owns the Atik…
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Navigating the Say-Do Gap
It’s easy for people to say they want to buy a particular product, perhaps in the name of sustainability. But how often do individuals actually follow through…
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Feedback
It's useful to know how you're doing at work, but feedback from managers and colleagues can often be unhelpful, upsetting, or even non-existent. So what's the…
- The Bottom Line
Meat
UK consumers are eating less meat than at any point since records began 50 years ago, according to the latest government figures, so how are farmers…
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Many unhappy returns
Some major fashion brands have started charging for online returns, or even banning customers who routinely send products back. The companies say that growing…
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Bringing your 'whole self' to work
It’s become the mantra of many employers, and the expectation of some employees, but what does bringing your whole or authentic self to work actually mean, and…
- The Bottom Line
Meetings
On the agenda for the final programme of the current series is meetings. Virtual or in person, it's difficult to avoid a work meeting. So how do you ensure a…
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Blockbuster drugs
New medicines with sales in the billions of dollars each year are what every pharmaceutical company dreams of, but how do you create one and can they really…
- The Bottom Line
The Age of the Train?
For most people, the aeroplane is the default mode of long distance transport Whilst the UK has only two overnight sleeper services, long distance train travel…
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In denial
Bad behaviour and big mistakes can destroy careers and even entire businesses if they're not addressed quickly, so why do some companies and their leaders try…
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Rebranding
Elon Musk’s decision to rename Twitter ‘X’ has been met with confusion, and in some cases even anger, but where does it rank amongst the best and worst…
- The Bottom Line
Google DeepMind's Demis Hassabis
As the UK gets ready to host a major global summit on the safety of artificial intelligence, Evan Davis speaks to one of the technology's leading global…
- The Bottom Line
Tradespeople
From plumbers to electricians, plasterers to builders, most of us need to hire a trader at some point. But what's it like to work in the industry, and how has…
- The Bottom Line
Back to the office
Many employers say they are desperate to get staff back into the office more often, but what's the best and fairest way to wean employees off remote working?…
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Does Funny Sell?
Is humour the most effective way to get your product noticed? If so, why does it seem that the use of comedy in advertising is in decline? Recent research by…
- The Bottom Line
What next for water?
England’s water companies are under fire – there’s public anger over sewage spills and leaks, and now regulators and government ministers are worried some of…
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Business on 'the box'
From The Office and Succession to The Apprentice and Dragons' Den, does the portrayal of business on television inspire or is it a total turn off to budding…