Our firm is hiring a full-time researcher for our Cambridge office to assist a team of consultants. The researcher would work closely with Canback & Company leadership on consulting work and other internal projects, assisting analysts in conducting qualitative research, analyzing findings, and producing reports and presentations. (more…)
The Canback Global Income Distribution Database forecast horizon has been extended from 5 to 10 years (2025)! The update also includes the UN’s Dec. 2014 release of NAMAD, and other changes. Read our newsletter on the changes. C-GIDD News on Twitter gives a has a running tally of changes.
Upon Boston winning the US candidate city nomination for the 2024 Olympics, some voices have been wondering if the city stands a chance in competition with “world-class” cities like Paris, Rome, and Berlin. Their doubts show ignorance. Boston far outperforms all the competing cities, except for Paris, on what matters most: economic power–which translates into ability to host the games. (more…)
Analysts often include too many independent variables in their models to improve model quality and find statistical patterns. We demonstrate how this sometimes leads to inaccurate findings. (more…)
Many executives look for a high R2 to assess the quality of a regression analysis, but this is often a mistake. One common example that illustrates why, is the relationship between the stock market and GDP. Regressing the S&P 500 index against GDP, we get an R2 of 0.99. (more…)
We developed an interactive chart to show how total alcohol consumption per capita and the main categories beer, spirits and wine have shifted over the past 40 years. It uses publicly available data from the WHO with some adjustments by us (notably China). (more…)
There are a wide variety of consumption patterns for fast-moving consumer goods around the world. What explains the differences in consumption levels among countries? And what are the implications for global businesses as they consider investing in different markets? (more…)
Around 1/3 of our work is M&A operational due diligence. It leverages predictive analytics, but goes much farther including commercial strategy development, functional skills assessments, and financial modeling. Read our deck on how we help clients maximize their due diligence returns. (more…)
See our video with the GDP of the world’s major cities in 2014. Bubble area is proportional to GDP. (more…)
Watch a short video showing our project locations and where we travel to. (more…)
Well, not Esperanto. If you want to be successful in international trade, which languages should you speak? One answer is, the languages of those doing the trades. (more…)
How fast is Ebola spreading? After a long period of linear and occasionally weakly exponential growth, the spread is still linear (Feb. 25). We see some, but not much, evidence of improvement (more…)
We took a long term look — years 1-2034 — at global income equality using the C-GIDD dataset. In line with other research, we found that inequality was more or less flat before the industrial revolution, rose sharply from around 1800 till 1980 and then started to decline, and is projected to decline further. (more…)
How quickly should a category or brand grow to avoid standing still? It depends on how fast the relevant part of the population is growing. (more…)
Data from C-GIDD have been purchased by companies from a wide range of industries since the database launched in 2008. Here are some of our repeat customers. (more…)
The television series “Upstairs Downstairs” was wildly popular in the 1970s. It depicts lives of the upper and lower classes in London around 1920. We took the concept and quantified where Upstairs and Downstairs people live today. Data are from C-GIDD. (more…)
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Canback & Company, a global management consulting firm, has appointed Arshad Abba as South Africa Country Manager. Mr. Abba will head the firm’s new Johannesburg office and oversee operations and business development in South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. Starting 15 September 2014, he will join a global team of consultants who will support him as he takes on the task of building the office. (more…)
Staffan’s long and deep experience in Africa was a foundation for this article by Nick Kusitch: Africans Open Fuller Wallets to the Future. It was the eighth most read article in yesterday’s NYT, showing how interested people are in African matters.
This seminal presentation by Staffan Canback is still valid, 23 years after it was created. It discusses basic managerial principles in an age of change, building on Winnie-the-Pooh, Alice in Wonderland, Henri Fayol, and of course Ronald Coase and chaos theory. (more…)
Country growth prospects change over time. We took a look at which countries today have higher or lower growth expectations compared to two years ago. (more…)
We are often cited in the press and in reports. Here are a few examples. (more…)
Since it’s publication in 1998, Staffan Canback’s article “The Logic of Management Consulting” has become the most cited academic paper about the industry. It discusses how management consulting should be defined, why it exists, its history, and where it may be heading. (more…)
Over the years, companies and managers have come to rely more and more on the Canback Global Income Distribution Database (C-GIDD). C-GIDD’s uniqueness lies in the quality and completeness of our GDP and income distribution data, which covers 212 countries, 694 subdivisions (states, provinces, etc.) and 997 major cities from 2000 till 2025. (more…)
Como parte de mi cooperación con Canback & Company, he participado en varios proyectos en Latinoamérica. (more…)
We’re featured in the National Geographic November 2013 article “The War for Nigeria.” (more…)
We quantify currency risk by measuring the standard deviation of exchange rate changes. The U.S. dollar carries the lowest risk; the Ethiopian birr the highest. Currency risk is much higher than economic growth risk and should be carefully considered when making investments outside the home country. (more…)
When making investments in various countries, country risk is always a concern. How should such risk be measured? We suggest that the best metric is the standard deviation of GDP growth. With our metric, Australia has the lowest country risk, and Liberia the highest. (more…)
Linear regression is the most popular method to forecast demand, but it does not always give the best results. Using an example from the fast-moving consumer goods industry, we introduce what are often better alternatives and discuss how to measure predictive accuracy (and no, it is not R2). (more…)
Setting prices in various countries that also make sense globally is a difficult tasks. The same product–be it a soft drink or a consulting project–sold in the United States and in South Africa should not carry the same price. How should companies determine the price difference? (more…)
J-curves explain how consumer preferences change over time. They tell the story of how, initially, reduced cost and standardization create markets. Ultimately, this leads to homogenous and bland products. At this point, consumers start demanding choice and quality–rediscovery begins. (more…)
This article by Staffan Canback and Frank D’Agnese describes how global markets can be analyzed using income distribution data. It leverages the Golder-Tellis model for demand predictions. It also discusses how macro and micro data can be combined in marketing. (more…)
We took a look at where the “optimal” global and regional corporate headquarters should be located if a company wants to be truly global. (more…)
Making predictions statistically usually requires different methods than explaining the past. (more…)
In the past few years Canback & Co’s management consulting work has been increasingly focused on due diligence efforts for potential mergers and acquisitions in developing countries. Here is an example from Viet Nam. (more…)
In 1959, Prof. Joe Bain published the Structure-Conduct-Performance framework. Since then it has become a standard analytical tool for understanding industry and market behavior. Here’s a look at the Canback & Company adaptation, used extensively in our work. (more…)
Canback & Company is revolutionizing the management consulting space because of our commitment to continually innovate. To be truly revolutionary requires us to not only be on the cutting edge of analytical methods but includes all aspects of being a global consultant. One area in particular that we feel we are head and shoulders above the competition is our philosophy on travel. (more…)
This video shows global centers of gravity for population, GDP, and socioeconomic classes over time (1974-2034). It uses data from C-GIDD. (more…)
We have now been in business for a decade. A warm thank you to all the clients who made this possible!
We celebrated with a cruise on the Charles River in September. (more…)
We are hiring Engagement Managers (EMs) and Junior Engagement Managers (JEMs) for our Cambridge office in Kendall Square. (more…)
I had spent a year and a half at Canback & Company before I moved back to my native Serbia in March 2013, where I currently work in the field of communications and marketing. (more…)
This 2-pager by Staffan Canback is the third most downloaded paper on SSRN’s M&A Practice download list. (more…)
Living in Jakarta is exciting and being part of the Indonesian boom is exhilarating. Let me share some observations about the city and its potential. (more…)
In mid-January 2014, Canback and Company added Ghana to the quickly growing list of countries where our consultants have walked the ground. (more…)
During a two-month project in Johannesburg, South Africa to assess market opportunities for a global FMCG company, we went on a few trade visits to better understand the market. (more…)
How can we quantify business environment on a city level? In July 2013, we helped a major U.S. consumer goods company identify growth opportunities in Sub- Saharan region. (more…)
Our consultants bring stories from all over the world as they work on projects and get first-hand experience of local realities in different countries. Here is a story of one of our associate’s travel to Latin America. (more…)
Of the 51 countries to which Canback & Company consultants have traveled, perhaps the most remote one is Mongolia. The immediate question one might ask is why anyone might have any interest in a country with barely over three million inhabitants spread over a land area 80% as large as Mexico. (more…)
Large file transfer across the world is difficult. Here’s our preferred method. (more…)