Planet Business

Image of the week: Think wood
Bosnian pensioner Momir Bojic is seen here driving his wooden Volkswagen Beetle car in Celinac near Banja Luka. Bojic (71), an avid Volkswagen fan, created the apparently roadworthy car from more than 50,000 separate pieces of oak and took two years to complete it.

Meanwhile, in an unrelated development, the German carmaker this week posted a quarterly jump in operating profit, as sales of mostly metal
Audi and Porsche luxury models rose to record levels. Hurrah for Audi and Porsche owners but if it hasn't got that Bosnian pensioner seal of quality, then they have been robbed. Photograph: Dado Ruvic/Reuters

In numbers: Moss and Green
10
Number of months for which Kate Moss's new Topshop collection was "in the making", according to Arcadia boss Philip Green – a long time in the world of fast fashion.

319
Arcadia has this number of Topshop stores in the UK alone, but Green says it is probable that the quantity of outlets will shrink over time, as online shopping grows.

£50m
Value of the deal Arcadia signed with technology giant Oracle to provide digital support for its global business. Across its retail brands, Green's empire has an online presence in 110 countries.

The lexicon: Glass cliff
The "glass cliff", or the idea that the positions of women executives are more precarious than those of their male counterparts, was coined by academics a while back, but it has been back in the news this week after new research suggested women chief executives are more likely to be fired.

A study of 2,500 of the largest public companies by consultancy firm Strategy& found that over the past decade, fewer than three in 10 male chief executives have been ousted, while four in 10 female bosses were forced out.

The study's authors say one reason might be that the women were higher-risk appointments in the first place, while another might be that "not everyone is invariably supportive" of their leadership. Of course, both reasons may play a role in a chief executive's downfall.

Getting to know: Brian Chesky
"Reading lots of reports about Airbnb doing an IPO this year. If that's true, someone should tell me, as I am not aware," tweeted Brian Chesky this week.

As Chesky (32) is the chief executive and co-founder of the travel rentals company, then it’s probably best not to expect an Airbnb prospectus to be winging its way to the US Securities and Exchange Commission any time soon.

Couch-loving Chesky's greatest move was his decision in June 2010 to move out of his apartment and instead live in various Airbnb rentals in San Francisco. He has been "mostly homeless" ever since. Brian is both an amazing host, the perfect guest and an all-round great guy, according to the suck-up reviews and references on Airbnb.

The list: Precarious times
The omens haven't been great of late for "the precariat", or anyone who faces a general lack of labour market and income security.

1 Zero hours: New statistics have revealed that 1.4 million people in the UK are employed on zero-hour contracts, three times as many as previously thought. The contracts do not guarantee work, but may have "exclusivity" clauses.

2 Unemployment in US: The number of new jobless claimants rose unexpectedly last week, but it is long-term unemployment that is really hurting its recovery.

3 JobBridge pain: Even the OECD thinks the Government's combined "recruitment aid" and work experience scheme is badly conceived, warning of possible "lock-in-effects".

4 Australia recommendations: The minimum wage should be slashed, say government advisers, and unemployed young people should be told to relocate to higher-employment areas.

5 Crisis opportunity: The ominous words "labour market reform" have lately been finding their way into the speeches of IMF managing director Christine Lagarde.