Peter Day's World of Business

Can 'freeports' spark a post-Brexit manufacturing boom?

Aleks Krotoski explores new ways that we are watching and listening to content.

How much influence does China have on Hong Kong’s media?

With the media in the United States facing a period of unprecedented challenge - technologically, editorially and politically, Chris Bowlby travels to New York to assess the impact of the huge changes sweeping the industry. Some traditional print titles such as The New York Times are enjoying a "Trump Bump," with its digital offer attracting record subscriptions but how sustainable is this? With billions now using social media to access information and news, how can journalism compete and counter the increasing power and reach of the tech companies? And amid a highly partisan media landscape what does increasing polarisation mean for the profession and for US political culture? Reporter: Chris Bowlby Producer: Jim Frank Picture credit: Timothy A. Clary/AFP/GettyImages

Tunisia has seen huge changes in its media industry in the seven years since its revolution and move to democracy. Before 2011, the country’s TV and radio were tightly controlled by the regime of President Ben Ali, one of the most restrictive in the Arab world. Now the media has opened up to a whole range of new players and there is significant freedom of speech, leading many to hold Tunisia up as the Arab Spring’s success story. But while people are able to say what they want in public, this doesn’t necessarily translate into a free and fair media. There are still concerns the state TV broadcaster is influenced by government and doesn’t reflect the real issues affecting Tunisians. Private TV and radio is increasingly finding its way into the hands of big business and politicians, and the media regulator is struggling to rein in those who break the rules. On top of this, there is concern that the security services haven’t quite shaken off their old ways, and are still trying to prevent journalists doing their

Across Serbia, age-old traditions passed down through the generations are dying out. Those hit the hardest are people living in the rural areas who rely on skills like weaving, wood-cutting and pottery to make an income. Realising the potential, the Serbian state is now turning its attention to these micro-enterprises to bolster its economy, offering tax relief and other benefits to artisans. Nicola Kelly speaks to craftsmen and young entrepreneurs about the challenges they face and finds out how they plan to revive their crafts. Reporter: Nicola Kelly Producer: Marie Keyworth Picture Credit: BBC

Can the fashion for high-end coffee save Colombia’s struggling farmers? It’s not been easy growing coffee in recent decades in Colombia, where rural life has been dominated by the conflict between guerrillas, paramilitaries and drug traffickers. Now, two years on from the historic peace deal here, how is business benefiting? And with global market prices not even covering growers’ costs, could the trend for coffee with a story come to growers’ rescue? Presenter: Simon Maybin Producer: Karenina Velandia Picture credit: Getty

Will artificial intelligence change how we shop and decide which retailers succeed? Senior retail executive, Jeremy Schwartz, meets chat bots, robots and the humans behind them, to find out. He explores the impact that the AI revolution may have on jobs - not just the number of them but their nature too. As algorithms take over certain tasks, he asks how humans - and the companies that employ them - will need to respond. And he looks at the growing digital divide between retailers and asks what role AI is playing in the struggle for survival on our high streets. Producer : Rosamund Jones.

As international trade tensions escalate, the US state of Wisconsin is a fascinating place to discover the consequences. Specialist producers like Wisconsin's ginseng growers are directly affected by the new trade war between the US and China. Traditional cheese makers meanwhile see all this as the latest round in an endless battle for freer trade in global food. And in the south of the state, a new kind of manufacturing economy is taking shape with a vast new investment by the Taiwanese tech manufacturer Foxconn. Jonty Bloom travels around the state to gain rich insights into where today's trade wars could eventually lead. Producer: Chris Bowlby Editor: Penny Murphy Picture: Wisconsin Cheese during Haven House 2007 Oscar Suite Credit: Getty Images

Do you own a sex toy? And if so, would you admit it to your friends? Increasingly, the answer to both questions is yes. Once a seedy mail-order product advertised in the back pages of porn magazines, sex toys today are marketed as a fun way for couples to enhance their relationships. And in the process, the global sales of these objects of arousal have grown exponentially into the billions of dollars. Laurence Knight explores how this came about, speaking to industry pioneers such as Sam Roddick, Doc Johnson and LoveHoney. And he travels to China, where many of them are manufactured. Produced and presented by Laurence Knight. Picture credit: Shutterstock

Young Taiwanese entrepreneurs working in a start-up hub are offered attractive sweeteners. But this isn’t in California or even Taipei, it’s on the outskirts of Shanghai. The People’s Republic of China is setting its sights on Taiwan’s youth by encouraging them to relocate to the ‘mainland’. Wages in Taiwan have stagnated as its economic growth has failed to keep pace with that of China, prompting thousands of people to leave the island and head to the mega cities of the People’s Republic for better jobs and access to greater opportunities. In February the Chinese government unveiled a package of measures to attract Taiwanese young people and businesses to the mainland, with tax breaks, subsidies, research grants and access to government contracts. Taiwan’s current pro-independence government is worried about a potential ‘brain drain’ and there are fears that Beijing, which views Taiwan as a rebel province is using its vast economic clout in a soft power offensive to promote and enhance social and commercia

Life expectancy is going up, pensions are declining. Meanwhile the official retirement age has been abolished, while the age at which you can draw your state pension is rising. As a result, more and more of us will have to work until our 70s, or even our 80s. So, asks David Baker, is this the end of retirement? That may not be as bad as it sounds. For In Business, David meets people who could live a quiet, retired life, but choose not to. One founded a bikini company in her 70s, others sell vintage goods, or left organisations to set up on their own. For them, the very word "retirement" is negative, they love what they do, and wouldn't want to give it up. Experts say that most of us will need to work into old age. Professor Lynda Gratton tells David that the previous life pattern of education-work-retirement will have to yield to a multi-phase one of different careers, broken up by breaks, even late-life gap years, and re-skilling. Why retire at 60 if you could live to 100? The government, too, wan

Online banking has grown massively, and some new banks don't bother with a branch network at all. But as Ruth Sunderland discovers, some in the banking business still think high street branches and personal service have a bright future. So how far will this financial revolution go? Talking to leading players in the business, Ruth hears how those who want to manage our money are full of new ideas, but facing huge uncertainty about what banking will become. Producer: Chris Bowlby Picture Credit: Shutterstock

Thousands of new consumer products are launched every year, and most end in failure. These flops are rarely discussed, and quickly forgotten. The Museum of Failure in Sweden is taking a different approach, showcasing some of the world's most flawed products and services. Ruth Alexander talks to curator Samuel West, and some of the product designers, about what we can learn from commercial mistakes. Producer: John Murphy Image: The 1957 Ford Edsel parked outside the Museum of Failure in Helsingborg, Sweden Credit: BBC

Once known as a hugely successful " Asian Tiger" economy built on hi-tech manufacturing, Taiwan's recent economic growth has been relatively sluggish, wages have stagnated and young people are leaving for better paid jobs in China and elsewhere. So what does the self-ruled island need to do to start roaring again? Caroline Bayley reports from Taipei. Producer and Presenter: Caroline Bayley Image: Taiwan Credit: BBC

Can tech entrepreneurs revitalise Southern Italy’s failing economy? Manuela Saragosa visits Naples – which has seen a huge exodus of its talented young people – to explore if a change of direction might be possible. She meets Neapolitans starting up high-tech businesses against the odds and explores why, rather surprisingly, in recent years the city has attracted significant foreign investment from big tech firms. What has been the city’s appeal? She also asks what the business reasons are for building a company in Naples rather than elsewhere. Can the benefits outweigh all the myriad problems? Producer: Rosamund Jones

In just a couple of years, the fifth generation mobile network will be available. Like previous generations, 5G will offer consumers greater speed and capability when they use their smartphones and tablets. Advocates argue it is more than just the next step in that evolution. Lightning fast speed, greater bandwidth and more reliability have the potential to transform entire industries: from how a surgeon operates on us and the products we use are made, to how we are transported to and from work and home. In this programme, Keith Moore wades through the hype to see how this next step in mobile technology could be used in the real world. He visits London and Brighton in the UK and Stockholm and Gothenburg in Sweden and meets businesses both large and small who are already preparing for our 5G future. Producers: Keith Moore and Smita Patel Image: Shutterstock

As K-pop and K-drama go global, what are the secrets of their success? The Korean Wave - South Korea’s pop culture exports of music and TV dramas - has already swept across much of Asia, including the giant markets of China and Japan, bringing billions of dollars into the country’s economy every year. Now, with boy band BTS topping the US album charts, and hit dramas reaching streaming services around the world, the wave appears to be growing into a tsunami. How did this medium-sized Asian nation end up as the global entertainment industry’s biggest overachievers? Producer: John Murphy Presenter: Simon Maybin

When you throw away rubbish, it can create an environmental problem – or a business opportunity. Your old newspapers, tin cans and plastic bottles are someone else’s valuable harvest. Just like gold, steel, sugar or coffee, rubbish is traded all over the world as a commodity. If it can be recycled, it’s worth money. Until recently, countries vied to recycle the waste of others. But now one of the main players - China - says it doesn’t want foreign rubbish anymore. That has sent this multi-billion dollar industry into turmoil and is forcing it to invent new solutions. Ruth Alexander reports. Producer: Tony Bonsignore

What do digital nomads mean for the world of work? A new army of digital nomads is wandering the world. Equipped with a laptop and willing to work anywhere that has Wi-Fi and a low cost of living, they are changing the way millions think about the world of work. But how do firms and Governments adapt to a fast moving, ever changing highly skilled and paid workforce that doesn’t even recognise borders? And do digital nomads represent the future of work or a threat to taxation systems and therefore the nation state? From Portugal to New Zealand via Cornwall, Jonty Bloom goes far and wide looking for answers. Presenter: Jonty Bloom Producer: Estelle Doyle Researcher: Darin Graham