The EconomistNovember 9th 2019 Business 53T
he swiftness of Steve Easterbrook’s
exit from McDonald’s matched that of
Don Thompson, his predecessor, in 2015.
Mr Thompson was pushed out for poor per-
formance. Not Mr Easterbrook, who was
widely admired for doubling the American
fast-food giant’s share price. On November
3rd the company announced it was sacking
its British-born boss because of “a recent
consensual relationship with an em-
ployee”. Chris Kempczinski, who runs its
domestic business, takes over.
Bill George of Harvard Business School
called Mr Easterbrook’s departure a “trage-
dy” for McDonald’s. In Europe ousting a ca-
pable ceodrew bemusement. Süddeutsche
Zeitung, a German daily, commented that,
“luckily”, German labour law would bar
such a move. In 2005 a court in Düsseldorf
ruled that the German subsidiary of Wal-
mart, an American retailer, could not ban
its employees from flirting. Critics of re-
strictions on workplace romance warn that
they can backfire. To them, Walmart’s hot-
line for anonymous tips on office indiscre-
tions is a recipe for backbiting.
In America Mr Easterbrook’s sacking
was, paceMr George, broadly applauded.
#MeToo has highlighted the perils of ro-
mantic workplace liaisons between people
with unequal power. The powerful “find it
hard to recognise the coercive nature of
their influence” over subordinates, says
Vanessa Bohns of Cornell University. She
has found that bosses making romantic ad-
vances towards colleagues have no idea
how uncomfortable the targets of their af-
fection feel rejecting them.
Mr Easterbrook is not the first company
boss booted out over a dalliance at work—
and unlikely to be the last. In 2018 Intel’s
chief executive, Brian Krzanich, resigned
after the chipmaker discovered a similar
affair. One in three American adults are or
have been in a workplace romance, accord-
ing to a poll this year by the Society for Hu-
man Resource Management, an associa-
tion of hrprofessionals.
Mr Kempczinski will emulate Mr East-
erbrook’s strategy of switching to healthier
fare and digitising operations. Investors
seem to think the new boss can pull it off;
he helped devise it. The firm’s share price
has rebounded after dipping on the news.
Mr Kempczinski calls Mr Easterbrook a
“patient and helpful mentor”. His prede-
cessor’s parting lesson will no doubt stay
with him for a while. 7
A fast-food chain boots out its
able boss
McDonald’s
Too much lovin’
T
o a visitorfrommessyMumbai,on
the surface Hong Kong seems, despite
months of anti-government protests, in
order. Busy shops, clean streets, trains
that run on time—or at all. clp, the 118-
year-old electric utility, has just moved
from its old headquarters in Kowloon to
a new one over a shopping mall (inevita-
bly). Both digs are (inevitably) to be
redeveloped. Business as usual, then?
Not quite. Two French bakeries that
popped up after your correspondent left
in 2011, to ride Hong Kong’s surge as
Europe flailed, have shut. The owners felt
the tide had turned. A recent graduate
from Canada, who grew up in the territo-
ry, notes how hard it is to get a job. Hong
Kong is in recession (see chart). Hiring
has slowed, particularly by confused
multinationals. People, he says, are
leaving. Millennials with work offers
elsewhere are not returning. It is, many
reckon, worse than the sarsepidemic in2003 .BackthenHongKongerswere
united. Now they seem deeply divided.
Arguments flare up far from the riots.
A bartender in Wanchai, a busy com-
mercial district, says business is slow.
Watering holes lose money (except dur-
ing events that draw out the fearless,
such as televised matches during the
recent Rugby World Cup). Protests, or the
expectation of them, can scotch anything
involving crowds—cultural dos, par-
ties—that once evinced Hong Kong’s
vitality. People stay at home. Cops in
riot-gear guard mtr stations. The public-
transport company’s share price is down
by 18% since July.
The upheaval appears to have nar-
rowed Hong Kong’s intellectual band-
width, too. A decade ago business and
finance types would talk about all of
Asia. Now they speak of little besides
Hong Kong and mainland China. This is
not wholly irrational. At one investment
bank half of equity trading still involves
American shares, but one-third is now
China—more than Japan, South Korea,
Australia, Taiwan and India combined.
A Hong Kong tycoon of Indian de-
scent says that if he were young, he
might move back to his ancestral land.
His children are now at the age (early 30s)
when in years past the Sassoons, an
Asian trading dynasty, would dispatch
them to entrepots to advance the family
concern. They are choosing to stay put—
because India, the obvious destination,
has disappointed too much. Hong Kong’s
disappointments have not made it unliv-
able. The Hang Seng stockmarket index
swooned over the summer, but has since
recovered some of the decline. Hope of a
return to normal lingers on. For now.PostcardfromHongKong
A city on edgeHONG KONG
Our business correspondent revisits his old stomping-groundIt’s cloudy hereSource: Haver AnalyticsHongKong ,GDP,%changeonpreviousquarter1997 2000 05 10 15 19-4-20246SARS
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