Business Daily

Why you buy what you buy

We lift the curtain on how everyone from toothpaste brands to the United Nations is using science to influence your choices in ways you’re probably not aware of. Behavioural science has even made its way into TV drama. How does it work? And why is it so effective?If you'd like to get in touch with the team, our email address is businessdaily@bbc.co.ukPresented and produced by Rowan BridgeBusiness Daily is the home of in-depth audio journalism devoted to the world of money and work. From small startup stories to big corporate takeovers, global economic shifts to trends in technology, we look at the key figures, ideas and events shaping business.Each episode is a 17-minute deep dive into a single topic, featuring expert analysis and the people at the heart of the story. Recent episodes explore the weight-loss drug revolution, the growth in AI, the cost of living, why bond markets are so powerful, China's property bubble, and Gen Z's experience of the current job market. We also speak to some of the world's most influential business leaders. These interviews include the CEO of Google Sundar Pichai, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, and the billionaire founder of Epic Systems, one of the world's largest medical record software providers, Judy Faulkner. (Picture: The hand of a woman about to cause a chain reaction by pushing over a domino. Credit: Getty Images)

Copper theft: A growing economic problem

Demand has been surging for copper around the world - from renewable energy projects, to AI data centres, to infrastructure networks. Production, however, has struggled to keep pace, pushing prices close to record highs in late 2025 and early 2026.As the value of the metal has risen, criminals have increasingly targeted copper for theft - stripping it from telephone cables, railway power lines and solar panels. The resulting damage and disruption is costing economies billions.If you'd like to get in touch with the team, our email address is businessdaily@bbc.co.ukPresented and produced by Russell PadmorePicture: Train passengers look at a train information board at Zwolle station in Zwolle on the first of December 2025 after an extensive track damage caused by an attempted copper theft disrupted train services. Credit: Getty Images)

How country music became cool

Country music is in the midst of a grand renaissance. The genre - whose popularity was previously confined to the American South - is now climbing the charts, grabbing the attention of Gen Z audiences, and changing the perception of what it means to be a country listener. Streaming of the genre in the US rose by nearly 110% in the five years to 2024. And it’s taking over markets all around the world. In the UK, the genre more than doubled its share of the singles market in two years. And Australia is now the third largest country music market globally. From ‘music city’ - Nashville, Tennessee - we speak to artists and industry leaders to better understand where the country music boom came from, and where it’s headed this year. How did country become so cool?To get in touch with the team, our email address is businessdaily@bbc.co.ukPresented and produced by Ellie House(Picture: Neon lights spelling 'Music City Tonight' at Robert's Honky Tonk, Nashville. Credit: BBC)

How global conflict is changing air travel

Global conflict areas are growing.One of the world’s largest airline groups has told Business Daily that airspace closures, due to war zones, are now forcing substantial rerouting of flights. Lufthansa says the ban on using Russian and Ukrainian airspace is having a measurable cost impact on its long haul network, with typical detours of one to two hours.A recent Conflict Intensity index report shows that areas affected by armed fighting have grown by 89% over the past five years, that's one and a half times the size of the European Union.We examine the cost to consumers, and the environmental impacts of these changes. If you'd like to get in touch with the team, our email address is businessdaily@bbc.co.ukPresented and produced by Rick Kelsey(Picture: Planes landing and taking off against a coloured sky. Credit: Getty Images)

Lew Frankfort: Building a billion-dollar brand

When Lew Frankfort joined Coach, it was a family run, wholesale handbag business worth six million dollars.He spent 35 years at the company, from opening the company's first shop to growing the business now valued at over five billion dollars.We find out what led Lew to an unlikely career in fashion and how a chance meeting with a US president sparked his social consciousness.If you'd like to get in touch with the programme, our email address is businessdaily@bbc.co.ukPresenter: Ed Butler Producers: Hannah Bewley and Hannah Mullane(Picture: Lew Frankfort, chairman emeritus and former CEO of Coach.)