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Mexican Carlos Slim has overtaken Microsoft founder Bill Gates and legendary investor Warren Buffett to become the richest person in the world with a total wealth of $53.5 billion, according to this year’s edition of the Forbes Rich List.

Amancio Ortega, the Spanish founder of the clothing stores Zara, Massimo Dutti, Bershka and Stradivarius, was 9th in the list with a total wealth of $25 billion. In fact, Spanish billionaires, as a whole, made a stronger-than-usual showing in this year’s Rich List.

To view the full ranking visit Forbes’ website.

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Nike will soon be introducing the national team kits for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, to be held in South Africa in June. Nine teams, including Brazil, England and the Netherlands will be clad in kits made of 100 percent recycled PET bottles converted into polyester yarn.

It is not the first time the company has introduced recycled PET clothing to a major sporting event, but it will be the first time all of Nike’s national teams will be equipped with the environmentally sustainable gear. In addition to the teams mentioned above, Portugal, United States, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Serbia and Slovenia will all be sporting shirts, each made from up to eight recycled PET bottles.

Bottles will be collected from Taiwanese and Japanese landfills, and then processed in Taiwan before being shipped as polyester thread to manufacturing facilities. Manufacturing the Jerseys using recycled materials also requires 30 percent less energy than manufacturing from virgin materials, a saving that the company hopes will offset the slightly increased costs of production.

So far, Nike claims to have removed over 13 million plastic bottles from the landfills, or approximately 558,000 pounds of polyester waste. he World Cup replica jerseys will also be made from recycled PET, allowing fans to wear the same PET jerseys as their favourite players and expanding the initiative’s impact exponentially.

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Spain is the second worst affected OECD member economy by the crisis, according to the organization’s report “Going for Growth 2010.” The only member country to suffer a worse prognosis than Spain, which saw its potential GDP growth drop by 10.6%, was Ireland. The average fall in expected economic growth for OECD member countries was just over 3 percent, while negative impacts of 2.4% and 2.9%, respectively, were forecast for the United States and the United Kingdom.

The study’s authors predicted that the organization’s 30 member economies, which grew at an average annual rate of 2-2.25% during the 7 years preceding the crisis, would see much more modest growth of around 1.75 % in the foreseeable future. In 2009, in the wake of the credit crunch, the OECD member economies recorded an average negative growth of 4%.

For more information, consult the OECD’s website.

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The OECD, World Trade Organization and the UN’s Conference on Trade and Development have published their second combined report on G20 Trade and Investment Measures. The three organizations have called upon the G20 to resist moves toward protectionism.

The report’s authors caution that the holdings acquired by governments as a response to the crisis may jeopardize governments’ impartiality in policy making and law enforcement. The report covers measures taken or announced by G20 members between September 1, 2009 and mid-February, 2010.

The full report is available on the Web.

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The World Economic Forum has launched the “Corporate Gender Gap Report 2010”. It is the first survey to cover the world’s largest employers in 20 countries and benchmark them against the equality policies that most companies should have in place but are, in fact, widely neglected.

The report is based on a survey of 600 heads of human resources at the world’s largest employers. The United States (52%), Spain (48%), Canada (46%) and Finland (44%) have the highest percentage of women employees at all levels among the responding countries.

The countries surveyed were: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom and the United States.

The findings show that the corporate world is still not doing enough to achieve gender equality. The study is a one-stop guide on what companies need to do to close the corporate gender gap.

The report is available online.

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Abbott tops the 2010 Top 50 Companies for Executive Women list compiled by the National Association for Female Executives (NAFE). Aetna and American Express Company trail in second and third place, respectively.

The 2010 NAFE Top 50 is based on the performance of companies in 2009. And while last year was dismal for most of corporate America, it wasn’t for many companies with women at the top. The standouts among this year’s winners include many companies helmed by female CEOs.

The full ranking is available from the NAFE website.

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The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has created a resource page for information about the Chile earthquake. ReliefWeb provides updated information and maps from international organizations, NGOs, governments and news sources.

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The European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) has published the report, “Addressing the Gender Pay Gap: Government and Social Partner Actions.” The study draws on quantitative and qualitative research to give an overview of the current situation regarding gender pay across the EU Member States. In Europe, women on average earn a fifth less than men. The report also tracks the policies and initiatives implemented by the national governments and their social partners, as well as some good practice initiatives taken by companies in this area.

The report is available on the web.

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Synopsis

Focusing on the sort of structures, processes, and behaviors that a board of directors needs to ensure success, the book Boardroom Secrets: Corporate Governance for Quality of Life examines critical behavioral aspects of governance such as how to evaluate and process information provided to the board; how to critically question without de-motivating; and how to provide guidance without interfering with management.

For more information, click here.

You can find this title at IESE’s Library catalog. 

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The International Labour Office (ILO) has just launched the study, “Women in Labour Markets: Measuring Progress and Identifying Challenges”. The report focuses on the relationship of women to labour markets and compares employment for men and women using labour market indicators from the ILO Key Indicators of the Labour Market. The main findings highlight a continuing gender disparity in terms of both opportunities and quality of employment.

The full-text is available online.