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'Don't ask people what they want'

MAURICE SAATCHI, musing in the FT on Google's attempt to use its data-mining skills to slash waste in the global advertising sector:

"People do not know what they want until a brilliant person shows them. Henry Ford confirmed it. Asked if he carried out research before he invented the Model T Ford, he replied: 'If I had asked people what they wanted, I would have built a faster horse.' "

'Airlines are threatened by climate change'

DANNY ROGERS of PR Week on the airlines' sluggish response to the green debate:

"Climate change is an issue that threatens the future of these companies. Just look at how easily the Chancellor doubled airline passenger duty last year. Indeed, a recent survey by YouGov shows British Airways and Ryanair right at the bottom of a league table of environmental brands ... Tesco and Marks & Spencer come near the top."

'Corporate Britain is squandering experience'

JAMES HARDING of The Times on the falling average age of FTSE 100 chief executives:

"The UK should worry about its infatuation with youth. One danger is that investors' tendency to punish longevity means corporate Britain is squandering experience The other is that the City has inadvertently created a longevity discount ... Investors are less willing to give a long-serving chief executive the benefit of the doubt."

'Smoke's out so pubs get stuck into food'

HAMISH CHAMP of The Publican on reactions in the pub industry to the smoking ban:

"Others are responding to the likely pressures of a smoke-free market bygetting stuckinto food-led businesses ... understandable reactions to how the market will look in a year or so's time - fewer people simply propping up a bar, etc. Paraphrasing Ultimate's Mark Jones,you want to bein agrowth market, not a stagnating one."

'The BBC enjoys its own version of the poll tax'

NEIL COLLINS of the Evening Standard on the Budd report into the BBC's business news:

"It would be too much to hope that Sir Alan Budd's dissection of the BBC's business coverage will cause it to treat the subject seriously ... Since the BBC enjoys its own version of the poll tax, it's no wonder the average presenter has little idea what profit is for. The executives have given themselves two months to respond. We're waiting."

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