These are stories Report on Business followed this week.
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The Harvard Business Review this week takes a devastating, yet strangely uplifting, look at Detroit, poking beneath the rubble for signs of renewal even as the city begins the arduous process of bankruptcy.
"The main point of a bankruptcy – especially this bankruptcy, which has been looming for decades – is to get a fresh start," writes Justin Fox, executive editor of the Harvard Business Review Group.
"So it's been dismaying to see how little attention has been paid in the past week's news coverage to the fact that central Detroit is already in the midst of a fresh start, a revitalization that feels far more organic and durable than past top-down efforts like the construction of the Renaissance Center in the late 1970s and the arrival of casinos in the late 1990s (although the casinos do appear to pay the bulk of the city's bills at the moment)."
To recap, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder just over a week ago authorized Detroit's emergency manager, Kevyn Orr, to put the ailing city under, marking the biggest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history.
Mr. Orr and his city colleagues now face a protracted, pitched battle with creditors, unions and pension funds, with the eyes of the nation upon them amid fears that other municipalities could follow suit, depending on how this plays out.
Wall Street analyst Meredith Whitney, for example, this week cited the troubles of many other U.S. cities, while David Rosenberg, the chief economist of Gluskin Sheff + Associates, warned that "Detroit is only the opening act even if its problems are unique to a city in secular decline and dilapidation."
Mr. Orr and Mr. Snyder, in turn, headed to New York this week to spread their gospel.
"Before, people didn't know where the bottom was and to invest was scary," Mr. Snyder told The Financial Times during his visit.
"Now we can say it is at the bottom and Detroit is a value investment."
The bankruptcy followed years of a declining population – from 1.8 million in the 1950s to just 700,000 today – and years of neglect.
Now, you've got to wait an hour for police to respond, about half of the street lights don't work, just one-third of the city's ambulances are actually road-worthy and, with the exodus, Detroit is haunted by the ghosts of 78,000 abandoned buildings.
"Those left behind are increasingly those who can't get out – with a per capita income of just $15,261 and 36.2 per cent of the population below the poverty line, Detroit is now by most measures the poorest big city in the country," writes Mr. Fox, who poked around Detroit during a visit for a conference in the fall.
But amid the wreckage, much work has already been done by private businesses and other interests to try to get the city back on its feet. Their restructuring began years ago.
"Decrepit buildings in downtown and midtown are being renovated and converted into loft apartments, hotels, restaurants, and offices," says Mr. Fox.
"Compuware and Quicken Loans have moved their headquarters and thousands of employees from the suburbs to the city," he writes on the Harvard Business Review website.
"There's an incipient venture capital and start-up scene, and lots of small creative businesses. The area's pro sports teams are almost all back downtown. Young, upwardly mobile people are actually moving to Detroit."
Eddie Francis, the mayor of Detroit's Canadian neighbour, Windsor, Ont., said something similar in an interview, citing the restructuring that began in areas like industry, tourism and the arts around 2006.
To be sure, nobody is under any illusions about the massive task ahead.
But Mr. Fox's point is that Detroit has started down a new path, without any formula for reconstruction, and "that's exciting."
- Harvard Business Review: There's no formula for fixing Detroit, and that's a good thing
- Analyst Meredith Whitney warns of 'staggering' aftershocks from Detroit bankruptcy
- Amid Detroit bankruptcy, ‘Chicago has too many similarities to ignore’
- Neglect, corruption, exodus: What drove Detroit to historic bankruptcy
- How Detroit's plunge into bankruptcy could affect Windsor, Ont.
- Detroit's a mess, but the car makers that put it on the map are surging
- Detroit: A lose-lose situation for all involved
- Margaret Wente: Who killed Detroit? Not who you think
- Detroit bankruptcy to pave clearer path for creditors: Michigan governor
- Wall Street’s Meredith Whitney: ‘The thing for me is being right’
The week in Business Briefing
- Amid Detroit bankruptcy, 'Chicago has too many similarities to ignore'
- Foreign temps flood into Canada as youth can't find work: Conference Board asks why
- Meredith Whitney warns of 'staggering' aftershocks from Detroit bankruptcy
- Facebook soars as world's 1.15 billion 'friends' go increasingly mobile
- Canada's economy has 'a bit more oomph' than forecast
The week in Streetwise (for subscribers)
- Like these markets? Thank Mario Draghi
- CIBC wrong to fire two employees involved in insider trading case, says tribunal
- Davis + Henderson strikes billion-dollar U.S. deal
- Get ready for more weather disasters, Intact CEO says
- Don't let the big names fool you - deal-making doldrums persist
The week in Economy Lab
- Canada gets good and bad news from a new measure of innovation
- May retail sales jump, but trend still lacklustre
- Global economic growth may depend on having more women working
- Trip-sharing is giving cabs a rough ride
- Urban environmental initiatives are paying off
The week in ROB Insight (for subscribers)
- Inflated mortgages push housing toward crisis
- Popping the bitumen bubble: Canadian crude no longer cheap
- Canada shops, economic slowdown fears drop
- Bombardier's C Series excuses downright Orwellian
- India careens toward crisis, but markets unfazed
Required reading
Canadian energy stocks are finally playing catch-up with sizzling oil markets, Jeffrey Jones writes.
Telus Corp. warns it could challenge Ottawa in court if the government extends its moratorium on large wireless companies acquiring spectrum from smaller rivals past 2014, Rita Trichur reports.
Canadian National Railway is moving full-speed ahead on transporting oil by rail - a key growth area - despite safety concerns raised by the recent rail crash in Quebec. Richard Blackwell reports.
Not even the cheap eats at McDonald's Corp. are immune to global economic woes, as the fast-food giant warns that a drop in discretionary spending will affect its results this year, Brenda Bouw writes.
Canada's Competition Tribunal tosses out a case over billions in credit card transaction fees and punted it to the federal government, Tim Kiladze and Josh Kerr report.
It sells the most popular mobile devices in the world, and promises plenty of new ones are on the way, but Apple Inc.'s growth has hit a wall. Omar El Akkad looks at the tech giant's third-quarter results.
Canada's largest wireless carriers are ratcheting up their criticism of the federal government's wireless strategy. Rita Trichur reports.
Beijing is positioning China for a new era of slower growth. That, Brenda Bouw writes, reshuffles the lineup of suppliers to the world's second-biggest economy and appears set to push Canadian commodities producers to the margins.
The race to dominate the tablet market is starting to look like a replay of pricing shifts that allowed Apple Inc.'s competitors to narrow the lead in smartphones, Omar El Akkad reports.
Susan Krashinsky looks at how the princess ideal is as entrenched as ever.