‘Warriors’ welcome tourists in Yue Fei Temple during National Day holiday

‘Warriors’ welcome tourists in Yue Fei Temple during National Day holiday

(People’s Daily Online)    09:16, October 01, 2013

A large scale martial arts performance will be held during this year’s golden week in Yue Fei Temple scenic area in Tangyin County, central China’s Henan Province, to demonstrate the place’s historical and cultural connotations, nurture and promote national spirit, and heighten the festive atmosphere. Performances with a variety of martial arts skills and historical stories will bring tourists a visual and spiritual feast. Situated in the southeast corner of the Tangyin County and covering more than 6,000 square meters, Yue Fei Temple was firstly built in 1450 (Ming Dynasty). The temple was originally called Jing Zhong Temple (Loyal and Honesty Temple), and was built in memory of Yue Fei, a courageous general who lived during the southern Song dynasty.

Netflix and Berkshire Hathaway share this management philosophy that could save your company millions

Netflix and Berkshire Hathaway share this management philosophy that could save your company millions

By David Larcker and Brian Tayan 11 hours ago

The litany of prominent corporate failures in the last decade—Enron, WorldCom, Lehman Brothers, and so on—ushered in an increase in regulatory requirements for corporate governance. The result is that every year, companies spend tens of millions of dollars on incentive compensation, director salaries, audit fees, internal auditors, and compliance efforts to satisfy a long list of rules, regulations, and procedures imposed by legislators and the market. It all raises a critical but too often overlooked issue: Would corporate governance improve if companies instead had fewer controls? Would shareholders be better off if organizations instead demonstrated more trust in employees and executives? Research suggests that the answer may be yes, and that companies might benefit by emphasizing trust over regulations. Indeed, high trust settings are characterized by less bureaucracy, simpler procedures, and higher productivity. Read more of this post

Loving what you do is not enough; ask yourself how much pride you take in the work you do. If you can honestly say your work fills you with pride then, and only then, will you be truly invested

Loving what you do is not enough

BY FRANCISCO DAO 
ON OCTOBER 1, 2013

Everywhere you turn, the advice is the same. Love your work. Love your startup. Do what you love, and you’ll never work again. In the startup world, it seems the Beatles were right, all you need is love. But when it comes to being the best you can be in work and life, there is something else that nobody talks about anymore. A few months ago, I was reading an incredible book about World War II pilots, and I started thinking about what made these young men, barely more than children in their early 20s, risk their lives in the skies over Europe. It surely wasn’t love, and the book never candy-coats how terrified they were. Love, passion, hustle, and all the things startup entrepreneurs talk about had absolutely nothing to do with it. They put aside their fears and did what they had to do out of a sense of pride. Read more of this post

Aswath Damodaran on Rebirth and Reincarnation: Escaping the corporate death spiral

Friday, September 27, 2013

Rebirth and Reincarnation: Escaping the corporate death spiral

Aswath Damodaran

The Chinese saying ( 生, 老, 病, 死 = you are born, get old, get sick and die) that I quoted in my last post may be realistic, but it is not exactly an uplifting calling for life and it is no wonder that you look for an escape from its strictures. One option that almost every religion offers is the possibility of an afterlife, cleverly tied to how closely you follow that religon’s edicts. For corporations approaching the end stages of their life cycle, this option is a non-starter, since there is no corporate heaven (unless you count starring in a Harvard case study or in a TV show as heavenly) or hell (though bankruptcy court comes awfully close). The other option is the possibility of a rebirth or reincarnation, in a different life, if you are Shirley Maclaine, or in the same life, if you manage to redefine yourself. After all, we are uplifted by stories of people who having experienced that rebirth; athletes who transition to successful business people (Magic Johnson) or actors who become presidents (Ronald Reagan). On this count, corporations have an advantage over individuals since they are legal entities that can reinvent themselves, while holding on to their corporate identities.  Read more of this post

Aswath Damodaran on The Brand Name Advantage: Valuable, Sustainable and Elusive

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

The Brand Name Advantage: Valuable, Sustainable and Elusive

The Interbrand rankings of the top brand names in the world are out. As always, they have created buzz in the financial press, with the big news story being the displacement of Coca Cola from its perennial number one spot and the rise of technology companies (Apple and Google have the first two spots and there are four other tech companies in the top ten) in the rankings. Here is the listing of the top ten brand names from 2012 and 2013:

Interbrand, in addition to ranking the brands, also provides estimates of value with Apple’s brand name value estimated at $98.3 billion and Coca Cola’s at $79.2 billion. Read more of this post

The oft-forgotten basics of negotiation; The process involves more than sitting down and discussing the issues

October 1, 2013 5:05 pm

The oft-forgotten basics of negotiation

By John Kay

The process involves more than sitting down and discussing the issues

Fifty years ago, the economist Thomas Schelling applied the new mathematical tools of game theory in fields ranging from everyday disagreements to international politics. Prof Schelling’s work was inspiration for Stanley Kubrick’s Dr Strangelove. It won him a Nobel Prize in 2005. Negotiation over divisive issues has never seemed so central to news events. A Democratic president is engaged in repeated budget confrontations with a Republican House of Representatives. The international community struggles to address Syria. And I have been thinking how, if Scotland were to vote for independence, the process of negotiation would unfold. Read more of this post

Beijing hospital patient dies after nurse gives wrong IV drip

Beijing hospital patient dies after nurse gives wrong IV drip

Monday, Sep 30, 2013
YourHealth, AsiaOne

According to local reports, a man from Henan suffered an adverse reaction after receiving a bottle of intravenous drip (IV) and later died later in the hospital. NetEase reported that Wang Huali, 65, had undergone an operation at Tiantan hospital. His eldest daughter Wang Yun told reporters that 12 days after the operation, her father was recovering well in hospital. Read more of this post

Relaxation Drinks: The Opposite of Energy Drinks

October 1, 2013, 7:02 p.m. ET

Relaxation Drinks: The Opposite of Energy Drinks

A Group of Beverages Claim to Let People Take Things Down a Notch

SARAH NASSAUER

Can relaxation, a good night’s sleep or happiness come from a lightly-carbonated, berry-flavored beverage sold in the soda aisle? Sarah Nassauer joins Lunch Break with a look at the latest mellow sips. Photo: F. Martin Ramin for The Wall Street Journal. Just Chill has L-theanine, an amino acid found in tea, and comes in beach-themed flavors: Tropical, Jamaican Citrus and Rio Berry

Can relaxation, a good night’s sleep or happiness come from a lightly carbonated, berry-flavored beverage? Amid booming sales of energy drinks spiked with caffeine and other stimulating ingredients, some people are heading to the soda aisle for drinks that promise the opposite effect. With names like Neuro Bliss, Marley’s Mellow Mood (as in Bob), and Just Chill, the products aren’t marketed as medicine, but as a way to relax without turning to more traditional, if sometimes imperfect, measures like taking prescription drugs or having a few beers. Read more of this post

London Is Special, but Not That Special; For London to have its own exclusive immigration policy would exacerbate the sense that immigration benefits only certain groups and disadvantages the rest

September 28, 2013

London Is Special, but Not That Special

By KENAN MALIK

LONDON — NOT so long ago there was a beer commercial on British TV in which two pointy-headed aliens order a pint in a rural pub. “Up from London, are we?” the barman asks politely. If the rest of Britain often views London as a planet from outer space, Londoners often view other Britons as beings trapped in a previous century. “London seems no longer part of Britain — in my view, a dreary, narrow place full of fields, boarded-up shops and cities trying to imitate London — but has developed into a semi-independent city-state.” So says Adam, a character in “The Body,” a novel by Hanif Kureishi — one of the sharpest contemporary observers of London life. Read more of this post

Economies of Unscale: Why Business Has Never Been Easier for the Little Guy

Economies of Unscale: Why Business Has Never Been Easier for the Little Guy

by Hemant Taneja  |   11:00 AM October 1, 2013

The American worker just can’t seem to get a break. Automation is wiping out whole job categories, from cashiers to machine-builders, while pressures from globalization, trade, and new Internet-driven business models have disrupted industries and displaced hundreds of thousands of workers.  And the prescribed solution — education — is becoming increasingly unaffordable for most Americans. Read more of this post