How to Sidestep the Excellence Trap

October 24, 2013 Leave a comment

Published: September 26, 2013

How to Sidestep the Excellence Trap

Rita Gunther McGrath, author of The End of Competitive Advantage: How to Keep Your Strategy Moving as Fast as Your Business, introduces a passage about when—and when not—to demand excellence from Tipping Sacred Cows: Kick the Bad Work Habits That Masquerade as Virtues, by Jake Breeden.

“Don’t bring me any surprises. Don’t bring me a problem without a solution.” Do these phrases sound familiar? They are manifestations of a managerial mind-set that Jake Breeden rightly calls out in his new book, Tipping Sacred Cows, as an unhealthy obsession with excellence. The demand that employees get everything right is deadly for innovation, experimentation, and discovery. When excellence is defined as living in a world of no surprises, you aren’t going to get any…until it’s too late. Read more of this post

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Abby Johnson, the rarely seen face of Fidelity; The quiet billionaire has taken the reins of a former fund juggernaut but given few signs of where she’ll take it

October 24, 2013 Leave a comment

Abby Johnson, the rarely seen face of Fidelity

Thursday, October 24, 10:35 AM

When Abigail Johnson began her apprenticeship at Fidelity Investments 25 years ago, the Boston-based firm founded by her grandfather was the nation’s biggest mutual fund company and star manager Peter Lynch was enjoying a performance streak at the Magellan Fund — a 29 percent average return over 13 years — that ranks among the best in the industry’s history. Read more of this post

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Mark Dixon, the billionaire founder of Regus, the world’s largest operator of serviced offices, has more than doubled his fortune in the past year as increased demand for flexible office space propelled the company’s share price to all-time high

October 24, 2013 2 Comments

Billionaire Doubles Fortune on Workspace Demand Surge

Mark Dixon, the billionaire founder of Regus Plc (RGU), the world’s largest operator of serviced offices, has more than doubled his fortune in the past year as increased demand for flexible office space propelled the company’s share price to an all-time high. Regus shares have surged 106 percent since last October, compared to a 30.3 percent gain in the FTSE 250 index. Dixon, 53, owns a 34.2 percent stake in the company valued at $1.1 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Read more of this post

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The Cardiologist Who Spread Heart Disease

October 24, 2013 Leave a comment

The Cardiologist Who Spread Heart Disease

Mehmood Patel still wakes up early, just as he did when he was a popular heart specialist seeing patients who waited hours for minutes of his time. Instead of surgical scrubs, he climbs into the khaki drabs of the Federal Correctional Complex in Oakdale, Louisiana. He leads health-conscious inmates on a morning walk, then cracks open one of the medical journals on his prison-approved reading list. Counseling fellow convicts to keep their blood pressure down is about the extent of the doctoring done by the man who once boasted he was the busiest cardiologist in the nation. Read more of this post

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Cancer Radiation Rates Grow When Urologists Reap Profit

October 24, 2013 Leave a comment

Cancer Radiation Rates Grow When Urologists Reap Profit

Urologists that buy their own equipment to provide expensive radiation treatment are much more probable to use it to treat prostate cancer even when its benefit for patients is unclear, research shows. Prostate cancer is the most common tumor diagnosed in the U.S., where an estimated 238,590 men were told they had the disease this year. While only about 12 percent, or 29,270 men, will die from it this year, all will have to decide how, and whether, they want to treat the cancer. Read more of this post

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Return to Reaganomics Seen Reviving U.K. Biotechnology

October 24, 2013 Leave a comment

Return to Reaganomics Seen Reviving U.K. Biotechnology

Though it has knowhow and wealth, the U.K. has never had much success creating biotechnology startups to rival such U.S. triumphs as Genentech Inc. and Amgen Inc. One explanation for this difference can be summed up in two words: Ronald Reagan. President Reagan’s overhaul of investment and tax rules at the dawn of the U.S. biotechnology industry in the early 1980s pushed pension funds toward riskier investments. That helped fuel the growth of giants including Genentech, today a unit of Roche Holding AG, and Amgen. Read more of this post

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American Firms Find China Hard Work

October 24, 2013 Leave a comment

October 24, 2013, 4:35 PM

American Firms Find China Hard Work

It’s hard to know whether things are getting better or worse for American businesses operating in China. One day they’re slammed for charging too much for coffee and just a couple days later, the president is praising them for providing insight into global economics. But if you ask American businesses how things are going, you’ll find that they have a long list of complaints about barriers to working in China. Read more of this post

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Japan’s Meiji to Stop Baby Formula Sales in China on Competition

October 24, 2013 Leave a comment

Japan’s Meiji to Stop Baby Formula Sales in China on Competition

Meiji Co., the Japanese confectioner and dairy products maker, said it will stop selling baby formula in China due to rising material costs and intensified competition in the world’s most populous nation. “There are so many players in the market,” Junji Ohashi, a spokesman for parent Meiji Holdings Co. (2269), said by phone today. “Our sales fell to one third of the peak in 2009.” Read more of this post

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Hong Kong to Raise Subsidies to Replace Polluting Vehicles

October 24, 2013 Leave a comment

Hong Kong to Raise Subsidies to Replace Polluting Vehicles

Hong Kong will offer HK$12 billion ($1.5 billion) in subsidies to replace old diesel vehicles, a 20 percent increase from an initial proposal, to clean up its smoggy streets. The increase from HK$10 billion for vehicle owners was made after consultation with the industry, Christine Loh, the city’s undersecretary for environment, said today. The money will be used to “clean up the dirtiest vehicles,” she said. Read more of this post

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Shares of Asustek hammered by scam probe; Asustek had applied environmental protection certification labels used on old models to new products, a way to win more than NT$10 billion-worth of contracts with the government

October 24, 2013 Leave a comment

Shares of Asustek hammered by scam probe

CNA
October 24, 2013, 12:07 am TWN

TAIPEI — Shares of Asustek Computer Inc., one of Taiwan’s leading personal computer vendors, fell sharply Wednesday as the local media reported that prosecutors had launched an investigation into an alleged scam involving the company, dealers said. After the negative leads surfaced, the stock faced heavy downward pressure upon market opening and fell almost 5 percent to the day’s low of NT$213.50 (US$7.26) at one point before rebounding. Read more of this post

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What Does the Fox Say music YouTube video breaks the 100 million views mark in a little over 30 days vs Gangnam Style which took 52 days

October 24, 2013 Leave a comment

China gets into The Fox spirit

Staff Reporter

2013-10-23

Move over Gangnam Style — a new YouTube viral hit has taken China and the world by storm. The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?), a song written and performed by Norwegian comedy duo Ylvis, was uploaded to YouTube on Sept. 3 and has become an internet sensation with more than 146 million views as of Oct. 22, breaking the 100 million views mark in a little over 30 days. To put that achievement into perspective, last year’s viral smash, Gangnam Style by South Korean artist Psy, took 52 days to reach 100 million views. In the music clip, the performers, dressed in a variety of animal costumes, go through a list of animal sounds to a catchy tune before questioning the mysterious sound of foxes with the chorus line, “What does the fox say?” Like with Gangnam Style, Chinese netizens have quickly caught on to The Fox, with many commending its “lack of commercialism” and its children-friendly animal and fantasy elements. “The lyrics are silly but not vulgar like many other internet hits, and has an adorable atmosphere that people of all ages will like,” one netizen wrote. Ylvis members Bard and Vegard Ylvisaker say their unlikely hit started off as a joke, and that they are prepared for when enthusiasm for The Fox inevitably wanes. “You can’t be amazed for an entire month,” Vegard said. “At some point, it has to level off.” “There might come a song about wolves from Denmark in the next week, and then, suddenly, we’re off the hook,” Bard said. “That’s OK. Even if that happens, it’s been fun.” The Fox is currently sixth on the US Billboard Hot 100. Read more of this post

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David Jones’ CEO Paul Zahra’s warning: CEO burnout is a risk to company performance; “For many CEOs the hours are relentless; you’re working around the clock seven days of the week. I need a break.”

October 24, 2013 Leave a comment

Leo D’Angelo Fisher Columnist

Paul Zahra’s warning: CEO burnout is a risk to company performance

Published 23 October 2013 11:50, Updated 23 October 2013 13:34

The abrupt resignation of Paul Zahra as chief executive of retailer David Jones raised serious questions about the company’s corporate governance: why was the company taken by surprise and why was there no obvious succession plan in place? (See: ‘Should have known better’.) But Zahra’s shock announcement that he intends to step down raises another important question: are Australian companies working their chief executives too hard?

The answer, at least by Zahra’s example, is yes. Read more of this post

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The touchy task of grooming a CEO successor without losing the incumbent

October 24, 2013 Leave a comment

The touchy task of grooming a CEO successor without losing the incumbent

Published 23 October 2013 09:55, Updated 24 October 2013 08:48

Michael Smith

Chief executive succession planning is a tricky balancing act for many boards. Leave it too late, and there is a leadership vacuum if a top executive quits or is sacked unexpectedly. But grooming internal candidates for the boss’s job too early can also backfire, as they may get impatient and leave to become top dog elsewhere. Paul Zahra’s abrupt resignation from David Jones on Monday highlights the challenges companies face in an era when the average tenure of a chief executive has fallen to just over four years. Read more of this post

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The long arm of American justice continues to bludgeon Swiss financiers who stand accused of aiding tax evasion; former UBS head of wealth management arrested

October 24, 2013 Leave a comment

Swiss banks and tax evasion

Arresting developments

Oct 23rd 2013, 10:30 by M.V. | NEW YORK

THE long arm of American justice continues to bludgeon Swiss financiers who stand accused of aiding tax evasion. It emerged this week that Raoul Weil (pictured above), a former head of the wealth-management division of UBS, Switzerland’s largest bank, had been arrested on October 19th at a hotel in Italy, apparently while on holiday with his wife. He faces an extradition request from the United States, which branded him a fugitive after he failed to appear before authorities several years ago, leading to the issuance of an international arrest warrant. Mr Weil is the biggest fish to be netted since 2008, when America launched its brutal assault on tax-dodging citizens and those who assist them.

Read more of this post

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So what is it you do exactly, darling? The benefits of parents seeing the edited highlights of your working day may outweigh the downsides

October 24, 2013 Leave a comment

October 23, 2013 5:53 pm

So what is it you do exactly, darling?

By Emma Jacobs

The benefits of parents seeing the edited highlights of your working day may outweigh the downsides

First it was our daughters, then our sons and, in some cases, even dogs. Now it is the turn of our mothers and fathers. LinkedIn’s decision to appoint November 7 “Bring in your parents to work day” has encouraged others to follow suit: Deutsche Bank, Edelman and Logitech have signed up. Google has already welcomed in its engineers’ parents. The idea was pioneered by staff at LinkedIn, the professional social networking site, who found it impossible to explain to their parents what they did at work. Read more of this post

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Physicists and the financial markets: Physicists have been lured into the financial market for decades, prized for their insights and data-crunching skills. But in a time of turbulence, flash crashes and high-frequency trading, can they really spot

October 24, 2013 Leave a comment

October 18, 2013 1:12 pm

Physicists and the financial markets

By Stephen Foley

Physicists have been lured into the financial market for decades, prized for their insights and data-crunching skills. But in a time of turbulence, flash crashes and high-frequency trading, can they really spot things that others miss? Markets may be more like a body of water whose surface is constantly disturbed by new events and information, creating great waves whose energy is dissipated beneath the surface. Gene Stanley raises his fork, holds it out flat, a few inches above his plate of risotto. “The majority of traders still use Gaussian models and, when something outside the Gaussian happens, they have all these phrases, like ‘outliers’, but the main phrase is ‘shit happens’.” Read more of this post

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Australian government facing challenges on financial planning reforms

October 24, 2013 Leave a comment

Australian government facing challenges on financial planning reforms

by Samuel Poon

CANBERRA, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) — The Australian government is facing intense challenge from banks and financial service providers to act on reforms of the financial advisers sector as crafted by the previous Labor government, collectively known as the Future of Financial Advice (FoFA). The new government has recently asked Treasury and the Australian Securities and Investment Commission(ASIC) for advice on whether the Labor Law designed to minimize financial planners’ conflict of interests should be watered down more than promised during the election. Assistant Treasurer Arthur Sinodinos, who has an obligation to deliver the changes the Coalition promised during the campaign, will stand for the government to respond to the industry pressure. The changes were designed to stop remuneration arrangements for financial advisers, which for many years created a conflict between the interests of clients and maximizing advisers’income. Read more of this post

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Japan: no safe country for foreign women; A Tokyoite reassesses her view of Japan after another violent encounter is ignored by passers-by, police

October 24, 2013 Leave a comment

Japan: no safe country for foreign women

A Tokyoite reassesses her view of Japan after another violent encounter is ignored by passers-by, police

BY HOLLY LANASOLYLUNA

OCT 23, 2013

I’ve lived in Japan on and off for several years, and I’ve always felt safe on my bicycle here, particularly as I often see young and old women alike biking at all hours of the night. But after an event a few weeks ago, I feel as if this false sense of security has been stripped away. Cycling home at 8:30 p.m. on a well-lit street in Tokyo, I sensed another biker by my side, so I slowed down to let him pass. At that point he suddenly cut over, trapped me against a parked car and grabbed my tire. Read more of this post

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Virgin Group founder Richard Branson recalled that selling his Virgin Records music label more than two decades ago was “like selling your children” even though he pocketed a billion dollars in the deal

October 24, 2013 Leave a comment

Branson recalls tears, $1 billion check in Virgin Records sale

Wed, Oct 23 2013

LONDON (Reuters) – Virgin Group founder Richard Branson recalled that selling his Virgin Records music label more than two decades ago was “like selling your children” even though he pocketed a billion dollars in the deal. Branson, 63, founded Virgin Records in 1972 with three other people, growing the label from a small successful record shop into a powerhouse of the music industry, helping usher in the progressive rock movement of the 1970s and new wave in the 1980s. The company was purchased by Thorn EMI for $1 billion in 1992, in part to fund Branson’s Virgin airlines. Read more of this post

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With many companies nearing the first-to-second generation transfer phase, Asian family businesses have been forced to learn the art of succession planning quickly

October 24, 2013 Leave a comment

MASS SUCCESSION

ARTICLE | 23 OCTOBER, 2013 04:55 PM | BY RASHMI KUMAR

With many companies nearing the first-to-second generation transfer phase, Asian family businesses have been forced to learn the art of succession planning quickly.  When Chu Meng Yee, owner of billion-dollar Chinese real estate developer Hopson Development, named his daughter as its deputy chairman in July, it created ripples across the world of family businesses in Asia. Family business experts were overwhelmed with excitement – not only had Chu appointed a woman to take over the company, but he had taken a big step forward in moving the company from the first to the second-generation. Read more of this post

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Watchdog asleep on Australia’s sub-prime scandal

October 24, 2013 Leave a comment

Watchdog asleep on Australia’s sub-prime scandal

October 24, 2013 – 2:25PM

A leading consumer activist claims the corporate regulator has not only failed to investigate hundreds of cases of loan fraud put before it but, as a consequence, has covered up a systemic banking failure. As the deadline for submissions for the Senate Inquiry into the Performance of the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) closed this week, veteran consumer rights activist Denise Brailey filed a brutal assessment of ASIC’s failure to investigate the cases of loan fraud. Read more of this post

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Woolworths rekindles pharmacies in supermarkets battle with new trademark application

October 24, 2013 Leave a comment

Woolworths rekindles pharmacies in supermarkets battle with new trademark application

Published 24 October 2013 10:34, Updated 24 October 2013 10:57

Sue Mitchell

Woolworths has lodged a new application with IP Australia to register the trademark “Pharmacy-in-Supermarket”. Photo: Glenn Hunt

Woolworths has not given up on its ambitions to enter the $16 billion pharmacy market, despite federal government policy that has locked out major retailers since 1990. The retailer has lodged a new application with IP Australia to register the trademark “Pharmacy-in-Supermarket”. A previous application lapsed. The trademark covers six classes of goods and services, including the sale of pharmaceutical and medical products provided by pharmacists. Australia’s largest retailer has wanted to sell pharmaceuticals and prescription medicines since 2003, when it first registered the Pharmacy-in-Supermarket trademark and outlined plans to sell drugs, medicines, toiletries and tissue products from pharmacies within its stores. Under the federal government’s Community Pharmacy agreement, which has been in place since 1990, pharmacies must be owned by pharmacists. Woolworths believes consumers are paying too much for prescription and over-the-counter medicines because of the inefficiencies of independent pharmacies. In 2004, then Woolworths chief executive Roger Corbett called the pharmacy industry “the biggest anti-competitive gerrymander in Australia”.

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Patrick Grove plans to float $100 million e-commerce company iBuy

October 24, 2013 Leave a comment

Nassim Khadem Reporter

Patrick Grove plans to float $100 million e-commerce company iBuy

Published 24 October 2013 11:44, Updated 24 October 2013 13:23

BRW Young Rich entrepreneur Patrick Grove is preparing to float his latest venture, e-commerce company iBuy, before the end of the year. Grove will list iBuy through broker Canaccord Genuity, a global investment bank focused on growth companies. The float of iBuy, a holding company of leading e-commerce sites selling branded consumer products at big discounts throughout south-east Asia, is expected to have a market capitalisation of $100 million. Read more of this post

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Beijing to promote industrialization of GM crops

October 24, 2013 Leave a comment

Beijing to promote industrialization of GM crops

Staff Reporter

2013-10-24

Sixty-one scholars recently called for the industrialization of genetically modified (GM) rice in China, which has once again raised the public’s attention on the controversial technology, reports the Chinese-language Beijing News. The country’s Ministry of Agriculture plans to promote the industrialization of GM foods and technology, and accelerate the passing of amendments for related regulations, the paper said. Beijing has also approved GM cotton, rice, corn and papaya to be grown, but a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science added that only cotton and papaya have been allowed for commercial production. Read more of this post

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China’s scandal-rocked dairy industry is changing, but the government’s goals remain uncertain

October 24, 2013 Leave a comment

10.23.2013 17:57

China’s Dairy Market Policies Clear as Milk

The scandal-rocked dairy industry is changing, but the government’s goals remain uncertain

By staff reporters Qu Yunxu and He Chunmei, and intern reporter Huo Bingyi

Dairy operators pouring over the Chinese government’s latest industry-support policies and what speculators have been saying about future policy changes want to know whether the cup is full, half-empty or nonexistent. Clear answers are hard to find because mixed signals have been trickling out of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) and other policymaking agencies since last spring. Read more of this post

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Chinese Auto Tie-Ups Losing That New-Car Smell

October 24, 2013 Leave a comment

October 24, 2013, 11:16 AM

Chinese Auto Tie-Ups Losing That New-Car Smell

Global auto companies reap big sales in China from their partnerships with Chinese brethren. Might they someday be allowed to go it alone? Under current regulations, global auto makers can only own as much as half of their joint ventures in China. Most foreign car companies such as General Motors Co.GM -1.02% and Ford Motor Co.F -0.45% hold 50% shares. One notable exception isVolkswagen AGVOW3.XE -0.59%’s joint venture with FAW Group, the German automaker holds 40%. Read more of this post

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Chinese Filmgoers Journey Away From the West; home-grown films take six of the top 10 spots. China’s box office gross $2.7 billion, up 35% from a year earlier. The growth in sales for Chinese films: a whopping 94%

October 24, 2013 Leave a comment

October 24, 2013, 2:02 PM

Chinese Filmgoers Journey Away From the West

MK-CH277_CFILM_G_20131023174808

In the surprising battle for China’s box office so far this year, the Monkey King gave Iron Man an improbable beat down and a gaggle of Chinese college kids managed to hold their own against a group of tower-sized monster-destroying robots. If you want to be mega-successful in the movie business these days, you have to win the hearts of Chinese filmgoers. For years, Hollywood has raked in the lions share of China’s film spoils despite import restrictions designed to protect domestic movies. But as WSJ’s Wayne Ma and Laurie Burkitt report, that tide appears to have turned in 2013, with home-grown films taking six of the top 10 spots so far this year: Read more of this post

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Wal-Mart to open up to 110 new China stores by 2016

October 24, 2013 Leave a comment

Wal-Mart to open up to 110 new China stores by 2016

12:43am EDT

By Matthew Miller

BEIJING (Reuters) – Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N: Quote,Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the world’s biggest retailer, is expanding its China business as it seeks to raise profitability in a slowing retail sector. Wal-Mart will open up to 110 facilities in China between 2014 and 2016, in addition to the 30 it has already opened this year, it said at a press event in Beijing on Thursday. Read more of this post

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Lu Guanqiu, chairman of one of China’s leading auto parts makers, will finally achieve his longstanding dream of extending his business to making cars.

October 24, 2013 Leave a comment

Wanxiang poised to enter auto manufacturing

Staff Reporter

2013-10-24

Barring opposition, Lu Guanqiu, chairman of one of China’s leading auto parts makers, will finally achieve his longstanding dream of extending his business to making cars. On Oct. 22, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) publicized a list of new auto manufacturing enterprises, which include Wanxiang EV, an electric car subsidiary of Wanxiang Group. Read more of this post

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Panasonic plans to dramatically cut back on chipmaking, slashing the business’s 14,000-strong workforce by half and possibly selling some plants

October 24, 2013 Leave a comment

Updated: Thursday October 24, 2013 MYT 7:16:53 AM

Panasonic, which makes chips in M’sia, to slash production worldwide

TOKYO: Panasonic Corp  plans to dramatically cut back on chipmaking, slashing the business’s 14,000-strong workforce by half and possibly selling some plants, the Nikkei said Japanese companies are spinning off their chipmaking operations as profit margins shrink, mainly due to stiff competition from South Korea, the paper said. The move underlines Panasonic President Kazuhiro Tsuga’s determination to weed out weak operations as he focuses on higher-margin products to end years of losses at the consumer electronics conglomerate. Read more of this post

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