7 Things Successful People Do During An Afternoon Lull

http://www.businessinsider.sg/successful-people-do-during-afternoon-lull-2014-4/#.U2CwQ4GSxLM

7 Things Successful People Do During An Afternoon Lull

JACQUELYN SMITH CAREERS  APR. 30, 2014, 2:41 AM

Successful people take a break and get some fresh air during an afternoon lull.

Do you feel like your ability to focus and your supply of discipline and willpower are always dwindling by 2 p.m.? Read more of this post

Why Taco Bell Won’t Win At Breakfast

http://www.businessinsider.sg/why-taco-bell-wont-win-at-breakfast-2014-4/#.U2CwkYGSxLM

Why Taco Bell Won’t Win At Breakfast

BURGERBUSINESS.COM RETAIL  APR. 29, 2014, 11:35 PM

Will Taco Bell’s breakfast program be a success? Well, yes, if the standard it uses is Woody Allen’s quip that “80% of success is showing up.” Read more of this post

How Napkin Sketches During A Pixar Lunch Meeting Led To Four Of The Studio’s Greatest Movies

http://www.businessinsider.sg/pixar-movies-thanks-to-napkin-sketches-at-lunch-meeting-2014-4/#.U2CwooGSxLM

How Napkin Sketches During A Pixar Lunch Meeting Led To Four Of The Studio’s Greatest Movies

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FRANK PALLOTTA ENTERTAINMENT  APR. 29, 2014, 11:59 PM

For the first time in 9 years a Pixar film will not be on the summer movie schedule.

Fans will have to wait until next year’s “The Good Dinosaur” to enjoy the vibrant colors and heartfelt story that has help make Pixar an animation giant for over a decade. Read more of this post

A volatile love affair with exchange funds and indexes

A volatile love affair with exchange funds and indexes

1:56am EDT

By Mike Dolan

LONDON (Reuters) – The blossoming love affair with index-based investing and exchange-traded funds is sweeping aside more traditional investment management with its hefty fee premium, even if it is stoking market volatility. Read more of this post

China central bank warns against same-day stock trading

China central bank warns against same-day stock trading

Tue, Apr 29 2014

By Pete Sweeney

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) warned against implementing a same-day trading system for mainland stocks on Tuesday, as securities regulators consider how best to protect retail investors from manipulation by institutional funds. Read more of this post

Caregiver of mentally-ill wife: ‘I prayed that she would die before me’

Caregiver of mentally-ill wife: ‘I prayed that she would die before me’

Tuesday, Apr 29, 2014
The New Paper
By Chai Hung Yin

SINGAPORE – “People told me I gave my wife unconditional love, but it was her who gave me unconditional love.” Read more of this post

We often hear the story of Passover as a tale of liberation, but its richest core truth is one of joyful obedience

A Long Obedience

APRIL 14, 2014

David Brooks

Monday night was the start of Passover, the period when Jews celebrate the liberation of the Israelites from slavery into freedom. Read more of this post

How to survive a “flat management” mutiny

How to survive a “flat management” mutiny

BY DAVID BARRETT, GUEST CONTRIBUTOR 
ON APRIL 14, 2014

Flat management structures are all the rage, and with good reason: innovation is the lifeblood of a startup, and nothing kills innovation like micromanagement. But scaling a flat management structure is harder than it seems. Plenty has already been written about the risks of accidentally creating the stuff of highschool Read more of this post

Shocking no one, frothy food startups hit a five year funding high

Shocking no one, frothy food startups hit a five year funding high

BY CARMEL DEAMICIS 
ON APRIL 14, 2014

There may be skeptics out who think food startups are just restaurants with investment funding. Chipotle meets Kleiner Perkins. Unoriginal and doomed for failure. Read more of this post

Rich Start-Ups Go Back for Another Helping

Rich Start-Ups Go Back for Another Helping

By DAVID GELLES and MICHAEL J. DE LA MERCED

April 13, 2014

Quora, a question-and-answer website, didn’t need to raise money. It had barely touched $60 million in venture capital that it accepted just two years ago.

image001-2 Read more of this post

The problem facing Asia’s emerging smartphone makers is that they don’t make smartphones

The problem facing Asia’s emerging smartphone makers is that they don’t make smartphones

By Leo Mirani @lmirani

April 14, 2014

Micromax, an Indian company that emerged from nowhere to become the second-largest smartphone maker (after Samsung) by market share in India’s growing market, has a problem: It doesn’t make smartphones. Like most homegrown brand-name sellers of smartphones in Asia, it outsources production to manufacturers in China. Xiaomi, Micromax’s counterpart in China, has built a reputation for well-designed phones at prices few others can match. But it finds itself in the same boat. Read more of this post

KDDI sending futuristic technologies to a screen near you

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pO5Y3uelS4#t=45

KDDI sending futuristic technologies to a screen near you

BY KAZUAKI NAGATA

STAFF WRITER

APR 14, 2014

While technology continues to brings us new and unexpected ways to make our lives more convenient, it is difficult to predict how much further it will evolve and the impact it will have on the world. Read more of this post

In China, a Big Jet Becomes a Status Symbol

In China, a Big Jet Becomes a Status Symbol

APRIL 14, 2014

By JOE SHARKEY

IN the United States, public reaction to the corporate use of business jets can be scathing when instances of obvious excess become publicized, such as the day in 2008 when the top executives of the Detroit automakers each used a private jet to fly to Washington to argue for $25 billion in taxpayer bailouts. Read more of this post

M&A regulation Chinese style: Restrict a merger, invest in the aftermath

M&A regulation Chinese style: Restrict a merger, invest in the aftermath

By Adam Pasick @adampasick

April 14, 2014

Mergers and acquisitions are supposedly all about synergy between the companies involved. It’s unusual to see it blossom between a company and an antitrust regulator, yet that’s exactly what seems to have happened in the case of the Chinese government and the Switzerland-based mining group Glencore-Xstrata. Read more of this post

Can Lu Guanqiu’s Wanxiang really become China’s Tesla?

Can Wanxiang really become China’s Tesla?

Staff Reporter

2014-04-15

Lu Guanqiu, second left, briefs visitors on the company’s development of electric cars, Nov. 24, 2013. (Photo/Xinhua)

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Lu Guanqiu, 69, the founder of Hangzhou-based Wanxiang Group, a leading Chinese auto parts maker, seems to have moved a step closer towards his dream of building complete cars, after his enterprise bought American plug-in hybrid sports carmaker Fisker Automotive earlier this year. Read more of this post

In Many Cities, Rent Is Rising Out of Reach of Middle Class

In Many Cities, Rent Is Rising Out of Reach of Middle Class

By SHAILA DEWANAPRIL 14, 2014

MIAMI — For rent and utilities to be considered affordable, they are supposed to take up no more than 30 percent of a household’s income. But that goal is increasingly unattainable for middle-income families as a tightening market pushes up rents ever faster, outrunning modest rises in pay. Read more of this post

Steve Jobs’ 13 Most Inspiring Quotes

Steve Jobs’ 13 Most Inspiring Quotes

DYLAN LOVE TECH  APR. 15, 2014, 9:08 AM

With a life as storied as he had, it’s no wonder that Steve Jobs is remembered not only for running an incredibly successful company, but for being tremendously outspoken. Read more of this post

Prices Soaring for Specialty Drugs, Researchers Find

Prices Soaring for Specialty Drugs, Researchers Find

By KATIE THOMASAPRIL 15, 2014

Even as the cost of prescription drugs has plummeted for many Americans, a small slice of the population is being asked to shoulder more and more of the cost of expensive treatments for diseases like cancer and hepatitis C,according to a report to be released on Tuesday by a major drug research firm. Read more of this post

Why The Open Office Makes You Distracted, Exhausted, And Insecure

Why The Open Office Makes You Distracted, Exhausted, And Insecure

DRAKE BAER STRATEGY  APR. 15, 2014, 4:41 AM

About a third of us work in open offices. They’re cheaper than giving everybody their own space. Management gurus tell us they promote “collaboration,” “serendipity,” and other buzzwords.

The only problem is that open plan offices actually make people worse at their jobs. Here’s why:

The open office will make you less satisfied with your work, study finds. Read more of this post

Personal Intelligence: The Power of Personality and How It Shapes Our Lives Hardcover

Personal Intelligence: The Power of Personality and How It Shapes Our Lives Hardcover

by John D. Mayer  (Author)

John D. Mayer, the renowned psychologist who co-developed the groundbreaking theory of emotional intelligence, now draws on decades of research to introduce another paradigm-shifting idea: that in order to become our best selves, we use an even broader intelligence—which he calls personal intelligence—to understand our own personality and the personalities of the people around us.  Read more of this post

Sir Terry Leahy: Businesses must adopt a buccaneering mentality

Businesses must adopt a buccaneering mentality

Working with small organisations allows you to concentrate on business itself rather than the wider governance issues at larger companies

Former Tesco CEO Sir Terry Leahy is an ambassador for the International Festival for Business

By Sir Terry Leahy

9:30PM BST 13 Apr 2014

Businesses in the UK are facing more questions than ever before. Emerging from the wreckage brought on by the worst economic crisis in living memory, British companies have been forced to adapt to a new financial landscape – with varying degrees of success. Read more of this post

As India goes to the polls, its banking chief could pay price of prescience

As India goes to the polls, its banking chief could pay price of prescience

His views were once dismissed as Luddite, but Raghuram Rajan is key to rebuilding Indian economic confidence, writes Jeremy Warner

The son of an Indian bureaucrat who was brought up in Delhi, Prof Rajan shot to fame for his prescience on the financial crisis Photo: Bloomberg Read more of this post

The Great Indian Election Roadshow has spawned a bustling marketplace for ideas and commerce

Elections: Spawning Business Opportunities

by Debojyoti Ghosh, Peter Griffin | Apr 15, 2014

The Great Indian Election Roadshow has spawned a bustling marketplace for ideas and commerce

For some, the world’s biggest exercise in democracy also means a chance to start new enterprises, expand existing ones, or set the ground for future endeavours. We talked to a few of these entrepreneurs to find out more about their business models (even though some of them resist being classified as businesses). This is by no means an exhaustive list, nor does it cover every type of enterprise.  Read more of this post

A manufacturing future that hums (rattles, hisses) along; Fortune visits Shapeways’ New York factory to check in on the three-dimensional printing revolution

A manufacturing future that hums (rattles, hisses) along

April 14, 2014: 12:57 PM ET

Fortune visits Shapeways’ New York factory to check in on the three-dimensional printing revolution.

By Alex Halperin

FORTUNE — Every day, the young, bearded, and tattooed team at the Shapeways factory in Long Island City, Queens gather to eat together, as if they lived in a 19th century company town. There aren’t many dining options in the industrial area in which they work, so they order takeout pizza or food from FreshDirect and convene. Their routine is fitting: Shapeways, a three-dimensional printing company, tips its hat to the industrial past even as it seeks to reinvent manufacturing. Read more of this post

Long-term unemployment: What the U.S. can learn from Sweden

Long-term unemployment: What the U.S. can learn from Sweden

By Christopher Matthews April 14, 2014: 5:00 AM ET

The U.S. can learn from other countries who have had to battle the most stubborn problem in the job market today.

FORTUNE — It’s doubtful most Americans had any idea how good they’d had it.

The scourge of widespread, long-term unemployment was a problem the U.S. hasn’t really had to deal with since The Great Depression. For instance, in 2002, the U.S. had the fourth-lowest rate of long-term unemployment — when taken as a share of the overall unemployment rate — among all OECD countries. Back then, less than 10% of Americans who were unemployed had been so for more than 27 weeks. Now, 35.8% of unemployed Americans fit into this category. Read more of this post

How Zuck met Oculus: The story behind Facebook’s big bet on virtual reality

How Zuck met Oculus: The story behind Facebook’s big bet on virtual reality

By Erin Griffith April 14, 2014: 9:27 AM ET

CEO Brendan Iribe recounts the steps leading up to the $2 billion deal.

FORTUNE — Mark Zuckerberg’s acquisitions have a formula: They never, ever leak because they come together quickly. Facebook’s (FB) $19 billion acquisition of WhatsApp, for example, was reportedly sealed over chocolate-covered strawberries on Valentines Day, and the deal announced four days later. One month after that, Facebook’s $2 billion deal for Oculus VR was solidified over dinner at Zuckerberg’s home. Within the week, the deal was done. Read more of this post

China Set to Elevate Environment Over Development in New Law

China Set to Elevate Environment Over Development in New Law

By Sui-Lee Wee & David Stanway on 12:04 pm Apr 15, 2014

Beijing. Smog-hit China is set to pass a new law that would give Beijing more powers to shut polluting factories and punish officials, and even place protected regions off-limits to industrial development, scholars with knowledge of the situation said. Read more of this post

Indonesia rides its way to being next auto hub

Indonesia rides its way to being next auto hub 

Linda Yulisman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Business | Mon, April 14 2014, 10:50 AM

Indonesia, driven by its growing car market, looks to be heading toward becoming an important automobile-production hub, not only for its own market, but also for other developing countries. Read more of this post

The Lok Sabha of dreams

The Lok Sabha of dreams

David Keohane | Apr 14 09:58 | 7 comments Share

If we come, will they build it? Here’s the Indian economy charted, by Citi:

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A slight exaggeration we grant you but there is so much focus on infrastructure and capex at the moment that it’s really not far off. The lack of decent infrastructure in India is a perennial problem and stalled infra projects lie behind a large number of bad loans clogging up the banking system. Read more of this post

Upworthy’s Headlines Are Insufferable. Here’s Why You Click Anyway; “Curiosity-gap headlines” hook us in. Here’s what psychologists say about our need to fill in the blanks

Upworthy’s Headlines Are Insufferable. Here’s Why You Click Anyway

“CURIOSITY-GAP HEADLINES” HOOK US IN. HERE’S WHAT PSYCHOLOGISTS SAY ABOUT OUR NEED TO FILL IN THE BLANKS.

The news site Upworthy has earned a reputation for engineering “curiosity gap” headlines–story titles that coerce a click through just the right balance of information and intrigue. Read more of this post