Daily Bamboo Innovator Insight: Wed 19 Nov 2014 – PayPal’s Peter Thiel: “Most people think originality is easy, but I think it’s actually really hard, and when you find it, it’s really valuable”

Life 

PayPal Cofounder Peter Thiel Loves This Job Interview Question; “Most people think originality is easy, but I think it’s actually really hard, and when you find it, it’s really valuable” BusinessInsider

How music education influenced Larry Page; The importance of timing in music has come to define the Google CEO’s approach to his company’s products: Fortune

How To Deal With Anxiety, Tragedy Or Heartache – 4 Steps From Research: Barking up the wrong tree

14 Quotes That Show The Ambition And Genius Of Google’s Larry Page: BusinessInsider

A founder’s epitaph: he was vitally engaged in his pursuits; The late retail designer Rodney Fitch embodied the greatest qualities of an entrepreneur: FT

Contemporary art is judged by its price tag not by aesthetics; We have lost the ability to assess art for ourselves and on its own merits: FT

The Purpose Driven Marketer: How Patagonia Uses Storytelling to Turn Consumers into Activists: FastCompany

6 reasons why everyone loves Big Hero 6: TODAY

10 Million Child Deaths Attributed to a Lack of Toilets: Bloomberg

Robert Shiller: Creativity, Corporatism, and Crowds: ProjectSyndicate

Why early-stage investing works for people and technology; The temptation to cut long-term investment in economic hard times stalks the private and public spheres: Guardian

A Successful M&A Considers the Human Element: HBR

How to avoid becoming a workaholic: Fortune

Advice from women in tech: ‘Be yourself and you’ll be legend’: Fortune

Ancient Prophecies Motivate Islamic State Militants; Battlefield Strategies Driven by 1,400-year-old Apocalyptic Ideas: WSJ

The Science of Slacking at Work: WSJ

Corporate fraud: rewards for whistleblowers make sense: TheAge

The trouble with mergers: Our advice from 1994 to lustful companies: Economist

Books

The End of Copycat China: The Rise of Creativity, Innovation, and Individualism in Asia: Amazon, FT

Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software: Amazon

Critical Mass: How One Thing Leads to Another: Amazon

Curiosity: How Science Became Interested in Everything: Amazon

Investing Process & Research

Deal Tips From Buffett and Berkshire’s Other Managers: NYTimes

Rob Terry’s exit from Quindell has called into question the judgment of several high profile City fund managers who repeatedly defended the entrepreneur. FT

An intriguing question for investors is whether any reliable link can be made between capital expenditure and share price performance. FT

The Three Factors That Make Corporate Fraud More Likely: ValueWalk

The Folklore of Finance: How Beliefs and Behaviors Sabotage Success in the Investment Management Industry; Active Managements Fees Top $600 Billion A Year: State Street: ValueWalk, PDF

The John Malone Complex – A Study in Financial Brilliance: ValueWalk, PDF

Is Historical Cost Accounting a Panacea? Market Stress, Incentive Distortions, and Gains Trading: SSRN

Unleashing Innovation; Using a sample of venture capital (VC)-backed initial public offering (IPO) firms, we study the effect of financial intermediaries’ tight leash on entrepreneurs’ innovation productivity: SSRN

Greater China

RMB1.3tn robotics market has China teeming with competition: WantChinaTimes

Reform Hiccup Leaves Some Classrooms in Guangzhou Sitting Empty: Caixin

Head of Troubled Li-Ning Co. Hands Baton to Company’s Founder; Jin-goon Kim, of investment firm Texas Pacific Group, steps down as Li Ning himself announces a new chief executive will be named in near future: Caixin

Why Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect Was One-Way Road; The start of Hu-Gang Tong saw Hongkongers much more interested in mainland stocks than the other way around. Here is why: Caixin

Shanghai Stock Link Flows Plunge as CLSA Sees Ghost Train: Bloomberg

At Factory Waste Ponds, Fumes Choke Fantasies; Northwest China factories with wastewater evaporation ponds pledged zero-emissions and then failed miserably: Caixin

In Hong Kong, One-Bedroom Apartments That Could Fit in a Bedroom: NYTimes

China’s robust economic activity is only an illusion: Forbes

Many of China’s TV shows, films are rubbish, minister says: Reuters

Jack Ma Challenges China Stigma With Alibaba Bond: Bloomberg

China’s Gift-Bearing Evokes Ancient Ritual: WSJ

Mining’s $120 Billion Ore Bet Sours as Peak Steel Looms in China: Bloomberg

HK student opens yellow umbrella at graduation, is refused diploma: AsiaOne

Chinese Dream for IC Powerhouse Is Coming True: EETimes

India

The certainty of taxes would benefit business investment in India; Selective levies have deterred overseas companies considering doing deals in India: FT

In space-starved Mumbai, docklands provide room for a view: Reuters

Japan & Korea

Japan at the Brink; Japan’s multinationals adapt even as Abenomics falters. WSJ

Could This Be the End of Reform in Japan? Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s policies may be coming undone, and with it Japan’s last chance at saving itself from national decline. WSJ

Better Economic Policy Won’t Save Japan: Bloomberg

Japan Inc. Still Has Its Head in the Sand: Bloomberg

Why Japan’s 8% Tax Mauled Economy as Europe Tolerates 20%: Bloomberg

Is Sony Too Big to Succeed? EETimes

‘Zombie companies’ crimping employment and investment in Korea: Maeil

Mobile game companies have become one of the biggest beneficiaries of the widespread use of phablets and tablets, with soaring stock values on the Kosdaq boosting the wealth of CEOs: JoongAng

Samsung axes $2.3bn shipbuilding merger amid shareholder pressure; Cancellation could complicate power transfer by founding family: FT, Bloomberg

Is CEO’s moonlighting hurting MCM? “MCM seems to focus on developing products for Chinese customers. For example, the company increased the production of gold or red bags, two colors favored by Chinese people” KoreaTimes

Hong Kong billionaire bets on Incheon Free Economic Zone: AsiaOne

ASEAN

Thai Exchange Plans Curbs on Speculation After Small-Cap Surge: Bloomberg

Tycoon Dhanin weighs buying back Tesco’s $10 billion Thai unit: Reuters

Jokowi’s Achilles Heel Found in Bumi to Berau Debt Stress: JakartaGlobe

How a late booking jammed the brakes on Trans-Cab’s IPO: BT

Medical Tourists Flock to Thailand Spurring Post-Coup Economy: Bloomberg

Suu Kyi Faces Extra Myanmar Election Obstacle; Myanmar parliament chief throws doubt on Suu Kyi’s presidential chances: WSJ, Reuters

Widodo Subsidy Cut Seen Threatening Fuel Profits in Asia: Bloomberg

S’pore investors settle Morgan Stanley rigged financial products law suit; “I was told by the agent that Pinnacle has issued so many series already, so what’s to worry?”: AsiaOne

Macro

FASB Weighs Delaying New Revenue Rule; Accounting standard setters may push back the effective date of new revenue recognition rules, says a FASB assistant director: CFO

Brazil vs Mexico: a tale of two scandals: FT

The curse of weak global demand; Feeble economic performance has occurred despite the most aggressive monetary policies: FT

Jeremy Grantham Calls the Next Market Top; The investing legend writes that the S&P 500 could gain another 10% before “crashing at it always does.” Barron’s

An Offshore Swan: Could the next financial crisis be sparked by China being pulled into the Currency War? SoberLook

Seven big U.S. companies paid CEOs more than Uncle Sam in 2013: Reuters

Hedge fund operator and currency mavenStephen Jen has developed a loose Ratio of Words to Actions (RWA) to apply to the world’s big-three central banks. WSJ

Russian Accountant Loses Tooth in Ruble Devaluation: Bloomberg

Anti-HFT Revulsion Grows: IEX Ties For Fourth In Dark Pool Trading Thanks To World’s Largest Wealth Fund: ZeroHedge

Flash Boys Raise Volatility in Wild New Treasury Market: Bloomberg

Cayman Islands Are Now America’s Biggest Foreign Investor: ValueWalk

Blackstone chases Buffett with ‘core’ private equity: Reuters

TMT

Peter Thiel: Uber is ‘most ethically challenged company in Silicon Valley’; Uber, a Start-Up Going So Fast It Could Miss a Turn: CNN, NYTimes

Nine Entertainment boss David Gyngell has put regional TV stations on notice, saying their big-city counterparts won’t be needing them within five years. TheAge

Technology groups in a war to dominate the world of work; The war between the giants of the technology industry for the attention of the world’s office workers look like it is about to take an unexpected turn. FT

Why Silicon Valley Shouldn’t Be the Model for Innovation: HBR

Who could buy Netflix? Fortune

A Bend in Amazon’s E-Commerce River; Online Retail Giant Faces Tougher Growth Hurdles: WSJ

Software-Defined Networking Will Take Off in 2015: Verizon Enterprise CIO: WSJ

Soon to Be Single, eBay Gets Back to Shopping; President of eBay.com Marketplace Says Split with PayPal Will Reap Benefits: WSJ

Apple releases WatchKit for Apple Watch: TheAge

Encrypting Web site traffic could become easier next year: WaPo

Healthcare

Cost to Develop a Drug More Than Doubles to $2.56 Billion: Bloomberg

Tragedy highlights India’s fake drug crisis: FT

Beating Ebola Means Drinking,  Last Thing Patient Wants to Do: Bloomberg

A digital prescription for pharma companies; Pharmaceutical and medical-device companies have been slow to adopt digitization. Here are five reasons they should get moving. McKinsey

This Indian start-up could disrupt health care with its powerful and affordable diagnostic machine: WaPo

Energy & Commodities

Oil price rout to curb U.S. drilling costs even with mega merger: Reuters

Oil Below $80 Yet to Upset Bond Market Seeing Arab Wealth: Bloomberg

China Home Price Slump Sends Iron Ore Plunging To 2009 Lows (-50% In 2014): ZeroHedge

What Bourbon Producers Can Teach the Oil Industry: NYTImes

Iron Ore Bear Market Deepens as China Home Prices Spur Concern; “Construction accounts for about 50 percent of China’s steel demand, reflecting the importance of China’s property market to iron oreprices” Bloomberg

Consumer & Others

Urban Outfitters CEO Reveals The Brand’s Biggest Problem: BusinessInsider

In Overhaul, Pizza Hut Tries Adventurous Menu Offerings and a Dash of Irreverence: NYTimes

Winemaker Without Vines in View as Treasury Emulates Coke: Bloomberg