Daily Bamboo Innovator Insight: Sat 29 Nov 2014 – Canadian Natural Resources chairman sees oil touching US$30 a barrel; Korea start-up leaders launch a fund with personal money to give back; the five IT legends (Kakao, NHN, Nexon, NCSoft, Daum) were also friends in college
November 29, 2014 Leave a comment
Life
Apple and the crisis of disruption; Clayton Christensen’s theory about what determines success or failure in high tech has to be rethought: Fortune
4 CEOs Who Are Making Frugal Innovation Work: HBR
Magnus Carlsen, an unlikely chess master; He moonlights as a model, naps on the job, skips homework – and snuffs out every rival: FT
Fee-Based Libraries Were Like Netflix for Books, 200 Years Ago: All-you-can-read lending services helped democratize reading. WSJ
Fishmongers Inspired This Practice That Boosts Employee Morale Around The World: BI
James Watson selling Nobel prize ‘because no-one wants to admit I exist’; World-famous biologist said he is selling the Nobel Prize medal he won in 1962 for discovering the structure of DNA because he has been ostracised and needs the money: Telegraph
DNA and the Randomness of Genetic Problems; The miraculously intricate process that transforms a few strands of DNA into a living creature is the product of blind biological forces. It can go wrong: WSJ
Isis fighters crave snacks and gadgets of the west they disdain; “They govern us in the name of religion, living the good life while everyone else suffers”: FT
How the Turkey Became the Thanksgiving Bird: WSJ
UK family businesses face succession crisis; Two-thirds of British family businesses could be sold off because there’s no one left to take over, a landmark survey report has found: Telegraph
Take a look at Yourself in the Leadership mirror: Forbes
Last of the traditional Dha sword makers in South East Asia: AsiaOne
Books
Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies: Amazon
Exponential Organizations: Why new organizations are ten times better, faster, and cheaper than yours (and what to do about it): Amazon
Bending Adversity: Japan and the Art of Survival : Amazon
Van Goh’s Ever Yours: The Essential Letters; [Van Gogh’s] descriptions of his own paintings are poetically evocative, and his long, detailed, emotional outpourings offer insight into his suffering, loneliness and dreams: Amazon
FT Best books of 2014: FT
Investing Process & Research
How to X-Ray Your Portfolio; Online Tools Can Help Investors Review and Analyze Their Stock and Fund Holdings: WSJ
As Indexes Soar, Active Stock Pickers Can’t Get Off the Ground: WSJ
The Trouble With Hot Stocks; Picking Heavily Traded Shares Is No Guarantee of Good Results: WSJ
Dash for Cash: Month-End Liquidity Needs and the Predictability of Stock Returns; return reversals are stronger in countries where the mutual fund ownership is large: SSRN, ValueWalk
Greater China
China Said to Order Companies to Check Risks in Commodity Trades: Bloomberg
Dairy industry in China is utterly stagnant: WantChinaTimes
China Plan for Deposit Insurance Raises Worries About Bank Failures; Plan Could Place More Deposits With Big Banks That Are Seen as Too Big to Fail: WSJ
Graphics: China’s Overworked Workers: Caixin
The Disintegration of Rural China: NYTimes
Wuhan – China’s entertainment mecca: BT
China Motorists Exceed 300 Million as Cities Struggle: Bloomberg
Nowhere to Pun Amid China Crackdown: WSJ
China’s Transition Marks a New Reality for Emerging Markets: PI
India
Mahindra & Mahindra and the Power of Chance; M&M showed that if an organisation has the stomach for calculated risks and a focus on product development, results will often follow: Forbes
Dipping Into India, Dunkin’ Donuts Changes Menu; Adapting to Local Tastes, Chain Downplays Doughnuts, Adds Veggie Burgers: WSJ
India Allows Supermarkets, Mobile-Phone Companies to Start Banks: Bloomberg
Japan & Korea
Keep Korean conglomerates creative: JoongAng
As Japanese Bankruptcies Soar, Goldman Warns “Further Yen Depreciation Could Be A Net Burden”: ZeroHedge
Korea start-up leaders launch a fund with personal money to give back; the five IT legends (Kakao, NHN, Nexon, NCSoft, Daum) were also friends in college: JoongAng
Park turns to nostalgia politics; Park appears to be tugging the older generation’s heart strings by doing things that prompt memories of her youth and her father, the late President Park Chung-hee: KoreaTimes
Staff fear the chop in Samsung Electronics annual reshuffle: Reuters
ASEAN
Oil Price Slump May Force Indonesian Govt to Evaluate Fuel Subsidy: JGlobe
Impeachment process begins for ousted Thai PM Yingluck: Reuters
Slow Pace of Vietnam’s Privatizations Worries Investors; Vietnam Airlines IPO Attracts No Interest From Foreign Investors: WSJ
Indonesia’s ‘Toothless Mandate’ for Biofuel Hurting Palm: Bloomberg
Macro
Standard Chartered hit with first S&P downgrade in 20 years: Reuters
ECB vice-president warns of bond-buying risks as investors search for yield in an environment of ultra-low interest rates: FT
Superstar investor David Einhorn is raising cash for the first time since 2012 following three straight years of lagging performance – and some customer redemptions from his $10 billion hedge fund, Greenlight Capital: Reuters
Hedge-fund managers are increasingly persuading investors to lock up their money for longer-in many cases more than double the typical one-year period-and dangling lower fees to close the deal: WSJ
TMT
Electricity-free air conditioning: A cool idea; New materials may change the way temperatures are regulated: Economist
Under Pressure From Uber, Taxi Medallion Prices are Plummeting; “I’m already at peace with the idea that I’m going to go bankrupt,” said Larry Ionescu, who owns 98 Chicago taxi medallions. NYTimes
Shopping on a Phone Is Still Uncommon but Growing Fast: NYTimes
Cashless Society? It’s Already Coming: NYTimes
Energy & Commodities
Here Are The Breakeven Oil Prices For Every Drilling Project In The World: BI
Canadian Natural Resources chairman sees oil touching US$30 a barrel; Alberta big oil to feel the squeeze as world’s cheapest oil gets cheaperL FP
Billions wiped off energy shares as investors rush for exit: Reuters
OPEC’s Twist of Faith for Oil Investors; Fallout From Oil’s Rout Extends Beyond Producers: WSJ
Oil Prices Are Plunging. Here’s Who Wins and Who Loses. NYTimes
Free Fall in Oil Price Underscores Shift Away From OPEC: NYTimes
Energy Quakes as OPEC Stands Pat; Oil Stocks and the Currencies of Major Oil-Producing Nations Tumble: WSJ
The Geopolitical Impact of Cheap Oil: Project Syndicate
Is oil price plunge good or bad for global economy? Most of them would require a price of above US$80 per barrel to manage their budgets and some would need oil to be priced above US$100. BT
Rio Tinto, BHP Chart Divergent Courses; Narrow Commodity Focus or ‘Cherry-Pick’ From Range of Projects?: WSJ
Consumer & Others
Microbreweries shake up European market; Number of start-ups rises as drinking habits change: FT
Pie Face collapse: high rents, ‘expensive and unfashionable’ food blamed: BRW
Good News For Girls: Disney’s ‘Frozen’ Ices Out Barbie To Become Top Toy: Forbes
Buyout Firms Said Vie for World’s Biggest Cigar Company: Bloomberg