Bamboo Innovator Daily Insight: 10 Feb (Tues) – Plumbing the delicious depths of February with ume; Blossoming during one of the coldest months of the year, often covered in ice and snow, the ume is sometimes thought of as a metaphor for chinmoku (沈黙, silence or reticence) and nintai (忍耐, patience)

Life

• Plumbing the delicious depths of February with ume: JT
• The rise of the entrepreneur-in-residence: FT
• Power of the humble CEO: BT
• How Ancient Chinese Thought Applies Today: HP
• Seven strategy lessons from the Staples deal to buy Office Depot; Latest bid shows fragility of competitive advantage but ‘category killer’ notion is not dead: FT
• The hackathon enters the corporate mainstream; Moving beyond coding roots, they now inject urgency into business: FT
• Are Economists Overrated? NYT
• How to use financial blogging to build an audience: LinkedIn
• Boiling point: redesigning the kettle for the 21st century: Guardian
• The RadioShack Lesson: Another storied brand succumbs to change and competition. WSJ

Books

• This Idea Must Die: Scientific Theories That Are Blocking Progress: Amazon, WaPo

Greater China

• 984 HK and 246 mainland clients named on HSBC list of hidjng assets, including Li Xiaolin – the daughter of former Premier Li Peng. Standard
• A mining billionaire said to have links with disgraced former security chief Zhou Yongkang and who once launched a bid for Australia’s Sundance Resources was executed for multiple murder: Standard
• Is the $1tn China carry trade imploding?: FT
• China’s ‘little red soldiers’ get lessons in loyalty: JT
• Hidden debts in Beijing: JA
• China’s Dangerous Debt Drag: Bloomberg
• Seventy Chinese listed firms affected by far-reaching anti-graft campaign so far: SCMP
• Refiners in China told to strengthen inventory management; “Over the past several years, China’s crude oil reserves have been a secret: WCT
• New China law targets tax avoidance offshore: SCMP
• In China, Heavy Industry Unexpectedly Falls Sharply: NYT
• Chinese Phone Upstarts Sell With Personality, Not Product: NYT
• Qualcomm’s Fine Signals China’s Toughened Stance: WSJ, WSJ2

India

• India GDP figures fuel investor suspicion: FT
• India’s happy story stands out in Asia: Debt piles elsewhere are worryingly high, particularly in China and South Korea: FT
• Taking The Taboo Out Of Lingerie In India By Putting It Online: Forbes
• Subsidies lure firms in India’s electronics push: SCMP
• India Growth Rate Set to Rival China: WSJ

Japan & Korea

• Kosdaq’s trillion won club growing: JA
• Amid mobile slump, Samsung needs more outside customers for its chips and panels: Reuters

ASEAN

• A tale of two shipbuilders: Petrobras scandal rocks the boat for Singapore’s largest rig makers: SBR
• 1MDB caught in battle of tycoons brewing in Malaysia: BT
• Foreign Investors Canceled Plans for 16 Footwear Factories in Indonesia: JG
• Flamboyant Malaysian Jho Low’s real-estate deals called into question: NYT

Macro

• HSBC admits failings after helping criminals hide assets; The Swiss Leaks: Bill Whitaker investigates the biggest leak in Swiss banking history and examines HSBC’s business dealings with a collection of international outlaws: TODAY. CBS
• Leaked HSBC files damage bank and the concept of banking secrecy; Outcry about why more has not been done to prosecute individuals: FT
• Morgan Stanley eyes an exit from hedge funds; The US bank is looking to sell off its stakes in Lansdowne Partners and other alternative investment groups: Telegraph
• The S.E.C.’s Hazy Approach to Crime and Punishment: NYT
• Asian cities attract more overseas money than Switzerland: FT
• Policy makers eye corporate cash piles in bid to boost growth: FT
• Too BIG to sail? Container ship giants veer off course in battle of the mega vessels: SCMP
• Why U.S. Assets Are So Seductive; The drop in oil prices, Europe’s bouts of weakness, and a strong dollar make American stocks and bonds the world’s most attractive–for now.: Barron’s
• Central Banks Encourage Risky Behavior; Investors in Asia should be wary of low interest rates and rising debt amid weaker growth across the region. Barron’s
• Asian Borrowers Walk Credit Tightrope; The region’s debt burden has climbed to a massive 244% of GDP and poses a major risk to its economies.  Barron’s
• More pig farms popping up in US; Growing U.S. hog herd, flat Chinese demand slams pork prices: Yahoo
• Currency-hedged ETFs in vogue as investors clamor for more: Reuters
• Regulation of Shadow Banking Takes a Dark Turn: A ‘chain’ of routine securities transactions, the Fed suggests, can transform a nonsystemic firm into a systemic firm. WSJ
• SEC Advances Hedging Rule; Rule Requires Firms Disclose Whether Employees are Allowed to Hedge Against Company Stock: WSJ
• New Rules Poised to Reshape Analyst Research Sector; EU Law Requires Investment Managers to Pay for Research or Related Services: WSJ

Energy & Commodities

• Oil ‘contango’ puts profit in storage: FT
• Oil could plunge to $20 and this might be ‘the end of OPEC’: Citigroup: FP
• Oil Producers Stress Surviving $50 Oil; Investors Weigh Independents’ Balance Sheets, Prospects Amid $50 Oil: WSJ

TMT

• Industrial robots steal a march in east Asia: FT
• Yahoo: Identity crisis; Once the storefront of the web, the internet company has been overtaken by rivals: FT
• Cheaper robots could replace more factory workers: study: Reuters
• The Holy Grail of Welding: Steel + Aluminum; Auto Industry’s Drive for Light-Weight Parts Fuels Voestalpine’s Hunt for New Process: WSJ

Healthcare

• A Warning From the Heart of Malaria Research; A Veteran Doctor Fears the Rise of a Drug-Resistant Strain Will Help the Disease Spread: WSJ

Consumer & Others

• Unilever must aim not to spread itself too thinly: FT
• Paul Polman’s socially responsible Unilever falls short on growth: FT