Bamboo Innovator Daily Insight: 19 Mar (Thurs) – An Ancient Civics Lesson: How Athens and Rome empowered the poor; China’s debt situation is genuinely scary-and getting worse

Notice: The website AsianExtractor: Unearthing Accounting Fraud in Asia (www.AsianExtractor.com) is down on technical issues and we are trying to resolve the problem asap.

Life

• How to Build a Strategy for ‘the Long Game’: K@W
• An Ancient Civics Lesson: How Athens and Rome empowered the poor. NYT
• A Dozen Things I’ve Learned from David Tepper about Investing: 25iq
• Interview with Marc Cohodes: Famous short-seller shares his favorite ideas/managers and life lessons: FirstAdopter
• When you’re building a new company, getting the word out is critical. WSJ
• PowerPoint Karaoke Brings Stress Relief to Silicon Valley’s Embattled Office Workers: WSJ

Greater China

• Open Letter to SGX/MAS: Reply to CFO of SGX-Listed China Environment (CENV SP) on report “Potential Accounting Tunneling Fraud at China Environment?” – Address the accounting and governance concerns in an SGX/MAS announcement: AsianExtractor
• China’s debt situation is genuinely scary-and getting worse: Quartz
• Tribunal begins hearing case of short-seller who alleged developer Evergrande was insolvent; Evergrande gets $16 billion credit line bailout on March 17 to shore up one of the country’s largest and most heavily indebted home builders: SCMP
• Li Ning reports loss of 781 million yuan as founder takes reins: SCMP
• Hong Kong-linked company appears on Thai SEC alert list for conducting securities and derivative business without a licence from the commission. SCMP
• Yahoo Pulls the Plug on China Operations; Internet giant lays off 200-300 employees and closes Beijing research center: WSJ
• CKH Holdings shares rise as reorganisation begins: SCMP
• Starbucks partners drinks maker Tingyi to expand in China: Reuters

India

• Metropolis’ Chain of Diagnostics Labs Pushes for Growth Across India and Africa: Forbes
• Inside India: India’s Fight Against Big Pharma Patents Is a Just War: WSJ

Japan & Korea

• Former Posco Group Chairman Chung Joon-yang allegedly invested some trillions of won in questionable mergers and acquisitions during his term; Posco probe shifts to its subcontractors: JA1, JA2
• Lotte Group’s shopping subsidiary is being investigated for allegedly creating a slush fund, prosecutors said: KT
• Japan’s Accounting Problem: PS
• These Japanese Engineers Invented $7,900 Bike Wheels: Bloomberg
• Father Fights to Oust CEO Daughter From Japan Furniture Chain: WSJ

ASEAN

• Open Letter to SGX/MAS: Reply to CFO of SGX-Listed China Environment (CENV SP) on report “Potential Accounting Tunneling Fraud at China Environment?” – Address the accounting and governance concerns in an SGX/MAS announcement: AsianExtractor
• Share manipulation scheme unveiled? Ex-staffer behind selling of Civmec shares? BT
• When 28% shareholding is a majority at an AGM… When only 55 per cent of issued shares are voting, which is the average at general meetings by Singapore-listed companies in 2014: BT
• How Singapore’s Lifebrandz lost its shine: AsiaOne
• Singapore tries to imagine a future without its founder, Lee Kuan Yew: WaPo
• Thai former PM Yingluck to face trial over rice scheme: court: AsiaOne
• Thailand’s outdated tech sector casts cloud over economy: Reuters

Macro

• Review Of SEC Enforcement Developments In 2014, And A Look Forward: WilmerHale
• In Praise of Short Sellers: Newyorker
• The Nonprofit Behind Billions in Mortgage Aid Is a Mess: Bloomberg
• Paris Ghetto With Views But No Jobs Shows Decades of Failures: Bloomberg
• Life After Loopholes Forces Luxembourg to Rethink Its Future: Bloomberg
• Hedge fund guru Crispin Odey says following China could lead to recession: SMH
• Federal Reserve decision: Fed signals that higher interest rates are coming: WaPo
• Asia can grow by learning from itself: ChinaPost
• Germany’s Mittelstand bond market is being overhauled in an effort to improve transparency for investors following a reputation-damaging wave of defaults and insolvencies. FT
• Negative gearing: a legal tax rort for rich investors that reduces housing affordability: Guardian
• Stanford Endowment Pauses Plan for Asia Office: WSJ
• Investors Raise Alarm Over Liquidity Shortage; Regulators also worried falling trading volumes could disrupt markets: WSJ
• Are emerging markets about to suffer another ‘taper tantrum’?: SCMP
• Here Is Why The Fed Can’t Hike Rates By Even 0.25%: Zerohedge

Energy & Commodities

• Mining companies shedding jobs by the thousands: TheAge
• The New Equation for Oil Prices: WSJ
• Banks Struggle to Unload Oil Loans; Citigroup, Goldman, UBS and others face losses as investors balk at riskiness of energy sector: WSJ

TMT

• Could Apple become the next Comcast? WaPo
• The rise of the ecommerce enablers; With the ecommerce market booming, ancillary firms that provide logistical support from payments to delivery are becoming an investor destination: Forbes
• Robots rub shoulders with human buddies: FT
• Internet of Things means never having to search again: Fortune
• What StoryCorps should do next; Text would be the logical next move for the audio storytelling phenomenon. Google and Microsoft could help. Fortune
• Tim Cook: It’s critical that Apple do everything it can to stay informal. Fortune
• LVMH’s Tag Heuer surfs wave of smartwatch partnerships: Reuters

Healthcare

• Bill Gates on a global epidemic: ‘Time is not on our side’: Fortune

Consumer & Others

• Cotton On tells staff to keep it real or face the sack; Since being created in 1991, Cotton On has grown rapidly with more than 1300 stores and offices around the world. TheAge
• From Paris, the Anti-Tesla That Costs 20 Cents a Minute: Bloomberg
• Starbucks will test delivery services in New York, Seattle this year: Fortune
• What Is Coke CEO’s Solution for Lost Fizz? More Soda; Despite changing consumer tastes, Muhtar Kent pushes strategy to sell more cola: WSJ

Bamboo Innovator Daily Insight: 18 Mar (Wed) – Bill Gates recommends you read this specific part of Warren Buffett’s letter and says this is the most important annual letter Buffett has ever written

Life

• Bill Gates recommends you read this specific part of Warren Buffett’s letter and says this is the most important annual letter Buffett has ever written. BI
• 5 important business lessons one man learned from successfully climbing Mount Everest: BI
• Bill Gates: Steve Jobs would have made a ‘terrible’ Microsoft CEO: BI
• Blackmores Chairman tells his board he sold 150,000 shares of his stock to buy himself yacht: BI
• Here’s the remarkably simple secret to forming lifelong habits: BI
• Here’s how Steve Jobs told Tim Cook he was going to be the CEO of Apple: BI
• Here’s the first chapter of the business book Bill Gates says is the best he’s ever read: BI
• Here’s a guide to body-language etiquette around the world: BI
• Here’s how one psychologist learned to use her anxiety to make better decisions: BI
• Buffett’s childhood home on Airbnb: KT
• Shangri-La developer makes journey from Afghan refugee to construction king: TheAge
• Overthinking vs. Underthinking: Finding the Sweet Spot: Forbes
• School admissions no measure of one’s worth: NYT
• Managers Need to Make Time for Face Time: WSJ
• What have we learnt in 100 years of relativity?: PS

Greater China

• Open Letter to SGX/MAS: Reply to CFO of SGX-Listed China Environment (CENV SP) on report “Potential Accounting Tunneling Fraud at China Environment?” – Address the accounting and governance concerns in an SGX/MAS announcement: AsianExtractor
• China came THIS close to another massive property developer default; Chinese Developer Evergrande Gets $16 Billion Lifeline Amid Slump: BI, NYT
• Kaisa Said Unlikely to Pay Coupons Wednesday, Thursday: Bloomberg
• China Graft Probe Snares Another Developer After Kaisa: Bloomberg
• China’s house price crisis is creating a perverse bailout bubble for property companies: BI
• China: With friends like these; Beijing has lent billions to spread its influence, but as defaults loom its approach is shifting: FT
• China Stocks Break 15-Year Link With Hong Kong as Rates Diverge: Bloomberg
• Netflix’s Bold China Plan: Technode
• China’s Tech Giants Taking On the Domestic Entertainment Industry: Technode
• Xu Caihou and the demise of China’s ‘New Gang of Four’: WCT
• China Invites Bids to Audit Offshore Assets; China’s oversight body for state assets is holding a tender to audit state companies’ overseas assets: WSJ
• China in danger of reverting to cult-based politics: BT
• China Promises Transparent Audit Of State Enterprises’ $690B In Overseas Investments: IBT
• The Chinese government thinks it has found the answer to the country’s property market crisis; purchase unsold residential properties and convert these units into low-cost public housing to reduce inventory levels: BI
• China must pardon corrupt officials, says author dubbed China’s John Grisham; He Jiahong, a legal expert says Beijing must focus on the causes of corruption rather than its symptoms or face ‘disaster’: Telegraph
• China Investigates Former Senior Official of Shanghai Free-Trade Zone: WSJ
• Is the Chinese dragon losing its puff?: CT
• Lacklustre performance at NPC suggests Chinese provincial party boss Hu Chunhua’s star is fading: SCMP
• Xi Jinping’s inner circle: The mishu cluster: Brookings
• ‘Tigers and flies’ to ‘tigers and wives’: the other-halves of senior officials caught up in Xi Jinping’s anti-graft drive: SCMP
• Party Investigates CNPC Executive Once Seen as Company’s Next Leader: Caixin
• World not excited about China’s Belt and Road plan: TODAY

India

• Modi’s Biggest Problem May Be the Banks: Bloomberg
• Solar Parks on Fertile Land Are New Adversary of India’s Farmers: Bloomberg
• 10 sharply focussed ecommerce players in India: Forbes
• How ColdEx Logistics is climbing up the food chain: Forbes
• India’s growing appetite for food service startups: Forbes
• India plans IPO rule changes to lure homegrown start-ups: sources: Reuters
• India’s Mahindra Enters Racing, but With Eye on Tesla: WSJ

Japan & Korea

• Meet the Japanese gaming giant that’s going to save Nintendo: BI
• Yamaha drives ahead with third attempt at four wheels: FT
• Japan Inc gives biggest boost to base pay for more than a decade: FT
• Japan Pensions Sell Record $46 Billion Bonds to Buy Stocks: Bloomberg
• Prosecutors raided the head offices of the Korea National Oil Corp. (KNOC) and Keangnam Enterprises, Wednesday, as part of their widening investigation into allegations of corruption surrounding the failed “energy diplomacy” conducted under the Lee Myung-bak administration: KT
• Coupang says unafraid of Amazon: KT
• Shares in POSCO companies drop on slush fund investigations; Corruption bust should not be swayed by politics; the prosecution investigating suspected slush funds at the construction unit of POSCO is closing in on the conglomerate’s former CEO Chung Joon-yang and his associates: Maeil, KH
• Korea’s top financial regulator will try to shift the center of the nation’s financial industry from the banking sector to the relatively weaker capital markets as part of a long-term restructuring plan.: JA
• Korea’s Best Olympic Venue? Japan. Bloomberg
• Toyota’s Measly $33 Won’t Save Japan: Bloomberg
• Nintendo Finally Gets to the Next Level: WSJ

ASEAN

• Open Letter to SGX/MAS: Reply to CFO of SGX-Listed China Environment (CENV SP) on report “Potential Accounting Tunneling Fraud at China Environment?” – Address the accounting and governance concerns in an SGX/MAS announcement: AsianExtractor
• Fitch Sees More Than 50% Odds of Malaysia Downgrade on 1MDB: Bloomberg
• Fund Flap Roils Malaysia; Clash between a former Malaysian leader and the current one over alleged mismanagement of the country’s troubled multi-billion-dollar national investment fund destabilizes the government: WSJ
• Noble braced for next critique by mysterious research firm: FT
• Old Man Thailand Feels Pain of Economic Arthritis: Bloomberg
• Singaporeans pack JB nursing homes: AsiaOne
• The Catalist conundrum which shows no sign of getting resolved: BT

Macro

• ECB’s money printing may stymie cash generators: Reuters
• Hedge Funder Dalio Thinks the Fed Can Repeat 1937 All Over Again: Bloomberg
• CBA’s kickback scandal raises new questions about banking culture: TheAge
• Fannie, Freddie could need another bailout as risks rise: watchdog: Reuters
• Seeking a Cure for Raging Corporate Activism: Back from the 1980s, tenure voting is an intriguing but controversial idea to change how companies are run: WSJ
• Investors Demand More Info on Board Skills: WSJ
• Asia Steps Up Efforts to Reach the ‘Unbanked’; Governments from China to India are experimenting with novel ways to widen access to financial services: WSJ
• Hedge Fund Manager Fears “Sudden, Pervasive Loss Of Faith” In Markets; Says “It’s A Truly Scary Time”: Zerohedge
• S.E.C. Chief Voices Support for Higher Advice Standard for Brokers; Such a move would hold stockbrokers to a fiduciary duty standard, under which they must put their clients’ interests ahead of their own. NYT

Energy & Commodities

• Fortescue pulls $2.5bn bond as iron ore distress deepens: FT
• Oil Rig Squeeze Puts DNB on Alert to Help Billionaire Fredriksen: Bloomberg
• Oil Bonds Lose Investors $7 Billion in 10 Days: Bloomberg

TMT

• Subscriptions are enjoying a new prominence as a revenue engine for digital content and apps: BI
• TripAdvisor reviews are now so powerful they impact the tourist industry of entire countries: BI
• There are so many $10 billion startups that there’s a new name for them: ‘decacorns’: BI
• The clever way Apple was able to trademark the ‘iPad’ name while keeping the product a secret: BI
• Tesla CEO Elon Musk says in the future, cars with drivers will be considered too dangerous: BI
• MUNSTER: Apple’s new TV service could finally make the Apple television a reality: BI
• Apple TV has grown from a ‘hobby’ into a nice little business; Apple TV entices networks with promise of mobile viewers; Apple Upsets the TV Cart; Apple TV Plans Unscrambled; Apple Is Out to Blow Up the Cable TV Model: Bloomberg, WSJ, BI, Reuters
• 10 facts about the Apple Watch that show Apple’s obsessive attention to detail: BI
• Meet the man who could own Aviva France; One French investor has an unbelievable ‘magic ticket’ that is turning him into a billionaire without any risk: FT, BI1, BI2
• The pricing strategy for the Apple Watch is insanely smart: BI
• TIM COOK: This is the ‘disease’ that ruins technology companies: BI
• Tim Cook details one strategy that makes Apple different than Microsoft: BI
• The whoosh of start-up value going from Europe to Palo Alto; A local alternative to Silicon Valley’s disruption mantra is needed: FT
• What will be the impact of vast quantities of usable data on business? That is the overarching question that the authors of Big Data Revolution seek to answer. FT
• Biggest Advertisers Are Sending Their Dollars to Digital: NYT
• Digital Media Darlings Unfazed by the Fall of the News Site Gigaom: NYT
• The Most Obnoxious And Overused Startup Jargon: Forbes
• How to Build a Cross-Border Tech Startup When You’re Fighting; The only thing separating Israel and a pool of affordable talent is a border patrolled by soldiers: JG
• ‘Taxi Kingpin’ Gene Freidman, who owns more than 900 city cab medallions, in massive debt thanks to Uber; “People used to have a religious faith that yellow-cab-medallion prices would go up forever,” But Freidman is still living large: NYPost
• Jumei’s Makeover Is More Than Cosmetic; A pop in the shares of the beauty products e-tailer suggests investors are warming to its new strategy. Barron’s
• Sorcery! Bloomberg apparently just learned how venture capital works: Pando
• The Fuzzy, Insane Math That’s Creating So Many Billion-Dollar Tech Companies: Bloomberg
• Coming to Windows: Use Your Finger or Your Face as a Password; Microsoft says its next version of Windows will support biometric authentication: WSJ
• Leading IT Through Change, Not Buzzwords: WSJ
• GE Capital, Intel CIOs Create New Ways to Measure IT Business Value: WSJ
• Unbundling Pay-TV Brings New Questions; ‘Cord-Cutting’ choices grow, but questions for consumers, companies swirl: WSJ

Healthcare

• Holy Grail: Pain Pills Without the High; Drug firms try to find strong pain relievers that don’t invite abuse: WSJ

Consumer & Others

• P&G’s Possible Beauty-Unit Split Shows Industry’s Challenges: Bloomberg
• Does Organic Food Taste as Virtuous If It Goes Mass Market? Coke, General Mills, Kellogg woo consumers loyal to higher-priced organic food: WSJ

Bamboo Innovator Daily Insight: 17 Mar (Tues) – The Steve Jobs you didn’t know: Kind, Patient, and Human

Life

• The Steve Jobs you didn’t know: kind, patient, and human: FastCo
• Skills in Flux : We are already using a set of subtle, flexible new skills to fit the new economy. It’s time we understood them. NYT
• The Hidden Talent of Steve Jobs: Genius alone didn’t bring Apple back. It took management chops. NYT
• Decoding the Rules of Conversation; The French love to land zingers. The British live in the land of irony. And Americans? It’s all about reassurance.: NYT
• Agility Is Within Reach; With strategic responsiveness and organizational flexibility, you can move quickly when your industry changes. Strategy&
• Would-Be Financial Whiz Is Charged With Stealing From Investors; Mark Malik’s fund won praise from ranking firms: WSJ
• Does Stress Make Us Forgetful? (Is That Why We Can’t Find the Car Keys?): WSJ
• Disruptive innovation is catching on: BT
• ‘Cinderella’ and the power of kindness: WaPo
• Motivational speakers modern charlatans: TheAge

Greater China

• Open Letter to SGX/MAS: Reply to CFO of SGX-Listed China Environment (CENV SP) on report “Potential Accounting Tunneling Fraud at China Environment?” – Address the accounting and governance concerns in an SGX/MAS announcement: AsianExtractor
• In pursuit of runaway funds, Beijing struck a deal with a fraudster Li Dongzhe tired of life on the run; Li is one of the 18,000 Chinese economic escapees hiding around the world: WSJ
• Sunac Said to Find Kaisa Unprofitable in Due Diligence Work; Analysts are still forecasting a profit for the full year, with the average of six estimates compiled by Bloomberg at 3.1 billion yuan ($495 million). Bloomberg
• China’s slowdown has suddenly become a “fiscal shock”; Land auctions make up a huge chunk of local government revenues-an estimated 40% in 2013-and account for a big chunk of China’s GDP: Quartz
• In China, trust firms shift, rather than reduce, shadow banking risk: Reuters
• Don’t Count on China’s Debt Problems Going Away: WSJ
• PetroChina Vice Chairman Under Investigation for Graft Allegations: WSJ
• Mainland corruption crackdown poses risks for foreign investors: SCMP
• Q. and A.: David Shambaugh on the Risks to Chinese Communist Rule: NYT
• Alibaba’s Jack Ma shows off new ‘pay with a selfie’ technology; New facial recognition software is intended to buttress the fast-growing mobile-payments business. Fortune
• A vote of no confidence from China’s young consumers; A vote of no confidence from China’s young consumers: FT
• China’s Answer to Pixar Unveils New 3-D Feature About Guardian Spirits: WSJ
• All You Need to Know About Alibaba’s Lock-Up Expiration: WSJ
• Hong Kong’s Decade-Long Property Boom Could Be Ending: Chart : Bloomberg

India

• India needs own model of manufacturing: BT
• Jewelers in India Jump Online for $22 Billion E-Commerce Pie: Bloomberg

Japan & Korea

• Japan’s Devaluation Warning for Europe; Monetary easing without reform has reduced real wages.: WSJ
• Nintendo Opens Door to Smartphone Games: WSJ

ASEAN

• Open Letter to SGX/MAS: Reply to CFO of SGX-Listed China Environment (CENV SP) on report “Potential Accounting Tunneling Fraud at China Environment?” – Address the accounting and governance concerns in an SGX/MAS announcement: AsianExtractor
• SGX needs to serve up equities revival: FT
• Deficiencies found in fair value measure in Singapore: audit survey: BT

Macro

• Can Asia Survive a Strong Dollar? Bloomberg
• IMF fears emerging markets instability: FT
• Why Wimp label sticks to emerging nations; They suffer from lacking international monetary power: FT
• Regulators step up warnings against pension scams: FT
• A Mystery in Hedge Fund Investing: Hedge fund performance has been terrible. Hedge fund expenses are insane. People continue to invest in hedge funds anyway. NYT
• A ‘Merger of Equals’ Is More Fragile: WSJ
• In Shift, Firms Give Investors New Clout Over Board Seats; Move rattles some as proxy access could give pension funds, unions greater influence over firms’ strategic choices: WSJ
• How a Rising Dollar Is Creating Trouble for Emerging Economies: NYT
• Insider trading masterminds Lukas Kamay, Christopher Hill jailed after Block bid: TheAge
• Funds Run by Robots Now Account for $400 Billion: Bloomberg
• Court Strikes on Insider Trading, and Congress Lobs Back: NYT

Energy & Commodities

• Are the good times over for growth in U.S. shale gas?: Reuters
• Fortescue turns to the junk bond market for $US2.5b after US loan investors demanded better terms, forcing the miner to pay up to extend and refinance its debt: TheAge

TMT

• Big problem for fund managers: liking Apple too much: Reuters
• Apple Watch shows the strategic ripple effects of a big splash: Engage? Ignore? Retreat? How to react when a powerful new product arrives in your sector:FT
• Can GrubHub Go the Last Mile?: Bloomberg
• Driverless cars: A tremendous innovation with a glaring Achilles’ heel: WaPo
• John Maeda says design is winning in Silicon Valley: WaPo

Healthcare

• Intensive Care Gets Friendlier with Apps, Devices: Family participation helps patients; respect and dignity are priorities: WSJ
• Scientists’ New Goal: Growing Old Without Disease; Researchers plan to test a pill to prevent or delay Alzheimer’s, heart disease and other ailments that come with age: WSJ
• Sirtex Medical loses $1b in market value after cancer trial disappoints: TheAge
• Horse dung has scientists on scent of antibiotic success: Reuters
• Looking at the Promise and Perils of the Emerging Big Data Sector: NYT

Consumer & Others

• Craft versus Kraft: Big US food groups are struggling to adapt to the diverse tastes of younger generations and immigrant populations: FT