We were initially skeptical because, as Buysiders.com readers are probably well aware by now, we view risk management as a matter of knowledge gathering/sharing and corporate culture. The excerpts inside this post explain our satisfaction with the video. It’s not enough for us to judge whether this course is a great investment for you or your company, but we have attended classes with Bob Kaplan (and other) at Harvard and we certainly got more than our money’s worth.
Two recent stories highlight the current moral double standards regarding defaults and indebtedness in general. The first article uses American Airlines’ Chapter 11 filing, lauded as a “smart move”, and contrasts this reaction to the stigma surrounding personal bankruptcies by home owners. The second article tries to tack the same “double standards” theme onto Germany, but it doesn’t work nearly as well.
Two articles, taken together, are great reading material and food for thought. The first one is about rethinking innovation and new product development. The second article, even larger, is about production processes that are becoming – paradoxically perhaps – more efficient and more flexible.
Our Christmas gift came in the form of two reader-suggested articles, yesterday’s and today’s. To make us even happier, keep the suggestions coming… On a lighter note: funny article on Slate about how to maximize value in giving presents.
Excellent article in the Economist magazine about innovation coming from smaller or larger companies. Also a fine example of concise analysis/ synthesis of a given issue.
We continue to learn from the collapse of Jon Corzine’s MF Global. A recent article at NYT’s Dealbook highlights another lesson: ignore your chief risk or compliance officer at your own peril. While we agree that in this case it might have led to different and better decisions, such officers are still prone to all the talent, behavioral and incentives-driven traps and pitfalls. That said, the simple governance, hierarchical and process improvements the author suggests do help, and he also has the merit of recognizing that “Leadership has the right to challenge, disagree or even reject that advice.” Remember: “Culture eats Strategy for breakfast”.
Interesting food for thought on Apple’s capital allocation issues and it ties well with our last two posts on capital allocation. Just a reminder: this post is highlighted exclusively for overall capital allocation policies that might be applied to other investments. Buysiders.com doesn’t advise on specific stocks nor do we make any recommendations, as highlighted in the post.
“A catalogue of disastrous decisions”: that’s the title of a story today in the Financial Times about the many failures in the downfall of the Royal Bank of Scotland. More specifically, the author recommends the chapter on “Management, governance and culture” in the FSA’s report about that bank’s failure. In the face of it, the board looked knowledgeable and transparent, and the CEO didn’t look too dominant. And yet the company went bust despite the fact that the “checklist” seemingly gave the “right” answers…
Two quick notes: we like reading and book lists, but this post by Farnam Street Blog is taking it into the obsession realm – unless one is really trying to build up his or hers anti-library. On Netflix: CEO Reed Hastings has some people confused with his comparisons of NFLX to Bank of America and the Oakland A’s.
When we commented on share buybacks recently, we alluded to the “bad name” that M&A has received. We mentioned that, on average, M&A “destroys value” as defined by some academic studies and as seen in real life all too often. We’ve now come accross a Strategy & Business article listing “the top-10 M&A fallacies and self-deceptions”, and it’s a good list of reasons why M&A may go wrong, or may not be the best choice. Change a few words and some of the 10 points can be used to consider share buybacks as well.
