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.
Two recent stories in US newspapers highlight the huge per-capita spending of Brazilians in the US. While one piece focuses on tourists in NY and retail sales, the other focuses on Florida and also mentions Brazilians buying up real estate. The big point: the taxation making imports so expensive in Brazil as to justify, in some cases, the airfare and hotel expenses.
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”.
No mistake in the title: US immigration laws have some California entrepreneurs – Peter Thiel included – pondering a ship to house innovators and entrepreneurs 12 nautical miles off the California coast – i.e. international waters! The point here isn’t the specific plan, it’s the regulatory and political environment that spawned it.
TV show “60 Minutes” had a profile of Howard Buffett following Buffett’s appointment of him as his preferred choice for non-Executive Chairman after Buffett somehow relinquishes that role. As a guardian of Berkshire’s unique culture, he is as good as it gets. We collect a few links and videos about Howard Buffett.
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.
The Financial Times’ Beyond Brics blog has posted an article by PUC-Rio professor Marcio Garcia, and it’s a very sober look at what this country has been through in the years since it was included in the “BRICs” by Jim O’Neill. Much more importantly, however, is the warning about what we must still do if we are to succeed in the future.
“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.
Much noise has been generated by MidAmerican’s purchase of First Solar’s $2 billion Topaz solar energy project. Yes, MidAmerican is Berkshire’s utility/ energy subsidiary and this sizable acquisition has certainly been cleared by Warren Buffett. That does not mean that “Buffett is buying/ betting on solar” as a category. It is Berkshire taking advantage of an opportunity.
