India’s Moon Mission Was Anything But A Failure. Here’s Why
With the dust now settled around the seemingly tragic and melodramatic episode of India’s failed attempt to put a lander and a rover on the surface of the moon, here is a fact based account of what indeed has the rest of the mission achieved, in particular the orbiter which has successfully lodged itself to […]
The “10,000-hour rule” was debunked again
A decade ago Malcolm Gladwell’s bestseller “Outliers” popularised the idea of ‘10,000 hours’: ““Ten thousand hours is the magic number of greatness,” Gladwell wrote, drawing on anecdotes from famous success-havers (like Bill Gates and the Beatles), but also on the 1993 paper (which according to Google Scholar has been cited more than 9,800 times)… The original finding […]
Simon Sinek: To Succeed in Business, You Must Understand the Game
Nine years ago Simon Sinek shot to fame with his incredibly popular Ted Talk which has now had more than 10m views on YouTube. His books Start With Why and Leaders Eat Last have been an inspiration yet a guide for those looking to build businesses with purpose and with people who trust in you and help chart the course. In […]
The CIA, 9/11 and collective blindness
Diversity in the workplace is no longer a social imperative but a must for businesses who want to avoid blindspots in their understanding of the problem at hand and possible solutions for the same. Especially so in our world of investment management, it is easy for teams that have worked together for long periods of […]
Shopify and the return of the merchant class
The old fashioned merchant – who was almost crushed in the 20th century – is staging a comeback, not in the real world, but on the internet. There are two ways that merchants can ride on the internet. First up is Amazon: “Many of today’s e-merchants sell in a digital marketplace, akin to a medieval town square. […]
Marcellus: Rising Equity Inflows from Small Town India
Published on: 13 September, 2019 Amidst the gloom & doom of the economic downturn, we continue to see weekly inflows from small town India into Marcellus’ funds. More generally, equity inflows into mutual funds are holding up as are insurance premiums written by even third rung insurers. Our trips to small towns suggest that such […]
Starbucks, monetary superpower
At Marcellus, our endeavour is to find unusual promoters/companies who look at the industry they operate in very differently from others and change the entire contours of the industry in their favour. Whether it is Asian Paints (who focused on supply chain optimisation when the rest focused on product) or HDFC Bank (who focused on […]
Burning Man diary: sticking it to the Man with Ray Dalio
A lively account of her first visit to the ‘Burning Man’ by Hannah Murphy this year, a year when Ray Dalio, the iconic hedge fund manager at Bridgewater Associates, proudly endorsed the event on social media as a place with great vibe and amazing creativity. Yet Hannah draws us to the ‘palpable tension that the […]
Thomas Middelhoff reflects on failure in German business
Thomas Middlehoff, the former boss of Bertelsmann, has written a book called “Guilty”. Mr Middlehoff who was jailed for three years for tax evasion and breach of trust feels that “he committed the seven deadly sins in a biblical sense, he says, which is why he feels he deserved time behind bars and the loss of […]
Superbugs Deadlier Than Cancer Put Chemotherapy Into Question
The emergence of super bugs or germs that are resistant to most known anti-biotics has created a quandary among medical professionals dealing with cancer patients. Chemotherapy, the most common cancer treatment has evolved over the years not just in terms of efficacy but also in improving post treatment quality of life through reduced side effects. […]
Lessons for Capitalism from the East India Company
In the wake of growing concerns from the rise of the ‘Big corporate’, two weeks ago, an American corporate lobby comprised of CEOs of some of the largest corporates pledged to look beyond just shareholder interests and instead become inclusive in terms of taking care of customers, employees, vendors and the society at large. Perhaps, an appropriate […]
The machine always wins: what drives our addiction to social media
Richard Seymour has written a superb essay on the destructive powers of social media networks. Such is the power of the “network effects” and such is attraction of the approbation of others that millions of us are spending hours each day writing on social media. In return what are we getting: “In a form of mass […]
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