Consistent Compounders

Saudi Princes Quest to Remake the Middle East

In the wake of what looks like the murder of Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, in the Saudi Arabian embassy in Turkey, it is worth spending some time to understand how and why the heir apparent to the Saudi throne, Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS), is moving at such speed to stamp out all opposition to the […]

Oct 21 . 1 MIN READ
Consistent Compounders

The Big Hack – How China Used a Tiny Chip to Infiltrate US Companies

This investigative article based on interviews with American government officials and corporates claims that Chinese spies attacked almost 30 US companies, including Amazon and Apple “by compromising America’s technology supply chain”. So how did China pull this off? It appears that China inserted a tiny microchip, not much bigger than a grain of rice, into […]

Oct 21 . 1 MIN READ
Consistent Compounders

Fooled by probabilities and by Indian NBFCs

Published on:20 October, 2018 There are plenty of cleverly crafted games in which you win most of the time and are rewarded with small payoffs. However, in such games there is always one scenario (which is not the base case scenario) where you get wiped out completely. Investing in NBFCs resembles these games of chance. […]

Oct 20 . 5 MIN READ
Consistent Compounders

What do we expect from a CEO

Published on: 19 Oct, 2018 Rather than being a corporate Superwoman, the Effective CEO is an honest, industrious, well informed executive who is aware of her limitations and understands that her conduct and her incentive structure sets the tone for the rest of the firm. “Buffett manages his CEOs just like he manages his stock […]

Oct 19 . 6 MIN READ
Consistent Compounders

Psychotherapy is not harmless: on the side effects of CBT

Most psychologists and psychotherapists that you and I know will be trained in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT). CBT has become increasingly popular over the past 20 years as the stresses and strains of modern life amidst a raft of bestselling books on psychology have made visiting a shrink as commonplace as visiting the local clinic […]

Oct 14 . 2 MIN READ
Consistent Compounders

What made the US unique has become history

Janan Ganesh is one the FT’s finest columnists and here he uses a Michael Porter-type competitive advantage framework to explain the decline of the USA. Ganesh says that until the 1990s, America could boast that its openness to immigrants, free & fair elections and its free market economy were unique strengths. Now, almost all significant […]

Oct 14 . 1 MIN READ
Consistent Compounders

How Online Shopping Makes Suckers of Us All

As millions of Indians go beserk shopping online at this week’s annual binges at the likes of Amazon and Flipkart, this slightly dated yet fascinating piece by The Atlantic shows how online retailers may have regained their pricing edge over consumers who were supposed to have been empowered by the transparency of the internet. Employing […]

Oct 14 . 2 MIN READ
Consistent Compounders

‘This guy doesn’t know anything’: the inside story of Trump’s shambolic transition team

The legendary Michael Lewis describes in this piece how Donald Trump could not (or did not) prepare properly to become the President of the United States. It is an extraordinary story of rich people on the verge of extreme power using colourful language but not realising the enormity of the task ahead of them. After […]

Oct 14 . 1 MIN READ
Consistent Compounders

The creation of a mobile juggernaut

If you are a budding Indian entrepreneur and are wondering how to create a giant enterprise in a highly regulated sector, you have to read this lucid piece from the FT on how Reliance Industries conquered the Indian mobile telephony sector and in the process humbled Bharti, Vodafone and Idea. The story is not exactly […]

Oct 14 . 1 MIN READ
Consistent Compounders

Spotting the Liar in the Boardroom

Published on: 12 Oct, 2018 Alongside our forensic accounting model, we also use questioning techniques popularised by the CIA to figure out whether the CEOs we are meeting are making things up. “He that has eyes to see and ears to hear may convince himself that no mortal can keep a secret. If his lips […]

Oct 12 . 5 MIN READ
Consistent Compounders

The Hero Delusion in Sport, Business & Elsewhere

Published on: 5 Oct, 2018 Evolution has trained us to use ‘thumb rules’ to simplify complex decisions. However, when these thumb rules don’t work, we are prone to delusional thinking. Our belief in heroes is one such delusion. Evolution has taught us to take mental shortcuts In our second piece for The Ken, my friend, […]

Oct 05 . 5 MIN READ
Consistent Compounders

Accounting fraud and liquidity crunches are bedfellows

Published on: 29 Sep, 2018 Major accounting frauds typically come to light when liquidity tightens. Given the over 2% point jump in money market rates in India in the last 12 months, the probability of major accounting fraud coming to light in the Indian stockmarket is growing. “In many ways, capital markets are designed to […]

Sep 29 . 5 MIN READ

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