Category: Business and Commerce
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One of the things I love about The Economist is reading stories that tell me things I didn’t know, and which I didn’t know I didn’t know. I had never considered that the collapse of the housing market in the USA might increase the spread of the West Nile virus, but apparently it does, as…
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I am amused to see that the SCMP has turned on Lee Shau-kee after previously reporting his mad predictions about the Hang Seng Index as if he were some kind of genius (Lee losing Midas touch as trust falls 25pc in value – subscription required): Lee Shau-kee, who was last year touted as Asia’s Warren…
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This comment about a recent post reminded of an article some time ago in The Economist (subscription required as this is so old): MEET your airline’s latest employee: you. You may not have noticed, but you are also now working for your phone company and your bank. Why? Because of the growth of the self-service…
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From the BBC: Counterfeiting is costing the global economy more than $100bn (£51bn) every year and putting human health and safety at risk, a UN agency has said. The World Intellectual Property Organisation (Wipo) told a conference that China was the worst offender in the trade of counterfeit goods. I’d love to know how they…
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Both fumier and Giles have tackled the recent problems experienced by British Airways, but in very different ways. Giles has come up with a proforma rant against the unions, whereas Fumier offers a rather more interesting analysis of BA’s commercial strategy of screwing its suppliers. I suspect Fumier has a point, and it’s worth reading…
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Two strange tales from the hard shoulder of the digital superhighway. Firstly, I sent an email to a Hong Kong company (via their website) saying that I wanted to order something from them. A day later they called me back (on the phone) and promised to fax me a price list. Nothing arrived, and there…
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Yesterday’s Sunday Morning Post has a largely sympathetic profile of Nick Leeson, the man who bankrupted Barings Bank 10 years ago. Apparently he has re-married and is now living on the west coast of Ireland, and is trying to make a living writing books and doing public speaking. Presumably he also has a PR person…
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There was a small story in yesterday’s paper that caught my attention. It refers to a PBS show Wall $treet Week with Fortune (the transcript of which is here), on which Matthew Kiernan of Innovest Strategic Value Advisers argued that socially responsible firms offer better returns to investors: [W]e know from all our Wall Street…
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I got a phone call the other day to remind me that I had forgotten to pay one of my credit card bills. That’s funny, I thought, I don’t normally use this card. It turned out that there was an admin charge of HK$60 for their “free” dental coverage. To this they have added HK$100…
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The other Hong Kong invader is PCCW, which is trying to set up a wireless broadband network in the UK. From The Guardian, once again: The Hong Kong telecoms company PCCW is to offer some British customers telephony services through its wireless broadband technology next year. The technology has been tipped as a threat to…
Ordinary Gweilo 