Category Archives: Business

Speech from Dr. Amlan Roy: Global Demographics – Consumers, Workers, Governments & Markets

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On May 6th I went to the after work lecture in the Hochschule Liechtenstein. It was a very interesting and inspiring speech from Dr. Amlan Roy who is Head of Global Demographics and Pensions Research for the Investment Banking Division of Credit Suisse in London.  He packed a lot of information in his 90 minute talk:

He started with a quote from Peter Drucker on Demographics: “Demographics is the single most important factor that nobody pays attention to, and when they do pay attention, they miss the point.”

Conclusions

Demographics affects economic, financial and social variables in the short-term, medium-term as wall as long-term, not only long-term

Demographics affects GDP Growth, Fiscal burdens, Inflation, Current Account, Asset Returns, Urbanization, Migration, Climate Change and Geopolitics

Sectors demographically advantaged: EM, infrastructure, natural resources, financial services, pharma & biotech, leisure and luxury

Demographic solutions: increased retirement ages, selective migration, increased female labour force participation, outsourcing

Uncertain Life Expectancy necessitates capital market issuance of long bonds and Longevity Derivatives

Books he recommended :

- Animal Spirits: How Human Psychology Drives the Economy, and Why It Matters for Global Capitalism by George A. Akerlof and Robert J. Shiller
- Saving Capitalism from the Capitalists: Unleashing the Power of Financial Markets to Create Wealth and Spread Opportunity by by Raghuram G. Rajan and Luigi Zingales
- Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Tomorrow’s Big Changes by by Mark Penn and E. Kinney Zalesne

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Bill Gates @TED: Innovating to zero

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At TED2010, Bill Gates unveils his vision for the world’s energy future, describing the need for “miracles” to avoid planetary catastrophe and explaining why he’s backing a dramatically different type of nuclear reactor. The necessary goal? Zero carbon emissions globally by 2050.

One of the key formulas to decrease the amount of CO2 is the following. (Picture taken from the talk @TED)

The key factor to get this equation to zero is the last one as Bill Gates explains in his talk.

He talks about a new kind of energy production called terrapower which basically is a nuclear reactor that runs primarily on depleted uranium.

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Trump 101 – The Way to Success

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One of the last books I read from Donald Trump is “Trump 101″. Roughly said, it’s a summary of his insight’s and advices on how to succeed. Each chapter – and there are 33 – consists of a small introduction into a special topic, a part which is called “Coach Trump”, a part where interesting questions and answers from his blog are discussed and same chapters have included a sort of diary where Trump describes his daily activities in the week where his son Barron was born.

“Coach Trump” is the part with essential advice for various situations. The subtitle “Make It Happen In Your Life” should mean that these advices are not only for your business life but for your personal life as well. The idea of integrating blog discussions in his book is great and also a good marketing idea. The discussions are topical and it certainly will generate a few more clicks on his website.

Chapter 11 is about negotiation. You have to prepare yourself thoroughly for any negotiation by defining your objectives. It’s helpful to know the minimum you must receive to make the deal and the maximum you will to pay. If it’s not possible to strike the deal within that framework, be ready to walk away. Defining these limits during the negotiation is mostly too late.

Another paragraph I want to quote is about the level of perfection a company wants to achieve. When is enough enough ? When is the product finished or good enough ?

When an employee told me, “I think it’s good enough” in reference to an unfinished project, I fired him. Good enough ? It wasn’t good enough for me, and if it was good enough for him, he shouldn’t be working for me. I want people who want more than good enough. I want employees who want great and will go the extra mile for the very best. I don’t want to have to tell them; I want them to do it on their own.

The book is well structured and easy to read. It takes about 5 hours to read it.

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