Book Review: How The Mighty Fall
Jim Collins set out to write an article on how successful companies fail. For some reason, probably commercial, he decided to turn it into a short book. He should have stuck with the article idea.
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Read more: Book Review: How The Mighty Fall
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Tragedy of the Modern Commons and 90 9 1
Read more: Tragedy of the Modern Commons and 90 9 1The Tragedy of the Commons is an old and still insightful parable of the incompatibility of human self-interest and shared resources. 90 9 1 is a so-called “law of social media” and as such didn’t exist for all intents and purposes even a decade ago. These two elements provide a powerful combination for the new…
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Actuarial and Risk, business tools, creating value, currency risk, financial risk, hedging, insight, insurance, managing uncertainty, operational risk, optimisation
Fourth Floor Tails
Read more: Fourth Floor TailsI blogged recently about why I park on the fourth floor of the Cape Town airport parkade, and also about understanding and utilising unlikely but extreme events to your advantage. There is actually a link between these two posts. Parking on the top floor does have a cost. It takes longer to drive up all…
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Actuarial and Risk, creating value, economics, financial risk, hedging, insight, insurance, life insurance, managing uncertainty, optimisation
Nasty or nice – playing the tail
Read more: Nasty or nice – playing the tailInsurance and gambling have much in common. They both involve uncertainty and money and the rational consumer will, on average, lose money through the interaction. Both business models involve leveraging the tail of probability distributions (one nasty and one nice). The tail of a distribution includes the very bad and very good possible outcomes, that…
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communication, competition, creating value, customer value, distribution, economics, insight, measurement, modelling, news, operational risk, optimisation, predictive modelling
Interconnecting confusion
Read more: Interconnecting confusionInterconnect fees and the reasons for their reduction are possibly the most misunderstood “big” news story over the last twelve months. The hype and hoopla around this topic is fueled by our feelings as consumers of being charged too much big big monopoly companies. So I should start by saying that I’m not saying that…
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I park on the fourth floor
Read more: I park on the fourth floorI always park on the fourth floor. Whenever I leave my car at the Cape Town airport, I always leave it on the fourth floor, right at the top of the parkade. I think you should too, but I hope you don’t. The police park several blue and white cars and grizzly blue-lighted bakkies on…
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The me, now peoples of the world
Read more: The me, now peoples of the worldHumans, unlike other creatures, have the incredible ability to consciously think about tomorrow. We can imagine different scenarios playing out, and plan for them accordingly. The same approach also allows us to consider the impact of our actions on others in simple and sometimes complex ways. We’re not just squirrels hoarding nuts because we feel…
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Why hotels should charge high prices during soccer world cup
Read more: Why hotels should charge high prices during soccer world cupThey should charge more. Â Hotels and B&Bs, your uncle’s Seapoint flat, airlines and taxis and the guys polishing shoes at the airport and garden services mowing lawns should all charge more during the world cup. “But they’re profiteering” you cry! Â Well, yes, in a word. But if the incredible expense of building stadia in the…
