Financial services

Vote for Xero

November 25, 2008 General

It’s rare for me to come out with a straight up endorsement for any of my sponsors but on this occasion, Xero deserves a big shout out. They’re having a crack at the Crunchies. These are usually US dominated but there’s nothing to prevent an ‘outsider’ from making a splash. Why am I pimping them? [...]

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Speculating on EY's future

September 23, 2008 General

With the demise of Lehman Brothers, Ernst & Young’s $31 million annual fee just went out the window. It’s a tiny amount in the scheme of things when you think that EYs last year’s global revenue came in at $21.1 billion. The bigger problem will be the lawsuit PwC‘s advisors Linklaters are almost certain to [...]

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Crack cocaine economics and six ways to get off it

September 2, 2008 General

This amusing talk by economist Steven Levitt, filmed at TED Talks shows what it is like being at different points in the crack cocaine gang hierarchy. He makes the comparison between the org structure of a modern enterprise and that of the gang, noting many similarities. The final slide (see illustration) has particular potency. As [...]

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