Business and management articles | Cooler Insights

Warren Buffett’s Management Secrets: Review

September 2, 2012 • Book Reviews • 2 comments

Known as the “Oracle of Omaha”, Warren Buffett was once the richest man in the world. With an uncanny ability to sniff out good companies that beat the market time and again, Buffett was able to amass an amazing fortune of US$44 billion. What’s amazing is that he also intends to give most of it away to charity. Buffett’s company, the world famous Berkshire Hathaway group, own some 88 businesses and employ 233,000 workers worldwide.

What few people know is that Buffett is not just a savvy investor but a great manager and business leader. In the audio book, “Warren Buffett’s Management Secrets”, Mary Buffett (Buffett’s former daughter-in-law) and David Clark depicts some of the management philosophies behind the billionaire’s success.

A Winning Mix of Hospitality, Heritage and Hope

August 31, 2012 • Blog • 1 comment

Sprawled over 1.4 million square feet along Singapore’s most scenic waterfront at Marina Bay, The Fullerton Heritage is an integrated dining, hotel and retail development comprising seven heritage and new buildings – The Fullerton Hotel Singapore, The Fullerton Bay Hotel Singapore, The Fullerton Waterboat House, One Fullerton, The Fullerton Pavilion, Clifford Pier and Customs House.

Beginning with the retrofitting of the iconic Fullerton Building in 2001 to become the Fullerton Hotel, the group has given a new lease of life to heritage icons Clifford Pier (built in 1933) and Customs House (built in the 1960s), transforming them into swanky F&B destinations. Collectively, these developments have added vibrancy to the waterfront area and attracted guests both foreign and local.

Likeonomics: A Book Review

August 27, 2012 • Content Marketing • disabled comments

Rohit Bhargava and Likeonomics (source of image)

We are facing a crisis of believability in big businesses and brands.

Triggered by the collapse of the financial system in 2008, widespread deceit by big corporate brands and sheer volume of advertising “clutter”, consumers distrust big brands, companies and governments more than ever before.

The Dîner en Blanc Debacle

August 25, 2012 • Public Relations • 4 comments

Are these foods not “white” enough? (courtesy of Daniel’s Food Diary)

When the ingredients to a dish are not properly assembled, the outcome could be a recipe for disaster.

It all started rather innocently and positively. Pitched as part of a global initiative, Dîner en Blanc is the world’s first viral event premised on the concept of a “très chic picnic” imported from Paris. According to its website, this mass gastronomic extravanganza have taken place in outdoor public spaces in 20 cities across 5 continents this year, from Barcelona to New York City, from Montreal to Sydney.

Mapping Singapore’s Infocomm Future

August 22, 2012 • Blog • disabled comments

IDA’s CTO Leong Mun Yuen shares Singapore’s IT Roadmap

As one of the world’s most IT savvy and digitally-connected economies, Singapore places a premium on developments in Information and Communications Technology (ICT). Almost every aspect of our lives – work, education, socialisation, recreation and increasingly even religion – are dependent on ICT. Just look around you, wherever you are, and you’ll see somebody tethered to either a smartphone, tablet, laptop or related device.

To forecast future trends and chart a path for the future, the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) has shared its Infocomm Technology Roadmap (ITR) 2012. Aiming to be as comprehensive as possible, ITR 2012 proposes nine key themes in which technology will develop over the next 5 to 6 years. A summary of these themes and their components can be seen in the chart below (click for larger version).

Why Customers Really Buy: Book Review

August 20, 2012 • Blog • 1 comment

How do you find out what truly makes your customers tick? Can you understand what your customer REALLY wants through surveys, focus groups, and structured interviews?

The answer, according to Linda Goodman and Michelle Helin, is “No”. Debunking traditional research predicated on the above yardsticks, the authors of “Why Customers Really Buy – Uncovering the Emotional Triggers that Drive Sales” claim that true insight can only be achieved through conducting emotional-trigger research.

The 4-Hour Workweek: Book Review

August 18, 2012 • Book Reviews • disabled comments

To many of us, Timothy Ferriss is living the dream life. Touting himself as a “serial entrepreneur” and “ultra-vagabond”, the author of the uber bestseller “The 4-Hour Workweek” works from anywhere around the world, pursuing activities as varied as skiing in the Andes, tango dancing in Buenos Aires, or racing motorcycles in Europe.

How does he do it?

10 Mega Trends for the Next Decade

August 16, 2012 • Blog • 1 comment

The Internet of Things is a Mega Trend for the next Decade (courtesy of Take Me To Your Leader)

If we can gaze into the crystal ball, what would the future behold? How would the next 10 years be like in terms of business, society and culture?

Thanks to an invitation from the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), I discovered these answers in a talk given by Manoj Menon, Managing Director APAC of Frost & Sullivan at the recent PATA Hub City Forum 2012.

Inside-Out Versus Outside-In

August 14, 2012 • Blog • 1 comment

Courtesy of Bright Hub

There are two ways to look at one’s business: “inside-out” or “outside-in”. Let me go through each in turn.

The first approach starts with what one first possesses before looking at anything else. It raises questions such as what one’s organisation has in terms of capital, equipment, core competencies, human resources, customer relationships and distribution networks and how these could be leveraged upon.