BUSINESS & ECONOMICS EDITOR'S PICK JOURNAL & RESEARCH Lessons From The 1997 Asian Financial Crisis In the mid-summer of 1997, much of East Asia was gripped by the Asian financial crisis. The crisis began in Thailand due to the mounting pressures of its exchange rate in the last quarter of 1996. The These mounting pressures arose from the increase of the already high current account deficits that engulfed the country at the […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
PHILOSOPHY A Non-Philosopher’s Guide To Plato Why is an elephant large, grey, and wrinkled?Because if she were small, white, and round, she’d be an aspirin. —Platonic joke you will understand after reading this post The ancient Greek philosopher Plato still influences popular culture, art, and thought 2,400 years after his death in 348 B.C. He and his mentor Socrates are fascinating […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
CALLUM CONNECTS PIYASAK UKRITNUKUN, MD Abandoning his hopes of studying for an MBA, Piyasak Ukritnukun has turned a relatively small lending company into a billion dollar financial inclusion company. What’s your story? I was born in the US and came back to Thailand to study at Thammasat Business School in 1999. After college, I spent two years with Boston Consulting Group […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
CALLUM CONNECTS ENTREPRENEURSHIP INTERVIEWS ALEX NG, Founder and Director Never one to be constrained by convention, Alex Ng has created Singapore’s first unstaffed store, powered by AI. What’s your story? Since I was young, I have had the habit of choosing less popular or niche decisions. For example, instead of playing computer games during my secondary school days, I found more enjoyment in selling […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
CALLUM CONNECTS ENTREPRENEURSHIP INTERVIEWS MINESH PORE, Co-Founder and CEO Minesh Pore has used his global trade expertise to create a ‘dating’ agency where buyers can meet suppliers and BuyHive does the crucial bits in the middle. What’s your story? BuyHive wanted to solve the problem of trust and transparency in sourcing to improve buyers’ outcomes, especially with the assumptions that the growing segment of […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
JOURNAL & RESEARCH SOCIOLOGY Covid 19 Management Strategies & Outcomes: East Asia & Western World In December 2019, a new strain of Coronavirus, later identified as SARS-CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2) or COVID-19, began to surface in Wuhan, China. By February 2020, COVID-19 had become a pandemic which required emergency measures across the globe. However, regions in East Asia and Europe adopted different pandemic strategies which led to […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK SOCIOLOGY Understanding The Hikikomori Phenomenon Hikikomori, which originated in Japan, refers to the condition where youths withdraw into the home and do not participate in society for an extended period of time. Recent updates on hikikomori presentation within the region were exchanged at a Hikikomori Round Table and Regional Symposium (HRTRS) discussion late 2017, leading to this perspective paper. Hikikomori […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
CALLUM CONNECTS ENTREPRENEURSHIP INTERVIEWS SCHWIN CHIARAVANONT, Founder & Managing Partner After being educated in the USA, Schwin returned to his native Thailand and began his career into asset management What’s your story? I grew up in Thailand and was sent to the US at the age of 12, where I studied for 10 years. I have a very entrepreneurial nature and am also very passionate […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
CALLUM CONNECTS ENTREPRENEURSHIP INTERVIEWS TRISTAN HAHNER, Co-founder A commitment to knowledge and truth was the basis of Tristan Hahner’s desire to enable patients to access an online resource of medical information. What’s your story? As a firm believer in education, I’m passionate about healthcare and trying to improve the quality of people’s lives. Through DoctorxDentist, people have access to free, expert knowledge […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
CALLUM CONNECTS ENTREPRENEURSHIP INTERVIEWS MAXWELL KIMBERLEY-THOMPSON, CEO A far-sighted gift from his grandfather set Maxwell Kimberley-Thompson on a technological path which could not have been conceived of at the time. What’s your story? Ever since my grandfather handed me a pile of papers with HTML, how to build a website, I have been hooked on digital tech and marketing. Building websites gave […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Was There Anything Real About Elvis Presley? In Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis,” there’s a scene based on actual conversations that took place between Elvis Presley and Steve Binder, the director of a 1968 NBC television special that signaled the singer’s return to live performing. Binder, an iconoclast unimpressed by Presley’s recent work, had pushed Elvis to reach back into his past to revitalize a career stalled […] Written by Michael Bertrand June 30, 2022June 30, 2022 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
The Secret Of Tumblr’s Enduring Appeal When tech billionaire Elon Musk made a deal to acquire Twitter in April 2022, many Twitter users threatened to shut down their accounts and migrate elsewhere online. Tumblr – a microblogging platform launched in 2007 long known as a laboratory for social justice causes and burgeoning fan cultures – became one contender. However, many Twitter users proposing a migration to […] Written by Jeanna Sybert June 28, 2022June 28, 2022 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Was There Anything Real About Elvis Presley? In Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis,” there’s a scene based on actual conversations that took place between Elvis Presley and Steve Binder, the director of a 1968 NBC television special that signaled the singer’s return to live performing. Binder, an iconoclast unimpressed by Presley’s recent work, had pushed Elvis to reach back into his past to revitalize a career stalled […] Written by Michael Bertrand June 30, 2022June 30, 2022 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
The Secret Of Tumblr’s Enduring Appeal When tech billionaire Elon Musk made a deal to acquire Twitter in April 2022, many Twitter users threatened to shut down their accounts and migrate elsewhere online. Tumblr – a microblogging platform launched in 2007 long known as a laboratory for social justice causes and burgeoning fan cultures – became one contender. However, many Twitter users proposing a migration to […] Written by Jeanna Sybert June 28, 2022June 28, 2022 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
The Wealth Of Nations In The 21st Century Why are some nations rich and others poor? Can the governments of poor nations do something to ensure that their nations become rich? These sorts of questions have long fascinated public officials and economists, at least since Adam Smith, the prominent Scottish economist whose famous 1776 book was titled “An Inquiry into the Nature and […] Written by Amitrajeeta Batabyal June 27, 2022June 27, 2022 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Rethinking Education The Industrial model of education that fueled the modern era and its dizzying reach did its job incredibly well. Its prime accomplishment was the expansion of our ability to abstract the world. Until then, pragmatism reigned, limiting most people’s thoughts and interactions primarily because we lacked the tools to extrapolate information, to wield it for things that lay beyond obvious […] Written by Anthony Fieldman March 2, 2022March 2, 2022 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
How China Is Transforming Its Economy Through Learning I highly recommend reading the McKinsey Global Institute’s new report, “Reskilling China: Transforming The World’s Largest Workforce Into Lifelong Learners”, which focuses on the country’s biggest employment challenge, re-training its workforce and the adoption of practices such as lifelong learning to address the growing digital transformation of its productive fabric. How to transform the country […] Written by Enrique Dans February 1, 2021February 1, 2021 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Why You’re Not Seeing Success With Influencer Marketing With the new year around the corner, now is a good time to re-evaluate your past marketing strategies and gear up for the year ahead. For some businesses, influencer marketing has simply not seemed to live up to its lofty promises of genuine engagement, credibility, and transparency. Some have claimed that it has been failing […] Written by Michael Tan January 14, 2021January 15, 2021 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
A New Philosophy of Business I’m about to ask you to take a mental leap. For the next 8 minutes, suspend your notions of what a business is, and I’ll propose a new lens for you to look through. There are a lot of questions asked around what “community” means for business. “Where should community fit in my organization?” and […] Written by Empirics Asia September 5, 2018September 5, 2018 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked