On the Peculiarities of Panic Buying in Germany
It’s been many months now since COVID-19 has started to ravage the world. Like many other countries, Germany imposed a relatively strict nationwide lockdown in early March. This measure certainly helped to contain the spread of the virus. It probably also contributed to softening the blow to the country’s healthcare system, leading Germany to outperform many of its European peers in terms of both mortality rate and the number of infections.
I live in Frankfurt am Main, Germany’s banking and financial capital. The city is located roughly in the middle of the country, in the western half. Paris is four hours to the northwest while Munich is three hours to the south — both by train. …
Corporate performance development and the coming era of feedback saturation.
Do you have an annual appraisal or performance review at work? You know, that tired corporate ritual where you and your immediate superior sit down, tete-a-tete, to discuss how well (or not) you’ve done your job over the past year? As is often the case, your manager will pretend to intimately understand your job and then proceed to grade you on it. Sometimes, they even rank you alongside your colleagues in a so-called ‘comparative exercise’. If this is a forced distribution ranking, as some companies mandate, then that means there will be a fixed number of employees at the top and bottom of the distribution. …
The We Company (WeWork’s parent company) had grand ambitions for its initial public offering, which it had scheduled for September 2019. In addition to securing public financing to further fuel its already vertiginous expansion trajectory, the IPO was also the primary contingency for a $6 billion private bank loan from JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs.
As it turns out, WeWork shares never made it to the market. At the end of September, WeWork withdrew the S1 filing, thereby formally postponing its IPO.
Trouble had already started brewing in August. The We Company filed its S-1 form (the so-called investor prospectus) on the 15th. The prospectus immediately raised eyebrows among potential investors. The filing noted significant operating losses in the preceding 3 years as well as some questionable financial dealings between the We Company and its executives, including former CEO Adam Neumann. These included large loans and some unusual property leasing arrangements. …
If you’ve recently browsed Amazon for electronics, chances are you’ve stumbled across a brand called Amazon Basics. Amazon Basics is an Amazon house label which specialises in electronics and household goods. This includes items such as cables, ink cartridges, portable speakers, batteries, air conditioners, paper shredders, toasters, blenders, kettles, etc.
Amazon also has other house labels, albeit most with names that bear a less obvious connection to it e.g. Lark & Co, North Eleven and Society New York, to name just a few.
The products sold under these brand names are often priced incredibly low. As with most private labels, Amazon can undercut competitors by forgoing advertising and expensive packaging. Sweetening the deal even further, Amazon offers prime members additional incentives such as free shipping and a generous multiple on their cashback points. These can be considered legitimate synergies which Amazon exploits to gain a competitive advantage. …
A Love Story
Last summer, I came across the Bodega Project: a series of articles from Electric Literature profiling convenience stores across New York City. This intimate and colourful portrayal of the city’s inhabitants correctly recognises convenience stores as pillars of urban life. The project’s premise immediately resonated with me because of my experience living in South Korea. Convenience stores don’t have as long of a tradition there as they do in New York (one reason is that Korean cities modernised much later than in the US). Nonetheless, they’re an equally important part of life in the city. …
Ramen is the fuel that powers the 34 million people of Tokyo. During the day, it keeps the salary-men busily typing away at their desks. At night, it provides sustenance to party-goers as they cross the sprawling metropolis. And on weekends, it offers the severely hungover savory respite from their suffering. Probably outranked only by sushi in terms of popularity, it’s hard to imagine a mealtime in Tokyo without it. But most importantly, I find that the crowded and steamy restaurants are representative of life in the city and can offer visitors a truly immersive ‘native’ experience.
Ramen has always been a favorite food of mine. However, I find that in Europe, variety is lacking — even in the bigger cities where you would expect a sizeable market to exist. For example, most places serve only tonkotsu ramen — the traditional pork broth version. Although this type is arguably the most common (and the original), there is, in fact, a lot more out there. A recent trip to Japan opened my eyes to that. …
