What to make of China’s Social Credit System?
In recent weeks, a very well-researched paper on China’s rapidly evolving Social Credit System (SCS) was published by the University of Leiden’s Rogier Creemers. We believe analysis of China’s SCS provides insight into the philosophies of China’s leadership as well as their evolving and innovative methods of effecting control. China’s SCS will ultimately affect just about […]
TV or not TV, that is the question
It is well known that television viewership habits have been evolving. And now, at least in the US, it appears ad dollars are finally abandoning the traditional television network platform. According to a Bloomberg article titled: Advertisers Tuning Out TV in Sign of Trouble for Media Companies, 2017 marked the steepest drop in US television-advertising […]
The GDPR is coming
In less than a month, new EU regulations will come into effect that go by the name of General Data Protection Regulation (or GDPR). These regulations are designed to give internet users substantially more control over how their information is shared and used; and creates significant penalties for noncompliance. At first glance, this might sound […]
The economics of aging
We have previously highlighted the significant change in demographics that is currently taking place in many regions of the world. In short, the world is aging. Whether in the United States, Australia, Western Europe, China or Japan: populations are getting older at an accelerating rate. The chart below has long been a favourite of ours […]
Nine’s profitable entertainment
While Seven West Media was covering gold being won at the Olympic Games in PyeongChang in recent weeks, it was rival Nine Entertainment (ASX:NEC) that won gold during the Australian earnings season.
Highlights from San Francisco
Throughout the year, members of the Montaka team will travel to visit companies and talk to people on the ground. This scuttlebutt approach has in the past paid dividends, whether it’s gaining insights about the companies in the Montaka portfolio, or generating prospective investment ideas. In a recent trip to San Francisco earlier this month, […]
The Giants Unite
Public policy problems have typically been the domain of governments, although the recent announcement of a healthcare alliance seeks to shake up this equilibrium. The news of three corporate behemoths forming an independent company to tackle the burden that healthcare places on America marks one of the most ambitious efforts yet by private firms to […]
Europe looking good in 2018
We were recently asked by a client what our outlook was for European equities in the 2018 calendar year. The short answer is that we are in the business of picking stocks, not aggregated regional indices. This answer, of course, is obviously not particularly helpful, so we also tried to draw some sensible conclusions from […]
The New Phase of Big Data Part II
Previously, I wrote about the new phase of big data, and how this data revolution has the potential to shape the fortunes of firms. Clive Humby, the co-founder of DunnHumby, a UK-based customer data science company, is widely credited as being the first to coin the phrase “data is the new oil”. Much like crude […]
Another year of surprises
As we round out 2017, it is timely to stop and reflect on the year that was. In particular, it is always interesting to identify the year’s surprises. One benefit of writing down your thoughts and expectations throughout the year is that it becomes very easy to identify what has been surprising. Starting with the […]
