The end of employees
The End of Employees – WSJ – temp agencies, zero-hour contracts, outsourcing, asset-light businesses, focusing on core competences etc etc all driven by revenue per employee metrics. The end of employees is about financial engineering, it is an example of late stage capitalism. You can thank McKinsey & Company for the ‘thought leadership’ that brought on this sorry state about the end of employees. I can imagine them ideating over a double finger of The Macallan 40 year old single malt aged in a bourbon cask
This Tech Entrepreneur Shares Her Strategy For Managing Remote Workers Globally – great interview with Tamara Middleton
Design
hiroshi fujiwara’s park-ing ginza X SONY collection | Design Boom – great tribute to Sony – now can they just get their mojo back
Fullstopnewparagraph — Freelance copywriter | London – really nicely designed site
Economics
People are quitting gig jobs in the sharing economy — Quartz – not terribly surprising, this is likely to accelerate interest in automation
Finance
FMCG
Is This the World’s Most Expensive Strawberry? | Time.com – interesting how the largely ex-pat Hong Kong Mums group kicked this story off. Gift giving is very important in Asia, is this any more offensive than Cadbury Christmas selection boxes, foil laminate packaging like Capri Sun or brittle plastic blister packs
Hong Kong
Innovation
Shell begins huge task of decommissioning Brent oil rigs | The Guardian – reduced tax revenue just as the UK goes post-EU with Brexit….
Emerging Theme Radar – Goldman Sachs – rising importance of lithium and blockchain (PDF)
Japan
Nanidato | Free Listening on SoundCloud – this week I have mostly been listening to Japanese pop with a disco feel
Media
60% of content created by brands is just clutter | Marketing Week – Havas meaningful brands study
‘Planet Earth II’ Snapchat Show Will Promote BBC TV Series | Variety – bit size lean back media for millennials
Bot Traffic Report 2016 | Incapsula Blog – interesting drill down into bot traffic for web properties
Thousands of College Kids Are Powering a Clickbait Empire | Backchannel – content marketing using university students
Software
Tucows – AVC – interesting how they morphing into an alternative telco infrastructure company
Style
Harajuku style bible FRUiTS stops publishing after 20 years | Dazed – Noooooo!
Wireless
Apple iPhone loses Chinese market share for first time as Oppo, Huawei, Vivo gain ground | South China Morning Post – and the iPhone 7 didn’t impress