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Mega Monopolies

#pv_diaries #monoply #megamonopoly #antitrust #antitrustlaw The four giants have been investigated: Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google. They are accused of what some call, "mega monopoly". The investigation has thrown some critical insights into how they are behaving monopolistically. How each of them is trying to establish a monopoly and not allowing the competitors to compete in an unfair manner. Epic Games is the hero who brought Apple and Google to the court for removing his game (the maker of Frontline) from Apple Store and Google Play Store. It then followed series of suits against these big four with varying accusations. Amazon has been accused of (mis)utilizing the data of third party sellers on its platform. (It is accused) that using the same data, Amazon benefited (as it itself is also a seller on its own platform). What the Report Says ( Source: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/10/06/technology/house-antitrust-report-big-tech.html) “This

HR Diaries Chapter 8: WHEN YOUR SUBORDINATE IS 'STRESSED' - PART - II

 Please read this blog post (https://pathikvariya.blogspot.com/2020/10/hr-diary-chapter-7-when-your.html) before reading the current one as both are related. After a lot of thinking, both, Chandu and Swami decided to take matters into their hands and "peep" into the life of Raghu. Swami was given the charge to find out what was wrong with Raghu? They thought it was ok to "peep" into the personal life of Raghu as not only Raghu was a close friend of Swami, it was essential to solve the stress-related problems of Raghu as it would also make business sense. His remaining absent for a long period would prove to be costly for the business. So, Chandu and Swami, after a long discussion, decided to learn more about the personal life of Raghu (and probable reasons for his recent stress and poor performance at the workplace) Swami first scanned through the social media posts of Raghu, to get an idea about, what was going into the mind, as well as, the life of Raghu. Swami wo

PPF DIARIES: CHAPTER 4: ASSET ALLOCATION

  Dear Reader, If you are reading this, it would be prudent for you to read the previous chapters of this PPF series. That will make this reading more meaningful. Chapter 1:  https://pathikvariya.blogspot.com/2020/05/ppf-practical-personal-finance-series.html Chapter 2:  https://ppfbypathikvariya.blogspot.com/2020/05/ppf-practical-personal-finance-series_11.html Chapter 3: Risk Profiling:  https://ppfbypathikvariya.blogspot.com/2020/06/ppf-diaries-chapter-3-risk-profiling.html Once you have read all of the above chapters, it means, you are now ready to invest! You have created the emergency fund and got enough insurance. You also know how much risk you can afford to take. The next step in the personal finance journey is to work on asset allocation. We all know about the proverb that says not to put all our eggs in one basket. That reduces the risk of losing all the eggs if the basket is lost. But it does not tell us about how many (different types of) baskets should be there, how many

HR DIARY, CHAPTER 7: When your subordinate is 'stressed' - Part I

  Swami was a manager with a small restaurant. The restaurant was one of the best places to work for. The environment was just like home and everyone knew and called each other by their first names. There were hardly seven staff members including the cook, security, service staff etc. There was no standardized "job description" as it was not required (and feasible) in such a small set up. In fact, there was no dedicated HR department. Everyone would do the work as per needs and matching skills. But still, the hotel did well. Everyone was able to work in synchronization. The informal culture had effectively replaced the requirement of a rule-based system.  Raghu was a kind of "General Manager" in this setup. He looked after accounts and liaisoning with government agencies for various licences. If anything was there related to administration, Raghu would enthusiastically take charge. He was good with basic communication and administration in general.  It was just anot