Oxford Odyssey

Category: Management

  • Branding in the Information Age: Still Relevant?

    —

    by

    in

    The Erosion of Credibility in an Era of Information Abundance In the pre-internet era, brands were synonymous with trust. A name like Berry Brothers & Rudd symbolised safety in a world where a sip of counterfeit moonshine could lead to blindness. The brand’s reputation was its most valuable asset, built on years of consistent quality.…

  • Sandcone Model: Why I’m suspicious of cost-cutting measure

    —

    by

    in

    When I started my graduate role in corporate strategy at a large company, I had to take on numerous cost-cutting projects. What I learnt is that cost cutting is often underrated in difficulty and often misused. This is also why the Sandcone Model sets cost as the last priority in building competitiveness. The Sandcone Model…

  • Global Business History – the GOATed module

    —

    by

    in

    Have you ever wanted to step into the shoes of a Harvard Business School professor and create a case study that others will learn from? At Oxford, the Global Business History module lets you do just that.  This is perhaps my favourite course in Oxford. In Harvard Business School, students learn through the Case Method.…

  • Why Blitzscaling is overrated

    —

    by

    in

    I believe that the blitzscaling strategy has lost a large part of its effective and is a convenient way for growth companies to obscure profitability problems. Firstly, switching costs for most applications today are overstated and valuations are hence over-estimated. The notion behind switching costs is best exemplified by Microsoft, which has built a durable…

  • Accounting: The subjectivity of hard numbers

    —

    by

    in

    When people hear “accounting,” they often picture dull number-crunching or meticulous cash counting. But accounting is far from the boring, mechanical process many assume. Beneath the surface of matching the debits and credits lies a fascinating world of interpretation, judgement, and subjectivity. At its core, accounting is using numbers to tell a story about the…

  • Startup ecosystems

    —

    by

    in

    Oxford has a superb entrepreneurial ecosystem. Casting our eyes out, many exist overseas outside of the UK as well. You want to be in an environment that has people building together – just as peers who pressure-test ideas, suggest new avenues for resources, or just give you that motivation to survive one more day. You…

  • The lean startup

    —

    by

    in

    Before university, I spent hours meticulously crafting business plans for ideas that excited me: edible insect farms, automated restaurants, and drone delivery networks. These plans were my prized possessions, backed up across multiple storage devices like precious relics. Diving into new industries and dissecting the intricacies that made them commercially promising was thrilling. I relished…

  • Debt – good or bad for a company?

    —

    by

    in

    As a kid, I loved the Suze Orman show. My favourite segment involved callers asking Suze Orman if they could make a purchase, and Orman would tear into the obviously irresponsible purchases with a “DENIED”. Most financial advice recommends that consumer debt should be kept down. There are some quibbles over good and bad debt,…

  • When Good Customer Service Becomes Complex – And Why AI Chatbots Can Be Frustrating

    —

    by

    in

    Contextual ServiceStarbucks is often cited as the epitome of a customer-focused business, inspired by Howard Schultz’s vision of fostering community around coffee. Sitting in Gail’s as I write this, I can’t help but reflect on how many of us equate good service with the cheery greetings and casual chats we share with baristas. However, good…

  • Mergers & Acquisitions: How a company can be less than the sum of its parts

    —

    by

    in

    I blame both Spring Week and Summer Associate recruiting for the number of times I told an interviewer that M&A was my passion and intellectual calling. I had to read up on so many deals – looking at each bank’s transactions and picking one to express my amazement at the genius of such a deal.…