| | submitted by phresh_styles to problemgambling [link] [comments] |
“A well-managed brand is the lifeblood of any successful company. Read this book before your competitors do!” ―TOM KELLEY, GENERAL MANAGER, IDEO2. Everybody Writes — Ann Handley
THE BRAND GAP is the first book to present a unified theory of brand. The second edition features a 220-term brand glossary and a premium softcover binding. Whereas most books on branding are weighted toward either a strategic or creative approach, this book shows how both ways of thinking can unite to produce a “charismatic brand” — a brand that customers feel is essential to their lives.
“All your shiny new channels, properties, and platforms are a waste of space without smart, useful content. Ann Handley’s new book helps make every bit of content count — for your customers and your bottom line.” — Kristina Halvorson, President, Brain Traffic3. How Brands Grow: What Marketers Don’t Know — Byron Sharp
If you have a website, you are a publisher. If you are on social media, you are in marketing. And that means that we are all relying on our words to carry our marketing messages. We are all writers.
Everybody Writes is your go-to guide to attracting and retaining customers through stellar online communication, because in our content-driven world, every one of us is a writer.
“…marketers need to move beyond the psycho-babble and read this book… or be left hopelessly behind.” — Joseph Tripodi, The Coca-Cola Company4. D&AD. The Copy Book
Professor Byron Sharp is the Director of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science at the University of South Australia. The Institute’s fundamental research is used and financially supported by many of the world’s leading corporations including Coca-Cola, Kraft, Kellogg’s, British Airways, Procter & Gamble, Nielsen, TNS, Turner Broadcasting, Network Ten, Simplot, Mars and many others.
“The Copy Book convinced me that everyone in business should study the art of copywriting.” — Fortune.com5. Junior: Writing Your Way Ahead in Advertising — Thomas Kemeny
The book features a work selection and essays by 53 leading professionals in the world, including copywriting superstars such as David Abbott, Lionel Hunt, Steve Hayden, Dan Wieden, Neil French, Mike Lescarbeau, Adrian Holmes, and Barbara Nokes.
The lessons to be learned on these pages will help you create clearer and more persuasive arguments, whether you are writing an inspiring speech, an engaging web banner or a persuasive letter. This is not simply a “must-have” book for people in advertising and marketing, it is also a “should-have” for anyone who needs to involve or influence people, by webpage, on paper, or in person.
“If my older and wiser brother were an ad book, these would be his exact words. If he’d ask me to wash his filthy car every Sunday in exchange for his wisdom, I’d say ‘No problem, ‘ knowing I got the better end of the deal.” — PAUL MALMSTROM, Creative Chairman and Co-Founder, Mother6. Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This: The Classic Guide to Creating Great Ads — Luke Sullivan
There are a lot of great advertising books, but none that get down in the dirt with you quite like this one. Thomas Kemeny made a career at some of the best ad agencies in America. In this book he shows how he got in, how he’s stayed in, and how you can do it too. He breaks apart how to write fun, smart, and effective copy-everything from headlines to scripts to experiential activations-giving readers a lesson on a language we all thought we already knew.
“Classic must-read Sullivan mixed with innovation master Boches make the perfect duo. This is the book that will help guide new talent to great career starts. Required reading for a new era.” — Deborah Morrison**,** Distinguished Professor of Advertising, University of Oregon7. Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind — Al Ries, Jack Trout
Hey Whipple, Squeeze This has helped generations of young creatives make their mark in the field. From starting out and getting work, to building successful campaigns, you gain a real-world perspective on what it means to be great in a fast-moving, sometimes harsh industry. You’ll learn how to tell brand stories and create brand experiences online and in traditional media outlets, and you’ll learn more about the value of authenticity, simplicity, storytelling, and conflict.
The first book to deal with the problems of communicating to a skeptical, media-blitzed public, Positioning describes a revolutionary approach to creating a “position” in a prospective customer’s mind-one that reflects a company’s own strengths and weaknesses as well as those of its competitors.So, there you have it. It’s worth nothing, my list above is just that; my list. I’m sure there are plenty of people that read books from that list and for whatever reason, it just didn’t resonate with them in the same way that Growth Hackersdoesn’t do it for me, either. These are simply the books I’d consider to be game-changing, and now recommend them to anyone working in marketing & e-commerce.
“…Ries and Trout taught me everything I know about branding, marketing, and product management. When I had the idea of creating a very large thematic community on the Web, I first thought of Positioning….” — David Bohnett, Chairman and Founder of GeoCities
“A well-managed brand is the lifeblood of any successful company. Read this book before your competitors do!” ―TOM KELLEY, GENERAL MANAGER, IDEO2. Everybody Writes — Ann Handley
THE BRAND GAP is the first book to present a unified theory of brand. The second edition features a 220-term brand glossary and a premium softcover binding. Whereas most books on branding are weighted toward either a strategic or creative approach, this book shows how both ways of thinking can unite to produce a “charismatic brand” — a brand that customers feel is essential to their lives.
“All your shiny new channels, properties, and platforms are a waste of space without smart, useful content. Ann Handley’s new book helps make every bit of content count — for your customers and your bottom line.” — Kristina Halvorson, President, Brain Traffic3. How Brands Grow: What Marketers Don’t Know — Byron Sharp
If you have a website, you are a publisher. If you are on social media, you are in marketing. And that means that we are all relying on our words to carry our marketing messages. We are all writers.
Everybody Writes is your go-to guide to attracting and retaining customers through stellar online communication, because in our content-driven world, every one of us is a writer.
“…marketers need to move beyond the psycho-babble and read this book… or be left hopelessly behind.” — Joseph Tripodi, The Coca-Cola Company4. D&AD. The Copy Book
Professor Byron Sharp is the Director of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science at the University of South Australia. The Institute’s fundamental research is used and financially supported by many of the world’s leading corporations including Coca-Cola, Kraft, Kellogg’s, British Airways, Procter & Gamble, Nielsen, TNS, Turner Broadcasting, Network Ten, Simplot, Mars and many others.
“The Copy Book convinced me that everyone in business should study the art of copywriting.” — Fortune.com5. Junior: Writing Your Way Ahead in Advertising — Thomas Kemeny
The book features a work selection and essays by 53 leading professionals in the world, including copywriting superstars such as David Abbott, Lionel Hunt, Steve Hayden, Dan Wieden, Neil French, Mike Lescarbeau, Adrian Holmes, and Barbara Nokes.
The lessons to be learned on these pages will help you create clearer and more persuasive arguments, whether you are writing an inspiring speech, an engaging web banner or a persuasive letter. This is not simply a “must-have” book for people in advertising and marketing, it is also a “should-have” for anyone who needs to involve or influence people, by webpage, on paper, or in person.
“If my older and wiser brother were an ad book, these would be his exact words. If he’d ask me to wash his filthy car every Sunday in exchange for his wisdom, I’d say ‘No problem, ‘ knowing I got the better end of the deal.” — PAUL MALMSTROM, Creative Chairman and Co-Founder, Mother6. Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This: The Classic Guide to Creating Great Ads — Luke Sullivan
There are a lot of great advertising books, but none that get down in the dirt with you quite like this one. Thomas Kemeny made a career at some of the best ad agencies in America. In this book he shows how he got in, how he’s stayed in, and how you can do it too. He breaks apart how to write fun, smart, and effective copy-everything from headlines to scripts to experiential activations-giving readers a lesson on a language we all thought we already knew.
“Classic must-read Sullivan mixed with innovation master Boches make the perfect duo. This is the book that will help guide new talent to great career starts. Required reading for a new era.” — Deborah Morrison**,** Distinguished Professor of Advertising, University of Oregon7. Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind — Al Ries, Jack Trout
Hey Whipple, Squeeze This has helped generations of young creatives make their mark in the field. From starting out and getting work, to building successful campaigns, you gain a real-world perspective on what it means to be great in a fast-moving, sometimes harsh industry. You’ll learn how to tell brand stories and create brand experiences online and in traditional media outlets, and you’ll learn more about the value of authenticity, simplicity, storytelling, and conflict.
The first book to deal with the problems of communicating to a skeptical, media-blitzed public, Positioning describes a revolutionary approach to creating a “position” in a prospective customer’s mind-one that reflects a company’s own strengths and weaknesses as well as those of its competitors.So, there you have it. It’s worth nothing, my list above is just that; my list. I’m sure there are plenty of people that read books from that list and for whatever reason, it just didn’t resonate with them in the same way that Growth Hackersdoesn’t do it for me, either. These are simply the books I’d consider to be game-changing, and now recommend them to anyone working in marketing & e-commerce.
“…Ries and Trout taught me everything I know about branding, marketing, and product management. When I had the idea of creating a very large thematic community on the Web, I first thought of Positioning….” — David Bohnett, Chairman and Founder of GeoCities
 | Hi all, submitted by Edjaz to smallstreetbets [link] [comments] Yesterday Enphase Energy published their Q4 2020 results. See my earlier DD here in this sub. With this post I would like to discuss the results and the web-call with regard to future growth/earnings. So far my investment in Enphase was a solid move (5% after-market), let’s hope that this momentum will increase. I have divided this post in three chapters: results, web-cast management notes and analyst Q&A. However, before we continue let me first do a short into on the new C-suite hire. Chief Marketing Officer Enphase recently announced that they hired Allison Johnson as Chief Marketing Officer. Who is Mrs. Johnson and why did they hire her at this moment? Are sales declining or are there some amazing plans in the pipeline? “Johnson brings decades of executive marketing experience to Enphase, including serving as chief marketing officer at PayPal, where she led a global marketing transformation, and as vice president of marketing communications at Apple, Inc., where she helped launch some of Apple’s most iconic products and campaigns of the Steve Jobs era. Johnson received her Bachelor of Science degree in journalism and communications at the University of Florida.” When checking her Linkedin, she started working at IBM as a Media Relations Director, moved to Netscape (1 year) à HP (6 years) à Apple (6 years) à West (7 years) à Paypal (1.5 years). Let leave it here for now. Results Q4 2020: · We reported revenue of $264.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2020, along with 40.2% for non-GAAP gross margin. We shipped approximately 762 megawatts DC, or 2,292,132 microinverters. · Revenue of $264.8 million · Cash flow from operations of $84.2 million; ending cash balance of $679.4 million · GAAP gross margin of 46.0%; non-GAAP gross margin of 40.2% · GAAP operating income of $79.1 million; non-GAAP operating income of $72.4 million · GAAP net income of $73.0 million; non-GAAP net income of $71.3 million · GAAP diluted earnings per share of $0.50; non-GAAP diluted earnings per share of $0.51 https://preview.redd.it/8rqzlro7vmg61.png?width=605&format=png&auto=webp&s=605df05a5786cde0d8a866f3fe901dd691bdf4ad This was their forecast for Q4 2020: For the fourth quarter of 2020, Enphase Energy estimates both GAAP and non-GAAP financial results as follows: · Revenue to be within a range of $245.0 million to $260.0 million; revenue guidance does not include any safe harbor shipments · GAAP gross margin to be within a range of 37.0% to 40.0%, excluding the recovery of the remaining $16.0 million tariff refund that has not yet been approved; non-GAAP gross margin to be within a range of 38.0% to 41.0%, excluding tariff refund and stock-based compensation expenses · GAAP operating expenses to be within a range of $51.0 million to $54.0 million, including $16.0 million estimated for stock-based compensation expenses and acquisition related amortization · Non-GAAP operating expenses to be within a range of $35.0 million to $38.0 million, excluding $16.0 million estimated for stock-based compensation expenses and acquisition related amortization So one can say that they performed extremely well. Management notes web-call: Badri: “Let's now talk about manufacturing. Our operations team did a great job flexing manufacturing as 2020 played out. When the pandemic began, we cut manufacturing in Q2 of 2020 and then had to quickly ramp back up to meet the surge in demand in Q3 and Q4. The production in Q4 was more than two times the level in Q2. I'm very pleased with the ramp of our Mexico factory that met our target of producing more than 1 million units in Q4.” “As part of our supply chain strategy to diversify production to tariff free and cost competitive locations globally, we began microinverter production at Salcomp, India in October of 2020 and started shipping to customers during Q4. We have a high quality state-of-the-art automated line with a quarterly production capacity of 0.5 million units and the space to add a second line with the same capacity. The production ramp is going very well and we expect to produce approximately 400,000 microinverters in India in Q1.” “Let's now move on to the regions. Our US and international revenue mix for Q4 was 82% and 18%.” “In Europe, we reported record revenue for Q4. Revenue increased 10% sequentially. On an annual basis, the revenue from Europe increased 32% in 2020.” “In Australia, we built on our strong Q3 results and achieved record quarterly sell-through and record installer count in Q4. The results were fueled by the launch of our Enphase Installer Network or EIN as well as growing demand for our high power IQ 7A microinverters plus a favorable competitive environment as regulations continued to shift towards safer and smarter solar. We expect to introduce our Enphase Storage system for the Australian market during the fourth quarter of 2021.” “In Latin America, we reported record quarterly revenue. Puerto Rico showed strength for our microinverter systems as well as our storage systems.” “At the same time, the uptick in broad economic activity has stressed the global semiconductor supply chain. We are seeing constraints on a few semiconductor components used in our microinverters.” “There are two specific components that we are constrained on. One is our ASIC that goes into the micro and the other is the AC FET drivers that actually drive the high voltage FET. There the name of the game is we are qualifying multiple more sources so that we have more supply as well as expediting product. And I am in direct touch with the CEOs of those companies and they are helping as much as they can. We expect to get all caught up basically by early April. Our top priority through all of this is to ensure that we take care of customers. So we will do whatever it takes in order to ensure their lines are running and that they are not affected. So that's on the microinverter side.” “You will see a lot more going forward. So we continue to grow at a nice clip. You can do the math. If we continue to grow at this 30%, soon we will need a third supplier, that might happen in 2022 and we are already talking to those people” TL:DR: They are growing in every aspect. They are trying to train installers internationally (Australia, Europe, South-America). Ones these installers are trained appropriately, they will start installing the products. Enphase will rather wait with the installment to only send very trained personnel, then just let a shitty installer do the job. Q&A: Q1: “Thanks for taking our questions and congrats on the quarter. So you said you'll start shipping IQ 8 in 2Q. How should we think about IQ 8's standalone pricing versus IQ 7? What may be the range on the premium and might you expect over time a majority of installers shifting more toward IQ 8 versus IQ 7 or is the jury out on that question still?” A1: “With regarding whether people are going to adopt IQ 8 over IQ 7, we think the answer is a no brainer. It's going to be, yes. IQ 8 is a grid-independent microinverter system. So, therefore, I expect the adoption to be high when it is released and there are obviously a lot of combinations with IQ 8 and in some cases, people might prefer to buy IQ 8 with a smarter storage system and we will be promoting the heck out of it.” Q2: “Okay. Thank you. And just on the R&D cycle, are there any updates you can provide on the development of IQ 9 where that currently stands at this time? Is it still being developed or is it in testing phase? If you can provide any color there? Thank you.” A2: “Yeah. We are actually working on IQ 9 at this time and IQ 9, our vision is basically obviously smaller, cheaper, faster, producing a lot more power than IQ 8. Right now, we are focused on a few areas. One is, we'd like to see how to reduce the footprint of the transformers, the [indiscernible] (00:49:10), the 600-volt AC FET devices through some semiconductor process innovation. GaN transistors are becoming widespread. GaN-on-GaN, GaN-on-silicon, they are becoming widespread.” Q3: “And just on the new acquisitions and the digital strategy, could you maybe talk about like what's the goal here in terms of reducing that soft cost? I think a couple in the solar developers have talked about $7,000 or $8,000 per customer of soft costs. So, is the idea here to kind of like bring it down similar to probably what the soft cost is in Europe and Australia or what's your thought process here? And I have just a quick follow-up after that as well. Thanks.” “Yeah. So, soft cost is an outcome of what our goal is. Our goal is to provide our installer partners with the best service possible, and so – installer partners actually as well as the homeowner. So, we have mapped out a very detailed journey of both how the entire installation process as well for both the installers as well as our homeowners starting with leads all the way through design, proposal, permitting, procurement, commissioning, installation commissioning, permission to operate O&M, et cetera. And so, if we do an amazing job on that where we really create a very powerful platform and these acquisitions that we're talking about are important elements of that journey, then I think the natural outcome of that is going to be a reduction in the soft cost. But we are starting with a very clear focus that this is about bringing great value for our long-tail installer partners.” My thoughts: Staying invested in a company post-earnings is normally not our strategy. We scan every company on the earnings calendar and dive in the fundamentals/growth of that company. If you find 3 solid companies which you want to gamble your money on per week, there is a possibility to earn 10% ROI on each of those companies. Investing in boomer company of which the stock increases 2% post-earnings is not interesting for us. It rather be +7% at least, or nothing. Enphase however is a different story. They keep beating their forecasts every quarter. There is enormous demand for their products and they a growing in supply and demand. - Management is amazing. The way Badri perceives the business is very client focused. They are well aware that this is a client focused business and quality and client experience are top priority. - With regards to future growth they have some very interesting things going on. IQ 8, which I expect to be finished during the 2nd quarter of this year. Then it is the job of the new CMO to promote the heck out of this. As Badri said in the call: “people might prefer to buy IQ 8 with a smarter storage system and we will be promoting the heck out of it.” - There is so much growth opportunity in this company. And yes the P/E is high, but you must see Enphase as a tech company and not solar producer. Last quarter they hired 85 employees. - So our plan: keep this gem for one more quarter to see how their results are in the next quarter. Have they improved their semiconductors problem or not? Are they still beating the forecast or not. Then we’ll see from there on. This weekend’s plan: scan earnings calendar of next week to find the next gem 😊 Q1 2021 forecasts: For the first quarter of 2021, Enphase Energy estimates both GAAP and non-GAAP financial results as follows: • Revenue to be within a range of $280.0 million to $300.0 million; revenue guidance does not include any safe harbor shipments • GAAP gross margin to be within a range of 37.0% to 40.0%, as there are no remaining tariff refunds pending approval; non-GAAP gross margin to be within a range of 38.0% to 41.0%, excluding stock-based compensation expenses • GAAP operating expenses to be within a range of $64.0 million to $67.0 million, including $22.0 million estimated for stock-based compensation expenses and acquisition related costs and amortization • Non-GAAP operating expenses to be within a range of $42.0 million to $45.0 million, excluding $22.0 million estimated for stock-based compensation expenses and acquisition related costs and amortization |
 | To think of these stars that you see overhead at night, these vast worlds which we can never reach. I would annex the planets if I could; I often think of that. It makes me sad to see them so clear and yet so far. -- Cecil Rhodes, Last Will and TestamentThis is the 3rd post in a series on South Africa and Apartheid and so far in the first two neither Apartheid nor South Africa even exists. But we are to the mid climax. In first part we discussed how our groups of players: Afrikaners, British, Xhosa, Zulu, minor tribes, other ethnicities got to what would become South Africa. In the second part we discussed how the Zulus and Xhosa knocked themselves out of the game leaving the British and Afrikaners as the main players standing for who got rule what would become South Africa. We also discussed how the British policy was non-viable. This part is going to discuss how the British changed course and consequently won control. We are also going to get to the genesis of the Western Left's hatred of the Afrikaners and the genesis of Apartheid, We'll end on the creation of the Union of South Africa which while not the Republic of South Africa will allow me to stop talking about "Southern Africa", "territory that will become South Africa".... But unfortunately you will have to sit through this one more post where South Africa doesn't exist yet. Cecil Rhodes was born in 1853 the sickly asthmatic 5th son of a not particularly notable clergyman. He'd remain sickly his entire life dying in 1902 at the age of 48 from the sorts of deterioration of the heart and lung one wouldn't expect to see until a man was at least well into their 90s. In that short span he would: become one of the richest men in the world; found several countries; change the entire economic structure of the territories that would become: South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe; found 2 major corporations: the British South Africa Company and De Beers; rethink British imperialism inventing what would become the British Commonwealth; becoming one of the defining figures and great visionaries of the Victorian Age; trigger the 2nd Boer War; demonstrate the strategy changing nature of the machine gun decades before World War 1; be the only genuinely important Prime Minister of the Cape Colony; invent the concept of corporate armies; play a large role in saving the South African wine industry and most importantly be the only individual getting his own post in this series. :) Rhodes was sent to South Africa at the age of 17 so that the British weather didn't kill him. Rather than doing the normal thing and spending the money (amounting to a decade or less of a comfortable middle class salary, but no great fortune) on living with some gambling and girls thrown in he decided to head to the newly discovered diamond mines in Kimberly and started buying up small diamond mining operations leveraging each mine's output and outside financing to buy the next. Later he partnered with leading financing and trading firms so by 1888 had what amounted to monopoly control of diamond industry turning De Beers into the diamond powerhouse it remains to this day though the last pieces wouldn't fall into place until 1890. He by the 1880s De Beers was throwing off enough excess profits that he could pay investors and continue expending De Beers while being able to found the predecessor to the British South Africa Company operating much further into the interior opening up Bechuanaland and Rhodesia as colonies using his own profits to fund the administrative expenses much as the East India Company had done a century earlier. Rhodes believed that British policy wasn't viable because it was petty. A vibrant healthy economy throws off an enormous amount of tax revenue. Petty colonialism, like the kind the British were engaging in would never generate much profit because of its very short term nature. Britain should make money by investing in the local economy, spend some on upkeep, reinvesting most of the profits and just skim a little of a forever growing payout. What Britain had tried to do with the American colonies encouraging economic development was the right approach. The problem was London had been shortsighted and selfish turning the local administrators against them. The independence of the USA wasn't a strategic failure it was the result of poor tactical implementation. The problem the British were facing in Southern Africa was similar and since the policies had been similar the results would be as well. The Afrikaners had no reason to be loyal to a Britain which had spent almost a century making very clear that it had no interest in their welfare or society beyond some ports which were frankly not nearly so important since Suez had opened. Rhodes changed policy to have Britain stop acting like a colonizing power and start acting like the domestic government of South Africa as much as possible .Outlining his changes to colonial governing policy:
map of Cecil Rhodes' proposed British Empire You'll notice that all of Africa was in the map. Rhodes was of the opinion that Africa was incredibly rich in minerals and peoples. But it wasn't exploitable for profit because of a lack of transportation infrastructure. Rhodes was pushing to start fixing this by creating a full African north-south railway connecting "Cairo to the Cape". Rhodes' BSAC conquests were designed to drive north while he used his political influence to push the Egyptian conquest further south into Anglo-Egyptian Sudan and then a business similar to BSAC run by Sir William Mackinnon to push into Uganda. For the northward push (primarily in what today is Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana) Rhodes was directly implementing his policy using a private army funded from the British South Africa Company. The Ndebele and Shona (Zulu tribes) were handled easily by the devastating defeat principle. Rhodes' forces demonstrated how effectively Maxims (a primitive form of machine gun) and barbed wire worked against simple rifles, spears and long shields achieving kill ratios never before seen in the history of warfare. As an aside these battles against the Zulus would also be used by those military theorists and historians who correctly anticipated in the later 1890s through 1910s how devastating a war between the great powers would be using these weapons against each other. Rhodes through BSAC had managed to push north of Lake Mweru and to the Northern tip of Lake Nyasa. Which almost connected with Sudan were it not for German East Africa (Burundi, Rwanda, and Tanzania) in the middle. In theory an alternative route through the Belgian Congo would also work but the gold mines in Tanzania kept Rhodes focused on taking German East Africa. Further Rhodes met his match in ruthlessness when it came to the Belgians. When Rhodes' negotiating agent sought a development contract for mineral-rich Katanga (in Congo) the native ruler Msiri refused. King Leopold II of Belgium obtained the same concession by having his agent signing it to Belgium himself over Msiri's dead body in the name of the "Congo Free State". At the same time Rhodes worked with the Colonial office and in 1890 British issued the "1890 British Ultimatum" to Portugal. This ultimatum by the British government forced the retreat of Portuguese military forces from areas which had been claimed by Portugal on the basis of historical discovery and recent exploration, but which the United Kingdom claimed on the basis of effective occupation. Portugal had attempted to claim a large area of land between its colonies of Mozambique and Angola including most of present-day Zimbabwe and Zambia and a large part of Malawi, which had been included in Portugal's "Rose-coloured Map". This ultimatum violated the Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of 1373 which to that point had been the longest standing peace treaty in history. Who owned what by the early 1900s Take a look at the map above and imagine the British controlling the north-south line connecting to a British/Portuguese line running east-west in the south and a joint French/British/Italian line running east-west in the north. From there local government and companies could construct smaller feeder lines creating a modern rail system. Hopefully and you start to see how Rhodes intended to start developing the transpiration infrastructure needed to create a strong African economy. All this was going to be for naught though if Southern Africa ended up as a Boer state hostile to British interests on the model ZAR (Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek, Transvaal Republic). So Rhodes decided to run for Prime Minister of the Cape Colony and solve the problems of British strategy explicated in part 2. The primary problem the Boer had with British government is their divide and conquer approach. The British tilted to whomever was losing (a standard British policy they would also follow in Palestine) which for decades meant treating the Boer and native Africans as both being subject peoples while favoring the native Africans against the Boer. In Rhodes mind you could not expect to get loyalty from people you were obvious disfavoring. The British were the ones turning the Boer into enemies. So in 1892 Rhodes instituted the Franchise and Ballot Act. This was seen as a compromise between factions in the Colonial Office and the traditions in the Cape Colony for a broad democracy (anyone with £25 in property could vote) and Orange and ZAR's (Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek, Transvaal Republic) more exclusive democracy. Rhodes raised the amount of property to £75, an amount specifically chosen to disempower many of the native Africans while allowing many Boers to vote. With a Boer and British based democracy locked in the Cape Colony's democratic powers could be strengthened, creating more self rule and making the involvement of the London Colonial Office less obvious. This concept of using a not explicitly racial criteria while instituting laws with racist intent is very modern. Various Liberals in the London Colonial Office especially missionaries disagreed strongly with Rhode's policies. They had been the ones advocating for the enlightened colonialism that was British policy. Missionaries in particular saw their role as: combating godlessness, superstition and backwardness. In particular encourage better use of land; encourage paycheck work; become trusted advisor to tribal leaders. The slogan "Bring the 3Cs into Africa" referred to Commerce, Christianity and Civilization. To their mind Rhodes' vision of British Imperialism was straight up military tyranny. If followed he would make England no different than a modern day Genghis Khan, creating a empire loathed by a vast expanse of subject peoples who would unite against it from all directions. Instead interfering minimally and being seen as an ally while slowly educated the elite in British custom and religion would cause a gradual consensual change that would build British alliances that would last centuries. Plus such an approach would fulfill the Lord's Great Commission (term for Jesus' command to convert the entire world to Christianity) in a way that honored God rather than shamed him. One need only look at how the Spanish, Portuguese and Balkans had thrown off Islam after centuries to see how ineffective military tyranny was at long term conversions that didn't require force. So in their mind: No the London Office should stand by its traditional values of: monopoly companies and plantations run in (unequal) partnership with indigenous elite. free trade, free (and indeed forced) migration, infrastructural investment, balanced budgets, sound money, the rule of law and incorrupt administration. As far as their Boer, in their mind the Boer were the primary impediment to enlighten British rule in South Africa, being Christians they were obligated to agree with the missionaries on the vision of the White Man's Burden and Enlightened Empire. Rather than making concession to the Boer they needed to be crushed to demonstrate the moral difference between the Boer and the British. With Rhodes' change in policy tilting towards rather than away from the Boer the Western Left came to truly hate the Boer in 1890s. Since the point of this series is the analogy I'll add that I wrote two posts about more or less the same groups of Liberal Christians turning against Israel again having to do with Israeli/Jews discrediting Liberal Western values and thus interfering with the Great Commission: WCC churches and Quakers. Rhodes in debates before and at the time considered this Liberal Empire stuff to be simply aspirational. Without economic interference there wasn't enough money to fund anything like what the Liberals proposed. He'd point to facts like that after a century of such rules in India they had increased the secondary schooling 7x to a whopping 2% while England with not nearly as many well funded missionary organizations was over 16%. Rhodes hoped to unify all of Southern Africa around this compromise approach to the franchise. ZAR however rejected this compromise. By the mid 1990s approximately 1/3rd of their white population were British (Anglicans). ZAR had every intent of maintaining religious based voting criteria (i.e. citizenship in ZAR was only open to people who were members of several Dutch Reformed Churches, see part 2). Obviously for Rhodes a situation where British people were the disempowered minority was intolerable. Additionally the ZAR were maintaining an anti-Cape Colony / anti-British / anti-Rhodes trade policy. It was becoming increasingly clear there would need to be regime change. So in 1895 Rhodes organized an attempted coup d'état now called the "Jameson Raid" (yes the same Jameson who went on to be Prime Minister 1904-8 of the Cape Colony after the 2nd Boer War). The Afrikaners were more astute than natives had been caught wind of the early organization and waited until the forces were committed trapping hundreds of Rhode's people creating a great embarrassment. Its at this point that the Boer made by far the greatest mistake of their history as a people. The 4 years between 1895-9 were when they made the choices that led to their ruin. The British were really embarrassed. A colonial governor who had a crown chartered corporation had been caught red handed engaging in a serious act of war against another sovereign state with no approval from Parliament. The Colonial Office admitted as much and forced Rhodes out of office in 1896. The Afrikaners had real negotiating leverage to work out a deal. It obviously would be extremely important that the next leader of the Cape be friendly. But they didn't decide to negotiate. Instead they started flirting with the Germans, while not actually signing a formal alliance with Germany that at least had the potential to provide them real protection. The flirtation however, turned a nasty incident into a serious threat to all British interests in Southern Africa forcing a British response. In Britain an alliance of Jingoists (populist military hawks) angry about the humiliation of 1st Boer War, Conservative Imperialists who wanted to end Boer independence especially in the ZAR (the 3 core values for Conservatives at the time were: Union with Ireland, the Empire and the superiority of the British race), Liberal Imperialists who supported Rhodes' vision and Missionaries who hated the Boer formed pushing for a war. Seeing this alliance form against them the Afrikaners did nothing to avert the danger. Rather they made a mistake many 2nd tier powers do when it comes to 1st tier powers. The Afrikaners confused the light force and weak will the 1st tier power is willing to spend on them with the amount of force the 1st tier power is capable of employing if it so chooses. Having beaten the British handily in the 1st Boer War when they were fighting the C-team (as I called in part 2) the Afrikaners grossly underestimated what they would face against a British army that had a political mandate for victory, what Britain's A-team would look like. Preparing for something slightly worse than the 1st Boer War the Boer began a serious arms buying program in 1897. ZAR also got more belligerent in their rhetoric which led to a formal alliance with the Orange State and Boer guerilla groups that could support the war effort in the Cape. The Boer had about 63k troops including some foreign troops. . The British were determined not to lose the 2nd Boer War. This was going to be the British-A team. By the second phase of the war between British soldiers, soldiers from other colonies and local Africans providing auxiliary Boer were facing a 500-600k man army. Nor was the command third or even second rate as it had been in the 1st Boer War. For example, the top military command would be Herbert Kitchener who was fresh from the victorious Anglo-Egyptian invasion of Sudan. Kitchener after the 2nd Boer War would go on to be the Commander-in-Chief for the armies in India and a decade after that the UK's Secretary of State for War during World War 1. He's this guy: Kitchener famous 1914 recruiting poster The cost to maintain that army would be £60m / year far more than Britain could ever pull out of Southern Africa (GDP and inflation adjusted the Boer War would cost the UK about $250b). The first phase of the war was a Boer offensive while the British were still deploying troops in October–December 1899. Once the British were done they conquered all pockets of resistance in the Cape and Orange as well as essentially the entire ZAR territory January to September 1900. The Afrikaners decided to fight when surrender was the better option. Leading to a guerrilla war between September 1900 and May 1902. The British simply could not afford to keep an army of that size in the field for years dealing with guerilla tactics until the Boer admitted they were beat. Facing time pressure the British felt they had no choice but to come down hard. The British cut the guerilla war short by instituting a scorched earth policy against areas giving support to guerillas in the ZAR (most of the ZAR). ZAR men were mostly in the militias. Scorched earth destroyed the food supply in the ZAR so the British threw the women and children in concentration camps. The army hadn't prepped for needing to support massive numbers of civilians so malnutrition and disease were rampant in the concentration camps. This disease and malnutrition resulting in a camp death rate of approximately 30% annually. A policy amounting to genocide. Pro Boer forces in the UK generated widespread opposition to the camps so the military response was to not confine woman and children and instead leave civilians on the now barren earth to die of starvation and exposure. Actual POWs were deported to Bermuda and India preventing the Boer from standing any chance of liberating them. African tribes that had lost territory to the Boer began moving in. While both sides had agreed not to arm natives or recruit tribes. But the British weren't going to fight for the Boer if tribes decided to take advantage of their defeat. The Boer were quickly losing everything they were fighting for: freedom, their lands, their family, the self dependence and surrendered rather than have their population geocoded to oblivion, being left with no economy and whatever lands they managed to hold being assaulted on all sides by natives who would take it from them. The Boer society that emerged from the surrender did not have separatist attitude. Destitute Boers now willing to work in the minds and alongside black Africans swelled the ranks of the unskilled urban poor competing with the "uitlanders" in the mines. The new economy was unambiguously focused on gold causing mine production to swell enriching the British interests. The Afrikaners were both physically and psychologically crushed, and wouldn't be causing any more problems for decades. In the UK the war came to be seen as excessive especially as the financial cost of the war sunk in. The Conservatives' suffered a spectacular defeat in 1906 driving the Conservative Prime Minister at the time (12 July 1902 – 4 December 1905) Arthur Balfour from office. He comes up rather regularly on this sub in his later role as Foreign Minister. As the Boer are no longer resisting the British Empire the shift towards more pro-Boer policies from England continues. In 1909 the British Parliament dissolves the British colonies of: Cape of Good Hope, Natal, Orange River Colony, and Transvaal and combines them into a Federal Union of South Africa. This makes South Africa into a Dominion (essentially Australia's status at the time). Jan Smuts (an Afrikaner) resurrects Rhodes' idea of a Common Wealth and the British embrace it. And so we conclude part 3 our story of how the British eventually won and South Africa came to exist. How the Western Left started to hate the Boer, a hatred they would resurrect later. And how the first steps towards apartheid were taken. Whew that was longer than I intended!
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 | Hi all, submitted by Edjaz to TheDailyDD [link] [comments] Yesterday Enphase Energy published their Q4 2020 results. See my earlier DD here: https://www.reddit.com/wallstreetbets/comments/lfdy2w/enphase_energy_enph_preearnings_feb_9_extensive_dd/ With this post I would like to discuss the results and the web-call with regard to future growth/earnings. So far my investment in Enphase was a solid move (5% after-market), let’s hope that this momentum will increase. I have divided this post in three chapters: results, web-cast management notes and analyst Q&A. However, before we continue let me first do a short into on the new C-suite hire. Chief Marketing Officer Enphase recently announced that they hired Allison Johnson as Chief Marketing Officer. Who is Mrs. Johnson and why did they hire her at this moment? Are sales declining or are there some amazing plans in the pipeline? “Johnson brings decades of executive marketing experience to Enphase, including serving as chief marketing officer at PayPal, where she led a global marketing transformation, and as vice president of marketing communications at Apple, Inc., where she helped launch some of Apple’s most iconic products and campaigns of the Steve Jobs era. Johnson received her Bachelor of Science degree in journalism and communications at the University of Florida.” When checking her Linkedin, she started working at IBM as a Media Relations Director, moved to Netscape (1 year) à HP (6 years) à Apple (6 years) à West (7 years) à Paypal (1.5 years). Let leave it here for now. Results Q4 2020: · We reported revenue of $264.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2020, along with 40.2% for non-GAAP gross margin. We shipped approximately 762 megawatts DC, or 2,292,132 microinverters. · Revenue of $264.8 million · Cash flow from operations of $84.2 million; ending cash balance of $679.4 million · GAAP gross margin of 46.0%; non-GAAP gross margin of 40.2% · GAAP operating income of $79.1 million; non-GAAP operating income of $72.4 million · GAAP net income of $73.0 million; non-GAAP net income of $71.3 million · GAAP diluted earnings per share of $0.50; non-GAAP diluted earnings per share of $0.51 https://preview.redd.it/0p36krxrumg61.png?width=605&format=png&auto=webp&s=7a22f5ec7452ecfbb765678468c2698d7b14ab9f This was their forecast for Q4 2020: For the fourth quarter of 2020, Enphase Energy estimates both GAAP and non-GAAP financial results as follows: · Revenue to be within a range of $245.0 million to $260.0 million; revenue guidance does not include any safe harbor shipments · GAAP gross margin to be within a range of 37.0% to 40.0%, excluding the recovery of the remaining $16.0 million tariff refund that has not yet been approved; non-GAAP gross margin to be within a range of 38.0% to 41.0%, excluding tariff refund and stock-based compensation expenses · GAAP operating expenses to be within a range of $51.0 million to $54.0 million, including $16.0 million estimated for stock-based compensation expenses and acquisition related amortization · Non-GAAP operating expenses to be within a range of $35.0 million to $38.0 million, excluding $16.0 million estimated for stock-based compensation expenses and acquisition related amortization So one can say that they performed extremely well. Management notes web-call: Badri: “Let's now talk about manufacturing. Our operations team did a great job flexing manufacturing as 2020 played out. When the pandemic began, we cut manufacturing in Q2 of 2020 and then had to quickly ramp back up to meet the surge in demand in Q3 and Q4. The production in Q4 was more than two times the level in Q2. I'm very pleased with the ramp of our Mexico factory that met our target of producing more than 1 million units in Q4.” “As part of our supply chain strategy to diversify production to tariff free and cost competitive locations globally, we began microinverter production at Salcomp, India in October of 2020 and started shipping to customers during Q4. We have a high quality state-of-the-art automated line with a quarterly production capacity of 0.5 million units and the space to add a second line with the same capacity. The production ramp is going very well and we expect to produce approximately 400,000 microinverters in India in Q1.” “Let's now move on to the regions. Our US and international revenue mix for Q4 was 82% and 18%.” “In Europe, we reported record revenue for Q4. Revenue increased 10% sequentially. On an annual basis, the revenue from Europe increased 32% in 2020.” “In Australia, we built on our strong Q3 results and achieved record quarterly sell-through and record installer count in Q4. The results were fueled by the launch of our Enphase Installer Network or EIN as well as growing demand for our high power IQ 7A microinverters plus a favorable competitive environment as regulations continued to shift towards safer and smarter solar. We expect to introduce our Enphase Storage system for the Australian market during the fourth quarter of 2021.” “In Latin America, we reported record quarterly revenue. Puerto Rico showed strength for our microinverter systems as well as our storage systems.” “At the same time, the uptick in broad economic activity has stressed the global semiconductor supply chain. We are seeing constraints on a few semiconductor components used in our microinverters.” “There are two specific components that we are constrained on. One is our ASIC that goes into the micro and the other is the AC FET drivers that actually drive the high voltage FET. There the name of the game is we are qualifying multiple more sources so that we have more supply as well as expediting product. And I am in direct touch with the CEOs of those companies and they are helping as much as they can. We expect to get all caught up basically by early April. Our top priority through all of this is to ensure that we take care of customers. So we will do whatever it takes in order to ensure their lines are running and that they are not affected. So that's on the microinverter side.” “You will see a lot more going forward. So we continue to grow at a nice clip. You can do the math. If we continue to grow at this 30%, soon we will need a third supplier, that might happen in 2022 and we are already talking to those people” TL:DR: They are growing in every aspect. They are trying to train installers internationally (Australia, Europe, South-America). Ones these installers are trained appropriately, they will start installing the products. Enphase will rather wait with the installment to only send very trained personnel, then just let a shitty installer do the job. Q&A: Q1: “Thanks for taking our questions and congrats on the quarter. So you said you'll start shipping IQ 8 in 2Q. How should we think about IQ 8's standalone pricing versus IQ 7? What may be the range on the premium and might you expect over time a majority of installers shifting more toward IQ 8 versus IQ 7 or is the jury out on that question still?” A1: “With regarding whether people are going to adopt IQ 8 over IQ 7, we think the answer is a no brainer. It's going to be, yes. IQ 8 is a grid-independent microinverter system. So, therefore, I expect the adoption to be high when it is released and there are obviously a lot of combinations with IQ 8 and in some cases, people might prefer to buy IQ 8 with a smarter storage system and we will be promoting the heck out of it.” Q2: “Okay. Thank you. And just on the R&D cycle, are there any updates you can provide on the development of IQ 9 where that currently stands at this time? Is it still being developed or is it in testing phase? If you can provide any color there? Thank you.” A2: “Yeah. We are actually working on IQ 9 at this time and IQ 9, our vision is basically obviously smaller, cheaper, faster, producing a lot more power than IQ 8. Right now, we are focused on a few areas. One is, we'd like to see how to reduce the footprint of the transformers, the [indiscernible] (00:49:10), the 600-volt AC FET devices through some semiconductor process innovation. GaN transistors are becoming widespread. GaN-on-GaN, GaN-on-silicon, they are becoming widespread.” Q3: “And just on the new acquisitions and the digital strategy, could you maybe talk about like what's the goal here in terms of reducing that soft cost? I think a couple in the solar developers have talked about $7,000 or $8,000 per customer of soft costs. So, is the idea here to kind of like bring it down similar to probably what the soft cost is in Europe and Australia or what's your thought process here? And I have just a quick follow-up after that as well. Thanks.” “Yeah. So, soft cost is an outcome of what our goal is. Our goal is to provide our installer partners with the best service possible, and so – installer partners actually as well as the homeowner. So, we have mapped out a very detailed journey of both how the entire installation process as well for both the installers as well as our homeowners starting with leads all the way through design, proposal, permitting, procurement, commissioning, installation commissioning, permission to operate O&M, et cetera. And so, if we do an amazing job on that where we really create a very powerful platform and these acquisitions that we're talking about are important elements of that journey, then I think the natural outcome of that is going to be a reduction in the soft cost. But we are starting with a very clear focus that this is about bringing great value for our long-tail installer partners.” My thoughts: Staying invested in a company post-earnings is normally not our strategy. We scan every company on the earnings calendar and dive in the fundamentals/growth of that company. If you find 3 solid companies which you want to gamble your money on per week, there is a possibility to earn 10% ROI on each of those companies. Investing in boomer company of which the stock increases 2% post-earnings is not interesting for us. It rather be +7% at least, or nothing. Enphase however is a different story. They keep beating their forecasts every quarter. There is enormous demand for their products and they a growing in supply and demand. - Management is amazing. The way Badri perceives the business is very client focused. They are well aware that this is a client focused business and quality and client experience are top priority. - With regards to future growth they have some very interesting things going on. IQ 8, which I expect to be finished during the 2nd quarter of this year. Then it is the job of the new CMO to promote the heck out of this. As Badri said in the call: “people might prefer to buy IQ 8 with a smarter storage system and we will be promoting the heck out of it.” - There is so much growth opportunity in this company. And yes the P/E is high, but you must see Enphase as a tech company and not solar producer. Last quarter they hired 85 employees. - So our plan: keep this gem for one more quarter to see how their results are in the next quarter. Have they improved their semiconductors problem or not? Are they still beating the forecast or not. Then we’ll see from there on. This weekend’s plan: scan earnings calendar of next week to find the next gem 😊 Q1 2021 forecasts: For the first quarter of 2021, Enphase Energy estimates both GAAP and non-GAAP financial results as follows: • Revenue to be within a range of $280.0 million to $300.0 million; revenue guidance does not include any safe harbor shipments • GAAP gross margin to be within a range of 37.0% to 40.0%, as there are no remaining tariff refunds pending approval; non-GAAP gross margin to be within a range of 38.0% to 41.0%, excluding stock-based compensation expenses • GAAP operating expenses to be within a range of $64.0 million to $67.0 million, including $22.0 million estimated for stock-based compensation expenses and acquisition related costs and amortization • Non-GAAP operating expenses to be within a range of $42.0 million to $45.0 million, excluding $22.0 million estimated for stock-based compensation expenses and acquisition related costs and amortization |
Problem gambling, also known as a gambling addiction, gambling disorder, or habitual gambling, is said to affect between 2 and 3% of the gambling population. Without getting help, it could seriously impact a person's life which is why it's important to educate yourself about problem gambling and its signs. Gambling Reforms. Digital technologies are rapidly changing Australia’s gambling industry. The 2015 Review of Illegal Offshore Wagering (the Review) noted that online wagering is the fastest growing gambling segment, with over $1.4 billion gambled online each year. Digital technology is also enabling operators to reach our phones, our televisions, our home computers at any time of the day or ... Popular gambling choices include games known to be associated with risk (cards, horse races, sports betting, casino games, and gaming machines) as well as lotto/scratch tickets. Males are more likely to be problem gamblers than females, and almost 10 % of male international students could be classified as problem gamblers. People with gambling disorder often hide their behaviour, but there are warning signs that gambling has become a problem for someone you know. These may include: missing money or household valuables; borrowing money regularly; having multiple loans; unpaid bills; lack of food and household essentials; withdrawing from family or at work It can also lead to stress, mental health issues and loss of control. In fact, 0.5-1.0% of Australian adults are problem gamblers according to Central Coast Gambling Help, and a further 1.4-2.1% ... AGRC survey reveals young men betting more in lockdown. October 2020: The Australian Gambling Research Centre’s survey on gambling during COVID-19 has shown that young male gamblers spent more in lockdown and they were doing it online (with one in three signing up for new online betting accounts).Dr Rebecca Jenkinson, AGRC manager, at the Australian Institute of Family Studies discussed the ... Why Australia has a serious gambling problem. By Clarissa Sebag-Montefiore, CNN. Updated 1824 GMT (0224 HKT) September 1, 2017 . JUST WATCHED When gambling becomes an addiction. Replay. What is problem gambling? Problem gambling does not have to mean you are totally out of control; it is any gambling behaviour that disrupts your life or the life of your loved ones. The impacts of problem gambling can be far reaching and can include: Debt or other financial problems; Relationship problems; Loss of employment or problems at work Gambling problems are indicated in the HILDA Survey by endorsing one or more items on the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI). According to the standard use of the PGSI, 1.1 million regular gamblers were estimated to have behaved in ways that caused or put them at risk of gambling-related problems. Problem gambling is a common and frequently untreated problem. GPs can play an important role in ensuring that problem gambling is detected and treated. There are effective and durable treatments for problem gambling, including CBT and motivational interviewing. Competing interests: None.
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