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Episodes in a Bottle

A police precinct. An uncomfortable chair. An interrogation room. A rather chaotic Andy Samberg, screaming while strumming a guitar. These things make up one of the most iconic bottle episodes of all time.  A Bottle Episode is an episode that is produced within a minimal budget. There are few – if any – non-regular cast …

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Indian Retail's White and White Horse

‘White and White’ Horse of Indian Retail- DMart

Two principles that Walmart applied during its most successful days were that of EDLP (Everyday Low Prices) and Cluster-based Expansion. Giving discounts brings people. Cluster-based Expansion is a process by which you specifically focus on particular areas and gain greater market share in every such area before expanding to faraway locations. Lowered Transportation, Warehousing Costs because of area concentration and increased visibility and perception in a local market enables stores to have larger profits.

Avenue Supermarts(D-Mart) took this to heart. You can walk into a D-Mart store and receive a discount regardless of whether it is a special occasion or not. How do they manage this? It involves a very complex process that reduces costs aggressively: no decorations, no advertisements, very little employee costs with no IIM Graduates, and hiring of contract labor in the stores. Besides, they buy goods in bulk from suppliers and here bulk means really large. It is a cycle: the everyday discounts ensure greater customer footfall and then D-Mart uses that to get a Trade Discount on the bulk orders from the suppliers they deal with. This Trade Discount goes back to giving more discounts to the customers. D-Mart is also known to make quick payments to its suppliers: they receive a cash discount for paying back in 5 days whereas Big Bazaar, for example, pays back after 30 days. This cash discount is again used to retain customers for the store.

Mississippi Mania

The Mississippi Mania is a classic example of a Currency Crisis. In this article, we break down one of the original crises of the 18th century.

Lebanon Lives On

Lebanon’s financial collapse which began in 2019 is a story of how a vision for rebuilding a nation once known as the ‘Switzerland of the Middle East’ was derailed by corruption and mismanagement. Lebanon has lived through a lot. Between an explosion, coupled with the adversities caused by the pandemic and the resulting shortages, rolling …

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Getting Russia Right – Misconceptions about Russia and its Impact on US Policy

Introduction A thorough study of the United States’ repeated policy failures in dealing with Russia, its aims, and capabilities is long needed. Russia is commonly seen as a global expansionist power intent on sweeping away the world’s democracies and establishing a new global order based on illiberal principles and rules devised by the US’ two …

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The Costs of a Crisis

It’s 2019. Lakhan* comes home from school. He eats his lunch in a rush and leaves to meet me in the park where I teach him. We go over Linear Equations in Two Variables and Acids, Bases, and Salts. He remarks that none of these things are things that he is actually interested in. I …

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