CHINA FROM 1984 TO TODAY: A BISCUIT MAKER’S GLOBAL JOURNEY I have been travelling to the Far East since 1984. Every time I go, I learn something new and take another look at places I thought I already knew. On my latest trip, I also visited factories in China that manufacture products for our biscuit […]
There is a famous episode in Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. On a hot Saturday morning, Tom has to paint the fence as a punishment from his Aunt Polly. More than the work itself, he dreads his friends walking past, seeing him and making fun of him. Then an idea occurs to him… […]
During my India GOYA trip, which I wrote about in two articles published in recent weeks, I flew to Singapore for two days for business meetings and took the opportunity to do some GOYA around the city as well. When you arrive in Singapore, it is hard not to wonder about the history behind all […]
What is the purpose of business? What is the purpose of the market, and whom does it ultimately serve? Can the system as we know it continue indefinitely? And if it cannot, isn’t it time we questioned what we teach about business, and how we teach it? In everyday life, we tend to accept certain […]
Among the most widely recognised and respected global university ranking systems are the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings, QS World University Rankings, Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), U.S. News Best Global Universities, and THE Impact Rankings. These systems assess universities’ capacity to generate knowledge through a range of criteria, including the quality […]
My father used to take me to the theatre. Along with my father’s classmate, Uncle Hüdai Yaramanoğlu, a sales inspector with us but a playwright at heart, we would visit different stages and were sometimes even welcomed backstage. I still remember how, at Gazanfer Özcan’s theatre, the husband-and-wife actors noticed us in the audience and […]
DOPPELGANGER: THE FRAGILITY OF IDENTITY, PERCEPTION, AND REALITY Imagine one day, as you’re browsing online, you come across a profile carrying your name yet living an entirely different life. How would you feel? Or consider witnessing the rise of a figure who claims to represent you in society but has nothing to do with who […]
HOW CAN WE AVOID CONFLICT? My topic today revolves around family and business, a subject I’ve previously explored in my writings and interviews (https://muratulker.com/aile-sirketleri-gelecege-uzanan-deger-olusturmak/; https://muratulker.com/sirketlerin-sinirlarini-biliyoruz-ailenin-sinirlari-ne/; https://muratulker.com/aile-sirketleri/). The book Untangling Conflict: An Introspective Guide for Families in Business caught my attention. What makes it particularly fascinating is the way it uses the Srivastava family, which forms […]
EVOLUTION OR REVOLUTION? THE EVOLUTION THAT NON-BELIEVERS BELIEVE IN Are most Muslims opposed to the theory of evolution? Do we see it as contradictory to faith in God? The only global research I have come across is a 2008–2012 Pew Research Center survey conducted across 22 countries with Muslim populations. On average, 53% of Muslims […]
ARE WE FOOLS? WERE WE DECEIVED? There is no single answer to this question. The desire to reach the truth, the urge to suppress uncertainty, the need to make sense of things or to find an anchor… all of these are tied to belief. Yet not every belief rests on a rational, “logical” foundation. At […]
