BFM

The volatile business environment has not only affected corporate Malaysia and large conglomerates. Smaller businesses are also feeling the pinch. These include coffee-shops and mamak stalls - a staple and big part of Malaysian food culture. Post-GST, operators are also having to cope with increased costs from foreign worker levies, reduced subsidies and weak consumer sentiment.

We discuss how these operators are managing cost inflationary pressures and if that glass of teh tarik costs way more than it should.

Why do we do what we do, and how can we get better at it? In a groundbreaking exploration of the science of productivity, Pulitzer prize winning journalist Charles Duhigg draws on the latest in neuroscience and the experiences of CEOs, educational reformers, airplane pilots and Broadway songwriters, to present us with a more human way of thinking about how productivity works. 

We get you out of bed, to your first cup of coffee or to your first destination of your day with thought-provoking discussions on ideas, people and events shaping all our lives.

Many would-be first time buyers are put off by current property prices that are seemingly high. This means that many get into the market later and later, with prices spiraling upwards and always out of reach. Siva Shanker has a solution to this: buy something cheap.

Ever felt like you or the objects around you are moving even nothing is moving? That could be an episode of vertigo. Hear all about it from Dr Shailendra Sivalingam, Ear, Nose & Throat, Head & Neck Surgeon from Sunway Medical Centre.

Soda contributes to poor dental hygiene, obesity and type-2 diabetes. How did products which are essentially nothing more than sugar and water become multi-billion dollar industries while driving up health care cost of governments around the world? Marion Nestle, Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies and Public Health at New York University takes on this issue in her latest book "Soda Politics: Taking on Big Soda (And Winning)." We speak to her about soda taxes, marketing practices of Big Soda as well as how soft drink makers are responding to the overall decline in soda consumption worldwide. 

Yesterday, it was about women acting in roles written by Shakespeare. Today, it’s women singing. The inaugural music festival organized by The Gardens Theatre brings together a list of singers, each taking the stage on a different date. We have invited three of these performers in to give us a sneak peek and to help us anticipate what to expect.

We all know that the cost of cancer is high. Half of all cancer patients end up in in financial catastrophe  within one year of diagnosis. Is there such as a thing as affordable cancer treatment? 

Rachaporn Choochuey is a Bangkok-based architect and assistant professor of architecture at Chulalongkorn University. As this month's guest speaker at Pertubuhan Akitek Malaysia's public lecture series, we get her thoughts about the interaction between tradition and modernity in Thailand's architecture, how she approach teaching versus the practice of architecture, and her thoughts about air-cons.

Billionaire investor George Soros has increased his holdings in gold and gold stocks. The precious metal has already climbed 20 percent this year, after three years of declines. Is it too late to get into the gold game? Ben Le Brun, market analyst at OptionsXpress doesn't seem to think so.