Building on his conversation in Episode 153, Portfolio Manager Samir Taghiyev takes a deep dive into the mental models and frameworks that Mawer uses to evaluate company management teams, particularly within the small-cap space. Using both personal and financial examples, he illustrates the benefit of exploration and exploitation, striking a balance between focus and curiosity, and identifying opportunities on the S curve of the corporate lifecycle. Key points from this episode: Company management can be evaluated by determining if they are growing revenues while controlling costs and risks. This can be combined with other frameworks to create a comprehensive picture. The exploration vs. exploitation framework can be used to evaluate how well management balances focus with curiosity. There are four phases in the S curve of the corporate lifecycle—startup, growth, maturity, and decline. Mawer focuses on companies in the middle two phases, with Trisura and TerraVest provided as examples. Incrementalism is very important when it comes to exploration vs. exploitation because it strikes a key balance between spending to de-risk and learning. Companies can either drive growth organically, often through the introduction of new products, or inorganically through acquisitions. Using the "look back" and "trust but verify" processes, the small-cap team leverages their historical notes and third-party information to improve their verification of management claims. Host: Kevin Minas, CFA, Institutional Portfolio Manager Guest: Samir Taghiyev, CFA, Portfolio Manager For more details and full transcript visit: https://www.mawer.com/the-art-of-boring/ This episode is available for download anywhere you get your podcasts. -- Founded in 1974, Mawer Investment Management Ltd. (pronounced "more") is a privately owned independent investment firm managing assets for institutional and individual investors. Mawer employs over 250 people in Canada, U.S., and Singapore. Visit Mawer at https://www.mawer.com. Follow us on social: Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/Mawer_Invest LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/mawer-investment-management/

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

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