eFrenzconnect

Business Mandarin VII

2011-03-25T20:50:00.001+08:00

Business Mandarin VI

2011-03-25T20:31:00.001+08:00

And more :-)
信息宠物菜谱干预微观充分严苛死记硬背
information pets recipes intervention micro-view fill harsh rote memorisation
xìn xī chǒng wù cài pǔ gān yù wéi guān chōng fèn yán kē sǐ jì yìng bèi
废除无偿畜牧莸得曾经摸索实践零距离
repealed free animal husbandry once explore grope practice zero distance
fèi chú wú cháng xù mù yóu de céng jīng mō suǒ shí jiàn líng jù lí
督察莘庄磁悬浮铁路运营偾怒铺天盖地闵门区
inspector protest magnetic levitation railway operations instigate anger overwhelming Min Mun district
dū chá kàng yì xīn zhuāng cí xuán fú tiě lù yùn yíng fèn nù pū tiān gài dì mǐn mén qū
聚集违反凑巧三思而后行划分摸着统筹薄弱
gather in violation it so happened think twice divide touch coordinate weak
jù jí wéi fǎn còu qiǎo sān sī ér hòu xíng huà fēn mō zhe tǒng chóu bó ruò
现状冲突陷人混乱黑势力暴力争权夺利煽动闹事
status conflict chaos dark forces violence power struggles incite trouble
xiàn zhuàng chōng tú xiàn rén hǔn luàn hēi shì lì bào lì zhēng quán duó lì shān dòng nào shì
声疾呼遭遇阶段双轨制翻番贩子滥用
voice acclaim experience stage traffickers abuse anger
shēng jí hū zāo yù jiē duàn shuāng guǐ zhì fān fān fàn zi làn yòng fèn kǎi
家属蔓延灾难燃料建筑丧失岌岌可危絶望
familires spread disaster fuel construction lose precarious despair
jiā shǔ màn yán zāi nàn rán liào jiàn zhú sàng shī jí jí kě wéi jué wàng
矛头辞职示威倍感尴尬呼唤渴望闭关销国凭借直觉
spearhead resignation demonstration, protest feel embarrassed eager desire sell the country intuition
máo tóu cí zhí shì wēi bèi gǎn gān gà hū huàn kě wàng bì guān xiāo guó píng jiè zhí jué
维持翻天覆地巩固谨债鸣锣晕倒性质束缚
continue earth shaking consolidate cautious gong fainted nature bound
wéi chí fān tiān fù dì gǒng gù jǐn zhài míng luó yūn dǎo xìng zhì shù fù
硬道解释双指责消灭奴隶制种族隔离人非圣贤耿耿于怀
hard road explain blame eliminate, extinguish slavery apartheid people not saints to heart
yìng dào jiě shì shuāng zhǐ zé xiāo miè nú lì zhì zhǒng zú gé lí rén fēi shèng xián gěng gěng yú huái

Business Mandarin V

2011-03-24T09:49:00.000+08:00

More words to absorb ...
紧张届时监控快捷汤面款草原骄傲
Tension Then Monitor Fast Noodles in soup Paragraph, money, slowly Grassland Proud
jǐn zhāng jiè shí jiān kòng kuài jié tāng miàn kuǎn cǎo yuán jiāo ào
支撑农牧聚结加盟商链条优势贡献萎缩
Steady, support, sustain Farming Coalescence Franchisee Chain Superiority Contribution Atrophy, shrivel
zhī chēng nóng mù jù jié jiā méng shāng liàn tiáo yōu shì gòng xiàn wěi suō
导致汽协轮胎弥补陷入生机补偿逆势
Cause Automobile Association Tire Make up Fall into, get caught Life, vitality Compensate Contrarian
dǎo zhì qì xié lún tāi mí bǔ xiàn rù shēng jī bǔ cháng nì shì
旺盛态势抓混合动力汽车纯电动汽车燃料电池汽车零排放氢燃料
Exuberant Situation Grasp, catch Hybrid cars Pure electric vehicles Fuel cell cars Zero Emissions Hydrogen fuel
wàng shèng tài shì zhuā hùn hé dòng lì qì chē chún diàn dòng qì chē rán liàodiàn chí qì chē líng pái fàng qīng rán liào
代替优化潜力改进优化先进微型小车遵守法规
Exchange, substitute, instead Optimization Potential, capacity Improved Optimization Advanced Micro car Respect regulations
dài tì yōu huà qián lì gǎi jìn yōu huà xiān jìn wéi xíng xiǎo chē zūn shǒu fǎ guī
锻炼电池系统攻关完善优化铅酸电池锂电池工薪阶层
workout, exercise battery system research perfect optimisation lead-acid batteries litjium batteries working class
duàn liàn diàn chí xì tǒng gōng guān wán shàn yōu huà qiān suān diàn chí lǐ diàn chí gōng xīn jiē céng
电池管理系统锂离子电池恰逢势头获益最佳冲刺反弹
battery management system lithium-ion battery coincide momentum benefit optimum, peak, optimal dash rebound
diàn chí guǎn lǐ xì tǒng lǐ lí zǐ diàn chí qià féng shì tóu huò yì zuì jiā chōng cì fǎn tán
外汇储备政权萎缩灾害支撑宽松翻了一番依托
FX reserves regime, political power atrophy, shrivel disaster, calamity bracing, steady, support, sustain relax doubled backing, relying
wài huì chú bèi zhèng quán wěi suō zāi hài zhī chēng kuān sōng fān le yī fān yī tuō
释放坼借廉政贪念审批程序简化
emancipation, release, liberate crack through anti-corruption greed approval procedures temptation simplify
shì fàng chè jiè lián zhèng tān niàn shěn pī chéng xù yòu huò jiǎn huà
辞职仁慈借鉴照搬铝合金蓬勃缩影互联网引导纵向
resignation kindness reference copy aluminium alloy vibrant microcosm
"cí zhí

" rén cí jiè jiàn zhào bān lǚ hé jīn péng bó suō yǐng hù lián wǎng yǐn dǎo zòng xiàng

Business Mandarin IV

2011-03-21T18:00:00.003+08:00

It takes 10,000 hours to master a certain skillset. So if you take tuition / lesson from a teacher say, 4 hours weekly you will clock in about 200 hours a year. And if you put in 4 hours daily you will clock in another 1,500 hours perhaps. It will take you al least six years to master the language. What is the takeaway? At least you should be able to accumulate 8,000 words in your vocabulary within the first 1 to 2 years and this will let you read Chinese articles off the internet with some degree of proficiency. Below are some of the words so accumulated.

客观描述形象频道委托价格低廉联系智慧软实力客观因素
objective description image channel entrust low price and relationship wisdom soft power objective factors
kè guān miáo shù xíng xiàng pín dào wěi tuō jià gé dī lián lián xì zhì huì ruǎn shí lì kè guān yīn sù
观念操作贡献率愧恶果破产旧有严峻
concept operation contribution rate bad consequences bankrupt Old Severe
guān niàn cāo zuò gòng xiàn lǜ kuì è guǒ pò chǎn jiù yǒu yán jùn
强筋壮骨疗效腾笼换鸟毗邻优势庞大消耗链
Strengthening sinews and bones Effect The cage for birds Close Superiority Huge Consume Chain
qiáng jīn zhuàng gǔ liáo xiào téng lóng huàn niǎo pí lín yōu shì páng dà xiāo hào liàn
污染思路广泛空穴来风甚微唇齿摒弃因素
Pollution Thinking Extensive Groundless Little Lips and teeth Abandon Factor
wū rǎn sī lù guǎng fàn kōng xué lái fēng shén wēi chún chǐ bìng qì yīn sù
效应断腕刮骨沉浸繁荣延续煤炭不折不扣
Effect Broken wrist Guagu Immerse Prosperity Continue Coal Letter
xiào yìng duàn wàn guā gǔ chén jìn fán róng yán xù méi tàn bù zhé bù kòu
尤为记忆螺丝区域吞噬摄影废水废渣
Particularly Memory Screw Region Swallow Photography Wastewater Residue
yóu wéi jì yì luó sī qū yù tūn shì shè yǐng fèi shuǐ fèi zhā
废气汹汹水污染酸雨覆盖耕地匹配含量振兴
Exhaust Truculent Water Pollution Acid rain Arable land, plow, till Match Content Revitalization
fèi qì xiōng xiōng shuǐ wū rǎn suān yǔ fù gài gēng dì pǐ pèi hán liàng zhèn xīng
围绕机遇瓶装酝酿获悉清爽涨幅
Around Accumulation Opportunity Bottled Preparation, brew, incubate Learned Refreshing Increase
wéi rào jī lěi jī yù píng zhuāng yùn niàng huò xī qīng shuǎng zhǎng fú
渠道终端其属易拉罐等辅料运输奈吨涨
Channel Terminal It is Cans, etc. Accessories Transport
qú dào zhōng duān qí shǔ yì lā guàn děng fǔ liào yùn shū nài dūn zhǎng
迫于仅隔易拉罐终端销售批发淡季唯一入驻
Forced Only separated Cans Terminal sales Wholesale Off-season Sole, unique, only Settled
pò yú jǐn gé yì lā guàn zhōng duān xiāo shòu pī fā dàn jì wéi yī rù zhù

Business Mandarin III

2011-03-17T12:55:00.002+08:00

When do you embark on learning? - NOW! China is too valuable to be ignored.

依赖密集过剩极低销售环节耗能附加值低
dependent intensive excess low sales linkage energy consumption low valued added
yī lài mì jí guò shèng jí dī xiāo shòu huán jié hào néng fù jiā zhí dī
淘汰转移振兴落后兼并围绕平衡协调
eliminate transform revitalisation backward merger surrounded balance coordination
táo tài zhuǎn yí zhèn xīng luò hòu jiān bìng wéi rào píng héng xié tiáo
持续积累迎战数据耗吝啬供应探讨
sustaining accumulation fight against data consumption stingy supply investigate, probe
chí xù jī lěi yíng zhàn shù jù hào lìn sè gōng yìng tàn tǎo
化危恢复挨家挨户询问失业劳务输出拍摄乘上
turn danger… recovery door to door asking unemploy export of labour shoot / film board
huà wēi huī fù āi jiā āi hù xún wèn shī yè láo wù shū chū pāi shè chéng shàng
迅速锐减起行囊罕见严峻剩余安置
rapid sharp decline …luggae rare turbulence; upheaval; unrest severe surplus placement
xùn sù ruì jiǎn qǐ xíng náng hǎn jiàn dòng dàng yán jùn shèng yú ān zhì
了摆棘手采取尤其关系迅速启动福祉
place in front hard to accept, troubling ( troublesome ) initiates particularly relationship rapid action welfare ease
le bǎi jí shǒu cǎi qǔ yóu qí guān xì xùn sù qǐ dòng fú zhǐ huǎn jiě
职业培训医疗谋生跨售楼大润发、沃尔玛询问细节
vocational training medical treatment livelihood cross, multi property sales asking details
zhí yè péi xùn yī liáo móu shēng kuà shòu lóu dà rùn fā， , wò ēr mǎ xún wèn xì jié
难掩兴奋喜悦狭小拥挤卧室舒适货币规定
hide to conceal one's excitement joy narrow packed bedroom comfortable money cash stipulate
nán yǎn xīng fèn xǐ yuè xiá xiǎo yǒng jǐ wò shì shū shì huò bì guī dìng
标准一辈子的积蓄改善缩影批复高烧降温
dominate, allocate, adminstrate standard a lifetime of saving improve minature, epitomise approve, reply high fever cool down
zhī pèi biāo zhǔn yī bèi zi de jī xù gǎi shàn suō yǐng pī fù gāo shāo jiàng wēn
紧密标志广泛赞誉总裁卡恩立足传播舆论意味
close sign, mark, symbol; indicate, symbolise broad based admiration CEO Mr Kahn based broadcast public opinion means
jǐn mì biāo zhì guǎng fàn zàn yù zǒng cái kǎ ēn lì zú chuán bò yú lùn yì wèi

Business Mandarin II

2011-03-16T19:58:00.001+08:00

The most time effective way to learn ...

结构都赢甚至被称绿色突围依然如履薄冰提速
Structure Both win Even Is called Green Breakthrough Still Walking on thin ice Speed
Jiégòu Dōu yíng Shènzhì Bèi chēng Lǜsè túwéi Yīrán Rúlǚbóbīng Tísù
破冰之旅指标预测统计舒了支配均纯绝后绝对
Ice-breaking journey Index Prediction Statistics Shu was Dominate Are pure Non-repeatable Absolutely
Pò bīng zhī lǚ Zhǐbiāo Yùcè tǒngjì Shū le Zhīpèi Jūn chún Juéhòu Juéduì
空前扩大截至实施获得了预算配套校舍
Unprecedented Expand Up Implement Obtained Budget Supporting School building
Kōngqián Kuòdà Jiézhì Shíshī Huòdé le Yùsuàn Pèitào Xiàoshè
设施建设污水谋划争取实施招商引资一季度
Facility Build Sewage Plan Fight Implement Investment Quarter
Shèshī Jiànshè Wūshuǐ Móuhuà Zhēngqǔ Shíshī Zhāoshāng yǐnzī Yī jìdù
答卷迹象显而易见贷款采购苗头幅画条曲线呈现地清晰
Respondents Obvious signs of Credit Purchase Signs Painting of the curve Presented to Clear
Dájuàn Jīxiàng xiǎnéryìjiàn Dàikuǎn Cǎigòu Miáotou Fú huà tiáo qūxiàn Chéngxiàn dì Qīngxī
悬念硕果措施提振临近优惠享受补贴
Suspense Fruit Measure Boost Close Preferential Enjoy Subsidy
Xuánniàn Shuòguǒ Cuòshī Tí zhèn Línjìn Yōuhuì Xiǎngshòu Bǔtiē
添置比例则差距税率系统性较长启动容缓
proportion gap tax rate systematic longer start take action take it easy
tiān zhì bǐ lì zé chā jù shuì lǜ xì tǒng xìng jiào zhǎng qǐ dòng róng huǎn
巨额鼎力启动覆盖集中引导零售实际分析
huge strong start / best effort coverage concentrate lead retail sales actually analyse
jù é dǐng lì qǐ dòng fù gài jí zhōng yǐn dǎo líng shòu shí jì fēn xī
偶然举措狂欢首饰三来一补赚的内销成功转型
incidental initiates carnival jewelry earned domestic consumption successfully transformed
ǒu rán jǔ cuò kuáng huān shǒu shì sān lái yī bǔ zhuàn de nèi xiāo chéng gōng zhuǎn xíng
倒闭险些订单实际糟糕暴露失衡滞后
close shop almost orders actually bad consequences exposure imbalance lagging
dǎo bì xiǎn xiē dìng dān shí jì zāo gāo bào lù shī héng zhì hòu

Business Mandarin I

2011-03-10T17:13:00.003+08:00

The most time effective way to learn business Mandarin..
引擎带动优异从容系列让身处数据出炉怀疑
Engine driven Excellent Leisurely Series To live Data Baked Doubt
Yǐnqíng dàidòng Yōuyì Cóngróng Xìliè Ràng shēn chǔ Shùjù Chūlú Huáiyí
复苏关注媒体不约而同聚焦刊登拯救打气筒给瘪
Recovery Attention Media Invariably Focus Published Save Pump to the deflated
Fùsū Guānzhù Méitǐ Bùyuēértóng Jùjiāo Kāndēng Zhěngjiù Dǎ qìtǒng gěi biě
反映揭晓抛出崩溃论评价认为仍旧归功
Reflect Announced Throw Collapse of Evaluate Think Still Attributed
Fǎnyìng Jiēxiǎo Pāo chū Bēngkuì lùn Píngjià Rènwéi Réngjiù Guīgōng
离乡仅仅组织确认并扩散归功于揽子刺激亿拉动内需的
Leaving Only Organization Identify and spread Credit Embrace e Stimulate Million boost domestic demand
Lí xiāng Jǐnjǐn Zǔzhī Quèrèn bìng kuòsàn Guīgōng yú Lǎn zi Cìjī Yì lādòng nèixū de
回暖期质疑赞叹反差归根优异爆发企稳
Warming period Question Praise Contrast Roots Excellent Break out Stabilized
Huínuǎn qī Zhíyí Zàntàn Fǎnchā Guīgēn Yōuyì Bàofā Qǐwěn
跨出巨大回顾赞扬利润哀鸿减幅负值
Taken the Huge Review Praise Profit Reduction Negative
Kuà chū Jùdà Huígù Zànyáng Lìrùn Āi hóng Jiǎn fú Fù zhí
疲软预测支柱坚挺认为天真衰退崩溃论
Weak Forecast Pillar Strong Think Naive Decline Collapse of
Píruǎn Yùcè Zhīzhù Jiāntǐng Rènwéi Tiānzhēn Shuāituì Bēngkuì lùn
核心奇迹身陷囹圄逐渐深化洼地政策执行效果
Core Miracle Behind bars Gradually deepening Depression Policy Execution Effect
Héxīn Qíjī Shēn xiàn língyǔ Zhújiàn shēnhuà Wādì Zhèngcè Zhíxíng Xiàoguǒ
惊叹不已暖意结构性寻找挑战刺激调整
Marvel Troubled Warmth Structural Search Challenge Stimulate Adjustment
Jīngtàn bùyǐ Kùnrǎo Nuǎn yì Jiégòu xìng Xúnzhǎo Tiǎozhàn Cìjī Tiáozhěng

Mega Trends, Paradigm Shift

2010-08-06T08:05:00.005+08:00

How To Master A Foreign Language In Double Quick Time ...
From a global financial crisis of such proportion that the unprecedented quantitative easing merely buys us time before the next big One, to the inevitable but radical shift to a domestic consumption model by China, an economic powerhouse in its own rights ...

...these events spell one thing clearly:

CHANGE

And yet, present times also afford an excellent occasion for corporate to spot opportunities to create value and get ahead of the competition. And it's the business acumen and technical skills of key employees that will spearhead such efforts to satisfy the demands of stakeholders, create shareholder value, keep customers satisfied and employees motivated.

What better time than now to invest toward harnessing and sharpening those skills.

Why eZendir ?

eZendir is likened to peering through a kaleidoscope where combinations of variants never cease to amaze viewers ... you can seek out different patterns e.g. eZ, it stands for "easy", or merely Z for Zhong, as in Zhongguo ( China ). In fact eZendir implies that we are at the centre of the virtual universe e + Zenith + Nadir. Then there is Zen - a very Asian value system. For it reminds us that life is a journey, and happiness as our companion allowing us to encounter Quality experiences. What better option can we make? Can we co-operate to attain a win-win outcome, where happiness can be shared? With such a belief map, the team at eZendir has collaborated to arrive at a solution for the busy business executives.

For an enterprising professional to be successful, he must find the optimal balance amongst the three critical factors i.e. domain knowledge, information technology and relationship. eZendir is positioned to meet the aspirations of these individuals. We help professionals to create value by identifying the pathway to seeking opportunities. In addition, we also methodically build the pathway to make this possible. The value proposition of eZendir is to help busy professionals learn business Mandarin in the most time effective way. So, when do you embark on this program? Now! China is too costly to be ignored..

How? 4 hours weekly via one-to-one online interaction with any of our highly qualified coaches.

Our clear and concise methodlogy allows us to map the proficiency level of students prior to signing of the program. To be effective, students must gain the necessary skills to listen, speak, read and write. For the latter, it would mean students must also understand the grammatical structure of the Chinese language. Through a total of 6 modules, each comprising 36 hours online interaction, students can expect to increase the vocabulary base to between 3,000 and 5,000 words. In addition, we have also developed toolkit to make the learning experience one that is of quality. Our aim is , as far as possible, to provide instant gratification when the curiosity to learn the language is aroused. Through the toolkit which includes electronic word accumulator that tracks learning progress, online text-to-speech to provide an anywhere-anytime learning environment and much more; the progam seeks to provide students with the key to the code - Chinese language!

Learning Mandarin Make Easy

2010-07-30T23:26:00.006+08:00

Learning the thinking way...

1 2 3 4 5
的, 一, 是, 了, 我,

Of A Be The I

De Yī Shì Le Wǒ

6 7 8 9 10
不, 人, 在, 他, 有,

Not People In He Have

Bù Rén Zài Tā Yǒu

11 12 13 14 15
这, 个, 上, 们, 来,

This A On Were Come

Zhè Gè Shàng Men Lái

16 17 18 19 20
到, 时, 大, 地, 为,

To Time Large Land To

Dào Shí Dà De Wèi

21 22 23 24 25
子, 中, 你, 说, 生,

Son In You Say Health

Zi Zhōng Nǐ Shuō Shēng

26 27 28 29 30
国, 年, 着, 就, 那,

Country Years The On That

Guó Nián Zhe Jiù Nà

Others:

报告日期,
非流动资产,
流动资产,
流动负债,
流动资产净值,
总资产减流动负债,
非流动负债,
资产净值,
少数股东权益,
股东权益,
资产负债表,

More Advanced:

已知数据,
投资组合证券数量,
历史数据个数,
收益率形式选择,
对数收益率,
有关参数计算结果,
股票基本数据,
股票价格对数均值,
股票价格对数标准差,
目前股票价格,
模拟计算数据,
计算时间间隔,
总模拟计算次数,
期权基本数据,
执行价格,
期限天,
年无风险利率,
期权数型,
命令按钮,
看跌期权,
期权定价模型,
输入己知数据,
目前股票价格,
股票年对数据标准差,
期权执行价格,
期权到期时间,
年无风险利率,
期权种数,
看漲期权,
看跌期权,
计算结果,
期权价格,
确定,
重新计算取消,
现货价格,
期货价格,
剩余时间,
对数计算,
已知数据,
历史数据个数,
即历史天数,
期货期限,
回归系数斜率,
套头比,
最低风险情况下的最优套期保值策略模型,
现货方差,
现货期初价格,
现货即期价格,
期货方差,
期货期初价格,
期货即期价格,
现货与期货的协方差,
套期保值种类,
最优套头比,
投资利,
投资方差,
空头套期保值,
多头套期保值,
给定最低收益情况下的最优套期保值策略模型,
给定最高风险,
现货方差,
现货期初价格,
现货即期价格,
现货交易基本费用,
现货交易可变费用,
期货方差,
期货期初价格,
期货即期价格,
期货交易基本费用,
期货交易可变费用,
现货与期货的协方差,
套期保值种类,
各资产套期保值后的利润协方差计算,
合计,
多品种情况下的最优套期保值模型,
资产数目,
历史数据个数,
期货期限(天),
投资组合利润,
投资组合方差

Crystal Ball Glazing - eZendir

2010-07-09T06:20:00.008+08:00

In transforming China, policymakers are shifting away from a labor-intensive, export-oriented economic model to higher value added revenue-generating models. Consequently, wages are expected to rise ... Foreign investments are encouraged to move to sectors involving transfer of high technology ( automobile, information technology, healthcare ). With a well-educated workforce, it is par to this task and the middle class will grow, with it also domestic consumption. The push factors are higher labor costs and a huge market.
To ensure a sustainable, balanced growth - and real growth, it will need to ensure that productivity gain outpaces inflation rate. Thus it must invest in education in order to nurture better managers. It will need to groom a pool of local managers that can leverage on domain knowledge, information technology and relationship skills to forge a formidable competitive strategy. It will need managers who understand the market-oriented economy where supply and demand are dictated by market forces. To gain such skills in strategy roadmappng ( competitive advantages ), understanding value creation, risk management and creating innovative products and services, it will need its managers to be bilingual in order to articulate, communicate and execute ( ACE ) in an increasing globalised eco-system.

While shifting factories further inland can mitigate escalating wage cost concerns and exchange rate issue in the short-term, real solutions must be found to achieve sustainable growth.

Since 2007, labor cost in percentage term has been climbing in the teens and this can be seen as a determined policy to transform the economy. Taking a leaf off the Singapore experience where it embarked on this course in the 80s, the transformation is real and tangible. Can this occur for China?

By focusing on education - train, train and train. Chinese managers in order to be effective need to be bilingual so that they can absorb new ideas quickly and hasten the transformation process. Foreign managers, likewise, need to learn Chinese to order to stay engage while the great shift gain momentum.

It may well be that China can reach full employment sooner than later, and in that scenario, the tipping point will be reached. A new paradigm kicks in where the only effective managers are those that are bilingual in English and Chinese - lingua francas for commerce.

Replicating the success of Singapore and India combined, China can and will leapfrog to a higher dimension - with a dynamic private sector competing domestically and internationally. The outcome is a win-win for all like-minded stakeholders.

Virtual Zenith, Nadir - Domain Knowledge, Information Technology and Relationship

2010-06-30T21:06:00.011+08:00

eZendir for short ... We have embarked on a mission where the brand messages are clear.

Main - the most time effective and proven method to master practical business Mandarin;
When - now, it is too costly to ignore China; and
How - 4 hours per week via one-to-one online interaction.

It is the belief of the collaborators that the team has the wherewithal to deliver quality value proposition, with focus on innovation, meeting the unmet needs of the market.

Although the strategy is a sound one, we need to execute the plan flawlessly. As a team, we are aligned through our belief in our core ideology and seek out win-win outcome leveraging on our core values i.e. trust, empathy, diligence and competence.

We also recognise that mastering domain knowledge and information technology is a finite process, we also challenge ourselves to embrace the third pillar of success - relationship. In this connection, we seek out mentors that can guide us through their wisdom and deep insights of the marketplace that we are operating in.

We will have to be disciplined to drive the processes to ensure that we deliver Quality.

Some of the key challenges will include:
a) designing the program curriculum that will satisfy the unmet of the marketplace;
b) nurturing mavens, connectors and salesmen through word-of-mouth marketing ( viral ) to reach tipping point. We shall be guided by the marketing adage: six degree of separation in order to penetrate the market as quickly as possible.

As in all execution issues, co-ordination is key to success and we will install the relevant project management tools to map the timeline and track key milestones.

A good start will reinforce the trust factor so crucial for successful collaboration - Bon Voyage ~ eZendir!

彩虹和它所有的颜色！乐于

2010-05-30T08:34:00.031+08:00

追逐彩虹，希望在它的终端可以寻找到聚宝盆, 如此浪漫，又是何等的诱人 ... 青春时代，我们满怀着希望和憧憬。我们所追求的是什么, 财富还是幸福? 当我们实现物质财富时我们幸福吗？也许....也许不。因此，如果我们追求幸福，假使它可实现的话，我们还需要物质财富吗？退一步想，幸福是什么？哪里是幸福之所在？

我们必须记住，生命是一个旅程，幸福伴我们左右。有比这个选择更好的吗! 我们可以把幸福看作是经历真相时的一种交易。在交易当中，我们感知刺激，并且随之应对来定义有质量的经历(幸福）, 或其他感觉。我们为什么往往感到人生仍然不完整？可能是因为我们缺乏质量的经历。也许是缺乏同理心，阻止了此类经历。

发起者担心开展讨论会对他们的利益产生负面影响，其结果是我们错过了合作机会。我们可以把它归类成一个协调的问题。当遭遇一个抛锚的协调时，良性的发展将无法继续，存在的问题继续溃烂，产生风险可能导致无序的结果。通常情况，是一种刺激作用吸引了零和增益 ，赢家的所得是建立在输家的付出上。是否可以有一个双赢的结果，其中的幸福可以共享？人们是否可以遵照既定而无成文共识的规定坐下来蹉商。如果不存在是为什么呢？

又回到协调的问题...是什么决定我们选择行动的方针？往往我们使用价格来寻求供需平衡。我们认为可能依赖短期的观点来达到最好的结果 ... 即团体中的每个个体成员实现其自身利益最大化。然而，约翰纳什补充了一个条款“个体利益和团队利益最大化”。据他说，“如果我们都将目标锁定在最美的女孩（由于定义稀缺）...我们对彼此形成障碍。任何人也不可以得到她(目标)。此后我们再去找她的朋友，肯定被她们断然拒绝, 因为没人喜欢被视为第二选择。好了，假设我们越过最美的女孩分别选择她的朋友们呢？我们并不会相互妨碍，也不会侮辱到别人。这是唯一共赢的方法”。

以下问题可以帮助我们更明确是什么正将我们的幸福挡在门外。

a）当你没有实现你所要做的，你会感到不安吗？
b）你能坦然面对挫折，谋求新的出路吗？
c）为什么实现你的目标如此重要呢？

设定目标是过程驱动的，你要了解什么是您需要采取的步骤，以达到从头到尾。很多时候，我们作出迅速和毫无根据的假设，因此我们无法到达我们的目标。任何捷径没有可能性达到它，当您分析您的误步骤时候你才会体认什么是消极反应的刺激触发。

与人类的情感，亦是最具挑战性和困难的任务之一。有太多感人的发挥大量元器件，而为个人的利益是不完全对齐结果是无法控制。同样，我们可以其中鉴定消极反应的触发的刺激。

因此，从根本上开始，我们需要鉴定共同的价值观与志同道合的人。那么，如何才能说服人，合作比竞争更好？

当谈到合作，我们需要采取大视力，而行动小步骤的方式。这有助于分解为简单元素的复杂问题。我们要巩固我们的一些假设效能和执行逻辑顺序的步骤。每一个成功的一步加强信任与信任是可以克服协调的问题。

一旦合作者觉得舒适，相信合作会导致一个双赢的成果，最终的端到端过程, 创建它的生态系统的制衡的存在 - 我们就可以坐下来享受这个旅程，并幸福伴我们左右。

Rainbow And Colour of It All! Be Happy

2010-05-27T15:09:00.018+08:00

Chasing rainbow and hoping to find a pot of gold at the end of it ...so romantic, so enticing...When we were more youthful and hopeful, we must have been memerised by such thoughts.

What is it that we are chasing? Riches or happiness. Will we be happy when we attain material wealth? Maybe .... perhaps not. So if we pursue happiness, if ever that is achievable, do we need material wealth? Taking a step back, we need to ask ourselves what is happiness? What does it mean to be happy?

We need to remember that life is a journey, and happiness our companion. What better option can we make? We can liken happiness to a transaction where we experience for a fleeting moment of ~ truth. In a transaction, we come into contact with a stimulus and how we response defines whether the experience is quality ( happiness ) or otherwise.

How is it that we feel more often than not that life remains unfulfilled? Could be that we lack quality experiences. Maybe it is the lack of empathy that prevents us from such experiences.

First movers fear it is against their interest to initiate a discussion and the end result is that we miss an opportunity to co-operate. This can be categorised as a co-ordination issue. When there is a break-down in co-ordination, there will be no meaningful progress, and any underlying issue will be allowed to fester and there would be risk of a disorderly outcome. The likely scenario is a stimulus that is likely to attract a zero-sum gain, a positive response at the expense of someone's negative response. Is it possible to have a win-win outcome, where happiness can be shared? Can people really sit down and negotiate according to a set of rules , unwritten but underpinned by a set of common beliefs. If no, why not?
Again it is back to the coordination issue .... what is the driver when a certain course of action is selected? More often than not, we use price as the basis to find the equilibrium between supply and demand. We may have taken the short-term view that the best result will come .... from everyone in the group doing what is best for himself . However, John Nash has added a caveat "and the group". According to him, " if we go for the best ( by definition scarce )... we block each other. Not a single one of us is gonna get it. So then we go for her friends, but they will all give us the cold shoulder because nobody likes to be second choice. Well, what if none goes for the best? We don't get in each other's way, and we don't insult the others. That's the only way we win. "
The following questions can help us understand better what is preventing us from feeling happy?

a)when you are NOT achieving what you set out to do, would you feel upset?

b)can you work around the setback and find an acceptable alternative?

c) why is it so important to achieve your goal?

Goal setting is process-driven and you need to understand what are the steps you require to take to reach from here to there. Too often, we make quick and unsubstantiated assumptions, and as a result we are not able to get to our goal. There is no short cut and when you analyse your mis-steps you will realise what are the stimuli that trigger the negative response.

Dealing with human emotion is one of the most challenging and difficult tasks. There are myriad of moving components at play and we cannot control the outcome as interests are not completely aligned. Again we can identify the stimuli that trigger the negative response.

So fundamentally, we need to identify like-minded people with shared values to begin with. So how can we convince people that cooperation is better than competition?

When it comes to co-operation, we need to think big but act in baby steps. This helps to breakdown complex issues into simpler elements. We need to underpin the efficacy of our assumptions and execute the steps in logical sequence. Every successful step reinforces trust and with trust it is possible to overcome the coordination issue. Once collaborators are comfortable and confident that cooperation can result in a win-win outcome, the end-to-end processes can then take on a life of its own with its own ecosystem of checks and balances - and we can sit back and enjoy the ride and have happiness as our companion.

Portfolio Tracking II

2010-04-30T17:52:00.005+08:00

This post is a follow up of the earlier post dated Feb 11 2008 entitled Portfolio Tracking ... We have updated our tracking engine and have set the following conditions as well as make some observations:

Conditions:
1) tracked the performance of stocks /ETFs for comparable periods from April 2004 through March 2010,
2) selected those that have generated average return in excess of 15% p.a. or with Sharpe ratio above 0.4 ( risk free set at 3% ), and
3) ranked them according to average return.

Observations:
1) based on an equal weighting of amount invested per period ( annual ), it is possible to surmise that an investor can achieve a reasonable return on a "buy-and-hold" basis,
2) such counters exhibit high betas ( ranging from 1.3 to 2.0 ) with the exception of XOM ( 0.5 ) and HPQ ( 1.0 ),
3) such counters also are quite correlated to S&P 500,
3) they are mostly "growth" stocks / asset classes i.e. emerging markets, linked to emerging market growth stories ( US Exporters, commodities etc ),
4) include technology stocks with great innovation ( AAPL ), and
5) these counter also suffered significant dips during 2008/2009 but rebounded strongly subsequently.

If these counters maintain their sound fundamentals there is no reason that they cannot outperform the market.

The trick is to stay focus and follow the simple rule of ensuring that the portfolio is re-balanced periodically by taking profits off the table and topping losses where necessary.

Disclaimer: The site provider and or the contributor of this post do not warrant the accuracy / completeness of the information contained herein, disclaim all liability and shall not be responsible for any losses arising fron the use of the content herein.

Inno-cation 以及质量第五部分 - 焦虑，挑衅以及激情

2010-04-08T23:25:00.005+08:00

焦虑，挑衅，激情是情感的元素 ... 没有它们，我们的生活会怎么样？希望和要求是改变的关键。

情感是可以发现自己未满足需求的一种刺激源 ... 以及改变是实现在当你的未满足的需求得到满足的时候。

诉诸于你的情绪的独特想法是一个强大的连接器。艺术作为一种媒体有助于表达人们的情感。然而，不加制止的情感能有不良的后果。它可能恶化并导致迷恋或越惨的瘾。

创新已定义是新的和实现未满足需求, 它具有一部份的挑衅来触发或引诱了一个响应。因此，创造了“inno-cation“这个词语。

艺术家可以激起过滤的情感的裸体或近裸体肖像绘画来理解人性, 从而寻求灵感。到任何画廊，你都很可能抽样这样的作品。这些作品肯定会启动你的想象力.

触发反应后，你的大脑很快内部化这些信号通过匹配到你的价值体系把你呼醒回到现实。

合理化过程可以让你按照你的信仰判断经验是否有质量。当你的价值演变，你可能更关心那些经验唤起的质量的动态方面。

终于，社会在传授道德价值观中扮演重要的角色, 因此监察行为并制定规范. 只有社会允许公民的集体思想解放, 它才能进步。目前新兴经济体如中国，印度，巴西等处于变化的交叉道路。为了实现经济发展的下一个阶段，他们寻求重塑。

问题是社会能否从历史中学习吸取经验, 避免重复过去的错误，为人民的利益进展？

同样，机构面临着类似的挑战。他们需要把控制和授权平衡起来。拥有共同的价值观和共同的思想有助于解决无数由这些实体所面临的挑战。

成功的关键因素

它实质上可以归结为分享奖励。在这里我们采取博弈论的支持者的做法. 首先，每个人必须为团体的共同利益做努力，因此该团体得到最优的结果。其次，必须有公平的方式分配利润。目标是鼓励贡献者，但同时不给懒鬼者机会使团体士气低落。

看有多少团体完善有利于合作者的博弈论的艺术, 这将是有趣的事。

自私的行为是瓦解团体的根本原因！

总之，要取得成功的创新，您需要：
a）拥有正确的核心理念, 即价值像勇气，信心和信念，
b）拥有合适的人才，
c）有客观衡量价值驱动因素的教练工具，帮助管理资源而达到更有效率的结果, 和
d）提供适当的奖励和激励措施。

强大的领导力，扎根在正确的价值体系，并受到简单容易遵循的共同的意识形态的驱策，是前进的道路...

Inno-cation and Quality Part V - Emotion, Rational and Moral

2010-03-15T08:40:00.001+08:00

Angst, provocation, passion are elements of emotion ... without these, what will life be? Want and desire are essential to change. Emotion serves as the stimulus in uncovering your unmet needs ... and change comes about when your unmet needs are been fulfilled.

Unique idea that appeals to your emotion is a powerful connector. Art, as a media, helps to manifest that emotion. Yet emotion, left unchecked, can have bad consequences. It may degenerate and lead to an obsession or worse to an addiction.

Innovation which has been defined as something new and fulfilling the unmet needs, possesses an element of provocation to trigger and or entice a response. Hence coining the term "innocation".

Artists seek inspiration by understanding humanity through painting of nude or near-nude portraits which evoke unfiltered emotion. Go to any art gallery and you are likely to sample such works. Fire up your imagination, these works sure do!
After triggering the response, your brain very quickly internalise these signals, bringing you to reality by matching up to your set of value system.

This process of rationalisation allows you to judge whether the experience is of quality in accordance to your beliefs. As your values evolve, you may be more concerned with the dynamic aspect of quality that these experiences evoke.

Finally, society plays an important role in imparting moral values and hence regulating behaviour and setting norms. Society can only progress if it is willing to allow emancipation of the collective thoughts of its citizens. Presently emerging economies e.g. China, India, Brazil etc are at the cross-road of change. They seek to reinvent in order to attain the next level of economic development.

The question is whether society can learn lessons from history, avoid repeating past mistakes and make progress for the good of its people?

Similarly, organisations face similar challenges. They need to balance control and empowerment. Having shared values and common ideology help to solve a myriad of challenges faced by these entities.

Critical Success Factors

It essentially boils down to sharing reward. Here, we take a leaf from the proponents of Game Theory. First, one must work for the common good of the group so that the outcome is optimal to that group. Next, there must be an equitable way to distribute the profit. The goal is to encourage the heavers, while at the same time do not give slackers any chance to demoralise the group.

It will be interesting to see how many groups are perfecting the art of Game Theory that benefits the collaborators.

Selfish behaviour is the root cause for the break-down of the group!

In summary, to be successful in innovation,
you need:
a) the right core ideology i.e. values like courage, confidence and conviction,
b) the right people onboard,
c) coaching tool that would objectively measures value drivers, helping manage the resources more productively,and
d) provide proper rewards and incentives.

Strong leadership anchored with the right value system and driven by a simple easy-to-follow common ideology is the way forward ...

创新通过艺术镜头第四部分 - 勿以恶小而为之，勿以善小而不为。

2010-02-28T18:42:00.010+08:00

社会可以选择停滞不前也可以通过创新寻求变化，成就更好的未来。选择是明显的。但问题是，我们应该去哪里寻找灵感寻求变化呢？艺术... 因为它可以进入生活的方方面面，把人们从空洞的理想主义拉回到现实。它给人们提供了信心。它不会抹杀我们的梦想。它不是教我们做什么，它只是唤醒我们的潜意识。”

一些更具争议性的艺术形式不会极度度到刺激人们的感官，相反它会唤醒我们去欣赏现实生活的美丽，而不是仅仅沉迷于空洞的理想主义。[意译茅吁烩]。

因此，艺术家和知识分子在创新与创造的过程中扮演了一个重要的角色。他们的作品在通过各种渠道四处传播之前首次定义了个人表达的意义。

关于探索精神方面的例子相当多。在中国一个国际机场中出现的关于一个部落妇女在庆祝泼水节时裸体沐浴的壁画只不过是其中的一个例子。为了重新激发深藏在我们大脑深处的本能，我们必须极大提高“授权的程度”。

那么创新是否更多地是艺术而不是科学呢？简短的回答是，艺术是基础，而科学是配件。

我们必须发掘我们身上的本性，因为它让我们更了解我们不断变化的需求。我们必须找到我们的根基，它能让我们了解到我们拥有的潜力，激发一种可以培养我们的想象力并将其转化为可以实用的动力。

我们必须克制自己让我们专注于手头上的任务，因为毕竟，如果那些著名艺术家将自己的精力分散在各处，他们也不会成为精英。只有百经实践的手才能让这一切看起来如此简单和优美。这些巧妙的艺术品让我们这些人从围观者最后变成了一个参与者，意识到成功的可能性而不是否决我们的梦想。

通过授权，我们寻求合作伙伴协作将组装起我们的根基，凸显潜力成就非凡的事业。在真正的商业里，我们可以开发它并将它变成摇钱树。

纪律伴随在我们探索终极目标的路上，并形成了一个如何取得那个目标的框架。以学习中文为例，有多少人渴望掌握汉语（普通话）? 你需要设置什么样的里程碑去实现这一目标? 通常其是增加词汇量，如2,000字，6,000字或4万字！你预备要花多少资金来实现这一目标（当然，在多长的时间里？），取得你所预期的回报（投入资本回报）?

有许多方法可以达到这一目标。如果它过于僵化或不切实际，你会发现过裎的艰难，或是不可能去完成它。但是，如果你能够把握全局并创建一个可行的框架, 过程将会非常的顺利。

因此你可以自己设置目标或让老师为你设定目标。如果你的老师体谅你的情况，你应该感到放松并主导学习方法。经常,人们没有理解整体情况而下决定。因为我们习惯采用这样方式来决定并且可以猜测它的结果. 你可能幸运得到您要的结果或达不到你的预期并让别人发现你的弱点给你造成伤害.

回到工作场所。在某些情况下,机构宁愿选拔服从,听话的工人。它将利用执法人员确保把工作干完。作为一个贡献者，并有权选择，你可以确保您和合作者的一套信念对齐,从而避免被别人来利用你的情况。

为了从促进和谐，创造和创新的环境中受益，你必须成为活跃参与者。正确的价值体系是一个重要因素，以及在大型企业是很难建立共同的价值观和信仰。当合作者的目的有交叉点时，消极和积极的作用互相抵消导致投资回报巨大的下降。

铭记的格言：勿以恶小而为之，勿以善小而不为。

把它实践到实际中,更多是艺术而非科学的。关系是如此脆弱，你可以把它比作一面镜子，正好反映它接收的能量。它获得多并也给予得多. 为了享受所奋力争取的东西，人们必须采取主动来培育和滋养人生价值，即同情，信任，公平性，欣赏性，可靠性的主动权。

现在我们去探索...

Innovation Through The Lens of Art Part IV - 勿以恶小而为之, 勿以善小而不为

2010-02-27T18:24:00.056+08:00

Society can either opt to stand still or seek to change for the better through innovation. The choice is clear. The question is where do we seek inspiration to change for the better? Art... for it " removes irrelevant concepts from people's minds, encourages the living. It provides confidence to people. It does not deal out dreams. It does not teach. It awakens. " Art in its more controversial forms need not titillate our senses to extremity, but to awaken us to the beauty of living reality instead, and not merely indulge in empty idealism. [ paraphrase Mao Yuhui ]. Therefore, artists and intellectuals play a key role in fermenting innovation and creativity. Their works play a pivotal role in defining individual expression first and foremost before propagating to all and sundry.

Examples abound of the pioneering spirit that is within us. Controversial mural in airport depicting naked tribal women bathing in celebration of a water festivity is but one such example. To revive ( nourish ) an instinct that resides in the deep recess of our brains, we need to up the "degree of empowerment" by many notches.

So is innovation more art than science? The short answer being, art is the foundation and science its fittings.

We need to accentuate the human-ness in us in order to satisfy our ever evolving needs. We must uncover the building blocks that permit us to realise the potential in us, generate the momentum that will nurture our fertile imagination and turn it into functional forms.

We ought to have the discipline to apply our mind to the task on hand for after all, famous artists do not become top guns merely putting a few splashes here and there. It is a practised hand that makes it looks so easy and graceful - such artful manifestation awakens us, the audience and finally as participants, to the possibilities rather than dealing out our dreams.

Through empowerment, we seek out partners to collaborate with, and assemble the building blocks to competently realise our potential in coming up with outstanding pieces of work, in the true commercial sense exploit it and turn it into money spinners.

The discipline comes in figuring out the end goal. And to develop a framework in how to reach that end goal. Take learning Chinese language as an example. How many of you desire to master the Chinese language ( putonghua ). What are the milestones you set for yourself to reach that goal. Typically it is to increase the vocabulary i.e. 2,000 words, 6,000 words or 40,000 words! How much investment are you prepared to put in to realise that goal ( and of course under what time frame? ) and what do you expect to get in return ( e.g. return on invested capital ). There are many paths to reach that goal. If it is too rigid and unrealistic, you will find the going tough or next to impossible. However, if you do think it through and create a framework to undertake the journey, the execution will be extremely smooth.

So you can either set the goals yourself or let the teacher sets the goals for you.
You need to feel comfortable that your teacher empathises with your situation as well for you to take ownership of the approach adopted.

Often times, people end up making decisions without understanding the whole picture.
This is because we are used to making decisions without the benefit of complete information and guess what is the result? You either are lucky to get the result you want; or fall short of your expectation and allow someone to exploit that vulnerability to your detriment.

Back to the workplace. There are situations where organisations prefer to only want order takers. They will use enforcers to get the job done. As a contributor and empowered with choices, you can ensure that your set of beliefs is in alignment with those that you are collaborating with thereby avoiding a scenario where you may be exploited on. To benefit from the environment that promotes harmony, creativity and innovation, you must also be an active participant. Proper value system is a vital element and in large organisations it is rather difficult to establish common values and beliefs. When collaborators are at cross-purposes, negatives cancel out positives resulting is dismal return on investment. Be mindful of the adage: 勿以恶小而为之, 勿以善小而不为. Putting it to practice, is more art than science. Relationship is so fragile that you can liken it to a mirror reflecting exactly the energy it receives. It gives as much as it takes. To enjoy what we strive most for, one must take the initiative in nurturing and nourishing LIFE values i.e. EMPATHY, TRUST, FAIRNESS, APPRECIATION, RELIABILITY.

Now, we go figure ....

创新过程, 化危为机第三部分-未满足的需要和市场

2010-01-30T10:39:00.008+08:00

创新之路必须包括两大要素。其一，解决方案是全新的；其二，能有效解决最终用户的问题。从宏观上看，我们希望找到对企业家的需求尚未得到满足的市场。

全球金融危机提供给了中国一个机遇，成为带动全球经济回稳的主动力。中国庞大的经济刺激计划已经达到了预期的效果。然而，显而易见的是，引发危机的根源仍旧存在于现有的全球经济体系中，解决这些不安定因素，必须让发展重新步上良性轨道。

中国经济必须保持8%的GDP年增长率，且一直依赖出口模式。但美国的过度消费所导致地严重财富创伤使得中国原有的经济模式难以为继。中国与其他相似的经济体一样，将不得不通过拉动国内消费来弥补差距。中国目前国内消费占全国 GDP 总数的35%，而美国同期的这一比重是75%。

中国的出口模式依赖劳动密集型和资源密集型加工产业，因此有其局限性，并且在产业结构平衡、协调性和可持续性等方面存在着问题。在金融危机初期，2,000万中国农民工下岗或面临失业。他们的返乡可能成为政治和经济秩序的不稳定因素，影响巨大.

本着化危为机，中国启动了一揽子经济刺激政策，总投资超过 5,000 亿美元，旨在大力提升国内消费。政策包括有家电下乡、经济适用房补贴、车辆购置税下调等。这些政策不仅保证了工厂的正常运营、工人的就业，也同样提高了人们的生活质量。中国有三大产业，依次分为农业、制造业和服务业，而发展的焦点将集中在提升其制造业的技术水平上。对人们生活质量的提升则从原有的仅着重衣食延伸到了住行。在某种意义上，新生活方式的曙光已经到来。

中国西部开发的预期成长率将达到15%，从而弥补了经济较为成熟的沿海地区及经济特区的低预期成长率。这些举措的成功实施将提高居民生活水平和购买力，并进一步推动中国的贸易流通。与国外机构，尤其是跨国企业的合作将变得频繁，并产生双赢效益。中国对生产力的提升，使得其服务业成为投资的理想市场，资金将被用于职业培训等手段以提高劳动力水平。但由于劳动密集型模式的长期主导地位，使得转型期间的阻力不可避免。勇气与领导力是变革和产生绩效的两大关键，只有具备这样的智慧才能战胜既得利益的固有思想局限，带领人民实现改革的愿景.

把握到创新的脉搏了吗？请用心体会……

aknowledgments:
Ms Renee Yi for editing and support to this post.

Innovation Process Part III - Unmet Needs and Marketplace

2010-01-29T16:31:00.008+08:00

Two key ingredients must be satisfied in the innovation process. The solution must be new and solve a problem for the end users. In taking a macro view, we hope to seek out market place where unmet needs await the entrepreneurs.
The global financial crisis provides China the opportunity to be the main locomotive in driving the global economy back to stability. Its massive economic stimulus package had the intended effect. However it is also clear that the root causes remain embedded within the present global economic system and such instability must be resolved for growth to be back on track.

China requires a sustainable growth rate of 8% annually and has relied on the export model. This cannot carry on indefinitely as the US over-spent consumers have severely depleted their wealth. China as well as other economies with similar model, will need to look from within via increase in domestic consumption, presently at 35% of its GDP ( versus US 75% ) to make up for this gap.

The export model leveraging on labour- and resource-intensive processes has its limit and has created issues with regards to structural balances, coordination and sustainability. At the advent of the crisis, 20 millions migrant workers were laid off or facing layoffs. Their return to their villages could potentially destabilize the political and economic order with dire consequences.

Turning the crisis into opportunity, China initiated an economic stimulus package in excess of US$ 500 billion, jump starting the process of increasing domestic consumption. Subsidies were extended to villagers to buy white appliances, affordable housing and tax reliefs for car purchases. These help to keep the factories running and workers gainfully employed, as well as hoisting the standard of living. China’s 3 key sectors i.e.. agricultural, manufacturing and services in that order, will be the focal point in upgrading its manufacturing base technologically. By raising the standard of living, the emphasis has shifted from merely having adequate clothing and food, to providing affordable housing and transportation. In a sense, the new dawn of lifestyle living has arrived.

China in developing its western provinces which in percentage term can grow in the mid-teens thus compensating for the lower growth rate expected for the more matured coastal areas and special economic zones. The successful implementation of these initiatives will raise standard of living and purchasing power, empowering China to facilitate the trade flow further. Collaboration with foreign entities, and in particular MNCs will come naturally and it can be a win-win outcome. As China seeks to raise productivity level, the service sector is a good area to target as funds will be set aside to upgrade the labour force through vocational training and such other means. During the transition, it is not unusual to meet resistance as labour-intensive model has worked so well thus far. Courage and leadership are required for wisdom to prevail over vested interest to bring about change, and for China to fulfill its vision for its people.

Do you smell opportunity for innovation? Go figure ...

Clues: zero carbon emission, food shortages, standard of living

Innovation Part II - A Leap of Faith

2009-12-28T17:54:00.002+08:00

We know that in order to create value, organisations must put in place processes that would empower stakeholders in taking the initiatives to come up with innovation value proposition.

While creating innovative solutions are important, the end result must be greater than the sum of its individual components. In other words, it is the business model encapsulating the key essence of the proposition, translated into a simple, yet powerful brand message (metaphor) that will make an lasting impact on the customers.

The question is whether innovation can be taught and how to incorporate it within the strategy road mapping. When we were asked by our clients to help out in developing a strategic framework, we detect a high level of anxiety and as a result there is a strong tendency to micro-manage. We all know that it is next to impossible to micro-manage and yet be innovative.

To mitigate such anxieties, we find it useful to use metaphor and analogy.

We would start by asking whether process owners have ridden a bicycle before. If so, they can relate to the following observations. It is very difficult to balance a bicycle while it is stationary. A lot of people believe that you must first balance the bike before you can ride it. On the contrary, it is when you are in the process of moving forward, that you discover your balance. However, a lot of people do not understand this logic. Only after many attempts and bruises from falling off the bike, the eureka moment arrives and the rider suddenly discovers he is able to ride the bike without falling off.

The key takeaway is that you need the courage to pedal, move forward and during the process ( journey ) discover new possibilities, doing things in a new way.

A pre-requisite for success in innovation includes:
a) the right core ideology i.e. values like courage, confidence and conviction,
b) the right people onboard,
c) coaching tool that would objectively measures value drivers, helping manage the resources more productively,
d) provide proper rewards and incentives.

Methodical Steps Towards Innovation Part I - An Oxymoron

2009-11-30T10:40:00.003+08:00

The first question to ask: Where do we even begin in order to innovate? We may start by looking at one's mission e.g. helping professionals create value.

How does this guide us towards a more innovation-driven organisation? The glue lies in the ability to understand the needs of your customers, especially needs that are not met in the marketplace.

Next, we need to understand how compelling these needs are from the perspective of the customers. It will be fair to say, customers need to create value for themselves, thereby generating surplus wealth. The more surpluses there are, the more discretionary can be the consumption. There is a line from which we can draw, defining how much customers are willing to consume and what kind of consumption they are wiling to indulge in.

It does not necessarily imply that the more the customers consume, the more value can be created. Customers at the point of purchase, may perceive that is value for money to own the goods. Value encompasses emotional, rational and moral considerations. But when push comes to shove, it will be the rational being that will dominate over the emotional being. What we are saying, is that when times are bad, people are more risk-averse. However, if we do follow the adage of a wise investor, then we should be very "greedy when others are afraid and be very afraid when others are greedy".

Form the above, it is possible to discern the need to segment the market when we pitch our value proposition. The market segmentation must be aligned with the philosophy of one's business model and resonates with its mission ( purpose ) and core values. Therefore if you get your ideology correct, the path towards innovation can be rather smooth.

Let's examine some of the initiatives to drive innovation .....

1. to sell content and software that run on cellphones and other devices.
Apple's iPhone has taken the lead showing why consumers will hop onto the internet bandwagon using mobile devices running on smart applications. This trend is extending to TVs ...

2. to invests in new and "adjacent markets" - value propositions that are related to, and can bolster sales of existing products.
Cisco has ventured into videoconferencing hoping that it can drive sales of routers and switches.

3. to maintain a robust pipeline of both disruptive and sustaining innovations by permitting individuals with the organisation to work at innovation - i.e. to try new things with ample resources to test ideas; as well as letting the market determine the way forward.
Cisco achieves this by decentralising decision-making through the setup of councils. Each of these councils will be empowered to decide which initiatives to push forward thus speeding up the innovation process.

From the above, we can infer that the first step is to define ( scope ) the problem that one wishes to solve, and this process can be speeded up with an organisation having the right core ideology and having the right people on board. Given a fishing rod and taught how to fish, you can go figure it, right?

Is It In Your DNA To Innovate Successfully?

2009-10-30T15:29:00.016+08:00

We wrote in our earlier post, that you need to leverage on domain knowledge, networking and artificial intelligence (aka technology ) to be successful. So the question is whether it is in your DNA to innovate your way to value creation?Innovation is the bloodline of any business model in sustaining its value creation process. It is important to understand the processes that lead to innovation. The most important being to be able to frame a problem adequately. With keen power of observation and lots of patience, it is possible to develop a pipeline of problems to be solved. With this in place, we are able to ask ourselves why solving each of these problems would help to make our lives better. For sure, the solutions have to be useful and new. Doing this iteratively, we will be able to sharpen our focus on the root problem that requires a solution that will be demanded by the end-users.

To begin, let's take the present credit crisis as an example. 2/3 of US GDP is made up of consumption. And when the consumers have maxed out their spending power, businesses will be faced with business contraction and people will be laid off. Banks will be reluctant to lend as the credit risk increases. A downward spiral will soon gain traction and hurling the US economy and along with it the rest of the world's economy into a deep recession.

We also know that small, medium enterprises provide employment to a significant number of people in the economy and they are been starved of credit. It is this very credit ( or lack of it ) that is constricting and taking the air of the system, and if left unchecked will deflate the economy to a point of no return.

The question will be: how can we channel credit to productive activity, providing solutions that are new and useful towards solving problems?

Although central banks are able to stimulate through quantitative easing, the tools used are too blunt. Recipients of the credit may not be deserving, and the result could lead to another asset bubble been formed.

As such, in order to channel resources to deserving entities, we need to create a framework that will allow credit to be directed to those that can create value.

In order to achieve this, we need to identify the right people for the job. The First Who Then What paradigm. These are people who have the perseverance and tenacity to overcome the odds and succeed. They have a mission to achieve and have the correct values that will ensure their success.

In this connection, it will be critical to set up a centre to advise entrepreneurs on the how to succeed and whether their DNAs are wired up to innovate and sustain value creation.

ACE Strategy 1-2-3

2009-09-25T10:12:00.009+08:00

How comfortable are you when you are asked to articulate, communicate and execute a strategy? Well, we have come up with a 3-step approach, hence the namesake, Strategy 1-2-3. First, you will need to define your value proposition. What is it that will turn on your customers? If you able to position your products and services well, you will hit the jackpot, so to speak. To get the maximum benefit for your enterprise, you are better off identifying unmet needs as you can leverage on growth as a value driver. More importantly, you will have pricing power.

Second, you will need to determine the capital structure appropriate for the undertaking. Assuming that you have been able to achieve this, you will be able to determine the weighted average cost of capital. Combining the first 2 steps, you can workout the return on invested capital, cost of capital and these you work out your economic profit. You can then decide how much competitive advantage you can be comfortable with and then gauge your competitive advantage period ( CAP ) and the value creation that you may gain from your venture. It is also during this CAP that you are able to factor in growth which will boost your enterprise value.

Third, when you are good to go, you will need to measure and manage the processes that will drive your business model. You must have a scorecard which should indicate to you how well you have been in achieving the desire outcomes and more importantly, are you getting there in a consistent, sustainable way. Only when you can replicate your successes ad nauseam. will you be able to sustain the value creation process. You may want to track and analyze signals as to how you shape your market and brand. You will also want to know whether your salesforce has aligned their beliefs consistent with your core ideology ( mission and purpose ). Only then, you be assured of the quality that your Brand signifies.

When you have reached this stage, you can cruise and selling your Brand successfully will be the litmus test.

Extreme ( Extraordinary ) Value Added or XVA

2009-08-28T08:08:00.050+08:00

When you deliver something passionately, with gumption and compelling, it shows that you care and this will definitely move your audience. And when you continuously live by this conviction, people will come to appreciate your sincerity and it is always a winning proposition for people want to experience quality moments in their own journeys. We are referring to Extreme ( Extraordinary ) Value Added or XVA.

As in all things extreme, you need to be so focus in the things that you do in order to be a winner. You have an excellent differentiation - for a winner is unique and this will be great as far as differentiation of value proposition goes.

You will achieve instant "top of the mind message recall". Examples abound. Tiger Woods, world No.1 golfer. That's easy. Try Y.E. Yang - the first player to take down world No. 1 Tiger in a major championship.

People appreciate quality and will seek you out. Only when you are sincere, and have the gumption are you able to execute well with quality outcome.

Let's revisit the critical success factors pertaining to a value proposition i.e. domain knowledge, technology and networking. The ability to leverage on domain knowledge and and technology and to produce innovative results is what differentiate the winners from the crowd. According to David Murray in his book, Borrowing Brilliance - it is a 6-step approach to innovation i.e.

1. Define the problem that you wish to solve ( usually unmet needs in the marketplace )
2. Borrow ideas from scenarios that encounter similar issues,
3. Make the connection between issues and the ideas received,
4. Mull them over until these ideas can be incubated to a probable solution,
5. Assess the outcomes, and
6. Take out the rough edges and fine-tune into a viable solution.

In order to achieve a quality outcome, the above has to be preceded by First Who Then What paradigm. Let's take golf as an example. Golf is interesting as it is a game that fosters transparency and accountability. You cannot game it if you want to excel in it. Every action is subject to the scrutiny of your flight mates, and the slightest infraction will call in question your integrity. To play well, you need to understand the mechanics of the golf swing - that is domain knowledge. Next, you need to acquire the technology in order to play competitively. Golf technology has come a long way and you need to understand how it can help to improve your game. Playing golf socially is an excellent example of collaboration. Through collaboration, you can apply the 6 steps to innovate your game and in this way able to speed up the learning and development process. Everyone should have positive takeaways and make progress. Just the other day, we went down to the golf shops to buy a 'driver' for a friend of mine. He gradually understood that the new technology can help in his game and once he embraces it, he wasted little time to buy a 'driver' of choice. He is now in a position to take his game to the next level.

We know the benefits on XVA and we need to decompose it to its key value drivers i.e. competitive advantage period, return in excess of cost of capital and revenue growth. To achieve XVA, you have to ensure from the onset that you are made of sterner stuff and your value proposition can withstand the stress of competing in the marketplace. The business model must be able to perform under stressful conditions, just like pulling off those crunch shots when it matters.

With a roadmap in place, all you need is to execute it flawlessly. We cannot emphasise enough the need to pay attention to details. At the end of the day, it is about people, people, people. And to always leave behind a positive impression, you need to appreciate the nuances and exercise empathy especially considering the impact your actions have on others.

Crystal Ball Glazing - Part II

2009-07-29T05:53:00.036+08:00

In this article, we look at how one can consistently outperform the competition leveraging on quality, care, gumption...
We begin with beliefs - that good will triumph over bad, that excellence will overwhelm mediocrity, that passion will carry the day.

We need to envision the ends in order to will the means. By this we mean that there must be set of beliefs that will carry us through the journey.

Conventionally, successful value proposition is measured by the degree of traction, depth of management and having a good exit strategy. These are excellent yardsticks by which to determine as to whether we are spending our precious time well. This brings us to the point about creating value. In other words, why do you want to put your money at risk when the expected return is less than the cost of capital?

Well, the clue lies in how people think and act. They do expect a higher return but act with a short term vision which is let's get the business first by competing on price and then go figure how later how to make a profit. This pathway invariably will point you down the slippery road of mediocrity, indifferent attitude ... and you devote a significant amount of your precious time doing things that you really do not want to do. And to add insult to injury, you cannot even cover costs, let alone a value creating exit. You are either eluding yourself or leading your stakeholders down the same value destruction pathway. Not a hallmark of good leadership.

You would want to select your customers very carefully and winning them over. Very similar to you wanting to enjoy your golf game and play passionately with a flight of like-minded mates - unless you intend to shark them ... if that been the case... what do you think your flight mates will be doing? The outcome will be a comical tragedy with everyone attempting to skin everyone else, a never ending down spiral until you reach an equilibrium. A position that you have no desire to be in and yet finding that you have run out of options to get yourself out of the hole you have dug for yourself. Not a sustainable value proposition.

In order to win over your valued customers, you need to keep to your core ideology -one that holds true despite the ups and downs. That brings us back to the points about quality, care and gumption.

When you deliver something passionately, with gumption and compelling, it shows that you care and this will definitely move your audience. And when you continuously live by this conviction, people will come to appreciate your sincerity and it is always an winning proposition for people want to experience quality moments in their own journeys.

This is a winning way to consistently outperform the competition.

Keywords: quality, value systems, trust, domain knowledge, technology, networking, maven traps, speed of trust, lifestyle

Crystal Ball Glazing - Part I

2009-06-20T11:46:00.052+08:00

Moving into the second half of 2009, we are confronted with choices. The path that we choose to take will set the course for the next 3 to 5 years. How so? Depending on what you set your sight on i.e. if attaining strong cashflow generating capabilities and a strong balance sheet with solid cash position are what you seek, you will need to plan ahead. First you will need to review your business model specifically in the area of customer relationship, pricing and revenue growth taking into account of game changers looming over the horizon.

The question to ask - Do you have strong product offerings that will continue to attract your target audience?

What is done to grow your customer base? Can you expand beyond the 80/20 rule i.e. while deepening the relationship with your existing customers, are you able to identify the white space - where needs are unmet. In doing so, you will notice that there are disrupters willing to chip away your market share and you would need to be mindful of how you position your products without alienating your exisiting customer base. By this we mean that you need to focus without straying from your core competencies. This is where you need to revisit your core ideology - and subject it to extreme stress testing. Is your stated purpose still relevant and are you keeping to your core values? Do you still maintain your beliefs? More importantly, do your customers also subscribe to these beliefs? What will break this bonding between you and your customers? Have your competitors come around with a better value proposition in reinforcing these beliefs or are they cutting corners to gain market share?

Competing smartly is critical in extending your competitive advantage period as well as maintaining a robust return in excess of capital ( RECC ). The interlocking relationships amongst value drivers - meeting customers' need ( quality ) at the right price point and rewarding your stakeholders appropriately mean that one has to be very judicious when making trade-offs. Without a sound business design that proactively counter-balances all the competing forces ( bargaining powers ), it may be very difficult to sustain your competitive advantages.

Hence understanding the price dynamism specifically the cost structure of competitors is an important component of the process.

At what price point will it be possible for your business model to prevail over the competition?

At that price point, is it possible to maintain a culture of innovation and continually come up with compelling new offerings to meet the ever changing needs of customers.

The goal is to seek pricing where you are able to generate return in excess of revenue while at the same time aiming to be a low cost producer. This way, you are erecting barrier to entry keeping new entrants at bay.

How do you achieve top of mind message recall?

You could leverage on the following drivers:
a) stickiness factor
b) law of the few
c) law of context where small changes in the context of a message can determine whether or not it tips

Marketing campaigns should be via appropriate media that allows the promotion of your products in an "in-your-face" sort of a manner without upsetting your customers. A more subtle way is to leverage on word-of-mouth marketing by influential opinion leaders. It is wise to create the environment where you can allow your mavens and connectors to spread the message. A combination of these techniques can bring you closer to your target audience.

Additionally, you need to be mindful of the necessary and suffcient conditions for these principles to be applied i.e.
a) size of an organisation
b) degree of decentralisation
c) decision-making process
d) existence of a central agency for co-ordinating the program
e) trusted partnership

There are many layers within an organisation that may act at cross-purposes and ultimately diminishing the ability of end-consumers in making wise choices. It will be necessary to make sure that individuals are empowered to decide what is in their best interest and to reduce the "noises" in between layers.

Coming Up Next
Meaning of quality, care, gumption ( traps ) - values and truth.
How can one continually beat the competition systematically, on a process-driven basis.

Keywords: quality, value systems, trust, domain knowledge, technology, networking, maven traps, speed of trust, lifestyle

First Who Then What

2009-05-24T21:41:00.017+08:00

Getting the right persons onboard is absolutely essential ...By this we mean, people who exhibit the right qualities and attributes. They must be pre-disposed to the right values. This is absolutely critical if we want to build trust. For it is through trust that we are able to speed up collaboration and decision-making.

Examples of trust building:
a) fulfill all promises made;
b) do not take what is not yours;
c) value people's idea and work and treat these as monies that you would not normally part with;
d) do not slack by making sure that you deliver your part of the bargain etc.

Remember, once trust is broken it is very difficult to mend back. It will be a major setback as it creates uncertainty and when there is uncertainty, collaborators will shy away from sharing their work and co-operation will eventually cease. This is a lose-lose scenario contrary to the game theory which states that a win-win outcome will bring about an optimum payout to the collaborators.

As such if we have the right persons onboard, we will not counter such irrational behaviour and all energies can be channeled towards productive work.

Once we have the necessary and sufficient conditions, we better the odds of stringing together a series of good decisions.

Keywords: quality, value systems, trust, domain knowledge, technology, networking, maven traps, speed of trust, lifestyle

Spring and Green Shoots

2009-04-25T09:54:00.010+08:00

While focusing on the 2 pillars of our business, we also took step to review our third pillar i.e. review the state of the market. ...We have decided to leverage on our domain know-how, technology and fuse with these with the third element, networking.

After pouring through the literature regarding the market, we came to the conclusion that:
a) deflation is certainly bad for investment and consumption,
b) stabilizing the financial sector is key to unfreezing the credit market,
c) regulators will be required to take bold, extreme measures in the form of quantitative easing ( QE ), to reflate the economies worldwide commencing with the US,
d) All the stimuli will only work if the interests of all stakeholders are aligned, and will come at a cost - inflation.

Taking cue from the above, we took the view that the financialswill lead in the recovery, and with the recovery, US dollars will come under pressure as investors will switch to emerging markets with higher betas and commodities as hedge against inflation / declining dollars.

The goal amongst the collaborators is to rebuild a portfolio of asset classes to take advantage of the next stage of the business cycle.

The collaborative effort has worked very well and we will like to pause to understand the drivers for the successful outcome. We can certainly attribute the positive outcome to the following drivers:
a) leadership,
b) first who then what,
c) confronting the brutal facts but remaining stoic,
d) stay focus and keep the strategy simple to understand and execute.

The above is only possible when we have shared values ( core ) i.e. trustworthy ( honesty and competency ), transparent and accountable, quality-minded and passion, as well as respect for others.

All in all, we would like to transplant these positive takeaways to other cases that we are emabarking on.

Keywords: quality, value systems, trust, domain knowledge, technology, networking, maven traps, speed of trust, lifestyle

ACE Coaching Tool

2009-03-24T10:01:00.024+08:00

Moving forward...... to be successful.... you need to ace your business model with traction and quality management...These are two important elements that stakeholders would like to see in abundance.

First who then what. Getting the right people onboard is absolutely critical. Once you have such individuals onboard, you can be sure that they will not jump off the bus when the ride gets bumpy. Neither do they require to be motivated. All they require is an environment that engenders trust. The best way to demotivate good people is to hide the truth from them.

We come to the next point. Underpinning traction. While we can go through the exercise of crystallising a strategy roadmap, highlighting market opportunities and articulating its value proposition, investors really want to be satisfied with regards to the viability of the business model. We therefore need to translate strategy into execution and communicate to the stakeholders in a clear and concise manner.

One way we find particularly useful is to itemise the revenue numbers that are most likely to be realised and stating the assumptions associated to these numbers. We can achieve this by drawing a financial projection in a spreadsheet and incorporating codes that will turn this into a coaching tool-cum-dashboard. This serves to facilitate in tracking the progress of the revenue numbers. Any delay in realising these numbers can be documented, monitored, and the gaps analysed systematically. This provides the transparency and accountablity along the timeline which stakeholders will appreciate.

Investors are absolutely right to seek assurance that individuals with the right core ideology ( purpose in being and core values ) are at the helm. Consistency in preserving the core and actions can clue stakeholders as to the soundness of the business model and whether there is scope for it to rise to greatness.

Keywords: quality, value systems, trust, domain knowledge, technology, networking, maven traps, speed of trust, lifestyle

Articulate, Communicate and Execute

2009-02-24T11:17:00.011+08:00

How do you ace the economy?First who then what - by this we mean when the going gets toughs ( economy is heading south ), it is the tough who gets going.

You need to keep your head above water. You do this by digging deep into your set of core values and never waiver from it. You focus on your purpose in being. What are you in here for? The nobler the goal the further to the future you are able to peer. You will be able to see things crystal clear. There can be no short cuts. Next, you confront the brutal facts. By facing up to reality, you can remain optimistic above the future - and the future is reasonably bright - you can devise a pathway to get to your goal. Do not be disheartened as you encounter setbacks along the way. When we face what appears to be the darkest hour we confront what is termed the Stockdale paradox.

When you have the right mindset, pursue your core ideology with a passion - like a hedgehog. Stay focus, do what you know best and always maintain your enthusiasm.

Remember there is no such thing as a silver bullet, you need to be dogged and each step you take, you are pulling yourself closer towards your goals and away from your competition. Learn to pace yourself so that you do not get into a panic mode and burn precious resources unnecessarily. Take long strokes and generate momentum so that once you are into your strides, there is enough forward momentum for you to glide, and during vital intervals you can pause, reflect without fear of being derailed.

You have to trust your instinct that sooner than later, you will triumph over the odds.

Keywords: quality, value systems, trust, domain knowledge, technology, networking, maven traps, speed of trust, lifestyle

Trends and Actions

2009-01-02T08:03:00.023+08:00

Welcome to the New Year. After a tumultuous 2008, we can expect lagged effect through the first half of the year here.
Singapore, together with other export-oriented economies, tends to exhibit high beta. This translates to a sharper decline on the way down.

The recovery is likely to predicate on how the US economy will shape itself after the new administration takes over. It will be hard to predict the winners as well as the losers. However, there are a number of signals that serve to provide some guidance.

1) the excesses within the financial industry are not likely to be replicated,

2) growth is likely to be tampered as US economy adjusts to the new reality,

3) the size of US government will expand in keeping with its ideological stance, and new jobs created will need to take this into account,

4) velocity of money supply may pick up once sign of recovery is in sight, and the downside is that money supply through credit expansion will increase substantially pushing general prices upward,

5) growth in the US, if driven by infrastructural build, may yield the optimal result as far as job creation is concerned,

6) if such fiscal stimulus is funded by borrowing and a willingness to repay through the budgetary means, the inflationary impact can be contained,

7) it is not sure whether the new energy policy can help to wean all of us from our addiction to a fossil-fuel driven business model.

The above poses significant challenges for most individuals even before the credit crisis of past year. Now, it will be even more daunting for many small and medium enterprises. First, it will need to stay afloat by making sure that it has sufficient cashflow to go through the downturn. At the same time, preparation must be made to position for the upturn. The upturn may mean more challenges in the form of higher costs not necessarily accompanied by rising revenue.

To mitigate against such dire possibilities, we need to

1) preserve wealth by ensuring that a portion goes into asset classes that will perform under theses circumstances - A US-led recovery that may not entirely benefit the export-oriented economies,

2) focus on value creating activities by leveraging on domain knowledge, technology and networking.

3) diversify the revenue base and if possible create multi-sided revenue models to better position for a share of the customer's wallet.

Keywords: quality, value systems, trust, domain knowledge, technology, networking, maven traps, speed of trust, lifestyle

Seasons' Greetings

2008-12-25T20:27:00.011+08:00

Wishing Everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Some things will remain unchanged.....the true classics. It is the time for us to cherish with what we have and count on our blessings. That constants...which are our core values...serve as the beacon to guide us through the present difficulties to a better future. The omen of a better future. We can only make it a reality if we set aside our differences and come together and be willing to be counted. Preseve the core and encourage those around you to stimulate progress.

Strategy and Execution

2008-11-27T10:07:00.000+08:00

The easier part is completed... Now is the time to focus on execution.

Key success factors include a well thought through articulation of the core ideology and envisioned future ( goal ).

Let's revisit the core which encompasses core values and purpose in being.

Values are something that process owners already are pre-disposed to. Without these values, whatever that comes thereafter will be a disconnect.

The disconnect will result in poor execution. Take the example of the supposedly green revolution that is the rave these days. Everyone is talking and going green -giving rise to a carnival-like atmosphere. However, without taking a holistic ( systemic ) approach, it will be going nowhere. Without the requisite resources, vision is only a hallucination. This is because, according to Thomas Friedman, without a systemic response shaped by intelligent design and buttressed by market forces, higher efficiency standards, tougher regulations, and an ethic of [ conversation ] that might have a chance of turning that vision into reality. In other words we have willed the ends, but not the means.

In order we do not lose ground, we need to beef up the means. Firstly, we have to seek evidence ( or lack of ) of preservation of the core and supplement that by celebrating success stories i.e. the systemic response will have to incorporate processes that celebrate success stories of Heroes. The power of example can never be underestimated for it aligns people quicker and more effectively ( as well as efficiently ) than example of power.

The means can be beefed up by focusing on the three key value drivers and ensuring that they are working in tandem. They are domain knowledge, technology and networking. Only via these pathways will a team be able to get the best out of the available resources. Alignment ( typically through collaboration ) is key in ensuring that the group outcome is at an optimal. Without which we will always come up with sub-par results.

There are plenty of tools ( means ) out there in the marketplace that can help in the collaborative efforts. We will explore them by way of identifying heroes who will share their successes with us in the coming posts.

Keywords: quality, value systems, trust, domain knowledge, technology, networking, maven traps, speed of trust, lifestyle

Brand Equity - Lifestyle and Quality Experiences

2008-10-03T19:48:00.016+08:00

2008 Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix .....

Turn 10 .... 135 km/hr

Turn 10 .... 135 km/hr

Padang - City Skyline

Padang - Grand Old Lady ~ Supreme Court Building

Padang - City Skyline at Night

Supreme Court Building - Closeup

Padang - City Skyline at Night ~ Durians and Flyer

Standing Tall When Partying

Watering Hole With a View

All Decked Out In Red

Just after the race - Esplanade Drive

Just after the race - Anderson Bridge

Keywords: quality, value systems,
trust, domain knowledge, technology, networking, maven traps, speed of trust, lifestyle

Heroes and Core Values

2008-09-23T08:13:00.013+08:00

In the process of articulating and communicating the strategy roadmap, the core ideology and the envisioned future are also mapped... It becomes necessary to stress test the blueprint so that we do not end up with motherhood statements.

The first step is to seek evidence that the entity is preserving the core.

Starting with core values, these must be common values that the collaborators are pre-disposed to. You cannot fake it, decree it such that people will "buy-in". Therefore there must be a tightness of fit and it starts with the recruitment process.

In seeking evidence as to whether core is preserved, we need to test for
1) existence of statements of core ideology,
2) idealism beyond profits,
3) historical continuity of ideology, and
4) consistency between ideology and actions.

We need to assess also whether the common thread that binds all stakeholders together is strong enough to achieve our envisioned future.

Embedded in the processes will be the need to celebrate success stories of Heroes. The power of example can never be underestimated for it aligns people quicker and more effectively ( as well as efficiently ) than example of power.

The speed of strategic planning working at its optimal....... The true meaning of synergy becomes apparent. Will be sitting back to saviour this moment.

Keywords: quality, value systems, trust, domain knowledge, technology, networking, maven traps, speed of trust, lifestyle

Speed of Strategic Planning

2008-08-23T10:22:00.012+08:00

In the last post, we found ourselves asking why are there so many business models falling by the sideway... We venture to guess that the issue lies in the lack of a coherent, well articulated core ideology.

We experimented with 3 different business models i.e.

1) a well established entity with rich "heritage" with operating base in excess of US$ 25 million annually,
2) a global player with substantial market capitalisation value, and
3) a start-up.

We attempt to infuse elements of core ideology for each of these cases.

Some interesting observations surfaced:

1) for the larger organisations with legacy issues, the core ideology got lost somewhere in the translation,
2) when the business model has been adversely impacted by external environment, there is plenty of fire-fighting,
3) the ability to connect the dots and the dashes becomes impaired - particularly hen the whole team is reacting and in retreat. Very soon it turned into a rout
4) tightness of fit - teams lose their shape when in disarray.

For the smaller outfit, the tightness of fit is pretty impressive. All interfaces are working, and it is a joy to observe the pieces coming together in one synchronised, harmonious movement.

The speed of strategic planning working at its optimal....... The true meaning of synergy becomes apparent. Will be sitting back to saviour this moment.

Keywords: quality, value systems, trust, domain knowledge, technology, networking, maven traps, speed of trust, lifestyle

Core Ideology and Envisioned Future

2008-07-02T15:39:00.005+08:00

When the signals are faint and yet gut feeling points towards a certain direction ... trust your instinct and take a step back and think.Take an instance of an assignment of reviewing the strategic planning process of a specific business model. When it becomes apparent that there are significant misalignments and there is no coherent theme, red flag should immediately be raised.

When collaborative evidence abounds e.g.
- business model persistently pursues new built with little or no ownership of the tasks,
- presentation provides mere palliatives, highlights of hardware without a golden thread that ties in all components into a whole,
- probable outcome a somewhat disjointed expose of brick-and mortar issues, customers are made to decide ( at their own costs ) based on information that can be best described as incomplete,

it is time to take remedial action, and to do it fast.

The first task is to enquire - what ails the system?

At this stage, strategic planning is of limited use until we tackle the higher order of the problem. We need to re-look its core ideology ( or the lack of it ). Core ideology covers a purpose and a set of core values. Only when this is well underpinned would it be possible to articulate an envisioned future which will stimulate progress. This should incorporate a long-term Big Hairy Audacious Goal ( BHAG ). Once this has been successfully transplanted, the tasks of ensuring continuity of management, purposeful evolution etc become feasible.

Keywords: quality, value systems, trust, domain knowledge, technology, networking, maven traps, speed of trust, lifestyle

Fusion of Purpose, Core Values and Quality

2008-06-02T21:25:00.004+08:00

To get it right, we need to build up the software. How many people realise what that entails.....For a start, let's take a leaf off Robert Pirsig's classic, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. The following are excerpts that will help us to stay focus on what counts.

A person who sees Quality and feels it as he works is a person who cares

Right values, and subsequently right thoughts

Right thoughts produce right actions and resulting in work which is a reflection of serenity in the centre of it

Gumption equates to enthusiasm

A person who seeks quality will be filled with enthusiasm for his work

2 types of gumption traps are: from external sources (setbacks) and from within ( value and truth traps )

We cannot say the outputs are of quality or not without looking to the past or future.

A passionate caring is central to understanding and maintaining a system because system maintenance occurs within an emotional context

Next, the importance of keeping score.

How often we encounter people who don't really care about their work. Usually it is a case that they do not even know what their jobs entail. It is a case that we know it best as it has always been done this way HERE....who cares what customers think?

Well, we see many an instance that such gumption traps create the pathway to failure.

It has been said that in building a franchise that will last, we need to look beyond strategies and tactics. Not only must a visionary organisation have a clear cut vision, it must also have enduring core values and purpose.

Some interesting issues:

Can an organisation grow rapidly while maintaining its core values and purpose?

Should an organisation seek growth at the expense of its core values and purpose?

Without core values and purpose where can an organisation head to?

The idea is to align interests of collaborators whose sense of purpose allows them to figure how to build innovative institution that expresses its core values and earns a sustained reputation for great products.

It is about:
- What processes can we create that will give us an excellent entity?
- What type of enduring entity do we want to build?
- On what principles?
- What guidelines and methods should we construct that we give us a kind of entity we envision?

In other words, it is about clock-building ( as opposed to time telling ).

The dilemma encountered by people is that they feel that they can only handle one consistent theme and are thus hostages to the tyranny of the OR. According to the book Built to Last, we should embrace the genius of the AND.

Translated into reality: it is about purpose beyond profit AND pragmatic pursuit of profit; philosophical, visionary, futuristic AND superb daily execution, "nuts and bolts"; organisation aligned with a core ideology AND organisation adapted to its environment; Big Hairy Audacious Goals AND incremental evolutionary progress; etc.

The test of a first-rate ( world-class ) intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function ( Scott Fitzgerald ). This is exactly what visionary organisations are able to do.

Keywords: quality, value systems,
trust, domain knowledge, technology, networking, maven traps, speed of trust, lifestyle

Taking A Leaf From Crisis Management

2008-05-23T07:56:00.002+08:00

During a crisis....and we mean crisis.......management with a heightened sense of foreboding will act in their self-interest as well as collective interest to assure the audience that all that can be done are DONE.....

How do we draw lessons from such instances?

First savvy management will learn that transparency fosters trust. And this implies accountability. During a crisis, the first hours will provide a clue as to whether the system is geared to handle such a scenario or not. If so, management is confident that the audience will perceive that they are on top of the situation and will rally to their support.

Even when there are shortcomings, the management would be willing to accept the risks of such shortcomings being surfaced as the benefit of retaining command and control outweighs the embarrassment of shortcomings being highlighted.

This can only be possible when the management is given the opportunity / incentive to install such a system. Typically they will do so only when they encounter problems and have learnt to put in place processes to prevent future occurrences.

A more pro-active way is to introduce a communication system where transparency is assured.

The management will be incentivised to install as quickly as possible interim measures to plug gaps and or holes.

Hence the first step is to establish a system of reporting. Once achieved, it will be easy to test which components will lag behind in providing up-to-date reporting.

Once gaps are identified, decision makers will rely on fact-based evidence to allocate resources to ensure critical processes are put in place.

Next, you need to devise tools that you allow you to analyse the data and surface trends. You would want the present it in such a way that power users can feel comfortable in dealing with the signals.

This will set the stage for decision-makers to have a common platform to debate on the findings and hopefully the decision making will be fact-based.

The next interesting question is:
Can management voluntarily take this path? If not, what would be the incentives to encourage management along this path?

One clue is back to the concept of alignment of interests where group outcome can be optimised by seeking out win-win solutions.

Keywords: quality, value systems,
trust, domain knowledge, technology, networking, maven traps, speed of trust, lifestyle

Co-operation - How Can We Make It Work?

2008-04-27T19:29:00.007+08:00

We are constantly faced with the challenge of having our representatives acting in our best interest.......
When the common good is less clear, it is no wonder that individuals feel short changed. While there is no clear solution in coming up with the right person to represent one's interest, the process of going about, if done correctly, may inject an element of competition and that is healthy. Instead of relying on experts to guide the process, it is felt that individuals partake as well. They should be given the information as well as the opportunity to discuss the issues on hand. While this is all well and good - from an economic perspective - one's input hardly matters so why bother?

Although there are no clear cut answers, it is still useful to minimise the opportunities for special interest groups to seek short term gain at the expense of the common good for the majority.

Any takers out there?

Competing On Business Analytics

2008-03-08T11:51:00.002+08:00

Another way to hone your competitive advantages.....

What does it entails?

It means that decision makers will rely on fact-based evidence in mapping their competitive strategies as well as in executing them.

Instead of relying on intuition and gut feel, C-level executives must ensure that the decision making is based on sound underpinnings leveraging on hard facts.

So what are these hard facts?

First and foremost, let's us consider some of the value propositions that have been championed by leading-edge organisations i.e. customer-centric ness (CRM), supply chain management, yield management etc

Essentially what you want is data that can provide valuable insights to underscore these value propositions, trends in the market place, underlying business processes and clue in as to the untapped white space whereby one can extract value.

In order to achieve this, you would need to source for quality data, house them in an appropriate structure and be able to query in such a way that provides invaluable insights to your business.

For organisations aspiring to achieve these, you would need the right sponsorship from the very top e.g. someone who is very passionate and committed to such an undertaking. In addition, you need to build up the capabilities and you would want to ensure that there is buy-in with collaborators' interests well aligned.

In other words, we need to foster and engender trust. For trust speeds up things..... sound very familiar.

For organisations with legacy issues, the task can be that much more challenging or daunting.

In order to achieve the buy-in, you would need to compress the tasks hence the timeline so that the deployment can be completed more quickly. You would require an extremely experienced, all-rounded professional who can skillfully navigate through potential minefields. That person must possess the business acumen as well as the IT know-how, and be able to work-round problems in order to complete the last-mile.

As the learning curve is steep, you would want to accomplish it quickly before interests fade away. Typical of such projects, the timeline to go-live can be anything from 12 months to 24 months. There will be instances where champions and or process owners drop out during the period and you would want to ensure that corporate memory is institutionalised.

We would want to avoid a situation where we assemble a panel of so-called experts, devoping a herding mentality, incapble of offering diverse and independent evaluations. There is a danger that this will lead to a negative information cascade. Therefore we need to nuture a decentralised eco-system. where we can efficiently harvest tacit knowledge and aggregating it to provide valuable insights. Other innovative ways include setting up decision markets, where the wisdom of the crowds can be gleaned.

Diversity facilitates in exploring alternatives rather than exploiting the already discovered. It can also serve to provide timely disruption to the circular mill phenomenon.

Along the way the project may be hijacked or derailed by unforeseen circumstances. The morale of the task force may be adversely affected.

The key question is how you recover from these setbacks. The answer to it must be that we gather like-minded professionals who understand and appreciate quality. Without which, the team will have no gumption to rally to the very end and the project will end prematurely.

However it requires a mindset change for most organisations before they can embark on such a course.

Once you are confident that the team will persevere, you can get down to the tasks on identifying metrics that you would want to track, and can explain the causal relationship. Some of the questions asked will be:

1. what metrics are necessary to be measured and managed and what is the data required?

2. where can the data be sourced?

3. how much data is required?

4. how to render the data to be more accurate and relevant?

5. what are the rules and processes required to ensure sustainability?

Next, you need to devise tools that you allow you to analyse the data and surface trends. You would want the present it in such a way that power users can feel comfortable in dealing with the signals.

This will set the stage for decision-makers to have a common platform to debate on the findings and hopefully the decision making will be fact-based.

We have completed a number of such projects, and are still evaluating the outcome. For sure we have many take-aways and like the saying goes .... it is not over until the fat lady sings.

The next interesting question is how many more organisations will take this path, and for those who choose not to go this path, can they afford to do so?

Are you ready to take this path?

Keywords: quality, value systems,
trust, domain knowledge, technology, networking, maven traps, speed of trust, lifestyle

Portfolio Tracking

2008-02-11T15:08:00.005+08:00

DRAFT

Taking the S&P500 as the benchmark, we began to understand the dynamics.....

We are using ETFs with at least track record of 5 years. In the above instance, we track EWA and note that the average annualised return is 30%, standard deviation is 11%, sharpe ratio is 2.4, correlation coefficient is 0.8 and beta is 1.4

Likewise, we track DIA, EWS, EWH, EWM, FBIDX, FIEUX, XLF, XLE, XLB, ABX and IXJ:

Disclaimer: The site provider and or the contributor of this post do not warrant the accuracy / completeness of the information contained herein, disclaim all liability and shall not be responsible for any losses arising fron the use of the content herein.

Keywords: quality, value systems,
trust, domain knowledge, technology, networking, maven traps, speed of trust, lifestyle

Portfolio Management: Taking the Plunge

2008-02-10T10:02:00.000+08:00

In the month of January, the market has been very choppy....... It is a widely held notion that a 20% decline off the peak of the key index ( e.g. Dow ) would place an economy ( US in this instance ) technically in recession......

It is a question of whether we are better off in taking a position of buy-and-hold or exit the market and retain cash.

It has been said that it will rather difficult to time the market. Generally this is true. However, let us try to understand the market psychology.

Here is one view:

Why small investors should hang on to their holdings in times of turmoil.

It's common in times of market swings to hear financial advisers warn that trying to time such turbulent markets is a fool's game.

One minute, the market is struggling with what could easily become full-scale capitulation, with the Dow industrials down more than 300 points and everybody from top economists to bartenders and cabdrivers criticizing Fed chief Ben Bernanke for slashing interest rates by three-quarters of a point on Tuesday. The next moment, the bulls are running like it's July in Pamplona, fueled by the latest and greatest plan to bail out Wall Street.

At some point, when they do turn, it will be fast and hard

We need to understand the underlying motivation. Because of the issue of moral hazard, certain key players in the market have gone overboard, and hoping that when they get into trouble, there will be a bailout.

However, once the market is used to such a notion, it will encourage more wayward behaviour that will result in wilder swings. On one hand, the average investors will be too afraid to do anything and will hang on to their positions but on the other, a certain percentage will capitulate causing prices to fall off sharply, raising concerns amongst regulators. Subsequent actions taken by the regulators become predictable - allowing certain segments of the market to make tremendous profits.

Here is another take
Since the current problems of the U.S. economy look like a combination of 1990 and 2001, the shape of this episode of economic distress will probably be similar to that of the earlier episodes: even if the official recession is short, the bad times will linger well into the next administration.

How severe will the distress be? The double-bubble nature of the underlying problem — a housing bubble and a credit bubble combined — suggests that it may well be worse than either 1990 or 2001.

And some highly respected economists are issuing dire warnings. There has been a lot of buzz about a new paper by Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff that compares the United States in recent years to other advanced countries that have experienced financial crises. They find that the U.S. profile resembles that of the “big five crises,” a list that includes, for example, Sweden’s 1991 crisis, which caused the unemployment rate to soar from 2 percent to 9 percent over a two-year period.

If we look at the performances of S&P500 for the periods from 2000 through 2002, we will note its dismal showing i.e. -9.8%, -12.1%, -21.6%.

Thereafter, the annualised returns were 23.8%, 10.7%, 4.8%, 15.2% and 5.1%. Emerging markets for the same periods have done better, and generally have higher betas.

If inflation is a concern, it may be well worth an attempt to shore up the portfolio with non-monetary assets, REITS( non-residentials ), TIPs. This may work if the recession is mild and short. However, if the recession is protracted, all bets are off.

Can it be said that a consumption-driven economy is less likely to generate productivity gain as oppose to one that saves, work hard in producing goods for sale.
Are the differing trajectories of key indices ( e.g. SPY, EWA, EWS, INP, EPP ) a reflection of this notion.

Well, US consumption will remain the key locomotion, and for those wishing to thrive in such an environment, must be willing to work hard, generate surplus wages/profits, and also wisely invest the surpluses.

Inflation will continue to be an issue that we have to address moving forward. This is because of competition for raw materials by emerging economies. These economies are export-driven as well as having a growing middle-income class that seeks to emulate the more developed economies in term of consumption.

Keywords: quality, value systems,
trust, domain knowledge, technology, networking, maven traps, speed of trust, lifestyle

Portfolio, Diversification and (Un)Systematic Risks

2008-01-07T14:53:00.000+08:00

We wrote about unsystematic risks and are desirous of resolving these risks. Why is it important to do so?.... Simply because these risks can be eliminated through diversification. Unintended risk is the bug bear in our search of making superior return on a risk-adjusted basis. What we want is the systematic risk embedded to a particular value proposition ( grouping ).

The more homogenous the grouping is, the clearer would be the signal in highlighting risk associated to that grouping. This can be achieved by tracking its beta.

It will require a mind set change to uplift the performance within that grouping, and would usually require extra-forces to kick in the change. Its alpha will be lifted when this is achieved, implying a superior performance on a risk-adjusted basis. As such, the baseline is for securities to be priced according to their respective systematic risks.

We should not take more risks than necessary in seeking superior return. Otherwise, we will continuously be short-changed. This will be the quickest way to lose our competitive edge.

First, let us identify some instances of unsystematic risks.

Take the case of a rogue trader who managed to circumvent all the checks and balances and raked up enormous losses. What happens to the share price ? - goes through the floor. An exception rather than a rule ? Perhaps not....perhaps it is a "black swan"

Nassim Taleb defines ‘black swan events’ in the following way:

A black swan is an outlier, an event that lies beyond the realm of normal expectations. Most people expect all swans to be white because that's what their experience tells them; a black swan is by definition a surprise.

Take another instance, accounting irregularities via off balance sheet transactions. Stock price got smacked and again lower ( or no ) return for higher than expected risk.

Well, we got it. It is all about trust. And trusting your fellow beings are much more difficult than we realise.

We can erect all the fanciful controls but we end up with a seize mentality which is not conducive for collaboration.

If we build a framework around risks, we may be able to slowly get an idea on how we can eliminate unsystematic risks.

Let us adopt the top-down approach i.e. market - industry - entity specific.

The higher the level, the more difficult it is to game the system. Or rather, signals allow us to track trends better and able to also predict the responses by the market. It is easier to read the market as oppose to industry, and for sure easier to read industry as oppose to corporates.

So the following serves as the framework for taking ownership of the resolutions for the new year.

What Counts

If the past is some guide, we should be able to say with some degree of certainty that we can average an annual return over a longer time horizon, and also the volatility that goes with it. And when we place two asset classes together, we are also able to discern how well these are correlated and extrapolate the relationship into the future. By blending two asset classes with low correlation coefficient, we may be able to optimise return while reducing risk.

This may be counter-intuitive, but it can be worked out mathematically.

Some other observations. Be prepared to invest larger quantum in order to derive a decent income. $100,000 at 8% will yield $8,000 while $10,000 will only yield $800.

If you allow for compounding effect, after 5 years $100,000 of capital will yield $46,933 of profits and after 10 years it will be $115,892 of profits.

Use the concept of quality to define your financial milestones

So if you review your surplus funds and figure out that you are unlikely to draw down the surlpus funds, you can begin to shift these to other appropriate asset classes. The idea is to be an ACE investor i.e. ability to articulate, communicate and execute on pre-agreed milestones. You may like to achieve this by leveraging on three critical success factors i.e. mastering of domain knowledge, technology and networking.

The key is to master the ability to optimise return against return. Sharpe ratio comes in handily....

Develop a gantt chart to track your progress

You need to commit to a timeline in developing a financial model capable of generating efficient portfolio comprising various asset classes. With such a model, you would be able to short-list portfolios that fit into what you deem as value ( quality ) investing.

Act forthwith

Allocate resources to invest in the selected portfolios. Track the performance of the selected portfolios, ever mindful of the need to fine-tune as you move along.

It is essential that we act on what we set out to do. Only then would we be able to stress test our value proposition. When we act, we are doing the walk the walk routine, and this allows us to cover every aspects of the processes. If any of these falls short, we will learn very quickly as we will end up hodilng the losses.

Tom Peter's quote could not be more apt:

"The winners stun us not by their cleverness, but by the fact that every tiny aspect of the business is just a touch better than the norm."

By actioning, we will uncover gaps. From these gaps, we will draw lessons and improve on the processes. By learning and developing, we sharpen the focus and sooner rather than later, we will be able to acieve our key milestones.

The next task will be to maintain an inventory of gaps, priortise and work through the items.

We should then be able to create a virtuous cycle via a process of positive reinforcements.

Connect

Rope in family members, friends, business associates and have them involved. By serving as a catalyst, you will soon create a hub-and-spoke platform thus facilitating proactive collaboration. In this way you can impart knowledge and eventually this will lead to a depository of knowledge to be shared and developing win-win scenarios. As participants take ownership, a viable value proposition will emerge.

Keywords: quality, value systems,
trust, domain knowledge, technology, networking, maven traps, speed of trust, lifestyle

Focus, Persistence and Quality

2007-12-25T17:31:00.000+08:00

Having attained quality, we are at the cross-road of deciding what to do next.... We need to remain focused. It is so easy to stray from our path..... so we need to remind ourselves to stay the course and do what we are good at e.g. providing value-based management consulting services.

Time and again, we have achieved traction as evidenced by the roll-out of various management performance tracking tools for our clients. Feedback has been very encouraging and in essence it is expectation exceeded - the development of the tools has been widely influential in achieving excellence through a focus on 'execution' ..... serving as the template for implementation across strategic brands.

Ratings: Value from business analytics - excellent ..... Speed of implementation - excellent ..... Buy-in ( tone and attitude ) - excellent ..... Features and functionalities - excellent. ..... facilitated in developing the thinking around performance tracking and positioned the client as leader of a new business model ..... fostered pioneering spirit ..... world class 'can do' attitude and commitment in taking the project 'live'.

Naturally when we succeed and competition begins to take notice, we can expect our competitors to emulate us. By doing so, they do us a service by keeping us on our toes. For nothing is ordained that we can maintain our competitive advantage period indefinitely.

However, if we are aware of what our competitors are up to, we have at least a head start in ensuring that we continuously improve our franchise. This allows us to maintain our competitive advantage. The strengths lie in our passion and persistence towards quality. By building a strong foundation, accumulating deep knowledge on a subject matter, we can expect to be up to the task of competing in the marketplace. Likewise the competition is well aware that there is no free lunch and unless they have core competencies on subject matter and are committed to quality ( and at the right price point ), they may divert precious resources and in the process get distracted from doing what they do best. Losing focus.

That being said, we should also learn from our experiences. Projects can be ranked by the risk-reward matrix. Rationale thinking dictates that we should seek to optimise the return versus risk, and one way is through diversification. Very different from not been in focus. By so doing, we will be able to eliminate unsystematic risks from our undertakings. Unsystematic risks can manifest in many shapes and sizes. Suffice to say, we must be aware of these risks and develop techniques to mitigate such risks.

How do we achieve this? This will be our next milestone project.

Firstly, we can draw on our knowledge base of identifying what are these unsystematic risks and map them to underlying management theories in order to resolve the issues.

When we work within a hub environment, the benefit the group derives is the synergistic effect allowing for the optimisation of group payoff. This can only be achieved if there is trust. When one collaborator covets another's franchise and chooses to encroach onto the other's turf, it sends a very strong albeit negative signal. It puts the other party on notice, The outcome is less cooperation, leading potentially to a win-lose scenario and naturally a lower group payoff.

Such unthinkness is symptomatic of a lack of understanding of the strategic thinking process and the attendant value drivers. This is a clear example of an unsystematic risk and by articulating it we are in a better position to attempt to mitigate it.

Let's take a leaf off from invaluable insights provided by Tom Peters, a renowned management guru.
"The winners stun us not by their cleverness, but by the fact that every tiny aspect of the business is just a touch better than the norm."

A lot of things appear easy on the surface of it. However, the devil is in the detail.... and often times, managers forget that it is all about execution. If you are not willing to roll-up your sleeves, perhaps you should leave it to the expert.

So we will follow the old adage - you reap what you sow...... and we are heading for our next milestone project.

Keywords: quality, value systems,
trust, domain knowledge, technology, networking, maven traps, speed of trust, lifestyle

Catalyst Connection Unplugged

2007-11-04T17:24:00.000+08:00

Having read the Catalyst Code, it is now time to scan the environment looking out for business models that fit this bill...... Having seen plenty of examples it will be interesting to explore and ascertain which of these will have enough legs to last the distance. A quick check reviews some exciting possibilities i.e. Xbox, Ropponggi Hills, Sotheby's, MySpace, DoCoMo. Extrapolating from these, we can also easily identify others e.g. integrated resort (IRs), aviation hubs, social networking sites etc.

The starting point in the analysis is to enquire how catalyst identifies distinct groups that need each other and bring them together. Next, will be how one can capitalise on this? And if we are convinced that it works, we should identify a portfolio of the more promising models and perhaps consider having stakes in them. When the model succeeds, it can be expected to generate exponential revenue growth and value creation.

What about Microsoft? Someone did say that it is turning into a Berkshire Hathaway- type of company. Is this a catalyst model? Bringing group of investors, and getting on board the best-of-breed companies. And add value. Is private equity a catalyst model?

Looking from a broader perspective with an eye on trends in the marketplace, it is clear that excess liquidity is eroding the value of monetary assets. This means higher prices for non-monetary assets e.g. commodities ( oil, palm oil, corn, gold etc). So when growth prospects are not entirely clear, and inflation creeping in, how would one expect the U.S. Fed to response? Will it opt for the lesser of the 2 "evils" - holding interest rate steady and risking recession or a rate cut albeit a symbolic one, and give asset price a boost.

The ordinary folks have limited choices and are likely to accept the inevitable - an erosion of purchasing power. With limited pricing power, how can one hedge against the inevitable?

Of course a recession will bring about an erosion of asset prices and this will create even greater dire consequences.

In considering catalyst models, while it is good to think big, we need also to be realistic that most of these models have yet to prove that they are profitable.

It is easy to get carried away and fall into a trap where a bubble is about to be pricked.

We need to ask what are the objectives of investing. If it is to generate a sustainable rate of return year-on-year ( with return commensurating with risk ) and particularly as a hedge against long-term inflation and erosion of purchasing power, we will be wise to be guided by Warren Buffet's axiom on investing: "The key is to be greedy when others are fearful and fearful when others are greedy."

Then we ought to go for great brand names, broad reach and trading at bargain prices and be very patient.

We need to work the above into a plan with a portfolio of well-diversified asset classes ( low correlations ), namely: TMT ( Telecommunication, media and technology ), private-equity ( with real estate and emerging market elements ), commodities and cash.

At present when Fed is adopting a "neutral" stance with a 25 basis points cut and signaled no immediate need for further cut citing inflation risks balancing out risks to economic growth. According to reputable source, high crude price is not sustainable and may go to US$ 80 come Q1 2008.

Given the above, it will be interesting to look ahead and see which risks are more likely to prevail. The downside risks pose by a deflationary environment ( recession ) is likely to pose more threats than a stance promoting growth i.e. increasing liquidity, rate cuts, declining US$.

Adopting a neutral stance would imply balancing US$-denominated monetary assets with non-monetary assets, given the above.

Ultimately, key is to think big, have a strong stomach for risk ( volatility ) and have staying power.

Keywords: quality, value systems,
trust, domain knowledge, technology, networking, maven traps, speed of trust, lifestyle

Expectations and Micromanaging - Thrusting Ahead

2007-10-07T07:48:00.001+08:00

Now that we have the full compliment onboard..... we need to leverage on the speed of trust to thrust ahead. ...... It is necessary to align interests. That being said, we believe it is also crucial that we do not fall into the trap of micromanaging.

What is micromanaging?

Well, essentially it could have started with good intention giving full authority to the person in-charge. And when the executive fails to deliver, doubts set in. His supervisor will be tempted to look over his shoulder to make sure what he is doing, is correct by the former’s definition. Very soon, the executive begins to loose confidence of himself as he is unsure what he is doing is acceptable, and will merely carry out the task to avoid confrontation.
Overtime performance deteriorates and we may reach a point when it will be too costly to remedy the ills.

So how do we avoid such a situation?

For a start, we should set out our expectations.

We need to understand the needs as well as seek consensus amongst from the majority of the customer base - we need to ensure that we reach out to the majority of them.

Key stakeholders must take up the challenge, possessing the right quality to lead i.e. high EQ, ability to empathise and build consensus, strong ability to deliver on promises made and open and transparent - willing to keep score.

So now is the time to submit the score.........

How would the office bearers / executives score based on the following criteria?

1. submit / publish scorecard ( against the deliverables that they have promised )
2. build consensus / be a team player
3. represents the interest of members
4. able to connect to members, understand and meet their needs
5. instill financial discipline
6. identify unmet needs and turn it into a profitable franchise
7. install a process-driven model ( build a data bank of corporate memory )
8. leverage on the mavens and connectors to develop new profitable products and services
9. create value to members ( membership price )
10. exploit technology to achieve higher productivity
11. train of staff / develop training manual / templates that can be replicated
12. achieve high quality standards for the facilities
13. achieve high quality service standards
14. identify the break even load factor and set a benchmark to achieve an acceptable level of profit
15. ensure reach to the membership base ( penetration rate in terms of usage of facilities )
16. conduct timely member satisfaction survey
17. conduct staff satisfaction survey
18. promote good corporate citizenship

Only by measuring are we able to manage..... by setting clear roles, tasks and responsibilities..... and delegating them judiciously.

Keywords: quality, value systems,
trust, domain knowledge, technology, networking, maven traps, speed of trust, lifestyle

Alignment and Trust - Keeping Score

2007-09-21T07:30:00.000+08:00

This week has been interesting ....... we are called on at our club to elect members to lead.......
How do we make the right judgmental calls? For a start......
1. look at the themes that candidates are running on,
2. compare the themes and look for key differentiation,
3. focus on the theme that is most likely to meet the immediate needs of the membership base,
4. review the credentials of the candidates to ascertain whether they have the qualities to fulfill their promises.

Qualities include
1. trustworthiness - posses integrity and competency
2. team player - has high EQ, ability to empathise and build consensus
3. strong ability to deliver on promises made
4. open and transparent - willing to keep score

A right direction has been taken in aligning the interest of key stakeholders. However we must avoid the temptation of falling into the "trust me" syndrome. Instead we need to build a platform that is based on ( mutual )trust. Hence we have rules. These rules are to foster and engender trust amongst key stakeholders and collaborators. Without trust, things will grind to a halt.

Rules must be created naturally to meet specific needs and or concerns. Chiefly, it is about aligning the interests of key stakeholders i.e. members, elected officials and management.

To ensure that key stakeholders focus on a common purpose, we need to ensure that the processes are transparent, where we can keep track of things and are comfortable that things are moving in the right direction.

One of the most important rules to set is to submit your scorecard. We may ask ourselves why? Can't we all merely declare our "handicaps", and why can’t I expect my "flight mates" to trust me to declare the right handicap.

For the very reasons that we have rules on submitting scorecard after completing each round, we must also keep score for the affairs of the club and submit it forthwith and have it published/shared.

You may ask why?
1. Exercising empathy - how would you like if your business associate make a request for you to hand over your precious resources and merely say - "trust me". Even if you do agree, it cannot be a sustainable relationship.

2. Fulfill on promises made - scorecard keeps it clean, and allows us to accumulate credits in our trust account. We may need it for the rainy days.

3. By measuring we know where the fixes are required and we can manage and live within our means - it instills discipline.

4. Make ourselves sexier. Knowing our strengths and weaknesses ( because the scorecard tells us the benchmarks i.e. index, par, length .... and we match our actual score against these ) we can begin to improve on our shortcomings, groom ourselves...... understand the causes-and-effects, learn how to align our resources, and string a series of shots to get the birdies and eagles.

5. Allow us to keep things "civil". Any disputes, disagreements......we can have a basis to focus and resolve differences.

Need we say more.......

So, draw up your wish list....... 18 of them...... and give it to the candidates and let them match / rank them against the scorecard ( there are plenty in the club house ) in terms of difficulties / standard ( index, length, par ). These are the deliverables that they promise to deliver...... judge whether they meet your needs and vote accordingly.

It will be interesting to see the score that they return.

Suggested wish list:
1. submit / publish scorecard ( aganist the deliverables that they have promised )
2. build consensus / be a team player
3. represents the interest of members
4. able to connect to members, undertand and meet their needs
5. instill financial discipline
6. identify unmet needs and turn it into a profitable franchise
7. install a process-driven model ( build a data bank of corporate memory )
8. leverage on the mavens and connectors to develop new profitable products and services
9. create value to members ( membership price )
10. exploit technology to achieve higher productivity
11. train of staff / develop training manual / templates that can be replicated
12. achieve high quality standards for the facilities
13. achieve high quality service standards
14. identify the break even load factor and set a benchmark to achieve an acceptable level of profit
15. ensure reach to the memebership base ( penetration rate in terms of usage of facilities )
16. conduct timely member satisfaction survey
17. conduct staff satisfaction survey
18. promote good corporate citizenship

Keywords: quality, value systems,
trust, domain knowledge, technology, networking, maven traps, speed of trust, lifestyle

Nuturing Growth

2007-09-01T16:26:00.000+08:00

Leveraging on the catalyst idea, it is necessary to create a network based on trust......
And to take it to the next level, we need also to provide a transparent way for people to feel comfortable with the system.

We require discipline and one way is by keeping score. In order to keep the scoring straight, we require rules. From the rules, we can have consistency.

And performers are motivated to deliver value as their positive results are immediately recognised. This centralised system keeps participants on the straight and narrow, and engenders trusts which will lead to "buy-in". It is critical that the business model focuses on delivering quality and reliability. When a signal is emitted, it is crucial for the circle of collaborators to come together and work out the solutions that will perpetuate the business model.

It is essential to build a reputation, not through glitzy ad campaigns but hard won appreciation from your customers who will then reinforce your brand equity by word-of-mouth advertising.

Decentralised structure, where individuals are empowered to make decisions means staff can take ownership of the processes. We can rely on peers within their circle to maintain quality. More importantly, by granting freedom of action, individuals can more likely to be creative and innovative. The fine balance between centre and off-centre will allow us to find the sweet spot. When discipline do coexist with chaos, innovation and creativity can and will thrive. Can a sales and marketing team devoid of innovation and creativity be able to retain its customers?

Back to quality - when we recognise the danger of what the lack of quality can do to harm our brand equity, we are better equipped to avoid the pitfalls and be motivated to forge ahead to achieve the next big thing which is so ever vital in sustaining our competitive advantage.

Keywords: quality, value systems,
trust, domain knowledge, technology, networking, maven traps, speed of trust

Embracing Growth

2007-07-31T07:42:00.000+08:00

In the race towards creating shareholder value, finding growth for the top line becomes the mantra.....No where is this more evident than in industries where product life cycle is near maturing. If you look around you will find ample examples of this. Banks are looking for white space to expand into, software giants must constantly reinvent themselves or find new territories to find growth in an attempt to immunise themselves from disrupters. Even we are not immune from this process.

Standing still is not an option. Take the pharma industry for instance. A big chunk of its competitive advantage period can be lopped off due to the expiration of patent rights and by disrupters flooding the market with generics.

Once the patent expires, it may end in cataclysm for some players.

We can also draw lessons from history. Take a look at the Channeled Scablands where its landscape is carved in a very short time period from a single or series of similar giant flood. Glacier-like speed it appears but is not. At the base of an ice dam, the sheer amount of pressure stops the water molecules from expanding and since they cannot expand, it also cannot freeze. This resulted in a state called "super-cooled" water which remained liquid despite being several degrees below freezing. This force its way into tiny cracks in the ice resulting in an ice dam collapsing and end in cataclysm. Harlen Bretz won a Penrose Medal for thinking that goes against convention wisdom that such landscape is through a gradual process over millions of years. This "tipping point" phenomenon occurs more frequently than we realise.

We must be able to embed and institutionalise this memory so that it becomes second nature to us. For instance, let's examine how social networking tools can allow us to tune into "signals" and filter out the noise. On the other spectrum, we also need to be aware of "black swan". In the short-term we are vulnerable to the "unpredictable", the so-called "fat tail".
However, in the long-run, it is the business model with the right value proposition that will prevail provided we do not fall by the sideway in the meantime.

Keywords: quality, value systems,
trust, domain knowledge, technology, networking, maven traps, speed of trust

Filter And Discern

2007-07-01T10:59:00.000+08:00

When it comes to execution, the nuts and bolts of the matter count....

Execution involves a myriad of things including design, scaling, and user’s acceptance.

All these have to be aligned, and we need to anticipate and narrow all gaps, by closing the loop.

Above all, we need transparency and an honest approach to solving problems. We need informal leaders who buy-in to the concept and be the mavens and connectors to achieve "tipping point".

The soft issues are even more critical and in particular users must not be made to feel alienated. They must feel that they have a role to play in the process and the ideal approach is to ensure that the roll-out is from the bottom-up. Additionally, we need to make it easy for them to learn and use the product.

They should be able to demonstrate by way of examples of how useful the product is. We need to have case studies that allow subsequent users to better understand the benefits from using the product. One of the tasks is to install a "maven trap" which allows an easy way to provide feedback and the feedback is fed quickly to the key process owners.

This FLAT structure is expected to cut across red tape and ensures a quick response to the issues raised. For instance:

1) all team leaders, respective mavens and connectors to be Copy To
2) A comment box for providing feedback on the most useful element and least useful elements of the products, and to provide suggestions to how to further improve the product.

Lessons that we want to learn include
1) what can we discern from the filtered data?
2) can we infer and or make conclusions? and
3) how will it help us to get to our goals?

Ultimately the success it measured by how well we aligned the processes, and ensuring that we tighten our focus vis-à-vis our target audience. Is the "Quality" the same as felt by customers and the way we convey it by way of our conduct, processes, interaction within and without etc.

Keywords: quality, value systems,
trust, domain knowledge, technology, networking, maven traps, speed of trust,

Entrusting and Empowering

2007-06-10T20:27:00.000+08:00

The theme for this post is very much about alignment of interests. How do we get a "seemingly" disparage group of collaborators to work for the common good..... Individuals are by nature competitive. How can we allow the competitive spirit thrives and yet not ending in a zero-sum game?

We should mute the instinct to go it alone and have the best for ourselves to the detriment of the group.

Much energy is lost when we jostle for the same scarce resource. The idea is to expand the reach so that we can optimise on the return to the group.

So what happens when an individual does not play ball? He jeopardises the group harmony and sows the first seed of mistrust. Once that creeps in, people begin to hedge. That will slow down the wheel of enterprise.

When such a culture takes root, it will result in the disintegration of the collaborating hub.

To avoid such pitfalls, a person must possess the confidence that an open-source form of collaboration will bring more ideas on the table and the end result is an uplifting experience for all. You need to let a person do his things otherwise you will end up having him sidelined.

And you end up holding the fort or worse you become the roadblock to the infusion of innovation and creativity. Very soon you stagnate and or be overtaken by competition.

There must be a spirit of give and take. There must be a recognition of the good performed by others and be willing to give credit where it is due.

Paying lip service may be good for buying time but sooner or later such insincerity is bound to surface and a backlash will entail.

Trust has to be built to sustain a long lasting relationship. Trust once broken is very difficult to mend.

Once we have the project implemented successfully, how do we sustain it? How can it be continously be invigorated and energised?

First and foremost, there must be ownership and it cannot be coercive. Hence we must device a system where we can meet these conditions.

There must be a system of reward and recognition. This has to be institutionalised. For instance we can have a team of evangelists who will not be marginalised once this is out of flavour. To recognise them for their efforts, they must be given tangible rewards. Like any value creating activities, the rewards must commensurate with the efforts exerted and results achieved. The project undertaken must address the core strategic issues of the business model, and even if the project tank, valuable lessons learned must be portable to another initiatives and likewise intellectual capital should not be wasted away.

Hence we need to create starfish instead of spiders in an organisation so that such innovation and creativity can have the best chance of survival.

Keywords: quality, value systems,
trust, domain knowledge, technology, networking, maven traps, speed of trust,

Maven Traps and Speed of Trust

2007-05-01T19:39:00.001+08:00

It has been one project after another...haven't been busier. Completed the ASP.NET web project with the database functionalities in place. Returned from an overseas trip from a most happening place.

Also managed to integrate the web project to the field assignment and hence killing two birds with one stone. With this out of the way, able to focus on fine-tuning the web platform. Next task will be to add functionalities which include excel-based template for data input, extraction as well as charting.

One of the major assignments for the coming weeks will be to roll-out our client's value-based management project.

We will be using the Tipping Point concept leveraging on the Law of the Few, Stickiness Factor and Power of Context. We also will apply the Six Degrees of Separation. These concepts were well documented in Gladwell's Tipping Point.

For good measure, we have also mapped out the metrics to track our progress. We are very excited about the prospects of been able to apply this in a real live scenario. We will certainly learn many things. One of the things we will be interested in will be to understand how a few individuals can propagate an idea to tipping point. We are mindful of seeking out the mavens ( using Gladwell's maven traps to achieve this ), have their feedback to make sure that the contents are stick. We will be deliberate in moving through the degrees to make sure that we understand the dynamics of group influence, specifically the buy-in of the product's attributes. The key message is Speed of Trust i.e. if there is transparency and engenders trust, collaboration would have speeded up as well as decision-making. A concept elaborated by Stephen Covey in a book of the same name. We hope we can replicate the success to other projects.

So a recap of some of the projects that we are working on and or have completed:
1. value based management project - final lap
2. asp.net 2.0 ~ done,
3. reading: Lila - An Inquiry into Morals ~ done,
4. robotics - to do a demo for collaborators, and
5. integrating web-based initiatives into a coherent hub ~ work-in-progress.

Individuals keen to collaborate are welcome to signup.

Keywords: quality, value systems,
trust, domain knowledge, technology, networking, maven traps, speed of trust,

EVQ II - Gumption

2007-03-31T17:50:00.000+08:00

It has always been exciting and also daunting when you are given a blank canvass to draw. Where do you start when you do not have any precedents to fall on? First we just sat down and asked ourselves what is it that we want to achieve? We did brainstorming and came up with our wish list i.e. the functionalities and features we require out of the scorecard. There were no perceived notions as we did not even know whether we can deliver some of the items in the list let alone all of them. Slowly a picture emerged, and the pieces began to fit. We then had a prototype of the logics that we believed will serve our goals. Next, we methodically mapped the steps and the techniques required to link all the concepts together. We performed a walk through to stress test the model. Only when we were able to close all gaps i.e. that the steps are logical as well as within our capabilities to execute did we proceed to the next phase of scripting the algorithm.

Well, the software beneath this is the possession of gumption and we need plenty of it. It is the enthusiasm that team placed in the project. This assures that the outcome is of quality based on our understanding of the value system of the end users.

Corollary, there are also gumption traps i.e. value as well as truth. We were ever mindful of these pitfalls.

Like the saying goes, the rest is history. All in all, we came out with a quality product that we are proud of.

Some of the projects that we are working on and or have completed:
1. value based management - scorecard enhancements
2. asp.net 2.0,
3. reading: Lila - An Inquiry into Morals,
4. robotics - drawing up of a strategy roadmap with focus on scripting, analytics, sensors, and
5. integrating web-based intiatives into a coherent hub.

Individuals keen to collaborate are welcome to signup.

Keywords: quality, value systems,
trust, domain knowledge, technology, networking

The ( Long ) Tail That Wags The Dog

2007-03-01T13:32:00.000+08:00

Long Tail, infinite capacity, flexible pricing, micro markets(niches )... is it another form of disruptive innovation?
What is disruptive innovation? For one, it is the offering of products and or services at affordable prices with the aim of satisfying unmet needs. This is the white space that marketers covet.

When such service providers establish a toe-hold, invariably entrenched players tend to counter by adding more features, at same or higher prices thus alienating more and more of their customers at the lower tier of the market segment.

As the disrupter becomes more and more proficient, by virtue of economy of scale as more and more customers clamour for the services to the point where it is able to compete with the incumbent with features similiar or better and at more competitive prices.

It has been conventional wisdom to rely on the rule-of-thumb that 80% of one's revenue and or profit is derived from the top 20% of the customer base.

However as savvy players become more adept in managing the economics of competitive strategies, they are able to leverage on technology to deliver products and services at lower and lower costs. Hence products and services that can be digitized, can often be offered at near-zero incremental costs.

Such model in theory can target the remaining 80% of the customer base with impunity. Implementation of such strategies include content aggregation, contextualizing contents etc. As such, virtual communities are sprouting up everywhere, and this phenomenal - known as social networking is taking root albeit at its infancy.

Growth potential is expected to be tremendous. To reach out, one merely requires a web-based platform offering multitude of choices. Search engine optimisers can quickly steer customers to the right sites through filters and tags, and winners are emerging from this category. Supplemented by word-of-mouth marketing - recommendation by "trusted" parties offering different views and perspectives to different market segments yet viewing the same products and services will lead to tipping point.

The future in marketing is to provide measurement as oppose to prediction. As such, the space to to coveted will be provisioning of superior post-filter services. From this one can build healthy communities and viral marketing can gain traction.

For the model to succeed, we need to consider key success factors. Setting up communities of experts should be the starting point. Beyond that, the site should provide access to quality contents. We need to be aware as to what constitues quiality to the customers - they may include addressing interests, being well made, fresh, substantive, compelling etc.

So how do we execute our gameplan?

Interests have to be aligned, there must be incentives to motivate collaborators, careful selection of like-minded personalities who care and are enthused in their areas of work ( passion and gumption ) will go a long way to underpin the venture.

Additionally, the following marketing tips have to be considered in rolling-out your website if you are intending to take the first plunge:
1. One image, one message
This should extend to web site, blog, marketing materials. Make sure it is easy to recall and that it communicates one's key message.
2. Repetition.
It takes at least 6 times for a person to hear, see, or read something before it sticks. So make sure to gain mindshare to achieve strong message recall.
3. Promotion.

When launching a web site, have like-midnded bloggers to write about you. Acquire word clicks on search sites to direct customers to your web site. Consider using StumbleUpon and Reddit to obtain as many pages on your web site as you can "tagged" on social-networking sites. This helps direct users who have already expressed interest in a similar topic or product to your site.

Keywords: quality, value systems, trust, domain knowledge, technology, networking

Knowing Values and Experiencing Quality

2007-02-03T06:11:00.000+08:00

How do we go about validating the efficacy of a business model?

Typically we look for traction, management and exit if we were investors.
Another way to understand is to examine the "quality" of its value proposition and or brand equity.

Before we start on that, there is a new thinking on how collaboration can foster a win-win scenario leveraging off domain knowledge, technology and networking, the three critical success factors necessary for survival in today's competitive landscape.

Naturally this means fostering trust to allow collaborators to think of "out-of-the-box" solutions. Therefore it is necessary to engender transparency to provide the environment for members to constantly experience Quality based on a set of value systems which is learnt through a variety of influences.

To appreciate these value systems we can rely on the emotional, rational and moral state of a being. The higher level being seeks self-fulfillment - in a way to be enlightened. So it begs the question of how to attain the moral high ground detaching one from the emotional element of one's personality. Some are more insightful and attain it quicker than others.

So why do people sometimes posture to make a case to be much more than it is? They may do so out of habits, and overtime they become ingrained into their personality. They may not realise and do not mean it. As such it requires time to cut through the rhetoric to figure out the real intent. Speed is an essential competitive strategy tool, so why short change the team and yourself?

Suffice to say, is that generosity begets generosity. We need to nurture this into a virtuous cycle so that trust can flow naturally and uninterrupted.

Only then can critical resources be aligned resulting in a win-win outcome.

Keywords: quality, value systems, trust, domain knowledge, technology, networking

Outlook - Can It Get Better?

2007-01-01T17:53:00.000+08:00

Welcome to 2007! We wish everyone a happy and successful new year!

Performance of Key Market
Source
In clueing in to the coming months, a good starting point is to understand what is happening in the key markets.
First, let us review the US housing sector - house prices having been falling in 2006 and declines are larger than reflected in data. An indication of poorer sentiment amongst sellers. Non-residential sector, equipment and software investment also seem to have fizzled out with investment expected to be marginally in positive territory. Job growth slowed in 2006, with less than 100,000 jobs added for the past 2 months in the private sector. Consumers’ ability to borrow against their homes is diminishing and with prices heading south, this will limit their ability to consume as there will be no further equity to borrow. On the retail end, softer holiday sales, slumping car sales, rapidly rising rates of mortgage delinquencies and defaults all point to a business cycle that is decidedly turning.

With major sources of demand manifesting weakness, job growth is more likely to in the negative. Declining employment, falling income, falling consumption, and then further job loss will exacerbate a downturn.

Productivity
Productivity growth for Q4 06 will be less than 1.0 percent, and this gives an average annual growth rate of just 1.3 percent over these 5 quarters versus more than 3 percent from 2001-2005.

What May Be Unfolding?
1. Will US Fed begin lowering rates no later than its first meeting in January 2007?
2. Will unemployment climb to over 6 percent by the end of 2007?
Some appears to think so.

Lessons Learned From the Past?
1. When the business cycle is nearing peak, which is a probable case for the moment, it will be an uphill task to embark on any greenfield undertaking where business traction has yet to be underpinned. To invest your hard earned savings for such proposition is high risk as the odds of a downturn is high and in a contracting environment, tightened liquidity will force people to focus on more immediate needs. Review your portfolio and take steps to trim your sails to concentrate your efforts on propositions that will remain profitable and generate cash flow. Surplus cash flow generated during a downturn is worth by far more than in a boom market. For one, you can afford to buy in things at a far lower valuation. You get more bang for the buck.

2. Avoid forming new ventures with partners you cannot be sure have the stamina to see through the tough times. It is likely that when it comes to a cash crunch such a partner will take flight leaving you with the burden on see the proposition through or simply to pull down the shutters. Either way, it will do you no good for your wealth ( health ) preservation.

What are the implications ?
1. export-oriented economies will be hard hit,
2. outsouring will intensify as corporates seek to cut costs,
3. domestic consumption will be boosted ( primed ) to stimulate the economy, and
4. interest rates are likely to fall.

What to avoid?
1. high-end lifestyle products and services,
2. export-oriented business model ( manufacturing - emerging countries ),
3. real estate where prices have surged suddenly and do not appear to be sustainable ( sucker prices ), and
4. longer term commitment where future your cash outflow is based on forecast made during boom time.

What to engage?
1. keep cost low, remain competitive, optimise cash generation,
2. upgrade on technology,
3. maintain market presence,
4. increase cash weighting, reduce debts,
5. immunise with orders on hand that will allow you to maintain decent cash flow when tough times dawn on us.

As in any crystal ball glazing, we could be totally off the mark particularly in terms of timing. So it is prudent to map out a portfolio of actionable tasks that have low correlationship to one another, and yet able to leverage on one's core competency. For us, we will definitely look at reconstructing equity/real estate portfolio that will provide a long term sustainable return e.g. more defensive type, while at the same time cast a keen eye on the next winner.

We have the work cut out for us. All the best for the new year!

Keywords: trend, recession, investment, profits, growth

Reflection

2006-12-30T21:43:00.000+08:00

Looking back, 2006 has been an eventful year. For this post, we hope to spend a moment of quiet contemplation reflecting on some of the more important tasks of our lives instead of relentlessly pursuing material wealth. It is time to ask of ourselves - "What have we done to make lives better for people around us?" We need not achieve anything spectacular in this regard, just small simple considerate deeds will go a long way to heal the world and making it a better place to live in. We are not perfect, and during the year we may have unwittingly offended others. We can redeem ourselves by been aware of such a possibility and the least we could do is to take time out, not long, and show some considerations for others. How do we do it? Be the first to step forward and volunteer a deed, give a smile to a stranger, hold the lift for others to step in, greet your neigbours etc. Better still, share your success with other less fortunate souls. Are all these possible? We hope so and pray for everyone's well being. Come 2007, a good resolution is to pace ourselves so that we can embed such goodwill in our daily routine - an act of goodwill a day will be good for our soul. We wish you a happy and blessed 2007!

How To Be A Good Entrepreneur(Golfer)?

2006-09-24T22:19:00.000+08:00

Three key ingredients are required. I learned that they are 1) be stoic 2) self-confidence 3) instinct.

The explanations make sense.

The trait of a successful entrepreneur is to be stoic and be unemotional in approaching one's business. The moment you realise that you have made a mistake,
you should cut your losses, so that you will not have any emotional baggage nor legacy that will consume you, and allows you to move on. I will learn not to fret when I triple-bogeyed the last hole, as there is the next hole to challenge me, and when I get on to the tee-box, all the bad vibes are forgotten! Eternal optimist!

The world is getting flatter, more connected and disruptive innovations are here to stay. Barriers are been broken down, and the livelihood of the middle-class in more matured economies is threatened like never before. In other words, we are all experiencing greater volatility and risks. So it is important to come to the second point - self-confidence. You need to trust your judgment and once you are convinced about the merits of the proposition, must have the gumption to go the whole hog. Nothing like a tentative putt, a golfer will tell you, to lose your skin. With uncluttered brainwidth, you can leverage on your instinct to make a kill.

As the market is driven both by rational and irrational behaviours, there is a certain degree of randomness to it, and sometimes we get it right, and often times wrong. The ability to sense trends by picking up weak signals is what makes for a good striker. So stay engaged, minimise your mistakes ( it is alright to make many mistakes provided they are small and you gain valuable lessons along the way ) but make sure you deliver when it counts.

Example:
Well, this afternoon I was three behind the green, and the ball was resting on a rough patch with the bunker to its right. To hit back to the green, I have to go down to the bunker, and the ball was five feet above me. The other team, one of them was two on, and with eight feet to the pin. There was no way for me to chip standing from the bunker and realistically holing it in. So, I came out of the bunker, and instead opted for a reverse chip. The only thing is: what do I use? Sand Wedge or a Putter. Since my putter has a reverse face, and some loft I took the one shot and the ball took off. It floated off the rough and landed on the green and careened down the slope breaking from left to right towards the hole. And aced it:-) We squared it. So that is the life lesson - the wherewithal and the gumption to achieve.
Am(are) I(you) with it?

Eyeballing Competitiveness & Business Cycle

2006-08-30T07:04:00.000+08:00

Running a business - big or small - has its challenges. What do you need to eye-ball?
First, we need to take a big picture approach. We need to ask ourselves - at what stage of the business cycle are we at now?
What are the signals that we need to track to clue us in whether the economy is growing, is holding steady or tanking?

For a busy executive, a cheat sheet will do nicely. Items will include inflation data, job employment level and wages ( increase vs. productivity ) etc.

Regulators use monetary tools to tame inflation. The most visible being interest rate. Increasing interest rate generally has the effect of dampening consumption and capital investments. US Fed has bumped up rates by 425 basis points, and its lagged effect still to be felt.

The idea is to slow down the economy so that core inflation does not set in. In the US it is 2.4% - an 11 year high versus a ceiling of 2%.

Interesting signals in this context will be how well the corporate sector is holding up given the fact that they have healthy cash surpluses and their willingness to invest in capital goods, now with the slowdown in consumption ( particularly in housing ). At this stage, we would be very interested to see how this is panning out?

We would be interested to know the directions that businesses are heading for. Generally, what does a slowdown entail for the consumers. What are the unmet needs of consumers that once fulfilled will empower these consumers to take advantage of the next upturn in the economy. In the 80s, it was the PC, late 90s, the internet / dot.com. Essentially what it says is that productivity gain is the key to the next surge. And consumers must want these goods! And there are many opportunities, given the state of the technology we are at now.

As entrepreneurs, we need to understand what will turn on our customers. Ever-increasing pressure in the workplace means that executives must find innovating solutions to stay ahead of competition. They have to achieve more for less - unless you are willing to accept lower wages, and the way out has to be significant improvement in productivity.

The business model that adheres to these guiding rules has a better chance of coming out better vis a vis the competition.

Be patient for growth, but impatient for profits

2006-08-25T06:30:00.000+08:00

Think small is beautiful. If your goal is to secure a foothold in the marketplace - that is.

Realising profits early are one of the best signs that you are on the way to a successful venture.

Management does not realise that pushing for fast growth can be detrimental as players, motivated by competitive instinct, will pile innovations into the marketplace. Without the benefit of hindsight, these innovations prove to be a poor fit with customer needs.

With profits in the bag, a certain degree of traction is assured. You will naturally feel confident to spend further time and resources ( you need working capital and capex to grow the market - implies more risk ) to establish the market. More importantly, you can afford the luxury of iterating your way till you find the right fit to meet the needs of your customers and make money. Your just reward - growing your business.

Adapted from: An article from Clayton M. Christensen, a professor at Harvard Business School

Shanghai - First Impression

2006-04-02T12:18:00.000+08:00

Landed on Tuesday evening, 28 April 2006 at the Pudong International Airport. The airport is modern and impressive. We checked out without much difficulty and proceeded downtown by car. Shanghai is known amongst other things, for its Magnetic Levitation Train which travels in excess of 300 km/hr and takes about 7 minutes to reach the outskirts of Pudong, where one can transfer to a subway train and proceed to downtown Shanghai. Ever eager to sample the local cuisine, we reached the Bund and had the opportunity to take in the breathtaking view of the river front where iconic buildings dotted the Bund. We crossed over the Suzhou River and passed the Russian Consular Building and headed for the Seagull Hotel. It is an old hotel, but boasts a magnificent river front overlooking the Whampoa River. We had a panoramic view of the Bund and Pudong, and the Post Office Tower, Grant Hyatt, Peace Hotel and Citigroup Tower were all within sight. Riverboats plied along the waterway, with all the neon lights illuminating the brackish waterway of the Whampoa against a backdrop of the glittering skyline. The temperature was a chilly 5 degree C, and we quickly huddled ourselves into one of the many sheds that dotted along the sidewalk of this side of the town. Food and wine were excellent but the company was even better. We launched our project ( 发射 ) in China with a formal toast.

Keywords: Shanghai, real estate, hotel, retail, tourism, office, serviced apartment

Ignore Blogging At Our Own Peril?

2006-02-08T21:44:00.000+08:00

David Sifry from Technorati provides some insights on where blogging is heading...In essence:
1. Technorati now tracks in excess of 27 million blogs,
2. The blogosphere is doubling in size approximately every 6 months,
3. Every second, on average, someone posts a blog.
In the post Can We Afford Not To Blog? we explored some of the reasons that we believe blogging is crucial to business. 3 months have passed and we are blogging more intensively than ever. Blogging provides a compass for us to steer through the fog. We have 13.7 million bloggers for company who are still posting blogs 3 months after their blogs have been created
Keywords: domain knowledge, technology, networking, mavens, tipping point, blog, viral marketing

Dabbawallahs, Collaboration and Game Theory

2006-02-08T21:08:00.000+08:00

The men who form part of the organisation are not employees. "If you have employees, then you have unions and strikes."

We are all shareholders in the Trust and we thus share in the earnings.

The Trust provides several services to its members, including schools for the children and health care in emergencies. source

In essence game theory at its best. A win-win scenario where slackers would automatically be eliminated, and heavers are all treated the same and rewarded. Interests - fully aligned.

Keywords: ACE, game theory, Prisoner's Dilemma

Dabbawallahs, Productivity and Inflation

2006-02-03T01:43:00.000+08:00

The efficiency of American workers rose in 2005 at the slowest pace since the recession year of 2001 while a key gauge of wage pressures rose at the fastest pace in five years, the government reported Thursday.
The Labor Department said productivity rose by 2.7 percent last year while labor costs rose by 2.4 percent, the biggest jump since a 4.2 percent increase in 2000. For just the final three months of the year, productivity actually fell by 0.6 percent, the first decline since early 2001, and labor costs rose by 2.4 percent. Productivity is considered the key factor determining American living standards. Rising productivity allows companies to pay their workers more without having to increase the cost of production, which would boost inflation.

So can productivity outpace wage increases? Either we improve the rate of productivity or ensure that we have plentiful supply of labour.

Over to the other side of the globe, in Mumbai, we can draw inspiration from the tiffin deliverymen. They help feed hungry office workers based on an antiquated but effective system with a 99.99 percent accuracy delivering 200,000 lunch boxes by 5,000 deliverymen to offices in the city daily. That is 1 error in 10,000 transactions.

So creativity is very much alive - and if such value innovation is constantly applied we are for the better at the end of the day. Inflation, that can be exported by the US economy and is not a prospect we cherish, can also be kept at bay.

Keywords: Mumbai, productivity, inflation, dabbawallahs

Cost Effective Service Excellence - Think ACE

2006-01-24T17:00:00.000+08:00

...This customisation is unique and central to our program.
The challenge is to develop the curriculum that it is scaleable and relevant to the marketplace.

...Our task in this program is to fuse two critical skills i.e. domain knowledge and technology. It is this ability that we think will set the stage for the next level of competitiveness. We re-define ability as the individual’s cognitive capability to multi-task competently and speedily.

We hear so much talk about the need for organisation to create value in an extremely competitive landscape, and why company must pursue service excellence and yet maintain a lean cost structure. In the famous words of Jack Welch - More for Less, Stretched Goals. For instance it has been suggested that tour guides provide commentary while driving at the same time. The rant goes on and on. The bottom line is really how do you continuously please your customers? The key -empowerment. Yes, unless and until you learn to trust your staff, and let them evolve, it will be very difficult for them to do the things that are expected of them.

How do you empower a person?

By providing lifelong education for people who are passionate about enhancing their skills - skills that are relevant and can accrue to them. Let them climb the value added ladder - and let their wages rise flexibly ( of course provided the economic return justifies it and that the long-term competitive advantage is not impaired ). If productivity increases at a faster rate than wages, it is fair to say that the net gain is positive, and a win-win scenario results. In reality, this does not always happen and we need to re-examine this.

For instance, even with the best intention a company may focus on cost effective service excellence to the extent of overemphasing it and alienating other clasess of stakeholders i.e. shareholders and employees.

Particularly in a very challenging industry, where companies overcompete and end up over specifying the products with functionalities that are not appreciated by the majority but only for the high end segment of the market. Such sustaining innovation may result in diminishing return on invested capital leading to the path of value destruction as it provides an opportunity for competitors to come up with a disruptive innovation providing value as well as innovative proposition winning uncontested market space. A very good example is how budget airlines are taking the travel industry by storm. Is it a fad or an emerging trend? So long as entrepreneurs are willing to experiment and create, there is always a chance that such innovation, provided it adheres to the principle of making adequate return on the capital invested, may be the "killer" model .

As our economy matures, we need to find ways to maintain our competitive position and the way is to educate our workforce to relearn. The tagline - Creativity At Play, sums up our attitude in empowerment at an early age - i.e. children of schooling age, through our Think Robotics program. It is a comprehensive programme that serves to enrich as well as to provide a competency-based learning environment that will prepare the children for the challenges that lie ahead. It creates the environment for the children to gain domain knowledge and competency that compliment the primary disciplines of math, science and technology that are taught in school. Together with their peers, they learn to construct rudimentary models involving mechanical parts like gears, wheels, motors to more esoteric tasks installing sensors, datalogging and programming the machines, and in the process allowing a free flow of creativity so essential for learning and development. Children will be prepared to articulate, communicate their ideas as well as to execute ( ACE ) them well. They will do so in an environment that allows them to remain connected to the real world. In the process they learn to gain the requisite competency as part of their lifelong education.

Keywords: ACE, game theory, Prisoner's Dilemma, think robotics

Collaboration and Game Theory

2006-01-12T10:23:00.000+08:00

The most crucial element in a collaboration is to ensure that interests are adequately aligned.
In the competitive environment that we are in today coupled with the phenomenal emergence of micro-markets and -businesses, the challenges and opportunities cannot get any better than what we are experiencing now. Just take a look at the airline industry in Asia where budget airlines flying to destinations within a 2 to 3 hour range taking head-on their bigger and better capitalised brethrens. These budget operators are making waves taking away micro-markets away from the larger operators. What we are experiencing is a new form of competitive strategy leveraging off value and innovation. With India and China growing at robust clips, and an uplifting experience for that matter, it is said that for every flight done by Kingfisher Airlines of India, about 30 to 40% of the passengers flown first time. Now the population of India is 1.1 billion - think of the uncontested marketplace and the possibilities. It is no wonder that Airbus is trying to sell their 800 seat capacity aircraft to these budget airlines.

We have completed the first step of getting the collaborators on board, and ensuring that we have adequately articulated and communicated the common vision. The collaborators are in for it with interests nicely aligned through two sets of affirmative undertaking.

It remains to be seen how the collaborators can leverage on their differing and yet complimentary skills to execute the vision.

To be ACE entrepreneurs, the clue lies in the ability to defer any form of instant gratification and to work towards the interest of the group so that optimal payout can be achieved.

Keywords: ACE, game theory, Prisoner's Dilemma

Things That Think

2005-12-29T09:24:00.000+08:00

Time for some crystal-ball glazing and to know what the future will be like and how we can partake in it.

We have completed a compact 24-hour Think Robotics program, and the experience has been good. The participants designed and built a robot programmed to move, pause, take readings through sensors ( light, temperature and angle ) at designated work stations. The data was then downloaded to a personal computer (PC) and organised into the desired structure for analysis. The output was in a graphical form for ease of visualisation and the participants were able to interpret the results correctly. We are a step closer to make the machine more interactive and useful to the users.

What we would really like is for things that can think and help to make decisions for us. Critical to this is the ability to develop sensors that are so ubiquitous and cheap to produce ( fabricate ) that they can be economically deployed.

Here is where we chanced upon a book entitled " When Things Start to Think" by Neil Gershenfeld, head of Physics and Media Group and co-director of the Things That Think research consortium at the MIT Media Laboratory.

Exciting things that are a reality today or a possibility includes quantum cryptography, smart sensors , quantum computing etc. Due to the characteristics of photons, electrons and atoms ( particularly oscillation attributes ) experimenters have been able to transmit data ( potentially in huge quantity ) and because they occur so naturally they can be easily and cheaply harvested. So in the foreseeable future smart sensors ( smart dusts ) can be sprinkled over vineyards, mixed into concrete and data ( temperature, moisture, pressure, light, acidity levels ) can be monitored and recorded for analysis.

In essence we are looking at the huge computing capabilities that quantum mechanics ( computing ) can offer that conventional computing methods are finding it increasingly difficult to match ( more and more computing power at lower and lower cost ). It is said that under the conventional computing methodology ( shrinking silicon circuits, wire of one atom wide, memory cells of one electron ) , we will reach a threshold sometime around 2020 when a fab plant will be so costly to build ( GNP of the whole planet ) to satisfy demands for more powerful and faster chips that they are economically infeasible.

As part of the curriculum for our Think Robotic program, we will endeavour to incorporate projects that will be fun for the participants, as well as remaining connected to the real world.

We would like participants to develop an appreciation of quantum mechanics and develop programming techniques that emulate the orientation of photons ( 4 states i.e. vertical, horizontal, 45 degree to the left or right of the vertical ), filter / polarisation modes ( rectlinear, diagonal ), exchange bits of information ( 0, 1 ). The experiment should demonstrate how photons can be entangled in a spooky way, and be utilised in the real world e.g. quantum game theory that can support an everyday human trait for social well-being - trust.

Have fun and wishing you a happy new year.

Keywords: domain knowledge, technology, networking, ACE, pedagogy, competency-based training, value innovations, ACEbots, micro-businesses, customer centric

Paradigm Shift - New Business Model and Learning Method

2005-11-25T09:00:00.000+08:00

Have spent the past couple of weeks consolidating our thoughts on a pet project. In other words, have we been idling in the conventional sense? Not quite. We are seeking a new paradigm to prepare for the next phase of competition. And the 3 critical success factors are: domain knowledge, technology and networking. The days of black and white have gone, and we have many shades of grey - meaning that instead one big market we will have numerous micro-markets. And supporting this will be the emerging micro-businesses. They, small and nimble, get things done fast. The most important task will be to create uncontested market space. Hence the proof of concept will take on a new dimension. Processes need to be tweaked as we move along, what works must be scaleable, and what doesn't can be discarded ( recycled ) hence minimsing the risks of a mal-investment in capex. How can this be done? Be customer centric. To do so, we need to develop competency in interacting with the real world environment, capture data, analyse it for what it is worth, draw conclusion and execute. This process will get more complex and we require tools that will empower us to get off the ground. The solution lies in technology. What we are seeing in some of the larger organisations, is a trend of outsourcing technology. If it is back-end, maybe this is the right approach. However, to compensate for this lack of capabilities, they must already have a game plan to substitute with high-end value innovations, and this inevitably must be accompanied by technology.

We are in the process of developing a competency-based training curriculum that serves to address these needs. The framework within which we are developing this, will test the relevancy of the curriculum in nurturing the next generation of entrepreneur-leaders. The standards include ability to multi-task, interacting with the environment, discern wants that are unmet, create uncontested market space, collaborate with strategic partners.

The workshop will range from a compact 24 hr program to an extended 80 hr program over a 24 month period. The pedagogy ( extendable to andragogy ) to the learning task will essentially be a show-and-tell approach, and the center-piece is our ACEbots incorporating lesson features like concept and inspiration, design and build, automation, test and validate. The assessment rubric will assess the participants from the real world perspective of competency in articulation, communication and execution ( ACE ).

Next: We take a look at the real-world workplace to appreciate what it is like out there.

Keywords: domain knowledge, technology, networking, ACE, pedagogy, competency-based training, value innovations, ACEbots, micro-businesses, customer centric

Micro-businesses - The New Big (II)

2005-11-05T16:53:00.000+08:00

We continue with Part II on the virtues of micro-businesses...
4. Small means that you will outsource the boring, low-impact stuff like manufacturing and shipping and billing and packing to others, while you retain the power to invent the remarkable and tell stories to people who want to hear
them.

Our practice can best be categorised as micro-business. Yet we can't be happier. We focus on what we are passionate about, and we spend very little time bothering about things that do not concern us. We have the total freedom to create value-added ideas and translate them into viable products and or services. We execute them when we have a job to do. We spend our free time either thinking about the issues that we like to solve, or we chill out by reading books, doing our favorite sports etc. And when we are charged up we are ready to take the plunge and devote our undivided attention on the project we set for ourselves. The outcome is usually invigorating and satisfying.

5. A small professional practice is succeeding because they’re good, not because they’re big.

We have witnessed that even in the best-of-breed organisations that are world-class leaders, their employees can be just so-so, or worse, demoralised. They spend time fretting or looking around for a job. Such attitudes tie up precious resources, and one dare say, translate into mediocre results and returns. Smaller outfits with an attitude are focused on what they are doing, full of energy and the owners are usually highly motivated individuals and passionate about their work. The end result is a high MVA Ratio with limited invested capital committed making shareholder value creation a reality.

6. A small shop has an owner who greets you by name.
It is because he understands what it takes to please his customers, and is sincere in doing so.

Keywords: micro businesses, micro markets, MVA Ratio, shareholder value

An In-Delhi-ble Impression

2005-10-29T09:31:00.000+08:00

The weather was perfect, and we were sitting by the poolside soaking in the morning sun in the midst of the cool crisp air and lush greenery. Where could we be? Shangrila of course. Yes, we were in the Shangrila Hotel - New Delhi, near the epicenter of the world largest democracy.

Well, in New Delhi, the boulevards are grand, buildings majestic and the lawns manicured. We visited the National Museum, and came away having a better grasp of the history of India starting from the Indus Valley civilisation - Harrappan and Maruyan eras, leading to the Mughal empire and finally to its present state. We sampled the metro, and it is impressive.

We had lunch at the Delhi Golf Club under a pitched tent, as the club is all set for the All Indian Open. We had salted lime soda followed by a meal comprising naan, daal, fish tikka and sheesh kebab all fresh off the oven. We topped it off with coffee and kulfi. The kulfi was heavenly. With the right texture, it simply melted in our mouth. We could easily justify a return trip as there is no kulfi in town to match this!

The next day, we were at the Bukhara for lunch. We had gin tonic, tandoori chicken, leg of lamb, daal, promfret and kulfi. It was a scrumptious meal with excellent company. Bukhara is rated as one of the top restaurants in the world and Bill Clinton and Putin are fans to this place, as well as Salman Khan, a Bollywood star.

We visited Gurgaon. It is a massive township, intended to emulate the service hub that of Singapore. There are many office and residential highrises. It is said that India has about 1 million workers in the IT industry, generating billions of revenue from outsourcing. In typical Indian mindset, they believe in self-sufficiency and instead of seeking foreign direct investment ( FDI) aggressively where they have to forgo equity, they took the more challenging route of creating value through their skilled workforce. This is impressive as the revenue generated is enormous as well as recurrence in nature.

This is the impetus that is propelling India to the world scene as a leader in quality outsouring. It excels in areas of healthcare, education and technology.

Keywords: healthcare, education, technology

Group and Game Theory

2005-10-17T20:48:00.000+08:00

Do we have the desire ( gumption ) to compete in the global market? Do we believe that we can take on the world single handedly? Or do we adopt a big fish small pond syndrome?
It is not unreasonable to state that we have a long long way to go. First we need a new breed of risk-takers who understand the meaning of deferred-gratification. Not only must we be seen to be working together but also indeed working together in substance and for the common good of the group. Only when we understand the meaning of aligning of interest can we deal transparently with the issue of conflicting interest. For those who don't or choose to ignore them will soon realise the consequences underpinned by John Nash's game theory – an initial win-lose outcome will inevitably turn into a lose-lose as exemplified by the now classic poser - Prisoner's Dilemma. Take a leaf from the vampire bats - they understand the meaning of mutual deterrence. Do we?
To be an ACE entrepeneur, we must first learn to tone down our urge for instant gratification.

Keywords: ACE, game theory, Prisoner's Dilemma

Micro-businesses - The New Big (I)

2005-10-13T07:23:00.000+08:00

As consumers are empowered with choices, markets are becoming more segmented leading to the creation of many micro-markets. With this also brings opportunities for mirco-businesses to cater to these niches. With norms ever evolving, consumers themselves may not be aware of the needs, and it is this uncontested space that micro-businesses can move quickly into. Micro-businesses are attractive because:

1. Small gives you the flexibility to change the business model when your competition changes theirs.

Small means that you do not have substantial invested capital at risk. So when you misread the market, you do not have the heartache of an expensive legacy to burden you with. You merely move on. That is flexibility. It allows you to compete with your core competence intacted i.e. intellectual capital. Additionally, being asset light, you are better poised to maintain a high Market Value Added (MVA) Ratio, and this means that you are in a position to create shareholder value.

2. Small means you can tell the truth on your blog.
This is an interesting point. I used to work in a large organisation. They had the capital to commit, and they expanded rapidly and started recruiting, on the basis of experience and qualification. They were certainly able to hire the better ones in the market. Once hired, my first day in the office was to familiarise myself with the processes of the organisation. What a process! There was none. And I had to mull over whether I should make any attempt to right this - it wasn't in my job scope. It took a long while before the processes were documented. Lack of documentation lead to inconsistencies and gaps in service level, and the customers usually bore the brunt of such blunders. Service staff is left to their own devices to make up excuses to appease the cutomers, and usually it is just to get the customers off their back. The business model is all tripped up and paralysis sets in. Sounds familiar - imagine the disaster looming ahead!

Being small and without legacy give you enough wiggle room to maneuver - ensuring that each promise is fulfilled to the satisfaction of your customer. With a well thought through vision and value proposition, you can articulate and communicate the message clearly and with honesty - this provides the platform for you to scale your business model and avoid the pitfalls experienced by larger outfits.

3. Small means that you can answer email from your customers.
Customers enjoy the personal touch and they appreciate it if you take the time to attend to their needs. Which is why remarkable services get talked about!

Keywords: micro businesses, micro markets, MVA Ratio, shareholder value

Making Your Mark In Marketing ( II )

2005-10-09T22:04:00.000+08:00

VII. Like it or not, you are part of the conversations in your marketplace. Skilful marketing promotes constructive conversations.

The strategy that you adopt has a bearing on your customers, suppliers as well as your competitors. If your business model is compelling in meeting the wants of the customers and generates a good return, be sure to articulate and communicate your vision to the stakeholders. By associating the right deed ( fulfilment ) to a promise, you reinforce a positive mindset and gain the respect in the marketplace.

VIII. Services that are remarkable get talked about.
It can be a simple gesture like a sincere smile to make a day for your customer.

IX. Marketing is the way your crew greets your guests, handles a blotchup, placates an irate customer.
Little details clue your stakeholders into your value system. Any inconsistency can be picked up by the discerning stakeholders from a mile, get extrapolated, and rightly or wrongly a poor view is formed.

Keywords: mindshare, stakeholders

India Singapore collaboration

2005-10-05T11:50:00.000+08:00

Refer to Chew Chung Huang's lucid presentation of the deliberations at the pan IIM meet recently in Singapore. Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam referred to the increasing collaboration between the educational institutions in Singapore and India at the school level.

I fully support such initiatives and the initial enthusiasm shown by the Singapore school administrators in promoting the Indian schools to join hands at diversifying the student body interactions in India and Singapore. It was also mentioned that institutions such as IIT, Mumbai and the NTU, Singapore plan to issue joint degrees for engineering programs in near future. This is highly commendable and will go a long way in internationalising the Indian institutes of higher learning as well as further promoting Singapore as an educational hub in the region.

Readers may be interested to learn that since the IIM alumni meet here in Singapore, similar meetings have been organised in New York and London to further explore how IIM alumni may play a greater role in their respective communities in enhancing the exchange of intellectual resources with India.

Singapore is also taking a leaf out of the peace process that is currently underway between India and Pakistan in leading the external investments in the sub-continent.
The Indian economy is continuing to grow fast (8.1% in the first quarter of current fiscal year)and leap frog with Indian businesses now increasingly confident in expanding internationally. As is now well accepted, India presents numerous opportunities for the international investor community and this is expected to continue for the next few decades to come. However, path to international investments is never a smooth one and investors have to continue to tread cautiously. Key to successful investing is to find a good local partner even though domestic laws may permit 100% ownership in target sectors. Investing is an act of faith and sufficient time must be permitted before evaluating results from the investment decision made. Realistic milestones must be established upfront to avoid disappointments.

One target sector that offers plenty of opportunities for collaborations is the healthcare industry. With the large market size in India and advanced technological capabilities in Singapore as well as the highly talented healthcare and IT professionals in India, investors in Singapore will find many compelling value propositions.

More on that in the next posting.

Keywords: healthcare, education,
eFrenzconnect Health and Wellness

Making Your Mark In Marketing ( I )

2005-10-05T07:07:00.000+08:00

I. Marketing begins before the service is created.

It goes back to your value proposition and the competitive strategy that you have mapped out. Who is your target audience? Why are they likely to find your value proposition compelling? What is the competition up to? What you are offering - does it serves to meet their wants? You begin to identify your mavens, connectors and fete them with your best shots and get their feedback. If they are turned on, their word-of-mouth marketing can be viral.

II. Anticipated, personal and relevant advertising always does better than unsolicited junk.

With your army of mavens, connectors and salesmen, you are well positioned to create the buzz. Once the anticipation is created, audience can't wait to try out your products.

III. Making promises and keeping them is a great way to build a brand.

Imagine having to wait on queue for hours, and your value proposition is operational efficiency. It will turn off your customers. Ensure that your service level matches with your value proposition. If you are in the fast-food business, don't forget that the very reason people come is to get a fast serivce, and not necessarily good food.

IV. Your best customers are worth far more than your average customers.

When your customer made a remark like " Exact fit to my training needs at this point. Probably the only useful training I have had in 10 years", need I say more.

V. Share of wallet is easier, more profitable and ultimately more effective a measure than share of market.

You may gain market share - but the question to ask is at what price? If you price it too cheaply, you are not making a decent return, and instead of creating value you destroy value. You may make the customers happy, but you are short changing yourself. Definitely not sustainable.

VI. Advertising is just a symptom, a tactic. Marketing is about far more than that.

Definitely not an after-thought. The message you deliver has to be clear. Customers are discerning and they will appreciate the care taken in meeting their needs. After all, if they want a lifelong relationship, if has to be worth their while, and not something where the cost to maintain the relationship is so prohibitive.

Next: More tips.....

Keywords: competitive strategy, value proposition, mavens

Can We Afford Not To Blog? (II)

2005-09-29T07:17:00.000+08:00

In times of crisis, you need strong leader who is visible and has the charisma to lead. Now, I will tell you this -- and I give the president some credit on this -- he sent one John Wayne dude down here that can get some stuff done, and his name is [Lt.] Gen. [Russel] Honore.
And he came off the doggone chopper, and he started cussing and people started moving. .

Why Blogging?

You need to stay connected with your audience. And for business models that have somewhat gone adrift, retrenching 10,000 workers is not going to do the trick. You need to regroup, stay focus, articulate, communicate and execute your vision. Blogging for the following reasons may provide the impetus for that.

1. Energise the connection with increasingly message wary customers in a way that is invigorating and proactive. Do you think Bob Lutz, General Motors Vice Chairman is effective in this regard?

2. Weblogs are viral and make it easy to create word-of-mouth networks. The right post can spread through the blogsphere instaneously to large numbers of people to reach tipping point.

3. Weblogs are NOT a direct marketing medium. Consumers are savvy. They can sense it if you push it in their face. A well executed blogging strategy requires time to convert into tangible results. And when it does, it could become your most powerful tool in your marketing mix.

5. Provide global reach in building brand awareness and differentiation. It allows you to articulate what makes your business different from your competitor and how your prospective customer can understand that you have something better to offer. If English Cut can do it, so can you!

6. Educate and inform the audience. It is the last form of honest marketing. It allows customer to get to know you on a personal level. This engenders a sense of trust and allows you to speak with passion and fervour, and provides a little entertainment and have some humour. Customers like to engage in a conversation, and NOT talk down to. It is like going to your favourite watering hole to chill out.

7. Cost effective way of leveraging off technology by projecting your business into the big league. The running cost of utilising the superb telecommunication infrastructure and broadband connectivity is afffordable even to small enterprises. Networking and collaboration can take place seamlessly. Small Business Trends.

If it is so effective, why aren't we adopting it?

There could be many reasons. Perhaps we do not quite appreciate the benefits the technology confers, existing practice is good enough for us, plain blissfully ignorant, or simply don't have the resources to react, let alone anticipate change.

Can we afford to standstill?

A look at the healthcare industry may provide us with some clues as to the kind of competition we are facing. Holiday in India for Good Health, Travel For Your Health.

Neighboring countries have gotten into the act - and they aspire to be the Mayo Clinic of the East. Some have adhered to American standards for hospital accreditation, and with it the benefits of enjoying medical insurance cover making it convenient for US citizens to seek treatments overseas. In that sense , our competitors are attempting to render the competition irrelevant by creating uncontested marketspace.

Consumers in Europe are already seeking out India for certain medical treatments.

Even if we are successful in mastering domain knowledge and technology, we still need to grapple with establishing our network in order to go-to-market.

Are we clued in or clueless as to what's going on out there?

Is it a case of sent one John Wayne dude down here that can get some stuff done, and ..... started cussing and people started moving.

We need to ACE our DTN ( domain knowledge, technology and networking ).

Keywords: domain knowledge, technology, networking, mavens, tipping point, blog, viral marketing

Lessons From Mother Nature - Unmet Needs

2005-09-25T10:14:00.000+08:00

Katrina and Rita. We have seen plenty of practice out there - good and the bad. For Katrina, we were caught with our pants down, and the price to pay is HIGH. Rita, fortunately, at least, for the moment, the damage is contained as the people are well prepared for it.

So what are the lessons? Well, for one, by human nature, we tend to underestimate risks. It is very much in our nature to upfront happier things and defer dealing with the more painful matters. And when the unexpected hit us, the loss can be devastating in terms of costs to human lives and to the economy. On hindsight, things always seem clearer. Well, applying the lessons, we must be passionate in the things we do and assume responsibility for the possible consequences arising for the path we select. In this way, we can always hone and upgrade our core skills especially during times when it does not appear to payoff. However, by remaining steadfast, our conviction should place us in good stead. Needs are always evolving, and with the marketplace getting more volatile, an unmet need will surely emerge with a surge in demand. Service providers that are in a position to provide will win a share of the wallet. It therefore pays for one to be prepared, and stand ready to deliver. Here are some tips as to how you can be prepared.
1. Identify trends and analyse weak signals in the marketplace
2. Stay invested in the core skills and upgrade to meet anticipated needs
3. Create need awareness - constantly engaging and communicating with your audience.
4. Engender a sense of tust and build rapport with your target audience.

When the time arrives where customers demand such a service, you will already have gained sufficient mindshare for them to recall your value proposition.

You will be pleasantly surprised how these little things can all add up to a happy ending!

Keywords: unmet needs, ACE, mindshare, need awareness

Can We Afford Not To Blog? ( I )

2005-09-22T08:30:00.000+08:00

In the past, we are able to compete on the basis of achieving mastery of a specific domain knowledge. And we move up the value-added ladder, getting higher pay, enjoying a higher standard of living. Just as we think we can do no wrong, we notice that behind us are 2 billion people with the same aspirations, and are rapidly catching up.

It soon dawn on us, at least for some, that not only do we need to deliver quality products and or services, we need also to master the technology to deliver our domain knowledge on a timely and accurate basis. For some of us, this is already a challenge. And I am not referring to the 40-something. This is also happening for graduates entering the job market. Why is this so?

For one, we have a legacy carried forward from the brick-and-mortar era - where the most effective form of competitive strategy is to erect entry barriers e.g. building skyscrapers, creating regulations, licensing etc and for that we have been extremely successful.

The downside is that with a captive audience, producers have little incentive to fulfill unmet needs in the marketplace. Instead they seek to maximise profits by playing the efficiency card i.e. customers can have all the choices of color that they want provided it is black. For a long while, it worked. However, with technological advances, globalisation is now a reality, and the bottom-line is that consumers are empowered with choices.

What are the implications? The first thing to hit us is a proliferation of choices. Producers that understand the needs best will win market share and more importantly a share of the wallet. Now to win over the customers, we realise that we must remain relevant to the customers. How to be relevant?

There are many ways. You can cut your price - especially when you have not been delivering value all this while. If only it is that easy. If you can maintain the same level of service and maintain profit margin, then there is little cause for concern. However, for the majority, it will be a challenge! Consumers are discerning, and they do not necessarily shop on the basis of price only. What they want is for some one to fulfil their unmet needs.

It is a race against time for us to identify and articulate those unmet needs. As captain of the boat, you need to communicate effectively to the crew on how best to execute the manoeurve - with perfect timing and coordination. Changing tack with a stiff headwind is no easy task. The crew must be well trained, and be prepared to take risks in order to ride out the waves.

So it is no wonder that companies in industries that are facing challenging times are probably the first to adopt blogging. e.g. General Motors,
Microsoft, IBM

Next: Reasons To Blog

Keywords: blog, domain knowledge, technology, competitive strategy

Google Rolls Out Blog Search Engine

2005-09-16T19:27:00.000+08:00

How big is the blogosphere? By the estimate of Technorati, it has indexed 17 million sites spanning across 1.5 billion links.

Can it grow further? At the moment, blogging appeals to the younger generation and for the tech savvy guys. However with this roll-out Google Bog Search and given Google's wide reach, the pace is expected to quicken. Its tools allow searches in English as well as other languages e.g. Chinese, Japanese etc.

Where do we go from here? Another tech bubble over the horizon? Our view is that businesses cannot afford to ignore this trend, and the sooner we embrace it the better off we are.

Happy blogging and made sure you have an icon at your site.

Tips On How To Write Better In Your Blog

2005-09-14T08:12:00.000+08:00

As with all great tips, they are simple to execute and should guide you to better blogging. Tips include using catchy titles, be unique, making sure to credit your sources, think before you post, stay on topic......

I am referring to the post by Piaras Kelly PR. Go ahead...and be empowered!

Keyword: blog

Diversity - A Business Case

2005-08-28T10:15:00.000+08:00

I attended an event organised by the Indian Institute of Management ( IIM )alumni. There are about 500 members working in Singapore, making it probably the largest congregation of IIM alumni outside India and USA. The keynote speech focussed on the topic of "Diversity".

Globalisation brings about a marketplace of participants of diverse backgrounds. It is increasingly common to discover, that goods which brands we tend to associate with a particular culture and or locality, that their origins can be traced to far flung places e.g. Nike makes shoes from factories in Tengarrang, Indonesia, or Guangzhou, China targeted at shoppers at the Third Street of Santa Monica, California, USA. A CRM package is configured by System Implementers from Bangalore, India for a Japanese-led consortium investing in the US. Hence, a business case can be made of a business model whose composition matches closely the makeup of the marketplace it serves is better poised to prosper in that marketplace than one whose constituent is homogenous.

Another part of the business case is how well a business model utilizes its diversity. This is often referred to as inclusion. If a business model is diverse in makeup, but all the key players are of one primary group, diversity may not add much value.

It has been recognised that it will be far too expensive and not feasible to stage-manage this process at a macro level. Interest has to be aligned to make this a possibility, and the business case be well articulated and communicated, so that the benefits are evident to the participants, thereby ensuring the smooth execution of its value proposition. As a minimum, there must be a natural basis for reciprocity as well as an element of "mutual deterence" to achieve the desired outcome i.e. increasing the payoff for the cooperating group.

When this happens, albeit slowly at the intitial stage, and its efficacy is underpinned, can there be a paradigm shift with a more broad based acceptance by the players. Only then can we hit tipping point.

India and Singapore took different routes in the past 40 years in developing their respective economies after gaining independence. India is very much focused on combating poverty, disease etc given its huge population. In a knowledge-based era, this same constraint proves to be the trump card for India to leverage on its skilled workforce to build a world-class franchise evolving around its pool of telented professionals, particularly in the IT sector. Its management graduate program draws on the IT sector to turn computer scientists and engineeers into business managers.

Singapore with its unique brand equity, offers diversity and a conducive environment for these professionals to thrive, and as well as allowing them to plug into the fast growing Asia-Pacific marketplace.

The value proposition to make this partnership a success must be suffciently compelling to overcome inherent biasness so that the fusion of talent in a melting pot could produce a kaleidoscope of exciting and innovative solutions mapping out uncontested marketspace.

For this to thrive, it must be done from the ground up, albeit with the right policies being put in place. The desire to innovate and create must come from individuals who have the passion and the drive to seek and pursue excellence. Now that the first step has beeen taken, we need like-minded counterparts who can appreciate the benefit of collaboration to take advantage of the multitude of changing phases and or events in the marketplace to make this a fun and happening place to work.

Next: What Are The Possibilites?

diversity
IIM

Ant Game When eleph-Ants Make Love

2005-08-17T17:55:00.000+08:00

Crystal-ball glazing to the Year 2020....

1. It is tempting to extrapolate on the basis of the past that 10 million manufacturing jobs in the Western world maybe lost.

2. The world's largest economy looses its dominance in automobile and information technology sectors as well as in the capital market.

3. The rest of us exporting commodities, and doing shoeshines for a pastime.

We are refering to the emergence of China and India as economic forces to be reckon with.

In a win-win Nash equilibrium scenario, consumers in the developed world will benefit with abundant supply of affordable products and services in addition to creating a class of consumers from China and India willing and able to buy luxury goods ranging from Prada bags to private jets. In a zero-sum game, the dire outcome means that life will be a grind for the less well off and even the more highly skilled workers may feel vulnerable.

If logic prevails, it is not sustainable nor reasonable for the world's largest economy to consume more than it produces and hence for the two emerging economies to share the load by opening their markets, and consuming more products and services. A major step in the right direction by way of floating the yuan currency produced the right sentiment for believing that a win-win Nash equilibrium optimal outcome is achievable. And the question to pose is how to incentivise the Chinese corporations and consumers to buy more and of what? A more expensive Yuan will naturally spur the US economy to make further gain in productivity and perhaps in the short run, discourages consumption of imported goods, hence improving the balance of trade.

It also means more demand for health care, housing, amongst other things. It is said that China's health-care spending per dollar of GDP can potentially grow by 2X before it matches that of the U.S.

For pride and prestige, it is natural for everyone wanting to dominate the most coveted space. While the principle of comparative advantage dictates that different economies compliment each other by producing complimentary products and servcies instead off vying for the same space, and to improve trade flow as well as to achieve higer output. Like most matters in life, the devil is in the details in striking a rational outcome.

In the near term, as they jostle for a optimal position, life can be precarious for those in the vicinity. Particularly with the pressure to create shareholder value, Corporate World is compelled to modify its business design and seek out cheaper labour and white-collar workers will be next in the firing line.

However, it remains a possibility to thrive in such an environment if one is nimble enough to sidestep the footprints of these giants and seek out uncontested market space.

The ant game is to stay alive and thrive!

Next: How To Stay Alive and Thrive? Small Is Big!

Categories: Strategy

Paradigm Coexistence - Reality and Idealism

2005-08-14T09:15:00.000+08:00

Have been out of action for a while in the virtual world, as I was kept occupied by brick-and-mortar tasks. Am glad to be back to share some insights. There is a constant vacillation between realism and idealism, a clear instance of the tug-of-war between the "left and right" side of the grey matter.

I had dinner with a very nice gentleman, and we touched on the issue on how can we incorporate best practices into our business model. A fair number of organisations may have legacy issues that make it daunting for them to embark on change. Change is inevitable given the customer-centric environment that we are in today. Task-oriented masters in their desires to enhance performance may be looking up the wrong lamp post. With a well-established body of know-hows that works fine in a developed and transparent market, the trick is how to tweak it successfully for a less forgiving environment that we live in. Perhaps a strategy-focused performance measurement scorecard with a human touch could be the way to go.

Individuals are willing to accept change and we need to understand the motivation for that. It is perhaps heartening to experience first hand of individuals willing to make a call to champion a cause, push the envelope to embrace change, and to take some knocks along the way. We all come out wiser and better from the experience, and also progress towards a new paradigm. With such positive experiences, we ought to take the time to understand the motivation for the change. How can we replicate such successes to future instances? One important consideration to note, is that although the future is by definition uncertain, some traits are less susceptible to change, thus some outcomes in the longer run can be predicted to some degree of accuracy. It is crucial for us to detect such signals, at times weak, and take the cue to take advantage of the available opportunities and avoid the pitfalls.

Examples:

Positive
1. Develop a compelling value proposition with first mover advantage. Resolve the last-mile issue so that the fulfillment to the customers is complete.

2. Leverage on core competencies and relevant technology to create uncontested marketspace.

Negative
1. Hop onto a bandwagon likened to the days of the gold rush two centuries ago, just to make some quick bucks. As barrier is low and ease of entry, it also attracts marginal players, and the end result is a commodity-type environment, and the basis of competing is price. It is inevitable that a shake-out will occur, and all the time and effort came to nought. Remember Bubble Tea!

2. Me-too idea with no or limited differentiation. Customers are empowered with better choices, and the emergence of micro-markets as the result. It is better to establish a niche and offer top-notch service with no peers in that category.

With perserverance and foresight, we can map our path accordingly, and we should take the time to articulate our thoughts before communicating them to the target audeince. With clarity of mind and focus, the team will be up to the task to execute.

Next: How to surface and nip issues at the bud?

Chief Financial Officer – What Constitutes Competency? ( IV )

2005-07-24T07:37:00.000+08:00

He must be able to articulate, communicate and execute major initiatives required to implement strategies which shall include developing value creating optimal capital structure and dividend policy, managing relationship with investors and all the financial community, negotiating and executing all major financial transactions including borrowings, shares issuances and repurchases, coordinating preparations of short-term operating budgets, developing key performance measures for each business unit, ensuring that business units have adequate management controls in place, assessing business unit performance in conjunction with senior management.
There is also the typical financial function he must assume. For instance: ensuring that all external reporting and compliance obligations are fulfilled, establishing controls to safeguards assets, ensuring the integrity and efficiency of working capital management, filing and paying all tax obligations, pursing opportunities to reduce tax burden, maintaining close relationships with banks, and managing risk management programs.

The CFO must possess the relevant knowledge and skills and these will include seasoned business judgment and superior analytical capabilities particularly in strategic business and financial analysis, ability to form an indepdendent view and challenge the ideas of the CEO and operating managers while maintaining their respect and confidence, has the presence to deal with the financial community, taking the initiatives to lead negotiations in major transactions, and strong administrative and people management skills.

If this sound daunting, have no fear. We understand the intricacies of value drivers and possess know-hows and tools to fine-tune them to achieve compelling value propositions. Let our team of experts lead you through the Value Based Management process.

Are you ready to be an ACE CFO? Where you can articulate, communicate and execute the corporate strategy..

Chief Financial Officer – What Constitutes Competency? ( III )

2005-07-17T07:35:00.000+08:00

His job scope would include something along the following lines:

He must be fearless in challenging the norms, championing the rationale for changes in performance, defining financial benchmark and implementing systems to track performance against goals, supporting the development of corporate expansion strategies, mapping perspectives on market opportunities, evaluating skills and assets in place for pursuing opportunities and recommending programs to enhance skills to fill gaps, performing business and financial evaluation of specific proposals.

Using the Capital Asset Pricing Model ( CAPM ) , he should be able to identify the appilcable hurdle rate ( which is defined as the Weighted Average Cost of Capital or WACC ). Return on Equity ( ke ) is defined as the sum of the Risk-Free Rate and the Product of its Beta and Market Premium ie. ke = rf + b*(rm - rf) ).

In order to create value, he needs to assess whether the business model is capable of maintaining and or sustaining a competitive advantage period ( CAP ) during which the business model is able to generate superior Return on Invested Capital ( ROIC ) in Excess of its Cost of Capital or Return in Excess of Cost of Capital (RECC) .

Financial indicators should include Operating Margin ( i.e. Earning Before Interest and Tax ( EBIT ) over Sales ) and Asset Turnover Ratio( Sales over Invested Capital ). Enterprise Value ( EV) is the consequence of the value based management process that involves thinking strategically that will lead to the underpinning TODAY of the future cashflow that shall arise from the successful business execution of the said strategy. For a steady-state type of model, EV is equalled to EBIT(1-tax rate) over Hurdle Rate. With growth, EV can improve to EBIT(1-tax rate) over Hurdle Rate less Growth Rate. ( When growth rate exceeds the hurdle rate, this formulation has to be modified).

Next: He must also plan and execute majors initiatives required to implement strategies which shall include developing value creating optimal capital structure and dividend policy, designing and managing strategy for communicating the key elements of plans and performance to investors and all the financial community...

Chief Financial Officer – What Constitutes Competency? ( II )

2005-07-07T19:38:00.000+08:00

Senior executives with similar mindsets will compete along predictable lines, and the results would be more features added to the product offerings to the extent that the average consumers are overwhelmed by them and honestly speaking have no need for most of the esoteric features.

So on one hand, executives must develop a proposition that balances value and innovation. On the other, it must gain traction, and generates sufficient revenue to underpin superior economic profit. Hence the link between business corporate and financial strategies is getting more critical and it requires substantial effort and resources to manage value. So, is managing value mission-critical? The alternative to that: can we afford to ignore value-based management?

Increasingly, companies must reinvent in order to come up with the next generation of products to seek out uncontested market space and underpin revenue growth. As such, the task of communicating to investors, also known as investor relationship cannot be over-emphasised and is another responsibility of the CFO.

Being the finance top-dog , the CFO is expected to take the lead in drawing up a strategy roadmap. Success is measurable in terms of how well the company has made the transition into value creation. The CFO plays a vital role in partnering with the CEO by acting as his confidant on major strategic and operational issues, as well as the no less important tasks of overseeing the financial and planning functions i.e. budgeting, internal control and financial management. He must be visionary in creating value, and this includes implementing a framework for evaluating plans with value creation potential.

Next: His job scope would include something along the following lines:He must be fearless in challenging the norms......

Chief Financial Officer – What Constitutes Competency? ( I )

2005-07-06T22:58:00.000+08:00

We read in the newspaper with interest on whether a person at a young age of 26 is capable of discharging the duties and responsibilities expected of a Chief Financial Officer ( CFO ).

The question is essentially what makes for a competent CFO? At the higher order, question can be phrased as whether he is trustworthy – i.e. a person who has integrity and the competency to fulfill the task entrusted on him. Taking an extreme example, a person can be a genius but hasn’t an iota of honesty in him. From the recent global fallouts, local shakeouts, if our memories do not fail us, there is no lack of examples of such traits. Would you have such personalities? On the other hand, an honest man who is clueless as to what he is doing is unlikely to do his job properly. Would you have him too?

Efficiency is regarded as a key measure of corporate governance, and breakdowns in governance could significantly erode business efficiency. Well-functioning markets require accurate information to allocate resources, and market participants must have confidence that our predominately voluntary system of exchange is transparent and fair. Unless the laws governing how markets and corporations function are perceived as fair, economic system cannot achieve its full potential. With globalization, corporates are finding the going tough, as traditional barriers are no longer capable of adequately protecting their turfs. With increasing choices, stakeholders are taking centre stage. Shareholders will vote with their feet if they do not get a decent return on their investment, consumers will gladly part their monies to your competitors if your product is not up to speed, and employees are likely to move when their efforts are taken for granted.

Corporates have no choice but to adopt an outside-inside approach. They must be customer-centric. This means that they have to be serious in wanting to understand the ever evolving needs of the customers. The only constant is change – so the saying goes.

Next: Senior executives with similar mindsets will compete along predictable lines, and the end result would be more features added to the product offerings to the extent that the average consumers are overwhelmed by them and honestly speaking have no need for most of the esoteric features.....

Customer Centric Wealth Management Competency

2005-07-02T10:21:00.000+08:00

This week I caught up with some old friends for lunch and we had some interesting discussions.

One of them mentioned that he has been approached by financial service providers offering wealth management products and services. After having gone through their proposals, he remained yet to be convinced of the value proposition of these service providers i.e. financial planners and or private bankers.

His view was that he could obtain a risk-free return of say 3-4%per annum in a fixed-income product, and the best these service providers could do is to offer a return of non-guaranteed return of 8% per annum. He felt that the services offered were of limited value, and this essentially would be in the form of providing a listing of funds with details on their respective performances. He felt that he would be better off constructing his own portfolio.

Without dwelling into the details, here are my observations.

First, we have a valuable insight from a prospective consumer and he felt that the choices available were not up to his expectations. Second, the service providers appear unable to articulate and communicate their execution capabilities to convince my friend of the whys and hows of wealth management. Obviously, wealth management is an art as well as science, and for the uninitiated, the literature can be and is overwhelming. However, one should not underestimate the intelligence and instinct of the consumers.

The present state of offering these services certainly can be improved through education and or competency-based learning.

Competing on the same paradigm, and with supply outstripping demand, growth for the wealth management industry is likely to be curbed unless service providers can provide value innovation in their services. The underlying discomfort is about fees levied by the service providers for services that are perceived to be of limited value.

The challenge is for the wealth management industry to come up with a set of competency -based learning program that is customer-centric in orientation. The likely winning proposition could be one where the service providers and or the industry can offer tools that empower the individuals to measure and manage their wealth. It is hope that uncontested space can be created and rendering the competition irrelevant. After all we are talking about world class talent and the world is our stage. So would be our competition.

Well the opportunities are.......mavens ( typically consumers ) , training providers, value based management, human resource , learning development consultants as well as service proivders can come together to draw up a strategy roadmap to make Singapore the wealth management mecca.

Alignment of Interest and Competency Based Assessment

2005-06-30T08:13:00.000+08:00

....We have identified our immediate goal as signing up mavens/collaborators. So we can perform our assessment and determine why the take-up rate is slower than necessary........

It has been a long trial at the Tour De France.

What are the observations made and lessons learned?

First, let's revisit the Competency Based Learning process.

The benefits confer to the group include.
Increased shareholder value
Ensuring cyclists have the capabilities to meet their objectives and those of the group so that the group's desired outcomes can be optimised.
On the job assessment can be performed on the job and is deemed to be less subjective.
Idenitfy and remedy gaps.

Improved Return on Investment on Training
As learning & development occurs on the job, cost-benefit analysis can readily be validated leading to positive return on investment.
Training is targeted and hence wastages are reduced.

Data Analytics
Identify the right cyclists for the jobs.
Create team of collaborators with complimentary skills.
Facilitate in succession planning.

The benefits confer to the individual include

Self motivation
Individual determines the pace.
On the job learning.

Existing skills and knowledge are recognized
Prior learning is recognized.
Competence is demonstrated through skills.

Reduction in Time Taken to Learn
In some cultures competency based assessment can result in the creation of standards that are widely recognized and portable.

Let's take an example of an desired outcome.

Desired Outcome
The work processes facilitate rapid decision-making and increases productivity.

Key Performance Indicators
Action taken to minimise duplication or conflict in the types of services provided.
Measures taken to encourage teamwork and co-operation.
Evidence of increased productivity and efficiency.

Possible Competencies
Ability to manage/lead
Decision-making
Interpersonal skills

We can group competency into the following categories:

Intellectual Competencies
Cognitive Capacity
Creativity

Future Building Competencies
Articulating vision

Management Competencies
Execution Capability
Organisational Awareness
Teamwork
Collaboration

Relationship Competencies
Interpersonal Relations
Communication

Personal Competencies
Endurance / Coping With Stress
Ethics and Values
Personality
Behavioural Adaptability
Self-Esteem

Typically, the more critical competencies include:
Technical Know-how
Ability to Lead or Manage
Interpersonal Skills
Creativity or Resourcefulness
Decision-Making or Judgement
Flexibility or Adaptability
Communications

However, and not suprisingly, we note that it is in the areas of soft competencies that we find ourselves most wanting in.

Ability to Lead or Manage
Flexibility or Adaptability
Dealing with Ambiguity
Communication Skills

An interesting question to raise is: In order for us to maintain our competitive advantage, which competencies will drive shareholder value the most?

We have identified our immediate goal as signing up mavens/collaborators. So we can perform our assessment and determine why the take-up rate is slower than necessary.

In order to have first mover advantage, we also need to preserve our gameplan. This means ensuring that we keep it under wrap for as long as possible. Yet in describing our model to prospective collaborators, we also want to avoid creating the opportunities for competing model to surface. We need to balance the conflicting needs and yet be able to gain traction in order to maintain a competitive edge before the inevitable sets in. The consequence is that we may not be able to achieve a high MVA ratio, a key benchmark to be a global player. ( a compelling business model can still be valuable without business traction - because of the growth / scale factor ).

This is all very fluid and dynamic, but I like to believe we are up to the task.

The question raised is: What are the competencies required to lift this task?Through the process of eliminations, I have come up with a few:organisational awareness, creativity or resourcefulness, dealing with ambiguity, decision-making or judgement, ethics and values..... That is one too many!

Going back to basics, we need to ask ourselves:
what is my role?
have I discharged it competently?
did I take ownership of the issues / gaps?
how can I contribute to make it work?
how do I know whether I have gained competency?
do I need to undergo competency-based learning?

Additionally, we have the issue on the alignment of interest. Well, we are into the learning curve and it is steep, and let's hope we do not have to pay a prince's ransom for it, and be able to breach the gap between strategy and execution.

New Windows to include RSS info system

2005-06-26T09:00:00.000+08:00

It has been reported that Microsoft is to add Really Simple Syndication ( RSS ) in its next version of Wiindows. As far as trendspotting is concerned, it is spot on. Please see An Icon to Covet

RSS is used to track freshly updated information without the need to surf through a long list of webpages.....It means that as far as mindshare goes, it will take a large portion of the eyeballs away from emails, surfing etc. Early adopter who has a strong value proposition in building conmmunity as well as attracting mavens and connectors will be in pole position.
RSS

Trust and Leadership

2005-06-21T09:18:00.000+08:00

Below are some quotes from Chairman Alan Greenspan of the US Federal Reserve Board in relation to trust.

Efficiency is of course a key measure of corporate governance ..... breakdowns in governance could ........ significantly erode business efficiency ................
Well-functioning markets require accurate information to allocate resources, and market participants must have confidence that our predominately voluntary system of exchange is transparent and fair........

...... market system depends critically on trust--trust in the word of our colleagues and trust in the word of those with whom we do business. Falsification and fraud are highly destructive to free-market capitalism and, more broadly, to the underpinnings of society.......

In the end, a CEO must be afforded full authority to implement corporate strategies, but also must bear the responsibility to accurately report the resulting condition of the corporation to shareholders and potential investors.

........unless the laws governing how markets and corporations function are perceived as fair, ....economic system cannot achieve its full potential.

Work hard. Save your money. Prosper. But most important, be honest in your dealings.

"It is decidedly not true that 'nice guys finish last,'"

"Material success is possible in this world, and far more satisfying, when it comes without exploiting others,"

"The true measure of a career is to be able to be content, even proud, that you succeeded through your own endeavors without leaving a trail of casualties in our wake."

"In virtually all our transactions, whether with customers or with colleagues, with friends or with strangers, we rely on the word of those with whom we do business,"

"If we could not do so, goods and services could not be exchanged efficiently."

At root was the rapid enlargement of stock market capitalizations in the latter part of the 1990s that arguably engendered an outsized increase in opportunities for avarice.

An infectious greed seemed to grip much of our business community

It is that the avenues to express greed had grown so enormously.

But even if the worst is over, history cautions us that memories fade.

We look at it from a pragmatic viewpoint, again using Nash principle of optismising group outcome. When we have trust ( and it is a one-to-one relationship ), the cost of doing business will greatly be reduced. However, we need to build in a system of mutual deterence to ensure that heavers are rewarded, and slackers are discouraged from undemining the efficient function of the model. Again we need to articulate, communicate and execute ( ACE )this ideal in order for a well-functioning market to thrive.

http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/hh/2002/july/testimony.htm
http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2005/
May-16-Mon-2005/business/1676170.html

Information Just An Eyeball Away

2005-06-10T15:02:00.000+08:00

It is time to load the RSS Feed and enjoy fresh and useful contents just an eyeball away..Please follow the steps as outlined below.

1. Download a feedreader. Example: ( you may wish to use another software. We do not warrant the efficacy of the program )

Proceed to site to download Feedreader

2a.Go to eFrenzconnect and select the RSS Feed that you wish to add to the feedreader

2b. Bring your mouse to the relevant XML icon and right click and select "copy shortcut/link location".

3. Open the Feedreader

and select File > Add Feed, and paste the link and complete the step.

4. You are now ready to receive news live!

Cross hair - Million Dollar Baby

2005-06-09T11:10:00.000+08:00

Have been fairly quiet for the past days......much has been said and done. So adding another sound ( sight ) byte for sound byte sake is not the way to go. .....so I took a step back, and volunteered to babysit four kids for a day. Takeway: learned a thing or two from these kids.

And here I am, searching for the missing ingredient. All have been said and done - we have articulated, communicated and so ....... let's just do it. That is what a grizzled boxing trainer says to his charge: "Always protect yourself." Eager-beaver Maggie replies "Yes, boss", in a Clint Eastwood's elegant, poignant Million Dollar Baby.
We have placed the issue under the cross-hair and we want to keep it within our sight.

Million Dollar Baby ignores his advice, suffers dearly for it and still finds a way to argue that "not protecting yourself" is the only way you can really live, horrific consequences be damned.1

It comes down to execution, and at this stage "protetcing yourself" means getting mavens, mavens, and mavens. This is singularly the most important factor for the business model. So do we listen to Frankie Dunn's hisses.

In making the movie, he has

..... boiled off every ounce of fat and only the essentials remain.......so quiet and unassuming .... feels like a whisper.... a model of unadorned precision--as plaintive, soulful and endlessly complicated in its direct simplicity...1

Well, when we analyse why a business model is not able to gain traction, usually it is the gap between the strategy and execution. We then need to strip it down to the basic components in order to cross-hair the problem. And it usually is a simple "protect yourself" task. So let's nail it with discipline and focus......

QED
quod erat demonstrandum
1.quoted from http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com

Shareholder Value Creation

2005-06-05T11:09:00.000+08:00

When a business model is not creating value........it could be due to a number of factors:

poor selection of strategy options, lack of core competencies, or the full potential of the strategy yet to be realised.

However, without a framework to measure and manage, management gets overwhelmed .......

When formulating strategies, there is a need to understand the underlying principles....... .

Behind every product or service exists an individual consumer. ............ To satisfy a need, .............. If you can figure out that need, and the customer keeps coming back for more, ...........You need to articulate your success .......learn to understand the process that lead to your success and be able to replicate that process over and over again.

In the education arena, we believe this to be exciting time. Hopefully, we elect to be in the blue ocean ( as oppose to the red ). Again, we need to apply some basic principles that have placed us in good stead. Looking out for the weak signals. There are a number....and I will name a few ( keywords or buzzwords as you will call it ) :

technology, unarticulated, unsatisfied needs, lifelong learning, mobility, choices, bandwidth-on-demand, outside-inside, open-source codes, buzz, talent, the(mis)behaviour of markets, randomness.

We apply a simple test: When one makes a purchase, and is not satisfied with the purchase how does one expect the store to response? And what is the typical response of the store's representative? Sometimes lame excuses, stonewalling, perhaps less ( much less ) frequently would you think they deserve an accolade. Maybe most of us get miffed, and without a choice, we move on. What we experienced first as a customer is the symptom e.g. indifferent service. The root cause ( e.g. poor strategy selection, lack of core competencies ) is at a higher level. So it is better to go to the root and fix it. The consequences are fairly obvious.

Just take a winning business model, and you may notice how responsive is the customer service. Prompt response makes good marketing sense. Each and every customer is your maven, and maven has influence beyond his personal attributes. Leverage this to your advantage and not to your disadvantage.

Strategy Roadmap - Time Trial and Pit Stop

2005-06-02T17:29:00.000+08:00

At this stage, we cannot over emphasis the importance of our ACE philosophy - articulate, communicate and execute. At the pitstop, we reviewed our result for the time trial and believed we have the momentum and should set the pace one notch higher.

So the broadsheet provides an indication as to how we should attack the next stage. The focus will be on balanced approach i.e. for the rest of the team to catch up and at the same time to maintain the overall pace. We must always maintain our shape moving forward. Time management is key to our success and we therefore need to priortise our tasks. Targets have been set and we hope to complete the next time trial within 3-5 days. We can seek inspiration from US Post.

Human Resource and Learning Development

2005-06-01T17:27:00.000+08:00

While it is vital to focus on strategic issues, we have to eyeball on execution capabilities. In this connection, we are pleased to launch the Human Resource Development and Learning Development chapters, where we hope to interact seamlessly with our strategic collaborators in order to deal with complex issues within a dynamic environment. We can do with all the help we can get.

Although we have a clear vision, to be honest, we do not know where we are heading for as we are into uncharted waters. We have to trust our "seamanship" skills to navigate safely through the blue ocean. Bon voyage!

Health and Wellness

2005-05-31T09:29:00.000+08:00

From time to time, we will like to take stock of where we are heading. We have launched our Health and Wellness program.

This chapter serves to highlight issues that are important but somehow not in our priority list. We get lost in the worklife jungle without the benefit of guidance from a wise hand. By including this chapter along with others, we believe the juxtaposition will work its magic.

We work in our own little compartments, failing to realise that our neighbours may have the skills and the willingness to help. That is what comparative advantage is all about. But we opt for shortcuts unthinkingly, and scrimp on costs in order to compete on pricing.

Well, there is a saying... "low price is a great way to sell a commodity. That’s not marketing, though, that’s efficiency". Efficiency is leading us to a cul-de-sac. By sharing, collaborating, extremely counter-intuitive, we open windows to creative ideas, and value added opportunities.
In the midst of a project, we cannot agree, we run astray, we are angry, ....... we are everything, everywhere but here .......... and then we cramp back. All very natural, and creativity is stifled!

This is it! We have the opportunity right before us, and we should seize it. Health and Wellness can play a role in articulating, communicating our psychological, social and physical make-up. We can find solutions to age-old problems, and churn out remarkable value added products. Products that are remarkable get talked about and we head for tipping point.

Let's hope we get it.
Dude

Helping Professionals Create Value

2005-05-28T09:56:00.000+08:00

Deep in our heart, we are passionate, and are encouraged to continue providing deep insights that will help professionals create value. Quality work will always find a place under the sun. And marketing should be breeze. Feel free to contact us if we could be of help