Reflections of a Business-Driven Life
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Wednesday, March 30, 2005 |
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Faster Surfing and Searching (techdrivenlife)
If you are a frequent surfer who spend a lot of time in Yahoo or Google Search or in Ebay, there is a free plug-in for Microsoft’s Internet Explorer that just might be interesting to you. It is called browster, and is based on a web page retrieval technology which they have named as “LookAhead”. This add-on automatically prefetches links, and when you are displaying your search results, you will see a small icon in which if you put your mouse over it, it will show you the screen of that link. This provides the user a faster way to view the webpage they are looking for without having to click on each search result. According to their press release, this will help cut down the time to go through search results by as much as 50%. It is currently on beta now, but can be downloaded for free at www.browster.com. How do they make money? IN the preview screen that you will see when you are doing the mouseover, you will see on one part of the screen some advertisements. This is thus almost similar to the adwords search of google. 12:52:59 PM  comment [] trackback []
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Monday, March 28, 2005 |
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Top companies in China, Japan, India , and US ( on business) There has been a lot of interest that the 21st Century would be the Asian century. How do the top Asian economies fare. Here is a comparison of how the top 10 companies of each country fare against the top of the US. All figures are the sales in US dollars, and the percentage is how that company compares to the US company in the same rank. Sources are Yazhou Zhokan Dec 5 2004 issue and Fortune April 5 2004 issue). The percentage after the country is how the top 10 companies in that economy ranked vs. the US top 10. This is just for curiosity only, and does not meant to prove anything. China , 15.9% 1. State Grid Corporation of China, 58.3 billion, 22.5% 2. China Petroleum and Chemical 53.5 billion, 25.09% 3. Petrochina 36.688 billion, 18.75% 4. China Mobile 19.155 billion, 11.65% 5. Sinochem 18.846 billion, 14.04% 6. China Telecom 14.3 billion, 12.66% 7. China Faw Group 13.768 billion, 13.84% 8. Cofco 13.29 billion, 14.03% 9. Shanghai Automotive 11.75 billion, 13.18% 10. Dongfeng Cars Company 10.8 billion, 13.28%
Japan , 66.76% 1. Toyota Motor Corp 149 billion, 57.6% 2. Mitsubhishi Corp. 130.9 billion, 61.4% 3. Mitsui & Co. 105.9 billion, 54.13% 4. Nippon Telegraph and Telephone 95.7 billion, 58.18% 5. Itochu Corporation 82 billion, 61.11% 6. Sumitomo Corp 79 billion, 69.95% 7. Hitachi Ltd., 74.46 billion, 74.86% 8. HOnda Motor 70.4 billion, 74.33% 9. Marubeni Corp. 68.19 billion, 76.51% 10. Sony Corporatio 64.66 billion, 79.53%
India, 5.32% 1. Indian Oil Corporation 24.828 billion,9.60% United States 1. Walmart Stores 259 billion 2. Exxon Mobil 213 billion 3. General Motors 196 billion 4. Ford Motors 164 billion 5. General Electric 134 billion 6. chevronTexaco 112.94 billion 7. Conocophillips, 99.468 billion 8. Citigroup, 94.713 billion 9. International Business Machines, 89.131 billion 10. American International Group, 81.3 billion 7:36:17 PM comment [] trackback []
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Saturday, March 19, 2005 |
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A Call to Entrepreneurship ( on business) The process of qualifying for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards 2004 was both ardous and challenging. It also made me know more people, and opened doors. The President of the Junior Achievement of the Philippines, a chapter of the worldwide JA organization, offered if I would accept the challenge to head a new chapter in our city, which I accepted. I also was the Guest speaker of their 36th Awards Night, for which I enclosed parts of my speech. Nurturing good entrepreneurs and businessmen are essential to economic growth especially in developing countries, and the way to learn it is through learning by doing, something JA has been doing worldwide. Here is part of my speech, " .... Unlike other entrepreneurs who quit their jobs to start their own business, I grew up with the thought inculcated to me daily that my father would turn over his business to me, eventually. Our family was of Chinese lineage, and the Chinese were of the belief that the way to prosperity was to own your business, however small. In fact, there is a Chinese proverb that says "it is better to be the head of a chicken than to be the tail of a bull, " and we absolutely believe and practiced it. While other friends dreamed of becoming lawyers and doctors, most of what I dreamed was what business I would own. I remember as early as 9 years old, I was already helping the business during vacations and after school. We had a small gasoline station, and I would fill automobiles myself, and receive the money. I would receive deliveries, and ocassionally, I would go with the driver to deliver goods. I would order supplies ocassionally, and I was also ask to collect receivables. I would fill up the deposit slip to deposit the cheques, and at the end of the month, I would take the challenge of balancing the bank statement. Ocassionally I would be the one to make statement of accounts. I remember my father would talk business in the meal table with my mom, and tell her about his frustrations, and what products sold and what products did not, and who were the bad customers. They would talk about how to price certain products, and what margins would be ideal. When we had business visitors, we would bring them to lunch or dinner together, and hear him work out the deals. By the time I was 21, I not only had a business management degree under my belt, but also over 10 years of hands on experience of all aspects of a business. I had always thought that this early training give me an edge over competitors, and in fact, I believe sincerely that this training give the Chinese an edge in many countries, and the main reason why the Chinese own so many businesses worldwide. No, they are not smarter. They just helped the family mind the business, and learn the ropes early. That is why you should be grateful for what you have learned from JA. You have learned from mentoring from advisers, but most of all, you have learned what it really is to manage your own business, and how to make it sustainable and profitable. You have learned production, and basic accounting, sourcing, costing, and marketing. No other training can give you a better grounding for your eventual entrepreneurship than a practical simulation of the challenges you will be facing -- in a controlled environment under the guidance of advisors. One of the best books you can read to learn about entrepreneurship is the E-Myth Revisited by Samuel Gerber. In that book, the author tried to air out a fallacy that many people believe when they go into business, which is that knowing the technical side of the business does not mean you know the business. I have talked to many people who believed that just because they know how to bake cakes, they can be in the baking business, that because they know how to cook, they can be in the catering or restaurant business, or just because they know how to write programs, they can be in the software business. Many people definitely would know how to make better tasting burgers than McDonalds, but that does NOT mean that they can be in the burger business. A business like McDonalds goes beyond just knowing how to make burgers. It includes many practical aspects in business like understanding customer segments, advertising, market positioning, branding, logistics, sourcing, operations, costing and many other skills. Many of these, especially in micro and small businesses are labelled everyday common sense and nothing insightful, yet these are the competitive edge that a business have, and it is precisely the lack of some simple practical sense that many entrepreneurs fail. I am in the computer business, but one of the great things I thanked was that I was a management graduate ( where I supposedly learn so many things that are just plain common sense -- and yes, a lot of things you will read me write about in this blog are also mostly common sense things). I compete with computer science graduates. I focus on making my business work, and making the technology work for my customer's business while they fall in love with their technology. Achievers, you have been through several months of managing and growing your mini-company. In the process, you have managed to learn the different parts of the business, and you have gained practical skills. You have not just gained common sense. YOu have gained the insight that will help you immensely the next time you looked into a business. Treasure it. Even if you eventually also become employed, it has already succeeded in giving you a better perspective on how a business works, and we hope this skill that you have learned in JA will be something that will help turn you into a successful person..." 8:19:09 PM comment [] trackback []
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Thursday, March 10, 2005 |
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Overqualifying and Overselling ( on business) I just came from a two day conference in which I noticed how hard people network and try to get people to notice their companies and their capabilities. It seems that we all are deathly afraid that we would pass through life without being noticed or appreciated. For instance, I have seen people who have spent hundreds of hours trying to sell their skills, which have hardly improved the last five years. I am thinking maybe they would be more successful if they have focused rather on improving that skill or product. If there is one thing that is true in the 21st century is that communication barriers are so down that it is hardly almost impossible that a good man, or a good story/product will ever stay unnoticed - at least for long with reasonable amount of marketing. Indeed I know dozens of people who had the opportunity, but whose execution skills fall short to capitalize on opportunities. On the other hand, I can't recall that there ever was a good man with real skills that really stood out who stayed undiscovered and unrewarded for long. Of course, hands will raise up and says, you didn't know me. But then we overrate ourselves, and maybe, just maybe we have to tell ourselves that we may not be as good as we think ourselves to be. After all, in one survey, Over 77 percent of people rated themselves above average on a skill, when technically only 50 percent would qualify so. Conceit is thinking we are good and others bad. Confidence is knowing we are good, but we can be better. There is no such thing as too good or too qualified, or learning too much. Spend time to overqualify and then sell, rather than oversell an averaged skill or product. 8:05:25 PM comment [] trackback []
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Tuesday, March 08, 2005 |
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Eight Steps towards a More Satisfying Life ( on life) Since the piece on Being Happy received such good response, I am going back to the same Time Magazine issue ( Feb 28,2005) for practical suggestions from University of California psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky on what to do to have a more satisfying life. 1. Count your blessings. Write down once a week three to five things for which you are thankful. 2. Practice acts of kindness to both friends or strangers that makes you feel generous and capable, and gives you a greater sense of connection with others. 3. Savor life's joys. Pay close attention to momentary pleasures and wonders. 4. Thank a mentor. Express appreciation to that someone who guide you at life's crossroads. 5. Learn to forgive. Let go of anger and resentment to the person who has hurt or wronged you. That bolsters positive feelings about your past and gives you peace of mind. 6. Invest time and energy in friends and family. Strong personal relationships have the biggest effect with your satisfaction in life. 7. Take care of your body. Get plenty of sleep and exercise. 8. Develop strategies for coping with stress and hardships. There is no avoiding hard times. Religious faith can help you cope. 8:08:04 PM comment [] trackback []
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Saturday, March 05, 2005 |
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Being Happy ( on life) Time Magazine had a great article ( it was in the cover Feb 28, 2005) about happiness. Here are some takes that I find relevant. -The lack of money will make you unhappy but more money after a certain point will not make you happier. Pretty obvious, but based on what everybody is doing, this is one of the least acknowledged universal truths in Practical Wisdom! -Higher Education or Higher IQ will not make you happier. Oh Oh. I guess the more you know, the more you want, the more you envy. Now it must be that people trying to be more learned must be doing it the wrong way or for the wrong reasons. Hey, all you erudite savants, what are we trying to attain from our scholarly pursuits if not happiness? Isn't more learning supposed to allow us to appreciate more, and be more satisfied with life? Can we do a better job on this, or at least on convincing these doubters? Maybe after so much education, we are convinced that we cannot be happy unless we are successful. Why not think that we cannot be successful unless we are happy? -Being young does not make you happier. Huh? It seems people from 65 to 74 are happier than people from 20 to 24, and also less prone to dark moods. Those people who have aged must have known that 90% of their life's worries never did come true ... and oh, many of them must have thought -- if I only made an earlier decision to be happy........ Well, it is never too late to be happy. -Watching more TV makes you less happier. Or maybe I think, happy people watch less TV. Gosh! I hope my kids are not THAT unhappy... -Married People are happier than Singles. Or rather, happier people have more inclination to get married? Here are definitely the things that shows statistically make people happy: - Strong Religious faith definitely lifts the spirit. - Friends and Family. And a commitment to share and enjoy with them. - Blogging! No, really, I made this one up. Though my blogging here and sharing ideas have definitely contributed to MY fulfillment. Here is also something significant: Happiness has three components: pleasure, engagement (depth of involvement with one's family, work, romance and hobbies), and meaning (using your personal strengths to serve some larger end). Of those three, pleasure is the least consequential, and people who build their lives around pursuing pleasure may not generally end up satisfied with their lives. I am pleased to be one of the people who will continue to preach engagement and meaning as ways to win in business and in life! One last bit: A study from University of Minnesota under David Lykken in 1996 found that 50 percent of life's satisfaction comes from genetic programming ( which influence such traits as having a sunny easygoing personality, dealing well with stress, or feeling low levels of anxiety and depression ), and only 8 percent comes from circumstantial factors like income, marital status, religion and education. Conclusion: There is nothing more important that will make you happier than your own determination to be happy. It is within us to change our levels of happiness. It is not inevitable or your destiny to be unhappy. 2:27:26 PM comment [] trackback []
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Wednesday, March 02, 2005 |
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Taking Oneself Too Seriously ( on life ) I got a comment that I was beginning to sound like a boring douche, and it validated something that I was starting to feel myself. I am taking my mission of sharing what I learned about life and business seriously, either through public speaking, writing and blogging, but it is not a license for me to take myself too seriously, which is what a bore does. If I want people to read what I write, then I should talk about what interests them, not continue incessantly on what only interests me. I have no problem when people agree or disagree with me passionately, but the last thing I want is to be a bore... It is possible to tackle a serious topic lightheartedly, and in fact, it may even be possible to make it more memorable by doing it with some amount of humor and spirit of fun. Maybe I need to know how to poke fun on myself at times... Thanks for the wake up call, and to all of you, please do let me hear about what you think, and what you would like me to cover. 5:16:44 PM comment [] trackback []
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Last update: 7/5/2005; 5:24:14 PM .
