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	Monday, June 27, 2005

This is my Turf!  (on business) I stumbled on this site, called Mini-Microsoft, which the author is fervently working to give comments on how to make Microsoft lean  and mean.  Based on his writings, it seems he yearns the days when Microsoft was still growing, and there was still less bureaucracy.  At any rate, one of his excellent posts was a review on Bob Herbold's ( he was the chief operating officer of Microsoft in the 90s) new book , The Fiefdom Syndrome. Based on what it says, I think this is a worthwhile book.  I deal with a lot of companies, many of them multi-nationals, and I do find that before long, there are groups that establish their own turfs, and success would have been better if they cooperate or talk to each other more often. The site also called attention to page 82 of Herbold's book which he says, " "If you leave people in the same job for too long and allow them to become too comfortable, without encouraging them to grow and learn, they lose the capability to renew themselves and think about alternative ways to get the work done. They become a liability for the company rather than an asset."  Which I wholly agree. As you grow your business, don't stifle progress by creating issues where people will be more rewarded to continue old ways and process to justify their ranks. These groups are especially prone to sticking with methods that require lots of process intensive labor, vs. switching to new or disruptive approaches that promise to save time, money, and require less people.   5:04:41 PM     comment []   trackback []

	Sunday, June 19, 2005

Happy Father's Day    (on business)   As a businessman, and at the technology arena at that, it has always been a hypercompetitive industry.  You need speed, and moreover, creativity and innovation. I have always prized those who use imagination to stand out of the crowd.... On this day when we celebrate Happy Father's Day, the advertisement of Durex Condoms stands out as one that is particularly innovative.  I have seen other blogs carry it, and numerous emails and text messages that commented on it, and thus, with imagination, they were able to get the best bang out of their marketing and advertising dollars. Simple, direct to the point, delivers the punch, creates buzz.  What an ad in today's information overloaded society should ideally be.   12:12:24 PM     comment []   trackback []

	Saturday, June 18, 2005

Getting the Boss to Support You  (on business) If you feel your boss is not supportive of your thrusts, maybe it is because you are selling it to him the wrong way.  Here is an excellent article on how you can get your boss to be your best supporter.   4:15:36 PM     comment []   trackback []

	Monday, June 13, 2005

Encouraging People NOT to Save  (on business) As you might have known, I have always advocated frugality as an essential virtue, both for the achievement of family bliss by reducing your worries.  As you might have noted, I have always been wary that increased material consumption can really go a long way towards making a person really happier.  On a national scale or in the world of macroeconomics, however, the mechanics are different -- a certain amount of consumption is necessary for economies to grow.  It is no secret that fueling the material prosperity worldwide has been the Americans' propensity to spend too much... Currently, the simple blueprint, they say, to achieving a better world economic order is three way -- Americans should save more, Europeans should work harder, and Asians should spend more. The truth is Asians are spending more  Household savings in Korea has dropped from 25% in 1988 to only about 6.1 percent of today.  Japan, famous for saving, has dropped from over  12 percent in 1995 to a little over 5 percent today.  Both countries have lower household savings now than Germans ( still around 12 percent), but higher than Americans ( at 2 percent).  China's is still higher at 18 to 24 percent, though lower already than 10 years ago. Definitely, Asians are spending more, and there are implications on the national, as well as on the business level.  Newsweek's article 'Frugal is So Over' provides more details...   11:36:33 AM     comment []   trackback []

CEO Blogs   (on business) Last year, Bill Gates in the Microsoft CEO Summit made it a key messages on Why CEOs should blog  ( here is the full speech text).   Here is a rejoinder on a comment on why until now, CEOs still don't blog.   The debate on how blogs matter and don't matter continues.  Meantime, here is a list ( growing fast) on the CEOs that DO blog.  Check out the list, and if you may want to be included in the list.   9:44:22 AM     comment []   trackback []

	Sunday, June 12, 2005

Five Ways Internet Changed Small Businesses  (on business) Small Business Trends, a blog about the global small business market, comments on the article of My Magazine, which talks about the top 5 ways Internet has changed small businesses. These 5 is summarized as follows: a.) Email.  It changed the way small businesses communicate. b.) Google.  It changed the way small businesses advertise. c.) Ebay.  It enabled small businesses to flourish by providing the means to buy and sell items. d.) Amazon.  It enabled small busineses to see the possibilities in E-commerce. e.) Online Networks.  These are online business and social networks like LinkedIn , or Friendster, which allows businesses to establish relationships and contacts. I do agree on all five points, and would add to the list.  I think more than email, there is also instant messaging, voice conferencing, and increasingly, voice over Internet that allows people to connect with people all around the world at much lower cost. Moreover, Google is a great resource for research over the internet and allows all of us to know better where to find information, whether it be for individual or business use. Then of course, there are online travel resources, and online banking,  and I hope, also blogs will forever change the way we communicate with our friends and customers...       6:08:40 PM     comment []   trackback []

	Friday, June 10, 2005

Solomonic Business Decisions Part 2  (on business) If you are an aspiring entrepreneur, try to read Seth Godins' The Bootstrapper's Bible.   It is an e-book available for free download at this address.  It is one of the most pratical guides on how to succeed in business as an entrepreneur. He shares many tips on building a business.  One of the great tips he shared which was particularly relevant was when two equal partners have a dispute, and since both have a 50% share ( which he does not recommend as a business model), would have a problem how to resolve the issue. He says that if you are equal partners, take particular care to put in your agreement a shotgun clause, which is simple, quick and fair.  What it means is that at any point, if there is a dispute, person A can go over to Person B and offers an amount to buy out Person B.  Person B then has a few days either to take the money or turn around and pay Person A exactly the amount proposed.  This model, a slight variation of the original decision handed by King Solomon, is also effective when my kids are arguing how to divide their toys, cards, or food.  I would ask one to divide it as equally as he can, and the other one to choose first which half he prefers. Here is another great parable which happened over 1,500 years ago in China.   During the Northern Song Dynasty ( 420-479 AD), two royal families were fighting because of the uneven distribution of the family wealth.  Each contended that he got less than half of what he deserved.  They went to seek arbitration with then prime Minister Zhang QiXian. The prime minister made them wrote out all the properties that they received, and to express their view in writing why they feel that it was less than half, and then to sign it as evidence. When both had written all the assets that he has received, the prime minister switched the list, and inform them to exchange all the assets with each other. The two families could not say anything and resolved the dispute because evidently they have expressed in writing that the other asset list was more than his share, and thus indeed, both have indeed up with more than half of their shares! Creative ways to solve disputes, and to engage business decisions is always encouraged!     6:31:45 PM     comment []   trackback []

	Wednesday, June 08, 2005

Cultivating a Culture of Business Achievement    (on business) General Electric is the world's most valuable company.  As a company with dozens of different kinds of businesses employing a couple of hundreds of thousands of people, it nevertheless maintains a nimbleness and aggressiveness rarely seen in most big companies. This, they say, is due to the culture of business achievement that is the hallmark of the company.  What it is focused in order to achieve its business goals is to make sure that executives drive the "right behavior"all across the company. It is so strong that executives know instantly that if they are handling a business that is not experiencing double-digit growth, then they won't feel good, and they get a sense that they're not doing it right.  It is said that the first few years of Jeff Immelt's reign after succeeding Jack Welch, he sold off over $20 billion worth of unwanted business, and bought another $60 billion worth -- with the overriding goal of getting rid of the wrong businesses , while focusing on retaining those with possible strong growth, and on the businesses that they possibly can dominate. Executives know that this strong cultural ethos puts a lot of strain, and creates a lot of resentment, especially on those that doesn't fit in.  It also needs a lot of training and development.  It is so strong, that it is even said that it transcends national culture -- and that whether you go into a GE company that is in the plastics business in Tokyo, or one in medical field in midwestern United States, you can see that foremost, it has the same performance-driven culture, and you see people that "is full of energy, people that focuses on running faster than those ahead of them". According to one executive, you think of a company who wants to win, and who all have the same passion to do what it takes to be successful, and multiply that by a hundred thousand, and that is the power of GE.   10:09:02 AM     comment []   trackback []