Thang Nguyen 555
Cultures on Collision Course
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Tag: Australia
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We are not invited into this dysfunctional family of three generations, all 750 pages of it. Crime fiction, social commentary and extremely hilarious saga. I stayed up late last night for its racing conclusion. A year and a half ago, I read Freedom by Franzen. As engrossing as Fraction of a Whole. This family questioned everything, but centrally,…
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It’s like Who is on First, or the Who. It’s you who is the Who. You need to get the bugs out to uncover the better version of yourself. Everything up to this point is payload: family advices (ill or good-will), the institutions (and college loan) and work places. Some of us found out the…
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Here at UVT, students wear chef uniforms to school. Dressed up for the part. They are to finish their last leg in Hospitality and Tourism at one of the Australian Universities. Humble dreams, yet tangible outcomes. I respect young people who knew what they want to be when they grow up/old. At their age, my family…
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The audience sang along, occasionally to the shared mike. We will we will rock you. Tonight gonna be a good good night. Even Top of the World which was a relic from the 70’s. A night at Acoustic, Saigon. A night to release the stress. A night to see Rock rules in a whole new generation. The…
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I jumped on the divan and sat in the middle of it, as far away from the rising water as possible. For a 3 year-old, the sight of water everywhere must be frightening. Water like what was brought in yesterday by the storm. Saigon was hit direct. Trees toppled and treasure lost. The French architect planned…
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Organizations go through many life cycles before winding down, or absorbed in a M&A. Here in Vietnam, fluidity is the word that describes the dynamics of organization. Like organism that evolves with its environment, organization here often bends and changes beyond recognition. We know the solution is embedded in the problem. Yet we need to…
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The phenomenon known as Middle-Income Trap is alive and well in SouthEast Asia. Not all boats rise with the water. Contentment sets in and gets in the way of progress. Countries like the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia are in this trap. From a global perspective, they could do better if getting over the hump. Yet…
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Crunch time in Ho chi Minh City. A nuisance for many yet a photo-op for tourists. Millions in ponchos, helmets, dust masks, sunglasses fighting for every inch (centimeter here) to get home in the pouring rain, while tourists leisurely strolled the colonial side walks in shorts, sandals and Sony cameras trying to record their trips.…
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Each represents a distribution venue in various era. Now, the man behind “As Seen On TV” wants to do away with call center altogether. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/30/business/media/30adco.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&hpw=&adxnnlx=1309474819-WalLu/L4Q4AdzzCWZqpw4g Essentially, he just keeps the container, while relying on the “cloud” and the credit card to elicit impulse buying. Welcome to the future, where pundits who blamed off-shored call centers…
Thang Nguyen 555 