Thang Nguyen 555

Cultures on Collision Course

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With some short-term relief work in Asia/Africa and long stint in Telecom, Thang also earned a B.A. at Pennsylvania State University. M.A. in Communication at Wheaton Graduate School, M.A. in Cross-Cultural Communication at Gordon-Conwell Seminary, Boston. In addition, he earned a CELTA – classes taken in Hanoi for cultural re-immersion.

Tag: Starbucks

  • Mac Miracle

    My friend kept listening to Roger Waters‘ It’s a Miracle, whose lyric includes “they’ve got MacDonald in Tibet“. Now, they’ve got MacDonald in Vietnam. More miracle! Thomas Friedman put a spin on an old geo-political theory, which states that any two countries, with a MacDonald, are least likely to engage in an arm conflict. In…

  • Continuous Improvement

    Before Telecommuting and Online Retailing,  we got Management by Walking Around . Then the gurus told us to “re-engineer” the corporation (Japanese influence). Then, Toyota was on the roll with Continuous Improvement (Al Gore was buying into this when trying to re-invent the US Government). True to its form, Toyota continuously improves its R&D, from EV racing…

  • Value Added

    JC Penney “sales managers” are told to pack up, and get back in line to apply for their direct reports’ jobs. Yahoo people back to the office. And Best Buy mobile Geek Squad are told to park out back and get in the office as well. Big-box retailers are suffering and pinching pennies. The flip…

  • New Context New Narrative

    When Starbucks opened its first store in Saigon, it must have been a big blast. Centrally located, visibly in-your-face, upscale e.g. wifi and air-conditioned. Early stage. When I had my cup of Starbucks, like this morning, in a Virginian Mall, there was no fanfare, no fuss. Late stage. Same store and story (pour your heart into…

  • Go a bit more native

    In 2000, after 25 years of being away, I made a short trip back to Vietnam. What a culture shock (especially when I landed in Hanoi, where I had only heard about). Twelve years. A dozen trips later. A little deeper into the alleys and byways. I think I have touched on different parts of the proverbial…

  • Retreat, retrench and return

    40 years on since the last US combat boots pulled out of Vietnam. Today, Starbucks lady returns, luring passer-by amidst the town square. Senator Kerry is getting his confirmation while a 40-year-old Vietnamese couldn’t tell an American from a Russian. Vietnam is just a name, like Iraq will be 4 decades from now. Vietnam today has Vespas…

  • Clearing the deck

    In about ten days, the world will see an exodus of millions. Chinese New Year. Workers and students on The Last Train Home. First day of the New Year (Snake) will be dedicated to ancestors e.g. visiting their graves or wherever the family altar happens to be. From then on, neighbors visiting neighbors, catching up on…

  • The things they still carry

    The war novel with similar title was surprisingly good. I have known about it for a while, but couldn’t get myself to “carry” it home. Until now. Until it’s translated into Vietnamese. It’s the opposite of reading Bao Ninh‘s The Sorrows of War in English. Both novels had the same setting, same period, same conflict, same ending…

  • Saigon vs Little Saigon

    Burger King near the heart of Little Saigon, Westminster, CA is now closed. Burger King at Tan Son Nhut Airport is now opened. Just one of the many striking contrasts e.g. scooters vs wheels nation. Skin coffee vs alley coffee, homeless folks vs lottery-ticket sellers. On and on. People in Saigon have a vague notion of…

  • Mountains and mole hills

    It’s not that safe at Safeway, if you decided to munch on one of their merchandise (eat-now, pay-later vs pay-now, eat-later), as one pregnant Honolulu tourist found out. http://news.yahoo.com/pregnant-mom-says-sandwich-arrest-horrifying-214407004.html We learned in this AP article that no one stopped to say,” this has been taken far enough” i.e. we have made mountains out of mole hills.…