Tag: World Economic Forum

Xerox, Yahoo and Google

With the exception of Yahoo, we can pretty much use the other two as verbs i.e. to Xerox s/t or to Google it.

When your company is a household “action” verb, you have it made.

Yahoo got a head start, with strong brand recognition.

But it flounders (even MySpace, as cool as it once was, couldn’t escape this mayhem).

AOL, Yahoo and MySpace belong to Web 1.0 era, the Valley’s equivalent of Big Band music.

We are commemorating the 10th anniversary of 9/11.

And candidates from both parties are now running for 2012.

Get a move on.

Don’t believe me? just Google it.

The speed of data processing and forced “choice architecture” results in shorter attention span.

We can’t recall but the top 3 (Incidentally,  World Economic Forum ranked the US as number 5 this year, after Switzerland, Singapore and Sweden).

Here in the US, we can’t even use the old Avis motto (We’re number 2, we work harder).

What belong to the previous decade stays with the previous decade.

No one could predict the rise of Singapore back in 1967 (or China in 1978).

In fact, much of the criticism was about its attempt at social engineering (match making its college educated).

Now, it’s number 2 and keeps working harder.

If I were to draft US policies, I would Xerox its road map, after Googling it.

This tiny country in Asia miraculously catapults into the big league.

If you understood how culturally advanced Sweden was, you would be able to appreciate the enormity of Singapore accomplishment.

Its secret sauce, turns out to be a right mix of social control and laissez faire .

Throw in a strong-handed leadership doesn’t hurt (remember Clinton had to plead so the gum-thrashing kid wouldn’t get spanked).

I wonder any of the folks who were on TV last night, purported to hold a recipe for recovery,

had ever set foot on this tiny island called “Sing” (short for Singapore)

or known precisely where it was.

Thank God for Google Map. Now, xerox it.

Self-monitoring Vietnam

Two articles on Bloomberg Business Week.

One on Clicking with co-workers (productivity increase) and the other, Vietnam is finally ready for foreign investment ( with a question mark at the end).

The former article is based on a study that people who work and play together make a great team.

The other, since its neighbors Thailand and China are facing internal pressures (upheaval and worker strike) Vietnam might emerge as a strong off-shored contender. (As of this edit, BW has an article on Vietnam’s emerging role in Regional Security, with Mr Hagel meeting with Vietnamese counterpart in Brunei).

Huge hotel infrastructures have been up, but cautiously, taken a lesson from China’s building burst.

Meanwhile, Utah just put a man down via firing squad, a century old practice which has just been banned in Vietnam.

How is that for Amnesty International observers? Be fair and be balanced.

Have you read Banners from Heaven, a tale of struggle and murder in Utah?

There are Evil everywhere, even in the self-professed  civilized society ( And conversely, there is kindness in the most unlikely place.)

Back to our Bloomberg articles.

The clicking which results in team synergy came from self-monitoring (social intelligence).

And Vietnam, to build critical mass in global integration, will need a dose of self-monitoring as well.

By installing VINASAT 2, it will soon be able to see things from outer space.

And this GPS view will help it to see its geo-economic position against its neighbors: Thailand to the left and China to the North.

BBC did an interview about the subject just last week at the World Economic Forum i.e. China + 1. And Cisco signed a deal to build Smart buildings.

It’s not good enough these days to build world tallest hotels. Our expectations have increased : we need not only sky view, but also broadband access.

The rich want to be connected (it’s lonely at the top). And Vietnam, wanting to “click” with ROW, will need to accommodate those wishes, among them, high-speed rail and mail. The list of unintended consequences just gets longer each day. And that’s the price of growing pain. Instead, it is considering blocking off Skype and Viper, disruptive services which eat up the shares of state-owned shares. All the energies devoted to catching the “bad” guys could be channeled to “creative destruction”. It’s not too far-fetched to see Vietnam young come up with another Yahoo or Skype itself. Just a matter of time.

Work in team and play in team. It’s best that way!

 

Sustainable Vietnam

The leadership of World Economic Forum met in Vietnam a few years back.

Concerned parties already discussed Green Vietnam.

http://www.good.is/post/how-vietnam-is-going-green/

These days, if you are late into the Industrial game, at least you can leap-frog in thought leadership and learned from others’ mistakes (China is overtaking Japan as number 2 economy, but it faces Hon Hai‘s workers’ suicides among other things).

China and India got a head start in development, but as the Olympics in Beijing went underway- with pollution – everybody realized that you can’t have a strong eco-nomy without a healthy eco-sphere.

Vietnam could use bamboo as a symbol of sustained economic development.

The plant is sturdy although not strong as an oak.

And it’s green. Soothing and self-sustaining.

I have been to Ha Long Bay, Nha Trang, Mui Ne, Vung Tau, Da Lat and Mekong Delta.

What I saw was lush green (although hot).

And I kept thinking of my mom who used to save paper.

People in Vietnam and Thailand use green leaves to wrap sticky rice.

Everything is recycled. And mother Nature is truly respected in this animistic-turns-materialistic culture.

Eco-tourism should be factored in to balance out luxury tourism (high-culture French cuisine? Ou est Catharine Deneuvre?)

A blessing in disguise, Vietnam’s weakness (slow development) might be used as its strength (eco-tourism spin).

Besides, it could boast 5th place in the SEA happiness index (just like Costa Rica of the South America hemisphere).

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/travel/news/article.cfm?c_id=7&objectid=10650464

Recently discovered world’s largest cave has been a lure. These kinds of attraction can differentiate Vietnam from its neighboring Thailand and Cambodia. Or else, it’s a lonely planet for those “Me too” destinations Westerners can’t tell one from the other.