In the most important, most revered event since the invention of the brontosaurus trap,Microsoft shipped the most incredibly fabulous operating system ever made; the release of Windows 7 also spurred a new generation of personal computers of all sizes at prices well below last month's offers.The top reason Windows 7 does not suck: There is no registered website called Windows7Sucks.com
Kindle e-book reader maker Amazon.com and new Nook e-book reader vendor Barnes and Noble got it on; B&N got great reviews for the "Kindle killer"Nook, with dual screens and touch controls so you can "turn" pages, plays MP3s and allows many non-B&N book formats, although not the Kindle one;Amazon then killed the US version of its Kindle in favour of the international one, reduced its price to $260(8,700 baht), same as the Nook; it's not yet clear what you can get in Thailand with a Nook, but you sure can't (yet) get much, relatively speaking, with a Kindle;but here's the biggest difference so far,which Amazon.com has ignored: the Nook lets you lend e-books to any other Nook owner, just as if they were paper books; the borrowed books expire on the borrower's Nook in two weeks.
Phone maker Nokia of Finland announced it is suing iPhone maker Apple of America for being a copycat; lawyers said they figure Nokia can get at least one, probably two per cent (retail) for every iPhone sold by Steve "President for Life" Jobs and crew via the lawsuit,which sure beats working for it -$6 (200 baht) to $12(400 baht) on 30 million phones sold so far, works out to $400 million or 25 percent of the whole Apple empire profits during the last quarter;there were 10 patent thefts, the Finnish executives said, on everything from moving data to security and encryption.
Nokia of Finland announced that it is one month behind on shipping its new flagship N900 phone, the first to run on Linux software; delay of the $750(25,000 baht) phone had absolutely no part in making Nokia so short that it had to sue Apple, slap yourself for such a thought.
Tim Berners-Lee, who created the World Wide Web, said he had one regret:the double slash that follows the "http:"in standard web addresses; he estimated that 14.2 gazillion users have wasted 48.72 bazillion hours typing those two keystrokes, and he's sorry; of course there's no reason to ever type that, since your browser does it for you when you type "www.bangkokpost.com" but Tim needs to admit he made one error in his lifetime.
The International Telecommunication Union of the United Nations, which doesn't sell any phones or services, announced that there should be a mobile phone charger that will work with any phone; now who would ever have thought of that, without a UN body to wind up a major study on the subject?;the GSM Association estimates that 51,000 tonnes of chargers are made each year in order to keep companies able to have their own unique ones.
The Well, Doh Award of the Week was presented at arm's length to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development; the group's deputy secretary-general Petko Draganov said that developing countries will miss some of the stuff available on the Internet if they don't install more broadband infrastructure; a report that used your tax baht to compile said that quite a few people use mobile phones but companies are more likely to invest in countries with excellent broadband connections; no one ever had thought of this before, right?
Sun Microsystems , as a result of the Oracle takeover, said it will allow 3,000 current workers never to bother coming to work again; Sun referred to the losses as "jobs," not people; now the fourth largest server maker in the world, Sun said it lost $2.2 billion in its last fiscal year; European regulators are holding up approval of the Oracle purchase in the hope of getting some money in exchange for not involving Oracle in court cases.
The multi-gazillionaire and very annoying investor Carl Icahn resigned from the board at Yahoo ; he spun it as a vote of confidence, saying current directors are taking the formerly threatened company seriously; Yahoo reported increased profits but smaller revenues in the third quarter.
The US House of Representatives voted to censure Vietnam for jailing bloggers; the non-binding resolution sponsored by southern California congresswoman Loretta Sanchez said the Internet is "a crucial tool for the citizens of Vietnam to be able to exercise their freedom of expression and association;"Hanoi has recently jailed at least nine activists for up to six years apiece for holding pro-democracy banners. Iran jailed blogger Hossein "Hoder" Derakshan for 10 months - in solitary confinement.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
NEW PROJECTS UP FOR DELIBERATION
Another batch of projects worth Bt240 billion will be submitted for Cabinet approval today amid new reports of graft involving the government's second stimulus package.
Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij yesterday said he would today propose the Cabinet expand the second stimulus package from Bt1.06 trillion approved earlier to about Bt1.3 trillion, to be implemented over three years.
The ministry will also ask the Cabinet to increase investment projects under an emergency borrowing fund by more Bt50 billion, leading to planned total spending next year of up to Bt350 billion, he said.
An improvement in government revenue in recent months leaves more money available for investment, he said.
The ministry plans to disburse the first tranche of funds for at least 85 per cent of the projects, he said.
New projects ecpected to be included in today's proposal are the Bt40 billion farm price-guarantee scheme, Bt23 billion supplementary budget to support local governments and Bt3 billion housing fund know as Baan Mankhong for people living in slums.
The projects under Thai Khemakhaeng already approved by the Cabinet worth Bt200 billion would be implemented during this and next year, he said.
In response to complaints about corruption, the ministry has opened a website at www.tkk2555.com to reveal details of all projects to the public. People can also report irregularities in the investment projects via publicwatch@tkk2555.com.
Korn yesterday met with senior officials to discuss the transparency of the public investment projects.
The next phase of investment will focus on economic restructuring. The bill to finance it with Bt400 billion loans is in Parliament.
The next phase will be put into rail projects to improve the logistics system, aimed at lowering logistics costs from 20 per cent of gross domestic product to about 15 per cent.
The ministry will soon ask the Cabinet to consider another package to develop the capital market, which includes tax incentives, Korn added.
Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij yesterday said he would today propose the Cabinet expand the second stimulus package from Bt1.06 trillion approved earlier to about Bt1.3 trillion, to be implemented over three years.
The ministry will also ask the Cabinet to increase investment projects under an emergency borrowing fund by more Bt50 billion, leading to planned total spending next year of up to Bt350 billion, he said.
An improvement in government revenue in recent months leaves more money available for investment, he said.
The ministry plans to disburse the first tranche of funds for at least 85 per cent of the projects, he said.
New projects ecpected to be included in today's proposal are the Bt40 billion farm price-guarantee scheme, Bt23 billion supplementary budget to support local governments and Bt3 billion housing fund know as Baan Mankhong for people living in slums.
The projects under Thai Khemakhaeng already approved by the Cabinet worth Bt200 billion would be implemented during this and next year, he said.
In response to complaints about corruption, the ministry has opened a website at www.tkk2555.com to reveal details of all projects to the public. People can also report irregularities in the investment projects via publicwatch@tkk2555.com.
Korn yesterday met with senior officials to discuss the transparency of the public investment projects.
The next phase of investment will focus on economic restructuring. The bill to finance it with Bt400 billion loans is in Parliament.
The next phase will be put into rail projects to improve the logistics system, aimed at lowering logistics costs from 20 per cent of gross domestic product to about 15 per cent.
The ministry will soon ask the Cabinet to consider another package to develop the capital market, which includes tax incentives, Korn added.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Time for decisiveness on logistics
If Thailand wants to achieve its hope of becoming the logistics centre for Southeast Asia, the government must act decisively and rapidly to develop the infrastructure for logistics, said former finance minister M.R. Pridiyathorn Devakula.
M.R. Pridiyathorn, also a former Bank of Thailand governor, wants to establish a decision-making body to develop local infrastructure and industrial sector competitiveness.
"The country's economic competitiveness relies very much on logistics costs. The government already knows what to do but the decision makers are still very slow to do anything," he said.
He made the comments at a seminar called "Logistics Asia 2009: Repositioning Thailand in the Global Value Chain",organised by the Thailand Management Association (TMA) in collaboration with the Thai Chamber of Commerce (TCC)and the Transport Institute of Chulalongkorn University to discuss the future direction of local logistics development.
M.R. Pridiyathorn said the economic crisis shifted the world's economic growth engine to Asia. That could translate into brisk trading traffic in the region.
To accommodate this change, logistics cost reduction would promote Thailand as a logistics hub to serve this upsurge in goods transport.
"Cheaper cost will support local in-dustrial competitiveness and attract more foreign investment to the country,"M.R. Pridiyathorn said.
"There are lots of projects that are in different stages - some are already planned and ready to be implemented - but what is needed is a decisionmaker who has the guts to make a decision."
The country's logistics system relies on road for over 80% of traffic, with 2%marine transport and the rest through rail. But road transport is the most expensive and fuel-thirsty, so Thailand needs to develop other modes, he said.
The first step is developing sea transport as it is the easiest and can be done by private sector investment.
"Two important port routes are those linking Laem Chabang and Bangkok to the South. For rail, more dual-track routes are needed while a rail extension to link Thailand with southern China would also improve our trade with the giant economy," he said.
Extension of airport facilities to accommodate more human traffic and cargo also needs to go ahead.
"A more open-eyed approach at how Thailand would play as a regional logistics centre also needs to be considered,"said M.R. Pridiyathorn.
"We need a tool to link the east and west, linking the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea through a landbridge.Once accomplished, crude transport from the Middle East to Korea and China will be able to go through this route.This will allow us to be a regional transport route in Asia."
He added that infrastructure such as a landbridge and the long-delayed Southern Seaboard would also be crucial in accommodating more investment in petroleum and related sectors such as petrochemicals.
"Establishing the link would also open our export routes to Africa and the Middle East, which are growing markets.China would also be interested in using this route to provide to emerging markets," he said.
He also criticised the government for paying too little attention to economic issues, adding that the Map Ta Phut court order that halted 76 projects was the result of indecisive action to tackle pollution problems by past governments.
"The government must take the case as a lesson for future infrastructure development and also to win back investment," said M.R. Pridiyathorn.
M.R. Pridiyathorn, also a former Bank of Thailand governor, wants to establish a decision-making body to develop local infrastructure and industrial sector competitiveness.
"The country's economic competitiveness relies very much on logistics costs. The government already knows what to do but the decision makers are still very slow to do anything," he said.
He made the comments at a seminar called "Logistics Asia 2009: Repositioning Thailand in the Global Value Chain",organised by the Thailand Management Association (TMA) in collaboration with the Thai Chamber of Commerce (TCC)and the Transport Institute of Chulalongkorn University to discuss the future direction of local logistics development.
M.R. Pridiyathorn said the economic crisis shifted the world's economic growth engine to Asia. That could translate into brisk trading traffic in the region.
To accommodate this change, logistics cost reduction would promote Thailand as a logistics hub to serve this upsurge in goods transport.
"Cheaper cost will support local in-dustrial competitiveness and attract more foreign investment to the country,"M.R. Pridiyathorn said.
"There are lots of projects that are in different stages - some are already planned and ready to be implemented - but what is needed is a decisionmaker who has the guts to make a decision."
The country's logistics system relies on road for over 80% of traffic, with 2%marine transport and the rest through rail. But road transport is the most expensive and fuel-thirsty, so Thailand needs to develop other modes, he said.
The first step is developing sea transport as it is the easiest and can be done by private sector investment.
"Two important port routes are those linking Laem Chabang and Bangkok to the South. For rail, more dual-track routes are needed while a rail extension to link Thailand with southern China would also improve our trade with the giant economy," he said.
Extension of airport facilities to accommodate more human traffic and cargo also needs to go ahead.
"A more open-eyed approach at how Thailand would play as a regional logistics centre also needs to be considered,"said M.R. Pridiyathorn.
"We need a tool to link the east and west, linking the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea through a landbridge.Once accomplished, crude transport from the Middle East to Korea and China will be able to go through this route.This will allow us to be a regional transport route in Asia."
He added that infrastructure such as a landbridge and the long-delayed Southern Seaboard would also be crucial in accommodating more investment in petroleum and related sectors such as petrochemicals.
"Establishing the link would also open our export routes to Africa and the Middle East, which are growing markets.China would also be interested in using this route to provide to emerging markets," he said.
He also criticised the government for paying too little attention to economic issues, adding that the Map Ta Phut court order that halted 76 projects was the result of indecisive action to tackle pollution problems by past governments.
"The government must take the case as a lesson for future infrastructure development and also to win back investment," said M.R. Pridiyathorn.
NATIONAL LOGISTICS STRATEGY "CRUCIAL TO GMS SUCCESS"
The government should draw up a national strategic logistics plan as Thailand is part of the global value chain, repositioning itself as a corridor in the Greater Mekong Subregion, a major logistics firm said yesterday.
Speaking at the "Logistics Asia 2009" seminar, SCG Logistics Management managing director Bhanumas Srisukh said: "The government should also look at Singapore as an ally reather than as a competitor."
He said the major role the government should speedily play was easing the multiplicity of dated rules and regulations relating to transportation, as well as investing more in important infrastructure such as road and rail systems.
The latter would link Thailand with GMS countries, including southern China(Yunnan), Burma, Laos and Vietnam, so that the Kingdom can be a corridor to enhance trade between the GMS region and the rest of the world, transporting goods by road to Laem Chabang Port, which can them connect to Singapore before shipping goods around the globe.
"Developing missing links from the GMS to Thailand would not only enhance the competitiveness of our exports, but also boost international trade. This would be instead of building Pak Bara Port in Satun, for which the country has drawn up a strategic logistics plan to use the port as a point of exit for the Andaman coast to link China with India," said Bhanumas.
He said that for this strategy, the country was being seen as Singapore's competitor, whereas in fact it was not ready to compete.
He added that as Singapore had develooped its logistics management system to global standards, Thailand should improve its own logistics standard to support that of Singapore as part of a logistics value chain.
Considering the Kingdom's strengths, Thailand has a central location with a coastline on two sides, is service-minded, has an extensive road network, low labour costs and a large labour pool, plus the ability to connect transportation with China,he said.
However, its weaknesses are the small size of its seaports, limited rail network, lack of skilled human resources and out-of-date rules and regulations.
Oh Bee Lock, senior vice president for corporate planning at Singapore's PSA Corp, said he regarded Thailand as an ally of Singapore, not a competitor. The two countries. therefore, can connect their transportation at the same standard level to enhance freight between Asean and other regions more rapidly and at a competitive cost.
The port of Singapore connects to 600 ports in more than 120 countries. PSA has 28 ports in 16 countries wit annual revenue of 4.4 billion Singaporean dollars (Bt104 billion) and throughput of 63 milliion containers (20-foot equivalent units).
"Logistics Asia 2009" was cohosted by the Thailand Management Association, the Thai Chamber of Commerce and the Transportation Institute.
Speaking at the "Logistics Asia 2009" seminar, SCG Logistics Management managing director Bhanumas Srisukh said: "The government should also look at Singapore as an ally reather than as a competitor."
He said the major role the government should speedily play was easing the multiplicity of dated rules and regulations relating to transportation, as well as investing more in important infrastructure such as road and rail systems.
The latter would link Thailand with GMS countries, including southern China(Yunnan), Burma, Laos and Vietnam, so that the Kingdom can be a corridor to enhance trade between the GMS region and the rest of the world, transporting goods by road to Laem Chabang Port, which can them connect to Singapore before shipping goods around the globe.
"Developing missing links from the GMS to Thailand would not only enhance the competitiveness of our exports, but also boost international trade. This would be instead of building Pak Bara Port in Satun, for which the country has drawn up a strategic logistics plan to use the port as a point of exit for the Andaman coast to link China with India," said Bhanumas.
He said that for this strategy, the country was being seen as Singapore's competitor, whereas in fact it was not ready to compete.
He added that as Singapore had develooped its logistics management system to global standards, Thailand should improve its own logistics standard to support that of Singapore as part of a logistics value chain.
Considering the Kingdom's strengths, Thailand has a central location with a coastline on two sides, is service-minded, has an extensive road network, low labour costs and a large labour pool, plus the ability to connect transportation with China,he said.
However, its weaknesses are the small size of its seaports, limited rail network, lack of skilled human resources and out-of-date rules and regulations.
Oh Bee Lock, senior vice president for corporate planning at Singapore's PSA Corp, said he regarded Thailand as an ally of Singapore, not a competitor. The two countries. therefore, can connect their transportation at the same standard level to enhance freight between Asean and other regions more rapidly and at a competitive cost.
The port of Singapore connects to 600 ports in more than 120 countries. PSA has 28 ports in 16 countries wit annual revenue of 4.4 billion Singaporean dollars (Bt104 billion) and throughput of 63 milliion containers (20-foot equivalent units).
"Logistics Asia 2009" was cohosted by the Thailand Management Association, the Thai Chamber of Commerce and the Transportation Institute.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
A measure of justice at last
After almost three decades of lonely struggle and much to the chagrin of her hostile neighbours, Grandma Hai Khanjanta has finally won compensation from the state for the damage rendered to her farmland in Ubon Ratchathani from a poorly thought out irrigation dam project.
The Cabinet on Tuesday decided to award the 80-yearold woman - who in 2004 was named "the great fighter mum" by Mahidol University -1.2 million baht in compensation. Two other villagers affected by the project were also compensated.
The promised 1.2 million baht is a very modest amount and cannot be regarded as fair, given the hardships from deprivation of a normal livelihood which Mrs Hai's family has had to endure throughout the past several years since her farmland was flooded.Even though the land was reclaimed following the dam's demolition on the orders of the Thaksin administration, it remains useless for cultivation. Still, Mrs Hai had the grace and decency to offer her heartfelt thanks to the Democrat-led government for paying attention to the plight of poor people like herself. She said she would not press for further demands.
However, this "happy ending" story of Mrs Hai and her two neighbours represents just a fraction of many other similar cases of rural people being deprived of a livelihood, robbed of their traditional farmland or forced into hardship by so-called development projects which often were decided from the top down and implemented without prior consultation with the local communities.These include the villagers affected by the construction of the Rasi Salai dam in Si Sa Ket and the Pak Moon fishermen whose livelihood has been completely wrecked by the Pak Moon dam.
Negligence on the part of state agencies and their disregard for the public's right to participate in the decision-making process in the management of natural resources by the state, have been blamed for many of the top-down development projects which were later proven to have been badly thought-out, falling short of their objectives or simply not worthy of the cost. For example, the Rasi Salai dam which was supposed to irrigate the dry northeastern farmland, has instead caused widespread salination of the soil, on top of some 30,000 rai of wetlands being wiped out during construction, not to mention the human suffering of hundreds who are still demanding justice.
The case of Ms Usa Rotpongkasem, a victim of the Klong Toey chemical fire in 1991, is another glaring example of the lack of compassion from state agencies,in this particular case the Port Authority of Thailand,for the victims of its gross negligence and its lack of accountability. The former Ramkhamhaeng University student who is steadily losing her eyesight and is suffering from cancer as a result of her exposure to chemical posioning, had to take her case to the Civil Court to seek compensation from the PAT. It was through sheer tenacity and determination that she endured the lengthy legal hurdles and won the case, with the court faulting the PAT for gross negligence and ordering it to pay her about 4 million baht in compensation. The PAT wanted to appeal the verdict but dropped the idea only because of the personal intervention of then deputy transport minister Pracha Maleenont.
The plight of Grandma Hai, Ms Usa and many other poor villagers could have been avoided or considerably mitigated, if only the state agencies involved had been more receptive to their views before deciding on projects which seriously disrupted their livelihoods.
The Cabinet on Tuesday decided to award the 80-yearold woman - who in 2004 was named "the great fighter mum" by Mahidol University -1.2 million baht in compensation. Two other villagers affected by the project were also compensated.
The promised 1.2 million baht is a very modest amount and cannot be regarded as fair, given the hardships from deprivation of a normal livelihood which Mrs Hai's family has had to endure throughout the past several years since her farmland was flooded.Even though the land was reclaimed following the dam's demolition on the orders of the Thaksin administration, it remains useless for cultivation. Still, Mrs Hai had the grace and decency to offer her heartfelt thanks to the Democrat-led government for paying attention to the plight of poor people like herself. She said she would not press for further demands.
However, this "happy ending" story of Mrs Hai and her two neighbours represents just a fraction of many other similar cases of rural people being deprived of a livelihood, robbed of their traditional farmland or forced into hardship by so-called development projects which often were decided from the top down and implemented without prior consultation with the local communities.These include the villagers affected by the construction of the Rasi Salai dam in Si Sa Ket and the Pak Moon fishermen whose livelihood has been completely wrecked by the Pak Moon dam.
Negligence on the part of state agencies and their disregard for the public's right to participate in the decision-making process in the management of natural resources by the state, have been blamed for many of the top-down development projects which were later proven to have been badly thought-out, falling short of their objectives or simply not worthy of the cost. For example, the Rasi Salai dam which was supposed to irrigate the dry northeastern farmland, has instead caused widespread salination of the soil, on top of some 30,000 rai of wetlands being wiped out during construction, not to mention the human suffering of hundreds who are still demanding justice.
The case of Ms Usa Rotpongkasem, a victim of the Klong Toey chemical fire in 1991, is another glaring example of the lack of compassion from state agencies,in this particular case the Port Authority of Thailand,for the victims of its gross negligence and its lack of accountability. The former Ramkhamhaeng University student who is steadily losing her eyesight and is suffering from cancer as a result of her exposure to chemical posioning, had to take her case to the Civil Court to seek compensation from the PAT. It was through sheer tenacity and determination that she endured the lengthy legal hurdles and won the case, with the court faulting the PAT for gross negligence and ordering it to pay her about 4 million baht in compensation. The PAT wanted to appeal the verdict but dropped the idea only because of the personal intervention of then deputy transport minister Pracha Maleenont.
The plight of Grandma Hai, Ms Usa and many other poor villagers could have been avoided or considerably mitigated, if only the state agencies involved had been more receptive to their views before deciding on projects which seriously disrupted their livelihoods.
AN ENTREPRENEUR OF ONE'S OWN LIFE
Po Chung, co-founder of DHL International Asia-Pacific, discusses his "entrepreneurial life journey" and describes the attributes of a successful entrepreneur, particularly during what he calls "the first 10 yards". The Nation's Pichaya Changsorn reports.
Even if you have never been a business manager, you are already the manager of your own life, says Po Chung, co-founder of DHL International Asia-Pacific, who now teaches entrepreneurship at the University of Hong Kong.
"Every one of us is the entrepreneur of our own life," he told a group of students on a recent visit to Bangkok. "Nobody has lived your life before; you're the first one. So, you can do anything. You can start-up. You can manage [a business to become] a good asset or you can be as poor as you can be, not only in a money sense but also in a spiritual sense."
Chung, who co-authored the book "The First 10 Yards: The Five Dynamics of Entrepreneurship", was lecturing to about 40 students from 13 European countries who took part in the Asian University's "Summer University" programme.
"Many people are very rich in money but very poor in spirit," he said.
"Since life is an entrepreneurial journey and you're the entrepreneur of your life, by understanding, designing, creating and managing your journey, you can control your future."
Giving his life as an example of an "entrepreneurial life-long journey", Chung said his early life was not so affluent because his father lost his businesses during the Communist "liberation war" and the family had to escape from China to Macau. He had to drop out of school and went fishing for two years because his father ran out of money when he was in the third grade.
Then life became better. Chung moved to Hong Kong and was eventually able to join a well-known boarding school, St Stephen's College, and later went to Hong Kong University. He was doing well until he overslept and missed a history examination. His father then sent him to study at the University of the Seven Seas, which was actually a ship that hosted teachers and students who had to sail around the world while studying.
However, Chung had to change his university again because his father wanted him to study science subjects, instead of history or geography. So he signed up for fisheries management at Humboldt State University in Arcata, California.
Chung said that although he never practised fisheries management one day in his life. He was able to apply the knowledge he gained to his life's work.
"I stole shamelessly everything I knew about fisheries and used it in my businesses. I was able to make the 'cross over', and I've been stealing even since: when I talk with people, I asked them questions, [get them] to tell their ideas, and I convert [these] into my businesses."
The courier business was not his first job after graduation. He worked for Topper Toys, a toy manufacturer which he found gave little attention to its workers because "everything she had to do, she could learn in 15 minutes. So, if she didn't come to work, they could easily find someone to replace her.
"In courier services, you can't do that because the courier drives the truck and he's out for three hours. [And while he's out] he can decide either to smile or not to smile. It's not like in McDonald's, [where] everything is under one roof. If a staff member doesn't smile, his supervisor can see he doesn't smile. But if [the courier] doesn't smile, nobody at our company knows.
"So we have to make sure the courier is happy in his life when he walks into a customer's reception area. He has to remember the name of the lady at the reception desk, and pretty soon they will remember his name.
"We paid attention not only to how they were dressed, but made sure they were dating - I had to attend a lot of weddings," Chung said, with a grin.
The opportunity to launch the courier service came after two and a half years with Topper Toys. Chung had been promoted to operations manager, with responsibility for logistics and supply chain management. The skills and knowledge he gained from the toy firm readied him for the moment when Adrian Dalsey, a co-founder of DHL, flew to Hong Kong to offer Topper Toys a cutting-edge delivery service.
After only a few meetings, Chung succeeded in persuading Dalsey to fly back to his US headquarters and convince his partners to award Chung the rights to run DHL's business across the Asia-Pacific region. Chung began his entrepreneurial journey with DHL with US$50,000, only two customers, a secretary, no car and basically nothing else.
During DHL's first 15 years, from 1969-84, the firm expanded into 125 countries - or a new country every five weeks, on average. One of its key success factors was picking the right kind of employees.
"There was one formula in picking our people: we were hiring the kind of people we were willing to follow, others were willing to follow; others were willing to partner with."
Chung said DHL "scanned for viruses on the candidate's personal operating systems" such as their beliefs, values, behaviour, likes, dislikes, integrity and character.
"Basically, [it's about] who are you. Can people trust you? Are you unkind, unfair, shameless, corrupt, rude, a liar, unwise, disloyal, cowardly, a repeater of mistakes, or unforgiving? "
There was also another lesson: getting the right name is very important. Unlike some of its competitors, Chung said, DHL had an initial advantage because its name was easy to pronounce in any language.
"That's why, when I picked the names for my children, I made sure people could see them and were able to read them. Yet they are not common names."
Chung said entrepreneurs had to have a basic quality which he called a "sleep factor".
"Many people think about risk factors, and I admit risk taking is important. But you also have to be able to 'silo' your problems, [leaving yourself the capacity] to go to sleep, even when you get caught," he said, citing his own experience during an initial stage when he was arrested by the police for infringing the Hong Kong Post Office's exclusive right to carry letters in and out of the colony. DHL successfully defended the case.
"There are two things that business school cannot teach an entrepreneur: the first is focus, or 'staying with a problem until it gets done', and the other is passion. An entrepreneur must have enough of these two qualities," he said.
"We have also found that most business schools teach marketing, but do not teach selling. If you're an entrepreneur and you don't know how to sell, it won't work out, because you won't have money or anything else."
Also, Chung advised, don't take an MBA course.
"If you want to become an entrepreneur, don't study for an MBA. Do it [become an entrepreneur] first and come back to take an executive MBA later, because MBA [studies] fill you with all kinds of junk. It's wrong timing - like teaching you to drive when you're 60," he said.
"Me, Inc": Looking at life as a business
People regard as "business" only that part of life that involves money. But, in reality, everything is business, Chung said.
"Your life is business and you're the entrepreneur. You're in the business of providing personal services to anyone around you. You're your most important customer and supplier."
Chung suggested that his students write a "business plan" for their lives, taking into account the needs of their "customers" and "suppliers", who can be anyone from parents to offspring, siblings, friends, business partners or bosses, and all of their "suppliers".
"Consider what they want. Is it moral support, physical help, mental help, social help, advice, companionship, just being there...?"
He said the students' business plans should include a marketing plan for managing their "personal brand", which took into account their "service quality", as well as their tangible and intangible assets.
"The management team is you and your 'tribe', and the returns are 'psychic income' and 'emotional profit', he said.
Chung also urged students to give and take, while staying away from "net takers".
Ten pieces of advice, in hindsight
In concluding his lecture, Chung looked back on his years as an entrepreneur to offer 10 pieces of advice, in hindsight:
1. Spend time with your loved ones before they go away.
2. Follow my life's secret formula: understand, design, create and manage. Then you will control your future.
3. If you want to be an entrepreneur, don't get an MBA - get an EMBA.
4. Don't be in a hurry to get married, to either a spouse or a company. Ninety per cent of your misery or happiness will come from one person, so you want to know more about people in general before you select the one with whom you will spend the rest of your life.
5. Set up a life-long learning programme.
6. A bad break is not the end of the world.
7. Hustle while you wait: luck is when opportunity meets preparedness.
8. Leadership is about trust. Everything else comes second. People will follow you only if they know you will not hurt them.
9. If you don't want people to know about it, don't do it. Live by the golden rule: "don't lie, don't cheat, don't steal."
10. Live off your parents for as long as you can. Buy a house as a multigenerational effort. Property prices will continue to go up. You will need all the money you can make to do the things you would like to do in your life. There are three Fs for investors: friends, family and fools.
Even if you have never been a business manager, you are already the manager of your own life, says Po Chung, co-founder of DHL International Asia-Pacific, who now teaches entrepreneurship at the University of Hong Kong.
"Every one of us is the entrepreneur of our own life," he told a group of students on a recent visit to Bangkok. "Nobody has lived your life before; you're the first one. So, you can do anything. You can start-up. You can manage [a business to become] a good asset or you can be as poor as you can be, not only in a money sense but also in a spiritual sense."
Chung, who co-authored the book "The First 10 Yards: The Five Dynamics of Entrepreneurship", was lecturing to about 40 students from 13 European countries who took part in the Asian University's "Summer University" programme.
"Many people are very rich in money but very poor in spirit," he said.
"Since life is an entrepreneurial journey and you're the entrepreneur of your life, by understanding, designing, creating and managing your journey, you can control your future."
Giving his life as an example of an "entrepreneurial life-long journey", Chung said his early life was not so affluent because his father lost his businesses during the Communist "liberation war" and the family had to escape from China to Macau. He had to drop out of school and went fishing for two years because his father ran out of money when he was in the third grade.
Then life became better. Chung moved to Hong Kong and was eventually able to join a well-known boarding school, St Stephen's College, and later went to Hong Kong University. He was doing well until he overslept and missed a history examination. His father then sent him to study at the University of the Seven Seas, which was actually a ship that hosted teachers and students who had to sail around the world while studying.
However, Chung had to change his university again because his father wanted him to study science subjects, instead of history or geography. So he signed up for fisheries management at Humboldt State University in Arcata, California.
Chung said that although he never practised fisheries management one day in his life. He was able to apply the knowledge he gained to his life's work.
"I stole shamelessly everything I knew about fisheries and used it in my businesses. I was able to make the 'cross over', and I've been stealing even since: when I talk with people, I asked them questions, [get them] to tell their ideas, and I convert [these] into my businesses."
The courier business was not his first job after graduation. He worked for Topper Toys, a toy manufacturer which he found gave little attention to its workers because "everything she had to do, she could learn in 15 minutes. So, if she didn't come to work, they could easily find someone to replace her.
"In courier services, you can't do that because the courier drives the truck and he's out for three hours. [And while he's out] he can decide either to smile or not to smile. It's not like in McDonald's, [where] everything is under one roof. If a staff member doesn't smile, his supervisor can see he doesn't smile. But if [the courier] doesn't smile, nobody at our company knows.
"So we have to make sure the courier is happy in his life when he walks into a customer's reception area. He has to remember the name of the lady at the reception desk, and pretty soon they will remember his name.
"We paid attention not only to how they were dressed, but made sure they were dating - I had to attend a lot of weddings," Chung said, with a grin.
The opportunity to launch the courier service came after two and a half years with Topper Toys. Chung had been promoted to operations manager, with responsibility for logistics and supply chain management. The skills and knowledge he gained from the toy firm readied him for the moment when Adrian Dalsey, a co-founder of DHL, flew to Hong Kong to offer Topper Toys a cutting-edge delivery service.
After only a few meetings, Chung succeeded in persuading Dalsey to fly back to his US headquarters and convince his partners to award Chung the rights to run DHL's business across the Asia-Pacific region. Chung began his entrepreneurial journey with DHL with US$50,000, only two customers, a secretary, no car and basically nothing else.
During DHL's first 15 years, from 1969-84, the firm expanded into 125 countries - or a new country every five weeks, on average. One of its key success factors was picking the right kind of employees.
"There was one formula in picking our people: we were hiring the kind of people we were willing to follow, others were willing to follow; others were willing to partner with."
Chung said DHL "scanned for viruses on the candidate's personal operating systems" such as their beliefs, values, behaviour, likes, dislikes, integrity and character.
"Basically, [it's about] who are you. Can people trust you? Are you unkind, unfair, shameless, corrupt, rude, a liar, unwise, disloyal, cowardly, a repeater of mistakes, or unforgiving? "
There was also another lesson: getting the right name is very important. Unlike some of its competitors, Chung said, DHL had an initial advantage because its name was easy to pronounce in any language.
"That's why, when I picked the names for my children, I made sure people could see them and were able to read them. Yet they are not common names."
Chung said entrepreneurs had to have a basic quality which he called a "sleep factor".
"Many people think about risk factors, and I admit risk taking is important. But you also have to be able to 'silo' your problems, [leaving yourself the capacity] to go to sleep, even when you get caught," he said, citing his own experience during an initial stage when he was arrested by the police for infringing the Hong Kong Post Office's exclusive right to carry letters in and out of the colony. DHL successfully defended the case.
"There are two things that business school cannot teach an entrepreneur: the first is focus, or 'staying with a problem until it gets done', and the other is passion. An entrepreneur must have enough of these two qualities," he said.
"We have also found that most business schools teach marketing, but do not teach selling. If you're an entrepreneur and you don't know how to sell, it won't work out, because you won't have money or anything else."
Also, Chung advised, don't take an MBA course.
"If you want to become an entrepreneur, don't study for an MBA. Do it [become an entrepreneur] first and come back to take an executive MBA later, because MBA [studies] fill you with all kinds of junk. It's wrong timing - like teaching you to drive when you're 60," he said.
"Me, Inc": Looking at life as a business
People regard as "business" only that part of life that involves money. But, in reality, everything is business, Chung said.
"Your life is business and you're the entrepreneur. You're in the business of providing personal services to anyone around you. You're your most important customer and supplier."
Chung suggested that his students write a "business plan" for their lives, taking into account the needs of their "customers" and "suppliers", who can be anyone from parents to offspring, siblings, friends, business partners or bosses, and all of their "suppliers".
"Consider what they want. Is it moral support, physical help, mental help, social help, advice, companionship, just being there...?"
He said the students' business plans should include a marketing plan for managing their "personal brand", which took into account their "service quality", as well as their tangible and intangible assets.
"The management team is you and your 'tribe', and the returns are 'psychic income' and 'emotional profit', he said.
Chung also urged students to give and take, while staying away from "net takers".
Ten pieces of advice, in hindsight
In concluding his lecture, Chung looked back on his years as an entrepreneur to offer 10 pieces of advice, in hindsight:
1. Spend time with your loved ones before they go away.
2. Follow my life's secret formula: understand, design, create and manage. Then you will control your future.
3. If you want to be an entrepreneur, don't get an MBA - get an EMBA.
4. Don't be in a hurry to get married, to either a spouse or a company. Ninety per cent of your misery or happiness will come from one person, so you want to know more about people in general before you select the one with whom you will spend the rest of your life.
5. Set up a life-long learning programme.
6. A bad break is not the end of the world.
7. Hustle while you wait: luck is when opportunity meets preparedness.
8. Leadership is about trust. Everything else comes second. People will follow you only if they know you will not hurt them.
9. If you don't want people to know about it, don't do it. Live by the golden rule: "don't lie, don't cheat, don't steal."
10. Live off your parents for as long as you can. Buy a house as a multigenerational effort. Property prices will continue to go up. You will need all the money you can make to do the things you would like to do in your life. There are three Fs for investors: friends, family and fools.
Researchers tap into RFID to cut costs
New technologies for real-time vehicle tracking will play a big role in lowering expensive logistics costs, improving transport management and the country's competitiveness, according to the National Innovation Agency (NIA).
Logistics costs as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) in Thailand are as high as 19%, compared with 9.4% in the United States and single digits or low double digits in many other developed countries.
Given that Thailand relies on exports for more than 60% of its GDP, logistics costs are far too high, industry leaders have said for years.
The NIA has supported researchers pursuing innovations to reduce costs, a notable example being B-Move, which was a co-developed by Southeast Asia Technology Co and Burapha University's Logistics Department.
The system, is based on radio frequency identification (RFID) for tracking vehicles to monitor transport.
"The technology can not only be adapted to use in transport management in order to raise the efficiency of transport but also to lower transport costs and save time," said Supachai Lorlowhakarn,the NIA director.
It can also be used in public transport for managing bus schedules and routes.
A tag installed on each vehicle sends signals to RFID readers placed in telephone booths, which act as receivers.The information is then transferred to a control centre through an Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line or ADSL, which sends data over copper telephone lines faster than a conventional voiceband modem can provide.
The NIA underwrote half of the project's cost of 3.12 million baht.
The agency has also supported the use of RFID in the shrimp industry to create a 3D barcode on packaging. It identifies the origin, quality and safety of the product from the duration of transport from the farm to the factory, to what kind of food is fed to the shrimp.This prevents farmers from using harmful substances, said Dr Supachai.
The project worth 5.96 million baht in total includes another technology called C-Move, a tracking system, developed by DX Innovation Co and partially funded by the NIA. It uses a global positioning system or GPS device to track vehicles that run across the country.
Unlike B-Move which targets product transport within the city, C-Move looks after larger networks, such as transport to and from different provinces. Although B-Move's RFID technology has a higher quality, it can be used in a limited space whereas GPS uses a satellite system that allows a wider scale of usage.
The two projects were commercialised two months ago.
On the distribution side, a bidding website acts as a matchmaking service by allowing customers to see the avail-ability of vehicles that can transport products from one place to another.
The current transport management system, which is not integrated into a network, means shippers cannot use the same vehicles for different products.
Continuous trips can lower energy costs by reducing the number of empty trips, which account for up to 46% of all trips for land transport of products.
Eighty-nine percent of all product transport in Thailand is by land, resulting in a total of 71.74 million trips per year.
Logistics costs as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) in Thailand are as high as 19%, compared with 9.4% in the United States and single digits or low double digits in many other developed countries.
Given that Thailand relies on exports for more than 60% of its GDP, logistics costs are far too high, industry leaders have said for years.
The NIA has supported researchers pursuing innovations to reduce costs, a notable example being B-Move, which was a co-developed by Southeast Asia Technology Co and Burapha University's Logistics Department.
The system, is based on radio frequency identification (RFID) for tracking vehicles to monitor transport.
"The technology can not only be adapted to use in transport management in order to raise the efficiency of transport but also to lower transport costs and save time," said Supachai Lorlowhakarn,the NIA director.
It can also be used in public transport for managing bus schedules and routes.
A tag installed on each vehicle sends signals to RFID readers placed in telephone booths, which act as receivers.The information is then transferred to a control centre through an Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line or ADSL, which sends data over copper telephone lines faster than a conventional voiceband modem can provide.
The NIA underwrote half of the project's cost of 3.12 million baht.
The agency has also supported the use of RFID in the shrimp industry to create a 3D barcode on packaging. It identifies the origin, quality and safety of the product from the duration of transport from the farm to the factory, to what kind of food is fed to the shrimp.This prevents farmers from using harmful substances, said Dr Supachai.
The project worth 5.96 million baht in total includes another technology called C-Move, a tracking system, developed by DX Innovation Co and partially funded by the NIA. It uses a global positioning system or GPS device to track vehicles that run across the country.
Unlike B-Move which targets product transport within the city, C-Move looks after larger networks, such as transport to and from different provinces. Although B-Move's RFID technology has a higher quality, it can be used in a limited space whereas GPS uses a satellite system that allows a wider scale of usage.
The two projects were commercialised two months ago.
On the distribution side, a bidding website acts as a matchmaking service by allowing customers to see the avail-ability of vehicles that can transport products from one place to another.
The current transport management system, which is not integrated into a network, means shippers cannot use the same vehicles for different products.
Continuous trips can lower energy costs by reducing the number of empty trips, which account for up to 46% of all trips for land transport of products.
Eighty-nine percent of all product transport in Thailand is by land, resulting in a total of 71.74 million trips per year.
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