My New Job

Perhaps I don't need to tell the name and business of my new company. It is a well-recognised and straight-forward name. However having studied in Japan for over three years, I found that I am not familiar with the way most Cambodians and my colleagues pronouce the name: it sounds like Thai rather than Japanese.

This is my second job upon returning to Cambodia. It seems that I like the job more than the previous one. Of course, it is not because the businesses are completely different. I feel that I like color so much (maybe because my eye-sight is not good!). The slogan: Working Beautifully Everywhere is also stimulating and rewarding.
It seems that my position is bigger than before, but having worked for a while, I dare say that the position and the job description on the paper do not really stipulate your authority and your job duties. Although my title in the previous company is an Assistant Manager, my real responsibility and authority are like General Manager, having access to all information and have the right to stamp!
Anyway to have a good start, I care more about the nature of the job rather than the size of the company and the position. At last, I get the job I want: holding a managerial position in sales and/ marketing. The next step is to learn all the tips and tricks and overcome awaiting challenges, while preparing for my next plans.

Asia's Export Dependency Has To Change

The article gives insightful ideas for Cambodia's policy makers. I agree with both scholars, but more with Huang than Kruman. Which model is best for Cambodia, the Chninese or VN?

While westerners are busily building up their depleted savings, can export-dependent Asian economies adjust to a world in which the US consumer is no longer the buyer of last resort?

Economists are asking whether countries such as China will be able to reorient their economies so that domestic demand becomes the main driver of growth.

Why is Chinese household consumption so low and what can be done to fix it?

Mr Krugman pins much of the blame on a threadbare social safety net, which has shrunk even as China has grown richer. Most Chinese build up precautionary savings at the expense of consumption, he says.

Erecting a safety net, however, may have only a marginal effect on spending, says Mr Huang. He pins the blame not on high savings but rather on declining incomes, especially in rural areas where 700m people still live. He advocates a push to increase rural incomes by legalising micro-finance, abolishing the city registration system that prevents migrant workers from receiving social benefits, and accelerating land reform.

My Northwestern Trip

Asia's Top Business Schools

Staying in Asia for an MBA

As B-schools in China, India, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, and other parts of Asia make their programs more global and establish partnerships with schools overseas, more Asian students are staying home to get their MBAs

For years, Asians interested in entering the best business schools had little choice but to head to the West. Now, though, business schools throughout Asia are trying to become more competitive with the top schools in the U.S. and Europe. B-schools in China, Hong Kong, South Korea, and other parts of Asia have been making their curricula more global and recruiting more professors from abroad. At the same time, Asian business schools increasingly are partnering with one another or with schools from the West to offer more options to their students.With the global economy in the doldrums, the competition to enter business schools is growing far more intense as students look to escape the dire job market and improve their chances of getting a well-paying position when the world recovers. So even though Asian schools are still no match yet for the Whartons and Kelloggs of the world, more and more Asian students are now looking to them as alternative places to get their MBAs.

For more on the best business schools in Asia, click on the title link.

The global politics of swine flu

Adapted from Kaveh L Afrasiabi
Lesson: Crises could create opportunities, more crises, or both.
We may be at the incipient stage of swine flu's deadly spread across the globe, but already signs of new trans-Atlantic fissures over EU travel advisory to the United States and Mexico.
Swine flu is a contagious respiratory disease that usually affects pigs. "Hysterical", "unwarranted", "overreaction" and "ineffective", were the top choices of words used by US officials in reaction to the EU health officials' alarm bells, and the stern US responses to the Europeans' health disaster response reminds one of China's similar response when the US Center on Disease Control, put this statement on its website in response to the early reports of the SARS epidemic in Asia: "Don't go to mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Hanoi unless you really have to.
Hundreds of US flights to and from Mexico have continued unabated since the swine flu outbreak, and there has not been any attempt by the US government to either close some borders with Mexico or even reduce the substantial human traffic crossing those borders, fearing the adverse economic impacts in today's climate of global economic recession. The trick is undoubtedly not to make policies based on worst-case scenarios, but then again there is also the grave risk of avoiding a painful "great reshuffling" of policies. "A severe pandemic might encourage us to rethink the deadly pace of globalization and biological trade in all living things," wrote Nikforuk. Clearly, Third World Mexico's lack of an integrated strategy to combat the infectious disease with adequate resources has a lot to do with the flu's high mortality rate compared to its impact in US and Canada. As usual, the North-South gaps reveal themselves with glaring and oppressive clarity in such outbreaks of public illness. At the same time, by posing the US as a "risk society", a whole new fertile field of discourse on America's (health) identity has been opened by the threat of swine flu. An imagined pandemic may sting the US nearly as much as a real pandemic and the sheer indeterminacy of the flu's potency and future growth simply adds to its dispensation of a new unhealthy image for the US. Swine flu points at the growing linkage between foreign policy and health policy, as well as the nexus between health and security. Should it turn out that we are merely witnessing its first phase of attack, which is pregnant with multiple subsequent waves causing greater and greater disruptions in world trade, transport and trans-border human movement, something impossible to pre-calculate at this stage, then a whole new logic of de-globalization may be inevitable. On the other hand, this flu has the potential to be labeled as a "metropolis disease" that does not contaminate much of the the Third World. On the whole, swine flu can take one of two directions, it can either act as a circuit-breaker for a renewed globalization in terms of collective response, or a potent source of "international solidarity" as envisioned by UN chief Ban. Or, finally, it may have the contradictory effect of pushing both chariots simultaneously, at least in the short run.

Link to Swine Flu: http://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/flu-guide/20061101/swine-flu-faq

Mount Fuji Climbing- an unforgetable experience

Mount Fuji taken from Kawaguchiko 5th station, 2300m.

Mount Fuji, with the height of 3776m, is the highest and most beloved iconic mountain in Japan. Climbing the mountain itself can make lifelong memories, both in terms of physical challenges and the panoramic view of the surrounding areas below. Mount Fuji climbing is very popular, and it is crowded during climbing season, July and August.

I had longed for reaching Japan's highest point before leaving. As an inexperienced climber, I chose the easiest trail, starting from Kawaguchiko 5th station (2300m). It's supposed to take between 4-7h to ascend to the top, but it takes me about 8h. There are many huts for overnight stay, selling foods and drinks along the trail; the price becomes more expensive with altitude.

Climbing Mount Fuji is the most exhausting and challenging experience I ever made. I had to endure strong and cold wind during the night due to poor preparation. I almost gave up the original plan to get to top. One lady felt unconscious, falling down and crashing her head cus of extreme exhaustion, but I was determined to move on cus I saw some old people and small children (who know how experienced they are)!
It was not really climbing anyway. I don have to climb the cliff like the professional ones, but it's not really hiking too because the volcanic mountain has long and steep slops from its foot to the top (it looks much easier and shorter to climb in the above pic, but don be fooled!). I reached 1oth station, the top, around 5:30 am. There is nothing much to see on the summit besides the crater, but the below scenery is so breathtaking that I felt most rewarding like being on the heaven.

The ascending trail I take. Some people were climbing at day time while I was descending.

It was supposed to post no more physical challenge after I reached the summit. I, however, didn't notice the sign and took the wrong descending trail which is more difficult and sleepy. That is the most terrible road on earth with its endless slop and rocks. I had to hold my heels constantly and felt like skiing rather than walking all the way down from the top to 2000m. Worse, I had to trek one more hour in the jungle to get to the bus stop. My legs were killing me. I would call it Mount Fuji adventure than climbing or hiking. The author said don be petrified by the saying that a wise man climbs Mount Fuji only once in a life time. I say it is too enough to climb Mount Fuji once in a life time.

Sunrise on Mount Fuji, taken from 9th station overlooking mountains and Fuji 5 lakes.

Two hikers are sleeping soundly by the cliff of the ascending trail as if they don love their lives.
Mount Fuji crater. The building behind is the highest point in Japan.
Kawaguchiko 5th station, 2300m. Mount Fuji is scenic and forested till this station.

On the top of Japan World. I did it at lasttt!

Look fresher at a viewing platform of the 5th station before climbing.

More on Mount Fuji: http://www.mt-fuji.co.jp/index-e.html

The World's Most Competitive Countries

Half of the top 10 are European and the U.S. is still No. 1, but Asia's tigers are coming on strong.

Asian economies are overtaking the U.S. and Northern Europe to become the most competitive in the world.

Among the top 20 economies out of the 55 ranked, those in Asia-Pacific posted the greatest gains compared with last year.

IMD produced the rankings using 331 criteria ranging from gross domestic product growth and unemployment to the number of Internet users and the price of local cell-phone calls. Hard data from sources such as the World Bank and U.N. comprised two-thirds of the inputs; the rest came from nearly 4,000 survey responses from executives in each country regarding the availability of skilled employees, government regulation, the availability of venture capital, and other more qualitative issues.

See BW's slide show of the top dozen countries in this year's IMD competitiveness ranking.
Table: The World's Most Competitive Countries 2008

Done! Goodbey Student Life In Japan

At last, the day I had been waiting anxiously has come. I have finished my thesis defense successfully. That is the end of my student life in Japan. Will have to face a new life when going back to Cambodia. For the time being just enjoy my last two months sightseeing.

Feel like missing the spring and fall here before going. Took some photos and videos as memories on the defense day at Waseda' main campus and an arabian resturant in Ikebukuro. I had never thought how important it is to take photos of my university before.

Honestly speaking, the middle-east food is not my favorite. It's nice to have a change and try a new taste, anyway. It is the most expensive dinner I ever had. Maybe it was because of the belly dancing; everyone, including my prof., enjoyed it and forgot to eat!

Bad to the Bone: Dealing With a Bad Boss

By Susan M. Heathfield,

Dealing with a less than effective manager, or just plain bad managers and bad bosses, is a challenge too many employees face. No matter the character of your bad boss, these ideas will help you deal with your bad boss.

Start your campaign by understanding that your boss may not know he is bad. Just as in situational leadership, the definition of "bad" depends on the employee's needs, the manager's skills and the circumstances.

Recommended Approach to the Unwitting Bad Boss

- Talk to this boss. Tell him what you need from him in term of direction, feedback and support. - Be polite and focus on your needs. Telling the boss he’s a bad boss is counterproductive and won’t help you meet your goals.
- Ask the manager how you can help him reach his goals. Make sure you listen well and provide the needed assistance.
- Seek a mentor from among other managers or more skilled peers, with the full knowledge of your current manager, to enlarge your opportunity for experience.
- If you’ve taken these actions, and they haven’t worked, go to your boss’s manager and ask for assistance. Or, you can go to your Human Resources staff first, to rehearse and gain advice. Understand that your current boss may never forgive you, so ensure you have done what you can do with him, before taking your issues up the line.
- You may never hear what the boss’s boss or the HR staff did to help solve your bad manager’s behavior. It’s confidential. But, do allow some time to pass for the actions to have their desired impact.
- If nothing changes, despite your best efforts, and you think the problem is that they don’t believe you, draw together coworkers who also experience the behavior. Visit the boss’s manager to help him see the size and impact of the behavior.
- If you think the problem is that your boss can’t – or won’t – change, ask for a transfer to another department. This recommendation presumes you like your employer and your work.
- If a transfer or promotion is unavailable, begin your search for a new job. Fleeing is always an option. You may want to conduct your job search secretly, but under the circumstances, it may be time for you to go.

Click on the title link to read more. See what to do When the Bad Boss Knows.

Hun Sen's Diplomatic Juggling Act

While the US interests for Cambodia come mainly from terrorism, China involvement is driven by economic interests.

More than any other Southeast Asian country, Cambodia finds itself caught in the middle of competing United States and Chinese diplomatic overtures. With Washington offering bilateral strategic initiatives and Beijing rich financial assistance, Prime Minister Hun Sen has deftly balanced the country's diplomacy between the two superpowers to his government's political advantage.

Cambodia's economy is expanding at double digit growth rates and China's economic interest in the country has intensified since 2005, when US oil company Chevron discovered what some have projected are large stores of oil and gas off the country's southern coast. Those growing commercial ties were witnessed in the establishment in February of a special economic zone at the coastal town of Sihanoukville, from which goods will be produced for export duty free to China.

While China's economic influence grows, that of the US is on the wane. In recent years the US has given around $150 million in annual economic aid, a small fraction of China's commercial patronage. At the same time US-Cambodian trade ties have fallen off, seen in the 30% year-on-year decline in garment exports to the US in 2007. The US has long been the primary importer of Cambodian textiles, which is still the country's largest export item.

By offering more aid through strategic initiatives, the US policy towards Cambodia has apparently shifted after emphasizing throughout the 1990s the promotion of democracy and the rule of law. That frequently put the two sides at diplomatic loggerheads, notably over an FBI investigation into a March 1997 bomb attack.

While the US tries to deflect China's commercial diplomacy, Beijing has simultaneously landed on ways to unite economically and culturally with Cambodia, including through outreach to politically influential ethnic-Chinese entrepreneurs. It's also apparent, some say, in the fading popularity of the English language over Mandarin Chinese, also known as Putonghua, in local schools. Cambodia is now home to the largest Chinese school in Southeast Asia, Duan Hua, which currently enrolls over 8,000 students. The most popular Chinese courses are specifically geared towards business, with students reasoning that English language capability may help to land jobs with international aid organizations, while Mandarin, which is taught across mainland China as the official language, will catapult them into more lucrative positions in business.

Cambodia's Construction Boom

Golden Towers 42 (under constuction), Pharos Mekong Towers (in planning)

By roatha007

Cambodia has seen unprecedented construction boom in recent years, driven largely by S. Korean investment. Mega construction projects include Camko City, Golden Tower 42, De Castle Royal, Koa Pich, Boeng Kok, PP Pearl, PPSES and River Palace. The boom is driven by economic factors and speculation:

• Macroeconomic and political stability: This is the first and foremost driver. Improved macroeconmic management and CPP's dominance play a vital part in boosting confidence in construction investment.
• Rapid economic and population growth: The stability has contributed to double digit growth . Combining with high population growth, it is expected that there will be more affluent people demanding better living and shopping places, entertainment centers...
• Tourism boom (Angkor factor): Tourism is shooting up and is expected to boom in the near future. As a result, there is a high demand for hotels, resorts and entertainment centers. The trend is obvious in Siem Reap, and PP and Kampong Som are joining the rank. The upswing also helps prop up other sectors.
• Influx of foreign investment and equity funds (spill-over effect): Cambodia's investment-friendly policy has attracted investors hoping to reap windfall profits. Some investors and private equity funds find Cambodia a safe heaven in hedging against international financial turmoils and avoiding strict regulation in neigbouring countries. Investing in real estate is a wise decision in this sense. Some Korean construction companies have shifted to Cambodia due to the high cost and restriction in VN.
• Cambodia's lost decades: Decades of turmoils and destruction means Cambodia is in immense need of all types of infrastructure, both private and public.
• Underground money: The laundering of money obtained from corruption and other illegal activities contributes to construction boom. Cambodia's present situation and lax law enforcement provide a rare opportunity for money laundering; investing in real estate in a fast growing economy is a best option in yielding quick and high return. Some development projects by foreign investors, esp those from eastern Europe, are in fact international money laundering.
• Last but not least is speculation and somehow opportunism: The indirect-but-indispensable element is optimism. There are a lot of speculation about Cambodia's hidden wealth and positive prospect. These include agricultural potentials, unexploited natural resources (esp oil), tourism promise and political stability. The boom is much more about speculation than reality, as most mega projects are still in planning stage. Big investments in Cambodia are still very risky, and investors are adopting wait-and-see attitude.

Real estate boom in Cambodia's capital: http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jun2008/gb2008062_768642.htm

Special supplement on real estate in Cambodia: http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php?option=com_news_portal&Itemid=54&id=44&lang=en&sectionid=18&task=category

Cambodia's mega projects on Youtube: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=dEQCNQ1GKxQ&feature=related

The World's Happiest Countries

A British researcher merged dozens of statistical metrics to rank nations on the elusive notion of contentment.

By Marina Kamenev

Feeling blue? Perhaps you live in the wrong country. A recent study from Britain's University of Leicester examined a range of statistical data to devise a ranking of the world's happiest nations. Heading up the list: Denmark, which rose to the top thanks to its wealth, natural beauty, small size, quality education, and good health care. At the bottom were Zimbabwe and Burundi. There were a few surprises along the way, too. Asian countries scored worse than researcher Adrian White expected. Capitalism — sometimes criticized for its heartlessness — was far from a source of discontent, though the top-scoring capitalist countries also tended to have strong social services. And the U.S. ranked only 23rd, due to nagging poverty and spotty health care.

Not surprisingly, the countries that are happiest are those that are healthy, wealthy, and wise. "The most significant factors were health, the level of poverty, and access to basic education," White says. Population size also plays a role. Smaller countries with greater social cohesion and a stronger sense of national identity tended to score better, while those with the largest populations fared worse. China came in No. 82, India ranked 125, and Russia was 167. The U.S. came in at 23. View the world's happiest nations: http://images.businessweek.com/ss/06/10/happiest_countries/index_01.htm?chan=rss_topSlideShows_ssi_5

Rating coutries for happinest factors: http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/oct2006/gb20061011_072596.htm