105 Service Businesses to Start Today

At your service: Convenience-craving consumers are always looking for a way to do things better, faster and cheaper. Often, that means turning to a specialty-services entrepreneur who knows how to get the job done right.

These include personal services, home services, children services, event services, sales and marketing and computer technology.

Income Inequality in Asia

Congradulations! Cambodia ranks third in Asia in terms of income inequality, just 30 years after Khmer Rough turned this country into the most egalitarian society on earth, following by civil wars, communist rule and factional conflicts!!!

Populist measures to soak the rich are not the answer: they would stunt growth. The ADB instead recommends governments focus on policies that lift the incomes of the poor, such as improving rural access to health, education and social protection. More investment in rural infrastructure could boost productivity in farming and increase job opportunities for the poor.

The future of futurology

People should try to be futurists rather than futurologists, those who predict big things that rarely happen. Think small, think short and listen. History tells us that evolution is better and more correct than revolution on average.

Clipping the dragon's wings

New calculation shows that China's GDP is 40% smaller than previously thought. Though, it is still a second biggest economy by PPP and a fast-growing giant that will overtake nearly everything.

A Leader's Real Job Description

Four dimensions of a leader's job: think, inspire, mobize and empower.

One Big Happy Family

Cambodia's rough-and-tumble politics have long been bloody, marred by frequent political assassinations and violence. But never before have they been quite so blood-linked. One big happy family, 2.5 million destitute families.

Favorite Quotes and Sayings 1

• " Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider."- Sir Francis Bacon
• " It is not the function of the government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the government from falling into error."- U.S. Supreme Court Justice
• John Kenneth Gallbraith: The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.
• " Our greatest glory consists not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall."- Confucius
• " It is a man's own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways."- Buddha
• " The best leader is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it."- Theodore Roosevelt

Mao and the art of management

The main pillars of Mao management style business and state leaders could learn: a powerful, mandacious slogan, ruthless media manipulation, sacrifice of friends and colleagues and activity sustaining for achievement. An interesting point of his ideology here is long-term focus and short-term sacrifice. I don't think all are for bad leaders or managers. There are many things Western leaders, both good and bad, should grasp from China and Asia. There is no one best leadership style.

Business Education Under the Microscope

Some critics have questioned the values of MBAs. These include its real world relevancy and its impacts on the society as a whole. Some argue that business education should be broader and more market-oriented. MBA is still about management and leadership after all. MBA programs don't train students to be specialists.

How To Build A Winning Team

Team success ultimately depends on its balance. The article highlights the framewrok to get the right mix.

Tuning The Hybrid

Corporate Japan is synergizing its old way and American capitalism to survive global competition. Life-time employment and seniority-based compensation are disappearing...

Technology in 2008

Three fearless predictions: surfing will slow, surfing will detache and surfing will open. This article provides some briefing about surfing future, internet.

The Great and Fallen of Khmer Empire

This series of documentary is the most astonishing findings about Angkor Empire. The greatest Angkor achievement, actually, is not its temples but water management.

Business Ideas Thougth by High School Students

Some ideas are really interesting. I found that atleast one is applicable at my dorm, self-cleaning microwave. It is very helpful for the one used by many people, as no one is willing to clean after using. It is too ugly to warm any food. Disgusting.

Running fast

Why is Asia now a copycat while it had been leading the world's innovation for centuries? Emperial rule and complacency have been blamed to be the main culprits. The review serves as an eye-openning for Asians.

Domo arigato, Mr Roboto

Will Japan build rather than import new citizens?
Dec 12th 2007

From Economist.com

SHINTOISM is an animist religion. Its adherents believe that all things, from lampshades to leopards, can possess living spirits. This fact is often trotted out to explain Japan’s fascination with robots. And where America’s mechanical beings tend to menace the human race (think HAL and Terminator), Japan’s are more often its saviours (as Astro Boy has been, since 1951).
General Motors introduced the first industrial robots in 1961. Since then, Japan’s largest companies have competed to make robots as human as possible. On December 6th Toyota went one step further. After showing off a white android that played a meek rendition of “Pomp and Circumstance” on the violin, Toyota’s boss, Katsuaki Watanabe, announced that the company would make electro-mechanical critters a core business. Four areas look promising: nursing, cleaning homes, manufacturing and ferrying people short distances (in a sort of automatic wheelchair).

This is less of a departure than it sounds from Toyota’s current business. The carmaker already uses robots throughout its manufacturing process, so it understands industrial needs. And cars are as much about consumer personality as technology, so Toyota is already in the lifestyle and luxury business.

Click on the title to read more

Can Entrepreneurship Be Taught?

by Stacy Perman
Richard Goossen wears many hats. Over the past 20 years, Goossen, a lawyer, businessman, and academic, has founded startups, acted as strategic adviser to high-growth companies, written three books, and spoken extensively on the subject of entrepreneurship. Now the CEO of M&A Capital Corp. and a professor of entrepreneurship at Trinity Western University in Vancouver, B.C., Goossen recently decided to tackle the question:Can entrepreneurship be taught? (Businessweek.com, 10/30/06)
"If I go into any social setting, people always wonder how can you teach entrepreneurship," says Goossen. So he decided to explore the topic further. He rounded up a group of entrepreneurship experts ranging from Peter Drucker (Businessweek.com, 11/28/05) to Rita Gunther McGrath to Karl Vesper. He culled their insights, broke them down, and published the results in his most recent book, Entrepreneurial Excellence: Profit From the Best Ideas of the Experts (Career Press; 2007). "My motivation was to talk to the top researchers and instructors in the world who teach something that a lot of people think can't be taught," he says.
Goossen came to the conclusion that while there are several elements that can be taught to enhance the knowledge and success of entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship is something one can learn only by doing. "With law or accounting,you can teach a set of principles that a student can master to become a competent practitioner," he says. "But teaching entrepreneurship is tough. In a class it's hard to predict who will do well and who will not."
As a result of his research, Goossen has come up with three entrepreneurial elements that can be taught. The first is general business knowledge—what he calls "the nuts and bolts of management principles and strategic thinking." Next, there are general entrepreneurial principles. "You can lean from what other people have done and where they made mistakes," he says. Finally, he says one can learn to be alert to opportunities in certain fields in a general sense.
What can't be taught, on the other hand, is what Goossen calls "venture specific opportunity principles." By that he means the ability to understand and see specific niches in a market and recognize whether it will be successful or not. "You can't teach someone how to know what will work and what won't," says Goossen. "You can't even duplicate the set of dynamics of a past success."
For a primer on ideas that can be learned from Goossen's roster of experts, flip through this slide show.

Gem Miners of Bokheo

Friday, December 14, 2007
By Andybrouwer

Mining gems, mostly zircon, has taken place for over fifty years in the area surrounding Bokheo, about 30kms east of Ratanakiri's provincial capital of Ban Lung, along that horrendous road I've referred to in previous posts. There's no big mining operation taking place though, its basically a series of deep holes dug into the fields surrounding the small town. Most remain open and unfilled long after the mining has stopped and moved onto another location, so present a danger to wandering tourists like me.`
There were 10 miners at our location, taking it in turns to either squeeze into the 15 metre holes and work in cramped and dangerous conditions underground or to sift through the soil that's brought to the surface for the zircon gems that are in the seams below ground. Sometimes they are lucky and they find a big stone, most times they find smaller, worthless gems. A buyer makes regular trips to the miners to survey their finds. Prices depend on the quality of the stone. A good stone can be the equivalent of a month’s salary, so the miners work in teams of close friends and family as trust is an important factor when sifting through the soil. Foot holds are cut into the inside walls of the hole and below ground some of the more elaborate mines are connected by shafts and tunnels. The work is hard and risky, with only simple tools available, buckets and hand-turned winches to bring the soil to the surface. The buckets are then emptied and the search for the gems begins, aided by a regular swig of rice wine.

Click on the title to see images.

The Return of The Fukuda Doctrine

Like father, like son. Big Bush, small Bush. Having lived in Japan for 2.5 years, I found that Japan is a very networking society both in politics and business ( similar to Cambodia to some extent).

Nice to hear that the dove comes back or a second Cold War will loom, and poor countries will be victims again.

Design for Asia Award 2007

The winners run the gamut from Japan's Fuji Kindergarten to an eco-friendly retreat in the Himalayas by Studio Mumbai Architects
By Frederik Balfour

The Design for Asia Awards, organized by the government-backed Hong Kong Design Center and the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, are now in their fifth year, attracting nearly 600 entries from 20 different countries including Hong Kong. The winners for 2007 reflect just how innovative design can touch every age and level of our modern experience—how we study, shop, listen to music, or take a vacation. The winning designs range from the revolutionary Fuji Kindergarten design by Japan's Takaharu + Yui Tezuka architects, to a project by architecture students at the Chinese University of Hong Kong for a stone-and-wood footbridge in China's Gansu province that can be taken apart and reassembled after floods, to a remote eco-friendly retreat in the Indian Himalayas by Studio Mumbai Architects.

Here is a glimpse of some of the winning designs.

read the story

Luther Vandross - Your Secret Love

JR東海 X'mas Express 歴代CM 1988年～1992年

The first Japanese song I fall in love with. Make me so relaxeddd

Asia-Pacific Economy Likely to Slow Down

Asia Pacific economy is likely to slow down due to subprime problem in the US.

Mount Fuji's Winter View from the Top of a Vocano at Ito

1979 Sino-VN War: Why VN Invaded Cambodia?

The article highlights a comprehensive analysis of Sino-VN war. It gives the causes and effects of the war: Why VN invaded Cambodia and why China invaded VN latter. Many interesting lessons to learn.

Angkor Documentary

This is the best documentary about Angkor I have ever seen but some information needs to be corrected such as the uses of Baray. Cambodian scholars must play more important roles in glorifying our heritages rather than letting those foreigners claim whatever they wish. Enjoy

My prof. and Seminar Friends at Ito National Park

Nikko World Heritage Site

Cambodia's Cowboy Capitalism

By roatha007

While Cambodia has enjoyed rapid economic growth recently, the growth foundation and mechanism are very unhealthy. Cowboy capitalists and corrupt politicians have transformed Cambodia into a Wild West. It grows at the expense of the poor,national identity and environment. Foreign companies and racket businessmen control almost everything. The rent-seeking gov't is so inactive and incapable. Some apparent consequences are huge income gap and environmental destruction. Without good governance and the rule of law, Cambodia will be in great danger in long run. The loss will be irreversible.