It was shocking and extremely sad to read about Mr Teoh Beng Hock’s death yesterday. Watching the TV news, I initially thought he had committed suicide (by jumping off the MACC building in Shah Alam). But later after reading more blogs/news reports /comments made by his family/friends/colleagues, it is not so clear now….mystery of death remains
I had earlier mentioned about the possibility of joining the MACC (in name of national service) when it was first set up. I thought an MACC job will just be the typical office work with piles and piles of paper work like following paper trail, scrutinizing accounts, names and networks etc., a job like that of an auditor. Didn’t know and never imagined that it will involve questioning witnesses, suspects etc until wee hours in the morning….and certainly never imagined a death would be associated with the agency
And just before that tragic day, the Sun newspaper had published an interesting piece on MACC …
Doubts over MACC’s partiality by Terence Fernandez
ON June 10, Citizen Nades and I were seated in the office of Daniel Li, the deputy commissioner of Hongkong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC). What was to be a courtesy call on the island’s No1 graft fighter turned into a counselling session where we poured out our frustrations over the implementation of the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act which Li had helped to draft.
"Surely it can’t be that bad," Li said, pointing out the various provisions that have been included in the Act including the five committees to oversee the activities of the commission.
He raised his eyebrows when we told him that certain provisions, such as having assets disproportionate to one’s income, were omitted……
(to read more go to: http://www.sun2surf.com/article.cfm?id=35877)
Monday, July 20, 2009
Monday, July 13, 2009
Testing your business ideas
Recently, another friend told me that she is thinking about starting her own business and should her business turns out to be successful, she will gladly quit her job. I am sure most people (including myself) have had such thoughts before but may be hindered because they don’t know how / where to start, they lack capital etc. Though I will share some tips with everyone:
Firstly, to start a business, one needs an idea. However, a good business idea is only the first step and it takes a LOT more than a good idea for entrepreneurial success. But that’s a topic for another day.
So, what is the “right” business idea? Well, if you don’t have one, try googling for a list of ideas (try key search words: “business”, “ideas”, “start”). Here’s a sample list:
www.nichegeek.com/10_totally_stupid_online_business_ideas_that_made_someone_rich
http://www.business-idea.com/
http://www.coolbusinessideas.com/
www.bizymoms.com/ideas.html
As you will see, there is definitely no shortage of ideas and most are not new. My personal belief is that one doesn’t need to have a novel idea in order to build a successful business – a good example is Jobstreet, a very successful Malaysian company which provides online job listing services. But JS did not pioneer the idea of a career website/job board. The idea was conceived by US-company called Monster way back in early 1990s, I think. JS successfully applied this idea in Malaysia and later expanded to other parts of Asia.
Say, you have now made a shortlist of promising business ideas or you believe you already have a great business idea. Before you invest all your resources (time, money) into the idea, it is good to put the idea to test…you know, to see if it is worth pursuing. Basically this involves answering the following major questions:
Is there a market for your product/services?
Do you have the capability (knowledge, skills, experience) to run the business?
How much can you potentially make?
(for a more comprehensive list, check this website: www.cfquesnel.com/.../Testing%20Business%20Ideas%20-%2008.pdf
Do your research. Where do you get information about the marketplace etc? Every where. Examples:
(a) Internet -- cheap and convenient. Say you want to set up an organic restaurant in Klang Valley. You can check out competition by googling using search words such as “restaurant”, “organic”, “Malaysia”. Or you may check out if there’s any successful organic restaurant in this world and if yes, what are their key success factors. Or you may try to get an idea of the size of the local organic food industry by googling usig search words such as “market”; “size”; “organic”; “Malaysia”.
(b) company annual reports - you can get reports of listed or non-listed cos. in Malaysia by paying a small fee to Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia http://www.ssm.com.my/). You can get free copies of the annual reports of listed companies (in any parts of the world). E.g. if co is listed in US stock exchange, you can go to http://www.sec.gov/ to download these reports. By reviewing the co annual reports, you can, for example, get an idea of how much a competitor makes per year.
(c) surveys/focus group studies – you can conduct a small survey amongst friends/acquaintances and to find out they wants/needs; to see if they will buy your products/services etc.
(d) cold calls – Say I wanted to estimate the cost of running my organic restaurant business. I would google for the list of organic food suppliers and then call a few of them to ask for a quotation (even though I have yet to set up my business). I will call a real estate agent and asked about rental at my short-listed locations. Some may not respond, but you’ll be surprised that you may get a few helpful ones
(e) market research reports – usually you have to pay $$$ for these. Unless you have the extra cash to spare, then I would suggest skipping this
(f) contacts within industry – you may have a friend who has worked in the food industry / managed a restaurant before. Try contacting him/her and get as much useful info as possible. For e.g., what are the peak hours? How many staff do you need? What’s typical staff turnover and the main reasons for staff turnover? Who are the suppliers and what’s typical payment terms?
(g) observation – say, you want to set up this restaurant at Bangsar. You can spend time at a similar restaurant there to check out the customer traffic during a weekday vs. weekends. Observe -- the average spend per table etc. the average time spent by customer; etc.
Armed with information collected, you can now make a better decision as to whether or not to pursue your idea. It is best if you can also get an objective, hard-nosed person to critique your plan (if possible). Why? Because most people want to believe that their ideas/plans will succeed so much so that they are sometimes blinded to extent that they are not able to see the pitfalls/ flaws of their ideas.
However most people believe that sharing ideas is risky – what if someone steals my idea? Firstly, the risk can be mitigated. For e.g., if you are extremely worried that your well-thought idea/plan may be stolen, then share your ideas only with people whom you know well and trust. Also, don’t share everything – e.g., say, you have done a lot of research on a potential business idea/plan and now have a good understanding of the marketplace, competition, supply chain, cost structure etc. Don’t tell everything that you know…One can still get good feedback by sharing only 40-50% (the gist) of what you know.
Secondly, if it so happens that someone has stolen your idea, it is not the end of the world. You can still go ahead with your plan as long as you know that you can be better than your copycat competitor. Remember, it takes so so much more than just a “great” business idea to build a successful business – ultimately, it’s all about execution and a bit of luck.
Firstly, to start a business, one needs an idea. However, a good business idea is only the first step and it takes a LOT more than a good idea for entrepreneurial success. But that’s a topic for another day.
So, what is the “right” business idea? Well, if you don’t have one, try googling for a list of ideas (try key search words: “business”, “ideas”, “start”). Here’s a sample list:
www.nichegeek.com/10_totally_stupid_online_business_ideas_that_made_someone_rich
http://www.business-idea.com/
http://www.coolbusinessideas.com/
www.bizymoms.com/ideas.html
As you will see, there is definitely no shortage of ideas and most are not new. My personal belief is that one doesn’t need to have a novel idea in order to build a successful business – a good example is Jobstreet, a very successful Malaysian company which provides online job listing services. But JS did not pioneer the idea of a career website/job board. The idea was conceived by US-company called Monster way back in early 1990s, I think. JS successfully applied this idea in Malaysia and later expanded to other parts of Asia.
Say, you have now made a shortlist of promising business ideas or you believe you already have a great business idea. Before you invest all your resources (time, money) into the idea, it is good to put the idea to test…you know, to see if it is worth pursuing. Basically this involves answering the following major questions:
Is there a market for your product/services?
Do you have the capability (knowledge, skills, experience) to run the business?
How much can you potentially make?
(for a more comprehensive list, check this website: www.cfquesnel.com/.../Testing%20Business%20Ideas%20-%2008.pdf
Do your research. Where do you get information about the marketplace etc? Every where. Examples:
(a) Internet -- cheap and convenient. Say you want to set up an organic restaurant in Klang Valley. You can check out competition by googling using search words such as “restaurant”, “organic”, “Malaysia”. Or you may check out if there’s any successful organic restaurant in this world and if yes, what are their key success factors. Or you may try to get an idea of the size of the local organic food industry by googling usig search words such as “market”; “size”; “organic”; “Malaysia”.
(b) company annual reports - you can get reports of listed or non-listed cos. in Malaysia by paying a small fee to Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia http://www.ssm.com.my/). You can get free copies of the annual reports of listed companies (in any parts of the world). E.g. if co is listed in US stock exchange, you can go to http://www.sec.gov/ to download these reports. By reviewing the co annual reports, you can, for example, get an idea of how much a competitor makes per year.
(c) surveys/focus group studies – you can conduct a small survey amongst friends/acquaintances and to find out they wants/needs; to see if they will buy your products/services etc.
(d) cold calls – Say I wanted to estimate the cost of running my organic restaurant business. I would google for the list of organic food suppliers and then call a few of them to ask for a quotation (even though I have yet to set up my business). I will call a real estate agent and asked about rental at my short-listed locations. Some may not respond, but you’ll be surprised that you may get a few helpful ones
(e) market research reports – usually you have to pay $$$ for these. Unless you have the extra cash to spare, then I would suggest skipping this
(f) contacts within industry – you may have a friend who has worked in the food industry / managed a restaurant before. Try contacting him/her and get as much useful info as possible. For e.g., what are the peak hours? How many staff do you need? What’s typical staff turnover and the main reasons for staff turnover? Who are the suppliers and what’s typical payment terms?
(g) observation – say, you want to set up this restaurant at Bangsar. You can spend time at a similar restaurant there to check out the customer traffic during a weekday vs. weekends. Observe -- the average spend per table etc. the average time spent by customer; etc.
Armed with information collected, you can now make a better decision as to whether or not to pursue your idea. It is best if you can also get an objective, hard-nosed person to critique your plan (if possible). Why? Because most people want to believe that their ideas/plans will succeed so much so that they are sometimes blinded to extent that they are not able to see the pitfalls/ flaws of their ideas.
However most people believe that sharing ideas is risky – what if someone steals my idea? Firstly, the risk can be mitigated. For e.g., if you are extremely worried that your well-thought idea/plan may be stolen, then share your ideas only with people whom you know well and trust. Also, don’t share everything – e.g., say, you have done a lot of research on a potential business idea/plan and now have a good understanding of the marketplace, competition, supply chain, cost structure etc. Don’t tell everything that you know…One can still get good feedback by sharing only 40-50% (the gist) of what you know.
Secondly, if it so happens that someone has stolen your idea, it is not the end of the world. You can still go ahead with your plan as long as you know that you can be better than your copycat competitor. Remember, it takes so so much more than just a “great” business idea to build a successful business – ultimately, it’s all about execution and a bit of luck.
Friday, May 8, 2009
KPIs for Cabinet Ministers - countries that have also implemented such system
The PM announced weeks ago that our Cabinet Ministers would be evaluated through a KPI system. The system would be finalised by this month - personally I thought the timeline given to draw up a KPI system is tight. But I suppose with the help of the many expert consultants in this area, the timeline could probably still be manageable
Having a KPI system to monitor and evaluate a Minister's performance and the executive agencies under his/her Ministry is not new - it has been implemeneted for various years in many countries as far as Colombia, Chile, UAE, France. CLoser by, Singapore, i believe, does not have KPI for individual Ministers but have report KPIs for whole Ministry
In some countries, the KPIs set seem simplistic - For example, in France, one of the KPIs for the Minister of Immigration is the number of illegals expelled; for Minister of Higher Education - number of students that drop out in Year 1. Other countries have adopted a more comprehensive approach - The UAE government monitors 3000 performance indicators online, not only for Ministers but also all government agencies. Colombia too do so but best of all, the public can access performance reports. That's
Since i cant read spanish and arab, it is quite hard to assess which system is better and analyse what are the lessons malaysia can learn from other countries' system . but our government should have no problems to contact these countries, and try to learn from their experiences and
draw out the best for our system
Hopefully the KPIs set for Ministers would be made public - then we can debate whether the KPIs make sense/too easy/covers all aspects of Minster's performance. We can also compare them with other countries
Having a KPI system to monitor and evaluate a Minister's performance and the executive agencies under his/her Ministry is not new - it has been implemeneted for various years in many countries as far as Colombia, Chile, UAE, France. CLoser by, Singapore, i believe, does not have KPI for individual Ministers but have report KPIs for whole Ministry
In some countries, the KPIs set seem simplistic - For example, in France, one of the KPIs for the Minister of Immigration is the number of illegals expelled; for Minister of Higher Education - number of students that drop out in Year 1. Other countries have adopted a more comprehensive approach - The UAE government monitors 3000 performance indicators online, not only for Ministers but also all government agencies. Colombia too do so but best of all, the public can access performance reports. That's
Since i cant read spanish and arab, it is quite hard to assess which system is better and analyse what are the lessons malaysia can learn from other countries' system . but our government should have no problems to contact these countries, and try to learn from their experiences and
draw out the best for our system
Hopefully the KPIs set for Ministers would be made public - then we can debate whether the KPIs make sense/too easy/covers all aspects of Minster's performance. We can also compare them with other countries
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
writing complaint letters
Writing complaint letters have never been easy. How does one put his/her frustrations / anger / disappointment / distraught etc down into words? To whom should the letter/email be addressed to? What would be your next course of action if you did not get a reply and reply is not to your satisfaction?
I have written several letters to various types of organizations, mainly to complain about their lack of professionalism /poor service / lackadaisical attitude etc. in the past. Thought I can share some tips with with everyone.
1) Do not write when you are extremely angry. It does not serve much purpose to use derogatory words such as stupid, idiot, useless etc. to vent out your anger / frustration. This will only reflect badly on you. You can however state that you were angry/extremey upset with the organization etc. Or adopt a sarcastic tone in your letter/email (I always do) . E.g. I always quote the great Warren Buffet in my complaint: “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently”
2) Provide facts. Remember, the party reading your letter/ email has no inkling as to what has happened. Emails (presumably very few people write letters to be sent by post these days) has to be as factually correct as possible - try not to exaggerate. Remember, the party whom you are complaining against, may later use your email against you. So you have to be careful over what you write. E.g., should you decide to take legal action later, whatever you wrote may weaken your case
3) Address email/letter to the "right" party. This is the hardest part. This is what I normally do.
I have written several letters to various types of organizations, mainly to complain about their lack of professionalism /poor service / lackadaisical attitude etc. in the past. Thought I can share some tips with with everyone.
1) Do not write when you are extremely angry. It does not serve much purpose to use derogatory words such as stupid, idiot, useless etc. to vent out your anger / frustration. This will only reflect badly on you. You can however state that you were angry/extremey upset with the organization etc. Or adopt a sarcastic tone in your letter/email (I always do) . E.g. I always quote the great Warren Buffet in my complaint: “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently”
2) Provide facts. Remember, the party reading your letter/ email has no inkling as to what has happened. Emails (presumably very few people write letters to be sent by post these days) has to be as factually correct as possible - try not to exaggerate. Remember, the party whom you are complaining against, may later use your email against you. So you have to be careful over what you write. E.g., should you decide to take legal action later, whatever you wrote may weaken your case
3) Address email/letter to the "right" party. This is the hardest part. This is what I normally do.
- First, I would write a complaint email to the organization itself. To get the relevant email address (ie complaints dept or customer service email add), you can check their website. If you cant get the "relevant" one, address your complaint to the general email address that you can find on website. e.g. info@CoABC.com.my. As long as your email has been "sent" to organization, that should be ok. Then wait for a reply. Give them say 2 weeks.
- If they did not reply after 2 weeks, escalate your complaint up to the highest level in the organization. Find out the email address of the CEO / directors etc. You can call the general line and demand for the email address of the CEO. Or try to google (e.g. if you want to make complaint against Co ABC, try using search words such as "@CoABC.com", "email" etc). If you can get the CEO/director's email add, write another email telling them that you were extremely disappointed that they have failed to respond to your earlier complaint (attach the first complaint email). This usually works --- You can be quite assured that you'll get a prompt reply (within the day itself). The customer service manager may suddenly call you personally, giving you his/her handphone number should you need any further assistance.
- If you cant get the director's nor CEO's email add, then just write randomly to anyone in organization. Google for anyone with the email address "@CoABC.com.my" and send your complaint to as many people as possible in the organization. Quite likely, one of the staff members would forward your complaint to the relevant party within organization.
- If their reply is not to your satisfaction, write another email, but, this time, to the relevant governing authorities. E.g., if you are complaining against a bank and the bank's explanation is not to your satisfaction, then write to Bank Negara. - see list below
- Sometimes, instead of writing to the authorities, you can write to a third party whose opinion may matter to the party whom you are complaining against. E.g., if you want to complain about poor services of an airlines, you can write to Skytrax. Skytrax is an independent organization which rate airlines annually. E.g., a bank may be awarded the accolade of being the best bank in Malaysia by a magazine. Write to that magazine editor and tell the editor how strongly you disagree and why. But make sure that you CC the bank/airlines etc. so that they know the cost of bad/poor customer service... One may also write to mainstream newspapers, consumer groups etc.
4) Useful list - to complain against:
- telecommunications co - write to Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission http://www.skmm.gov.my/
- banks - Bank Negara Malaysia http://www.bnm.gov.my/
- doctors - Malaysian Medical Council http://www.mmc.gov.my/
- dentists - Patient COmplaints Bureau Committee under Malaysian Dental Association http://www.mda.org.my/
- hospitals - Association of Private Hospitals of Malaysia http://www.hospitals-malaysia.org/ or Ministry of Health http://www.moh.gov.my/
- airlines - Skytrax http://www.airlinequality.com/
- property developers - http://www.kpkt.gov.my/ (Local Govt and Housing Ministry), National House Buyers Association of Malaysia http://www.hba.org.my/
- General - National Consumer Complaints Centre (NCCC) http://www.crcc.org.my/
- Refund of $$ - Small Claims Tribunal ( no legal fees required, only $5 application fee)
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Gong Xi Fa Cai
To all Chinese celebrating CNY
Gong Xi Fa Cai!
May the Year of Ox bring you abundance of happiness and health
Gong Xi Fa Cai!
May the Year of Ox bring you abundance of happiness and health
MACC vacancies
Wow...17,000 people applying for only 43 vacancies in Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC). I am very surprised..but i suppose i shouldnt be as times are bad and nothing is more secure than a govt. job at this point in time
I too initially thought applying for a post in MACC. Not so much because such a job is secure (my current job is well-paying, with excellent benefits and govt-related too. I sometimes think my co should be given the "Employer of the Year" accolade) but because i believe in MACC's objectives and wanted to play my part in fighting corruption. Perhaps it is too early to say if MACC will be any different from its predecessor ACA. But as I told a friend, if they are truly able to stay to its objectives of fighting corruption impartially, then I may even take huge paycut to join them if need be. Working for a noble and just cause
Will give them a year or two to see how effective they are ....
I too initially thought applying for a post in MACC. Not so much because such a job is secure (my current job is well-paying, with excellent benefits and govt-related too. I sometimes think my co should be given the "Employer of the Year" accolade) but because i believe in MACC's objectives and wanted to play my part in fighting corruption. Perhaps it is too early to say if MACC will be any different from its predecessor ACA. But as I told a friend, if they are truly able to stay to its objectives of fighting corruption impartially, then I may even take huge paycut to join them if need be. Working for a noble and just cause
Will give them a year or two to see how effective they are ....
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Happy 2009
Happy 2009 to everyone - may the new year bring peace, more happiness, better health to everyone
Monday, November 3, 2008
Air Asia: Where Nothing Comes For Free
I went on a short trip to Krabi with some friends. The trip itself was fun but not my experience flying with Air Asia.
Firstly, flight to Krabi was delayed by 2 hours, and we were only informed via SMS 2 hours before departure while we were on the way to the airport. Can't do anything about delay except sit and wait at the crowded airport terminal. Of course, one can never get through the ever busy call center to confirm flight delay. And of course, there were no apologies/smiles/greetings from the flight attendants when we boarded the plane.
Next, while at Krabi airport, i had asked the airport staff for a transparent plastic bag to put my toiletries as I did not check in my bag. The airport staff asked me to see the Air Asia's check-in staff instead. When I asked the check-in staff for one, she curtly told me to buy one from Air Asia's sales counter. When I pointed out that these plastic bags are normally given FOC to passengers, she told me rather rudely that Air Asia is a budget airlines and nothing comes free
I think that should be Air Asia's new tagline - " Air Asia...where nothing is free"
First, they charge us for meals and water. Then, check-in bags and express boarding. Now, plastic bags. Next, we'll have to pay if we want the flight attendants smile at/greet us!!
Firstly, flight to Krabi was delayed by 2 hours, and we were only informed via SMS 2 hours before departure while we were on the way to the airport. Can't do anything about delay except sit and wait at the crowded airport terminal. Of course, one can never get through the ever busy call center to confirm flight delay. And of course, there were no apologies/smiles/greetings from the flight attendants when we boarded the plane.
Next, while at Krabi airport, i had asked the airport staff for a transparent plastic bag to put my toiletries as I did not check in my bag. The airport staff asked me to see the Air Asia's check-in staff instead. When I asked the check-in staff for one, she curtly told me to buy one from Air Asia's sales counter. When I pointed out that these plastic bags are normally given FOC to passengers, she told me rather rudely that Air Asia is a budget airlines and nothing comes free
I think that should be Air Asia's new tagline - " Air Asia...where nothing is free"
First, they charge us for meals and water. Then, check-in bags and express boarding. Now, plastic bags. Next, we'll have to pay if we want the flight attendants smile at/greet us!!
Friday, October 10, 2008
Market Carnage
Stock markets down across Asia. Dow Jones plunged to its 5-year low to close below 9000 level.
Bursa Malaysia is similarly affected, down by nearly 3% this morning
I am not a contrarion investor (like Warren Buffet) - it takes a lot of guts to buy in a plunging market and when everyone else is so bearish. But I do think there could be some really good bargains out there.... I am going to do my shortlist (soon) and be brave
Trying to catch a falling knive..
Bursa Malaysia is similarly affected, down by nearly 3% this morning
I am not a contrarion investor (like Warren Buffet) - it takes a lot of guts to buy in a plunging market and when everyone else is so bearish. But I do think there could be some really good bargains out there.... I am going to do my shortlist (soon) and be brave
Trying to catch a falling knive..
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
The Riskiness of Blogging...
By now, a lot of people would have read or know of about a blog entitled Sammy Bammy, which gained "prominence" over an allegedly racist article that the blogger posted. The blogger has subsequently apologised, but she is now major public figure (for the wrong reasons).
Hers was meant to be a "private" blog for friends etc. and I think she never ever thought her postings would be read by the public (i think it was a member of public who alerted MKini over her "racist" posting)
Similarly, when I started blogging not long ago, I don't have much expectations that anyone would read my blog. But one would never know...as Sammy had learnt the hard way.
Although I am no racist and dont offer any any political commentaries in my blog (I do follow politics keenly though), I still have to remind myself to be careful over what I post.
Never write when in rage. Never hit below the belt....well, my beliefs, anyway.
Hers was meant to be a "private" blog for friends etc. and I think she never ever thought her postings would be read by the public (i think it was a member of public who alerted MKini over her "racist" posting)
Similarly, when I started blogging not long ago, I don't have much expectations that anyone would read my blog. But one would never know...as Sammy had learnt the hard way.
Although I am no racist and dont offer any any political commentaries in my blog (I do follow politics keenly though), I still have to remind myself to be careful over what I post.
Never write when in rage. Never hit below the belt....well, my beliefs, anyway.
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