Vietnamese Citizen - Pride!

Today is the last day of third Residential PMP Program in Penang. It should be one more year I might be coming back here, staying in B-Suite where I am in writing this blog, just to share with you what I have been experiencing this time. Penang is still here: so nice, sweet, and in order. The weather in Penang should be cold season now but comparing to the one of where I come from, it is warm here. It rains sometimes, as I witness, 3 nights. People speak English, serve with excellence, and response with heart to request. Everytime I am here, I still find something new and interesting. Just right in front of the hotel I am staying, people put their buckets along the street to reserve the parking place! Like in VN, we put a brick to reserve our place. When we took the ferry over the sea, I can tell Penang is like any other places. Poor people choose cheap means of transportation. The ferry is very big, and creates the feeling of safety for passengers. Penang is not really big, but the deep-sea port often welcomes star-cruises. From the ferry, I saw 3 star-cruises at the port. So amazing regardless of poor investments in beach tourism. Tourists come here for ancient town named George, an UNESCO World Cultural Heritage City in Penang. People come here for shopping. People come here for the retained naturals. This time is not for shopping, but shoppers think (out-of-the-box) of different ways to sell. In July, I enjoyed 50%, even up to 70% discount (sale-off). This time, only 10% or maximum but rare 50% only. From Gurney Shopping Mall to hotel B-Suite, I took the taxi and one thing happened that recover my memory of an old friend. The taxi driver is around 28, but his knowledge seems to be huge! He can speak English fluently, talk about financial crisis, history of Vietnam, the current world situations... He deserves a good job from a good company, not driving taxi. We think this man used to study too much and faced a shock of his life, then he sometimes looses his control on what he's talking about. C'est la vie!

That's Penang, a state of Malaysia! Coming to Penang this time, the Vietnamese student group has made a very impressive performance at the Gala Dinner celebrating EDS Business School's 8th Anniversary. The ladies wear "ao dai" - a traditional dress of Vietnamese women. Men wear casually. We sing the song "Den voi con nguoi Vietnam toi" (Come to my Vietnamese People), with the music played back. SGN group also brought VN flags for us to swing. When we are going to leave the party, one of the lady reminds others not to leave the flags there. I do think that's an admirable and thoughtful person. When we go outboundary, we are not us at all. We represent Vietnam and Vietnamese people. Whatever we do, whatever we say and however we behave, it reflects Vietnamese behaviors. That is why in assignments, in group discussion, we try our best not to be backward to foreign students. So far the reality has proved that Vietnamese students are the best, best in joining the discussion, best in giving valuable ideas, best in presentation, best in many other activities. Today, after all sessions had ended, we gathered for closing, photo taken, certificate delivery and recognition. One of the members of the school showed us 3 shows from his camera. One performance was Indian Dance, one was break dance - for fun. The rest was so crazy and of non-sense! 2 Vietnamese and 1 Malaysian ladies are in the street or shopping mall... A handsome and young man approached and tried to make acquaitaince with these ladies, of course, not 3 at the same time. He tried one by one, and all the three girls pushed him out, even slapped him away. Then came another young man holding money in hand, showing his money, walking around the three ladies. The three ladies immediately held his hands, lean his shoulder and followed him. Badly was this man a Malaysian guy. Worse were 2 of the 3 ladies Vietnamese! And worst did most of people in the performance and in the room seeing the clip clap their hands and laughed in an innocent manner!!!

I agree that was just a show for fun. But don't people remember they are Vietnamese people and are in Malaysia - a foreign country, not their country? What will Malaysian, Singaporean people think about Vietnamese people in general and Vietnamese women in particular? I am very upset with this show and of course I never clap my hands for such a "-------" activity!

If any of my schoolmates reads this blog, they may think that I am too serious, even some will think I'm mad, and even some will email me and critisize me. I welcome all, as I know the true value of my country, true value of my people, and true value of each bahavior Vietnamese people make. If this had happened in VN, there wouldn't have been a matter to think. If this had been shown among Vietnamese people only, there would have been very fine. Who thought of this show should think about it seriously.

Time to sleep for tomorrow flight.

Penang Nov 12 - 2010#23:15

Penang - A Place to come...

Welcome to Penang!

Penang is a city where I fly from Kuala Lumpur (KL). It takes about 50 minutes to fly there and about 8 hours to go by bus, also from KL. Tourists can travel from KL to Penang by train, but it will take more time and make travellers tired. My study program takes place in Penang city, A Pearl of Orient! Over the other side of famous Penang bridge is called mainland, but actually it is centered in this side. The hotel I stay is B-suite, which is 19 storey building. The room is about 50-60 square metres wide and the floor is totally wooded. Bathroom is ok with shampoo, bath foam... but no tooth paste and tooth brush available as in many other hotels. Indoor entertainment is a little bit boring as there are only 8 channels including local and 2 international ones (BBC News & AXN). There are milk tea, corn powder and coffeemate in the room with a pot which can be used for hot water. Internet is available in the room but we should bring a cable with us, or else we have to buy one @ 30RM (equivalent to 180,000 VND).

When I am there for my study, breakfast is served every morning and lunch will be free after morning session (but on break day, I have to take care of myself!). Breakfast is all the same all days, with fried rice, boiled eggs, sauted bean, cereal with milk, bread with jam. Fruit juice and fresh water are ready in 2 different pots. Lunch is a little bit big, with rice, sweet chicken, fried fish or fish cooked with tofu. Sometimes we have morning glory. Drinks are all the same. How interesting it is that dessert is always water melon, after breakfast or lunch. Dinner? Just 5 minutes walking behind the hotel, there is one Chinese Restaurant named "Red Chopstick", one Japanese restaurant and one Korean restaurant, called Daore. I often have dinner at Korean's, with "chao ga" = chicken portridge. Sometimes I dine at Queen's Bay Mall in a res named "Stick", where they serve simple seafood and some other dishes (which I suppose not to be good enough), and I can have beer here. It's a little bit challenging to find beer here. As a matter of fact, beer turns out to be more expensive than anywhere else. One big bottle of Tiger costs me around 15,000 VND in VN but 84,000 VND in Penang. To find beer, I have to take a taxi. It is helpful to build good relationship with a taxi driver, who can drive us here and there with a reasonable fare. One of my "friend", Mr Mundiani, a taxi driver, is a very kind man. If I ask the hotel to call me a taxi, the fare will be 5 RM more. Why? Usually do the hotel ask me where I want to go so that they know how much I will pay and the taxi driver has to charge me extra, which will be passed to the hotel. For instance, I take a taxi from B-suite hotel to Queen's Bay Mall, I have to pay 15 RM if the hotel call taxi for me, but only 10RM if I make a direct call to my taxi- driver friend. Queen's Bay mall is a good place to shop. I can find Bonia, Carlo Rino, Levi's, Giordiano, Bossini, Gap, Polo, Adidas, Nike.... and they often have promotion programs all year round. Another Shopping mall is called Gurney Plaza, which is bigger than Queen's Bay with various ranges of recognized brands. Again sales-off is the best way for their business. My taxi-driver friend charge me 30RM while my classmates pay 35RM (5RM will be passed to hotel!!!). Close to Gurney, there is a good seafod restaurant named "Orient Seafood". Wow, this is the best place, I can tell, I can find in Penang. Fresh good seafood, good service, good beer (Heineken), good view to the ocean, and to some extent, good price...are all what I enjoy in Orient Seafood.

Last time, I had a chance to go over the fabulous Penang Bridge. It took me about 1,5 hours to go to and back and my pocket was 70 RM short afterthen! It is a trully beautiful bridge.

Penang is about 1,000 square km and is the second biggest state in Malaysia. Once coming to Penang, you should visit George Town, a heritage city recognized by UNESCO. Housing in Penang is ok with most of people here. An apartment in a building block is valued from 120,000 RM to 190,000 RM. A terrace house (separate) is about 700,000 RM - 900,000 RM worth. Teachers and bank clerks are two jobs that most of people want, which can bring you 4,000 RM - 6,000 RM a month, while popular labors earn around 1,700 RM - 2,500 RM/month. Malaysian people go to public Malaysian schools do not pay anything. The government finances everything. But for other communities like Chinese, Indian..., it's quite different.

Traffice in Penang is not a big problem. I am very impressed to see a man driver in his priority lane waits for a lady driver to pass by even though she is not in the first lane. I ask him why, he says just because that's a lady. People's concept is simple but meaningful. I think many other peoples not only in Asia but also in the world should learn...

To Penang, explore new things, find useful information, and learn, learn, learn...

Organizational Behavior - Penang 2010

This is the second time sitting in the class conducted by Dr Pete Ooi. Dr Pete is a skilled facilitator. Last time I signed for Financial Management with a assumptions that this subject would be tough. It is tough but Dr Pete approached the topic easily and to me, comfortably. This time, it is the same. There is no doubt that Organizational Behavior is something like art while Financial Management is more than with science. Organizational Behavior (hereafter called OB) "is a study of how individuals and groups perform together within an organization. It focuses on the best way to manage individuals, groups and organizations, and processes. OB is an extensive topic and includes management, theories and practices of motivation, and the fundamentals of organizational structure and design" (Steven Stralser, Ph.D, (2004), "MBA in a day", John Stralser, p.43). What is management all about? It is all about deciding what to do and getting things done thru the effective use of resources. It is also about providing direction, facilitating change and achieving results thru effective, creative and responsible use of resources. For a manager to be successful, there are some qualities:

• Balanced learning habits and skills
• Self-knowledge, self-awareness, self-disclosure
• Mental agility, toughness, determination, perseverance, and willingness to work hard
• Command of basic facts, relevant professional knowledge, sensitivity to events
• Skills in problem identification, problem solving, decision making, judgement making
• Social skills, ability to inspire enthusiasm
• Proactive attitude, willingness to take risks
• Emotional resilience
• Creativity

Are they too many for a successful manager? To me, it's rationale. It is not easy to be successful in a fast-moving economy/ industry. People have to learn more, work harder, and think smarter. There are three things that a person needs to have: Knowlege which can be learnt, Skills which can be trained, and Habits which can be practiced. However, one more thing that is so important to a person is Attitude. Everything can be achieved thru learning, training, practising but Attitutes is hard to change. Attitude influences the process of dong tasks. Positive attitudes drive people to doing things well. Negative attitudes demotivate people from passion & willingness in doing tasks. We can have richer knowledge, more skillful and better habits. But once we hold negative attitudes, it's very difficult to move to positive. These 4 elements from KASH, of which pronunciation sounds like CASH. If you want to have cash, you should have KASH! To have KASK, you just rely only 20% on training, 30% on relationship, but up to 50% on "hard knocks" (Ron Zemke (Aug 1985): “The Honeywell Studies: How Managers Learn To Manage”, p. 46-51). What is it meaning? Training provides you basical and theoretical phylosophy. Relationship can help your business go smoother. When you apply what you learn from training, with your relationship attributes, you may be successful or may not. "Hard Knocks" implies the situation in which you fail and have to pay for its price. So tough!

Everybody can talk about leadership, roles of leaders, functions of leaders. If we carry out these roles or functions effectively and efficiently, "hard knocks" will be limited. From my reading, there are 3 roles for leaders:

• Interpersonal: Leaders play the roles of Figurehead (Team Builder), Leader (Coach), and Liason (Delegator)
• Informational: roles of Disseminator & spokeperson
• Decisional: roles of Entrepreneur, Disturbance Handler, Resources Allocator, and Negotiator

and 8 functions for an effective and efficient manager are: Planning, Organizing, Communicating, Staffing, Leading, Motivating, Decision Making and Controlling.

A manager also needs skills to do go jobs:
• Conceptual skills
• Technical skills: Diagnostic skills & Time management skills
• Human skills: Interpersonal skills & Influencial skills.

John Maxell said "A leader is the person who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way". General Collin Powell said "The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help them or concluded that you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership."

From these point of view, I think about three things: Competency, Charisteristics, and Care (3 Cs). If you have Competency, Charisteristics and Care, people will follow you! Again, this brings me back to General Collin Powell "Good leadership involves responsibility to the welfare of the group, which means that some people will get angry at your actions and decisions. It's inevitable, if you're honorable. Trying to get everyone to like you is a sign of mediocrity: you'll avoid the tough decisions, you'll avoid confronting the people who need to be confronted, and you'll avoid offering differential rewards based on differential performance because some people might get upset. Ironically, by procrastinating on the difficult choices, by trying not to get anyone mad, and by treating everyone equally "nicely" regardless of their contributions, you'll simply ensure that the only people you'll wind up angering are the most creative and productive people in the organization".

That's my personal understanding. What I have been learning from this MBA Program are almost similar. Yet there are some other interesting things I think I will post up. Once I do this, it helps me remember my lessons and this is considered a source of consolidation... (con't)

Business Research Methods - Penang 2010 (con't)

I would share my understanding about a layout of a research paper. There are 5 parts inside: Problem Statement as Chapter 1, then Literature Review (also referred to as Information Search) as Chapter 2. Chapter 3 is all about Research Design (also ref. to as Research Methodology). Chapter 4 comes with title Findings (ref. to as Analysis) and final chapter is Recommendation. These 5 chapters are also understood to be 5 steps in Decision Making Process: Identify Problem - Information Search - Diagnosis Assessment - Evaluation of Alternatives - Decision.

With Chapter 1, usually does a researcher indentify the subject of the research, trends of research and phenomena or opportunities of the research. It is also replaced by another general name - INTRODUCTION. In the INTRODUCTION, researcher provides a big picture about the topic researched. That might be the current situation (bigger pre-view), with the trend up or down leading to the opportunities or phenomena respectively. When we state a fact or phenomena, and when we give any statement, even hypothesis, we must have sources of reference supporting the statement or any reported facts/figures.

Example: The Research Topic: Why so many students from Vietnam choose MBA Residential Program with EDS.

Introduction

MBA Residential study is the program which provides all students a chance to come and stay at the university campus for a certain period of time to study and do research under guidance of professors.

Based on the record from EDS Business School on registering numbers of Vietnamese student from 2007 to 2009, the figure has increased 20% in comparison with 2 previous years. Therefore, the Residential Program becomes the most favorable study choice of students.

Research Problem

With the supporting figure above, the Vietnamese students are playing the major part in the EDS business now. The main purpose of this paper is to understand the increasing trends of registration at the EDS business in order to expand business in other countries.

Research Objectives
The main objective of this research is to identify the core factors that influence the increase in number of participants. Thus it expects to achieve the following objectives:
1. To identify the core factors that influence the increasing participants
2. To explore the opportunities in other countries for reallocation of resources in investment.
3. To identify the differences in behavioral intention of the respondents based on their characteristics such as age, gender and income level.

In order to achieve the above objectives, following research questions are posed for this study:
1. What are the factors that influence the participants?
2. Which opportunities do we set as the priority for investments?
3. Does characteristics make it diference in decision making?

Theoretical Framework will come afterthen. In the framework, researcher identifies what dependent variables and independent variables are. These variables will appear in a frame/ a chart. Researcher also makes a clear table of Concept, Definition, and Operationalization.

The second chapter will be Literature Review. In this part, researcher will clarify the research objectives, the problem or any issues being discussed or even any argumentative thesis. The Literature Review must be organized around and related directly to the thesis or research question being developped. The Literature Review will synthesize results into a summary of what is known and what is not known. It also identifies areas of controversy and formulates questions that need further research.

For me, as I am not going thru with the course paper, I am guided up to chapter 3 only. The two last chapters are very much in line with information process, information analysis and Recommendations. So Chapter 3 will be called either Research Design or Research Methodology. It is time for searching information for the research. There are different ways to get information: survey, questionnaire, pocket interview, information gathering from agencies, government organs, internet sources....

Theory is there! Solution is here! The only thing is selecting a topic for research and developping it to a complete research report. That's the assignment I am taking...

Business Research Methods - Penang 2010

Oops, we have just done with two days about Business Research. It's a tough subject with wider range of theories and...hypothesis! Why and how people do research are two questions I am still wondering and thinking. Before the class started, I had some assumptions about the subject and topic objectives. I did think after the 2-day module, I can understand what a research is and how to do a research including preparation, draft of a research plan, shape of research tools, and some tips in analysis of research outcomes. My assumptions were not tested so it is called "hypothesis" (in term of business research theory). Now when the class is up and my assumptions have been tested. It turns out to be "fact". It becomes "opportunity". In business research in particular and research study in general, people talk about "assumption", "hypothesis", "opportunities"... I happen to remember a funny story that I read when I was very young. A man was walking in the street and stopped, looked up to the sky and remained standing there for a while, under the heat of the sun. Some people passed by and saw him looking up to the sky. They stopped by the street, got out of their cars, got off their bikes, came closer to the man, and all looked up to the sky. First, only the man did. Several seconds later, more people did. After a while, there was a crowd of people looking up to the sky. That's a phenomena! There is an assumption that the man was looking something over the sky, something like UFO or a piece of shaped cloud. At first this assumption was not tested, so it was hypothesis. Continuing with the man, he suddenly snoze and was so surprised to see so so many people standing around him looking up to the sky! He had a flu and he felt uncomfortable. A normal thing under a hypothesis may become a phenomena. Business people may see opportunities from the phenomena. A pharmatist might think there are opportunities to sell "panadol". An insurance agent might see lots of potential customers there... With these things, business people should conduct a research to see what's right and what's wrong, what's good and what's bad, what to do and how to do next for the business, and to foresee the trend and to come up with a certain action plan for business growth or sustainability.

There are two kinds of research: basic and applied. Basic research is more related to a mechanism. It aims to expand the limits of knowledge, did not directly involve in any solution to a pragmatic problem. From the other side, applied research is conducted to come up with a decision about a specific real-life problem...(con't)

Kek Lok Si Experience 2nd time

Wow, it took 20 minutes to drive to Kek Lok Si Temple, a place where people can find something belonging to spiritual values. Last time in March, the bus dropped us at the bottom of the temple and we took 30 minutes walking up about tens of stairs, and then we reach the top. People are building a temple of Lady Buddha there. It is a temple I often see in Chinese movies, looking like "Thieu Lam Tu - Shaolin Temple". It is really something worthy seeing. They have different blocks in KLS, where Buddhas are worshipped, where monks stay, where reserves very unique ancient architecture, where there is a tower of 7 storeys... The monks there are appealing for donations to build the temple of Lady Buddha, just behind the main center. The way they seek for donation is critical. They have available proof brick of different size and nonators will get their bricks and the size of brick will be up to their donation: 30 RM, 50 RM, 100 RM... then donators write down their names or their wished names on, bring the bricks into the worship and pray for what they want. That's it.

Today I took the cab there and I didnot have to walk up stairs. The driver was so kind to drive me straightly to the top, where the construction is on. By so doing, I saved lots of time. Still do I remember last time EDS guided us up and down the temple thru stairs where there are so many souvenirs shops along the way and we stopped by on the way down to buy things. Sellers there offer you a so "special" price that you MUST use your bargaining power! Still do I remember one seller offered one of us a small souvenir of Twin Tower/ symbol of KL/ Malaysia @ 40 RM, then she said "I will just charge you 25 RM". My friend said "20" and she asked "how many". My friend said "4" then deal was done! I did not buy anything but observed. Others came down and stop. I told them the story of bargaining and one guy bought 6 items @ 10 RM each! Another person came down and had 2 items @ 6 RM each. Finally it was my turn and I just paid up 6 RM for 2. Wow, how experienced! But that's the way it goes and c'est la vie! Business is business. Traders want to sell at high price as possible. Buyers want to get things at low price as possibe. When they have the same voice, deals will be done. It might be good for sellers and might be good for buyers. Actually it is good for both when deal is done. Sellers think they can make some profits and buyers think they have minimized their loss. Fair.

If anyone coming to Penang but not yet vising Kek Lok Si Temple and experiencing bargaining, I do think it's not fair for that person and he/she might miss a good chance. Come, explore and experience...

Penang - Strategic Management (con't)

...Upon setting objectives, both financial and strategic objectives, it's time to implement the strategy. This phase is tough. For the financial objectives, it's simple to implement. But for the strategic objectives, it's not at all. Large business needs multi-resources to implement their strategies while small business just needs single ones. The small business is often set up and run by an individual, so the strategy implementation stage is also involved by that individual. For larger business, it is led by the senior management team, and even supported by Headquarter. However it is less complicated with few risks and varieties in small business. With large business, more people involving in implementation, so there might be more risks, more time, more support system and more controlling systems. Large business should have an effective communication channel so that all members understand each other to run the business in line with strategy. Contingency plans are also required and of course, large business with macro strategy reserves more budget for the implementation stage.

Last but not least, business evaluate the strategy. Large business evaluate the strategy very frequently, in a periodical manner. It also needs more investments in term of time and expertise. It is more simple with small business.

Penang - Strategic Management

Back to Penang for the second time. Today we have studied Module Strategic Management and we were involved in group discussion. From my POV, it seemed that everybody was confusing Strategic Mgt with Project Mgt. To my simple understanding, strategic mgt is something like project mgt, but not project mgt. What is strategy? It's a long-term target that the business owner wants to achieve. When we talk about strategic mgt, we first define what strategy is and what are related to strategic mgt. Strategic mgt is a process where sr mgrs have to set out vision and mission. What is vision? Vision is what you want to have and where you want to head. Mission is something like your commitment to your business, your customers, your society and your environment. You have to translate your vision and mission into actions, and these action can be called strategies. In Strategic Mgt, we talk about 5 tasks:
1- First you have to develop your strategic Vision & Mission
2- Second you should set your objectives
3- Third you craft a strategy to achieve your set objectives
4- Then you, as understood as fourth, must implement and execute your strategy, otherwise nothing happens.
5- Lastly it's time to evaluate & correct your action plans.

To me, last step seems very important as we would know whether we are in the right track and what we need to adjust to make sure our objectives are being achieved in the right way. We might revise or adjust our action plans or even our strategy but we rarely change our objectives. Once we set an objective, we have reasons to do that and if we quit, that means we leave our target, we compromise.

In strategic mgt, large business and small business build their strategy a little bit differently. With large business, they should have bigger view of business and future development. Therefore their vision is of long-term and mission is of larger scope. Large businesses aim to bigger market with various targets in a global environment. Objectives are also more "macro" and ambitous. They pay more attention to their strategic objectives while small business sometimes put their strategy aside and focus more on sales operations. When we talk about objectives in strategic mgt, we understand that there are two objectives: financial & strategic. Small business usually set financial objectives rather than strategic objectives while larger business set priority for strategic objectives. Financial objectives are also important but they would rather invest more resources to achieve their strategic objectives. Once you achieve your strategic objectives, you can hit your financial target easily... (con't)

Penang Malaysia

Penang is a good place. It is connected to the mainland by Penang bridge which I suppose be the longest connector over the two shores. Traffice in Penang is about 20 years ahead Vietnam. They have higher road, kind of double, and the traffic allocation looks very scientific. Most of population here are Muslim and so beer is hard to find. GDP seems to be good here, all stuff is expensive to me. In Queen's Bay Mall, they have all Levi's, Mango, Espirit, Nike, Adidas.... and all are in range of sales-off but still cost lost of money for shoppers. KL airport is really big and everything is in order. Penang airport is international regardless it's small.

Do think Vietnamese should learn a lot from Malaysian...

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