Sometimes one needs a little reminder to remember the finer things that one has experienced before. Carol spoke to her father in MN, USA for about 2 hours and while in discussion, I was reminded of the coming weekend that is fast approaching. During my days in the US, Sundays are the best. It's time for me to browse, cut and keep coupons - millions of coupons ranging from simple shaver to sophisticated electrical equipment that will receive discounts if the coupons were presented at the checkout counters.

Images of myself waking up early on Sundays; do my laundry before the herd of "elephants" at my dormitory come walking in. Guess during that time, I will pick up the Sunday papers - huge and thick which coupons, extras and many other stuff.

I will spend at least 20 mins - 30 mins cutting the coupons and keeping it carefully printed envelopes marked for selected stuff - personal grooming, food, restaurants, you name you have it. Did I ever end up using all of them? Not exactly. Probably 1/3 of all the coupons as I had more fun cutting these coupons in the early part of the morning on Sundays.

I wish Malaysian newspapers will practise such stuff. Currently, only computer companies have insertion. I think insertions are crap stuff. Who wants a computer everyday? I think for Malaysian papers to be sellable, they will need to start doing the coupon stuff. Otherwise, crazy. In fact, Pizza Hut and Dominos are putting coupons online. You go in and print it out and give it when purchases are made at the pizza joint.

This is really blue ocean for the newspapers. Why aren't any doing it right? I guess the concept never caught up here. So, listen up editors - do something different. Rather than just classifieds, you can drive up traffic to your selling of papers in terms of volume. A section of coupons and run it every week! Cool idea isn't it?

Again, WOW! Can't help getting excited about the latest news about Malaysia's push into the Biotech world. However, can't blame myself for being very inquisitive - check out the information of the company that is setting up this kind of setup in Melaka.

Did some homework and presto! Check out the credentials of the company that is taking up this Rm1.3 Billion intiative! I wish more business students will learn how to check up on company's information and use such information to do paper research as such.

Wow! 3 year old company with a turnover of USD530K and 7 employees working. Strangely, I am not making any assumptions here but one has to think harder as to how this company is going to make Malaysia into a biotech hub.

I pray it's not another boo-boo in the making, if you know what I mean. Enjoy your weekend folks.

Sure. I am not keen to even discuss about this but there is a reason. With Enron blowing over a few years ago, the world is now greeted with another possible boo-boo by Dell. I am sure I am not in any position to comment about this but it's very important that we walk away with a lesson or two especially for corporate Malaysia.

Many companies in Malaysia claim that they adhere to many guidelines especially companies listed in the Bursa Saham Malaysia. I am sure many CFOs , CEOs claim that they are very compliance with the rules and regulations. Let it be a lesson to all the companies such as Transmile and many others that honesty is based not only on words but actions.

Dell's experience is clearly a sign of "corporate greed" that runs from within. Of course, I do not wish to comment too much as to how they did it but based on the report on News.com , I am very sure that Dell clearly has failed in its so-called corporate responsibility to its shareholders and its stakeholders.

I can see the next few months to be challenging especially for Malaysian based companies when the current KLSE indexes may "force" many corporate Malaysian companies to take steps to "wipe out" their corporate loses. One of which would be cost reduction. If the current upheaval in the sub-prime market continues in the US without any end in sight, lets hope none of this "dishonest" Malaysian companies will emerge.

After all, Malaysians ultimately will be at the losing end while directors and CEOs go away freely.

In short, lets pray and hope for the best.

Remember this man's face. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 and he is non other than Prof Dr Muhammad Yunus. He will be in KL for a presentation this week.

I have been following Prof Dr Muhammad Yunus' efforts to help Bangladesh fight proverty using micro-credit financing. Seriously, Malaysia should consult this fine gentleman as he has the ideas and courage to help his fellow countrymen get micro-credit to finance their ventures into agriculture, etc.

In a nutshell, his concept of micro-credit allows entrepreneurs to get small loans when they are unable to secure loans/credits via the traditional banking way.

Prof Dr Muhammad Yunus started Grameen Bank in Bangladesh you can definitely learn more from how it's best offered via this site.

I believe that our government is trying its best to eradicate poverty by 2010 and by offering similar banking concept, I think we can actually achieve that much better. What amazes me about this fine gentleman is the following:

1. Granhamm Bank operates the "Blue Ocean" way - addressing the needs of the many and operates in an environment that is considered "unchartered" by many traditional banks.

2. A strong academician who continues to strive for excellence for his country. Mind you, Bangladesh has seen the worst of many nations but this gentleman believes he can make a big difference.

3. His influence in the methods of eradicating poverty in many developing countries. Malaysia is indeed lucky to have him as an inspiration.

He is one of the few inspiration persons I look up to.  Any thoughts?

Much has been written about the recent 20% capital injection into AirAsia by Richard Branson. Malaysia Airlines is not waiting too long to respond and they have just announced a new promotion to attract more volume into their international flying destinations with discounts up to 75%.

Richard Branson’s role in the latest foray into AirAsia will bring new twist and maybe drama into the Malaysian airline industry. In fact, it is much awaited but Dato’ Tony Fernandez has a strong grip on how the future is going to be. Jetstar’s entrance into the local scene flying passengers from Australia to Malaysia is just a start of what the battle for budget airlines is going to be.

With 2 best budget airline moguls on the foray in this market, we can expect more fireworks which could work well for the passengers to happen.

My prediction:

1. Code sharing will occur between Virgin and AirAsia
2. More innovative product marketing cross over could occur. Possibility of seeing usage of some entertainers on Virgin label to be used to attract younger crowd to fly on AirAsia.
3. Man U’s endorsement could further be enhanced by having a possible visit by Man U into Malaysia in the near future considering their cancellation recently.
4. Virgin and AirAsia could land a deal to promote Visit2007 more aggressively to gain government’s endorsement of their efforts.
5. Founders of AirAsia will be laughing to the bank (if they have yet to do so already) due to this alliance.
6. New aircraft purchases by AirAsia X could happen faster. Young CEO of AirAsia X could be highlighted more prominently for his aggressiveness to promote the airline.

Lets wait and see

Scenario: Imagine Ms Susie is driving on the highway. It's now 11 pm and her tank is showing empty. Her journey from KL to Penang has not been good. After a bad returning from KL doing her presentation, she is now driving on her own because her boss decided to stay in KL for the next 2 days. Lousy day for her; lousy day for everyone in her company. Just when she was about to make a turn into Sg Perak Petronas Station, she saw a sign at the petrol station..."TUTUP".

What a horror...what a shock! Susie is now in a dilemma. Drive on and face a certainty of getting stuck halfway to Penang. She then decided not to venture on further and wait till the next morning 6am when the blasted petrol stations decide to open.

The moral of the story is this. We are now being held hostage by petrol stations. After all, they call the shots. The justifications for such action: frequent armed robberies, increased security costs, higher wages for workers, low night sales, soaring rentals and electricity bills.

To make matter worse, the dealers also want customers who use credit cards to buy petrol to fork out the 1% commission, previously absorbed by the dealers.

So, is our beloved Government planning to rectify the issues? Is this the start of more things to come? Imagine a country that virtually shuts down its petrol stations from 10 pm onwards. I am very dissapointed with this decision.

As reported, Malaysia's CPI (Consumer Price Index) has jumped 2.0 per cent since  last year. Guess interest rates hike could be in place in the near future to bring down possible inflation. Nevertheless, it's too premature at this point to rush over and buy bonds.

As we hear unemployment rising amongst the graduates in Malaysia, I couldn't help listing out this news that came through www.news.com I am sure many graduates in Malaysia are becoming more resilient of the challenges that the country is facing, internally as well as externally.

The Vietnamese labor pool also has about 80,000 IT graduates, a figure that is increasing by 9,000 per year. More than half of Vietnam's 84 million population is under 25 years old, and 83 percent of all graduates are science-based. -

NEWS

Bloody hell! As long as our delivery system continues to leak; MPs acting like a bunch monyet (if you don't know what this means, it's in Bahasa Malaysia)  in Parliment and the "tidak apa" attitude.......

True - I am a loyal Malaysian - don't get me wrong. It's coming to a point where you see our neighbours progressing and we continue to hear "plastic" stories about how good the economy is.

Recent ruling of reversing increase in rice price; EPF restrictions to disallow purchases of unit trust that deals with foreign funds/investments; constant bragging on how good the economy is....please lets focus on improving the economy by addressing long term strategies to better equip our grads with the skills needed like Vietnam and Singapore...oh yes...Singapore's GDP is hitting 12.8 % last quarter ....

One of the most important means of rating a good company which interacts with the general public is the frontliners. Frontliners are customer service agents or counter handlers or anyone who deals with the general public whenever enquiries are needed to be answered.

I had this good experience at one particular bookstore at Gurney Plaza - Popular Bookstore. About a month ago, I visited the bookstore on a Sunday morning with my sons and wife. Somehow, I had no intentions to buy any books as I am rather caught up preparing for a professional exam which I will be taking on July 7.

Strangely, I saw some customers walking straight up to the customer service counter and left soon afterwards with a couple of books. I guess the curiousity of finding what those books were prompted me to walk up and asked this young lady at the counter. The lady explained politely that they were here to pick up the famous May 13 book that was just published. To my surprise, I had this strong feeling that this book COULD be banned and asked her how I can get a copy.

She replied that only if I made a booking, the book will be made available. I then requested to her to let me have a scan through of the book. I spent almost 20 minutes reading through the book by Dr. Kua and somehow I enjoyed it so much that I was now more ready to put my name on the Wait List.

The lady seemed very friendly and she someone gave me a copy and I was delighted. Now - lets stop at that point. This is a good example of delighting a customer. She left a good impression of the bookstore and I was glad to be there. A loyal customer has evolved.

Fast forward till today (26 June 2007). We just had a great dinner at Chili's and we decided to pay this great bookstore again. We had to buy some materials for my youngest son as he needed them for his class the next day. I took out my Rm50 at the counter and paid for the amount of Rm6.61 after putting all together the stuff he needed. Guess what - to my horror - the cashier told me that she does not have any change of Rm50 as many customers came in a few minutes ago and she can't accept my Rm50. What a bunch of crap! I was about to blow my top but I stopped short. I thought to myself - go to hell lady - it's just 830 pm and you said you had many customers. Gurney Plaza is rather quiet on the weekdays and I don't buy her story. Lets stop here -

There are 2 observations here :

1. A good customer service agent who delighted me with a pleasant experience of getting a book ahead of time.

2. A crappy cashier who only wants to pack up and leave home early.

My professional account on this :

Frontliners are the most important element of delivering good customer experience. Observation 1 - the agent would have won praises by many but her contact with the customer is minimal.  Only when one needs help, she will be interfacing with the customers.

Inconsistent training to beef up good customer service is typically a global problem. But if Malaysians are not prepared to embrace such important element of delighting their customers if they are in service line, we can forget about growing the business 2 to ten folds. It's just an illusion.

My advise to Popular - relook at your training procedures. Hire those who are seriously wanting to get things done and not to past time. Passing time by employees will kill the goodwill that your good frontliners may have done.

That is what i call  - Ying & Yang of Customer Service!

Sometimes the most unexpected becomes very real. This piece of news caught my attention. I believe it's always important to know who you are hiring and check on their credentials. Many tend to over inflate their qualifications and at the end of the day, it can be very embarassing. In this case, Patrick Imbardelli, chief executive of the British company's key Asia Pacific arm (Intecontinental Group),was forced to quit because of major irregularities in his education background.

He claimed to have a degree from Victoria University and an MBA from Stanford U, US. All these were not true. Somehow, the truth came crashing and he now ends up NOTHING.

SHOCKING!

Sometimes, it makes me wonder how this funny world of ours can really make things a little complicated. Yesterday, I caught an article on The Star which has CAP(Consumer Association of Penang) calling on Malaysians to make their own Chang (dumpling).

Seriously, come Tuesday, we will be eating this to celebrate the Chang festival. Somehow, I wish to thank CAP for bringing this up but I guess the latest information of the usage of excessive Boric Acid in the Chang is really scary.

Guess commercial gains continue to thrive many hawkers who wish to make quick bucks in an ever competitive market nowadays. But, are they sacrificing the goodness of the Chang for the well-being of the people.

So are you are getting a Chang for dinner tonite? I would. Really, I would cos I wouldn't miss it for the world.

Somehow, this is the least expected from a fast-food joint...yes...McDonald's is offering its own McCafe serving Cappucinno. It's least expected from a fast-food joint and now they have decided to do something out of the ordinary. I hope they start it off in Malaysia. I am getting tired of the Starbucks..etc etc...wouldn't mind walking into a McD joint and get a great breakfast with a good cuppa.

Check this out!

Back in the early 80s, I still remembered how proud many of us were when Proton Saga hit the roads. Today, many frown because of its poor quality, manufacturing defects, etc etc.

I am sure the current management of Proton is doing all it can to curb its profit slides. Latest numbers show Proton losing almost RM591 Million! What an astounding loss considering its profitability was way up high some years back.

Seriously, the Government must take concrete steps and let me offer some simple advise:

1. Quickly dispose off "materials" in store within Proton Sell it away to the current Perodua or Naza at neck breaking prices that they cannot refuse.

2. Offer its manufacturing sites to Perodua. Retooling may be a challenge but at least Perodua may have requirements for extra manufacturing capacity.

3. Quickly jumpstart negotiations with local producers of OEM it to other car companies. It's just too late to wait for an European partner(s) to save Proton ..... or even American. Best bet, Japanese for now. Maybe even a Korean car maker (s).

4. Stop talking and get newer models on the road and fix all the crappy problems - power windows, bad engine issues to solve fuel consumption problems.

5. Government must start walking their talks - shut up and do things in motion rather in sputtering motion. When govt gets involve in business, this is the result. Hence, it's best to leave it to the business guys to just solve the problem.

After all, it's nothing. It's purely business :)

My favorite restaurant has raised prices even....seriously, I think Malaysians' purchasing power will continue to drop. Retailers are struggling to keep up with escalating cost and the only way to obtain profits is to pass on the cost to the prices of items we buy.

One good example is from thisarticlee from a dear friend of mine, Mr. SS Quah. I am sure that all of us know where this nasi kandar joint is located. Kayu Nasi Kandar is synonimous with the identity of the Penang island....

Seeeshhh.....there goes another restaurant off the list from my favorite makan joint.

Lets sing along as we continue to see more increases....If you remember this song "Mari Mengundi", lets sing to the lyrics below :

Marilah mari

Balik ke rumah,

Jangan habiskan wang ada

Dengan peniaga yang tamak!

Translation

Lets all go home

And not eat out

especially the greedy one!

I am not sure if you well aware of what you buy each day. Or did you ever check the prices that you pay each time you have lunch at a coffee shop? Do you think that the country is on the verge of facing an impending inflation since the govt has announced plans to raise salaries for the public servants?

My guess it as good as mine. You don't have to have an economics degree to see this. Once inflation is on the rise, interest rates will be risen to curb. Could we be seeing a double wammy of rising interest rates and slowdown of business growth? Whatever happens to the 1 trillion ringgit growth in this country?

The next few postings will be dedicated to simple and yet conclusive information that our country is indeed facing a double wammy situation. However, all is not lost as our Central Bank will be doing all it can to curb the rise of interest rates as well as spur growth. Trust me, if we pull this off, someone will be known as the Alan Greenspan of Malaysia !

Take care