Lessons from Goldman Sachs Turnaround

Goldman Sachs Tower in Chicago

Here is a writeup I 'borrowed' from the latest edition of Newsweek (August 10 & 17th 2009) which is applicable for any business in my opinion. Tited "How come Goldman is Making Billions and I'm still Broke ?"

In the months that followed the meltdown of the US economy and the failures of Lehman Brothers, near failure of Citigroup and AIG in late 2008 and subsequently Chrysler and General Motors this year, it is a coup that Goldman Sachs, a 100+ years old company focussing on 3 core areas :

Investment management (ie. Hedge funds)
Sercurities Services
Investment Banking

managed to post a record US$ 3.44 billion profits in the Quarter from April to June 2009. HUH ? Americans have been outraged because just less than 6 months ago they applied for the TARP (emergency Government funds for banks and institutions with toxic assests) and got US$ 10 billion all in additional taxes, from the US Governmenr paid by the American public. So how come they did this turnaround and so quickly ? Follow these steps :

1. BE RUTHLESS - They helped create the market for subprime mortgages during the Boom and then BET AGAINST it as it crashed. So they did not believe in their own 'baby' they created and bet AGAINST it making big bucks while the competitors, Merril Lynch,Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers all kaputted because they all bet FOR it.Imagine spending billions on developing a product (of course in this case it is a monetary product) and then gamble that it will FAIL when the rest of the market starts to believe in it !

2. TAKE BIG RISKS - They borrowed $28 for every $ 1 they owned in capital. The risk of making big bucks or losing everything and more is key to this strategy.

3. DON'T BE PROUD - They got US$ 10 billion from US Government, US$ 5 billion from Warren Buffet and another US$ 12.9 billion from AIG becuase they were AIG's biggest shareholder and the Government bailed THEM out.

4. PAY YOUR DEBTS - They repaid their debts with 23 percent interest, and scored valuable PR points. If you repay your debts, you will continue to get funding.

5. WORK UNCLE SAM - They managed to lobby the Obama Government, spending US$ 3.3 billion to fend off regulation on caps on their top executives pay etc. etc.So the top executives still made US$ 3 - 10 million EACH. By the way, Henry Paulson is the former Treasury Secretary (or Finance Minister).

6. GAMBLE WITH OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY - Sitting on billions from taxpayers, they bet and won from trading equities (shares in Dow Jones). So revenue from equities jumped 100 percent just in the 2nd quarter, amounting for much of that US 3.44 billion.

Class, Lesson for Today has ended. Keep this in mind, especially the HEADLINES.

Thoughts on Singapore's Birthday

Enthusiastic Singaporeans at the parade

This evening, I watched at home on TV the National Day Parade celebrating Singapore's 44th year of Independence, many thoughts ran through my mind. Our country has come very far in 44 short years, I am older by 3 years by the way ! From a backward fishing village, to small time port, to major port and then world's busiest port in the early 90s.Singapore is still No. 2 in terms of tonnage moved as a port. From a small airport in Paya Lebar, to a bigger airport in Changi to a major international air hub linking the Western world to the Eastern Asian countries and Australasia.From a small airline, to the world's most profitable and recognisable airline, first to fly the renowned A380. From a small island kicked out from the Malaysian Federation in 1965,numbering only 1.9 million, it is now a cosmopolitan metropolis of 4.8 million with a per capita GDP of over US$ 30,000.From a country with no natural resources to one investing in the futures of many smart and talented scholars from all over the world working in the fields of life sciences,biomechanics,nanotechnology and solar energy. The firsts and awards can go on and on.

This year, the parade was held at the Floating Platform where 27,000 lucky people (by ballot) could watch the festivities.
There were many national songs, civil defence performances, lots of military,navy and airforce marches, but the most impressive facet was the evolution of the usual parade of march pasts and floats into a glitzy Hollywood type one showing the many races' performance arts groups capabilities.


Electrico Singer David Tan commenting on his song "What do you See?"

The 2 most poignant moments of the parade were the singing of the Majulah Singapura (Onward Singapore) National Anthem and the reciting of the pledge. I was quite overwhelmed when I stood up to say the pledge, with my 2 sons by my side. Reflecting on what my country means to me and my family, we have the following priceless environments created for us which we take for granted :

- Multi racial harmony : this is by far the most cherished aspect of Singapore life

- Meritocracy : everyone has a chance to make his or her Singapore Dream in his lifetime whether he is the son of a hawker or doctor provided he or she is prepared to study and work hard.

- Peace and Security : a safe haven in this unreliable and unstable world where the clash of cultures and ideologies have led to terrorist attacks.

Where people young or old, male or female can walk free at night unafraid of being harrassed by drug addicts,criminals or homeless people so typical in many big cities in other democratic countries. Singapore has a very efficient system of improving the paths of those people who 'fall through the cracks of society'. The people however,must be prepared to work at all costs and not depend on the Government for handouts unless absolutely necessary.

- Proactive and Able Government : They take the high ground and sometimes make the most unpopular decisions with the country's interests first and foremost

- World Class Education System Environment :

Many foreigners have set up homes and bases because of our excellent schooling system which is primarily logic based with alot of rote and creative aspects thrown in. We have been topping the Maths and Science worldwide tests for many years now, so much so that certain states in the USA are using Singapore textbooks for Maths and Science.

- First world Infrastructure and Connectivity : MRT, Expressways, Bus and Pedestrian walkways,Parl Connectors, Wired Island.

- First World Sports and Entertainment : Many big name football teams, the F1, top stars like Rod Stewart and Rolling Stones have played here

Some friends have migrated for the 'good life' overseas, but the key thing is this, we have a place which is buzzing with plans for the future for us, our children and our children's children. Wonderful array of food choices and places for entertainment and exciting things to do (F1, and the upcoming Integrated Resorts come to mind). Most importantly it is a place created BY Singaporeans FOR Singaporeans. Opportunities are plentiful, banking is supportive and the network of friends, busness and family relationships is ever strengthened with each passing year. Life is Good.

Majulah Singapura !

End of Manufacturing in Sight for Singapore

Seagate Technologies

The announcement that Seagate Technologies was going to close its Ang Mo Kio factory in Singapore by 2010 was not a major surprise.It was always on the cards and the fact remains that Singapore is a very expensive country to have an operations for high labour intensive manufacturing facilty. A typical operator in Singapore can gross S$ 1000 (with overtime) from a basic of S$ 650. Convert this to Malaysian Ringgit and you get RM 2,400 per month. A similar Malaysian production operator will probably draw the equal amount in Ringgit Malaysia or RM 1,000 to RM 1,200. So the difference per operator is more than 50%.

For a high labour intensive manufacturing business like Seagate's it doesn't make economic sense then to continue operations in Singapore.True, Singapore's produtivity levels and ease of logistics save some costs but all things being equal they add up to the overall cost of business operations worldwide.Additionally, disk drive margins are falling quarter after quarter and for Seagate to survive for so long in Singapore (25 years) is nothing short of a miracle.
I wonder how many of their vendors and suppliers from Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SME) are affected by this or have seen their business whittled down from 100% to just 10% because of this development.

In the end, there will be only 2 factories left in Singapore for Seagate,one in Woodlands making the higher value added disk head media and the other in Science Park doing development work.

This begs the inevitable question,whats left of manufacturing for Singapore after this exodus ? Many top brand names have been downsizing their operations quietly, such as Philips, Panasonic, Emerson and Motorola to name a few. The typical electronics and semiconductor companies are few and far between with many of them focussing on the higher end research and development. The so called new green companies such as REC, Oerlikon Solar, Bosch Solar and others are moving slowly due to this economic crisis leaving a vacuum for many a retrenched engineer and tehcnician. The life sciences sector is still in the infancy stage, and again only the top brains with at least a Masters degree in Biomedical Sciences are selected.

The Singapore Government had better take stock of this dire situation to alleviate the plight of many Singaporeans caught in this 'structural unemployment trap' whereby the unemployed are experienced in one sector but the new industries emerging have requirments which require totally new skilsets. I refer to the Integrated Resorts and gaming industries which will kickoff in early 2010.

We live in very uncertain times.

Cool Song Jason Mraz

St Andrew's Reunion Dinner September 12th 2009

 1978 Sec 4 Science 1, 2, M, 4 Tech 1, 2 and Arts classes here ; 
 Photo taken during 30th August 2008 Alumni Reunion Dinner 

Standing L - R : Michael Chong,Chew Ping Nan,Edward Ong,Jimmy Lee,Pang Seng Meng,Andrew Lee,Sunil Sabnani,Gurdeep Singh,Paul Ezekiel,Aldrin Ow Hing Choy, Kenneth Fong Kar Yew, Paul Lim, Tan Loke Khoon,Vijeysuria, Chandrakanth Mahawar, Malcolm Lim Kian Leng

Seated L - R  - Hong Heng Chow, Phoon Kok Kwong, Me, Faisal Alsagoff, Subramaniam I, Thedaisidas,Freddy Choy,Ng Tong Yang and Peter Chin. 

12th September 2009 is a much awaited day for me and a lot of my fellow Saint Andrews friends. It will mark 31 years since we 'graduated' from Secondary 4 St. Andrew's School. Last year, 2008, was a landmark year whereby we had 30 old Saints turning up to meet with our ex-classmates and year mates.Time may have aged us physically but when we met, we were chatting, joking and reminiscing just like we were 16 year olds. 

The time was especially meaningful as we exchanged notes on our lives,how many kids we have, where we are working, what happened to so and so and sadly, those who have passed on a while ago.

2 of our friends, Andrew Fok and Raymond Goh have passed on some years ago, as had our former principal, Mr. Harry Tan and the St Andrews Junior College Vice Principal, Mr. Raymond Ong. They will forever remain etched in our memories as of a certain age and though they are gone, they are not forgotten.

Happy Memories

While we can't go back in time, we can always make an effort to meet up and rebuild the bonds of friendship and belonging which were, in many ways, very pure and noble back in the years 1977 and 1978. Many of us have made it to the top of our various industries,some in banking,some in finance,some in teaching but all these are meaningless when we all get together, one of our cohort is a Government Minister, S. Iswaran, who incidently was the top boy or dux in our school in 1978 for the 'O' Levels. 

I have kept in touch with but a few, Andrew Lee, Faisal Alsagoff, Yap Tzin Haen, Chiu Loo Kwong and Chew Ping Nan. I have also made it a point to meet up and increase this circle of friends to double the number. As the saying goes, when you are a baby, time crawls, when you are a youth, time walks, when you are a young man, it runs, and when you are middle aged, time flies. How true as we are more caught up with a lot of schedules with work, family, church, friends, associates and even more so,business related travel.



                              Aldrin Ow Hing Choy, Phoon Kok Kwong and Jay Soo Kian Teck

Our Form teacher, Mr. Victor Wee is still very active and we were so touched when he could remember most of our faces as 30 years ago is a long time !! My special mention is to Mr. Tan Loke Khoon, a top lawyer with Hill and Knowlton based in Hong Kong,flew all the way down to attend the dinner last year. In addition, he paid out of his own pocket for a film crew to video and cut a DVD of the momentous event last year. What a gesture !

Some of our more famous Saints, Dr. Woffles Wu- plastic surgeon, Mr. S. Iswaran- Minister of State Trade and Industry, Mr. Arthur Lim - eye surgeon, Mr. Koh Boon Hwee - Singtel Chairman, Mr. Harry Elias - top lawyer just to name a few.

Peter Chin, Ng Tong Yang and Ng Heng Chow

I end this blog entry with the chorus of my alma mater, Saint Andrew's School.

"We are arming for the fight,
Pressing on with all our might
Pluming wings for higher flight
Up and On !
Up Boys,
Truest Flame, lies in high endeavour
Play the Game
Keep the Flame
Burning Brightly Even !"

Up and On !

Alleycats night in Kuala Lumpur

Alleycats performing at the Heritage bar, Royal Chulang Hotel

Wednesday 29th July was a memorable day for me as I went to watch my cousin, Gerard Abisheganaden perform with his band, the Alleycats at the Heritage Bar in Royal Chulang.Gerard has been in the music industry for over 30 years, and is the co-vocalist together with the founder of the band, David Arumugam. Alleycats have been in existence for 40 (!) years and was started by the brothers Logan and David Arumugam in 1969.


Gerard Abisheganaden,co-lead singer for the Alleycats, my first cousin.

Probably the premier rock and roll band in malaysia, Alleycats perform their own Malay songs, plus excellent covers from Santana, eagles,Don Henly,Bee Gees and many others. I was extremely impressed by their showmanship as well as their repertoire of songs, needing no tuning or intros which alot of the lead or bass guitarists do when they play songs which they are unfamiliar with. I guess the years of experience have made them so smooth and accomplished that the guitarists, Frank Ong and a chap called Ah Meng, can just play like they were born with the instruments as their limbs !



KLCC all lit up at night, photo taken from the Club Lounge from my hotel

To make the night more memorable, I met up with my long time friend, Chong Ki Kiong, who is a lawyer with his own law firm and we had a great chat about the state of Malaysian politics and economy ever since the change of the premiership early this year. Ever vocal and given his extensive legal knowledge, Ki Kiong is indeed a very engaging person and has wide exposure to the political bigwigs in both the ruling party and opposition camps.


Chong Ki Kiong, an old friend and lawyer based in K.L.

It was indeed a memorable evening.Lets do it again soon !

Air Asia - Success Story in the Making

Now Everyone Can Fly

Air Asia is the upstart company headed by ex-music industry executive Tony fernandez. Formed in 2002, its business model was initially greeted with scepticism and people said, "Oh its not safe, they use old planes, the low cost terminal is not convenient" and other excuses.

Come 2009 and even I am now a convert, I took the first low cost flight to K.L. return and it cost me only S$ 114; I made the final booking about 3 days beforehand. Boarding passes are just printouts,the checkin counters to KL and Bangkok are usually very fast moving, and the check-in staff very friendly.


Refurbished Airbuses A 320 for Air Asia

My reservations were that Air Asia were compromising on safety by using old planes and inexperienced pilots, but all these were wiped away when I took my first flight to KL. The plane looks to be about 15 years old but refurbished interior and was able to carry about 240 passengers,about 6 per aisle, 3 on each side. The cabin crew and stewardesses were very friendly and ever smiling and the experience I had was as good as SIA's which says alot about Air Asia.


Departing flights from Changi Terminal 1

Air Asia departs from Changi's Terminal 1, where we use the aerobridge.On arrival in K.L., we disembark at the Low Cost carrier Terminal LCCT in Sepang,about 10 minutes drive from KLIA. The only downside is that you have to walk down the airramp steps as used in the past by airlines onto the tarmac, and walk through the long walk-way to the Terminal, typically about 10 minutes or less.It is a good idea that this mode of disembarking allows both the front and rear exits of the plane to be used, thus ensuring a speedy getting off.


Passengers alighting from the plane at the Low Cost Carrier Terminal in Kuala Lumpur

The plane cruises at 23,000 feet, therby using more fuel and taking about 10 minutes longer than if it were SIA or MAS.However, this time lag is not notiecable for such a short trip and everything else of this trip was first class.
I intend to use Air Asia again. The airline recently voted by Sky Trax Magazine as the Best Low Cost Carrier in the World for 2008.

SIA, the challenge has been thrown down. In these uncertain economic times, business people and travellers are scaling down on travel costs and low costs carriers still get the job done. You have been warned !!