Globalisation and what we need to do now

Another week another country

The impact of reduced tariffs and Free Trade Areas (FTAs) has led to companies going Global for about 10 plus years now. AFTA (American Free Trade Area, between US, Canada and Mexico), EU, ASEAN, Commonwealth etc. have led to increased imports and goods, from components, semi assembled to move from country to country in the attempt to find the cheapest low cost manufactured products within Asia and the rest of the world.

The result of this is that increasingly, we are seeing many factories moving out of our SE ASia archipelago and going to China, India, Vietnam and South America. With the migration to the lower cost countries, the jobs also move out also. This 'hollowing out' of manufacturing in Singapore has happened over the last 15 years, and with Seagate Technology, once the largest private sector employer in Singapore with 30,000 (in mid 80s) personnel closing its manufacturing plant by end 2010, the end of an era of Singapore being the Winchester city (Winchester being the name of the then 8M 5 1/4" disk drive which was the then standard for all the hard disk drives worldwide. Now, Singapore has no more disk drive manufacturing, only R & D. This is not surprising given the strong S$ and higher costs of labour and land rentals.

The nett result is that many jobs, particularly in Engineering, will be found overseas and while the select few managers can survive by working as senior managers and technical directors in overseas plants for a few years, inevitably, they themselves will be priced out by local cheaper and more hungry personnel from the host country like China or India.

Thats why I am travelling so much, to attend to the business which is primarily overseas driven now. Is there anything, I can do about the situation ? Given that the products which my company represents sell mainly to automotive and electronics manufacturers, the answer is to go into a cheaper producing country and provide equipment distribution and services from there.

Or perhaps move into a sunrise industry like sports and ageing lifestyle services and ride the boom from there. We all need to be globalised citizens, like it or not.

Germany 2010 - thanks for some wonderful soccer

This June 2010 World Cup is a first for many reasons, this the first time that the World Cup is held in African soil. It is also the first time that the cotroversial Jabulani ball is being used in a major FIFA sanctioned tournament. Additionally by tomorrow, the world will see a newly first- time crowned World Champion which is not one of the previous multiple past winners like Brazil, Germany, Argentina, Italy . The winner will either from the hard and attack-minded Netherlands or the sublime, silky pass masters Spain.
As a neutral wtaching my 9th World Cup, I am most captivated by the free -flowing attacking sides of Germany and Argentina. Germany in particular played extremely well and they have a multi-talented team comprising young up and coming stars from the Bundeliesia. To name a few, Mesut Ozil, Bastian Schweistiger,Lucas Podolski, Miroslav Klose, Mueller, Boateng and Sammy Kadeira stood out.

In the past World Cups, Germany was known for its defensive play and Teutonic (blonde, fair skinned) like players. Nowadays that stereotype is no more. Good for them. The coach/manager Joachim Loew should also be credited for fielding a young side brimming with talent and attacking flair. Even leading 3 -0 against Argentina, they went on the offensive to score 1 more. They are the highest per game scoring team in this World Cup which makes their team so exciting to watch.

Also very interesting, is that like France 12 years before, they have a muti-ethnic team made up of players whose parents birthplace were from Turkey (Ozil), Yugoslavia (Podolski), Ghana (Boateng), Morocco (Madeira). 3 Cheers to this team who have shown me that a country which about 70 years ago was lead by a racist dictator and performed ethinc cleansing on the Jewish people have progressed to one which is multicultural, accepting of all races and religions in their cities and towns and forward looking.

Well done Germany ! Many neutrals will root for you in the future.You have a great team for the future.

'Psychic' Paul the Octopus gets 6 out of 6 'predictions' right

This is the famous Octopus Paul the 'Psychic' who has claimed worldwide fame by predicting correctly 6 matches in succession between Germany and her opponents.The first 3 being a win against Switzterland,followed by a loss against Serbia, a win against Ghana during the opening matches. In the round of 16, it predicted the win against Chile, quarterfinal win against Argentina, and now the loss to Spain.

The England Goal that Wasn't - World Cup 2010 Germany vs England

Frank Lampard's strike hit under the crossbar, bounced 1 and a half feet inside the German goal and bounced out

The Goal that Wasn't, was at a really crucial time during the England-Germany last 16 tie. England had just scored and were trailing 2-1 when Frank Lampard struck an awesome shot from some 28 metres out. It beat the German goalkeeper Neuer, and hit the inside of the crossbar, bounced one and a half feet inside the goalline and bounced out. The referee and the linesman
were too far out of position to allow it and assumed it hadn't crossed the line.

A camera mounted on a crane above the German goal showed that it indeed crossed the line. While FIFA still rules that only 3 officials will determine the outcome of the game, it is high time that fairness is dispensed to the sport, at the expense of some drama. England team did not protest, and carried on, although in all fairness, the German team was playing brilliant counterattacking football and all their strikes and goals were first class.

Life is like that, you get rotten luck thrown at you or life throws you a 'curve ball'. You are left floundering about the 'what ifs' and it is the ultimate winner ; the individual or team which shrugs off the misfortune or bounces back even stronger to 'win' and be more resolute.

England team, your time hasn't come yet, but, keep plugging the loopholes, tighten up the defence, retire David James,have more feeder schools for football development and get Jose Mourhinio as manager.

What do I know as an armchair critic of football, as my supported team is on the verge of relegation, each season,
Wolverhampton Wanderers ??

When will Singapore reach the World Cup Finals ? I hope in my lifetime !!

Another Great World Cup 2010 Song - Kenako

This must be THE SONG of the World Cup 2010 ; there are already shock exits by former 2 time World Champions Italy, and 1998 Champions, France. There is likely to be more upsets in the later stages, and (I am sticking my neck out here), we could see possibly an Asian team in the semi-finals.
My predictions (totally no bias, just shooting in the wind)

Champions : Argentina
Runner Up : Germany
Third : Spain
Fouth : Uruguay

Lessons from French Football team's disastrous exit - 2010 World Cup

Chicken and Duck Talk

France, the 1998 World Cup champions and 2006 finalists were humiliated in this year's World Cup 2010, losing to Mexico and South Africa whilst drawing to Uruguay.While being booted out of the Cup in the first stage is embarrasing enough, the way the French side handled the pressure and crumbled, no, disintegrated into a rabble of over- paid eogtistical "pot calling the kettle black" bunch of losers. Its sad that a team filled with talent from the likes of Franck Ribery, Anelka, Patrick Evra and Thierry Henry can mutiny and cause so much shame and embarrassment to their country. Lets get the following facts right.

They are paid millions of Euros playing for the top clubs in Europe, and with sponsors paying millions for the World Cup.
They are first class athletes and have loads of footballing talent
They are multimillionaires, Thierry Henry can afford his own private jet.
They are coached by a Raymond Domenech who handled their Euro 2008 campaign equally disastrously


Les Blur not Les Bleu

Things which they did totally wrong :

1. They let their egos get the better of them. This is a team game, everyone has to work together and sink or swim.
No one is bigger than the team, they forgot that. Anelka for one, and Viera was the mastermind.

2. Raymond Domenech was called obscene names and even though he may be hated by certain elements of the squad, he
MUST command the respect of the team. Coach or Manager's decision is FINAL. No further questions till after the World Cup.
These are millionaire professionals, surely they must understand respect ??

3. They did not show good sportsmanship, refusing to train for the final match against South Africa (which they lost 2-1) and
the coach/manager did not even want to shake hands with the opposing manager. Terrible behavior from the manager of a
supposed 'top team'.

4. Sir Alex Furgeson said that the team 'downed tools' just before the match with South Africa. He singled Patricce Evra as the
mastermind. There are certain priorities in life. God, Country, Family, Work, Friends,and so forth. What were these overpaid
monkeys thinking ?

Shame.

Movie with the Boys - Toy Story 3

Where's the popcorn ?

Last Friday 18th June, I took an afternoon off to watch a movie, Toy Story 3 with my son Andrew and his friend, Glenn.It was a lunch with a movie thrown in, and it was nice to spend some quality and bonding time with my younger son, who is in Secondary One. The meal was their choice, and we had some nice McWings, Chicken Burger, and Cheeseburger at the Great World City Mcdonalds at River Valley Road.


Nice discussion at Macdonalds

The male youth of today are obsessed with computer gaming, with many multiplayer games available such as Counter Strike, World of Warcraft, Maplestory to name just 3 games. We try our hardest as parents to control their game time, and
even have time restrictions on their game play limiting them to no more than 1 hour during term time. There have been numerous occasions when their addiction to the gaming has led them to forgo their exercise and homework. We are not so lucky to have disciplined teenagers who are self-starting and are able to prioritise their time and study independently. In essence, they have low self-discipline.


A pix before heading out with Glenn and Andrew

The show was very captivating, to say the least and this Toy Story 3 is the most where it deals with separation issues between child and toy and parent and child, something which all of us must face in our lives one day. With bonding and communication, I hope that we can have close ties with our teenagers and children for year to come