Mr. Haxa Does The Blogs

Malaysia Worst Bus Accident: A Call For Market Regulation & Consolidation of Operators

The reaction to the worst nation's road accident, that caused 20 fatality was rather disappointing. It's dejavu all over again when it's becoming an ugly finger pointing game. Fundamentally, this incident calls for a transportation market regulation. As was successfully done in banking and telecommunication industry, the express bus market has to be consolidated to only a few operators.

The mess in Puduraya is a good sign of it. Multiple operators; big, medium, and small, are trying to eat the same piece of cake. What options do bus users have but from:

1. bad ticketing system,
2. poor bus station services,
3. bad bus maintenance,
4. bad drivers,
5. shortage of buses during peak season,
6. frequent breakdowns, and
7. risking life of passengers in the hands of some reckless drivers.

A consolidated market will bring down the numbers of operators to a few with economic of scale to operate a huge fleet with good maintenance and day-to-day business. In a two-pronged approach, it'd make it easier for government to monitor and enforce new rules concerning drivers, bus, and safety.

I can still recall the decision to install black box device in buses few years back was unsuccessful due to cost reason given by small operators. In this recent incident, not only the operator allow a traffic offender with two arrest warrants to drive, the driver was not accompanied with another driver as stipulated in the regulation. If the brake system was the root cause, then blame it on shortage of fleet and infrequent maintenance.

Should the government decided to regulate, it'd be a short-term pain for these regulators with mergers and acquisition activities going on in the market. Some operators might be averse to such proposal and could jeopardize such plan. Perhaps, some also might propose regional-based operators system, but it could make it harder to devise such system.

Just as you would switch from apple to orange when apple price shoot up the roof, long distance travelers should be given other alternative, i.e. fast train service. Bullet train could be an expensive solution, but it'd be a good catalyst for interstate development in the long run and would make it possible for someone living in Ipoh to commute to Kuala Lumpur for daily work. In turn, this could balance the urban migration and allow people to have quality of life outside of Klang Valley. This could also be the remedy to the traffic congestion on our highways as numbers of private car ownership keep growing every year.

Though free market advocates might not agree to this solution, the safety or public transport users should be a major consideration. Just as the government wanted everyone to have access to quality mobile phone service, I believe this come on top of that at any point.

Imagine your son due for graduation in the coming week died in such accident. It's tragic. It's a wake up call. It's a lesson for all of us, but how long does the government has to wait to solve the fundamental problem of this. Let's get back to the planning board and have a constructive plan to revive our express bus system.

Yes, I am a frequent coach users. I subscribe to frequent-traveler system and I do buy Aeroline tickets online. And this issue concerns me.

Nine Books For Reading

DSC_0523a, originally uploaded by haxa.

Nine books I've recently purchased that I've read half through or haven't started at all. Here are some notes and previews:

1. Veronika Decides to Die
Perhaps this is one of Paulo Coelho's most depressing novels.

2. The Truth About Markets: Why Some Nations are Rich, but Most Remain Poor
Another economic book I bought to understand market economy and the have vs. have-not. Author: John Kay.

3. Seeing What's Next: Using the Theories of Innovation to Predict Industry Change
Clayton Christiansen co-authors with Anthony and Roth after his groundbreaking innovation theory in disruptive innovation from his successful book, The Innovator's Dilemma.

Part I of this book focuses on how to use theory to do your predictive analysis. in Part II, the authors applies these theories to predict the next changes in education, aviation, semiconductors, health care, corporate and country strategies, and telecommunications.

4. The World Is Flat: The Globalized World in The Twenty-First Century
Thomas Friedman definitely has got a lot to say about the flatteners that are flattening the globalized world. A great book to read to understand the current and future trends in economics and technologies. Lots of discussion on the emergence of new economic forces, India and China.

5. Death by PowerPoint: A Modern Office Survival Guide
Go read this book and you'll definitely identify your colleagues to the different characteristics Michael Flocker describe in this hilarious yet useful guide.

There are some useful descriptions of corporate lingo (e.g. circle back, engineering synergy, bridging synergy, drill down, mandatory fun), politics (perception,reality), etiqutte (e-mails, presentation), and others.

6. Desperately Seeking Paradise: Journeys of a Skeptical Muslim
I'm still in the first couple of chapters in Ziauddin Sardar's memoir of journey in Islam in the late 20th century and the new millennium. I'm still at the part where Sardar left the Tabligh group with Sister Sofia and returned home.

I can't wait to continue finishing this exciting book as Sardar tells his stories and views from his extensive travels to Iran, Middle East, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, and Turkey to name a few.

7. A Perfect Spy
After watching The Constant Garderner, I thought I should read John Le Carre's books. I haven't started on this book although I bought it few months back.

8. Everything Bad Is Good For You: Why Popular Culture is Making Us Smarter
You know this is a good book social commentary book when Malcolm Gladwell calls it 'Wonderfully Entertaining'. Steven Johnson will convince you that popular culture is making us more intelligent.

I like the chapter where he explores the multi-billion gaming industry - e.g. what makes people spend lots of money buying cheat sheet and spend hours of times getting from one level to another in video/PC/online gaming.

9. Making Globalization Work
I read Joseph Stiglitz's Globalization and Its Discontents during my MBA days and I'm a big fan of his ideas. Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize-winning economist lays out the process of reforming globalization after his widely accepted analysis (promise and perils) of globalization in his earlier book.

You Are Too Horizontal! You Need To Be More Vertical!

One of the great wisdoms I gained from business school is the concept on vertical (up or down stream) and horizontal (across) strategy. It always remind me that I am on that curve too. I need to find my balance so that I'm not skewed heavily on one direction.

This is a not a tough decision to make as we grow and see the world differently than ever based on our learning and experiences. And at times, there's the growing pain period when we stuck at one for too long and nothing ever come out good from that. But hey! That's what life is all about, learn when you tumble; and look up for more opportunities when you are on top.

And to me, getting to the optimum point on that curve is an Oh Shit! Moment (OS!M)

Contradiction: "Siapa kuasai Siapa? - Starbucks International atau Berjaya?"

This is an article from the Berita Harian Ekonomi section. Take note of the misleading title to the content written. If I were the editor, I would have this article title as "Starbucks International kuasai separuh (or 49.9%) ekuiti Berjaya Coffee" or if that is long, the shorter one is "Berjaya Coffee kini Starbucks-Berjaya Coffee Company".

Berjaya kuasai 49.9 peratus ekuiti Starbucks
BHarian/Wednesday/Ekonomi/20040713232639/Article/

STARBUCKS Coffee International Inc (Starbucks) anak syarikat Starbucks Coffee Company yang disenaraikan di pasaran Nasdaq Amerika Syarikat sudah memeterai perjanjian dengan Berjaya Group Bhd bagi mengambil alih 49.9 peratus kepentingan ekuiti dalam Berjaya Coffee Company (M) Sdn Bhd, iaitu pemegang lesen jenama Starbucks di Malaysia.

Berikutan pembelian itu, Berjaya Coffee Company akan ditukarkan namanya kepada Starbucks-Berjaya Coffee Company.

Berjaya Group akan memegang 50.1 peratus kepentingan ekuiti dalam syarikat itu.

Presiden Starbucks Coffee Asia Pasifik, Pedro Man dalam kenyataannya mengumumkan pembelian itu, berkata dalam tempoh singkat iaitu enam tahun, Starbucks berjaya muncul sebagai jenama kopi istimewa yang unggul di Malaysia.

“Pengambilalihan itu memberikan peluang kepada Starbucks untuk mengukuhkan jenama berkenaan di seluruh Asia Tenggara.

“Langkah itu sejajar dengan strategi pengembangan syarikat pada peringkat antarabangsa,” katanya.

Beliau juga yakin jenama Starbucks mempunyai potensi besar di Malaysia.

“Sebagai peneraju pasaran industri kopi istimewa, kami memiliki peluang yang luas untuk mengukuhkan jenama itu,” katanya.

Starbucks membuka kedai pertama di Malaysia pada 17 Disember 1998 di KL Plaza, Jalan Bukit Bintang.

Sehingga kini, ia sudah berkembang kepada 49 kedai dengan sebahagian besarnya terletak di Lembah Klang, enam di Pulau Pinang, tiga di Johor Bahru, tiga di Genting Highlands dan satu di Kuantan.

Pada peringkat antarabangsa pula, Starbucks mempunyai 8,000 cawangan di Amerika Utara, Amerika Latin, Eropah, Asia Barat dan Asia Pasifik.

Reading List [Will be Updated]

1. Abdul Hamid, Abdul Halim, Mohd Nordin, Norizaton Azmin, “A Study on Islamic Banking Education and Strategy for the New Millennium – Malaysian Experience”, International Journal of Islamic Financial Services, Vol. 2 No. 4
2. Anonymous, “Highlights of the Malaysian Banking & Financial Services Summit 2002”, Economic Research Services of Bumiputra Commerce, Vol: 1/2002, 2002
3. Aziz, Zeti Akhtar, “The Malaysian Banking Industry – Gearing Up for Excellence”, Bank Negara Malaysia, 2002
4. Aziz, Zeti Akhtar, “Scaling New Heights After the Banking Consolidation”, Bank Negara Malaysia, 2001
5. Bank Negara Malaysia, “The Central Bank and the Financial System in Malaysia – A Decade of Change: 1989-1999”, Bank Negara Malaysia, First Edition, 1999
6. Bank Negara Malaysia, “Central Banking In An Era of Change – Landmark Speeches: 1959-1988”, Bank Negara Malaysia, 1989
7. Miller, Roger L., Vanhoose, David, “Money, Banking, & Financial Markets”, South-Western Thomson Learning, 2001
8. Obiyathulla Ismath Bacha, “Financial Derivatives – Markets and Applications in Malaysia”, Penerbit Universiti Putra Malaysia, 2001
9. Oh, Soo-Nam, “Towards a Sustainable Banking Sector – Malaysia”, 1998
10. Saunders, Anthony, Cornett, Marcia M., “Financial Markets and Institutions – A Modern Perspective”, McGraw Hill, Second Edition, International Edition, 2003
11. Sloman, John, “Economics”, Financial Times – Prentice Hall, Fourth Edition, 2000
12. Stanley G., Mishkin, Frederic S. Eakins, “Financial Markets and Institutions, Third Edition”, Addison Wesley Longman, 2000

October 2003; Prospects & Outlook

This is the third day of the October 2003; the Northern Hemisphere of the world is into the fall season, which soon come the daylight saving and winter. Here in the Equator, particularly in Malaysia, we are certainly not looking forward for the monsoon season, but it would be nice though to have a wet afternoon in Ramadhan late in this month. May all the peace, tranquility, and blessings are bestowed upon us this year’s Ramadhan.

Already the outlook for this month is brighter than what I have considered a gloomy and sluggish development in most parts of life earlier. Though there were problems in life just like everyone else, I’d like those matters to remain as they are, and for me to take of it all. After all, I believe all the problems were indirectly or directly self-inflicted, no matter how hard you try to blame others, try to look at it as if you are the source of it, then there are zillion of means and possibilities to solve the problem, and ultimately improving your self-being. In the end, you are a much better person. Using scapegoat will only worsen the situation. You hurt other, and lemme tell you this, it is ugly, and it is costly.

One interesting development is in the handheld business. As Palm now is officially PalmOne (Read: The Tale of American Tech Company); with the OS 6 that is soon to be released in December, the news that Palm (and the PalmOS version) is moving into the ultra-thin notebook market, release of three new fall 2003 handheld (T|3, T|E, and Zire 91); the competition and outlook for the Palm camp look all rosy and heating up.

Sony for its high-end market segment just introduced the UX 50, which most considered a ‘freaking’ resemblance to that ultra-thin laptop, and introduction of a couple of SJ mid range models, price cut on some models; we could all expect for much for competitive pricing, and thus some astonishingly great new features. Nevertheless, as PalmOS adopters moved into the new chip architecture and introduction of myriads of powerful capabilities, the battery power performance is traded off. We certainly hope that Palm won’t get into this PocketPC problem.

There are few Palm sites that I regularly visit from time to time; ClieSource, Sony Clie (/micros/clies/), Julies & Judies’ The Gadgeteers, the PalmInfoCenter, and also the regular PalmX newsgroup e-mail feed that for the last few days my mailbox from this particular source has flocked like in the 70 mails daily, good though! And interestingly our gathering mid this month looks like it will be a huge turnout. I am all excited to attend this one as I had to skip past three BTMs because of classes. It’s again another good time beamfest, see others try out Wi-Fi and GPRS on PalmOS5, have chit-chat, while sipping those tasty frappuccino, and at the same time having fun with our toys.

My recent favorite site has been the Brighthand as it provides news, reviews, commentaries, for all things on Palm, PocketPC, Other Handhelds, and Smartphones; a good well-covered scope for people like me who is hungry of these news. Their reviews have been very analytical and neutral, data and statistics are updated, features are well described, and the style of writings are to my liking. Besides, I am happy that they have extensively adopted portlets on their site now. And I waiting or probably write to them to introduce RSS feed for Brighthand!

In other development, RedHerring, one of my regular daily Internet mag-subscription beside Business 2.0 that closed down a year back, has recently back to business with a new management. Could it be that VCs are now back to full gear in Silicon Valley? Is this the new dawn for a full swing of recovery in tech? Perhaps some new interesting IPOs down the road? Or maybe new star will be born? Let’s wait and see.

Business is as usual at The Vault, my favorite MBA networking and knowledge site. Recently, I was asked to write about my undergraduate experience at my college. I have no idea when I will be doing that, and for a good reward it offers, I might as well plan my writing soon! My favorite publication, Knowledge Management this month features Verna Allae, one of the well-known figures in KM. Have yet to read this entire issue, but page 26 is worthy the read on e-learning development in New Zealand.

And the e-learning in Malaysia is about to see some new interesting developments. I am particularly excited with this new progression. I can’t wait for that to happen, for this to take place, for me to get there, for that agenda to take form, and all sorts of other things that have made me somewhat now see the light at the end of the tunnel. Finally, everything looks so much brighter. I have told myself to work, work, work, work, and work hard from now on to achieve lots of things that for once I thought quite impossible to achieve because things sometimes got taken by events and out of random, that initiatives got killed off, this one was turned down, and I couldn’t let this one fall into the same fate.

For what it matters, I just finished the second last module of my MBA. The exam and paper submission are due early next month, which leaves me with a full four weeks for preparation. Yet, I have gathered some materials for references but I probably require some quite reading time at the library this weekend for full concentration. Or probably work out task delegation with the rest of the class.

On the verge of finishing up another milestone in my life, I sometime reflect to whether I have read, understood, and possessed all the knowledge and analytical skills to analyze and critic all the issues in business management. And as this one finishes, I am now at a crossroad whether an academic future career or ‘plunge’ into the corporate line should be my next venture. And it looks like I have to put my decision-making capabilities to test now. Hopefully, I will have all the pros and cons gathered in these short periods of time.

At work, my spirit and energy have somewhat been rejuvenated. Thoughts are in place, and works are piling up. This is something that I have not felt this in a long period. Yesterday, for the first time in so many months, I worked late ;-) Can this be a good sign for all good things to happen? I really hope so.

October also means that fall lineups and releases of new movies, of which some will make it to Oscar nomination. The last one I watched at the theatre was Identity. Read it somewhere that Under the Tuscan Sun is a good watch, but I will probably opt for the last sequel of the Matrix and the conclusion on the Lord of the Ring. Too bad Harry Potter is not scheduled for any release this year. Otherwise, this is an October to be remembered for all the best sequels or trilogy, whichever you want to name it!

All in all, I am looking forward for all the positive prospects in life before I turn another year older soon. May the force be with me!

Publication: Six Sigma In Research & Development

Download file. On June 28, 2001, the Industrial Research Institute’s Process Effectiveness Network (PEN) hosted a panel discussion, “Six Sigma and Design for Six Sigma in Research & Development (R&D) Organizations”. Based on early few implementers of Six Sigma in R&D, the panel concluded that Six Sigma in an R&D environment is worthy of consideration. Suffice to say that the elimination of defect, the core of 6 Sigma “3.4 per million opportunities” has intriguing implications for R&D as R&D exist to create, process, and products.

This paper provides a brief introduction to the Six Sigma; its philosophies and methodologies. The quality areas in R&D activities are then discussed prior to establishing the links with the Six Sigma. Opportunities and challenges in implementing Six Sigma in R&D environment are then discussed by reviewing the R&D processes, customers, implementation strategies, best practices, and lesson learnt.

Notify me in the Comment section if you are interested to have the complete document.

An Essay On Free Trade

This was submitted as the preface to my Globalization paper.

Notion of Capitalist Competition

A capitalist economy is characterized by free competition (Shane, 1999) in order to achieve its ultimate goal, profit maximization. The capitalist economies are of positive sum, where there is a net positive win; i.e. competition and self-interest of individuals are probably the greatest motivator for efficiency. Besides competition, the notions of capitalist encompass the productivity of labor, specialization of trade, extent of the market, and the accumulation of capital,

The basis of the capitalist ideology supported by the neo-classical proponent is the free market. A free-market (free-trade or neo-liberal) economy is an idealized form market efficient and provides the best allocation of resources. Therefore, buyers and sellers are permitted to carry out transactions based on mutual agreement on price without government intervention in the form of taxes, subsidies, regulation, or government ownership of goods or services.

Updates on "Thank You Mr. Markowitz"

- Analogy of life-long learning optimum portfolio based on the Modern Portfolio Theory

Thanks to both of you Jikon and Alvin for providing me some perspectives to argue this on this analogy to the MPT. Jikon posted an argument about being Jack of Trade and how it has turned out to be to his disadvantage and hence recommending me to argue from Malaysian perspective. Alvin noted the missing risk free investment in the analogy and the measure of risk to those skills, of which we have to refer our HR text as well as trend to try quantify these skills market value.

Thank You Mr. Markowitz

Early this morning when I was cracking my head to find the best solution to my Modern Portfolio Theory paper structure, I came to a wonderful discovery that I thought I would want to write it here after the exam; but I could care less since moment like this doesn't come often. And thank you to the Sumatra coffee that had kept me awake to see all these new development.

50 years ago, Harry Markowitz paper on "Portfolio Selection" was published in the The Journal of Finance in 1952. The ideas introduced in this article have come to form the foundations of what is now popularly referred to as Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT). Throughout the years, his work has been the foundation for the financial community, that in 1990 Markowitz was awarded the Nobel Prize.