Vietnam: The New Low-Cost Haven
September 25, 2007
The past twenty years have seen a veritable deluge of Asian foreign investment flowing first into China and, more recently, India. The impetus for most of these investments has been the promise of lower costs for materials, manufacturing, and business processes.
Concurrent with the rapid construction of factories, offices, and labs there has been an insatiable rise in the demand for people — so much so that these two countries are now experiencing unprecedented rates of wage appreciation and employee attrition as experienced workers at all levels jump for better paying opportunities. Read more… »
Group Communication: Advocacy v. Inquiry
September 16, 2007
A common trend in the private and public sectors is to create groups as a means of gathering information in order to provide solutions. This has proven to be an effective method, from the formation of the "Delian League" in Ancient Greece to the handover of IBM’s hardware division to Lenovo in 2005. It sounds simple, but why do so many groups fail to communicate successfully?
Two factors are required for successful group communication:
- A group size no smaller than 5 and no larger than 12, and…
- A reasonable mixture of different personality types
Mental diversity is much more useful to the group than a pre-ordained ethnic mix. The four personality types to look at are "Analyzer," "Visionary," "Collaborator," and "Implementer." Mixing these four personalities, in a group of five to twelve members, ensures that there will be a healthy blend of advocacy and inquiry. Read more… »
5 Tips For Effective Group Communication
September 16, 2007
In the past several years, I have trained organizations from the Fortune 500 to SMEs. Even some "Mom and Pop" shops. I’ve found that although companies succeed or fail for countles reasons, there is one issue that applies across the board and is therefore worthy of closer examination — the breakdown of group communication.
While people these days can communicate in more ways than ever before, organizations seems to be suffering more and more misinterpretation and breakdowns in their group communication. Fortunately, there are solutions for this problem. Here are five tips that can help you to commence the process: Read more… »
10 Keys To SME Outsourcing
September 15, 2007
Lower costs in Asia are not just for large firms anymore. Products, technologies, and services have become steadily cheaper, enabling small and medium enterprises, or SMEs, to take advantage of the savings and flexibility found in Asia. This is particularly true in places where large companies have already established infrastructure and sound labor practices.
As you think about doing business in Asia, keep in mind that smaller firms face different challenges than larger ones when outsourcing or moving operations thousands of miles from home.
There are fixed costs that will add expense to smaller companies, like the cost of additional workers when shifting a job or process to Asia. For senior managers, monitoring and managing work abroad takes time away from other priorities. And problems with employee retention and work quality can destroy an operation that isn’t carefully established or supervised. Read more… »