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The Long March
Orly Mercado
What the Chinese youth should remember
As China commemorated the 70th anniversary of the end of the Long March the China Youth Daily proclaimed that the overwhelming majority of the youth of the country still value its legacy. “Unity and hard struggle” and “braving hardship and danger” were cited as crucial values. So what’s new with Chinese propaganda?
Recently, not a few books and articles have tried to “unmask the myth” and write a “more realistic version” of one of history’s most immortalized strategic retreats that brought the Red Army close to being completely decimated. In the end, what was left of the 80,000 strong First Division (about 7,000 soldiers) prevailed, and the People’s Republic of China was established in 1949.
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Posted
10/27/2006 1:39:45 PM |
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The Philippines: BPO update
Michael Alan Hamlin
Five trends suggest continued strong growth
Despite the high-pitched rhetoric generated by detractors of Senate and Department of Finance moves to eliminate, rather than rationalize, investor incentives, according to Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPA/P) executive director Mitch Locsin the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry remains confident that it will grow rapidly through 2010.
Locsin said earlier this week that five trends auger well for the Philippines and the BPO industry, notwithstanding certain inevitable challenges. Although his remarks were made in an off-the-record briefing, Locsin agreed to allow me to report on his comments.
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Posted
10/27/2006 12:19:15 PM |
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Asia's top brands
Michael Alan Hamlin
Two surveys address brand awareness in Asia
The results of two surveys ranking top brands in Asia were announced recently. On September 22, Media magazine in association with Asian Integrated Media revealed “Asia’s Top 1,000 Brands (Asia’s Top Brands).” On Monday this week, The Wall Street Journal Asia (WSJA) unveiled “Asia’s 200 Most Admired Corporations” (Asia’s Most Admired), a survey previously conducted by Far Eastern Economic Review before it morphed into a journal of political and social commentary.
Asia’s Top Brands is not-so-subtly concerned with the impact of adspend on brand recall, and is conducted in nine Asian markets. It covers 15 major product and service categories, from alcohol to household products. Between 500 and 750 respondents are interviewed in each country, depending on population, and they are asked two questions: 1) “When you think of (product/service category), which is the best brand that comes to your mind? By best, we mean the one that you trust the most or the one that has the best reputation”; and, 2) “Apart from the brand that you have just mentioned, which brand do you consider to be the second-best brand in the (product/service category)?”
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Posted
10/18/2006 10:38:06 AM |
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Satire and coping with reality
Orly Mercado
Jon Stewart for US President
One of the frustrations of living in Japan for a movie buff like me is missing all those movies people are talking about. I saw director Barry Levinson on American talk shows promoting “Man of the Year” but I have to content myself with my regular dose of “fake news” from Jon Stewart while waiting for it to hit the movie houses here if it ever will.
The movie, about a fake news TV anchor who runs for president, has focused attention on recent polls that indicate that not a few Americans have ranked Jon Stewart as among their possible choices for President in 2008. The fact that the comedian is not running is of no matter.
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Posted
10/16/2006 12:29:06 PM |
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She said, he said
Michael Alan Hamlin
“The Philippines will not become less competitive”
Speaking before foreign and domestic investors participating in a strategy workshop on increasing foreign direct investment (FDI) last week, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said, “I want to assure you that our policy is to keep and to improve the incentives the Philippines offers strategic foreign and domestic investors, especially exporters.” In an apparent effort to remove any chance of a misunderstanding, Ms. Arroyo continued, “Speaking of fiscal incentives, let us assure you too that the Philippines will not become less competitive in the fiscal incentives we offer our foreign and domestic investors.”
Sitting in the audience and applauding the president’s statements along with other workshop participants, Ms. Arroyo’s message seemed clear to me. And that message was that the Philippines will seek to strengthen the investment and business climate for international and domestic investors, including the retention of investment incentives. And she went still further, saying, “I know that some of you are worried, that’s why I want to assure you that we will not support proposals that have the effect of reducing competitiveness.”
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Posted
10/11/2006 11:11:23 AM |
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Pension fund shenanigans
Orly Mercado
Sad stories, sad endings
Two recent new stories about pension fund shenanigans have caught my attention. The first was the announcement by the Chinese Communist Party that Shanghai party boss Chen Liangyu was arrested over allegations that he allowed associates to milk Shanghai’s pension accounts. The second was an announcement by the Philippines’ Department of National Defense that the pension fund system of the members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines is now bankrupt and is going to be taken over by the national pension fund system. Same story, two different endings, I thought to myself.
I have personal knowledge of the soldier’s pension fund woes. When I was appointed Secretary of National Defense in 1998, and started cleaning up the Retirement and Separation Benefit System (RSBS) and the Philippine Veterans Administration Office (PVAO), one of the officers assigned to provide for my security half-jokingly said: “Sir, I don’t think the communists or the separatists will assassinate you. I advise you not to cross the streets here inside Camp Aguinaldo (the military camp where the Department had its offices) at night, as a military truck might just lose its brakes.” I knew I was up against some people who could put science in their madness.
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Posted
10/7/2006 5:43:24 PM |
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Philippines: Looking better
Michael Alan Hamlin
Danger lies in taking good fortune for granted
Tomorrow, seven foreign chambers of commerce in the Philippines, including members of the local business community, will conduct a joint workshop on foreign direct investment (FDI). The title of the workshop is aspirational: “How the Philippines Can Attract $3 Billion a Year.” To put that goal into perspective, according to World Bank (WB) data, FDI in the Philippines rose to approximately $1.1 billion in 2005, from less than $500 million in 2004.
By comparison, Malaysia received $4.2 billion in FDI last year, and Thailand received $3.7 billion. Indonesia received $3.5 billion. The bulk of developing Asia FDI went to China, which received a staggering $60.3 billion. These statistics are sobering because the Philippines trails its closest neighbors with similar development challenges, and has done so for many years.
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Posted
10/4/2006 11:33:57 AM |
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Fast-growing brands
Michael Alan Hamlin
Ultimately, it's recall
The world’s two foremost brand consultancies, Omnicom’s Interbrand and Young & Rubicam’s Landor Associates (Y&R itself is a division of WPP Group), recently published the results of their annual brand surveys. As usual, there was not much movement at the top, a space chronically dominated by Coke, Microsoft, IBM, GE, and Intel. In fact, the most notable quality of the top five global brands in the Interbrand survey may be that three declined in value last year (Coke, Microsoft, and Intel).
More meaningful insights – in terms of what resonates in our evolving global marketplace – are provided by fast-growing brands. In evaluating brands in general and fast-growing brands in particular, Interbrand focuses on annual growth in brand equity. Landor Associates takes a mid-term view of fast-growing brands, evaluating them over a three-year period to provide a sense of sustainable growth. Interbrand, which undertakes its study in partnership with BusinessWeek, provides substantially all its results on both the BusinessWeek website and its own.
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Posted
10/2/2006 6:57:58 PM |
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