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things from around the business web to enhance our business acumen
One of the company’s I’ve invested in has relocated machinery production to China, recently, from Europe.
I suggested they look at Thailand, or Malaysia as a potential base, but China won out. I think their decision may not be so insightful as they thought.
Chinese GDP growth hit its lowest level since 1999 last year. Part of the slowdown is being driven by Beijing’s efforts to re-balance the economy away from exports and investment-led growth to domestic demand driven growth.… Read more
There are times when a quick round up of a topic with some guidance on further reading is useful.
I read ‘Counterparties’ created by Felix Salmon of Reuters, and in future will exert parts of this for you.
Here’s a good simple round up of the current state of the African Economy- not something you read about everyday, but useful nonetheless.… Read more
In my new self directed role, I am happy that I have no team members.
Looking back on my management career, the biggest people mistakes I made weren’t in hiring people too quickly, but in firing too slowly.
Let me be clear, a bosses job isn’t to go around and look for people to fire. But to assess when a person becomes a bad fit with their work, team, and company.… Read more
As a young manager, i was occasionally asked to set up a strategic discussion, or a review of our strategy and really struggled about how to arrange my thoughts and hence the presentation.
I’m an academic by training and would always go back to the books when ever I became stuck. When I trained at INSEAD i was introduced to a useful and simple tool for arranging any strategic discussion,
The Porter’s Five Forces tool is simple but powerful means to understand where power lies in any business situation and hence a great means t arrange your strategic thinking.… Read more
I’ve introduced the concept of Emotional Intelligence (eQ) and I’d like to take it further, and to provide you with some simple steps to enhance your personal eQ.
Following some of these steps will enable you to realign your work-life back into balance, reduce stress, and potentially resolve current conflict (and avoid future conflicts). By connecting with your emotions at work, you’ll be better equipped to identify, handle, and avoid difficult situations before they escalate.… Read more