MCO Extended and Companies Are Screaming

Since my last post, the Movement Control Order (MCO) has been extended twice by the Malaysian Government. We will need to stay at home until 28th April 2020 in order to stop the spread of COVID-19 which has been infected more than 1.6 million people worldwide and claims more than a hundred thousand lives.

Yes, we can understand that there is a big economical impact on businesses worldwide and many people now lost their jobs due to the closure of factories and operations. People are not allowed to go out and it directly affects the consumptions. If we look at the model of National Income, consumptions and productions are highly affected now which leads to a sharp decline in Gross National Income, or we like to measure in the form of Gross Domestic Production (GDP).

We can make it and back to where we stopped before the pandemic.

But come to think about it. what is really happening in a business organization? When a business cannot operate for a period of time for the safety of everyone, is this going to be the end of the world or the world economy will just collapse, dead and that's it? You mean ALL companies will be dead?

Of course not!

Similar to the pandemic of COVID-19 which infected millions of people. Despite the high mortality rate in some countries, it didn't kill everyone. There are thousands of recovered cases around the world. So why some managed to recovered and some not? Medical reports show that patients with health complications have a high mortality rate and those who are healthier have a higher chance of recovery. It means if we are healthy and more strengths to fight with this virus, we may recover but if we are weak and with health issues, we have a lower chance of survival.

Moment of Truth

This is the moment of truth for all the bosses and management teams out there. If a company now needs to cut pay or even close down, it means a lot about the health and sustainability of this company. A well-managed business should have anticipated the threats of macro-environmental factors (PESTLE) and continuously built the strengths or minimizing its weaknesses. The same goes for governments and individuals. This pandemic is a real test to examine our sustainability and survival.

Think about SWOT analysis, blue ocean strategy, competitive advantage, financial sustainability, portfolio management, risk management, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and even corporate governance. At a time like this, we will know which companies have been practicing strategic management effectively and which did not. Eventually, those that are poorly managed before the pandemic will be struggling now to sustain and most probably, they will still suffering even without COVID-19. This is the time for us to identify which companies have strengths to turn the threats into opportunities and which are just too weak to be taken over or have to be disinvested.

We can continue to worry and find ways to cut costs or even closing down businesses, or we can choose to think positively and move forward to start a paradigm shift. Cutting staff or salary is not the only way to survive. If we managed to survive this pandemic, we need to have a drastic change. Management must reflect on how they have been managing their team and businesses in the past, which leads to sustainable issues now... Do not penalize your staffs due to MCO, think of what you have done all these while!

What People Say This Week: Instagram Co-Founders RESIGNED

What People Say This Week?
This is what people talks about this week and I think we all have a lot to say about it too. Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger have resigned from the Facebook-owned company.

Image source: https://mobil.sk/static/article/2018/09/5ba9f42fbeffa/thumbnail/938x452.jpg

But why?
Instagram CEO Systrom and Krieger said they want to explore their "curiosity and creativity again". In a statement by Systrom, he said that after eight years at Instagram and six years with the Facebook team, “building new things requires that we step back, understand what inspires us and match that with what the world needs; that’s what we plan to do.”

So, what say Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg?
He had learnt a lot from working with Systrom and Krieger for the past six years and was “looking forward to seeing what they build next”.

Some Facts:

• Instagram is a popular social media site that has been growing rapidly since Facebook acquisition in 2012 for $1bn. 
• Systrom and Krieger are not the first to quit under Facebook-owned businesses this year. WhatsApp chief executive and co-founder Jan Koum, quit earlier this year. Brian Acton and Mr Koum co-founded WhatsApp in 2009, before selling it to Facebook in 2014 for $19bn. The reason being Koum had clashed with parent company Facebook over WhatsApp's strategy. He objected to Facebook attempts to use WhatsApp's personal data and weaken its encryption standards.

Choesay Conclusion
It is easy to begin a relationship but maintaining it is toughest. Innovators are filled with creativity. They see things from all different directions. It is not uncommon that disagreement and differences in views exists when creative people gets together. As such, we can see the reason for Systrom and Krieger to quit is due of growing tensions with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg over the direction in which the company is moving.

There is a Chinese proverb that says "一山不容二虎 (One Mountain Cannot Contain Two Tigers)". Meaning, in an area, there cannot be two very strong personality people leading. Just like in a mountain, there will only be one king, one tiger.

What say you?

Source: Instagram co-founders resign to explore ‘creativity again’

Computer Breakdown, Restaurant Closed

Do you know what is the impact of Information Technology (IT) can have on your business? I think the impact could be very drastic because I saw this pizza restaurant at Berjaya Times Square closed since yesterday. All the staffs are there, but there is this A4 paper placed at the center to the entrance saying 'Closed, Computer Breakdown'.

Could't take a clear shot on the notice at the center because the staffs are looking at me...anyway, it says ' CLOSE, COMPUTER BREAKDOWN'

Today I saw some technician fixing something near the cashier.

See how important is IT in business, even a pizza restaurant that serves food and beverages, cannot operate because of computer breakdown. I wonder what roles does a computer does, that can caused the entire restaurant to come to a standstill.

Is this a norm to all the F&B outlets to close if there is a problem with the Point-of-Sales (POS) or 'computer'?

The Wolverine 2013

It is weekend and this is the best time for me to do some catch up with the recent movie, The Wolverine. Most of you might have watched it by now and that is the purpose of this blog; so you know what am I referring to in the movie. Normally, I will use the implied story of a movie as part of my discussion in the class: my philosophy of learning = E+E (Education + Entertainment).

Well, at least they managed to promote Audi's brand in the world of Marvel Comics!

The Wolverine 2013 is a movie that continue to tell the story of an X-Men, Logan the Wolverine (played by Hugh Jackman) under the Marvel Comics franchise. Directed by James Mangold, this movie is about an old acquaintance of Logan, Yashida trying to gain immortality by attempting to transfer Logan's Mutated DNA to his weak and dying body. Very obvious, Yashida is the bad guy in this movie. Wolverine is not fighting his all-time enemy Sabretooth this time, but a lethal silver samurai steel.

The plot of this movie doesn't not relate to X-Men but more focusing on Wolverine as a single superhero, with his sidekick Yukio (played by Rila Fukushima): another mutant who can see 'some' future. So, I don't really feel like I am watching a Marvel superheroes movie. On top of the self-healing and classic blades from fist, Logan seems to be very human in this movie (especially when he was infected by a bio-robotic don't know what machine by the Viper).

Just because of that, I find the story-line a bit boring and predictable. It is mixing the plot on family business, politics, romantics, personal psychology and action. It portraits a typical 3 generations Japanese (Asian) family owned business in Tokyo, Japan which trying to create political ties, strengthening the corporation, and fighting for power and money; and not to forget, Ninja and Samurai and World War II. On the other hand, the stories tries to explain Logan's inner psychology and promoting his romantic love story with the pretty Japanese model Tao Okamoto, who played Mariko, the grandchild of Yashida. Meanwhile, the movie attempts to reflect the selfishness of human who wanted the immortality, even by sacrificing the family and friends. Meanwhile, the director is trying to bring out the charisma of Wolverine by making Yukio to admire him.

Sounds like a lot? Yes, it is really too many messages that the movie is trying to package it in. Well, that's quite worth it if you are paying for a piece of entertainment, but you may easily forget about this movie. To me, nothing seems to connect, sorry...even though I am a fan of X-Men and to Marvel's superheroes.

I would rate this movie 5 out of 10. They have good cast but the story-line was like for the sake of making another Wolverine movie.