Mehr...

The brain trade, it might sound like something out of a cheesy 1920’s horror movie but it’s really just a familiar, everyday concept. It’s where an individual ‘sells’ his brain (essentially his skills) to a country (generally economically superior to his own) which then absorbs him (or her), into its system thus benefitting from the product of that skill. The individual in turn gets better benefits and lives a more comfortable life as a result.

The recent spate of brain drain could be tracked back to the years immediately following World War 2. After the chaos of the war, masses of skilled individuals looking for greener pastures flocked to (mostly) the United States, then known as the ‘land of the free’, in search of the heavily marketed ‘American dream’.

Why I say ‘marketed’ is because the US also, assisted in this with various policies such as,

• Fostering demand for skilled workers by increasing costs of local education and,
• Opening their shores to highly skilled migrants whose education had mostly been paid for by other governments.

This ensured a steady supply of high skilled workers that helped to control the levels of high wages at the top, and also cut back on government spending on education and importantly, ensure a larger domestic (and hence, more loyal) unskilled/semi-skilled worker base to fuel maximum economic growth. And they got it too, the US boasted many genius immigrants (think Einstein and the likes of Henry Kissinger) who contributed to bring it to the powerful position  that it still enjoys today.

More recently, with more and more skilled people emerging from third world nations, a lot of them have sought havens in places like UK, Australia mainly with a generous flow to other European Nations other developed countries like New Zealand, South Africa, Canada etc. The term ‘brain gain’ was coined much more recently to explain the drain of Canadians going into the US (Canada however was at that same time, gaining its own fair share of skilled Asians).

The world however, is a different place today, and the brain market has not escaped the tides of change. Post 9/11 stress led to a lot of countries supporting immigration policy reform but the biggest defining factor of this oncoming change has been the growing imbalance (or balance, depending on your perspective) of world economic power. How many friends have you who opted to go to China or India as opposed to more traditional destination for their higher studies? Lower costs and high quality education are drawing them like flies. They are still going to more traditional destinations for jobs however, but that will soon change as economic growth in these nations’ increase and they approach statuses of developed nations.

India and China are focusing on a strategy of getting back what they lost. They are offering lucrative incentives to nationals living abroad and indeed, many Indians and Chinese are taking them. This proactive Brain Gain from former victims of Drain has not yet begun to affect the world in a big way. But as the status quo changes further it won’t be long until it does. Indeed the are already significant numbers of Westerners working in countries on this side of the Middle East and their numbers are increasing.

We are all confronted with a choice of whether to sell our brain or not. How many of us have contemplated going abroad for studies? How many of us have thought of better economic benefits in the UK, Australia or the US for instance? How many of us have looked upon migration or global citizenship as a chance to achieve our true potential? If we have, then we have contemplated nothing less than to inflict ‘brain drain’ upon our nation. This however is not an ethical exploration of the concept of brain drain and I will leave the arguments on the aspects of Patriotism to others, but maybe in the meanwhile we should all start polishing up a bit on our Hindi and Mandarin?

--Halik Azeez

Halik is new to Beyond Borders and is still getting the hang of the whole thing. He blogs anonymously elsewhere in order to feed an omnipresent inferiority complex and unleashes upon the world his more unconventional thoughts and beliefs. His views are his own.

• erosion of academic oversight and direction
• paralysis because of budgetary shortfalls
• absence of career prospects
• high staff turnover
• large number of researchers emigrated or changed professions
• virtually no recruitment of scientists in the region throughout the 1990s
• wages paid to scientists in most African countries are no longer adequate to live on
• funding for science and research partnerships with universities and research institutes in other countries have declined
• vibrant scientific journals, many of them supported by university departments have disappeared and those that appear are so poorly edited that they have lost their reputed contributors or have been discarded by scientific databases, thus marginalising the scientific output of these countries

Exceptions are countries in Sub-Saharan Africa whose scientists are relatively active in agriculture and medicine.

To read the whole article Click Here!

Não, não, uma intervenção do governo para nivelar salários não adiantaria nada.

1 - Another Stallion football game tomorrow night ... at Providence ... at 7:30 PM in case you are interested! It's homecoming and it will be packed. And my handsome son will be leading his team as the QB!
2 - My mom and dad are coming for a long weekend ... it will be nice to see them SINCE THEY HAVEN'T BEEN TO FLORIDA SINCE CHRISTMAS!
3 - Hubby and I are getting away for a weekend alone for our 5-year anniversary ... WOOHOO!
4 - My one big project at work that has been going on since January will be FINISHED next weekend ... another WOOHOO!
5 - Tori proceeded to tell me this morning that she and MeMaw and Pop Pop (my parents) were going to have so much fun playing with her Barbie Dream House this weekend. This will probably be almost as good as Tori being their dance teacher trying to teach them ballet. I'll have to go back and find that picture sometime and post it ... she had Brent and my mom and dad all lined up in the kitchen teaching them ballet! I was laughing so hard I could barely take the picture.

That's about all for now ... my brain is officially "drained"!

“Brain drain” is defined as “the loss of skilled intellectual and technical human resources through the movement of labor to more favorable environments.”

At one time, brain drain equated with the emigration of talented people out of the poorer nations where they were needed, into countries offering better opportunities. Today the term has expanded to include the phenomenon of businesses and professions losing their best staff over failure to provide attractive work options.

The term has expanded because the phenomenon has expanded. Modern workers insist on a more people-centered workplace, an environment where they receive the same respect they give their bosses, where they exert influence in the company and can make decisions about their own work. They want flexible scheduling; decent benefits; a fun, pleasant, uplifting and homelike atmosphere.

Becoming sensitive to the changing demands of the workforce means your business will retain its best people, rather than lose them to self-employment or to competitors who better understand what top performers are looking for.

In his book, “Love and Profit: the Art of Caring Leadership,” James A. Autry writes: “Work can provide the opportunity for spiritual and personal, as well as financial growth. If it doesn’t, then we’re wasting far too much of our lives on it.”

That’s the new thinking of the new workforce. Whether or not we like it, we have to accept it. If we want to keep our most valuable people, we have to adapt to it.

Kerry Larkan

The electronic buzz and the chatter of people overflows the lobbies of airports across the world where tight security and a festive atmosphere always fills the air. With more people hopping on and off planes than ever before, the world has trully become a much smaller place. And this ever shrinking planet has provided wings to many a dream, one that has captivated centuries of maveric explorers.

Ever since man first set foot on this planet (..though darwinians would put it in a different way..) man has wanted to travel far and wide. And despite the progress of google maps, which gives us a glimpse of every square inch of this planet on our very desktops; the thirst to explore distant lands has'nt seemed to have been quenched. This thirst for adventure though some would argue its greed for the riches of the foreign land drives many an indian student across the seas to the western hemisphere.

The lure for the west is almost as strong as the great gold rush in the US during the 19th century. People tend to choose their professions based on future prospects in a western world. Students leave no stone unturned in enhancing their professional profiles so that they can swoop in on the opportunity to leave the place they have grown to know every nook of. Parents of girls try their very best to get their daughters on that plane to the supposed dreamland. The educated youth feel they have tolerated enough of their part of the world, and cringe at its shortcomings. People are almost desperate to break those shackles and make that journey. Such is the lure for those distant lands . But just like the explorers of the Americas, today's explorers find to their dismay, that there is little luster in the the gold they fail to find.

In time though the ultra clean skyrocketing buildings, the pitch dark roads with sparkly automobiles and swanky shopping malls fail to captivate the minds of most immigrants. As time draws on the thought of the dirt beaten roads, ramshackle eat-outs and yester-year experiences in that place they call home seems cozy and comforting. The people around though very warm and friendly in this distant cold land, fail to fill the void created by the absence of family.

The simplicities of everyday life and the grandiose of festivals back home are only a distant dream, a yearning that haunts the senses. And make no mistake its not just the mind that yearns, the feeling is so strong that even the stomach churns at the recollection of the taste and smell of the food of the homeland. This psycho-somato-sensory yearning dominates every conversation and every discussion with fellow victims.

With all the compromises and sacrifices to be made to live in this distant land, which we had dreamt of, as the ultimate liberation, is it worthwhile to make that journey?. It sometimes crosses my mind as to why we always yearn for what we dont have or cant see. Why we house this deep desire to see more than what is shown to us, encompassing our decisions and life, is a mystery that has captivated thinkers for ages.  As a famous kannada poet puts it "Iruvudellava Bittu iradudaredege thudivudhe jeevana" (translation: Life is all about moving on towards what we dont have by leaving behind what we already have").

Two world giants are going through crisis. China's viral milk scare seems to have outshone its glory in hosting this year's summer games and to not to forget, they bagged the gold in most of the events. Will they also take as much pride in being responsible for the newly-born food scare? I guess a trip to space isn't even close to a leap in gaining back the world's trust. It just worsens everyday: They just removed Cadbury off HK's shelves.Urgh!

This isn't the best time for America either. I've been used to seeing people in the Philippines sweeping the streets with banners, slogans and fuming voices. In fact, it seems to have become a tradition already (others may refute this statement). Most of the world's inhabitants depend a lot on the US economy and most of the world's products are made in China..

In the Third World, most people are immuned to crisis. They have become the strongest people I know (because I've met some and that I was born in one). I admire them so much for having the biggest dreams yet living the simplest lives and surviving for almost a century and will continue even if their ways of living are primitive.

Some want money and some need money: countrymen leave their country while foreigners who visit look after it for them. After all these years, I realised I may not agree with most columnists who say that the Philippines, for example, is experiencing a "brain drain". There are a lot of talented people and intelligent people left in the Philippines and I believe we will never run out of them.After all, not all who migrate are the "Cream of the crop" and human trafficking are tickets to illegal exits. When I did a research paper four years ago, Indians were being praised for being the happiest people on earth in spite of its political,economic and social conditions.

It is given that crisis and its synonyms never spare anybody. It is indiscriminate. Let's try to find solutions instead of creating (already) bigger problems.

Oxford International Review has always been more than just a publication; OIR is a process that engages and develops emerging leaders from around the world. Each year, OIR convenes promising scholars and young professionals in international peer teams that tackle complex geopolitical issues under the mentorship of distinguished academics, activists, and world leaders who represent diverse political views and sociocultural backgrounds. These peer teams provide an ideal vehicle for both the advancement of human capital in the developing world and post-conflict environments and the creation of mentor networks designed to prevent “brain drain” of talented professionals to the developed world.

This year’s 2008 Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting in New York includes OIR as a member organization. The Clinton Global Initiative is

a non-partisan catalyst for action that brings together a community of global leaders from various backgrounds to devise and implement innovative solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges. Today, CGI is reaching even more leaders in diverse regions, future leaders from college campuses, and global citizens through a community of projects evolving from CGI’s unique model that focuses on taking action. Since 2005, CGI members have made nearly 1,000 commitments valued at upwards of $30 billion to impact more than 200 million lives in over 150 countries.

OIR’s Commitment to Action is focused on providing "the skills and support necessary to encourage youth in war-torn and resource-limited countries–particularly young women and those from traditionally marginalized communities–to withstand the challenges inherent to those environments and go on to transform them."

More on OIR's Commitment is available in this 12-page PDF overview. And of course, watch the OIR blog for news about progress on this Commitment and on the partners who will be making it possible. Also, you can watch the CGI events live through an online video feed.

Anyway, moving on with the quiz questions. The answers for the last 2 questions:-

1. The connection is the popular South Korean movie/story, "My Sassy Girl". This romantic comedy revolves around the chance meeting of a young guy with this stoned girl and how he tries to get her back home to safety dealing with all her histrionics. One thing leads to another and they fall in love and decide to meet underneath a tree someday where they have buried letters writing about how they feel for each other. I'm not really in a narrative mood today, hence such an appalling summary of the story. But do watch it if you get it. It's good.

The man in the top left is Kim Ho-sik on whose story, this movie is based. He had actually published all his experiences on the internet which became so popular that a novel was made out of it. Which was then made into Korean movie. Which in turn has inspired the 2008 Hollywood flick of the same name (the poster). And also, it inspired the 2008 Bollywood flick, "Ugly aur Pagli" starring Ranbir Shoery and Mallika Sherawat (lady in pink). And that, my friends, is the connect!

2. Again, thought this was easy and was waiting for a correct response. The companies whose logos are in the question, have come together to create the India's first hill station since independence -- Lavasa near Pune, Maharashtra. The logos in order - Hindustan Construction Company (HCC), Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL), Novotel, Apollo Hospitals, ITC, Symbiosis Society and University of Oxford. 

Now to this week's questions:-

1. X is the poster for a theatrical. The image in the poster as well as the name of the theatrical is inspired from something. And that "something" has also inspired "something else" related to Y. Tell me all.

2. An age old chestnut. Who are these and what did they inspire?

Micul flagel al generatiei noastre, acestia azi inca leganati pe aripile ingaduitoare ale varstei dintre 30 si 40 – ne mai infioara inca senzualitati, ne mai flateaza inca descoperiri intelectuale, ne mai induioseaza inca dezastre si cauze umanitare – micul nostru flagel s-a petrecut discret. Discret, din temelii si mai ales – calitate ce ma pune in postura ingrata de a nu-i putea reprosa practic nimic – spre mai-binele nostru. Numele lui este acesta: plecatul.

Daca un grup de prieteni e un suflet colectiv, al nostru s-a facut pulbere in zeci de parti. (Si mai urmeaza.) Un mic Big Bang, amaratul de el, comis de propria noastra mana, nici macar rigurosul seismograf al istoriei nu l-a putut inregistra altfel decat, sec, „brain drain.” Care va sa zica din punct de vedere national. Si care de fapt nici nu figureaza la epoca asta, anii 2000. Si nu e. Adica e. Dar nu asta conteaza. Ce conteaza e ca vorbesc cu tine sau cu tine, ca te citesc pe tine sau pe tine si constat, dupa ce inchidem, dupa ce sfarsim lectura, ca sufletul imi si iti e ... cum sa zic eu?

Cam fragmentat. Relativ. Nuuu, ca e ok, de fapt. E, totusi, ceva perfect supravietuibil, ceva-de-trecut-peste, in fond in tara asta (alta) nu scuipa lumea pe strada, nu sunt mitocani in maiou la balcon, astia ma platesc triplu, cvadruplu fata de „Romanica,” lumea e civilizata, imi merge mai bine, nimic de zis. Nu-i asaaaa, cine stie ce durere; practic nimic grozav; doar ca nu tocmai convenabil, un pic derutant si parca putin sfasietor pe alocuri, cateodata. E asa, cvasidramatic, cumva.

Un fagel aproximativ. Un aproximativ flagel. Cam pe-acolo. Cred eu. Nu stiu. Poate ma insel. Poate am azi o zi mai proasta. Poate sunt un pic „down.” Poate, practic, nu-i nimic, pana la urma urmelor.

(Intr-o buna zi am sa fac eu acea „Casa de los Amigos”. Doar ca... cine-o sa vina? Cu avioanele astea transcontinentale, biletele nu tocmai ieftine si la varsta noastra... E greu, e greu.)

Today I had the thought (as I have many times before) that if McCain is elected president of these United States (it hurts just typing that) I will have no choice but to leave this country, possibly for good.  This is an escapist thought, and not true: I thought the same thing before the 2nd Bush election, and look where I am.  I love this country too much to abandon it.  But what if lots of others do?  What if a McCain presidency drives thousands and thousands of people (intelligent, progressive, peace-loving people; the people not blinded by the lies Evangical Fornicators pretend are Christianity) out of the country?  It's not that far-fetched.  And how fuckin scary would what we were left with be?

The situation is pretty simple. Lancaster's teens leave town for college and never return, while students who come to Lancaster for higher ed (at F&M, Millersville, E-town, etc.) stay through college and then return closer to where they grew up. All the while, Lancaster's high school dropouts stay put.

This intellectual/creative stagnation makes us worse off than other metropolitan regions along the East Coast and across the country.

I'm interested in what the underlying issues are here. Is it primarily a question of attracting/retaining talented young people? If so, why are the barriers to entry in the civic sphere so high for residents my age? Alternately, are we facing an issue of class? If so, where are "third ways" arising as alternatives to the tired conservative/liberal duo? Or, is it a question of subculture? If so, why aren't we more effective at bringing it more mainstream?

Secondly, it's been a very hectic week for me with work starting at 9:30 a.m. and ending somewhere around 10 p.m. almost everyday. Add to that, I have some exams coming for me in the last week of September and I desperarely need to get started with the preparations. But till now, it's only been 4-5 lines a night before I doze off everytime. Bummer!

So anyhoo, let me reveal the answers for the last two questions :-

1. The words "Ecce Homo" would be the right answer for this one. Meaning "Behold The Man", these were the words used by Pontius Pilate when he presented Jesus Christ to the people for crucifixion. The first pic is a painting depicting the same by Quentin Matsys. The second pic is a portrait of Friedrich Nietzsche by Edvard Munch. Ecce Homo is the title of the last book written by Nietzsche. And finally, Mr. Bean (Rowan Atkinson) makes an appearance in the connect because Ecce Homo is the title theme of the series, Mr. Bean (non-animated one, of course).

2. Blistering barnacles!, someone should have cracked this. Is an "old chestnut". These are the flags of the fictitous countries appearing in the Adventures of Tintin series. In order - Syldavia, San Theodoros and Borduria.

20 points to the quiz master. <clap><clap>

Now to the next two questions of this series. In my opinion, both of these are reasonably easy. Hoping for some cracks this time.

1. Connect (full story please)

2. Connect again. The following have collaborated to do something which is a first in India. (have deliberately shaded some portions)

Things have been starting to get hectic. We made a new "Move Calendar" and posted it to the door... we've been trying to schedule time for packing, working on our business and getting freelance and other to-dos done. It's less than 6 weeks until the move and there is a lot to do and not a ton of time with two trips home (NM and MI) in the mix.

Last night I realized I was feeling very frustrated. I haven't drawn for The Happy Flowers at all this week... I haven't really had any quiet down time and I certainly haven't journaled at all.

Since reading The Artist's Way I've really wanted to make writing morning pages a regular part of my daily routine. One issue has been the fact that I'm so picky about journals and notebooks -- if I don't love it, I won't write in it. So today I started a new one. It's a coil bound sketchbook... lot's of semi-thick pages, folds flat and is smaller than a regular notebook.

I wrote three pages in it. I "drained" my brain and already today I feel much clearer and calmer. I am trying to commit to making this a daily thing. I am also trying to commit to writing when I want and need to... not just when no body's around for fear of what they'll think. This is something I really need to do throughout this move process... otherwise, I just may lose my mind!

Life is good. Sort of.

(=

Dry.
Drained.
No creative juice

Stress
Strain
The pressure mounts.

Tick.
Tock.
Time slips away.

Bad.
Blah.
Words typed.

-DJ Nezz

I was working full-time at the student newspaper, freelancing articles to Michigan newspapers and taking 15 credits in journalism and political science classes. I was tired every day.

I worked hard that semester (and my senior year) with one goal in mind: graduate, then leave Michigan to start my journalism career.

Too often college officials in Nebraska (and across the country) complain about the "brain drain" in their state - that is, once a student gets highly-educated in college, they leave for bigger cities or different experiences. College leaders say knowledge is leaving because there aren't enough jobs for graduates to pursue fresh out of school. Thus, colleges and cities exhaust themselves courting businesses to locate there and offer more jobs.

But what colleges don't understand is that jobs have VERY LITTLE to do with the recent graduate staying. Some kids just want to leave to see new places.

I did.

Michigan has several newspapers - small and large - I could have worked for after college, but I knew Michigan all too well. I lived there my whole life. I've done the music and nightlife scenes in Detroit and Grand Rapids, and I've done the small rural life in Romulus and Mount Pleasant. I know what Michiganders are like. I know my way around and can name the past six Michigan governors by heart. Seriously, it was just time for something different.

The truth is, I'm not alone. Most college kids feel that way.

A college education is the great equalizer that positions you to move pretty much anywhere and find a decent job. In Nebraska's case, the public colleges often are dismayed when a student graduates and leaves for Chicago, Kansas City or Denver.

Most of the students who leave attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Creighton University or the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Those schools are in Nebraska's largest cities.

So, a student who has grown up in Nebraska, lived in the biggest cities for college, thoroughly experienced them and know Nebraska, they won't be interested in staying.

For them, it's time to see the bright lights of Chicago, New York and L.A. It's time to be surrounded by people with differing viewpoints and even different backgrounds. A freshly educated mind hungers for diversity of thought. The hometown can't provide that because the people and thinking there is all too familiar to the recent graduate.

The No. 1 important thing to a student after graduating: to go somewhere where there's a decent nightlife and young crowd. That's why they flock to the larger cities. Students in Nebraska will say, "I've done Lincoln; I've done on Omaha; I wanna see something different." No offense to Omaha and Lincoln because they are great cities, but, to a student, that's a "been there, done that."

Sorry.

Thus, college leaders are focusing on the wrong areas. Jobs only won't keep your recent graduates. Night clubs, lots of other young people, extremely cheap apartments and then a good job will.

BY THE WAY: Halftime with NU President James Milliken:

I have had many discussions with customers, colleagues, and friends about companies, jobs,...and bosses...and I have heard a similar refrains all of my professional life: "My company does not seem to care at all about its employees."  "Are they doing these things out of cruelty?"  "Can't any rational person understand what these management decisions will do to morale and productivity?"  "Don't they understand that these actions will push the best and most valuable people to find other jobs?"

In business school, management and leadership are studied heavily, with the assumption that your people are your most valuable asset.  The machines, buildings, and resource-planning systems simply don't work without talented motivated people pushing the right buttons.  The leader can master concepts and formulas, but without the ability to drive people towards a vision, nothing is going to work.  So the B-school graduate goes forth with dreams of enlightened management and emotional intelligence dancing in their heads, ready to inspire.

Then the real world smacks them in the face.  Real-life management is typically far from ideal - in fact, real-life management can be capricious, power-mad, and destructive.  So the hero is handed a set of choices.  A. You can get frustrated and complain a lot.  B. You can give up and sink into your sucky job with your sucky company.  C. You can join the dark side and become part of the problem.  D. You can leave to find a culture more in line with your ideals.  E. You can start your own company with your own darn culture.  Or, F. You can remain a reformer in hiding, waiting for the opportunity to make positive changes.

I would say the superstars will probably go for choices D, E, or F, but the easiest choices are D or E.

So, to address all of the bosses who happen to be sucky, here are two symptoms of a poisoned culture caused in large part by your bad management: your best employees leave en masse and the remaining employees all start to really disappoint you regularly.

1. If you are capable of introspection and true objectivity, start asking these types of questions:

2. What has your company done to give the employees reason to personally connect with and believe in the company?

3. What does your company do to prove to the employees that they are valued?  Are these efforts sincere or cynical and obvious pandering?

4. How does your company show the employees how they are succeeding and how they can improve?  Is feedback typically constructive or punishing?  After an employee leaves a meeting intended to help them improve their job performance do they all go straight to the computer to polish up their resume?

5. Is leadership valued and encouraged?

6. Do you allow your employees to express true opinions, even if they might disagree with your opinions?

7. Where is your company going?  What is the plan?  What have you done to show your employees that you have a roadmap they can believe in?

There is nothing magical about these questions, they are just an honest line of questioning intended to make you look reality in the face.  If you are a bad boss and you don't feel convicted after answering these questions, either you weren't sincere or you are a sociopath.  Just think about it.

Thus, for any reincarnation of NSC, not just GSPI—the latter is only used as the base case scenario—a need to analyze its strength (S) and weaknesses (W), explore its opportunities (O) and threats (T), to come up with strategies affecting flat production. The top five (5) issues, most are interconnected, of each of the four (4) parameters of the SWOT/TOWS matrix, summarized in Appendix T: SWOT/TOWS Matrix, are enumerated below.

Strengths (S): NSC's strength came from its well-trained professional technical and managerial personnel; adherence to world- class standards and production methods; comparable “state-of-the-art” high-tech facilities and equipment; favorable customers’ reception; and its proximity to ASEAN and Asian markets. more . . .

Weaknesses (W): Some NSC's weakness remained with GSPI's taking over specifically, its dependence on imported raw materials and the outdated NSC's business networks and e-commerce. Moreover, based on the four-year GSPI's management of NSC facilities, new threats are emerging, e.g., lack luster remuneration scheme versus global standards; perceived instability at the top, insecurity at the bottom; and weak marketing of products to domestic markets. more . . .

Opportunities (O): Emerging markets are considered here both as a threat and as opportunity, but rather than present a gloomy outlook, this study proposes to positively deal with it as an opportunity. Other opportunities abound. The recapture of the Philippine domestic steel market with government's support of the steel industry as stipulated in the Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan for 2004-2010. The quest for Special Economic Zone status for GSPI is beckoning. The realization of the Japan-Philippine Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) in January 2008 and the proposed implementation of the ASEAN Community by 2010, and the new production technologies, processes and methods. more . . .

Threats (T): These factors include the political and legal environment affecting the nation as a whole, thus affecting the steel industry. Although not discussed here at length, its repercussions are noted. Other threats include the unbundling of the power rates and the worsening power supply in Mindanao; the constantly decreasing import tariffs vis-à-vis the increased volume of steel importation; the rising “brain drain” syndrome; and the challenges of keeping the natural environment safe from pollution. more . . .

Notes:

Claessens, Dirk and Allan Henderson (2007), “Seize the strong positions. Steel companies in an era of consolidation.” NY, USA: IBM Global Services, IBM Institute for Business Value, June 2007. pp. 1-20. back to text

Basically, the idea is to get maximum participation from all the readers of this blog. Yes, all four of you. "Regular quizzers" are ones who scour through all the other numerous quiz blogs, attend all major quiz competitions and quiz club meetings in and around their cities and win thousands of rupees, thousands worth Landmark/Odyssey coupons, scores of t-shirts and a few iPods each year. To challenge them, one needs to come up with tough arbit questions from not so popular domains. But such questions tend to to discourage the "non-regular quizzers" from participating i.e. peope who have the knack for trivia but do not pursue it as a hobby and may not have all the "old chestnuts" at the tips of their fingers. For them, good but old quiz questions are ideal as while they are challenging for them and encourages more participation, the quiz master also gets to enjoy all the "oohs" and "aahs" that come out when the answers are revealed.

So the rules are simple here - each quiz post would carry two questions and one can attempt any number of those. The questions, per sé, would not have any tag saying "for regulars" or "for non-regulars" but one of them might be slightly difficult/arbit while the other much easier. No points involved anywhere. It's just the quizzing. But people with maximum answers would certainly get special mentions. So anyway, without further yaking, let's get on to the questions:-

1. Connect

2. Connect (think fiction)

Again, a solo winner this time - Priyambad Pattanayak - the movie buff that he is, this probably was a piece of cake for him. Well done, Patt!

"We can't get good staff. When we do, we can't keep them."

If that’s what people are saying now, buckle up for a very rough ride, because the news is going to get worse. Finding, inspiring and retaining talented people in your business will get a lot harder before it gets better unless you make people the asset many so-called leaders only pay lip service to.

You have to get serious about making your company’s people a strategic issue if you hope to still be in business in five years’ time, let alone ten years’ time.

Replacing staff is an expensive process that’s likely to get more costly. Chasing “cheap staff” is a myth fraught with many real dangers. 

For too long, HR has been the creator and keeper of policies and standards when it comes to staff. That has to end in a company that cares about people. Top management must be closely involved with HR, and HR needs to have a say in the top levels of management. How else can you monitor whether HR acts on an independent agenda or in accord with your company vision?

Look at your people as a talent pool, not a cesspool. If you see HR or people management simply as a cost, you’re looking a gift horse in the mouth. To change your results, change your thinking.

Kerry Larkan

The flag shown in my previous question is that of the state of Jammu and Kashmir - the only state to have its own flag and constitution. 

Only one winner this time - ace quizzer, popular quizmaster and fan of the second best club in EPL (Arsenal), Vinod Ganesh. <clap><clap>

Now coming to the next question and the last question for this week:-

It was originally created for one of the works of X. But Y hijacked it, added some jazz to it and reproduced it for one of the works of Z. Identity X,Y and Z and tell me what is being talked about.