There are a few interesting articles in today’s news regarding China and Vietnam:

• China Urges US to Take Firmer Action Against Taiwan
• Is Taiwan Becoming - Dangerously - More Independent?
• China Warns Taiwan Against Independence
• Intel to Spend $300m on Chip Plant in Vietnam
• Vietnam Opens Line to Import Electricity From China
• Citigroup to Launch Vietnam Custody Services

TAGS: Vietnam | News | Trade | Capitalism

Is this a Tipping Point? I doubt it, but it will be good to read his thoughts more regularly. Take a visit when you have a moment:

http://gladwell.typepad.com/

TAGS: Malcolm Gladwell | Blink | The Tipping Point | Blogging

My wife and I are trying to work in a lot more routine family time together and with our son instead of simply making do with the free time that crops up. We had previously discussed exploring Paso Robles today, which is about 20 miles North of us, and went through with our plan despite my hacking cough and 102+ fever (yes I’m a bit loopy, and yes, I’ve been complaining about being sick all day).

The time together was great and we still managed to get our work done when we returned home this evening. I know this is nothing new (in fact, I suppose it is akin to the “Pay yourself first” principle), but putting family and happiness first in no way inhibited our ability to deliver on the “work” we had at the top of the list. In a weird kind of way, I think it actually made our work a bit more fulfilling—perhaps due to the fact that we weren’t allowing our professional lives to suffocate our family time. By the time we sat down to get the rest of our priorities done, we weren’t thinking about what we were missing, or if we spent enough time with our son, or if he was happy. We knew he had a great day and that he knows that we love him—so when we shifted over, there was nothing getting in the way of productivity. I’ve definitely been one to steam over how much a project or assignment is impacting my family time in the past, and I can’t tell you how much better this feels.

I don’t know why I feel the need to post some of the photos we shot, perhaps because my head feels really hot, but here are a few from earlier today:

TAGS: Family | Father | Son | Happiness | Priorities

Jack Yan made a recent post on his blog that really hits the nail on the head about the power of dialogue. Here is a clip from the post, which is about his recent visit with a Chinese official, but I encourage you to visit his site to read the whole article. (Jack was discussing the relationship between his decision to wear, or not to wear a Kuomintang lapel pin during his visit with the Chinese official to the recent Danish political cartoon publishing scandal):

“The decision to publish or not to publish is the same as the decision to wear or not to wear.

“The thought process should have been akin to this: (a) this gentleman might get offended; (b) I don’t know his political views, but it’s best to play it safe so we can have a dialogue; (c) not all Chinese agree with what the Politburo does; (d) I might as well take it off, because I stand to gain more when we are chatting on friendly terms. This man is not my enemy. He is a potential friend. He approached me for a business deal. Our personal politics do not come in to it.

“I’d rather effect change through personal cooperation. Nothing would be gained by angering him—it would only piss me off, too. As it so happened, we had a very good and open chat about business. I voiced my concerns about press freedoms in Red China.”

In my younger years, I tended to be very vocal, confrontational and stubborn, often about fairly controversial subjects, yet with infrequent success. I can still be quite fiery, but I have started to learn and adopt some of the subtlety that Jack mentions above. Nurturing positive change on a macro or micro level requires a great deal of sensitivity, strategy and thoughtfulness, none of which can happen if you try to force your ideology down your counterpart’s throat before the introductions are even made.

TAGS: Ethics | China | Change | Politics

I was reading a great article on The Entrepreneurial Mind about business growth and the issues that tag along (”Issues Entrepreneurs Face as Their Businesses Grow“), and began to think about all of the ethical complications a growing business may similarly face.

While it may seem obvious that ethical issues might start to crop up (or increase in frequency) with growth, I’m often surprised by how many businesses get caught off guard anyway. I’ve personally fallen victim in the past, having been blindsided by issues regarding key personnel that I missed during the initial vetting process. In my case, I tend to be a very idealistic and trusting person and typically think that anyone who wants to work with me has the same motives. I haven’t lost that mindset, but I’ve learned to ask more pointed questions and to spend a greater amount of time and effort clearing the people that I bring on board.

I have been with a few companies, some as an entrepreneur and some as an employee, that have grown over the years and correspondingly experienced significant ethical issues, and all seemed completely taken off guard by the new complications growth created. Can such complications be adequately planned for, or are they simply something to deal with as they come up? In expecting ethical issues to arise and dealing with them proactively, do you set an inappropriate tone?

TAGS: Entrepreneurship | Growth | Ethics | Business Strategy

Principled Profit points to an article (”Yes, Master: How Western companies are selling their souls for a piece of the massive Chinese market“) in Maclean’s that is a great primer for a discussion about business ethics in China. Following is a very interesting clip from the article:

“Today, China employs approximately 30,000 cyber-police to monitor Web traffic and postings from the country’s roughly 111 million Internet users. Writing articles ‘incompatible with the mainstream ideology’ is prohibited. Posting messages that ‘damage the reputation of the state’ can get you arrested. And publishing anything deemed to be a state secret can carry the death penalty. The list of banned websites now stands at 500,000 and growing.

“Even with the full weight of the Communist regime behind it, the censorship effort would have been futile without equipment and know-how supplied by Western vendors like Cisco Systems Inc., SunMicrosystems Inc. and Nortel Networks Corp. And with the world’s three dominant Internet companies — Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft — in a blind rush for a piece of China’s spectacular wealth, Beijing has found all the willing accomplices it needs to strip the Internet of its anonymity, its freedom, and to turn it into yet another tool of repression. Google and Microsoft have recently launched Chinese versions of their Internet software that block access to topics that offend China’s ruling party, such as democracy and Tibet. Yahoo recently handed over a Chinese journalist to authorities after he posted information critical of the government on an Internet message board.”

TAGS: China | Ethics | Censorship | Internet

From CSRwire:

“As part of its long-term commitment to support improved educational opportunities in China, Starbucks Coffee Company (Nasdaq:SBUX) today entered into an agreement with the China Soong Ching Ling Foundation to provide 12 million RMB ($1.5 million USD) to support a program aimed at helping students in need — and their teachers — in rural China.” (view full press release)

How do you get a monolithic and largely untapped rural population that primarily drinks tea to start ordering venti lattes? Donating a bunch of money to students and teachers in those rural areas sounds like a pretty good idea…

If you have been following the “China opportunity” press, you’ve undoubtedly heard companies blabbering on about capturing “1% of the 1.3 billion Chinese population” (and thus becoming billionaires, or something of the sort). I’ve seen very few companies with seemingly intelligent plans to actually reach the bulk of those 1.3 billion people, yet this move by Starbucks may do just the trick. It feels very tobacco industry-esque (circa 1950-1970 or so) yet very difficult to criticize. Who is going to fault Starbucks for helping advance education around the world. Certainly not SBUX shareholders.

TAGS: Starbucks | China | Strategy | Coffee

Check out a recent press release UPS I found on CSRwire (2/17/06): UPS Expands ‘Green Fleet’ with 50 Hybrid Electric Vehicles; 4,100 Low-Emission Vehicles Also Being Acquired in 2006

I’ve been waiting to hear news like this for some time and think that it is wonderful that UPS is moving forward with a bigger investment in “green” vehicles.

“The first of the 50 HEVs will be deployed in Dallas this June and will join more than 10,000 low emission and alternative-fuel vehicles already in use. The UPS alternative fuel fleet — at 1,500 vehicles one of the largest in the United States — currently includes trucks powered by compressed natural gas, liquefied natural gas, propane, electricity and hydrogen. Research also is underway with the Environmental Protection Agency on a hydraulic hybrid drivetrain.”

Lest you think UPS is purely motivated by environmental factors, check out the potential savings with these more efficient vehicles.

“The 50 HEV delivery trucks collectively are expected to reduce fuel consumption by roughly 44,000 gallons over the course of a year compared to a normal diesel truck. The hybrids also should reduce by 457 metric tons the amount of CO2 gases released into the atmosphere over the course of a year. The 4,100 low emission vehicles offer a 15 percent improvement in fuel economy over the vehicles that will be retired. These vehicles will save roughly 1.5 million gallons of fuel over the course of a year, emitting 16,000 fewer tons of CO2.”

At some point, all freight companies are going to have to transition their fleets over as legislation, available technology, environmental momentum and limited fuel supplies will make it difficult, if not impossible, to continue with ‘business as usual’. In other words, UPS’ long-term goal to, “minimize dependence on fossil fuels… [by] deploying a wide variety of new automotive technologies in [their] fleet” has as much to do with money and the bottom line as it does with CSR. Even so, I think what they are doing is commendable and is setting a very good example for other heavily fossil fuel-dependent companies.

TAGS: Environment | Hybrid | Green Fleet | UPS

My son passed the 6-month milestone 10 days ago, yet it has taken me at least the past week to grapple with how quickly he has grown. It seems like only a few weeks ago he was this fragile little baby that would fall asleep in my lap while I studied for class. Today he is bright and energetic, wanting to have some kind of activity at all waking moments. He’s a wonderful, beautiful, sweet, determined young man that is truly the best gift I could have possibly imagined.

I’ve been missing out on a lot of little things while in class, working, traveling, and hunkered down in front of the computer. He’s been saying, “Da-da-da-da-da…” for a week or two now, and I am convinced that I am going to be away from home the first time he says, “Daddy.” I have control over  that, of course, but the prospect of dropping out of school, leaving my business completely untouched, and never leaving my son’s side until I hear him say the magic word just doesn’t seem too logical. Perhaps this kind of dilemma and discomfort are part of the grand scheme of parenting. Maybe I’m supposed to go through these moments of regret and guilt now to prepare me for the realities of how my relationship to my son will develop over the years.

One of my greatest fears is that I won’t be the kind of father that my son deserves. I suppose all dads worry about that, but knowing that they too go through the same plight helps about as much as having a shovel in a blizzard. As each day progresses and my son and I grow older together, I want to have more time with him, not less. And I want  each day to bring more simplicity and calmness, not greater complexity and chaos. Where does one go to find that kind of norm?

If all dads worry about the same fate, why do we all spend so much time chasing the wrong things?

Here are some photographs we took of Caleb in the last week:

You make me proud Caleb – I love you very much.

TAGS: Father | Son | Life | Priorities

There’s a very interesting article (”China Says Web Controls Follow the West’s Lead“) that just appeared on the New York Times’ website. The article reports that a Chinese official claims the controls placed on internet content, “do not differ much from those employed by the United States and European countries.”

While my initial reaction was complete disagreement, I began to warm to the idea that it is possible to justify the official’s claim. As I progressed through the article, though, I found little content to help sway me to agree with the official. First there was the broad comparison of China’s policies to that of the “international norm”:

“‘If you study the main international practices in this regard you will find that China is basically in compliance with the international norm,’ [the official] said. ‘The main purposes and methods of implementing our laws are basically the same.’”

Then another stretch (I question the “aimed primarily” portion):

“Mr. Liu said China’s effort to regulate content on the Web was aimed primarily at preventing the spread of pornography or other content harmful to teenagers and children. He said its concerns in this area differed minimally from those in developed countries.”

More:

“Mr. Liu said Chinese Internet users were free to discuss many politically sensitive topics and denied that the Chinese police have arrested or prosecuted people for using the Web to circulate views.

“…He cited, for example, statements on Web sites run by The New York Times and The Washington Post that reserve the right to delete or block content in reader discussion groups that editors determine to be illegal, harmful or in bad taste. Chinese news media Web sites are also monitored in that way, he said.”

TAGS: China | Censorship | Free Speech | Internet