To Allow or Not To Allow? The Facebook Subscribe Button

When I visited Facebook today, I was greeted with the following message, direct from Facebook:

It read,

New: The Subscribe ButtonNow you can let anyone who's interested subscribe to things you share publicly.

The message also included a list of my friends who were already using subscribe. 

Fellow blogger and friend Angie Mizzell recently wrote about the subscribe button, and how she'd be using it in a way that made sense for her and her friendbase.

Will you be allowing subscribers to your Facebook updates? I can't help but notice that this feels similar to Google's "circles" in a way.  Not that that is a bad thing! On Google+, you get to decide who receives the updates you share.  You first must group your friends in circles.  A friend-in-real-life circle, an acquantance circle, an I'm-not-sure-who-you-are circle, etc.  Then, when you post something, you tell Google+ who gets to see the update. 

With Facebook's subscribe button and feature, you decide if your status update is public or for friends-only.  The public updates are shared with all of your subscribers, friends or not, IF you've opted-in to activate the subscribe button for your profile.

Will I be turning the subscribe button on? I'm not sure yet.  I pride myself on being an early adopter of all things social media, but I'm not sure how I feel about this just yet.  It seems to make a lot of sense if you're using your Facebook like Angie is. It also makes a lot of sense for folks who regularly share their blog posts on Facebook.  Like me. Hmmm...

Get the full explanation about the subscribe button on Facebook's official page about it here.

I'm curious to know if you've turned this feature on for your profile.Why or why not?

Laura Catherine Otero is a marketing professional and blogger in Charleston, SC who has been active in social media since 2005.  If you enjoyed this post, please consider subscribing to this blog via Email or  RSS. Laura can also be found on Twitter (@LauraCatherineO), Facebook, and LinkedIn. 

MGM Grand Ho Tram - Update for September 2011

VNRE - The first item in MGM Grand Ho Tram project is topping out soon.

Source: ACDL

Have Your Customers Help You Write Your Strategic Plan

Mike Brown, the founder of the Kansas City, MO company called, The Brainzooming Group, encourages business leaders to solicit feedback from their customers when creating a strategic plan.
Brown once wrote in Smart Companies Thinking Bigger magazine, that you should “ask a group of current, former and potential customers the following questions:"

• If you’re a current or former customer, why did you start using us?
• What have we done in the past to make your biggest challenges more difficult?
• If you still use us, why do you continue to do so?
• If you don’t use us currently, what are some of the reasons why you don’t?

“These questions are designed to allow your customers to share their perspectives and opinions openly, not rate performance on a numerical scale,” explained Brown.
He explained that the answers to the questions will provide you valuable insight into:

• Your current strengths and weaknesses
• Opportunities to more successfully help your customers
• Potential challenges from not fully meeting customer expectations

Mike Brown is the author of the ebook, Taking the NO Out of InNOvation, a guide to breaking through personal challenges to living a more creative and innovation-oriented life.

How To Help Your Team Provide Excellent Customer Service

My favorite takeaways from Renee Evenson's newest book, Customer Service Management Training 101, are her tips for how to teach employees to effectively interact with customers:

• Make a good first impression by smiling, making eye contact, maintaining an open and relaxed demeanor and keeping facial expressions friendly.
• Project a positive attitude by being helpful, interested, trustworthy, reassuring, respectful and reliable.
• Communicate effectively by listening completely, using correct grammar, asking the right questions and making each customer feel valued.
• Build relationships by finding the best solution to any problems, and making sure each customer is satisfied.

Then, as the leader, ensure your team knows when they should escalate situations to your attention.

Break Out From Predictability

Inspirational leadership wisdom today came from Bahram Akradi, the CEO of Life Time Fitness.

From that health club's monthly fitness magazine, Experience Life, Akradi says:

• Once we get comfortable in our habitual patterns, we may fail to notice when they have outworn their useful purpose, or when new alternatives might serve us better. 
• Once you've encountered a second way of seeing things, you're more likely to entertain the possibility of a third and fourth way, too.
• Do something that makes you just a little bit uncomfortable--and that renders you a little more awake.

Thanks Akradi for encouraging us to break out from predictability.

How to Remove Karmic Blocks or Bad Luck using Feng Shui

Bad luck and evil luck is one of the most important blocks in any individuals life that hampers their progress mentally, academically as well as financially. We can use simple cures in Feng Shui to ward off blocks created by evil and bad luck. Progress and harmony is seen when all the five elements are balanced in your life and any clutter will block energy in your life.
Remove all clutter and burn incense regularly to clear all negative energy. Exercise regularly to keep your mind and body fit. Try to work on your relationships and academic or job performances. In spite of all this you feel that you are facing bad luck and block in your progress then you can sue feng shui cures to ward off bad luck. Usually healers feel that progress is hampered due to karmic blocks and these are not easily cleared.
By karmic blocks I do not indicate that the individual involved is a bad or has done some big injustice in this or past life. it may be simple faults that have been carried into your next life. Try using feng shui cures and then allow positive energy to be welcome into your life. Try to make out some time alone and meditate on your life and your problems. Ask for forgiveness from your heart with all relationships and parents, friends , siblings, known and unknown people who may have been  a part of your life in this life and the previous one. Donate money, service and other forms of charity to clear off some of your bad luck. Wear a bracelet or locket of jade stone to accept yourself and be in the present and attract good luck. You can also wear or keep near you Rose quartz which helps in healing the past and present.
Hang a painting  of any religious symbol or motivational painting to help you clear off the negative energy surrounding you and your home or office.
The most easy and important cure in feng shui is to use sound. A tried and tested cure to improve luck and remove blocks in energy is by suing sounds at different levels. Many people use wind chimes of different rods to bring in good luck. Go in for a nine rod wind chime to help bring good health and positivity in your life. While selecting a wind chime do take care to listen to the sounds it makes and then purchase only that wind chime with which sound you are comfortable. There is no point in trying a feng shui cure and feeling restless with the noise, remember your wind chime must make soothing sounds which is not termed as noise but it is felt as music.
Place a good luck bamboo plant in your best position or lucky position in your home and office to improve your luck and as the plant will grow so will your life show improvements in relationships as well as financially.
Many healers suggest yoga and reiki for clearing off bad karmic blocks. You can use feng shui along with other therapies to improve your luck.

Banyan launches sales of luxury condo project in Hue

VNRE - Banyan Tree Worldwide Group of Singapore on Friday introduced a model apartment and officially launched the apartment offering of Laguna Lang Co integrated resort being developed for two years in Thua Thien-Hue Province’s Phu Loc District.

Michael Ayling, senior vice president of Banyan Tree, said 40 among 197 apartments in Angsana Properties of the resort will be introduced to potential investors with prices ranging from US$290,000 to US$2 million each.

Getting off the ground since August 2009, Laguna Lang Co, covering 280 hectares, is being constructed in four phases with total investment raised from US$875 million to US$1 billion.

This project will have seven hotels with over 2,000 rooms, over 1,000 luxury apartments, a golf course, a villa resort and other components such as conference center, retail outlets and an entertainment section.

The first construction phase of Angsana Lang Co apartment project and an 18-hole golf designed by Nick Faldo, a professional golfer, is set for completion in July next year.

Lang Co is endowed with favorable natural conditions such as white-sand beaches along the ‘heritage road’ with many heritage sites recognized by UNESCO. Besides, it takes only one hour to get to Hue and Danang airports from Lang Co which has both mountain and sea, said Michael.

The project, which has the apartment price based on the average price in regional countries, attracts not only locals and overseas Vietnamese but also foreign investors as Banyan Tree is a famous developer in tourism property with many projects such as Laguna Phuket in Thailand.

In addition, Banyan Tree pledges a profit to attract potential customers, in which apartment owners can join Angsana club and have chances to go on a vacation with 60 days per year in many other Angsana resorts worldwide.

Customers can also get an annual profit of 6% in the first six years or receive net sales from apartment leasing. Any apartments bought will be listed as hotel rooms and managed by Angsana.

Languna Lang Co, Banyan Tree’s first project in Indochina region, is scheduled to be finished in late 2014.

Reported by Dinh Dung | The Saigon Times Daily

I, Pencil

Tôi đã "hứa" với bác Đàm Văn Vĩ và một số bác khác sẽ viết một entry về value vs price. Trong lúc chờ đợi (có thể hơi lâu :-)) mời các bác thưởng thức một trong những bài essay nổi tiếng trong giới kinh tế học. Nếu các bác "lười" đọc giống tôi thì có thể nghe Milton Friedman kể về bài essay này trên Youtube. Một điểm đáng suy ngẫm là giả sử labor value theory của Marx đúng, liệu trên thực tế có cách nào khả thi tính ra được "labor content" của một cái bút chì không?

Compliance

Nhân vụ một rogue trader của UBS làm ngân hàng này lỗ $2b trong vòng 3 tháng, một bạn hỏi tôi về qui trình internal control tại công ty tôi đang làm việc. Thực ra công ty tôi và các fund manager khác thuộc  buy side, nghĩa là chỉ thực hiện investment activities chứ không phải vừa đầu tư vừa làm dịch vụ tài chính (broker, market maker...) như UBS nên bản chất của internal control khác với UBS. Nói chung buy side ít bị rủi ro về rogue trading hơn sell side vì buy side phải thực hiện transaction thông qua brokers nên coi như được thêm một lớp "bảo vệ" nữa. Hơn nữa buy side có nghĩa vụ báo cáo lời lỗ hàng tuần/tháng, thậm chí hàng ngày, cho khách hàng nên trừ khi cả công ty cố tình lừa đảo như trường hợp Madoff thì khó một trader có thể giấu được lỗ quá một chu kỳ báo cáo.

Trong một buy side firm, internal control thường được giao cho một bộ phận back office gọi là compliance desk/section. Thường một trader có risk limit cho một sản phẩm của mình (vd một portfolio hay một fund), có thể là limit với VaR hoặc phổ biến hơn là leverage limit. Trước khi trade, trader phải kiểm tra xem mình đã vượt risk limit hay chưa bằng một software quản lý risk. Nếu đã vượt thì trader phải hiệu chỉnh portfolio/strategy để điều chỉnh risk xuống hoặc phải xin phép supervisor tạm thời vượt limit. Tuy nhiên những tác vụ này hoàn toàn do traders tự giác nên về mặt lý thuyết các công ty phải dựa vào compliance desk để kiểm tra lại. Thông thường compliance desk kiểm tra số sách của trader vào cuối ngày và đưa ra cảnh báo nếu có ai đó phạm limit. Bên cạnh số liệu do trader ghi nhận trong trading book của họ, compliance desk còn sử dụng số liệu do broker cung cấp (thường cũng được tổng kết vào cuối ngày). Nếu có sai lệch giữa 2 nguồn thì compliance cũng cảnh báo và có thể sẽ recommend tạm thời cấm trader giao dịch đến khi tìm ra lý do sai lệch (lỗi phổ biến nhất là typos, dư hoặc thiếu một số không :-)).

Bên cạnh back office của mình, các investment fund lớn có thể thuê một bên thứ ba (thường là custodian firm - nơi cung cấp dịch vụ quản lý và lưu giữ assets) tính lời lỗ (P&L) cho từng portfolio/fund theo một chu kỳ nhất định (tuần/tháng). Khi nhận được số liệu P&L này compliance desk sẽ đối chiếu với số liệu tính theo trading book của các traders để xem có bị sai lệch (nhiều) không. Nếu có sai sót lớn hoặc sai sót có tính hệ thống (luôn positive hoặc luôn negative) thì compliance cũng cảnh báo và executives sẽ yêu cầu trader/back office giải trình. Ngoài việc kiểm định P&L, compliance desk còn có thể kiểm định cả cashflow do custodian báo cáo so với theoretical cashflow tính theo trading book (P&L là stock value còn cashflow là flow value). Tuy nhiên phương pháp này không phổ biến vì rất khó tính chính xác theoretical cashflow.

Bản chất của một fund manager là cầm tiền của người khác đi đầu tư, do vậy lời lỗ do market là điều client phải chấp nhận. Tuy nhiên nếu lời lỗ do rogue trading gây ra thì fund manager sẽ phải bồi thường cho clients (kể cả trường hợp rogue trading có lời client cũng có thể kiện phạt manager). Bởi vậy không như UBS, hay SocGen/Barings, compliance desk của các fund managers rất ít khi mắc sai lầm để lọt lưới rogue trading. Một nguyên tắc khá quan trọng mà cả UBS và SocGen đã phạm phải là promote một nhân viên từ back office/compliance desk lên bộ phận trading. Những người đã từng làm việc ở compliance desk có thể sẽ biết những kẽ hở trong qui trình giám sát compliance hoặc lợi dụng quan hệ cá nhân với những nhân viên compliance khác. Nhiều investment funds lớn thậm chí còn tách trading desk (front office) và compliance/performance desk (back office) ra các địa điểm khác nhau (hay ở 2 tầng khác nhau trong một building).

Note: trong một investment fund một khái niệm rất dễ bị nhầm lẫn với compliance desk là risk manager. Compliance desk thuộc back office thực hiện chức năng internal control, chủ yếu là ngăn ngừa rogue trading (compliance risk). Risk manager thuộc front office quản lý việc theo dõi market (external) risk và đưa ra những qui trình nhằm hạn chế market risk (vd collateral, stoploss, hedging...).

How to Please your Boss Using Feng Shui

Ask any employee what they wish for most and each one and every one will echo the same words, they wish to have a happy boss, a smiling face of your employer is the sure shot for getting raise and increase in salary. Feng shui can also benefit in improving relationships and also welcome new job opportunities and offers in your way thus improving your relationships with your boss.
Pleasing your boss is an important emotion which can be achieved easily by clearing your environment of clutter and dirt. Keep all your documents up to date and always be ready to accept new challenges at work. According to feng shui the relationships of helpful friends falls in the  north west corner and you can place the picture of your employer on a good quality photo frame, boss having a smiling face.
Place a lucky bamboo plant on your table on the left hand side and see the clients and your boss happy. Another feng shui cure would be to place water on your table on the right hand side covered. This can be done by considering the elements of the room and placing accordingly. Hang lucky feng shui coins tied in red ribbons inside your drawer or personal locker for improving your money luck. The most important and effective cure for healthy relationship with your boss would be to hang a picture on a good quality photo frame where you both are happy, be it from a party or any happy occasion where you both have a snap, or you could go ahead and click a snap at an occasion and then hang this photograph in your north west corner. You can improve your career luck by using feng shui. The important point here which is never mentioned anywhere is that you have to make it a ritual or habit before leaving for office to look at the picture and have positive assertion that all your relationships are healed. Visualize that your boss is happy and is praising you and then leave for the day.
You will definitely see positive results within 21 days after following this feng shui cure and of course please remember that there is no replacement to hard and sincere work. Feng shui can help you to please you boss with this cure but it will no do your job, that I am afraid you will have to do yourself!

Earn Respect Using Feng Shui

Every individual craves for love and respect and it is a human emotion to be loved and cared for. There are many instances and examples of people, who have been very hard working, loving and caring but their emotions and care are not reciprocated. Let us use the help of feng shui to cure this problem faced by many people and let them lead a happy and successful life.
When we go through these people and their homes usually according to feng shui chart of elements and placements of the furniture  we come to see that the personal lucky area of these individuals is either cluttered or blocked. Think and go around your house and especially the area of your living room that is adjacent to the main door is very important for the owner of the house. Clear clutter first and most importantly the things which have not been used for more than five years are of no use and need to be either sold, shifted or cleared fort he home. Consider the other important area , that of helpful friends that is the north west. This area may be dirty, cluttered or even totally blocked.
In many cases people who have a bad name or do not get respect from other family member sand clients according to feng shui it is seen that the area of helpful friends and erning respect and love is blocked by a toilet or bathroom and sometimes this area may be totally missing in the house if there is a store room where all junk is accumulated or drying area in the house where dirty linen and drying of clothes.
 For solving such problems one can on priority basis clear the energy here by using incense and mopping with slat water. Try this for at least 21 days. Place a healthy bamboo plant in this area with good intentions of success in all relationships. Visualize a happy family and healthy clients and boss relationships. One can also hang a smiling picture of your employer or team of employers and employees in the north west corner and see the positive results in improved relationships.

How To Assess Your Organization's Risk Using The 5Cs

Within the first 100 days as a new leader in an organization, you'll want to assess your organization's risk.

Authors George Bradt, Jayme A. Clark and Jorge Pedraza, in their book, The New Leader's 100-Day Action Plan (third edition due out on October 10), suggest you do your assessment using the 5Cs:

1. Customers: First line, customer chain, end users, influencers
2. Collaborators: Suppliers, allies, government/community leaders
3. Capabilities: Human, operational, financial, technical, key assets
4. Competitors: Direct, indirect, potential
5. Conditions: Social/demographic, political/government/regulatory, economic, market

Use a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) as you examine each category if that helps.

How to Get the New Facebook Timeline Layout BEFORE it Rolls Out

If you've been following Facebook in the media this week, you're already aware of some pretty big changes.  Some are already here, and others are on their way. If you need to get up-to-speed, read this article about the newest changes.

One of the new changes that especially intrigued me was the new "Timeline" layout.  The video below does a good job of explaining this new layout.


I was able to roll-out the new "timeline" format on my Facebook profile BEFORE it rolls out to the general public by following the steps outlined in this Mashable article.  It's 8 steps and takes a few minutes, but if you're eager to give the features a test-drive, it will get the job done.  I'll be checking out the new features today! My next post will walk you through some of the features. In the meantime, here's a sneak peek at what my new profile looks like:

Have a great day, and remember to visit my personal blog, LauraCatherine.co if you're looking for my latest "Motivation Monday" and "Be Inspired Wednesday" posts.  I took the more personal posts from Strategic Online Marketing and made a new home for them. Of course, I'll still be sharing plenty of online marketing goodness with you here.

Laura Catherine Otero is a marketing professional and blogger in Charleston, SC who has been active in social media since 2005.  If you enjoyed this post, please consider subscribing to this blog via Email or  RSS. Laura can also be found on Twitter (@LauraCatherineO), Facebook, and LinkedIn. 

Viettel Tower

VNRE - Recently, Nihon Sekkei - Coninco Joint Venture won first prize in the competition of architectural design "Viettel Headquarter and Complex Serviced Centre" (Viettel Tower) at lot D26, Cau Giay urban area, Yen Hoa ward, Cau Giay District, Ha Noi.


Viettel Tower is at the most beautiful location of Cau Giay urban area - where is considered as the IT nerve center of Vietnam. The 60-storey tower with distinctive architecture will be the headquarter of Viettel Corporation.

As expected, this building will be started construction in 2012 and completed in 2016.







TVC courtesy of 3D Art Studio

Foreign investors have found opportunities in Vietnam’s real estate market

VNRE - While national developers are facing with many difficulties about funds, however the foreign investors, especially the Asian investors, have found the potential opportunities in Vietnam’s real estate market. In the recent period, there has been transferring of the property projects in the country to the foreign corporations which have strong capital. In addition, Asian investors express interests in some potential segments such as office, retail as well as resort complex in order to earn great profits in upcoming years. Although the investment funds of the foreign into Vietnam reduced significantly in comparison with the previous years, most investors have a positive vision in the market the next two years.

According to statistics, there are 158 Korean construction entrepreneurs are being operating in Vietnam with the total investment capital over USD10 billion. Particularly in real estate sector, there are 61 projects with the total registered capital of above USD6.1 billion, accounting for 26.5% of total Korean projects and making up 13.3% of total foreign investment projects. A newspaper was recently reported about the interview with the senior leaders of several major Korean companies in Vietnam have shown the positive outlook in investment into Vietnam real estate market. It shows an optimistic vision about investment into Vietnam’s real estate market in upcoming years. According to the general director of Inpyung company, one of the biggest real estate companies in Korean, the decline in investment is currently occurring in a short time; so that Korean investors will continue to invest into Vietnam because this is a potential market. Meanwhile, the director of Hibrand Vietnam Co.,Ltd has insisted that although the real estate is having many difficulties, but the company still guarantee for the quality and progress of the projects to provide the market the products of truly international standard level.

Together with Korea, Singapore is a country invested quite strong in Vietnam’s real estate market. Recently in the market, there has been transferring some prominent property deals done by some real estate companies of Singapore. In detail, CapitaLand Vietnam purchased 65% of stakes of a project of Quoc Cuong Gia Lai company in Binh Chanh district at VND121.2 billion with the total scale of 9,000 sqm. and 70% of stakes of Spring Life residence in Binh Trung Dong ward – district 2 of Khang Dien company. Moreover, this company has entered into a joint venture with Mitsubishi estate Asia Pte. Ltd,. (MEA) and GIC Real estate company to continue to invest in the apartment segment in HCMC and Hanoi. Likewise, Keppel Land - another investor from Singapore – signed joint venture with local partners such as Riviera Cove, The Estella and Riviera Point. Alongside acquisitions, several Singapore’s real estate companies plan to develop their projects in Vietnam. Most significant point currently is the Mappletree Investment Co., Ltd of the Temasek Holdings Corporation has announced about their long-term investment strategy in Vietnam. With total of fund of about USD 300-500 million, the company mainly targeted at the market of serviced apartments in Hanoi as well as the market of serviced apartments and retails in HCMC

In addition, Malaysia is also one of the most positive Asian investors in Vietnam. According to statistics, Malaysia is ranked fifth in the ranking of foreign investors in Vietnam and there are many real estate projects have been registered and are ready to deploy soon in the near future . In detail, Berjaya Land Berhad real estate company of Berjaya Holdings came to Vietnam since 2006 with the total of fund of about USD7.1 billion. In addition, SP Setia – one of the most famous real estate investment companies in Malaysia - has two large projects in deploying status. It includes Ecolakes projects in Binh Duong province and Eco Spring – Lai Thieu projects with the investment capital of USD100 million and USD177 million respectively. Moreover, Gamuda Land signed joint venture with Sacomreal company to invest Celadon City projects in Tan Phu district.

Furthermore, some other Asian countries like Hong Kong, Philippines, Japan, etc. have had several real estate investment projects in Vietnam. Last June, Asia New Generation of Hong Kong corporates with Minh Thanh company to build a resort complex at Vinh Hy bay – God mountain with the total capital of USD800 million.

In general, as identified by Asian company investing into Vietnam, although the whole domestic real estate market is facing through with many difficulties, but it hidden many great potential profits in the future. Whereas, according to the situation going on the real estate markets in Philippines, Thailand, Singapore and Hong Kong are no longer easily to get profit as much as before . Most Asian investors have expressed their optimism thinking when comment about the Vietnam current real estate market.

Source: Coldwell Banker® Vietnam.

Leaders: How To Maximize A Team's Effectiveness

High-functioning teams can disagree and still produce excellent products and results. Team members can also disagree and still care about each other. And, they can challenge each other to think differently.

Best-selling leadership book authors Scott J. Allen and Mitchell Kusy recommend that leaders ask seven tough questions of their teams to help maximize their results. Here are those questions to ask each team member:

• What are some obstacles affecting this team?
• What are opportunities we could take advantage of that we have been largely ignoring?
• Where can you take greater ownership on this team?
• Where have you let this team down?
• Compared to other teams with which you are familiar, how are we doing?
• When was the last time you complimented the team or one of its members?
• How open are you to giving direct feedback to team members?

The Most Common Ways Leaders Use LinkedIn

According to market-research firm Lab42, top-level executives use LinkedIn the most for industry networking, while middle management individuals use the social network mostly for keeping in touch.

The more experienced professionals, versus entry-level professionals, use LinkedIn for:

• Demonstrating thought leadership and expertise
• Promoting their businesses
• Conducting market research
• Winning new business

LinkedIn has more than 100 million members in more than 200 countries, on all seven continents.

A full recap of Lab42's findings (conducted in July 2011) are in the October issue of Entrepreneur magazine.

A few tips for leaders:

• Participate in LinkedIn groups that cater to your target market to engage in conversation.
• Seek out groups with lots of activity rather than lots of members.

Note that you can also now add your volunteer activities to your LinkedIn profile.  Here's how:

• Open up your LinkedIn account
• Click on Profile
• Click on Edit Profile
• Click on Add Sections
• Add the names of organizations you support and fill in the spaces to designate where you volunteer