So Malaysia...ready to wake up ?

Pinoy fast waking up to success

What do I think about article ? Shall I being a Malaysian worry about the development with our neighbors? With Indonesia a sleeping giant who is waking up from a slumber land, the Philippines is a rising star, Vietnam as an investment destination darling and I do not have to mention about Singapore.

My answer is an absolute NO. Sound arrogant? A big YES. But the fact is that both countries used to be much more better than Malaysia remains. They were well in advance and developed in every aspect and angles politically, economically and socially from Malaysia. We as Malaysians, learned and not to repeat the same mistake. We learned the best from them. We sent our best students to both countries to learn from them. When one mentioned Institut of Technology Bandung, University Padjajaran, Asian Management Centre, Jose Rizal, Ibu Kartini- those names ring a bell. The fact that we survived and I guess we Malaysians need competition to survive.

It has been our country policy to see our neighbors prosper. They term it " Prosper with Your Neighbours" . I would be really happy if Indonesia better than Singapore. I would be so excited to learn that Philippines is at par of not better than Hong Kong. Should I be jealous ? Yes, but a feeling of jealousy to make Malaysia a better country not jealousy to destroy them. At the very least, we will not be having problems with illegal immigrants from both countries which affect our relationships with both countries politically, economically and socially. Sabah will be for Sabahans. We learn how to use technology to construct our buildings and harvest our palm oils and minimize the use of labors.

We shall not be afraid of competition but we shall embrace and ride and prosper with them. We shall be more creative and explore new areas and perhaps we shall be an innovator, entrepreneur, creative lot, adventurous to leverage on our neighbors prosperity.

Look beyond our shore. Look at Germany, United Kingdom, France, Swiss- they are competing among each other but still they can prosper together. So, ASEAN can emulate them.

All Malaysia needs is a visionary leaders who love, passionate, compassionate about their country and people. Who are those leaders ? It is YOU, ME and EVERYONE who is a MALAYSIAN regardless of race, religions, believes, faith and background. Together, we Malaysia can make it happens.


DISCLAIMER:Notice :Opinions, stories , thoughts expressed are blogger's own and do not necessarily represent the views of the institution or the organizations by which the blogger is employed or any specific person who so ever, either dead or alive.Hi! I am a green e-mail! Unlike my brothers and sisters, my presence on the Internet does not harm our environment.Please go to greenscroll.org and help make the Internet green like me!

UPOD- Under Promised Over Delivered

To grump or not to grump, here in paradise

I think I can relate to myself as to why we do not get out story out. For one, I would rather let the results speak itself out, like do not blow my own trumpet kind of thing. Often, when people ask me about my country, Malaysia I do not tell them beyond what I know and exaggerate till putting people's expectation above the sky. I will tell good stories of my country and also some of the not so nice stories, and make them curious to visit my country and let them see, hear, touch and feel themselves. In other word, let them experiences it by themselves.

I still remember I told one of my best friend about how sardine-packed like the train in Malaysia during rush hour, before his first visit to Malaysia. So, he has a picture how "sardine-packed" like ! So, when he was in Malaysia during the rush hour morning taking train with me, he told me " Eone, the 'sardine-packed' you mentioned to me earlier was not like what I imagined !

Another scenario was when we were in transit in Dubai. He told me " This airport would be better if there is train that connects the terminals". Again, I did not tell him that we have one back in Kuala Lumpur International Airport. What I pictured them about KLIA is just an ordinary airport and when he was at the airport, he experienced taking the train and he told me " The airport is spacious !" and when we were in Istanbul airport recently, he told me " This airport remind me of KLIA ".

To be frank, I do not like when my fellow countrymen talked so much about my country, we have this we have that , we are like this, we are like that and one thing I have learned recently is to always " Under Promise Over Deliver !" rather than " Over Promise Under Deliver".

and I love my country, Malaysia like everyone does with their own country.

DISCLAIMER:Notice :Opinions, stories , thoughts expressed are blogger's own and do not necessarily represent the views of the institution or the organizations by which the blogger is employed or any specific person who so ever, either dead or alive.Hi! I am a green e-mail! Unlike my brothers and sisters, my presence on the Internet does not harm our environment.Please go to greenscroll.org and help make the Internet green like me!

The Power of " Mouth-to-Mouth"..........Marketing !

I do not deny the power of social media such as Facebook,Tweeter, Linkedin, Youtube etc, in promoting one's products and masterpiece to the mass but still there are "naked truth and lies" that need to be verified and validated. Why ? because it is technology. You and me know how technology can be sometimes deceiving because it is people like you and me who spent millions of dollars to promote their products leveraging on technology. Remember wag the dog movie? Technology was and will always be here to stay, but just in different forms, shape, format. The substance is still very much the same

It happened to me recently series of events which convinced me that words of mouth marketing is still the best and the most powerful marketing tool despite those social media madness and craze. The same goes to mouth-to-mouth CPR, right?

Here is my story. I would like first to share with you the following Youtube video ;

It started with one of my office colleague ( originally from India) who went to Malaysia and spent about a month attending badminton clinic organized by one of the badminton club in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. Before he came back to the office, another office colleague (originally from Uzbekistan) decided to join him to spend few days during recent Eid Fitr. Then, both of them back into the office. They shared with me all the good stories and some of the photos from the visit and even greeted me with " Selamat Pagi. Apa khabar? ". Last few weeks, I heard over a voice singing " Malaysia, Truly Asia " out of the blue.

We will be having another round of holiday early November for about a week. Then, another office colleague (originally from Romania) asked me about her plan to visit Malaysia and asked my view whether it is good time to visit Langkawi etc. I told her my frank view that it rains quite often back in Malaysia now, and most probably a lot more in early November . Few days later, another colleague of mine from UAE asked me about Malaysia as he plans to spend his honeymoon traveling around Malaysia. Yesterday, another colleague of mine (originally from Lebanese) asked my opinion about her plan to visit Malaysia for a week with her family. This last inquiry made my staff made this statement " Eone, you shall start charging them for the advise".

Today, a consultant ( originally from Lebanon) asked me whether I will be back home for the Eid. I nodded my head and I found out that he has been to Malaysia few times. My first month with the company, a colleague of mine ( originally from Yemen) invited me to join him to visit Thailand when I heard a voice from another colleague ( originally from Kenya) made this statement " Eone, do not go with him. You have a better country ! ". Then, my company HR Director (originally from Saudi Arabia) visited my country for two weeks and upon his return, when he bumped into me , he said " You have such a nice country!"

For one , I never really talked about my country Malaysia. However, whenever they found out that I am Malaysian, not a single of comments is negative about Malaysia. The feedback that I received are all good and my reply to those remark " Thank you and I am happy that you have a good time in my country. Still, we have a lot of things to improve and I m so sorry for any bad experiences and lucks that you may face during your visit ( because I do not really believe all are ONLY good stories). ". Interestingly, the respond that I got from every single person that I met " It is normal and it is everywhere in the world !"

Incha Allah, I will be celebrating Eid with my two other friends from Syria in Malaysia . I am quite nervous actually in managing their expectations and I told them to lower down the expectations or best not to expect anything. I believe the sudden interest in my office to visit Malaysia, at least once in their life is because of the word of mouth marketing from one person to another. Some even every interested to visit Zoo Negara because one of them visited the place and he like the place very much.

So, it is true the words of mouth is a powerful marketing tool and it is cheap and free but give the greatest impact - either positive or negative. The same about the way Malaysians drive ( article which I wrote earlier), how angelics and well behaved and well mannered our pilgrims in Mecca ( story that I heard from Moroccans). During my recent visit to Doha, Qatar. The immigration officer upon seeing my "Malaysian Passport" told me how he loves Malaysia so much and he has been coming back to Malaysia and when I was at the ID office in Dubai, when they knew that I am from Malaysia all of them started to mention places like Langkawi, Genting, Pangkor, Cameron Highlands, Sunway Lagoon,Malacca.

To all Malaysians, " They will come as visitors, but we should make them return as our respected guests"

So, will you validate and verify my story through social media ?"

DISCLAIMER: Notice :Opinions, stories , thoughts expressed are blogger's own and do not necessarily represent the views of the institution or the organizations by which the blogger is employed or any specific person who so ever, either dead or alive. Hi! I am a green e-mail! Unlike my brothers and sisters, my presence on the Internet does not harm our environment. Please go to greenscroll.org and help make the Internet green like me!

Bollywood Recipes for Success

My eyes were glued while having my hair cut today to the TV screen which showed a Bollywood movie. As a result, I in-subordinated my barber instructions which gave him real challenge to complete his job excellently. Luckily, I do not have much hair to really challenge his skill though !

I remembered well when I was a child, watching Hindi movies was kind of a routine for my family after good lunch on Sunday. Two hours glued on monitor, before going out playing with my friends. "Kuch kuch ho Tahe", "Mohabbatein" ( excuse me for the spelling) conquered Malaysia at one time, which I considered as new generation of Hindi movies that follows. It was like a tsunami. People talked about it. Now, Bollywood influence are everywhere, from North Africa, Europe, Asia and rest of the world.

Read more at Bollywood Factors

Even, OSN Ya Hala, OSN new Arabic channel leverage on Bollywood influences to promote the new channel.

Here is what I got from Youtube Channel.

What made Bollywood productions and movies successful ? What are the recipes ? In any business model,

Profit= Revenue- Cost . Simple formula. If you know what go inside and go outside, then the business is in good hands.

But what are the critical success factors that really make the cut which Bollywood movies are able to differentiate themselves from Hollywood movies through product differentiation strategy through creative marketing and branding?

1. Economies of Scales

How many movies being produced annually in Bollywood? Below are some of the statistics

Source : Wikipedia Bollywood In the above case, Bollywood produced more to make profits knowing the environment that the Bollywood movie producers is operating - less regulation with regards to intellectual property, low or almost non existence of law enforcement etc.

2. Predictable and Simple Storyline

It is about a hero and heroine who fall in love, different family backgrounds, corrupted leaders and policemen, mafia and gang who involve in drugs, illegal weapon trades, eastern values of respecting the elderly and parents, the poor being the victim of the rich, the good and the bad, the evil and the angels and in the end, the hero will win. Both the hero and the heroine will live happily together ever after. It is not complicated at all. No sequels of the movies.

3. Colourful Choreography

The costumes and the props are just colourful and cheerful. Red, Green, Blue and all sort of colour combination. It really cheers up the audience.

4. It is all about Human Emotion

Sadness, Happiness, Love, Hatred - All in one package. The audiences are invited to make a journey full of emotions throughout the movie.

5. Choice of Actors/Actress

Models, beauty queens and beautiful people. Young and energetic. Well built and in good shape- the like of Aishwarya Rai, Arjun Rampal, Hritrik Roshan, Kajol . Shining and angelic faces. Rough and evil look for the bad characters.

6. Commercially Focus

Even if the movies are based in true story, those elements 1-5 are incorporated and embedded in the movies. Because in the end, it is not about awards in film festivals- Sundance Film Festival, Berlin Film Festivals alike, Emmy Awards, Golden Globes etc. Interestingly, the Bollywood movies have their own film festivals and awards Bollywood Movie Awards. So the question that come to one's mind 'Are they too much focusing on commercial elements rather than " art" ? ". My view, this is art to the Bollywood.

So, my next question is whether my fellow Malaysian movie producers are up to the challenge to commercially produced movies that capture the imagination of the world ? What are the recipe of success for Malaysia ?

DISCLAIMER: Notice :Opinions, stories , thoughts expressed are blogger's own and do not necessarily represent the views of the institution or the organizations by which the blogger is employed or any specific person who so ever, either dead or alive. Hi! I am a green e-mail! Unlike my brothers and sisters, my presence on the Internet does not harm our environment. Please go to greenscroll.org and help make the Internet green like me!