https://www.scmp.com/rss/9446/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Gentrification knows no borders. London has Shoreditch, Paris has Belleville, San Francisco has Soma, and – closer to home – Kennedy Town has smartened up considerably since when it was more “other side of the tracks” than simply the end of the tram line. And so it is with Stockholm’s Södermalm, or Knifsöder, as it was once called, in reference to switch­blade gangs that robbed the unwary on its formerly mean and poorly lit streets. With an influx of capital and talent since 2000, Södermalm has... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/2101380/how-sodermalm-stockholm-went-gritty-suburb-hipster?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/2101380/how-sodermalm-stockholm-went-gritty-suburb-hipster?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 08 Jul 2017 03:00:22 +0000 Revolutionary Russia 1891-1991: A History by Orlando Figes Metropolitan Books 4 stars Nick Walker "We want the USSR back!" was a separatist slogan heard in a restive city in eastern Ukraine, by a correspondent for a major British daily. So Orlando Figes' Revolutionary Russia, 1891-1991: A History is eerily timely. The conventional narrative is that the Russian revolution took place in October 1917, and launched the world's first communist state. However, Figes argues that the revolution was... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/books/article/1521862/book-review-revolutionary-russia-1891-1991-orlando-figes?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/books/article/1521862/book-review-revolutionary-russia-1891-1991-orlando-figes?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 02 Jun 2014 02:09:50 +0000 Peranakan, baba and nyonya are terms used to describe the descendants of male Chinese immigrants to Southeast Asia - from Java, Indonesia, to Phuket, Thailand - who arrived between the 16th and 19th centuries, married local women and started new lives, spawning a unique hybrid culture. The word " baba" is derived from Hindi (it's an honorific to address a respected elder) and came to refer to ethnic Chinese and mixed-race men born in these communities. Women of this provenance were dubbed... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1495798/city-scope-bless-babas?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1495798/city-scope-bless-babas?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 26 Apr 2014 15:08:10 +0000 The Hotel on Place Vendôme: Life, Death, and Betrayal at the Hotel Ritz in Paris by Tilar J. Mazzeo Harper 4.5 stars Nick Walker Paris has for some two centuries held an extraordinary appeal for American writers. The long list of scribes from across the Atlantic who chose to live or spend a creative sojourn in the French capital includes Ernest Hemingway, Mark Twain, Henry James, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Edith Wharton and Henry Miller. To this illustrious list we can add a professor at a college... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/books/article/1476060/book-review-hotel-place-vendome-tilar-j-mazzeo?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/books/article/1476060/book-review-hotel-place-vendome-tilar-j-mazzeo?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 13 Apr 2014 08:00:30 +0000 Behind the Curve: Science and the Politics of Global Warming by Joshua Howe University of Washington Press 3.5 stars Nick Walker Forgive the puns, but global warming has been a heated topic of debate for the past couple of decades, and one that has generated a lot of hot air in academic circles and the media, while spawning many books on the contentious subject. Among them is Behind the Curve by US professor Joshua Howe, a specialist in environmental studies, who examines the concept and... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/books/article/1459129/book-review-behind-curve-joshua-howe?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/books/article/1459129/book-review-behind-curve-joshua-howe?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 30 Mar 2014 08:15:30 +0000 Acts of Union and Disunion by Linda Colley Profile Books 3 stars Nick Walker With Scotland's referendum on independence looming, this is a timely study of a country whose unwieldy title - emblazoned on my passport - betrays its disunity. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is neither united (the North-South divide and the class system being two of its many centrifugal forces), nor a kingdom, at least at present. And, arguably, as Russia's Vladimir Putin told British... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/books/article/1448551/book-review-acts-union-and-disunion-linda-colley?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/books/article/1448551/book-review-acts-union-and-disunion-linda-colley?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 16 Mar 2014 01:45:15 +0000 Mandalay is one of those place names - like Timbuktu and Shangri-la - that is a byword for remote exoticism. And it is indeed exotic. But Mandalay - Myanmar's second city, of 1.3 million souls - is changing. The unhurried rhythm of life here is speeding up as a result of an influx of entrepreneurial immigrants and capital from China. Myanmar is a resource-rich land on the economic rise and its vast northern neighbour knows this well. Nevertheless, the fabled city remains an enchanting metropolis... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1436208/city-scope-waiting-li?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1436208/city-scope-waiting-li?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 01 Mar 2014 15:13:36 +0000 Phuket's is now the most used foreign airport by mainland Chinese, according to TripAdvisor. On any given day, 5,000 to 6,000 of them pass through Phuket International, accounting for more than a quarter of the total number. But mainlanders also top another Phuket index - of deaths by drowning. A dozen or so died in the aquamarine waters off the island's world famous beaches last year - exact figures are hard to establish, given the varied reports in the local press and the People's Republic... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1401377/city-scope-all-sea?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1401377/city-scope-all-sea?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 11 Jan 2014 14:48:17 +0000 Bellman & Black by Diane Setterfield Bond Street Books 3 stars Nick Walker Diane Setterfield's debut novel, 2006's The Thirteenth Tale, was a gothic masterpiece of rewarding complexity, with a beautifully embroidered plot and the power to awe. The book - accessible on many levels - took Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, and echoed and warped it so eerily that Setterfield earned plaudits for her deft interpretation. Seven years is a long time between a smash-hit debut and its follow-up. So, is... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/books/article/1390978/book-review-bellman-black-diane-setterfield?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/books/article/1390978/book-review-bellman-black-diane-setterfield?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 29 Dec 2013 08:56:14 +0000 Lifetime by Liza Marklund Atria Books Swedish author Liza Marklund's sleuth-protagonist recalls Californian Sue Grafton's redoubtable Kinsey Millhone of the long-running "Alphabet" series. Both are tough female investigators, and both come with sprawling back-stories woven from family and personal issues. With Annika Bengtzon, we get a compelling personality on the trail of the Scandinavian noir bad guys. She has all the flaws, foibles and virtues any human can possess, notably obnoxiousness... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/books/article/1265838/book-review-lifetime-liza-marklund?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/books/article/1265838/book-review-lifetime-liza-marklund?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 22 Jun 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Is the leadership of your company a mystery that confounds you and your career expectations? This is sometimes so, even if you are one its 'big potatoes', to use the term beloved of the Hong Kong corporate world. If the answer is yes, Bob Frisch has penned the book for you. Frisch asks: do senior management teams (SMTs) really make all those critical decisions? And deduces that, in reality, these decisions are typically made by the boss and a small group of confidants - a 'team with no name', or... https://www.scmp.com/article/1001971/corporate-kitchen-cabinet?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/1001971/corporate-kitchen-cabinet?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 25 May 2012 16:00:00 +0000 The secretaries are back, thanks arguably to the hit US television drama Mad Men, which revolves around a New York advertising agency in the 1960s replete with the period's misogyny and political incorrectness. Actually, the secretaries have never left. They have evolved with the corporate world and have become - in one guise or another - even more crucial to the operations of the modern markets, acting like unsung heroines and angels of the boardrooms. Hence, a little reward may be long... https://www.scmp.com/article/1001326/homage-corporate-angels?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/1001326/homage-corporate-angels?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 18 May 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Megachange: The World in 2050 (The Economist) edited by D. Franklin, John Andrews The Economist This book looks at our world 38 years from now. That's 38 orbits of the sun. The age at which a person is entering the suburbs of middle age. Half a lifetime. It's helpful therefore to start by looking at our world that many years ago: 1974. There were two Vietnams, and, thanks to Watergate, two US presidents that year. The British Overseas Airways Corporation merged with another carrier to become... https://www.scmp.com/article/1000841/megachange-world-2050-economist?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/1000841/megachange-world-2050-economist?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 12 May 2012 16:00:00 +0000 To employ an oft-used term from his native Australia, Andrew Grant 'rocked up' into Hong Kong last month, impressing the audience at the 'Who Killed Creativity?' seminar - co-sponsored by Classified Post and China Speakers Agency - where he proved the veracity of the findings of his just-published book, Who Killed Creativity? Both the book and the 'roadshow' are captivating. Grant has star quality and he uses it positively. Restoring creativity to the workplace is his current mission - and that... https://www.scmp.com/article/1000120/slaying-creativity-killers?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/1000120/slaying-creativity-killers?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 04 May 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Psychopathology and World Politics by Ralph Pettman World Scientific The list of apparently 'unhinged' national leaders is lengthy. The 20th century gave us the maddest and baddest of all time, Adolf Hitler. But there were many others. Among them, Jean Bedel Bokassa (or, to give him his full title: 'His Imperial Majesty Bokassa the First, Emperor of Central Africa by the will of the Central African people, united within the national political party, the Movement for the Social Evolution of Black... https://www.scmp.com/article/998862/psychopathology-and-world-politics?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/998862/psychopathology-and-world-politics?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 21 Apr 2012 16:00:00 +0000 The history and business of publishing throws up some anomalies. For the last 15 years, more copies of the IKEA catalogue have been printed annually than copies of the Holy Bible. Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has still to outsell Carlo Collodi's The Adventures of Pinocchio. And more business leaders than military generals have bought Sun Zi's Art of War. The last-cited book first emerged 27 centuries ago, but it's become a revered business text in recent decades, as well as... https://www.scmp.com/article/998773/working-enemy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/998773/working-enemy?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 20 Apr 2012 16:00:00 +0000 The term 'body language' is so ubiquitous today that it seems it's been around for as long as its two component words. However, Robert Phipps - body-language expert and author of this study - tells us that this 'science' has only been around for about 25 years. As a result, it is a relatively new area of study. And it's also a crucial one for job-hunters. In this direct connection, Phipps tells us how his interest in body language started: He was busted for lying during a job interview. It... https://www.scmp.com/article/998082/talk-walk-walk-talk?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/998082/talk-walk-walk-talk?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 12 Apr 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Shocking statistical warning: By some estimates, more than 20 million jobs disappeared in the developed world during the global financial crisis and its aftermath. Job-hunters the world over are now facing up to the grimly inevitable realisation that 'employment' might be on its way to becoming an obsolete economic term. Author Geoff Burch posits that more and more of us will have to turn to self-employment to earn a living income. And he's probably right. The first impression of his sixth... https://www.scmp.com/article/996967/self-employed-world-unite?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/996967/self-employed-world-unite?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 29 Mar 2012 16:00:00 +0000 'R-E-S-P-E-C-T! Find out what it means to me R-E-S-P-E-C-T! Take care, TCB...' And so Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin sang so magnificently in her 1967 signature song, Respect. 'TCB' stands for 'take care of business,' and if you're serious about surviving the unforgiving jungle that is business in Hong Kong, this word is as apposite as if you're dealing with the kind of relationship that Franklin is addressing in her timeless anthem. (Thankfully, Respect authors Jack Wiley and Brenda... https://www.scmp.com/article/996354/respectfully-yours-profit?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/996354/respectfully-yours-profit?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 23 Mar 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Conservation by Murder: Man-eaters of Sundarbans by Sudipt Dutta (self-published) If a bird blessed with super stamina flew due west from Hong Kong for about 2,600 kilometres, it would find itself soaring over the Sundarbans - one of Asia's most fantastical wilderness areas. The name means 'beautiful forest' in Bengali and indeed it is. It's also huge. This vast mangrove forest sprawls across the delta created by the 'mega-confluence' of the Padma, Brahmaputra and Meghna ... https://www.scmp.com/article/995091/conservation-murder-man-eaters-sundarbans?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/995091/conservation-murder-man-eaters-sundarbans?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 10 Mar 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Last year, one of my Facebook pals posted the 'news' that she had become so fed up with her pre-teen daughter's demands for an iPad that she had simply bought her one. Nice humble-brag, lady. But to keep up with the DBJs (Discovery Bay Joneses) and the zeitgeist, I bought one too. Quite handy. Useful for work, I reckoned. And, indeed, it has turned out to have plenty of applications for my myriad means of making a buck. As I was figuring out the best iPad practices for my small business empire,... https://www.scmp.com/article/993584/bright-spark-dim-ipad-users?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/993584/bright-spark-dim-ipad-users?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 24 Feb 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Betting on Biotech by Joseph Wong Cornell University Press The confluence of mathematics and post-war commercial biotechnology in East Asia provides a more engaging picture to the non-expert than might otherwise be assumed. This is what the reader can deduce from Joseph Wong's unexpectedly fascinating Betting on Biotech: Innovation and the Limits of Asia's Developmental State. The author is repeating the trick he pulled off with his Healthy Democracies: Welfare Politics in Taiwan and South... https://www.scmp.com/article/993045/betting-biotech?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/993045/betting-biotech?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 18 Feb 2012 16:00:00 +0000 What is it? Only two years old and apparently the hippest hotel in Bangkok, the venue being the only one in the Thai capital to make TripAdvisor's Travellers' Choice 2011 'Top 10 Trendiest Hotels in Asia' list. The interior of 'The R', as it calls itself, is enrobed in warm shades - dark woods, burgundies, purples - with subdued lighting enhancing the intimate atmosphere. Undeniably, this Marriott hotel has drawn inspiration from the W (but with original touches) to refresh the previously... https://www.scmp.com/article/991708/renaissance-bangkok-ratchaprasong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/991708/renaissance-bangkok-ratchaprasong?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 04 Feb 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Richard Branson is the most shameless name-dropper I've come across in the history of this column (and this writer has come across a fair number of this type, business gurus being the way they are). That said, Branson does poke fun at himself for this tendency, albeit in the manner of an aristocrat who might comically yell 'Get orrf my land!' across a field - bellowed in an exaggerated yokel-farmer accent, to both humour and impress visitors to his country mansion. The message is clear - it's... https://www.scmp.com/article/991071/print-charisma-fails-take?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/991071/print-charisma-fails-take?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy The Russian Messenger Critically panned on its release by the 19th-century Russian literati as a lightweight high-society romance, Leo Tolstoy's seventh novel - and the first he wrote after War and Peace - enjoyed a reversal of opinion once readers had actually finished the 800-page tome. Tolstoy's contemporary, Russian literary giant Fyodor Dostoevsky, described Anna Karenina as 'as flawless as a work of art', and his opinion was shared by many luminaries of... https://www.scmp.com/article/990769/book-1877?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/990769/book-1877?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 21 Jan 2012 16:00:00 +0000 The Ideal Man by Joshua Kurlantzick Wiley Farang is a Thai word with a meaning akin to gweilo here. And 20th century Bangkok's most illustrious farang was indisputably a Delaware native son and long-term resident of the capital named Jim Thompson. Indeed, today his museum-style home remains one of the city's top tourist attractions. For those familiar with the Thompson story, Joshua Kurlantzick's treatment is both satisfying and frustrating: the former because the author fills in the many... https://www.scmp.com/article/990790/ideal-man?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/990790/ideal-man?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 21 Jan 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Conversations with Thaksin by Tom Plate Marshall Cavendish Former Thailand prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, loved and loathed across his homeland, makes for a fascinating target of Los Angeles Times columnist Tom Plate's professional - and always gracious, although sometimes fawning - curiosity. Unsurprisingly, Conversations With Thaksin: From Exile to Deliverance - Thailand's Populist Tycoon Tells His Story is unavailable in the kingdom, though not yet subject to an official ban. Thaksin... https://www.scmp.com/article/990192/conversations-thaksin?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/990192/conversations-thaksin?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 14 Jan 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Read to Succeed's preview of 2012 could just as well have been headlined: Read To Survive. Optimists for this year of the dragon are thin on the ground, and the markets are looking bearish. Nevertheless, here are some upcoming 2012 releases that will benefit the professional working hard to prevail over the next 11 fiery months. . One of the books most anticipated this year has been penned by Wall Street Journal columnist and fiendishly clever generalist Jonah Lehrer. Titled Imagine: How... https://www.scmp.com/article/990070/straight-dragons-mouth?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/990070/straight-dragons-mouth?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 13 Jan 2012 16:00:00 +0000 If the glummest face at your New Year's Eve party of two weeks ago belonged to a property professional, here's a likely explanation. According to a recent survey by international property recruitment consultancy Macdonald & Company, done in August and September 2011, the average base salary for real estate professionals has decreased by 6 per cent from 2010 levels. The survey involved about 1,300 respondents from the property development and consultancy sectors across the Asia Pacific. The... https://www.scmp.com/article/990064/patchy-year-property-sector-pay?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/990064/patchy-year-property-sector-pay?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 13 Jan 2012 16:00:00 +0000 As far as construction hiring is concerned, Hong Kong's centre of gravity seems to have shifted to Kowloon, with a slew of projects pending, including the Kai Tak developments, the cruise terminal, a new sports stadium, assorted public housing schemes, as well as the arts hub associated with the West Kowloon Cultural District. Amid this construction bedlam, contractors and developers have had problems getting the right talent for the right roles. According to Ben Butt, director of Facility... https://www.scmp.com/article/990065/building-blocks?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/990065/building-blocks?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 13 Jan 2012 16:00:00 +0000 The Lady and the Peacock: The Life of Aung San Suu Kyi by Peter Popham Rider Books In 1988 - auspicious for the numerology-obsessed people of Myanmar, as much as for the Chinese - the closed nation appeared to be on the cusp of democracy, and opening up to the world. It was a heady time, akin to Czechoslovakia's Prague Spring in 1968. But as with the Prague Spring, the promised liberalisation that was set to follow Aung San Suu Kyi's election victory was a threat the totalitarian order could... https://www.scmp.com/article/988069/lady-and-peacock-life-aung-san-suu-kyi?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/988069/lady-and-peacock-life-aung-san-suu-kyi?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 17 Dec 2011 16:00:00 +0000 All hail the king of motivational theory and practice, and reigning monarch of corporate leadership coaching. Stephen R. Covey is approaching the big eight-O now, but the acuity of his mind is as impressive as ever, on the evidence of The 3rd Alternative. The multimillion-selling author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - which in 1989 kick started the genre - is acknowledged by many, including this reviewer, as one of the most influential business texts of the 20th century. His... https://www.scmp.com/article/987945/fruit-compromise?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/987945/fruit-compromise?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 16 Dec 2011 16:00:00 +0000 Is your Christmas budget precariously based on the bill that you hope your biggest client will settle in a few days' time, despite their record of tardy payment? If so, firstly, welcome to one of Hong Kong's biggest unofficial clubs. And, secondly, 'invoice finance' might be for you. If you are acquainted with the concept, you'll know how beneficial it can be to cash flow. However, if you're a finance industry professional, invoice finance is worth eyeing for 2012. It's a growth area, and... https://www.scmp.com/article/987334/every-cloud-has-silver-lining?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/987334/every-cloud-has-silver-lining?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 09 Dec 2011 16:00:00 +0000 Hong Kong endures as an East-meets-West melting pot, but the mix is increasingly more Asian - specifically, mainland Chinese - according to a recent ManpowerGroup survey. Addressing the issue of labour migration in an increasingly borderless world, the survey quizzed some 25,000 employers in 39 markets. Concerning Hong Kong, a key finding that emerged was the strong dominance of mainland-sourced talent among expatriate hires. Candidates from across the border now represent 57 per cent of... https://www.scmp.com/article/987335/mainlanders-lead-expat-hires-local-companies?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/987335/mainlanders-lead-expat-hires-local-companies?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 09 Dec 2011 16:00:00 +0000 Sufficiently enormous pressure can - as the cover of this book acknowledges - turn an unsexy lump of coal into a diamond. And it can also turn a business leader into an inspirational hero. Or a nervous wreck, of no use to anyone, except the owner of his favourite bar. In Better Under Pressure, author Justin Menkes explains in breezy, accessible and unadorned prose, how business leaders can prevail, enhance their leadership style and revitalise profitability in the face of the most menacing... https://www.scmp.com/article/986623/learn-masters-universe?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/986623/learn-masters-universe?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 02 Dec 2011 16:00:00 +0000 The world economy looks like it might be in for a rough ride, but through shrewd management, the pain on all sides may be lessened, according to a recent regional survey. Much of the concern, particularly for those in human resources (HR), pertains to hiring strategies for the new year. While many may decide to scale back expansion, Sydney-headquartered consultants Talent2 suggests that Hong Kong companies could well continue to hire, albeit on a more flexible or 'contingent' basis. This... https://www.scmp.com/article/986624/flexible-contingent-terms-could-spur-hk-hiring?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/986624/flexible-contingent-terms-could-spur-hk-hiring?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 02 Dec 2011 16:00:00 +0000 As the property market enters a wintry mood in Hong Kong, real estate agents are increasingly turning their attention to foreign sales. The new generation of professional classes in the region is even more cosmopolitan that the last, and their eyes are on property in parts of the world perceived to have a relatively high quality of life, most of them variously eyeing property investments, second homes, homes for children studying at overseas universities, and retirement domiciles. 'In terms of... https://www.scmp.com/article/985915/pitching-foreign-projects?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/985915/pitching-foreign-projects?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 25 Nov 2011 16:00:00 +0000 What gives property sales managers the edge? At Colliers International, it's a combination of all the usual attributes - plus 'the time and resources that the company puts into training', says Piers Brunner, chief executive officer of Colliers International Asia. The global real-estate agency conducts off-site training three times a year - in Sydney, Prague and Brentwood in Canada - as part of its Colliers University (CU) programme. At the time of its launch in 2002, the programme was a... https://www.scmp.com/article/985914/colliers-university-class-apart?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/985914/colliers-university-class-apart?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 25 Nov 2011 16:00:00 +0000 Awareness of Islamic banking and philanthropy has been rising in recent years. There has been a corresponding interest in Hong Kong due to the city's proximity to Muslim regional giants Malaysia and Indonesia, as well as the city's historical and commercial ties to Pakistan and Bangladesh. Islamic banking refers to activities that are consistent with the principles of sharia - Islamic law. The principles emphasise moral and ethical values and are enjoying increasing global appeal, especially in... https://www.scmp.com/article/985409/god-willing-sharia-banking-will-earn-merit?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/985409/god-willing-sharia-banking-will-earn-merit?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 20 Nov 2011 16:00:00 +0000 Mentoring is a powerful personal development and empowerment tool, and is prevalent in the banking industry. It is an effective means of helping individuals to progress in their careers by means of a partnership - that between mentor and mentee. The rationale of mentoring is to support and encourage employees to manage their own learning, so that they can maximise their potential, develop their skills, improve their performance, and become the company asset they want to be. Standard Chartered... https://www.scmp.com/article/985220/mentorship-maketh-bank?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/985220/mentorship-maketh-bank?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 18 Nov 2011 16:00:00 +0000 As with most things in life, mentoring must follow certain guidelines to yield the greatest results. But, according to US-based corporate consultant, Bill Wright - who has mentored in several parts of the world as the vice-president of field services for an international franchise company - the rules of mentoring are universal. He outlines them as follows: WHAT TO DO Be available If you are mentoring someone, you must be accessible and so must they. Availability means teaching when... https://www.scmp.com/article/985219/universal-rules-thumb?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/985219/universal-rules-thumb?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 18 Nov 2011 16:00:00 +0000 Challenging days lie ahead again. Who should worry the most? Many would say human resources (HR) managers and their bosses. In some respects, they have the most to gain and the most to lose. And this book is written for them, and anyone else with an informed interest in HR. Many deem the practice as both a science and an art, but in this thought-provoking work, it is presented as more of the former. If you want to give your company a fighting chance of not just surviving but also thriving,... https://www.scmp.com/article/985227/science-human-capital?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/985227/science-human-capital?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 18 Nov 2011 16:00:00 +0000 One sticky area in the realm of Hong Kong employment is the glaring need for employers to better accommodate the needs of parents and caregivers. The city has long scored low marks for its work-life balance, and this, according to many, is a major contributing factor. Standard Chartered Bank understands this. 'One area in which we've made good progress in the last several years is in being a more family-friendly employer,' says Fern Ngai, head of the bank's corporate affairs in Hong Kong.... https://www.scmp.com/article/985222/striking-right-work-life-balance?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/985222/striking-right-work-life-balance?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 18 Nov 2011 16:00:00 +0000 Every study of so-called diversity and inclusion (D&I) programmes - whether in the East or in the West - have showed remarkably similar results: they yield significant benefits to job hunters, employers, as well as companies and their customers. In Hong Kong, which considers itself a generally meritocratic society that strives to provide a level playing field for all its economically active players, observers say that the embrace by organisations of D&I programmes produces win-win outcomes,... https://www.scmp.com/article/985221/success-mix?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/985221/success-mix?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 18 Nov 2011 16:00:00 +0000 Leadership has taken a beating this millennium. Soon after the dawn of the 21st century, executives of American-energy giant Enron were found to have orchestrated one of the biggest frauds of all time, igniting investigations into a string of similar cases. Fast-forward a few years, and the Western banking sector - echoing the recklessness of Gordon Gekko in the 1987 film Wall Street - plunged the global economy into the abyss of an extended financial crisis. Meanwhile, business and... https://www.scmp.com/article/983904/lessons-taking-lead?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/983904/lessons-taking-lead?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 04 Nov 2011 16:00:00 +0000 Has the global financial crisis (GFC) morphed into GFC Part 2 with no respite? And is GFC2 already here, as claimed by a number of market watchers? Are the two GFCs just one continuum, or will there be a distinctive Lehman Brothers-style cataclysm to herald the much-dreaded, but now almost inevitable, sequel? These are questions that 2012 will answer with the lucidity of time. But employees and job-hunters must be mindful of some imminent painful realities (you can be sure that employers are).... https://www.scmp.com/article/983192/stability-amid-unstable-times?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/983192/stability-amid-unstable-times?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 28 Oct 2011 16:00:00 +0000 Tony Henderson, policy secretary of Hong Kong's Green Party, Hong Kong resident of 31 years, and author of 1993's Humanize Hong Kong, has seen changes in his own Lantau neighbourhood as a result of fears for the future. 'There's an influx of Discovery Bay residents into Mui Wo - the former, a contrived 'lifestyle' suburb, the latter, a rural village. The reason for the 'rat-run'? Tightening budgets as firms face financial insecurity and fire people in a knee-jerk response,' he says. 'Could... https://www.scmp.com/article/983197/no-job-no-money-dont-worry-be-happy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/983197/no-job-no-money-dont-worry-be-happy?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 28 Oct 2011 16:00:00 +0000 In recent weeks, enough observers claim to have seen the spectral outline of another downturn on the horizon. And with bad news still emanating from the United States and Europe, and even a dip in growth on the mainland, many organisations are planning cautiously for hiring for the rest of the year and into early 2012. But for Morgan McKinley - a global professional recruitment consultancy - the business of finding square pegs for square holes and round pegs for round holes continues largely... https://www.scmp.com/article/982550/here-come-new-emperors?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/982550/here-come-new-emperors?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 21 Oct 2011 16:00:00 +0000 Are looming troubled times driving more people to become qualified fund managers and intermediaries? Apparently not, experts say. 'So far we have not seen any major change in the enrolment figures for our licensing examinations,' says SF Wong, chief executive of the Hong Kong Securities Institute (HKSI), an independent professional organisation appointed by the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) to develop and administer licensing examinations for the financial industry. All licensed... https://www.scmp.com/article/982551/calm-approaching-storm?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/982551/calm-approaching-storm?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 21 Oct 2011 16:00:00 +0000 As the aftershocks of the global financial crisis continue to jolt markets and impact economies around the world - notably in Greece and Portugal, as well as in Britain and the United States - a palpable anxiety is being felt even in growth regions such as Asia Pacific, although this has been tempered by confidence. One of the financial players best positioned to take stock of the zeitgeist is Michael Page International. This recruitment firm employs more than 3,800 in over 152 offices across... https://www.scmp.com/article/982552/bold-outlook-asian-jobs?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/982552/bold-outlook-asian-jobs?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 21 Oct 2011 16:00:00 +0000