Spurs snatch win at Fulham to ease pressure on Villas-Boas |
- Spurs snatch win at Fulham to ease pressure on Villas-Boas
- The real waste about packaging — Dennis Posadas
- Prize-winning Dominican author in war of words over migrant court ruling
- Rodgers: More to come from four-goal Suarez
- One year on, Newtown voices revive pain of massacre
- (Bad) strategy is everything, in innovating — Janson Yap
| Spurs snatch win at Fulham to ease pressure on Villas-Boas Posted: 04 Dec 2013 05:16 PM PST
But the victory, which came courtesy of Romania defender Vlad Chiriches' first goal for the club and a piledriver from substitute Lewis Holtby, only plunged Fulham deeper into trouble. "It was very important for the team, for both teams. (We knew) a win today would be a big boost of confidence and it fell our way," Villas-Boas told a news conference. "We went down a goal at the moment when we looked more composed and more in control and then we had to dig deep to find the winning goals. Two moments of inspiration settled the game." The hosts took the lead through Ashkan Dejagah just before the hour after a defence-splitting pass from the unsettled Dimitar Berbatov, who was booed before kickoff after his agent said earlier yesterday that he wanted to leave the club. The victory moved Spurs up to sixth in the Premier League, while Fulham remain in the relegation zone with 10 points from 14 matches. Until Chiriches struck, the west London club seemed headed for victory in their first game under head coach Rene Meulensteen after the five straight defeats which led to the sacking of fellow Dutchman Martin Jol on Sunday. There seemed little danger when Fulham cleared a corner but the Romanian struck a low left-foot drive from 35 metres that flew into the corner of Maarten Stekelenburg's net in the 73rd minute. A relieved Villas-Boas clenched his fists in the air to celebrate the goal, having endured a torrid time at the hands of the media since Tottenham's 6-0 defeat at Manchester City last month. He had more to enjoy almost 10 minutes later when Holtby, who he brought on for the ineffective Etienne Capoue at halftime, cut inside and unleashed a fierce drive from just outside the penalty area to seal the points. Meulensteen said the defeat was "very hard to take" but added that he would use all the experience he gained as assistant to Alex Ferguson at Manchester United to keep Fulham up and said he was "absolutely" sure they would survive. "Fulham are going through a tough time everybody knows that. I wanted an inspired performance and from a tactical point of view a disciplined performance and we got that," the Dutchman told reporters. "I have been fortunate to sit alongside the most successful manager Alex Ferguson. "He said in life as well as in football you have to face up to challenges and sometimes you are faced with adversity. "The most important thing is to embrace the challenge and face it head on and that's what we"re trying to do." — Reuters  |
| The real waste about packaging — Dennis Posadas Posted: 04 Dec 2013 05:14 PM PST
If a community strictly enacts segregation, sorting, recycling and reuse, and is able to convert some of the residual waste into heat or steam, then that's great. But in the real world, there are slobs and those who won't cooperate; taking the effort to separate those plastic knives from their fastfood meal to dump it into the plastics bin is too much of an effort for some. Relying on culture and chance might be an option for some — but among many Global 100 corporations, a new trend has sprouted to adopt a serious zero landfill mindset. Spurred by the threat of more sanitary landfills (which in poor countries are just a step above unregulated dumpsites) from millions of tons of used product packaging bearing the names of household brands, many corporations now see zero landfill as the way forward. Building more landfills is extremely difficult, and the practice of segregating, composting, recycling — while it sounds good in theory — has not always been effective in practice. Already companies like P&G, Unilever, Nestle, Kraft, Ford, Toyota and others have put zero landfill as part of their major corporate sustainability goals. This means that these companies plan to evaluate their performance internally and to their shareholders, by measuring how they are able to avoid landfill for their wastes. In zero landfill thinking, the first step is to try to avoid generating waste in the first place. While a burger might require biodegradable wax paper that keeps it clean but eventually disintegrates, some products do not really require packaging. Take the ubiquitous dish-washing sponge or the shaving razor. Often we see it sold with plastic wrap packaging — but corporate sustainability officers might also consider selling it in a clean glass bin to consumers to avoid creating unnecessary waste. If waste is created, like packaging that cannot be done without, then effort should be taken to work with communities to collect it, and to treat it as a resource, say to generate heat or electricity, through waste-to-energy plants. Waste food can be composted, or converted into methane through anaerobic digesters and converted into electricity, for example. Wastes like plastic, aluminum and glass containers can be recycled. If consumers see this as a trend and jump on the bandwagon, we can see a fruitful collaboration between corporations and consumers to see what packaging can be done without, with the rest treated as a resource for heat or electricity, if not recycled. . — Today * Dennis Posadas is the author of Greenergized. He is working on a new business fable on innovation and sustainability. ** This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malay Mail Online. |
| Prize-winning Dominican author in war of words over migrant court ruling Posted: 04 Dec 2013 05:11 PM PST
Diaz and three other authors have come under attack in the Dominican Republic after they published a letter in the New York Times that criticised a September decision by the country's constitutional court that stripped Dominican citizenship from children of illegal immigrants, most of whom are descendants of Haitians. "Such appalling racism is a continuation of a history of constant abuse, including the infamous Dominican massacre, under the dictator Rafael Trujillo, of an estimated 20,000 Haitians in five days in October 1937," the Times letter said. The letter drew a response from eight Dominican cultural figures, who, in an open letter published by media outlets in the country, suggested Diaz was adding to a "disinformation campaign aimed at curtailing our sovereignty." They went on to criticise Diaz's literary style, saying he had "little capacity for reflection and a disrespectful and mediocre use of the written word." Diaz, who in early December returned from a trip to the Caribbean country, told Reuters in emails that "sectors of the society in favour of this ruling seem convinced that dissension is not a healthy part of a democratic society." The dustup comes amid continued international pressure for the Dominican government to walk back the court ruling, which will remove Dominican citizenship from tens of thousands of people born in the country dating back to 1929. Some 245,000 Dominican-born first-generation children of immigrants live in the country, according to a government survey released earlier this year. Officials say only a fraction of that group will be affected by the ruling. Civic groups have warned of a potential human rights crisis, although the government said it has put a plan in place to allow those affected to apply for naturalisation and has no plans to deport anyone, for now. A delegation from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights arrived this week to investigate the potential impact of the ruling and to hear from those affected. Members of the Dominican diaspora living in the United States have criticised the ruling, organising demonstrations in various US cities and signing on to a letter asking the US government to intervene. Diaz, who immigrated to the United States in 1974 as a child, won the Pulitzer for fiction in 2008 for "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao." His 2012 collection of short stories, "This is How You Lose Her," was a finalist for the National Book Award. Diaz lives in New York and is a creative writing professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Diaz became one of the most prominent voices of the Dominican-American population due to the critical and commercial successes of "Oscar Wao" and two collections of short stories. About 1.5 million Dominicans live in the United States, which makes it the fifth-largest Latino group in the country, according to a 2011 survey by the Pew Research Center. Diaz's work focuses on the lives of Dominicans in the United States, which has left him acutely aware of the plight of Haitians and their descendants in the Dominican Republic. — Reuters |
| Rodgers: More to come from four-goal Suarez Posted: 04 Dec 2013 05:10 PM PST
The Uruguay international needed just 35 first-half minutes to smash a spectacular hat-trick in yesterday's game, with his third goal marking his 50th Premier League strike. He added his fourth goal with a stunning 74th-minute free-kick as Liverpool rampaged back to form. "This is the happiest Luis has been at this club," Rodgers said. "But there is more to come from him. He is only 26 years old, but his best years are ahead of him and those best years are going to be here. Anfield is a hand-and-glove fit for him." Suarez took his total for the season to 13 goals and proved there is life in Liverpool's challenge for a Champions League place without his injured strike partner Daniel Sturridge. "Luis was sheer brilliance," Rodgers added. "It was a joy for me to watch that. I think for anyone to witness that, they would say it was a remarkable evening. It was not just the fact he scored four goals, but it was the manner of those goals. "Luis has got to be up there as one of the best strikers in the world after that. The repertoire he showed here tonight (Wednesday) was incredible. Undoubtedly, he is a top, world-class player." Rodgers had demanded an instant response from his side after a dismal 3-1 defeat at Hull City on Sunday and his players delivered in style at Anfield. "That was a bit of a tap on the shoulder for us at Hull," Rodgers said. "We were only at 75 percent and you cannot afford to do that in the Premier League these days and hope to get away with it. "But we categorically put that right against Norwich. We were up to speed and deserved everything we got. There were lots of positives for me to take away from this." Norwich manager Chris Hughton also hailed the striking masterclass delivered by Suarez, following a defeat that left his side in 16th place. "He is undoubtedly a world-class player and I am sure it was a joy for Liverpool fans to watch," he said. "But I am disappointed by how much space and time we gave him. If you give a player of his quality the space we gave him, then that is what they can do. I think we could have done more to stop him." Liverpool had looked nervy in the opening exchanges, but they settled in the 15th minute when Suarez broke the deadlock in devastating fashion. Norwich goalkeeper John Ruddy would have been disappointed with a goal-kick that made it only as far as Martin Skrtel. When the centre-back headed the ball straight back towards the Kop end, Suarez allowed it to bounce twice before taking it in his stride to smash a glorious 35-yard shot over Ruddy. Suarez's second goal, on 29 minutes, saw him swivel just inside the six-yard box to dispatch a corner from Philippe Coutinho. Anfield was positively buzzing just six minutes later when Suarez returned to his right foot to claim the hat-trick. The striker made Leroy Fer look leaden-footed when he flicked the ball over him on the edge of the box and then drilled a low shot across the box and inside Ruddy's left-hand post. The Uruguayan added his fourth with 16 minutes to play, stepping up to curl a 25-yard free-kick right-footed over the Norwich wall and beyond Ruddy's dive into the top-left corner. Norwich pulled a goal back in the 83rd minute when Bradley Johnson glanced a header from a deep cross beyond helpless Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet. Sterling had done little all evening, but he pounced for Liverpool's fifth goal from close range in the 88th-minute, with Suarez this time the provider. — AFP |
| One year on, Newtown voices revive pain of massacre Posted: 04 Dec 2013 05:07 PM PST
After a freedom of information lawsuit, US authorities released seven recordings of emergency calls made from Sandy Hook Elementary School as the killer stalked the classrooms. The tapes, released despite resistance from the families of some of the slain six-year-old victims, record eerily calm operators warning wounded callers to take cover and try to staunch their bleeding. On December 14, 2012 in Newtown, Connecticut, 20-year-old Adam Lanza took less than 11 minutes to carry out one of the deadliest school shootings ever seen in America. The massacre was just the latest in a series of deadly shooting sprees across the country, and inspired a short-lived and ultimately failed drive to tighten US gun ownership rules. The tapes record how a teacher, shot in the foot, speaks calmly to the operator. She says her classroom door is not locked and that there are children in the room. "Try to apply pressure," she is told, "People are coming." "I think there's somebody shooting in here, Sandy Hook school," says an audibly upset woman. "I caught a glimpse of somebody there running down the hallway... there's still shooting." A man in the corridor told 911 that the front glass had been shot out. Over bursts of gunfire, he said: "It's still happening." The responder tells him to take cover as he orders officers to get everyone they can down to the scene. "I keep hearing shooting, I keep hearing popping," the man said. The Associated Press news agency took legal action to get the calls released and the Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission ruled that the recordings should be made public. Although 911 calls are public records officials had argued they be withheld so as not to upset families of the victims. Television channels were cautious on whether to broadcast part or all of the tapes, deferring a final decision until after they had listened to the recordings. Dean Pinto, whose six-year-old son Jack was killed, had told a hearing that the audio recordings could "further victimize the surviving children and teachers who witnessed their friends being killed and the families of those who lost their lives". But Gilles Rousseau, whose teacher daughter Lauren was one of those killed, said it was better to know. "I think the more the public knows there will be less confusion, there will be less people making up stories about what happened," told NBC television before yesterday's release. The calls were made available a week after the official investigation was unable to find a motive for the massacre other than conclude that the killer was obsessed with mass murders. Lanza shot dead his mother in her bed, then drove to the school. He killed the principal and school psychologist in the hallway, then entered two first-grade classrooms, killing two adults in each room, 15 children in one classroom and five in the other. Police arrived less than four minutes after receiving an emergency call. But Lanza killed himself a minute later with a single shot with a pistol. The official investigation said Lanza had "significant mental health issues" and was obsessed with mass murders, especially the 1999 shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado that killed 13 people. The weapons he used for the killings and a large number of firearms found in his home were all bought legally. Although the Newtown killings renewed the emotional debate about gun control in America, opposition in Congress to tighter firearm ownership rules thwarted a short-lived drive for reform. — AFP |
| (Bad) strategy is everything, in innovating — Janson Yap Posted: 04 Dec 2013 05:00 PM PST
With the fast-changing competitive ecosystem, brought about in part by technology and knowledge advancement, business leaders are recognising the urgent need to revisit their strategy. Innovation is a critical piece of that strategy — but many times, normally rational business people allow themselves to be blinded by the notion that innovation is unlike any other aspect of business and, therefore, does not follow the normal rules of corporate strategy. In this alternate reality, the words "there is no such thing as a bad idea" are often cited — when, in fact, there is very definitely such a thing A bad separation Sometimes innovation is separated from the rest of the company into a special unit or carried out in playful surroundings to make it unique. But the reality is that innovation needs to be embedded in the corporate strategy; and, in turn, that corporate strategy needs to be embedded in your innovation process. There are three main aspects of business strategy — formulation, implementation and continuous evaluation — and innovation needs to be present in all three. It can come in varying degrees, ranging from re-targeting of market segments or untapped segments with re-packaged or integrated products and services; to the revolutionary industrial innovations which set new consumer trends and behaviours. One of the most famous examples of a company that has undergone an innovation journey in recent years is Lego. Facing numerous disruptive innovators, Lego initially pursued innovation aggressively on all fronts and separated new innovative units away from the rest of the business — at the expense of alignment to their key tenets and their corporate culture. The result was an unmitigated disaster and, after nearly folding under the weight of the new demands, the management went back to basics and realised that their innovation efforts needed to be aligned to their strategy and not a peripheral activity. They developed a "Lego Group Innovation Model" that would be applied across all business units for consistency, and then applied it to their four key areas: Business, Product, Process and Communication. By taking innovation as a standardised building block, Lego was able to reap the maximum rewards and regained its position as a leading global player. Getting started Many companies struggle because they fail to understand what innovation really means in their business or industry. According to Larry Keeley in his book Ten Types Of Innovation, defining what innovation actually means for your business is the first step towards innovation. Innovation is not just about products: They can be new ways of doing business, new systems and processes or new ways of interacting with stakeholders. Innovations are very rarely truly "new": Most are based on previous advances or practices from other markets or industries. Innovation is not just invention: It also requires an understanding of customer needs and how it can be delivered. And innovation has to earn its keep: It must be able to sustain itself and return the weighted cost of capital. The first step is the hardest one — identifying where to innovate, which is often more difficult than knowing how to innovate. Think of it as like striking oil: It does not matter how good your drill is if you are looking in the wrong place. Don't just go for 'easy wins' Another mistake many companies make is to go straight for the low-hanging fruit — the "easy wins". But I would encourage you to go against that conventional wisdom and tell you to target the big problems with no easy answers — these are the ones that will bring scale change and have a real impact. That said, the solutions themselves may be simple. It is easy to make the simple complex; it is far more inspiring to make the complex be simple. Be patient; the right answers will emerge, so you don't have to compromise and accept incomplete solutions. Ultimately, innovation does not count until it is in the market and it is making revenue for you, so you must give it every chance to fulfil that destiny. Lego's re-emergence through innovation was based on creating a more organised structure for their efforts. The management gave all staff — from the sales force to manufacturing to the executives — the capability to create and suggest new avenues for growth. But their ideas were put to a simple test of compatibility to their strategy: Any innovation had to prove to be consistent with the company goal of Lego being recognised as the best company for family products and had to be self-sustaining in a defined period of time. Another key to unlocking innovative capabilities is to ensure teams working on innovation have enough time to reflect and learn from the past and to think about the future. Research has shown that most people are too focused on day-to-day activities and this is often a constraint on innovation. Freeing up time and applying the concept of "backcasting" — defining a desirable future, and then working backwards to identify policies and programmes that will connect the future to the present — is quite useful in framing the innovative idea and ensuring that the time available is fruitfully spent. Riding failure to future success It is clear that creativity and innovation come from different means, and businesses should use whichever method is most applicable in their context for their industry, culture, business model and maturity. Fundamental to this, though, is willingness to fail, and even an expectation to do so. Not all innovation trials will be successful. In the words of Mr Chaly Mah, chief executive officer of Deloitte South-east Asia: "It is important to also recognise failure points: Do not be afraid to fail fast and fail cheaply." When things fail, we automatically look at ways in which we can improve what we are doing. The key to innovation lies in the speedy recognition of failure and developing systems to report it, manage it and learn from it. Companies must find new ways to move failure to the beginning rather than at the end of the innovation cycle. In other words: Would you rather fail when your product hits the market after years of hard work and millions of dollars in sunk costs, or fail earlier when you have less to lose? Strategy and innovation go hand in hand. The strategic direction guides the search for ideas, and the ideas inform and shape the strategic direction. Getting started with innovation is often the biggest hurdle but with experience comes momentum, and with momentum comes success. Companies must be prepared to make innovation an everyday part of their business and accept that there will be failures along with success. Only when you embrace innovation with all its pleasures and pains, will you be able to harness it and emerge stronger than your competitors. — Today * Dr Janson Yap is Regional Managing Partner of Deloitte's Enterprise Risk Services practice in Southeast Asia and also the firm's Innovation Leader. ** This is part of a weekly series on Innovation. Click here to read the previous articles. *** This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malay Mail Online. |
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