In this issue: The DutchVietnam Management SupporterThis magazine was first published in March 2007. It is digitally distributed among my Vietnamese and Dutch business & private associates. Purpose: to keep them informed about my activities in Vietnam and overseas. This amazingly attractive and energetic country has rapidly conquered my soul, and become my home away from home. Loek Hopstaken Prof. Loek Hopstaken Email: [email protected]Mobile: 090 888 9450 September 6, 2011 5th year, no. 4 Key to Success Dear Reader1 2 The Black Swan V’mese generations Teacher’s Corner3 4 5 Hard times Speaker’s CornerThe Real PR Course 6 7 8 The Jury Member’s Corner9 Standing OfferContact information 10 11 It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing! Key to Succes The recipe for perpetual ignorance is: be satisfied with your opinions and content with your knowledge. Elbert Hubbard Since Mankind started to become aware of its exist- ence, it has bee n looking for keys, like the Fountain ofYouth (the key to stay young & attractive forever) and the Philosopher’ s Stone (the key to turn base metals into gold). All Holy Scriptures claim to contain the Key to Eternity. Many business authors say they have isolated a Key to Success. Hence, the name of VTV1’s business game tv show. But is there a Key to Success? My answer: “This depends on the lock. Each one requires a different key.” This is not the kind of reply people like to hear. They pre- fer: “Yes, and I tell you what it is.” Universal keys are hard to find. However, we keep on searching, and do our best to come close to solutions. As long as we can’t find one, we must cope, improvize & hope for the best. See p. 9.
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2 months before the financial crisis took off—October 2008—I read a book called The Black Swan, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. No, it’s not about the 2010 Oscar-winning movie. It’s
about sudden, unpredicted events that have a high impact on Life. Like 9/11, or the 2004
Tsunami. But also, the arrival of the Internet, or the success of the Harry Potter books.
Afterwards, experts & scientists compete with each other to come up with the best explana-
tion—after the fact. As if they want to make up for failing to predict these events.
Why ‘Black Swan’? Until the 17th century the belief was: “Everybody knows a swan is
white.” In other words: black swans don’t exist. Then a Dutch explorer found one, close to
what is now Perth, Australia. Hence, the meaning of black swan. In his book Mr. Taleb accu-
rately predicts the financial crisis, and specifically what would happen to the banks. To him,
this crisis was not a black swan. To most others it came as a total surprise. The book gives afull account of the different ways people consider what’s going on. Most prefer to rely on
Life’s often fictitious certainties, such as economic & demographic models that predict the
future for the next 5, 20 or even 50 years. Some realize you cannot possibly predict the fu-
ture, as there are many presently unknown factors that determine what will happen.
A most intriguing book! Mr. Taleb re-published The Black Swan in 2010, with an extra
100+ page essay written 2 years after the financial crisis began. I decided to re-read it. Again
it was a satisfying experience: my own viewpoints on some of the world’s events appear to
have changed dramatically in 3 years. Is the book itself perhaps a Black Swan? To me it was.
Public Relations: building understanding & trust between the
organization and its many relations
One of the most misunderstood parts of modern business management is
Public Relations (PR). At worst, an organization denies its need for PR –
until suddenly its reputation is at stake. Company leaders sometimes
think PR is “just promotion, brochures and media, and therefore part of Marketing.” Wrong!
Often PR is claimed by Marketing, borrowing its techniques to promote the company’s
products and services. However, when for example, the competitor is spreading lies about
your products, your marketeers will not be equipped to handle that situation.
At best, PR is the unit dealing with media and organizing corporate events.The PR profession in Vietnam is rapidly catching up with the changing times: from
organizing press conferences to actively using the social media to make the company’s good
works well known. This course addresses, amongst other things:
• what PR really is and isn’t
• its role in the formulation and execution of the corporate strategy
• how PR helps the company build a positive image
• how PR handles negative press, and last-but-not-least,
• how PR can be used to effectively pave the way to sustained commercial success
corporate & personal branding.
Objectives of The Real PR course:• to know the function of Public Relations in any organization – and to know what
happens if a company denies these functions, or worse: puts them in the
hands of amateurs
• to know why and how to integrate Public Relations in the company strategy, and why a
PR Department must have a direct communication line with the CEO / Chairman
• to know how to implement PR in the organization as a responsibility for each staff
• to learn about the various ways PR techniques are applied in companies around the
world – from small and local to multinational – to create & maintain a favorable image
• to learn how to build and sustain constructive relationships with the organization’s
publics, from media to financiers, from clients to employees, from suppliers to officials• to understand how the Public Relations Department can facilitate the Marketing,
Human Resources and Finance departments.
In Vietnam PR is still in its pioneering days. Major companies feel compelled to
hire international PR firms to help them build a name for themselves. It’s time to
learn what PR really is, and how no organization who cares for its reputation can
do without it.
Trainer: Prof. Loek Hopstaken—Interpreter: Mr. Ngo Quoc Phong MBA
Join The Real PR @ Royal
September 12—16: The Real PR — 0830-1200 amRoyal Business School—186 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, D3, HCMC
Contact Miss Dang Thi Diem Quynh ([email protected]) for more information.
Mr. Dang The Tai (Branch Manag-er HCMC CMC Technology Group)
• Ms. Le Thanh Tu (CEO Jolie Siam
Receptionist Service Company)
For this special occasion, the Jury makes
sure their questions are even sharper &
harder than usual. After all, this is the fi-
nal round: the 4 best out of 48 contestants have been invited. Although Hoangghia Media, the pro-
duction company, will need to do some serious editing to reduce 2 or 3 hours of talk to 30 minutes of
airtime, we feel afterwards that there is genuine hope that the new generation of CEO’s & Managers
in Vietnam will succeed in supporting the country’s further economic growth and development. Who
the winner is? And who the best consultant? You’ll have to wait until Wednesday November 23 tofind out. Our lips are sealed. But the picture below shows that everyone—contestants, jury members