Six Questions for Globalization: Part Two

By Virgil R. Carter

Is your non-profit organization considering globalization? Or have you already begun efforts towards becoming a global organization, and are wondering what’s next? Here’s the second part of six key questions which may help guide your organization’s discussions and decisions about going global.

1. Are your globally available goods and services: a) timely; b) affordable; c) culturally and regionally relevant; d) available in the host country language?

The importance of this question is probably self-explanatory, but many nonprofits haven’t made the necessary important investments in their goods and services to ensure that they offer global value in a global market. It is all too common for U. S. nonprofits to believe that because they offer goods and services, there is interest and demand outside the U.S. Goods and services that are accessible in a timely manner, that have regional content, and have opportunity for host country language are among those that clearly bring highest value to the host country markets and customers.

2. Does your association work with, for, against or ignore similar host country associations?

Sooner or later each association must have a policy and a business plan that provides consistent guidance in situations when there are similar associations, providing similar goods and services, elsewhere in the world. Cooperation and mutual respect is always a good goal, but it can be challenging to achieve. An effective approach for building good relations among similar global organizations is to launch annual exchange visits, followed by low-risk, low-threat joint activities. An early atmosphere of camaraderie and mutual purpose goes a long way towards building good long-term working relationships. Once established, these relationships will be immeasurable in maintaining cooperation and mutual respect.

3. Are you patient?

Globalization is a challenge. It’s usually a substantial investment, and it’s generally not a quick return on investment. It’s a challenge to prepare a suitable business plan and to use resources wisely. It’s a challenge to show measurable results. Patience is required (along with sound business planning and processes). Be prepared and prepare your volunteer leaders. You will be tested.

For those who have successful answers to these questions, you will find globalization to be a rewarding way for your association to continue to do business and to provide the leadership that is the basis for your mission. Good luck!

Steamed Layered Yam Kuih (Talam Lapis Keladi)

 
I was just just too tired & didn't manage to update the blog yesterday and hence by the time you see this entry, all the kuih has long gone....LOL.

I made the kuih for yesterday's breakfast and also to clear the yams that I bought from Niah the other day. Such a lovely kuih shared by Bdaria - not just pretty but tastes nice too. Each layer is made from different flour produces three different delicate layers and taste.
 
Source: Bdaria
English translation by HomeKreation
I halved the original recipe to fit my tin size & for small family
Size: 8" round
BOTTOM LAYER:
80g Rice Flour
40g Sugar
1/4 tsp Salt
400ml Coconut Milk
150g Yam - cubed & steamed 
Purple + Pink Color

METHOD:
1. Mix flour & coconut milk & strain into a pot.
Add in sugar, salt & color and heat up above a small fire.
2. Add in steamed yam & pour into a greased steamer tin & steam 30 min.
3. Scratch surface before pouring the next layer.

MIDDLE LAYER:
25g Plain Flour
55g Sugar
1/4 tsp Salt
1 Egg
200ml Coconut Milk
Pink Color

METHOD:
1. Mix flour, egg & coconut milk & strain into a pot.
Add in sugar, salt & color and heat up above a small fire.
2. Pour into the first layer & steam 30 min.
3. Scratch surface before pouring the next layer.

TOP LAYER:
25g Custard Flour
50g Sugar
A pinch of Salt
1 Egg
200ml Coconut Milk

METHOD:
1. Mix flour, egg & coconut milk & strain into a pot.
Add in sugar, salt and heat up above a small fire.
2. Pour into the second layer & steam 30 min.
3. Scratch surface before pouring the next layer.
4. Cool kuih completely before slicing to serve.
**********************************************

BAHASA MALAYSIA VERSION
Kuih Lapis Talam Keladi ni ada tiga lapis yg di perbuat drpd tiga jenis tepung yg berlainan. Bukan sahaja cantik di pandang tapi tekstur yang lembut dan kombinasi dgn keladi mmg sedap sangat. Rugi kalau tak cuba ni. Terima-kasih & minta halal resepi drpd Bdaria yg bermurah-hati berkongsi.

Source: Bdaria
Along buat separuh drpd resepi asal & di taip semula untuk mudah rujuk
Saiz: 8" bulat
LAPISAN BAWAH:
80g Tepung Beras
40g Gula
1/4 st Garam
400ml Santan
150g Keladi - potong kecil & kukus/rebus
Pewarna Ungu + Pink

CARA2:
1. Campurkan tepung & santan sehingga sebati & tapis ke dlm periuk.
Masukkan gula, garam & pewarna & masak sehingga naik wap.
2. Masukkan keladi & tuangkan ke dlm tin yg di minyakkan.
Kukus 30 min.
3. Cakar permukaan sebelum di tuangkan lapisan seterus nya.

LAPISAN TENGAH:
25g Tepung Gandum
55g Gula
1/4 st Garam
1 bj Telur
200ml Santan
Pewarna Pink

CARA2:
1. Campurkan tepung, telur & santan sehingga sebati & tapis ke dlm periuk.
Masukkan gula, garam & pewarna & masak sehingga naik wap.
2. Tuangkan ke atas lapisan pertama tadi & kukus 30 min.
3. Cakar permukaan sebelum di tuangkan lapisan seterus nya.

LAPISAN ATAS:
25g Tepung Kastad
50g Gula
Secubit Garam
1 bj Telur
200ml Santan

CARA2:
1. Campurkan tepung, telur & santan sehingga sebati & tapis ke dlm periuk.
Masukkan gula, garam dan masak sehingga naik wap.
2. Tuangkan ke atas lapisan pertama tadi & kukus 30 min.
3. Sejukkan kuih sebelum di potong utk di hidangkan.

Bill Frey featured on PBS "Tell Me More"

William H. Frey, Co - PI of themostsearched.org, was a featured guest on the PBS radio show, "Tell Me More" on Monday, June 27, 2011 where he discussed the findings of his research about the changing demographics of the United States. A recording of it can be heard here:
http://www.npr.org/2011/06/27/137448906/us-will-have-minority-whites-sooner-says-demographer?f=1003&ft=1 .

Gallup: U.S. Economic Confidence Down in June, Close to 2011 Low

Despite a positive May--one that Gallup attributes to the news of bin Laden's death--U.S. economic confidence has fallen in June, registering near its 2011 low and far from its level at this time last year. Gallup's Economic Confidence Index is developed from two indicators, one that measures Americans' views on the U.S. economy's current standing and another that looks at their assessment of the economy's direction. For the week ending June 26, the Index averaged -33, "down seven percentage points from the week ending May 29 and down a similar amount compared with the same week a year ago." The Index peaked at -18 this year and hit its low in late April, when it fell to -39.
In the week ending June 26, 45 percent of Americans rated current economic conditions "poor," a three point decline from the week ending May 29 and from a year ago. And Americans' assessment of the economy's direction has also become more pessimistic: 31 percent of Americans said the U.S. economy is getting better, down from 37 percent in May and from 36 percent during the same week last year.According to Gallup, "The worsening of Gallup's economic confidence measure during June may be due in part to the dissipation of the 'halo effect' surrounding the death of bin Laden." But there are other factors, too: even as gas prices have declined 14 cents per gallon in the past two weeks, gas is still 82 cents per gallon more expensive than at this time last year. Furthermore, "Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke last week seemed to add to the growing economic pessimism, noting that the Fed has reduced its 2011 growth forecast for the U.S. economy."

While declining gas prices may lead to more economic confidence moving forward, there is little evidence to predict such an upward trend at this time. Writes Gallup: "At this point...Gallup's monitoring of economic confidence does not support that idea."

NH cf

How to hide drive in Windows 7

How to hide drive in Windows 7

How to hide drive in Windows 7 is a very common question which comes in our mind number of times. This article is being posted to resolve this question.

Hide drive in windows 7

There are many third party softwares available in market which can facilitate us to hide drive.

But if any software is installed in your system, it does not allow you to install those softwares which hide drives or folders.

Windows 7 itself allows its users to hide drive through disk management tool. You just need to follow given steps in order to hide drive.

  1. Select the drive you want to hide and place you all private data in it.
  2. Now open the start menu and move your cursor to My Computer. By right-clicking and my computer, you will get option to manage your computer. Open the computer management by clicking it.
  3. Go to disk management and open it. You would be able to see all the drives of you system.
  4. Right-click at the drive you want to hide and select “Change drives letter and paths” option.
  5. A small window will be arrived which would allow you to remove the drive letter.
  6. Windows will get confirmation from you that whether you really want to remove drive letter or path? Confirm it by clicking at yes.
  7. Window will inform you that the drive you are trying to hide is in use and removing its path can cause problems in the future. Don’t get worried from this option. Click at “yes” to continue.
  8. You will notice that the drive letter has been removed. Now window will not be able to access files of this drive as you have already removed the path through which this drive can be accessed.
  9. Congratulations! You have succeeded to hide your drive. You can confirm it by going to “My Computer” and check this drive. You would not be able to see it.
  10. Now if you want to access this drive, you would need to bring it in the “My Computer” again. In the disk management tool, right click at that drive and again go to “change drive letters and paths” option. Assign letter to the drive and click ok. Your drive will be appeared in “My Computer”.

Note: If you want to hide drive through this procedure, it’s better to hide your last drive of your system. No one would be able to figure out whether there can be another drive or not.



MamoOn..

Is Climate Change Behind the Extreme Weather of 2010?

In a recent blog post from the Climate Progress section of ThinkProgress.org, they question whether recent extreme weather could be related to climate change. In the post, they use examples from recent events that have been happening all over the world for the past few years, such as floods, rampant fires, temperature changes, extreme weather, and perception. Data about temperature highs in 2010 were taken from wunderground.com, and show that many countries experienced their highest temperatures in many months during 2010.
They also cite events such as increased glacial melting in Greenland, the amount of sea ice, and the increased rate of coral bleaching around coastal nations. In order to analyze precipitation trends, they used data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration dating back to 1900. The graph below shows, in millimeters, how much the annual rainfall over land for each year deviated from the average. 2010 set the record high, beating the previous 1956 record by 13%.
The extreme weather we have been experiencing this year and in 2010 brings up the question of whether or not this was caused by climate change, and if we can expect to see similar weather patterns in the future. The end of the blog post concludes that it would be extremely unlikely for so many extreme weather events to happen in one year without some kind of climate changing force behind it.

sr cf

My Birthday This Year

 I'm another year older by now and beyond mid 40's..... Syukur, alhamdulillah for living healthily, successful and happy... no words to desribe my thanks and syukur to Allah Taala for the berkat. I wish that I will be blessed to live longer many years to come to serve the God and my family. My birthday fell on the recent Saturday 25th June but I was unable to share the happy moment here because the internet service was down for the whole weekend. So here is some belated story....

Lovely bouquet of Gerbera from good griend, CikA (from KL) who never failed to remember my birthday every year... thanks so much, love ya.

 A surprise birthday cake from my colleague..... Pecan Butterscotch topped with white chocolate from Secret Recipe.... I was so happy the whole weekend.... Thanks so much team for thinking of me on my birthday.
The surprise was on Friday, one day in advance and thrown away before I went home so some colleague already left for home. Picture from my handphone, so it is blur....

 My hubby never failed to buy me gift on every occassion.... this time is iPad2....so happy!!! The kids, including Liana is also excited about this new toy. Liana ask for iPad first thing in the morning.... "iPad, iPad, I want Panda"...LOL

Ferrero & Lindt chocolate collection from AlongRiz..... thanks my love. See Liana interprem....

Western dinner treat from hubby and also to celebrate birthday of the three June's babies - me, hubby & AngahRuz. I've ordered my favourite Wagyu Sirloin Steak served with Jamaican sauce (sauce not shown).

Also not fogetting to thank many others who sent me wishes through FB, emails, sms and in person including breakfast treat at Pakcik Wan's cafe by QR, SB & MV this morning. Love all of you.....

Connections between Strategy and Operations

by Virgil R. Carter

Most non-profit organizations have a strategic plan. Virtually all of these organizations also have an annual operating budget. Some organizations also develop and use an annual business or operational plan. But what’s the connection among these? How can you, your staff and volunteer leaders assess the connection between your strategy and annual operations?

The business press frequently hosts readable articles on the important connection between strategy and operations. Although written for business, many topics are equally useful for non-profit organizations. Colorful titles suggest the importance of the issue, including “Putting Leadership Back Into Strategy”, “Mastering the Management System”, “Five Competitive Forces That Shape Strategy” and the compelling “Innovation Killers: How Financial Tools Destroy Your Capacity to Do New Things”. These topics are as common to the non-profit world as the for-profit world.

I have worked with the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) as a tool to identify strategy and successfully link it with operations, enabling an organization to successfully cascade strategy throughout the organization’s operations, using metrics and key initiatives. One of the compelling concepts of the BSC is “balance”—a balanced approach for each organization. Using the BSC, it is even possible to embed strategy in annual performance planning and evaluation for staff and volunteers. “Mastering the Management System” by Kaplan and Norton, the Harvard Business School professors who are the founders and developers of the Balanced Scorecard, is one important read for those looking for ways to better connect strategy with operations.

Here’s an important connection between strategy and operations: “Successful strategy execution has two basic rules: understand the management cycle that links strategy and operations, and know what tools to apply at each stage of the cycle”, write authors, Norton and Kaplan

Want to improve the connections between your strategy and operations? Think about your annual management cycle and how the various elements of your annual cycle can be best integrated with your overall strategy. How can your annual budgeting cycle be linked to your strategy? How can your business planning cycle be linked to your strategy? How can you develop usable metrics and evaluations to assess your operations and the extent to which they support your organization’s strategy?

News Flash

It was announced in the fireside tonight that the Angel Moroni Statue will be installed at noon on the 12th of July.  It is estimated that it will take about 30 minutes to complete.  All four streets around the temple block will be closed so the public may watch.

It was also reported that President Boyd K. Packer has recovered from his hospitalization in Boston last week and is planning on being at the dedication of the temple when it is completed.  Great news!

24% of Employed Workers Did Some or All of Their Work at Home in 2010

A piece from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Editor's Desk shows that 24% of employed Americans did at least some of their work from home in 2010, as compared with 83% who did some or all of their work at their workplace. Employed men and women had similar distributions, with 22.9 percent of men and 24.5 percent of women working at least partly from home in 2010.

Multiple jobholders were roughly twice as likely to do work from home than single jobholders (39 percent to 22 percent); and perhaps unsurprisingly, self-employed workers were over three times more likely than wage and salary workers (64 percent to 19 percent). And while only 10 percent of employed persons over 25 years of age with less than a high school diploma worked at least some of the time from home in 2010, the percentage was larger among those with a bachelor's degree or higher, reaching 36 percent.

The piece summarizes findings from the American Time Use Survey.

NH cf

Gallup: Record-High Percentage of Americans Lack Confidence in Banks

A recent Gallup poll conducted over the telephone shows that a record-high 36% of Americans have "very little" or "no" confidence in U.S. banks. This is a 6% increase from last year; it marks the third consecutive year that more Americans say they have little or no confidence in banks, as compared with those who say they have "a great deal" or "quite a lot."

Historically, this has not been the case: "Prior to 2009, the percentage of Americans expressing very little or no confidence in U.S. banks was generally far less than the percentage expressing a great deal or quite a lot of confidence." Even "as recently as June 2007, before the recession began...more Americans had confidence in U.S. banks than had little or no confidence." Gallup has been measuring Americans' confidence in banks since 1979.Although confidence in banks is down in all regions since 2007, it has increased in the Midwest (+7%) and West (+6%) since last year. According to Gallup, "These improvements may be at least in part a result of the strengthening of the manufacturing sector, as it has been of particular benefit to the economy and companies in these regions."

Confidence in U.S. banks clearly remains low; Gallup writes that this poll's results indicate "that the banking industry, banking regulators, and other policymakers need to do more to improve the confidence Americans have in banking institutions."

NH cf

Ogden Temple Reconstruction

Some errands took me to Ogden yesterday, so I stopped and checked out the progress on the Ogden Temple Reconstruction.  Obviously, I can't see inside the structure, but there are some apparent changes on the outside.

For one, the entire parking garage is gone.  The entry to the temple has been demolished and a lot of the curb and gutter has been ripped out.  But, Moroni is still on duty, proclaiming the everlasting Gospel of Jesus Christ with his trumpet.  BTW, does anyone know of a good quote by latter day prophets for the Moroni Statue on the temples?


The parking garage is gone

The entry has been demolished
I wonder how and when Moroni will be removed?



You can see clear through the Tabernacle



Logan Temple from USU

I had an opportunity to be at USU a few weeks ago for my son's basketball camp.  As we were coming down the hill from campus, I saw the Logan Temple in the distance.  I parked and climbed back up Old Main Hill and took these photos from the top of the USU parking garage.  The trees and greenery provide a striking frame for the temple, as the Wellsville mountains do for the background.






The temple looks like a castle.  I can almost imagine archers with their longbows between the ramparts.




Truly the temple is a light on a hill that cannot be hid


Week 48

The construction is truly amazing to watch.  Each time I go there, I get the feeling that I am really missing out on something since the last time I was there.  I want to to help someway, even if it is only with a wheelbarrow and a shovel - one thing I am qualified to do.

P.S. Don't forget the fireside tomorrow at 7:00 pm about the creator of the Angel Moroni statues that adorn the temples.







I think this worker is sealing the joints between the exterior panels.
The sea of green rebar will soon be covered with concrete


The back filling on the East of the Temple  is nearing completion.













Same worker sealing the joints



One of the West steeple panels waiting to be installed.
This is how the exterior panels are attached to the steel framework













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