Soon after blogging about [Border’s closure in Singapore](http://vantan.org/archives/2011/09/a_life_without_borders.php), we were hit with news that another popular bookstore, Page One, [was exiting the Singapore market](http://sg.news.yahoo.com/end-of-chapter-for-page-one-bookstore.html). Another crying shame, even more because Page One was a homegrown company that seemed to have found its own niche with its design-oriented collection of books and related products. I visited …
Borders, as everyone should know by now, has closed its chapter in Singapore. Many of us took for granted that it would always be there, and it was said that this branch was more profitable than the stores in the US. What happened? I have a few theories: **1) Too many “Read-only” users** Borders’ closure …
Last week, I was invited, as part of a select group of bloggers, to dinner with the BBC’s Economics and Business editor, [Jeremy Hillman](http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/biographies/biogs/news/jeremy_hillman.shtml). Jeremy and I happen to come from the same law school, and he just completed his MBA. So we had plenty to talk about! I also met his boss, [Francesca Unsworth](http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/biographies/biogs/news/francescaunsworth.shtml). …
These are the thoughts that have been running through my head for the past couple of years. I’ve finally put them down. Think of a project or cause at work which you’re publicising or trying to sell to customers. Now, ask yourself: If you weren’t assigned to handle this portfolio; If your KPIs weren’t tied …
After [hearing](http://www.plurk.com/p/k2iwe) about another [misquoting incident](http://www.geekonomics.us/2009/03/setting-the-records-straight/) in the local media I thought I should share a similar incident which also happened recently, to a classmate of mine. A few weeks ago I [reported](http://vantan.org/insead/2009/02/insead-in-the-news-twice.php) that one of my classmates made it to the quarter finals of L’Oreal’s EStrat, a global marketing simulation contest. I scanned the …
While preparing my Organisational Behaviour presentation on stereotypes, myths and truths about our respective countries, I found myself collating more negative than positive points about being Singaporean. Actually, my groupmates and I took turns to talk about pros and cons of each of our countries, so we would have a balanced view. Still, my slide …
Had a great gathering at Geek Terminal this evening for Bluestocking’s StepOut event for women entrepreneurs. I told my INSEAD classmates about this and 5 of them managed to make it. So the mix was a little more international than usual. Geek Terminal is looking very good after its renovation. Things started well from the …
Lately, there has been lots of interest in ‘green’, sustainable energy. However, many of us are going green for less than altruistic reasons. As Barack Obama put it during Al Gore’s [endorsement](http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/17/us/politics/17campaign.html) of him, the former Vice President had done much to raise awareness of climate change, but “there’s nothing like US$4 a gallon gas …
My fellow Media Socialists [Ben Koe](http://eok.net/) and [Walter Lim](http://coolinsights.blogspot.com/) are quoted in today’s Digital Life article on Web 2.0 for companies. I won’t copy the [full article,](http://www.straitstimes.com/Digital+Life/Internet/Story/STIStory_241306.html) but here are the myths that were debunked: ** MYTH 1: Web 2.0 technologies are fine for building social networks, but they are not relevant to my business. …
Yes, I have started my own INSEAD blog. It will chronicle my life before, during and hopefully after my MBA. You can find it at [vantan.org/insead](http://vantan.org/insead/). [Zanat0s](http://inseadblogger.com/), fabled Greek INSEAD blogger, had lamented in our Facebook group as to why my batch had yet to produce one MBA blog… Well, at the time my plans …