May 2015 ~ star2you

Hot Video Korean Girl Star(5)

Lying at the tip of the Arabian Gulf, Kuwait is a member of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), sitting on large proven oil reserves, and has an economy rivalling some of the world’s strongest, backed by years of accumulated budget surpluses. Supported by advantageous financial conditions and tight regulations from the country’s central bank, Kuwait’s banking sector remains secure despite economic strife elsewhere in the region.

Founded in 1973, Kuwait International Bank (KIB) has grown to become one of the country’s most active institutions – especially within the Islamic finance sector, after it became fully sharia-compliant in 2007. Massoud Antoun, General Manager and Head of International Banking at KIB, spoke to World Finance about the country’s changing financial sector, how KIB is playing a part in the national development plan – through which Kuwait is to spend $100bn – and how the bank is growing its international correspondent banking network, while holding its own in a highly competitive environment.

The Kuwaiti banking sector comprises of 16 conventional banks – including 11 foreign conventional banks, six Islamic banks – including one foreign Islamic bank, and one specialised industrial bank. The Kuwaiti banking sector is solid, robust and remains relatively unaffected by the regional turmoil. It continues to benefit from a favourable business environment characterised by a strong economy, the vigilant supervision of the Central Bank of Kuwait, and the vast nation’s oil wealth and  reserves.

Above all, the Kuwaiti banking system is highly regulated and supervised by the Central Bank of  Kuwait, regularly evaluating the performance and strength of each bank based on the CAMEL/BCOM rating system. Already, the Basel III framework has been introduced, and requires higher capital ratios and improved leverage positions than already in place. The full Basel III capital requirements will be  gradually and fully implemented by all banks in Kuwait.

The Islamic banking model is cementing a prominent position in the local banking sector. Five of the 10 Kuwaiti commercial banks operate under Islamic sharia law. The market seems to have spoken in favour of the prudent and transparent nature of Islamic banking. Furthermore, Kuwaiti banks play an important role in facilitating the $100bn national development plan that is currently in motion.

The endeavour aims to bolster the economy through a series of mega projects that will see Kuwait establishing itself as a major attractive market in the region. At KIB, this period is considered a special opportunity to employ the innovative structures already in place at the bank towards the vision pursued by the government.

lick here to watch video

Click here to watch video

China’s coal imports fall by 43 percent

China’s coal imports amounted to 49.07 million during the first three months of the year, falling by 43 percent in comparison to the same period last year. This sharp decline can be attributed to a number of reasons, the most significant being China’s recent economic slowdown. As a result, demand from the industrial sector has slumped drastically, particularly as the practice of power plants purchasing extra coal in order to build stockpiles has ceased.

Stricter standards recently implemented for foreign coal so as to boost the domestic market have further accentuated the fall in imports. Yet, Chinese suppliers continue to be inflicted by debt and oversupply, while prices from overseas remain competitive.

Fewer coal purchases has been coupled with stricter regulations for traditional heavy industries as authorities make a more rigorous effort to reduce pollution. “Environmental pollution is a blight on people’s quality of life and trouble that weighs on their hearts,” Premier Li Keqiang told the National People’s Congress last month. “We must fight it with all our might.”

Beijing is also implementing a number of policies to make the country less energy-dependent; such as limiting the number of fuel intensive projects in badly polluted areas. Plans to reduce the annual consumption of coal by 176 million tonnes will have a direct impact on miners from the Western states of the US and Australia; both of which have experienced soaring sales as China’s energy demands rose exponentially during the peak of its economic boom.

Furthermore, as China continues to invest heavily in diversifying its energy mix, many believe that the glory days for international coal suppliers are over. Yet, Australian industry experts remain hopeful that this is not the case; as China continues to grow, the process of industrialisation and urbanisation is set to continue. According to a report published by the Minerals Council of Australia, around nine million people per annum are added to urban areas, thereby propping up China’s electricity consumption and maintaining growing demand – albeit at a slower rate.

Shell to buy BG Group for $69bn

Following a turbulent few months during which falling oil prices have resulted in thousands of job cuts, billions of dollars in stranded assets and a string of less-than-impressive earnings, Royal Dutch Shell has reached an agreement with BG Group to acquire the smaller rival for $69.6bn. The deal, made up of both shares and cash, represents a 52 percent premium price on BG’s shares, as of April 7, and could create a new entity worth close to $300bn.

In the past six months, the price of oil has plummeted some 50 percent, and even the biggest names in the business are struggling to acclimatise to a new low price environment. However, the acquisition, which represents one of the biggest of the year so far, will go some way towards bolstering Shell’s competencies in deep water and LNG.

The combined group will add 25 percent to Shell’s proven oil and gas reserves, whilst also adding another 20 percent onto existing production. The combination also means that BG shareholders will benefit from the dividends enjoyed currently by Shell’s own shareholders and generate tax synergies of close to $2.5bn per annum.

By buying into a lesser rival, Shell is able to increase its reserves base using methods apart from exploration, which, in the current climate, is proving increasingly costly.

“This is an important transaction for Shell, accelerating the delivery of our strategy for shareholders. The result will be a more competitive, stronger company for both sets of shareholders in today’s volatile oil price world,” said Jorma Ollila, Chairman of Shell, in a statement. “Bold, strategic moves shape our industry. BG and Shell are a great fit. This transaction fits with our strategy and our read on the industry landscape around us,” added the Shell CEO Ben van Beurden.

Many people took the Uptown Funk's Mark Ronson and dance to Bruno Mars Cover and posted on social networks. But you can not do well and attract interest as much as this guy yet.

Carson Dean Uptown Funk dance on the exercise equipment in the gym club and posted in his Facebook and Youtube. Simple choreography interesting made her famous Ellen and invited Carson interview and dance to the audience again.

The video was viewed more than 50 million times on Facebook and thousands Comment!

Leadership development through coaching: a case study

The Defence Acquisition University is an example of how professional coaching schemes can work alongside training and development programmes to produce impressive results
Training, executive education and leadership development programming are part of many organisations’ overall talent-management packages, providing key and rising leaders with structured opportunities for skills development and general self-improvement. There’s no doubt about it: investing in learning and leadership development is a win-win for the organisations and individuals who benefit from it.

However, a growing body of evidence shows that training and leadership development programmes are more effective when they include a coaching component. Because coaching is client-driven, it is inherently open to individualisation. As such, it is the perfect complement to already existing programming, providing a structured opportunity to set and pursue goals and put learning from mentoring conversations and classroom training into action.

Putting coaching to the test: The Defence Acquisition University
The Defence Acquisition University (DAU) provides a powerful example of how coaching can reinforce and enhance an already-world-class training and development programme. As the corporate university for the US’ defence acquisition workforce, the DAU provides in-person and virtual learning opportunities and leadership development to the 152,000 military and civilian professionals associated with the largest buying enterprise in the world. In late 2007, the DAU began to explore the possibility of adding a coaching service to its portfolio of offerings in order to improve acquisition outcomes and enhance the leadership capacity of key leaders.

After extensive research and benchmarking, the following year the DAU piloted a rigorous coach-training programme oriented around the International Coach Federation’s (ICF) Core Competencies and Code of Ethics and adapted to the unique needs of the defence acquisition workforce. The DAU’s coaching programme impacts leaders in all functional areas of the defence acquisition workforce, including governance and oversight, programme management, contracting, systems engineering, business and financial management, production and quality management, testing and evaluation, and life cycle logistics.

To date, more than 49 DAU faculty members have completed the university’s training programme and deployed their services to meet the needs of nearly 60 major buying organisations. Through one-on-one and team coaching engagements, these coaches – all of whom are themselves senior faculty members and seasoned defence acquisition professionals – have reached more than 220 key leaders at the strategic and organisational levels. Meanwhile, nearly 3,000 supervisors and mid- and senior-grade leaders have benefitted from a portfolio of targeted leadership development courses designed to extend the understanding and use of coaching skills throughout the defence-acquisition workforce.

Success and progress

In recognition of the DAU’s outstanding use of coaching to augment existing training programmes and empower key leaders to achieve personal and organisational goals, ICF Global awarded the organisation an honourable mention through the 2013 ICF International Prism Award programme. The International Prism Award programme honours organisations that have achieved a standard of excellence in the implementation of coaching programmes; fulfilling rigorous professional standards, addressing key strategic goals, shaping organisational culture, and yielding discernible and measureable positive impacts.

DAU coaching clients have reported a high return on expectations in areas including organisational change, networking, strategic thought and leadership, leadership confidence, teamwork, communication, and time management. This is consistent with ICF research around the benefits of coaching. According to the 2009 ICF Global Coaching Client Study, coaching clients have cited positive impacts on self-confidence (80 percent), communication skills (72 percent), interpersonal skills (71 percent), overall work performance (70 percent) and team effectiveness (51 percent).

The DAU has also cited coaching success stories within the defence acquisition workforce. In the DAU’s International Prism Award application, ICF Associate Certified Coach and DAU Director of Leadership Programmes and Coaching, Richard Hansen, told the story of an admiral who spoke at a recent Wounded Warriors banquet about the key role executive coaching played in helping her reach her current rank.

“People say that culture trumps strategy,” Hansen wrote. “Our coaching initiative is realising a synergy between strategy and culture as our leaders embrace the positive impact of coaching.”

An aircraft programme manager who was initially sceptical of coaching reported “immediate and astonishing” results from his engagement with a DAU coach. In a testimonial, he wrote that coaching helped him turn a well-run programme into a benchmark programme where people knew their value and were empowered to “accelerate through change and land on top.”

Savings and efficiencies

With an annual acquisition budget of $350bn, the defence acquisition operating environment demands a high return on every investment of time, manpower and money. The DAU’s initiative has met this demand, with measurable results throughout the coaching programme’s 60 client organisations. One hi-tech programme manager who regularly oversaw projects with annual budgets of more than $5m reported that coaching was instrumental in yielding millions of dollars in cost savings and efficiencies.

Meanwhile, the DAU has tracked the workforce-wide impacts of its coaching programme and calculated a non-financial return on investment of 330 percent and a reported financial return on investment of 743 percent.

For more information about how coaching can augment your organisation’s executive education and leadership development programming, visit ICF’s ‘Need Coaching?’ resource at the URL below. This information-packed booklet will help make the case for coaching to decision-makers in your organisation with a concise explanation of what coaching is (and what it isn’t), and a host of compelling data showing that, in organisations of all sizes and across all sectors, coaching works.

Learning to develop the best

In economic uncertainty, many executives turn to further education to compete in the jobs market. Rita Lobo explores how executive MBAs are a way to obtain qualifications and stay ahead

Taking education further has always been a way to enhance employability, but as global finances continue to face turbulence and uncertainty, managers and executives are investing more than ever in career-enhancing education opportunities. Obtaining a

n MBA is increasingly expensive. A spot at a top institution like the Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge can cost in excess of £40,000 for one year’s tuition. One year at New York University’s Stern School of Business comes in at $157,000, and the tuition for one year at the Kellogg School at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology will cost nearly $150,000. To ensure the money is well spent and executives get a good return on investment for their time, choosing the right programme at the right university
is imperative.

Recently, there has been a growing trend towards the Executive MBA (EMBA). Though not new – the first EMBA programme was launched by the University of Chicago Business School in 1943 – its popularity has been growing in recent years. These degree programmes are targeted specifically at executives already working in the industry and allow students to continue working during their studies. Increasingly,
universities are launching degree programmes catering to more experienced professionals, geared towards enhancing the careers of working professionals.

Attractive opportunities
The defining factor of EMBAs is that the curriculum is built around the experience and expertise students have already acquired in their working life. Many of the programmes combine classroom learning with full-immersion learning externally, and extensive student/faculty interaction. Mick Cornett, an executive who attended the Stern School EMBA in 2011, said: “Each of the classes has had a direct, sometimes immediate, impact on my day-to-day ability to interact and make decisions.”

Beyond the classroom, the networking and business opportunities for working executives that come with undertaking an EMBA are invaluable. Joshua Scott Chang, who attended the Kellogg-HKUST EMBA programme in 2008, said: “it is a rare opportunity in life to be part of a network of leaders who are passionate about learning and wanting to make a positive contribution to society through business.”

Many working professionals use EMBAs as a way of speeding up their ascent of the career ladder, and many universities suggest enrolment in such courses is associated with recently obtained or anticipated promotions.

Due to the cost of such courses – both in terms of time and money – undertaking an EMBA is often a joint effort between the company and the executive. Employers must be flexible to allow time out for the employee to attend classes, and to support their employee through the gruelling year of work and study. It has been estimated that most EMBA students clock in 100-hour weeks between job and university for the duration of their courses.

EMBAs are often more expensive than regular MBA programmes and the best degrees are almost prohibitively expensive. Many top corporations, such KPMG, Panasonic and Nestlé, have opted to sponsor their executives during their studies. According to the Stern School, many employers find the corporate sponsorship of EMBA students a valuable way to attract and retain top talent: “sponsoring high-potential employees will help organisations demonstrate their commitment to employee
career development”.

This practice is widespread among top-tier companies. According to a recent study by Business and Legal Reports, between 2007 and 2010 there was an increase of 23 percent in the number of companies that had a tuition-funding programme, from 52 percent to 85 percent. The report also showed that, despite the economic downturn, 78 percent of companies had not changed plans to sponsor the further education of valuable employees.
Lorrie Lykins, managing editor and director of research services at the Institute for Corporate Productivity said: “In a lot of our members, Fortune 500 and Global 200 companies, what we’re hearing is that they are really ramping up tuition reimbursement programmes because, as we come out of this recession, the war for talent is really going to ramp up in earnest more than ever before. This is really viewed as a key recruitment tool.”

Benefits for employers and employees
Executives and managers are still willing to put up with the expense of funding their own EMBAs because there is an almost guaranteed return on investment. The Executive MBA Council has concluded from its research that salary and bonus packages for recent EMBA graduates increased by 16.3 percent in 2012. As the business landscape continues to face difficulties and challenges, executives with this type of background and experience are in increasingly high demand.

The jobs market has never been more competitive and an executive with superior academic experience is a coveted employee. This does mean more people are seeking out such courses and it has become increasingly important for prospective EMBA candidates to select the right courses and institutions. As more middle management executives obtain EMBAs, only the best and most reputable institutions will be able to deliver all the benefits students seek.

Students are great about  sending our troops letters, and the troops love ’em. You can see why:

“Dear Soldier, If you’re having  a rough day, remember the most  important thing in life is to be  yourself. Unless you can be Batman.”

“Dear Veterans, You rock more than AC/DC or Metallica or Red  Hot Chili Peppers.”

“I am so happy you are risking your life for the USA! My grandpa Bob was in the Navy. Now he likes peanuts.”

Fun video

China’s coal imports fall by 43 percent

Shell to buy BG Group for $69bn

Success and progress

Savings and efficiencies

Learning to develop the best

Blog Archive