“Work faster little Jimmy, the World Cup is coming up!”

Besides my studies at the HWR I work partially in a sport store or more precisely, a Handball Store. Since the Handball world championship takes place in Spain these days our shop is booming. We are literally run over by enthusiastic fans who all were captured by the gigantic marketing machinery every big tournament brings along. In the beginning of January we got the newest collection of all handball brands such as Hummel, Select, Kempa or Adidas. MatchBalls, World cup shirts, shorts and shoes just launched for the upcoming championship.

It is super sweet to see all those little kids emulating and imitating their WM heroes or idols (Little kids is actually wrong, it´s a phenomenon to see how Dads become 12 again). The Question I heard most the last days wasn`t “Hey Mel, how are you?” but rather “Can you bring me the new Adipower stabil 10.0 in size 7.5?” or “Do you have the shoe that Nikola Karabatic is wearing?”

Our stores cash registers are ringing and so do the producer`s but what is so special about the marketing strategy that attracts so many fans and what is really behind all those expensive sport articles?

Tailor-made Commercial and Sponsorship

If you watch a match in the current world cup you can always see the new commercials for the new products at the electric banners on the sidelines. The German Car Company kfzteile.de /WM also tries to jump on the bandwagon by offering a 0.5% discount for every German Goal.

What´s really surprising for me is the fact that the advertisement does match to the current playing nationality. That means for German matches that there is always the DKB, intersport or mybet.de commercial. The highest German handball league hasn´t just a simple name like it is usual in soccer, like premier league or simply Bundesliga but it is titled after its biggest sponsor, the DKB Handball Bundesliga or former the Toyota Handball Bundesliga. This shows that handball is still in the shadows of its bigger brother “soccer” and is not popular enough to survive or compete with other nations without the help of big sponsors like DKB or Toyota.

A shoe in the course of time

Nevertheless, this doesn´t discourage the sport industry to come up with brand new products. Since I am always in contact with those articles I had the chance to notice some things: Let´s take shoes as an example. Their colors keep getting glarier, the design more futuristic than ever before and guess what? The shoe that looks closest to a spaceship always wins!

But unfortunately their quality wouldn´t help its wearers to reach the moon.  50 % plastic and poorly processed seams are not uncommon. But a shoe under a price level of 120 is. But what is the justification for such a high price? Obviously not the Quality aspect…

Brad Tuttle, journalist of business and personal finance for TIME puts it:

“Remember that more expensive does not always mean better. Take bamboo for example: it is cheaper than other exotic woods, but it is resistant to wear and very stylish.”

Read more: http://business.time.com/2012/11/14/does-a-low-price-mean-good-value-or-bad-quality/#ixzz2Iq1izUWP

 Here is an example of the “slightly” development of the same handballshoe model. I received a lot of customer complaints due to breaking plastic pieces in the front part of the spacy pair.

A little side note: My coach and my dad are still wearing the upper, blue shoe

The designs are changing but what about the production conditions?

Regaining Quality through transparency?

It is an open secret that cheap clothing chains like H&M or KiK employ adults and children in emerging countries for starvation wages in low quality mass fabrication. But the emphasize lies on cheap stores where you do not really expect high quality. And you can always check the red list which offers all brands that should be avoided.

But isn´t it even worse selling at a high price level and producing in a low-cost manner?

A research of the belgian consumer organization, Verbruikersunie, criticizes the blurry access to information about the prooduction processes and supply chains of the big firms like Adidas and Nike. The missing transparency makes it hard to evaluate their performance.

If one believes the social and sustainability report of Adidas you can read their promise to fabricate under fair and environmentally-friendly aspects. But reading further in this 54 page long report is worth it because it provides a list with their producing plants and their problems like wages far beyond the wage floor. But on the other hand, Adidas is positively mentioned on the German webpage aktiv-gegen-kinderarbeit.de for its initiative for security in the factories.

Market leader Nike is exposed to even more accusations regarding child labor  than Adidas. If you imagine a typical Nike employee, you expect a hip and trendy youngster but not an 8-year old, right? According to child-awareness.com, “Nike is one of the well-known major corporations and is worth four billion dollars. They have factories in China, South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, where they employ people, including children for twelve-hour shifts and pay them as low sixteen cents an hour.” The newest revolts of workers in Indonesia were recognized by Nike`s global corporate communications director, Greg Rossiter and brushed aside with the promise:

“Nike takes these claims seriously and company representatives are investigating the claims,”

The “Just don´t do it”- campaign from UNICEF also clearly defines its opinion about Nike.

Nike vindicates those accusations with another statement on their website:

“Our greatest responsibility as a global company is to play a role in bringing about positive, systemic change for workers within our supply chain and in the industry. We’re looking end-to-end, from the first phase of our product creation process to the impacts of our decisions on the lives of workers in the factories that bring our product to life.”

Those are just examples of accusations against the sports industry. It just makes me sad when I compare the smiling and sparkling kids` eyes when they hold their brand new adipower stabil shoe from their idol in their hand with those wide-opened eyes of a starving kid who just stitched it. Is that the deal? One kid has to suffer for the other one´s happiness?

I already made my decision. As long as there is no clear transparency of those mass product firms like Adidas or Nike I will try to stick with handball brands like Hummel or Kempa, which are both well-known for their fair Business even if my shoes are no spaceships then.

Mobilize? Bring your own Device!

Bye bye, corporate phone!

2011 was the first year where the sale of electronic devices like smartphones and tablets beat the number of PC´s sold. It is a completely logic effect regarding to the improvements in functionality. Many of these devices now have functionality that is equal to the laptop or home computer of only a few years ago. In particular businesses benefit from mobile devices that provide access to email, calendars and business documents as well as the possibility of flexible working arrangements.

When I worked at Rohde&Schwarz International Operations the company provided it´s employees with all the required tools and equipment that they need to perform their jobs; this has been true for large organizations. But for smaller enterprises that do not have the money to provide their people with everything, the employees bring their own tools to work. And this strategy has a name: Bring Your Own Device Model or simply BOYD Model.

Advantages of BOYD

When employees bring their own devices, they can work more comfortably and the employer saves on hardware costs and maintenance while the data security issue is handled by the cloud application. Since Julia wrote about Cloud Computing in her last blog I don´t need to explain that term again. Cloud Computing’s role is one of security. Services like desktop hosting allow the entire desktop environment of your office pc to run on any device with a big enough screen and internet connectivity. Even if employees use their own devices for work, the employer is able to control which applications and what data are accessible and where, preventing it to be even saved locally, only on the cloud desktop environment.

The personal devices afford employees more freedom because they can work at home and at the office. Regarding to Peter Silva in his series on BYOD policies for SYS-CON Media using their preferred device makes employees happier and therefore more productive. He goes on to say that

“80% of Americans work an extra 30 hours a month on their own time with BYOD,”

citing research from Good Technology.

In the first moment all that sounds like a win-win situation for me. But…

BOYD – Bring your own disaster?

Let´s take a look at the other side of the coin. Bensonoff Kirill mentions the so-called, Blackberry addiction in his blog. It means that workers are permanently available and in touch with their work. The problems which are coming along with that were already dealt with in my former blog “The Manager you have called is temporary not available!”

Privacy –The informtion law group cites the “creep-out factor”. It means that most employees are afraid of an invasion into their privacy. The computer they use for work will also be the same computer they surf the web or use to sign up into Facebook and Twitter. Employees are suspicious towards their company of being able to “spy” on them and have access to their personal passwords, websites and data.

Data Security –This is the biggest point which should be considered when implementing BYOD model. Refering to Gartner, letting employees use their own devices for work purposes can lead to pertinent company data being visible. The problem IT departements are encountering is trying to find the best method to allow users to access all data necessary while keeping that data safe and secure. Since BYOD is a relatively new concept for organizations, there isn’t a “best policy or practice” for organizational data security.  Organizations are beginning to establish guidelines and policies to better manage BYOD security, but determining which is best for the organization may lead to unexpected costs. According to Liam Keating, Intel’s IT country manager for China

“you encounter tricky scenarios where, let’s say, you have to confiscate a personal device, because it has been compromised and it needs to be examined forensically.”

Now, Intels workers need to sign an agreement about when they have had access to their e-mails, calendar etc.

Future of BOYD

We’ve all become dependent on connectivity and computation, turning us into tablet- and smartphone-toting cyborgs. How will this trend evolve in 2013? I got so much used to my mobile devices like my iPad or iPhone that I tried to open Mozilla Firefox by touching my work computer´s screen.

But experts are not unified if they are asked about their predictions for BOYD in 2013. Kenneth ‘Ken’ Hess is a full-time Windows and Linux system administrator with over 15 years of experience who thinks that personal clouds such as Dropbox, iCloud or Google Drive will curb the BOYD hype. His resumee is, that

“Personal cloud services are convenient, inexpensive, always available, and on the brink of destroying the entire BYOD movement.”

Others declare the BOYD trend as to be full in swing. The same opinion shares Cesare Garlati, vice president of mobile security at Trend Micro even if he considers potential pitfalls.  Garlati puts it:

“There’s no point trying to stop this drive towards BYOD. Consumerization is unstoppable and BYOD brings real business value but a lack of a strategic approach can create security risks, financial exposure and a management nightmare for IT departments.”

BOYD was voted among the Top-Tech-Trends 2012 a couple of times by different rankings such as carouselconnect , petri, or by the bigfatfinanceblog.

In my opinion this trend will become increasingly popular in 2013. More and more, particularly small and middle-class firms will adopt this model to safe money. And with an increasing number of freelancer due to outsourcing, Enterprise Mobility is essential for companies to correspond with their on-road-employees. But not every phone works on every network abroad so it´s useful that every worker has his/her own device. Another point might be the growing technical knowledge of the next generation. We are facing an unbelievable variety of mobile devices therefore every individual has his/her own preferences regarding their mobile friends. With the BOYD Model they won´t be forced to work with a provider or brand that they absolutely don’t like.

The chart on the left shows that 71 percent of employers already allow personal devices in the office. That´s a big percentage with increasing tendency!

2013 will give us the final answer, I am curious!

Enterprise Mobility Solutions

When the first mobile phones were commercially introduced in the 1980s, they were only used in certain fixed locations outside the office, such as the car, on vacation or in emergency cases.

Today, it is almost impossible to find a business person who does not carry a mobile phone, moreover the phones have personal computer attributes like supporting email and web access.

Dynamic Business Environment

This expanded technology is giving firms a hard time controlling the company’s data and information as it is on nearly every employee’s mobile device. The main problem for today´s firms is to find the balance between keeping up with global distribution and securely managing the growing mobility. This is right where Enterprise Mobility Solutions come in. There are many providers such as AT&T, Vodafone or SAP that are offering platforms as a help for firms to better control its mobile devices. With todays movement to mobile and virtual workforces, proper communication tools are inevitable to simplify enterprise mobility. Enterprise Mobility Solutions mission is to bring progression to the mobile worker and also deliver key enrichment to the broader business process. User efficiency in business operations is the major factor for businesses that utilize industry-specific and customized applications. Enterprise Mobility solution providers comprehend the challenges and complexity involved in mobilizing employees and follow industry’s best practices to offer a strategic approach to mobility. The Enterprise Mobility Solutions can run on various mobile platforms including iPhones, iPads, Android, Symbian, BlackBerries and Windows.

“The debate is no longer around whether to enable a mobile workforce. It’s more about deciding which devices to support, who gets access to what, and how to develop the infrastructure that is needed to support these devices,” said Venu Reddy, Research Director, IDC India.

Tasks of an Enterprise Mobility Solution platform:

• enforcing corporate security
• complying with corporate policies
• Strategic approach to mobility
• Provides the complete visibility and constant enterprise access

More and more software firms try to jump on this bandwagon and offer mobile enterprise solutions. So does Wipro, the #1 leader in green electronics, which attracts it´s clients with solutions for various industries including health care, warehouse, retail, energy, natural resources, manufacturing, transportation and logistics.

Potential Pitfalls

This mobilization also presents inherent risks. In his blog “Device Advice”, written by chairman Spencer Green, he pointed out the security problem:

“Mobile technologies certainly raise different security challenges – wireless networks have different vulnerabilities than fixed networks, and mobile devices are more prone to loss and theft.”

Providing workers with sensitive data and apps running on a cloud-based infrastructure, anytime and anywhere, contains a high risk to lose those information to competitors. So, it is absolutely necessary to possess a good firewall.  Enterprise Mobility Solution providers also face the challenges of regaining control of their telecommunication cost, and manage mobile flexible working in the first place.

But how does a provider create the optimal customized application platform for its client?

First off, they are defining the enterprise`s mobile strategy with their client and trying to identify applications and systems that can be mobile enabled, the scope of mobilizing them and the business benefits that can be achieved. The next question is to clarify the mobile device strategy, which means to select the platform of choice for the Enterprise Mobility client. Last but not least, they must implement the mobile application, intergrating them smoothly with existing backend systems (exisiting corporate infrastructure systems that are used to run a company such as systems to manage orders, inventory and supply chains). Enabling backend features will be the most important challenge in the coming development of enterprise mobile applications according to Jose Rodriguez. If you want to read more about this topic check out his wonderful article “Democratizing Enterprise Mobility”!

Next week´s blog will introduce a new business model which seems to change companies operating methods, so stay tuned!

The Enterprise Mobility Revolution – Introduction

My topic shifts now from availability to mobility. This means that I will treat everything which comes along with Enterprise Mobility the next weeks. This week I begin with a Introduction into that sphere. Enterprise Mobility , a word which became a hotshot in every big-company-managements vocabulary, top of mind for a lot of IT leaders at companies everywhere and means the trend toward a shift in work habits, with more employees working out of the office and using mobile devices and cloud services to perform business tasks. Your employees and customers are mobile, which means your business processes must also be mobile.

“Enterprise mobility is about giving the company itself (not just individuals within the company) the tools and technologies to do business anyplace, anytime, anywhere.” – Christopher Glenn, 2010

Check out this amazing video which is explaining Enterprise Mobility in an easy way.

Don´t confuse Enterprise Mobility with the term “mobility technology” because it is not only a mobile cell phone connection but moreover it includes wireless IP networks, managed services, cloud computing, and social media. All of these things play a role in enabling the anyplace, anytime, anywhere aspirations of a company.

AT&T Model

In september 2012, the American company AT&T outlined four distinct phases of enterprise mobility in an educational event. Visitor Maribel Lopez, elaborated on the 4 phases of Enterprise Mobility in her article which was published in September, 2012´s Forbes online magazine. The phases are:

1. Informal.  No formal process is in place and most initiatives are personal efforts or based on requests from various executives.
2. Silos. In phase two, different divisions plan and execute separate initiatives that may overlap.
3. Coordinated. In this phase, enterprise standards exist but divisions are free to plan and execute their own initiatives, as long as the initiatives adhere to the company standard.
4. Integrated. In the final phase, initiatives are based on a formal enterprise strategy and roadmap. Initiatives are planned, executed and monitored centrally.

The biggest problem about this enterprise mobility is the security aspect. Every employee, wherever he is, carries all the sensitive business data within his/her mobile office. Due to that many providers offer Enterprise Mobility Management solutions. I will introduce you them them in my next week´s blog! Thanks for reading!

7 steps to become the ruler of your inbox

My last blog coped with the topic of quality minimization of manager´s work due to their need to be available 24/7 and response as quickly as possible. People are therefore predestinated to miss the big picture. During the financial crisis, several analyses were brought up which stated that a Managers primarily aim is to respond quickly to the competition. That leads to problems when it comes to the specifications or future predictions about a deal. Why?

Because they are focusing too much on the current issues and those are, the upcoming messages on their electronic devices. As Will Huton, chair of a big innovation centre,puts it:

“It’s bad for the individual worker’s performance being online and available 24-7. You do need downtime, you do need periods in which you can actually reflect on something without needing instantaneously to give a reaction.”

Just take a look at the Business E-Mail statistic record of Sara Radicati from 2011 until 2015. In 2012, ca. 110 e-mails are sent/receiver per day, per user. Who can focus on his work when 110 e-mails are incoming every day? That`s the reason why I try to give helpful strategies to prevent and avoid these dangers, so that you can claim some day: ” I control my inbox and not the other way around!”

Do what you would be done.

The more traffic you put on a network and the more people you involve, the more messages you should expect in return. Hold back from sending some messages until you have considered and reconsidered whether you really have something to say and especially who REALLY needs to read it. So, if you´re complaining about the amount of mails you receive that don´t content useful information for you, firstly think of the people in your distribution list…

Split your inbox.

Often executives have more than one e-mail address. One for intern messages, one for customers and a private one. That does not appear seldom. And that actually is very important. It helps you to keep a better overview over all your messages. It´s easier to decide which messages need to be taken care of immediately and which ones can wait. Maybe you can respond to one of your colleagues in person and swing by in his office with a cup of coffee?

Prioritize.

That is a skill I learned during the Business Application Course at my University. As we were overloaded by work from our professor the real challenge was to prioritize on the real important tasks. He always reminded us: Do what you can, and don´t spent too much of your valuable time on issues which are random. And if you do so, ASK FOR HELP! No matter if you´re a successful manager or a poor student, exchange information and don´t fight on your own!

Check out your inbox tools.

There are people who are updating their twitter or facebook status every hour. But when it is about setting a status for their e-mail account they look at you like “what?!?”. Only few individuals take full advantage of these tools, most e-mail client programs have integrated mechanisms, such as filters and rules, for regulating and organizing information flow. Status messages, such as “out of office” notices, can manage others’ expectations. Even the phone apps, like Whatsapp or kakaotalk, give you the chance to set up a status. If you also use these apps to communicate for business purposes, pay attention that you deactivate the “last seen” function!

Danah-Boyd Model.

Have you ever heard of Danah Boyd? She is an executive of Microsoft. Stressed out from all the pressure and an always-full-inbox she decided to declare a periodically e-mail time-out and breaks up all electronic communication for two weeks!

That is pretty extreme, so try to find your own time frame. Use your email status or an online calendar where you announce your “online-hours” or days. During these times, you can turn on your “out of office” note to let people know that your response may be delayed…for the 20  percent of messages that may actually need a response.

Volkswagen Model.

Meanwhile even companies noticed that the E-mail load is overwhelming its employees. Therefore the carproducer Volkswagen invented a countermeasure. Via an off-button on each employee´s blackberry it automatically shuts down all e-mail traffic on their phones. That helps it´s employees to get into non-work-mode more easily. Read an interesting article about it on BBC.

Shut it down.

When all else fails, remember that you have an actual turn off button on every one of these electronic devices, even if it takes you some time to figure out where it is =) It seems hard, the poor device. But you have to make it part of your management routine to succeed.

These are all significant steps, and none of them are easy. They require saying no to forces that, consciously or unconsciously, assume that you will always be available. You have a choice: Will you control technology so that it works for you, or will you let it undermine your practice of management? It all depends on how much attention you are willing to pay to your habits: the way they are now, and the way they ought to be. And remember, you can always shut it down!

“OUT OF OFFICE, SORRY!”

“The manager you have called is temporary not available.”

Are managers allowed to shut down electronic devices?

Did you see the German commercial from Telekom yet? No? Then watch it now!  (Only takes you a minute, so no worries) When I firstly watched it I realized that all the examples for a digital world which are mentioned are just a listing that scares me to hell! Holy cr…, using my mobile as a remote control for my house? Meetings with teachers on skype? Alright, I could discuss the flood of technical inventions which penetrates us from all sides but something in the end caught my attention more and that was: You can always shut it down! Hopefully I always will! And that made me think…

Do you ever go offline, even for just a couple of minutes? Try to remember the last time you used your “off button” and actually logged yourself out. Was it at home during the weekend? On holidays? Or were you at the office or in school? Smartphones, laptops, netbooks, tablets, and all their digital friends are transforming our lives — not compulsorily in a better direction. They are also changing the nature of how and when (and where) work gets done.

Managers at all levels spend at least half of their time collecting, receiving, and forwarding business information. New technologies have accelerated the pace and broadness of this communication across vast distances. Studies which are going back half a century and more have made it clear that managing is characterized by high levels of variety, brevity, fragmentation, and most significantly, interruption. The first of these studies, carried out by the Swedish economist and founder of the business department at Uppsala University, Sune Carlsson and involving managing directors in Sweden in the late 1940s found out that managers were inundated with reports. The emphasize lies on 1940s! If they only knew that the worst was yet to come…

The electronic devices seem to help managers coping with these distractions. Smartphones, for instance, allow them to attend to the variety of demands on their time and leverage brief moments between meetings to complete minor tasks. But new technologies hide negative and harassing effects; managers need to understand the dangers of an overreliance on electronic communication. They are available everywhere and at any time!

BREADHT FOR DEPHT

Being a good manager is more than being on the line 24/7. It is also about performing so called “soft information”exchange. Soft information includes feelings, perceptions, opinions, values—which are often the key to project success or failure and therefore an integral part of managing. And how do you find those information? Most likely not via E-Mail or text messages. Use your words by talking and listening in person. A phone or a tablet is not a substitute for personal communication but a help to broaden the variety. Managing is not based on Information Technology rather than building up relationships and trust of your employees!

Managers who use their keyboard more than their mouth are likely to get lost in their virtual office. Recent research shows that we may have more connections today, but fewer relationships. Facebook and Google+ can complement but not replace the personal interactions at the heart of managing effectively. Managers who believe that they can control their department by e-mail may find themselves in trouble. They’ll gather the facts, but they may miss the meaning.

New technologies can also exacerbate the hectic pace and distraction inherent in managerial work. For example, a manager may send a text message at Sunday afternoon to announce a meeting at on Monday morning. Or a manager might follow up on a request for information sent by e-mail after waiting only an hour for a response. I made this experience with one of my closest friends who is an client manager in an big American company. I found myself sitting alone in a restaurant on Friday night having dinner because his colleague needed a quick response. So, he drove back to the office to get it done while I enjoyed Friday night`s dinner alone. As you may be able to imagine, I wasn’t too amused but it reflects the disadvantages of permanent availability on your private life. These more and more commonly accepted practices disrupt work–life balance, interrupt one’s ability to focus, and erode cognitive capabilities. The more often someone feels forced to check their e-mail or phone, the harder it is to focus on the actual task.

PLEASE TRY AGAIN LATER…

Candy-Sandy took over America

What has Spongebob`s hamster in common with a monster that fears the United States?

Sandy – pretty sweet name. Also the name for Spongebob`s hamster. So, why on earth got a 50 mph fast, devastating and frightening beast the name Sandy?

Whatever, the name isn`t important. But the hurricane is. Please, before you read my post, think about what you know about the hurricane. If, for any instance, you didn`t hear a thing, I`ll give you the main facts:

• expected to be the strongest hurricane in the last 40 years
• hit the east coast of the united states (Atlantic City) on monday night
• millions of people were evacuated
• big panic through all radio stations worldwide

Those were the main information. Result: about 100 dead americans, damages reached  ca. 20 billions of dollars. Moreover the president elections which are coming up soon, were influenced. Windows couldn`t present their newest software either. WHAT A PITTY!

But do you want to know more about Sandy? DO you want to know what my actual point of this blog is?

UNFAIRNESS AND SOCIAL INDIFFERENCE!

You may ask why and I answer with Jamaica and Cuba. While the whole world focused and prayed on/for almighty America, two little, little islands struggled and suffered bitterly – from what? Might be your next question. “Hurricane Sandy” would be my response.

Those weak and unregarded countries were slammed by a hurricane, called Sandy, with wind-force 2. What was Hurricane Sandy`s wind force when it hit the east coasts of the states? It was 1. How big is Jamaica and how big are the States?!? The effects of a hurricane named Sandy for those 2 countries were completely different. Last week the number of victims was 17 dead’s in the States vs. 21 dead’s in Jamaica and Cuba.

This week, according to Süddeutsche Zeitung and latinapress.com the half-time score is: 110 dead americans vs. ca. 69 victims on the carribean island. Sounds ridiculous but just compare the amount of inhabitants per square meter of these two countrys. A reason for the high death-rate in the carribean sea is the economic weakness which leads to instable homes and not enough money for preparations against those nature catastrophes. As Kathleen Tierney at the University of Colorado puts it:

“The reasons for this are fairly clear — poorer communities have less resources to evacuate and prepare for storms, and also live in housing that’s less likely to be build to withstand nature’s wrath.”

And we all know how much weaker the economy of the carribean islands is, lately after the eartquake from 2 years ago…

Last week, one of my fellow students, Florian, posted another interesting article on his facebook page, which exhorts us to overthink our behavior.

Read the whole article on: http://www.zeit.de/wirtschaft/2012-11/Haiti-Sandy-New-York-Aufmerksamkeit?fb_action_ids=4734221514579&fb_action_types=og.recommends&fb_ref=facebook.zonarticle.klick.article.recommend&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582

 

Although the rate of hurricane victims is in proportional terms higher in Jamaica than in the states, everyone was evacuated, warned and helped out in the states. Every country in the world sent it`s deepest condolences to the states wherever neither one  knew  nor cared about Cuba, Jamaica or Haiti. The worldpress Agency `pressenca`threw a very provocative statement about this topic on its webpage. If my blog caught at least a bit of your interest, you will not regret to read that article:

“Who Cares About 1.8 Million Haitians Hit by Sandy – They Do Not Vote in US Elections!”

I think this heading is very provocative and therefore also very captivative. The writer claims that no one cares about the residents of Haiti because they don`t play an important role in the world`s affairs. What is world affair momentarily? Obviously the american elections…

Another blog of the voluntary helper, Arianne Pingledis, describes how bad Haiti is suffering from Sandy. In her article is nothing left to be added-just sad facts. Click here .

This little example depicts perfectly the priorities in our society. We are like animals. Protect the strongest first, only then we`ll survive. We need to concede that  we do not treat all countries the same way.

We do not disclaim the catastrophe, but knowing and ignoring it – that’s the real crime!

    One World, HA HA HA

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