Saturday 19 March 2011

An Explosive 2011

The adoption of the resolution by the United Nations Security Council to impose a no-fly zone over Libya is another milestones in what has been an explosive 2011. It was adopted a week after Japan was hit by a triple whammy - earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown. 


 

Many people in the Middle East or West Asia, depending on which part of the world you are, have been making efforts to have more democracy from those who are in power. This caused 2 governments to fall, so far, and what is happing in Libya today looks like a work-in-progress.



Japan in now enter into a rebuilding process after a 9.0 earthquake hit the north east pat of the country of the rising sun last Friday. The whole world saw how houses, cars, ships and many others were swap away like little toys by the tsunami. While most reports suggest how prepared and disciplined the Japanese are in facing one of their worst catastrophe, the stories about hunger, lack of food supply and ATM machines which failed to work demonstrate the real magnitude of this whole episode.



The world is now anxious to see whether the rebuilding of Japan will destabilise the financial market, particularly if funds are remitted back from abroad to finance the rebuilding. Would this reduce the growth rate of the world as a whole and derail whatever recovery that is taking place? A lot of people are also worried that this will affect the roll our of iPad 2 as some of the critical parts come from Japan.


The first quarter of 2011 certainly has been very "explosive" where many events that had happened so far could be reflected in the future as critical milestones. One clear lesson is that things could suddenly happen where the effect could be far reaching. Those leading organisations, or even nations, must be prepared to make swift decision in response to these types of situations.  This makes foresights to be key in modern management for those who anticipate challenges may have a better chance to come out "intact".