Bizcuits | The end of Summertime

Summer, it is and many of us are still out and about. The idea of holidays is to relax, to rest, to build up reserves, to de-stress before coming back

Bizcuits | Look beyond and be inspired

It’s summer. Get out, I implore you. Travel. Go into the countryside, breathe the air, or go to a big city, one of those amazing cities with tons of character

Bizcuits | Not that word again – “talents”

The school attrition problem hasn’t gone away. The rate students leave school since it became a topic of public commentary in 2005 has been attributed to society’s socio-economic structure: namely,

Bizcuits | A cap in hand is worth two in the bush

The cap on the number of casino tables in Macau - “the Table Cap” -  is still a conundrum to many and being raised by more commentators as the seven

Bizcuits | Weed for Sale

There are some real jokers in our community but other people who don’t, can’t, won’t see the beyond the apparent intent. Offense taken, it’s sometimes difficult to ignore – and

Bizcuits | Why stay?

Are you an expatriate? Some foreigners don’t think of themselves as one because the term has been traditionally used to describe a high-flying executive on a fat package dropped into

Bizcuits | Pet Rock of yore

The inventor of the Pet Rock died the other day. In 1975 a strangely uplifting novelty craze inspired by a conversation over a beer was created by Gary Dahl. The

Bizcuits | A load of rubbish and the Minimum Wage

Our heroes: during my childhood we called them dustmen. They were fit and strong, and ran beside the trucks flinging lids off metal dust-bins heaving the contents over shoulders into

Bizcuits: Nature calls

I don’t seem to have the words. My language appears foreign to others. I speak, they apparently understand but it doesn’t elicit an appropriate response. I’m environmentally aware and becoming

Bizcuits: …But names will never hurt me

Along with their Chinese generational names carefully crafted by the Chinese side of our family, we were going give our daughter the western name Lily (thereby Lili Li); after all,

Bizcuits: Now a resident, now you’re not

One of the issues close to the hearts of many of us is our Macau residency status. On the flippant side, there is that secretly held little elitist pleasure of

Bizcuits | Measure and Manage

The development of Macau is mainly reported through measures of growth in GDP, fiscal reserves, foreign reserves, tourism, Gross Gaming Revenue: all economic growth. Viewing GDP, Macau’s unquestionably a developed

Bizcuits: Living dangerously

The lecturer must have said something but she couldn’t put her finger on it. Perhaps it had been flippant, perhaps in jest, perhaps that particular student - from another place,

Bizcuits | Unreasonable power

Those who bluff and bluster around us with total unreasonableness unsettle us. They can be objects of fascination. In what world do they live? How can they sleep at night?

Bizcuits | Happy Business

There are some weeks in which moments are connected by a particular theme that weaves its way across the day, through things we read and discussions we have and hear.

Bizcuits: Niche idea

One of those statistics in Macau that isn’t what it is: unemployment, 1.7% (Q3)! MDT’s award- winning cartoonist with an eye to the absurd saw the jocularity in the topic (MDT

Bizcuits | Multitask, man.

We have long been encouraged to multitask. Parallel activity was supposed to be more productive than activity in series. It certainly works for production lines, and most mums wouldn’t survive

Bizcuits: Don’t hold your breath

The gaming industry is big in Asia – we in Macau think we know this. So coming as a shock to those in the know was the fact that Gaming

Bizcuits | Are you being served?

Governance is often not well understood by the average man on the street but what we frequently take for granted in the structure and norms of organisations are mechanisms to

BIZCUITS: CanNOT

There’s no doubt about it, my behaviour feels more controlled in Macau than in most places I’ve been. Not that I’m much of a wild thing, but it would have

Bizcuits: Newbies

“How long have you been in Macau?” appears an innocent enough question but can be heavily laden with judgement depending upon the answer and enquirer. It’s fulfilling to know one’s

Bizcuits: The problem with ethics

Talk about ethics in business in Macau and you’re likely to be met with a wry smile and a look that reads “oh, you’re a naïve one, aren’t you.” Elsewhere,

Bizcuits: How lucky

Many expatriates and foreign residents come to the point early in our stay where we have to make a decision about hiring domestic help.  My problem wasn’t so much about

Bizcuits: Building Pride

It seems we are at risk of losing faith in our tertiary institutions. In terms of the fabric of such an organisation, there are a multitude of destructive forces: administrative

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