Em's Dailies..

1. 7 countries - Phils, Laos, UK, US,Japan, China and India were identified as teams and were given 2 to 3 human resources (team members) to begin with.
2. UK had the most balanced scissors, papers, pencils, protractors, right triangle, regular triangle, cutter.
3. US and Japan had obviously the most $ but didn't have bond papers.
4. India had the most sheets of papers, scissors, cutter, protractors, some $ and a green sticker.
5. Phils. had some money, a green sticker and a bond paper, a broken pencil.
6. Laos had nothing but 2 sheets of bond papers.
7. China had 4 members, 5 sheets of papers, scisssors and a chinese paint brush.

Every 5 set of right triangle, a regular 30deg triangle, a half-circle, a full-circle, a square could be sold to the bank at trading rate.

The United Nations influence the market and could sanction countries, ban them from trading, or even nullify the transaction.

Each country could either sell the goods for cash or put it in the bank. The bank earns 25% interest every 25 minutes.

The object of the game is to get the most money at the end.

I belonged to the Laos team and there were two of us. At first we didn't really understand how the game goes. So when I received the envelop containing the materials that we received, I was surprised to see 2 sheets of bond paper and a pencil. Beside our table was UK which had bundles of them. So instantly, me and my partner Yong from Singapore went to the other table. We tried to borrow their materials but they wouldn't let us. We tried to convince them but to no avail, and so I transferred to other tables and thus the begin of a chaotic trading day.

I guess I never thought about winning because we had nothing to begin with. We had practically nothing at the start. At the end of the game, Laos wasn't the poorest country anymore. It was Philippines. Me and my partner were able to get money and worked efficiently so we were both happy.

During the debrief, I started to ponder about a couple of things.

1. The facilitator showed us that Laos had won the trading game. She showed us the strategies that team did to win. It was an eye-opener. Attitude really dictates how much you'll reach in life. Creativity, innovation and open-mindedness are critical success factors. And finally, no man is an island...that I learned. In order to be successful you don't have to fight your environment, you don't have to do everything on your own, instead use them, co-work with them.
2. The green stickers had a special purpose. Once you stick it on a set of 5, it automatically quadruple the amount. That information was given only to US and Japan. The Philippines used the sticker as a ruler. India was swindled by China & Japan over a sheet of paper. It made me really think hard. Those green stickers were precious resources, and yet we don't know that they're precious. In relation to Laos' previous win, one strategy they used was to acquire the green stickers. They formed good relations with US and found out the value of the green stickers. They also formed good relations with Phils and in the process benefit from all those connections. Looking at this from a different perspective and reflecting back upon the recent SEA Games success, the Philippines has so much precious resources and talents but we don't fully utilize them. Sadly, most of the time we are unaware, because we never bother to read the signs of time, or perhaps we are content with ourselves. This whole thing can be a hundred different arguments, but the facts are evident ~ if we only channel our energies into those that are worth pursuing, if we only follow the right dreams, then we could rise again from economic slumber.

# posted by Unknown : 3:09 午後