The Importance of ICT in Today’s Business Environment (The Future of Travel Agents)

(Speech delivered before the National Association of Independent Travel Agencies – Philippines, Inc. (NAITAS) General Membership Meeting, March 31, 2006)

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Can outsourcing be stopped?

((Published in the BusinessMirror under the Mirror Image column, Nov 11, 2008) Now that President-elect Barack Obama will be inaugurated on January 20, 2009, many are holding their breath, especially the business-process outsourcing companies in India, the Philippines and others, as to how he can turn around the outsourcing of jobs from the United States. In debates and on the road, Obama repeatedly said that if elected, he would discourage companies from “shipping jobs overseas” by taking away tax breaks, or by giving benefit to those corporations that keep jobs domestically. “We can keep giving tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas, or we can give tax benefits to companies that invest right here in New Hampshire,” Senator Obama said at a joint appearance with Sen. Hillary Clinton in Unity, New Hampshire. According to CIO magazine, economists and legal advisers contacted about those comments said they are unaware of any specific tax breaks aimed at offshoring or outsourcing ...

Facebook addiction

(Published in Manila Standard Today under the Greenlight Column, January 10, 2011) I was recently invited by a Communications Arts class of De La Salle University to talk about the ill effects of Facebook among the youth. “Ill effects among the youth?”, I asked. I have studied the good, the bad, and the ugly sides of Facebook in the workplace. We always see its good side because most of us are active users. But the dark side in the work place is apparently the decline of productivity based on a number of studies. But understanding the ill effects among the youth struck me because I have two teenage daughters who spend hours in the veritable social network site; and I oftentimes ask them to stop and instead concentrate on studying. So this topic interested me as I wanted to understand its potential ill effects to my kids. Surveying Facebook users To put some credence in the talk, I asked the student organizers and my daughter to help me to conduct an exploratory study through a...

Renewable energy

(Published in Business Mirror under Mirror Image column, April 13, 2011) Another round of oil-price increase! The Department of Energy (DOE) confirmed this on Sunday due to the continuing rise in global crude prices from $4 to $5 per barrel. If this pushes through, this would be the 12th time oil companies increase their price since the year started, as the unrest in the oil-producing countries of the Middle East continues to escalate. This is the perennial dilemma of our country as an importer of fuels and oil for our energy needs. It means that when the price of oil increases, Filipinos have to bear the brunt of the upward spiral of fuel and power costs. It is opportune time for the government and the private sector to focus on the development of renewable energy (RE). Using RE means that we use energy sources that are not clean and reliable, but sustainable, such that it addresses our country’s problem on energy security. Since the signing of the Renewable Energy Act of 2008,...

Articles, essays, and talks of Rey Lugtu

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