Monthly Archives: March 2010

Tasmanian man on Thai sex charge

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The Australian Government is trying to locate and assist an Australian teacher arrested for a child sex offence in Phuket.

A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokeswoman said in a statement the department was trying to find Andrew Clements, 51, to offer him consular assistance.

Clements, from Tasmania’s north, was arrested on Friday night and charged with sexually assaulting a four-year-old boy at the Phuket International Academy.

ASIC records shows he is a shareholder in a family-owned company in Devonport.

His father, Charles Clements, said his son was originally from the city of Devonport. Continue reading →

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Phuket Buses transport woes

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Plans for a light rail system spanning Phuket have been scrapped in favor of the much cheaper option of scheduling new bus routes, it recently emerged.  “We will no longer refer to this project as the light rail or monorail system project,” said Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop. “We will now refer to it as the Bus Rapid Transit system project.”

Gov Wichai was speaking as chairman of the Phuket Provincial Traffic Planning (PPTP) subcommittee, which last met on Tuesday.  “The plan can now go forward with a much smaller budget,” Gov Wichai said.  Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (PPAO) President Paiboon Upatising said his organization would take on the project, provided costs are reasonable. Continue reading →

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executive offsites and retreats in Asia

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I am just back from Phuket in Thailand where I facilitated the offsite session of the top 120 executives of a major professional services firm in Asia. This is staple work for me. My role at these kind of events ranges from delivering a keynote presentation that brings forcibly home the key themes of the event, for example change or innovation, to in some cases designing and facilitating the entire event, particularly when it is focused on strategy development.

While executive offsite sessions are common to business around the world, there are a few specific dynamics to take into account for organizers of retreats in Asia.

Diversity
Asian countries, economies, and cultures are far more diverse than those, for example, in Europe. There are often different priority strategic issues across country operations, and management structures need to vary between operations. Offsite objectives and structure should reflect that. Continue reading →

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