字里乾坤大，书中日月长。
秋韵
沉浸于阅读的时光总是倏忽而去，不知不觉已半月没有提笔写点东西了，当然学术和事务性写作不在随笔范围之内。自己给自己的写作，看似没有给外界的写作重要，但却是自我与外部世界沟通的起点。所有的表达都是价值观的外衣。如果自己尚且说服不了自己，又如何取信于人？自我内在的表达若还不清晰，又怎么能清楚地向外表达自己？这是自己思维上的自我管理问题，管理好自己的内在世界，才可能打开一个有效率和效果的外部管理世界。
从利物浦大教堂眺望利物浦大都市大教堂
其实管理的问题也是如此。从管理者的角度去观察身边周围的现实世界，总能发现有趣的管理现象与问题。发现问题只是第一步，最重要的是如何采取行动，解决具体问题。以下就说说两件近期经历的现实管理趣事。
秋叶之炫美
甲. 改进参会的制度
10月19日，伯明翰大学商学院要举办一个“战略与国际商务年度研讨会”（Annual Strategy and International Business Symposium）。会议主题正是我研究的领域，演讲嘉宾之一是大名鼎鼎的John Child教授，他的演讲的内容正好也是关于新兴经济体企业的国际化。9月19日收到学院的邮件通知，我当即发信报名参会。
John Child教授很高兴地接受我与他合影的请求
第二天收到主办方回信，答复一周内确认报名信息。一周后我再发信询问报名情况，两天后回信说再过一周，也就是10月6日才能准确答复。最终10月9日才正式告知我已通过注册，可以参会。遂订购往返火车票，10月19日起个大早赶往伯明翰。
罗马人修的城墙
会议不表，收获满满。与John Child教授进行友好的，富有启发与鼓舞的交流，他还答应把他新书的有关内容发送邮件给我学习。
红叶履地，铺撒一派秋华
当天很晚赶回利物浦，临睡前决定给主办方发送一封感谢邮件，同时把我的一个想法告诉他们，邮件所附想法如下：
Earlier confirming of booking might save a little pocket money, but I completely understand it's not easy to strike a balance between securing the seats for local participants and someone from far away. Since we are from management school, as for this tricky problem (I saw there are still some ID cards waiting for their owners), I suggest maybe you can require a feedback of the possibility of the applicant's attendance (30%, 60% and 100%) along the applying. Then we can prioritize the booking with the highest present likelihood. And a reminder or warning of attendance should be attached in the notice so as to make the applicant take the conference seriously and guarantee the presence. In so doing, first it represents the quality of the host, second avoiding unnecessary waste. It is a kind of managerial innovation, isn't it?
英国的火车票实行浮动票价制，越早买越便宜。我在临行10天前买，又是早上通勤高峰时段，当然已没有优惠。是否节省一点钱，当然不是我在乎的事情，我是觉得这种邀请参会的操作姿势很有问题：
1、既然放开参会名额，那就不该在报名过程中让外地的学生排队等候。主办方或许是想先保证更多本校或近处学生报名，再放开外校的、远处的学生名额，但如此一来，实在让外校学生感到不公平，报名心切，却迟迟不能确认是否可以参加，即便决心排除万难来参加会议，也可能因为是外校或者离得比较远而不给参会机会。
2、中场休息时，我路过会议报到处，看到仍有大约十几张制作好的胸牌没人认领，说明这些人是放了鸽子，不会来了。这些临时变卦的人，其实才是报名时应该被排除掉，或者排队等待的人。在我有限的学术会议经历中，临时请假，或借口不参加会议的情况比较常见，这即是部分学者守信践诺不强的结果，也有会议管理机制不够完善的因素。
3、如果在报名时让参会者自己勾选出席的概率，一方面可以据此确定坚定参会的人员情况，也可以大概了解有多少人可能不会出席，如果报名人数较多，则可优先确保承诺自己100%出席的报名者；其次在会议通知中备注对出席会议的要求，甚至可以制作一个参会者名录数据库，对那些屡次报名又不出现的人打入黑名单。其实，只要有这样一个警告，不必真的列个黑名单，相信对于绝大多数参会者而言都是一个震慑因素，至少在报名的时候要慎重考虑一下，使其下定决心，报名了就得出席，否则就别报名，不要占着茅坑不拉屎。
古老城墙与现代建筑摩肩接踵
邮件发出第二天，就收到主办方积极的反馈：
Dear Monsol,
This is very thoughtful of you, thank you so much for your email and all your super helpful recommendations. I really like your innovative thinking, and appreciate all the time and effort you put into providing us with this feedback.
I hope to see you at the event next year.
Very best regards,
XXX
出身管理学院，管理是我研究的对象，也是我生活的一种方式，一种观察和思考人与事之间的效率、效果和形而上的动机与意义的方式。
自然与闹市，离得那么近
这次会议期间，我遭遇了有眼不识泰山的经历。在我向John Child教授请教之时，旁边还有一个和蔼老头在和Child教授互动，看起来他们很熟络。我也不以为意，仅以为他们是熟人，只是隐隐觉得这个老头可能有点来头。回来后，某天在中国管理研究国际学会的官方网站（http://www.iacmr.org/）上无意中看到2018年杰出学术贡献奖获得者（2018 Distinguished Scholarly Contribution (DSC) Award Winner），正是那天和我有一面之缘的Oded Shenkar教授，立马翻看会议嘉宾名单，确凿无疑。以后参加任何会议，一定要提前把主要与会者的信息了解清楚。
打折村，很有创意的奢侈品销售模式
岛国的云总是浓墨重彩
寒根固生意，黄叶培新芽
我是一颗秋天的树
安安静静守着一片阳光
万枝枯寒一叶绿
物归始终
乙. 复兴唐人街计划
风雨中的中国城牌坊
某天，看到唐人街“1+1 cultural exchange”微信群群主Nick发出一条消息，请大家为Revise Chinatown出谋划策，头脑风暴。那一周的聚会时，我们也大致讨论了一下这个问题，于是我就吭哧吭哧写出一份复兴唐人街计划：
TheRevival of Chinatown
We have discussed the issue that Mr. Nick Liu asked us to do. The following is the summary that we brainstormed with some ideas from my personal perspectives.
1.Mission and objectives
Our consensus is that the declining status quo of Chinatown must be turned around,i.e., Chinatown needs to be revived in terms of its social & economic development for a better future. Perception of this current situation helps usidentify the urgency as well as real problems of its revival and then the approaches or measures we could take.
As for the objectives, we did not come to specific conclusions. Because we found something important needs to be done before setting any objectives.
2.Things really matter
(1) Leadership
A powerful, responsible and resolute leader or a leading committee is the core of Chinatown's revival. We think Mr. Liu is the best candidate.
(2) Investment
In consideration of the possibility of funding from local government or official sector is slim, substantial funds might be raised among the Chinatown community. However, we were not sure how much money could we collect in this way. We assumed that the odds of large funds tend to be quite low, which might force us to raise money from another two main channels. One is to attract investment from mainland of China, loads of venture capital in china nowadays are eager to find promising projects; the other is to fund the plan of revival by the leader in advance. The second financing channel, of course, will not be able to provide much capital with this great cause.
3.Analytical framework
A three-dimension analytical framework can be utilized to ponder over the issue in question, which consists of three questions, they are: What we want to do? Who is involved in this cause? How we are going to do it?
As for What question, which is associated with mission, motives and objectives, has been briefly articulated above. The Who and How question will be discussed as follows.
(1)Who?
The first targeted group of people is the residents in Chinatown, especially those bosses of restaurants and landlords (including BBC). They are the people have the strongest motivation to revive this area, and they must and should unite to fulfill the goal of reviving Chinatown.
To mobilize these people sharing the common benefits and destiny in terms of a Chinese community in Liverpool is not so difficult, but the uniting method should be careful and appropriately taken.
The second group of people this project aims at is the Chinese overseas students inLiverpool. As one of those students, I know there is a plenty of crying demands of Chinese overseas students could be met by someone in some way. However, as far as I observe and perceive, these vast demands, such as living aspect (accommodation,dining, social networking/with local people), study aspect (English learning,oral English, written English/essay writing) and so on, remain unsatisfying met. If Chinatown can act as the provider/agent of or host for those demands,colossal space for business will no doubted emerge.
The third category of people is local British people. Since Chinatown owns its long history and established reputation as the oldest Chinatown in Europe, why we cannot make use of this extant legacy? It is truly a pity that when people come to Chinatown by its reputation, however the only thing that could impress them is the Chinese Arch. Nothing else. If a local Chinese government holds such a precious historical spot, it will become a very different story.
Chinatown possesses enough potential for a tourist attraction itself, one much attractive than it is at the moment. It could be a combination of West-meet-East, a cultural,business and communication bridge between the East and the West.
(2)How?
Three aspects that concern the how question are identified based on the above analysis.
(1) Serve Chinese overseas students
Cooperate with various student organizations, such as Student Association of Liverpool, providing competitive accommodation, dining, and other related services for Chinese students (Chinese students will steadily be booming in the coming decades as predicted).
(2) Build a tourist attraction
Construct new tourist facilities in order to attract local people and Chinese students, and even tourists from other places or countries.
(3) Build a new Chinatown
Build museums, Chinese tea house, or relevant facilities to demonstrate the uniqueness of Chinatown in this era when it acts as the hub for the East meets the West and boosts the communication of cultures.
Last but not the least, this project or plan could make the most of governmental support or resources from China, including the One Belt & One Road Initiative,Chinese multinational companies that are willing to do business involving culture or tourist park.
夕阳下的牌坊
这份计划书仅是匆匆写就，相当于一份提纲。但是核心的要点都囊括了，唐人街复兴计划涉及的人的问题，资金的问题，怎么办的问题。由于对唐人街了解甚少，仅从理论上进行了一番大胆的“指点江山”。后面两次的聚会，Nick不仅实地带我们考察了唐人街的历史渊源和惨淡经营的现状（很多餐馆和商店关门歇业三、五年甚至到十多年），还把他们之前做个的规划图给我们展示。据他透露，唐人街复兴最关键的还是人的问题，新老唐人的矛盾是症结所在，又无具有企业家精神的人物出来振臂一呼，兹事体大，来日方长。
一位移民50多年老华侨每次聚会必写的一个字，他还说“家是最重要的”
平心而论，唐人街值得挖掘的商业价值、文化价值其实很丰富，就缺一个前瞻性的商业计划和一个能力出众的操盘手。坐拥欧洲最古老的唐人街，坐落利物浦市核心地段，每年迎来几千中国留学生，这样一个有故事，有历史，有市场的地方，竟然萧索得人烟稀少，仅剩一座牌坊可供瞻仰，实在是不应该。
华灯初上，阑珊街头
大兴土木，盖留学生宿舍的操作，我以为已经几乎到头。再过10年，最多20年，赴英留学的学生，定成逆流之势，那个时候，中国、美国的吸引力将远大于英国，现在还建留学生宿舍，只怕成本都收不回来。昨天还与朋友开玩笑说，论市容市貌，中国中西部地区的一二线城市都比利物浦现代、繁华。唐人街若不抓住大英帝国教育产业化攫取留学生红利的最后历史契机，再往后，恐怕更难复兴。
大海覆在了天上
管理，是权力之下社会脉搏的管道，决定着一个群体集体行动的效率、质量和成就，是社会发展的组织逻辑。管理的质量，决定一个社会前进的步伐。
管理的人生，一往无前
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