sgusers9的部落格

三、兩地業界�力打造升級版的港台關係香港貿發局致力打造精品展會，mini storage為台商創造多元貿易平台。年內貿發局舉辦30多場國際貿易展覽會，其中有9個展會居亞洲之冠，3個為全球之首，為台商提供一站式服務平台。據統計，今年約有2200家台商參加香港貿易發展局展覽，藉此機會爭取國際訂單；亦有逾1.7萬家台企到展會採購，尋求供應商或合作夥伴。去年1月，香港國際玩具展吸引240家台灣企業參展，共設364個攤位，創歷年紀錄。貿發局統計，台灣是香港第4大的貿易夥伴，一年的貿易金額就達400多億美元，且多數台商對於香港作為亞太區域的服務平台給予高度評價。兩岸三地聯合投資，經營台灣高雄港。去年初，大陸中遠、中海集團與香港招商局及台灣陽明海運公司在陽明海總部-台灣基隆舉行高明碼頭有限公司股權交割儀式，實現了兩岸三地企業共同投資、共同建設和共同經營高雄港貨櫃碼頭業務。其中，中遠集團、中海集團和香港招商局共出資40.5億新台幣（約1.35億美元）受讓陽明海運控股的高雄港高明貨櫃碼頭30%的股權。該專案是陸、港企首宗投資台灣公共建設的專案，對於推動兩岸海運，深化兩岸經濟合作，促進兩岸相互投資具有重要意義。港台兩地整合教育資源實現優勢互補。去年2月24日春節剛過，香港大學博覽會在台大體育館舉行。香港最頂尖5所大學香港大學、香港中文大學、香港科技大學、香港理工大學、香港城市大學聯袂在台招生，擠得會場水洩不通。港校龍頭香港大學祭出最高268萬元新台幣獎學金，涵蓋港大4年學費及生活費，預定招收30人。中文大學去年錄取32名台生，包括2名滿級生。城市大學到台招生最積極，上限大約就是去年的30人。科技大學去年首度到台參加「旺旺中時大學博覽會」。科大表示2009年至今只招了23名台生，實在太少，去年特地到台招生；不過科大入學標準相當高。理工大學每年招收約8到10位台生。不少台灣頂尖學生「棄台大、就港校」。與此同時，台灣教育部門也修正「香港澳門學歷檢核及採認辦法」，開放採認「高級文憑學歷」可到台銜接二專或插班大學。台灣和香港的旅遊合作邁進新里程。6月5日雙方在港簽定意向書，將合作推動發展區域性郵輪旅遊。香港旅發局主席林建岳表示，隨�啟德郵輪碼頭啟用，香港的郵輪旅遊設施將更趨完善，區域合作對於推動郵輪旅遊的發展很重要，港台旅遊部門合作，是拓展郵輪旅遊區域合作重要的一步。台觀光局副局長劉喜臨表示，亞洲各國旅遊市場高度成長，國家或區域間彼此高度競爭，如何利用各自特點與優勢加強合作共同對外，是未來亞洲區域觀光發展的重要課題。雙方宣佈與皇家加勒比國際郵輪達成協議，共同拓展亞太郵輪市場。10月30日，皇家加勒比公司旗下的「海洋水手號」首發合作宣傳航線正式從香港啟程抵達高雄港，展開5天4夜的高雄、基隆航程，11月2日，再次以香港為母港，出發前往高雄，並於11月5日返回香港。港台兩地文化盛宴各領風騷。11月1日，台灣文化部門舉辦的香港「台灣月」拉開帷幕。這是台灣駐港文化機構「光華新聞文化中心」舉辦的大型文化節目，目的是透過文化表演促進港人對台灣的了解。去年「台灣月」已踏入第八屆，整個活動共計31場，以「野台文化」為主題，此文化起源於沒有電視通訊、娛樂匱乏的時代。近年來，台灣越來越多的表演團體開始走出殿堂，到戶外「野台」進行表演，以走進民眾、走進生活。同月29日，由香港港台文化合作委員會主辦的「香港周」也走進台灣。2013年的「香港周」是第二屆，主題鎖定「傳承與創新」，包括香港舞蹈團融合書法和舞蹈的《蘭亭-祭侄》；展現香港設計能量的《香港設計風流》展；反映香港百年史的《香港長衫故事》特展以及結合港台10位漫畫家的聯展等。港台文化合作委員會召集人毛俊輝表示，主要透過各類藝術表演，為台灣觀眾呈現蘊含深厚本土歷史文化和不斷前進的香港。四、港台交流合作亮點紛呈借助香港平台進行兩岸民間政治對話作了新嘗試。2013年3月，香港論壇邀請兩岸多名學者專家，就兩岸進行政治對話的可能性表達看法。香江論壇是香江文化交流基金會定期邀請兩岸學者專家出席的座談會，分別圍繞會議主題「兩岸政治對話的可能性」發表意見。6月28日台灣維新基金會董事長謝長廷在港出席「兩岸關係的發展與創新研討會」。全國政協副主席董建華先生以地主的身份設宴歡迎。董先生在致詞中提到，香港以其特殊地位在兩岸關係中一直扮演重要角色，香港長期承載兩岸人員和貿易的主要往來。他相信，香港仍有條件、也有意願，在其中扮演其獨特的角色，兩岸有關機構選在香港舉辦本次研討會，就是一個很好的證明。謝長廷則表示，香港在兩岸發展歷史上有�非常重要的self storage位，1992年的香港會議，兩岸交流翻過了新的一頁，而在今天有非常蓬勃且密切的發展。今天重新回到這個地方來檢討兩岸發展的現況以及來探討未來可能的創新作為，他認為深具意義。謝表示也如同董副主席所說的，今天世界的潮流是和平、繁榮和文明。雖然民進黨與共產黨在政治主張上有歧異，但是要透過我們的智慧、想像和創意，就能夠跨過這些歧異。他認為兩岸的人民在文化、血緣上都有非常長遠的同源關係，而有這樣親密的同源關係的兩岸人民不可能長遠選擇敵對，應該發揮我們的優點，向世界證明我們兩岸可以多元共生，為世界樹立一個解決差異、共生共贏的典範。當然在政治議題上有許多敏感的地方，政黨交流有時候會碰觸到紅線或禁忌，所以我們先由民間開始。港台經貿文化合作的觸角向台灣中南部有了新延伸。6月7日，香港航空台灣分公司總經理陳韻雯拜會花蓮縣長傅�萁，洽談推動香港與花蓮兩地直航對飛事宜。陳韻雯表示，香港航空看好花蓮市場發展潛力與區域位置的前景，希望未來能順利推動1周至少2至3班的直航班次，服務到花蓮旅遊的遊客。傅�萁期盼花蓮香港航線盡快飛航，表示這條航線預期能大幅提升花蓮對外整體觀光視野，並迎來世界各地的龐大遊客人潮，也能開啟花蓮農特產品的產銷通路。6月13日，香港國際旅遊展在香港會議展覽中心舉行。台灣方面有高雄等10個縣市參加。在旅遊展開幕前，高雄代表團在副市長李永得的率領下，下午率先在銅鑼灣一家飯店舉行「潮玩高雄，想點玩就點玩」宣傳會。7月18日，台南市與香港開通直航客機。台南市長賴清德、中華航空公司董事長孫洪祥等親臨香港出席通航儀式。賴清德在儀式上說，兩地開通直航後，一方面要鼓勵台南市民到港旅遊，另一方面也歡迎香港民眾到台南市。他讚揚香港是東方明珠，與台南市有相似之處，並說兩地應該更早通航，「我們到晚了」。賴清德說，交通便利將令兩地交往愈來愈密切，產生的正面效果更大，期望兩地創造雙贏。港台司法互助合作取得新突破。2013年4月，台灣法務部門「調查局」副局長吳莉貞訪港，並拜會香港執法機構高層官員，並與執法機構進行交流，還拜會賽馬會，了解賭博犯罪及防範洗黑錢等問題。有關人士認為，這無疑是台港交流中一次頗具意義的突破，反映出台港互信增加。9月下旬，香港終審法院首席法官馬道立赴台出席第二屆「海峽兩岸暨香港澳門司法高層論壇」，圍繞「建構人民依賴之司法」這一主題，特別就共同打擊犯罪及司法互助等議題，與兩岸司法部門及專家學者進行交流。12月初，香港特區警務處處長曾偉雄赴台參加第八屆「海峽兩岸暨香港澳門警學研討會」，就打擊跨境有組織犯罪的對策交換意見。對香港在兩岸關係和國家統一進程中的獨特作用進行新思考。香港特區中央政策組原首席顧問劉兆佳專文闡述香港在促進兩岸關係發展上的作用。認為兩岸關係和港台關係都進入關鍵期。政治對話或政治協商已成為兩岸間的新課題。能否處理好這一課題，不僅影響兩岸關係，也影響港台關係。港台關係需更上一台階，要有更大膽的設想。他建議在港台關係方面，可考慮兩方面工作，一是盡快成立港台間的自由貿易區；二是強化港台間的官方聯繫，提升港台協策兩會的性質，從非官方機構向官方機構過渡，使兩地政府能更直接和及時地探討、磋商港台關係的長遠發展議題。在兩岸關係方面，可憑借香港獨特優勢，加強兩岸區域經濟整合，一是在海峽西岸經濟區中，香港可發揮促進福建與台灣關係的作用。二是在推進大中華自由貿易區形成中香港也能起到融合作用。此外，在兩岸政治對話方面，香港過去一直是兩岸進行對話的重要平台，可繼續發揮這方面的作用。中國和平統一促進會香港總會會長黃英豪表示，在促進兩岸關係和平發展和祖國和平統一中香港具有三個優勢：一是「一國兩制」優勢。台灣當局和台灣同胞都很關心香港的情況，希望通過香港了解大陸有關和平統一的政策動向。這為香港進一步發揮「一國兩制」優勢提供了條件。二是與台灣社會制度基本相同的優勢。港台有很多共通之處，比較容易溝通。三是由於歷史和現實原因，港台之間交往從未間斷，兩地關係密切。且台灣對港採取特殊而有別於內地的政策。黃強調，未來香港可從三個層面開展對台工作：一是香港可採取更為靈活的策略，中央可授權香港與台北、台中、高雄等一級城市的政府直接開展交往，建立聯繫；特區可在台灣的城市增設半官方辦事機構；二是香港特區政府擁有龐大資源，應有一個整體的對台戰略部署和規劃；三是充分發揮香港社會和台灣社會長期形成的多層面的密切聯繫，促進以愛國愛港社團為骨幹，帶動其他社團開展全面民間對口交流的局面，真正形成通過港台交流發揮香港「一國兩制」示範作用的大環境。 （二之二，全文完。）迷你倉

迷你倉旺角 《華盛頓郵報》引述「走佬特工」斯諾登的文件指，美國國家安全局（NSA）斥資約六億二千萬港元研究如何破解全球各類加密技術，當中包括研發一個「量子電腦」（quantum computer），有助攻破銀行、醫學及其他政府的加密技術。另《紐約時報》及英國《�報》前日均發表社論，呼籲美國政府對斯諾登從輕發落。（綜合報道）mini storage

板橋大遠百「韓國美食節」今年重點商品以被稱為「產地之母」的韓國全羅北道高敞郡的農特產品為主，迷你倉最平全羅北道位於韓國西南方，而高敞郡則在全羅北道的西南方，擁有日照充足、倚山靠海的丘陵地形，海岸有洋流流經且海域清淨無汙染，先天條件得天獨厚，盛產珊瑚海藻、昆布、風川鰻魚、生蠔等，是韓國人當地旅遊大啖海鮮的勝地之一。紫黑覆盆子 鮮甜多汁每年6、7月間，高敞郡的農民會上山摘採野生覆盆子，韓味不二業務副理施玫伶表示，高敞郡所生產的覆盆子是全南韓產量最多也是品質最好的，被稱為「紫黑覆盆子」，甜度達1214度，較一般覆盆子鮮甜多汁，富含兩倍的多酚與維生素。她補充，紫黑覆盆子可釀製成色澤鮮豔紅潤的「雲雨覆盆子酒」，含有維生素C、鉀、鎂、鈣等營養成分，對冬天一到就手腳冰冷的女性尤其適合，是自古韓國男女皆宜的健康飲品。喝起來就像水果酒偏甜，帶有淡淡的覆盆子香，不過酒精濃度偏高，達13度以上。在韓國會把覆盆子酒當作調酒配方之一，加入檸檬汁尤其對味，此次推出的覆盆子酒（375ml）售價約500迷你倉00元。海鮮無汙染 蘿蔔清脆高敞郡的農產也很豐富，現場還可買到當地當季生鮮的冬季白菜與蘿蔔。白菜則標榜是雪地白菜，十分鮮甜，生吃也沒問題，當地人會用來製作成泡菜，以保留最單純的甜度。而筆直長條狀的白蘿蔔清脆香甜如水梨，白菜一顆或蘿蔔一根價格則約250300元。海鮮也是高敞郡的強項，盛產鯖魚、馬鮫魚，當地有一個很特別的醃漬法，一般常見的醃漬法是用鹽醃，但當地除了用鹽外，還會加入覆盆子醃，味道特別，本次韓國美食節裡也買得到。而「珊瑚海藻」是需要派專人下海摘採再曬乾製成，由於海域無汙染，海藻乾淨少砂石，是每年日本向韓國進口第一大量的頂級韓國藻類。此外，重點食品還有以高敞郡盛產的數十種海鮮熬煮而成，吃得到蝦子、螃蟹等食材的「海鮮湯即食包」，用當地辣椒所做成道地下酒小菜「鐵板炒小章魚」等。韓國美食節消費滿額禮單筆消費滿1,000元，就送護手霜（限量400支）、消費滿3,000元，送手工長夾（限量400份）、消費滿6,000元，就送紅參面膜10入（限量60組）飲酒過量，有礙健康mini storage

Source: Philadelphia Daily NewsJan.迷你倉最平 03--SOMETHING HAPPENED last Sunday night in Dallas that brought back a specific memory -- of an Eagles playoff game a long time ago, and of a skill that great offenses require. When the Eagles unfurled that fourth-quarter touchdown drive, when they ran the ball on nine out of 11 plays, it was the most important event of the day -- that is, if you believe the Eagles have a chance to make a run this month.Here is the memory: of the NFC Championship Game in St. Louis in January 2002. The Eagles were big underdogs that day in their first long playoff run under Andy Reid. We all remember it because the Eagles were 52 yards away from pulling out the game when it ended for them, and because Freddie Mitchell did or didn't run the wrong route at the end, and because Donovan McNabb stood in the tunnel, just off the edge of the field, to watch the Rams celebrate.But the most significant thing that happened in that game -- which the Eagles led at the half, 17-13 -- was what the Rams did to open the third quarter. Remember, this was the Greatest Show on Turf, indoor pyrotechnics the likes of which the NFL had not seen -- Kurt Warner, Isaac Bruce, Torry Holt, all maestroed by Mike Martz. This is how it went:Marshall Faulk, left end, 5 yards.Marshall Faulk, left tackle, 7 yards.Marshall Faulk, right tackle, 5 yards.Marshall Faulk, right tackle, 4 yards.Marshall Faulk, right end, 3 yards.Marshall Faulk, left end, 1 yard.Marshall Faulk, left end, 2 yards.Those were the first seven plays of the drive. They were not spectacular plays, and the drive netted only a field goal. The Eagles still led by a point when the drive was over. But what it did was send a message to everyone of how the rest of the half would play out -- that the Rams would lean on their best player and run the ball more than usual. Faulk ran 31 times for 159 yards and two touchdowns in the game, but 23 of the runs and both of the touchdowns were in the second half.More than anything, what that first drive did was restore order in a game that was threatening to spiral out of the better team's control. That is what great running games do in the NFL: restore order. Faulk did it that day. Emmitt Smith did it a dozen times over the years he played in big games for the Dallas迷你倉Cowboys. Now we all have seen LeSean McCoy do it for the Eagles in an elimination game on the road.And when McCoy says, "We're made for the playoffs," this, to me, is what he is talking about.The Eagles have run the ball more and better than any team in the NFL this season. They have this trio of stars -- McCoy, quarterback Nick Foles and wide receiver DeSean Jackson -- and they have a half-dozen ways to beat a team, if it comes to that -- and it might just come to that tomorrow night against an explosive New Orleans Saints team that has to be a little tired of hearing about its shrinkage in cold weather.If coach Chip Kelly chooses to keep this group together, and if good fortune (in the form of good health) smiles upon them, people might give them a nickname like "the Triplets," which is what they started calling Smith, Troy Aikman and Michael Irvin after they won a couple of Super Bowls.But that is for later. In the here and now, in the winning of January football games, there likely will be a point in each game at which the Eagles will need to lean on their best offensive player for a stretch. That is McCoy. Not just against the Cowboys last week, but all season, he has shown this uncanny ability to grow stronger and more productive as the game progresses -- and Kelly has shown he can add a schematic wrinkle, late in games, that matters."I think it applies for the linemen and the running back," McCoy said. "The more touches, the more plays you getting running the ball, the more comfortable you get, the different looks you can see, you see how the defense adjusts to certain plays and you feel them out. A play from earlier in the game can be run late in the game and be more successful if it goes to the right."Defenses are smart, and they try to adjust to whatever you do. It's a reaction, and it's different things and how you fit into a run. If you get more comfortable as the game goes on, you can really take over in the fourth quarter."It is a requisite skill for teams who want to keep playing in January. McCoy and the Eagles have it.Email: hofmanr@phillynews.comOn Twitter: @theidlerichBlog: philly.com/DNLCopyright: ___ (c)2014 the Philadelphia Daily News Visit the Philadelphia Daily News at .philly.com Distributed by MCT Information Servicesmini storage

Source: Odessa American, TexasJan.self storage 03--With surges in crime and fatal car accidents, 2013 was a busy year for law enforcement and other emergency services in Odessa and the surrounding areas.A car chase turned shootout turned carjacking turned up multiple felony charges for two suspects after they were hospitalized for injuries sustained during the Oct. 25 shootout.David Edward Baca was indicted on one count of attempted capital murder, three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, two counts of aggravated kidnapping and one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon against a public servant.Cameron Anthony Dawson, 34, was indicted Oct. 31 on the counts of attempted capital murder, three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon against a public servant and one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.Dawson remains in Andrews County Jail on $2,115,000 bond while Baca remains in the Ector County Detention Center on $153,000 bond. Baca has charges pending a grand jury indictment in Andrews County.Baca had a federal warrant out of New Mexico charging him in connection to possession of an incendiary device.Roswell Police searched a home on Oct. 22 that Baca was staying in and found multiple pipe bombs in the home.Previous OA stories stated on Oct. 25, Odessa police received a call from a man who said he was following a black 2010 Chevrolet pickup that had been taken from him the previous day--he identified Baca and Dawson as the occupants of the stolen vehicle.Scott followed the truck to East Loop 338 and 87th Street when the men began shooting at him.OPD, Ector County Sheriff's Office deputies and troopers with the Department of Public Safety went to the intersection about 4:5 p.m. that day and began pursuing the men as they headed north on US Highway 385.Near the Ector and Andrews county line, one of the men began shooting at DPS troopers and shot at them again once in Andrews county.The truck then stopped in an oncoming traffic lane on Highway 385 when Baca and Dawson would exit the truck shooting at DPS troopers and ECSO deputies while attempting to carjack another vehicle.Dawson was shot and wounded at this time and would soon be arrested and transported to Medical Center Hospital.During this time, Baca would approach another vehicle and order a male driver, at gun point, to exit the vehicle. He would then force a female passenger to move to the driver's seat while he sat in the front passenger seat and another female passenger remained in the back seat.Baca then ordered the woman to drive him south on Highway 385 before the vehicle would come to a complete stop in the northbound lanes of traffic. The hostages escaped unharmed and Baca was found to have been shot.He was arrested and transported to MCH.DEPUTY SLAINThe Oct. 2 slaying of Upton County Sheriff's Deputy Billy "Bubba" Kennedy was no less dramatic.Gary David Green, 50, was charged with capital murder and remains in custody at the Ector County Detention Center on a $1 million bond.Previous OA stories state Green went into the Stripes Convenience Store in McCamey and tried to pay for food with a credit card that was declined. Green then became agitated and told the cashier to give him some gas or someone was going to die.The cashier gave Green his food for free but was unable to give him free gas. Green left the store and got inside of a red 2007 GMC pickup that was reported stolen out of Ector County.Later, Kennedy and Deputy Thomas Stiles went up to the truck at about 11:02 p.m. and noticed Green sleeping in the cab of the truck. Stiles knocked on the window to wake him.The deputies ra迷你倉 a check on the license plate and learned the truck had been stolen. Kennedy approached the driver's side of the truck and unsnapped his gun holster. While Kennedy approached, Green opened the door and began firing at him--Stiles and Kennedy both began firing at Green.After the firefight, Stiles saw Kennedy and Green on the ground. Deputy Dusty Kilgore made the scene and arrested Green, leaving him on the ground.Stiles attempted revive Kennedy by giving him CPR but was unable to do so. Kilgore attempted CPR on Kennedy but was also unable to revive him.TEEN KILLED IN CRASHA 17-year-old Odessa man was charged with manslaughter in connection with a wreck that took the life of a 15-year-old Odessa High School student.Previous stories stated just after 2 p.m. Sept. 4 at the intersection of Eighth Street and Muskingum Avenue Edgar Alejandro Villa Polanco, 17, ran a red light while traveling east on Eighth Street in a 2001 Grand Marquis and collided with a 2008 Lincoln Navigator containing two people.Polanco and his two passengers, Kaely Chacon, 16, and Alicia Levario, 15, were taken to Medical Center Hospital along with Yvonne Natividad, 32, and Robert Gomez, 44, of the Navigator in varying conditions.Levario, previous stories sated, was in the back seat of the Mercury and thrown between the seats hitting her head on the dashboard at the point of collision.All were released from the hospital by Sept. 6, except for Levario who remained in a coma for a week before she died from her injuries Sept. 12 at Medical Center Hospital.An officer with the Ector County Independent School District reported seeing the Mercury before the crash, traveling at a high rate of speed and weaving between vehicles.MURDER IN THE BASINTwo were indicted in the Feb. 2 slaying of Randy Ray Brooks Jr..Vickie Renee Simpson, 29, and Bryan Carbery,41, were indicted with charges of murder in connection with the shooting.Brooks was found at his home, 7323 Kentucky Ave., with a gunshot wound to his head Feb. 2 and taken to Medical Center Hospital where he would die the same day.Carbery was initially charged with murder in connection to the death and Donaldson said when the District Attorney's office reviewed the information provided they felt there was sufficient evidence to indict Simpson as well.District Attorney Bobby Bland declined to discuss the details of the case, but that Simpson was indicted as a party and the evidence did not suggest that she pulled the trigger.A 24-year-old man sits at the Ector County Detention Center accused of the Sept. 28 shooting death of a 29-year-old man at the La Quinta Inn and Suites, 5001 E. Hwy. 80.Brian Keith Runnels was charged with murder, possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver or manufacture and possession of cocaine with intent to deliver in connection with the alleged shooting.Previous stories stated at about 11:25 p.m. Sept. 28, Runnels shot Bryan Eugene Young near the center of the La Quinta Inn next to the second floor breezeway.A blood trail led from where Young was found with multiple gunshot wounds to room number 230 where police found an open door and a semi-automatic handgun on the walkway outside.Back at the Odessa Police Department, Runnels waived his Miranda rights to legal counsel and admitted in an interview to shooting a Springfield XD semi-auto handgun at a person while inside his room.Contact Chris Bartlett at 432-333-7786, email at cbartlett@oaoa.com, or on Twitter at @OACrimeCopyright: ___ (c)2014 the Odessa American (Odessa, Texas) Visit the Odessa American (Odessa, Texas) at .oaoa.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉將軍澳

思想者小傳朱曉明 教授級高級工程師，迷你倉畢業于上海交通大學，獲博士學位。現為中歐國際工商學院院長、管理學教授及中天集團管理學教席教授，上海交通大學經濟與管理學院、上海財經大學兼職教授、博士生導師。 2003年至2008年任上海市人大常委會副主任，2008年至2011年任上海市政協副主席、黨組副書記。 2008年獲國際管理學會（IAM）“傑出成就獎”。著有《全球供應鏈環境下的上海國際物流建設》、《平台，贏在服務——在“轉型”中發展服務經濟與平台經濟》、《中國第三方電子支付發展報告》等。近兩年，“第三次工業革命”這個名詞風靡學界，並進入公�的語彙。它源於里夫金的同名著作《第三次工業革命》。這讓我們想起了阿爾文·托夫勒的《第三次浪潮》和產業經濟學中的“第三次產業”。這3個“三次”分別指向了“計算機”、“互聯網”和“服務業”。時至今日，數字化和移動互聯網突飛猛進的發展，已經創造出一個史無前例的基礎設施架構。在產品經濟年代，基礎設施是“鐵、公、機”、“路、橋、隧”、“水、電、氣”。但在數字化年代，基礎設施還必須加上“大、雲、平、移”。具體而言，“大”就是大數據，即通過雲計算、移動互聯網等手段，從各種類型的數據中，快速獲得有價值信息的能力。“雲”就是雲計算。雲是一種公共服務。如同發電廠提供的電力是公共服務一樣，雲服務商晝夜不停地為企業和消費者提供信息處理上的服務。“平”就是平台。凡是熟悉阿里巴巴、淘寶網和支付寶的人，都可以從中一窺平台型企業迅速增長的影響力。事實上，它們正在成為當下全球新興企業中的巨無霸。全球500強前10名中的6個是平台性企業。中國500強企業中，利潤最豐厚的都是平台型企業，如百度、網易、騰訊、阿里巴巴。按類型來劃分，平台可以分為交易平台、媒體平台、支付平台、軟件平台等。“移”就是移動互聯網，是互聯網、平台與移動通信技術結合的活動的總稱。目前，國內移動互聯網的用戶已達8.17億。中國網民總數量以5.64億領跑全球，但是占總人口比例僅為42%。美國的這一數字是78%。由此可見，中國的互聯網用戶還有相當大的增長空間。與此同時，移動互聯網領域的廝殺已經拉開序幕。讓我們看一組數據：“推特”（Twitter）從推出到普及用了整整3年，“新浪微博”用了一年，而“微信”只用了短短6個月，且後來者迅速佔領上風。目前微信的發送量是8.4條/人/天，已超出新浪微博發送量的近3倍。在以“大、雲、平、移”為標誌的第三次工業革命來臨之際，中國與其他發展中國家以及發達國家一起，站在了同一起跑線上。中國能跑多快？人口和市場依舊是我們最大的資本。 13億人口讓我們擁有人力資源上的先機，而每年700萬的大學畢業生更是新興產業的生力軍。相比之下，美國只有288萬、日本101萬、英國67.4萬。當然，要釋放人口和市場中所蘊含的巨大潛力，“可持續發展”的指導思想不可或缺。數字化年代的六大趨勢從早期的個體製作和分散的家庭作坊，到今天虛擬世界里的“�包”和“創客”，人類的歷史仿佛畫了一個圈。但後者是建立在數字化革命的基礎上，是新一輪生產模式革命的髮端以“大、雲、平、移”為基礎的數字化革命正日益改變著傳統的生產方式、交易模式和商業架構，主要呈現出六大趨勢：第一，從“規模經濟”到“規模經濟+範圍經濟”。產品經濟年代，規模越大，產量越高，效益越好。如今，在規模之外，品種也有可能提升效益。美國人克里斯·安德森提出的長尾理論（The Long Tail）認為，由於成本和效率的因素，當商品儲存流通展示的場地和渠道足夠寬廣，並且商品的銷售成本急劇降低時，那些看似需求低的產品，只要有人賣，都會有人買。而且，這些小�產品所占據的市場份額如果集聚起來，也可以達到驚人的數量，甚至可以超過大�主流產品的市場份額。第二，從“單邊市場”到“單邊市場+雙邊市場”。消費模式從傳統的B2C（門店消費），拓展至O2O（線上線下），以及通過社交媒體進行銷售，甚至個性化消費的C2B（消費者對企業），互聯網技術大大減低了個人參與商業貿易活動的障礙和成本。從理論上說，人人都是買家，人人又都可以是賣家。單邊市場演變成了雙邊市場，其對現有社會經濟活動的潛在衝擊不可估量。第三，從“大而全、小而全”，到“外包”、“�包”。企業除核心業務外，非核心業務都可以外包。外包的內容從最初的信息技術外包（ITO），到業務流程外包 （BPO），進而發展到知識外包（KPO）。在外包模式上，以前是B2B，即發包給明確的供應商，現在則發展成B2C的“�包”。例如，iPhone擁有70萬個軟件，iPad擁有27.5萬個軟件，卻沒有一家或幾家供應商能夠擔當如此海量的開發任務。而在�包模式下，全中國已有30萬人在夜以繼日地絞盡腦汁，幫助蘋果開發形形色色的軟件。這就是“�包”的威力所在。國內廣告創意界也有類似的�包平台，“創意功夫網”即是一例。這個網站自稱“在線的頭腦風暴”，旗下的�包網絡匯集了20000多名專業創意賣家，同時還有100多位來自4A級廣告公司的創意總監擔任在線評委。第四，從收費到“收費+免費”。平台經濟的三大特質之一，就是經常提供“免費的午餐”。然而，這免費的背後卻大有深意。例如，諾頓、卡巴斯基和金山毒霸作為長期雄踞市場的殺毒軟件專業戶，一夜之間被奇虎360的免費殺毒軟件攪得亂了方寸。奇虎360的業務模式被稱為Freemium，即Free（免費）+Premium（增值服務）。向個人用戶提供免費的安全和殺毒服務，以此獲取海量用戶。在此基礎上將用戶導入瀏覽器和導航等產品中，向廣告客戶收費，以獲取收入。其他如“支付寶”這樣的第三方支付平台，在為普通個人消費者提供免費服務的同時，向商戶收取年費（開通費和服務費）。第五，從固有市場，到細分與被細分。技術創新降低了經營和交易成本，隨之，市場的細分和再細分成為可能。消費者的異質性需求和“利基市場”（nichemarket）得到更多關注。 “驢媽媽”旅遊網站的創始人洪清華正是敏銳地抓住了日益增長的自助游市場和散客群體的需求，定位於專做景區門票的在線分銷，輔之以面向散客的各種服務和信息，成為旅遊細分市場上的一匹黑馬。第六，發展中國家在搶佔第三次工業革命的先發優勢時，既精心于一次開發，也用心于二次開發。在第一次和第二次工業革命年代，重大科學技術的突破是搶佔先發優勢的門檻。但是在第三次工業革命，即數字化革命時代，這個門檻降低了。發展中國家可以通過對於現有技術、解決方案的深度二次開發，提升優勢，搶佔先機。回顧人類社會的進步歷程，生產模式經歷了一個螺旋式上升的路徑，大致可以分為七個階段，分別為個體製作、手工製造業和家庭作坊、工廠、大規模製造、加工貿易、服務外包、�包和創客。從早期的個體製作和分散的家庭作坊，到今天虛擬世界里的“個體製作”，即“�包”，以及分散的小規模創造，即“創客”，人類的歷史仿佛畫了一個圈。但後者是建立在數字化革命的基礎上，並非回歸原點，而是新一輪生產模式革命的髮端。服務滲透每一個產業隨著分工的深化和交易成本在社會總成本中比重的提高，服務業對於降低成本的作用愈來愈突出。建立強大有效的服務業，就成為提高社會整體經濟效率的基本手段“數字化服務經濟”的另一半是“服務經濟”。切勿將它等同為“服儲存倉業”，服務業只是服務經濟產業結構中的主要產業。我們所謂的“服務經濟”，是服務產業加上一系列與之相匹配、相適應的制度體系。它是以提供服務產品為核心的經濟形態，是繼農業經濟和工業經濟之後的一種新的社會經濟形態。服務經濟的核心要義有二，首當其沖的就是“服務化”，其二是數字化，或言“信息化”。值得關注的是，服務經濟並不是服務業一枝獨秀，製造業可以服務化，農業可以服務化，研發可以服務化，服務業本身還可以推陳出新，深度服務化。製造業服務化。先進的供應鏈管理，是製造業服務化的一個重要表徵。以貿易起家的利豐行現在稱自己為“全球供應鏈管理者”。它的創始人馮柏燎在100多年前定下一個原則：“瞭解買家需求，並且在正確的時間，以正確的數量和可信的質量，有效率地滿足它。”今天，這句話依然被奉為圭臬，但是其實現方式已經發生了巨大的變化——從紡織服裝貿易起家的利豐行，已經向製造業深度滲透，仰賴數字化年代的先進供應鏈管理系統，運作著一家“全球工廠”，每年出口服裝近100億美元。且讓我們來看一條工裝短褲的製造過程——在巴基斯坦紡紗，在中國內地織成布，再用產自中國內地的紐釦和產自日本的拉鏈，在孟加拉國完成成衣製作，經由香港包裝出口，通過美國的零售分銷中心進入銷售渠道。指揮這一系列“動作”的網絡中樞則設在中國香港。利豐行自身沒有一家工廠、一個工人，擔此重任的是誰？利豐的董事長馮國經依靠的是一批“網絡協調員”。農業服務化。相對從“田頭”到“街頭”的傳統農產品供應鏈，在服務經濟年代，這條供應鏈的兩端都延伸了。前端延伸到了用數字化系統選種育種的農作階段，後端則延伸到了餐桌。多利農莊即採用這種“從農作到餐桌”的服務模式，直供細分市場里的客戶。從土壤的改良培育、有機肥研製、有機植保、產品現代化包裝、全程冷鏈配送等各個環節進行管理和把控。運用物聯網等技術實現有機食品質量追溯，個性化提供一站式有機蔬菜配送上門的“宅配”服務。可謂數字化、服務化和農業的一次創新融合。研發服務化。服務經濟年代，一些研發企業日益轉向製造與服務融合發展。位於浦東張江的波匯科技，通過對普通光纖的深度研發，致力于為各種環境和設施建立感知神經網絡，監測溫度、應力、位移、振動、電磁場、氣體等各種物理狀態量，開發出了分佈式光纖測溫系統、光纖火災探測器、光纖安防系統等產品。除了提供產品，它還為客戶提供安裝、調試、系統集成和數據集成等全方位服務，集研發、製造和一攬子服務于一體。服務業的深度服務化。隨著服務業和其他產業的日益融合，服務業自身也開始深度服務化。以銀聯為例，超市和大賣場經常舉辦各種促銷和優惠活動，這與希望不斷擴大用戶量和刷卡金額的銀聯一拍即合。銀聯將觸角伸入了商戶的客戶服務領域，幫助商戶開展優惠折扣、自動抽獎、打折信息發佈等一系列活動。吳敬璉教授曾說道：“隨著分工的深化和交易成本在社會總成本中比重的提高，服務業對於降低成本的作用愈來愈突出。建立強大有效的服務業，就成為提高社會整體經濟效率的基本手段。 ”綜上所述，有了數字化、服務化這兩翼，真可以讓一、二、三產，產產出彩！主動轉型還是倒逼創新？在數字化服務經濟年代，無論是主動轉型還是倒逼創新，“大、雲、平、移”及其所派生的應用，正在超乎我們想象地改變著商業世界的圖景對於是否進入“服務經濟”階段的判定，有幾個不同的標準。凱勒曼（Kellerman，1985）提出的標準是，服務業就業人口超過50%。國際貨幣基金組織和歐洲央行的標準為相關產值和就業均大於60%。維基百科上的定義為服務業產值超過2/3，約為70%。根據統計局公佈的數據，2011年我國服務業增加值占比為43.1%，上海市的服務業占全市GDP的比重已達57.9%。在這樣一個數字化的服務經濟年代，如何進一步因勢而為，推進上海的轉型和創新？首先，為了早日跨入服務經濟之門，制度保障不可或缺。其中包含了稅收、信用、監管、市場准入和統計方法等法律法規體系。一度，營業稅成為我國發展服務業的瓶頸。一些行業全額征稅、重複征稅，導致企業稅負過重，一些跨境業務還涉及國內和出口國雙重征稅。2012年1月1日，上海首輪“營改增”試點選擇了交通運輸業及6個部分現代服務業，即 “6+1模式”。經過一段時間的試點，出現了幾個可喜的效應：抵扣鏈條打通，促進了第二、第三產業的融合發展，各類投資和生產要素向現代服務業加速集聚，國際性跨國公司落戶上海的意願增強。第二，應以數字化推動傳統產業的主動創新。在上海浦東小陸家嘴核心區，“上海中心”即將在2014年竣工。它的主體建築結構高580米、總高度632米，總建築面積高達57.6萬平方米，如同一座小型的“垂直城市”。如此龐大的工程，其建設管理團隊僅有47人！精幹高效的管理，源於其使用的BIM（Build－ing InformationModeling）軟件系統。它將原本粗放、分散的施工模式集成化、模塊化。有數字表明，利用BIM技術的三維可視化流程，可減少50%至70%的信息請求、縮短5%至10%的施工周期、減少20%至25%的各專業協調時間，從而大幅度提高施工單位的總承包、總集成能力，發揮行業整體作戰的組合優勢，同時高效合理地控制工程成本、杜絕貪腐，並有力實現綠色環保的施工理念。探索綜合利用上海的優勢，以及嘗試應用BIM系統軟件的創新之舉，表明瞭上海有能力在全國、全球範圍內完成一個又一個超級工程或次超級工程。這也將成為上海轉型發展上的一張名片。第三，應以市場倒逼轉型與創新。傳統的業態界定和供需關係，正由於阿里巴巴這樣的企業的介入，而經歷著根本性的變化。2012年9月，“三馬”聯手成立�安在線財產保險公司，涉足互聯網保險。這標誌著，阿里作為一個巨大的平台，已在金融界有所斬獲。阿里巴巴手握海量商家資料，有支付機制，有實時通訊工具，有內容載體，也有廣告載體，在B2B、B2C和C2C等領域建立了絕對優勢，日益成為一個對接中小企業和客戶的無比龐大的平台，並提供相應的信息、金融和物流服務。阿里想做金融！這是一個令傳統金融機構以及銀行業步步驚心的問題。如今，支付結算、保險和基金的代銷，信用卡業務和跨境售付匯和結售匯業務都可通過第三方支付機構和支付平台進行，而以阿里金融為代表的非金融小貸企業，正在全面控制傳統商業銀行所不屑一顧的80%的長尾業務。其特色包括按日計息、網絡還貸、無需任何抵押擔保等。阿里金融依靠大數據支撐小微企業的貸款業務，與阿里巴巴、淘寶網、支付寶的底層數據完全打通，將大規模數據雲計算用以分析企業的網上經營信用、交易狀況和投訴糾紛等信息，最終作為貸款的評價標準。以淘寶網為代表的電商已經讓傳統商業不堪其重，謀新求變。而阿里金融也日益讓傳統銀行感受到了“倒逼”的壓力：PC年代銀行業的巨無霸是“工建交農中”，而以“大、雲、平、移”為基礎設施的移動互聯網年代，誰又將執金融行業之牛耳？在數字化服務經濟年代，無論是主動轉型還是倒逼創新，“大、雲、平、移”及其所派生的應用，正在超乎我們想象地改變著商業世界的圖景。當前，上海在“創新驅動、轉型發展”的戰略引導下，也在謀求建設“國際人才高地”。這就要求上海尤其要為引進人才營造一流的創新創業環境。人才，以及培育人才、激發人才創新潛能的制度，是轉型創新的根本推動力之一。迷你倉最平

A century ago, children outnumbered the elderly by as much as 10 to one in most European countries.mini storage Today, there are as many people over the age of 65 as there are under the age of 16. In the United Kingdom, roughly one in six people is 65 or older, compared to one in eight Americans, and one in four Japanese.This shift has been powered by declining birth and infant-mortality rates in the first half of the 20th century, together with rising life expectancy in recent decades. Whatever the causes, many are concerned that, in the coming decades, rapidly aging populations will increasingly strain health, welfare, and social-insurance systems, putting unsustainable pressure on public budgets.But, while such fears are not entirely unfounded, discussions about population aging tend to exaggerate the trend's scale, speed, and impact, owing to a fundamental misperception about how populations grow older. Unlike people, populations do not follow the life cycle of birth, aging, and death. And, while a population's age distribution may change, age becomes an unreliable way to measure a population's productivity as lifespans increase.Age has two components: the number of years a person has lived (which is easy to measure for individuals and populations) and the number of years a person has left to live (which is unknown for individuals, but possible to predict for populations). As mortality declines, remaining life expectancy (RLE) increases for people of all ages. This distinction is crucial, because many behaviors and attitudes (including those that are health-related) may be linked more strongly to remaining life expectancy than to age.The standard indicator of population aging is the old-age dependency ratio (OADR), which divides the number of people who have reached the state pension age by the number of working-age adults. But this approach fails to distinguish between being of working age and actually working, while classifying all people above the statutory pension age as dependents.In fact, social and economic shifts have broken the link between age and dependency. Young people spend an increasing number of years in education, while many older workers retire early, implying that they have sufficient personal savings. In the UK, the 9.5 million working-age dependents (those who are not in paid employment) outnumber those who are above the state pension age and do not work.Moreover, the old-age dependency ratio disregards how, over time, rising life expectancies effectively make people of the same chronological age younger. In 1950, a 65-year-old British woman had an average life expectancy of 14 years; today, she can expect to live another 21 years (the figures are 12 and 18 years, respectively, for men).Different trendsMany other countries, especially in the developed world, have experienced similar shifts, with life expectancy having increased the most in Japan.Meanwhile, some Eastern European countries still lag behind, with no increase having been observed in Russia since 1950.A better measure of population aging's impact is the real elderly dependency ratio (REDR), which divides the total number of people with a remaining life expectance of 15 years or less by the number of peo儲存le actually in employment, regardless of their age. This measure accounts for the real impact of changes in mortality, by allowing the old age boundary to shift as advances in health prolong people's productive lifespans.In recent decades, as the old age dependency ratio has risen in advanced countries, the real elderly dependency ratio has declined. It has, however, stabilized, and is likely to increase gradually over the next couple of decades. In Germany and Italy, the real elderly dependency ratio has been almost flat for two decades, owing to slower employment growth and lower birth rates than elsewhere in the developed world.Immigration has played an important role in depressing many countries' real elderly dependency ratio by raising employment rates. Increased labor-force participation among women has also helped to lower real elderly dependency ratios.Of course, failure to support these trends has the opposite effect. Japan where opposition to immigration and failure to embrace gender equality have led to a rapidly rising real elderly dependency ratio is a case in point.Russia, too, has experienced a substantial increase in its real elderly dependency ratio, owing to post-communist economic dislocation. But the rest of the major emerging economies still have relatively low real elderly dependency ratios.In short, the real elderly dependency ratio tells a very different story from the old age dependency ratio, with at least three important policy implications. First, population aging is no excuse for trimming the welfare state or treating pension arrangements as unsustainable.After all, the phenomenon has been underway for more than a century, and, in some respects, its social and economic impact has been declining in recent decades.Moreover, the real elderly dependency ratio underscores that rising demand for health care and social services is not a function of having a larger share of people above a specific age.Factors like progress in medical knowledge and technology, and the increasing complexity of age-related conditions, are far more relevant.ImplicationsIn fact, while age-specific disability rates seem to be falling, recent generations have a worse risk-factor profile than older ones, owing to trends such as rising obesity rates. The capacity of health-care systems to cope with increasing longevity will therefore depend on the changing relationship between morbidity and remaining life expectancy.The third implication concerns higher education.Elderly people with university degrees (a small minority of their generation) enjoy a substantial longevity advantage. If the life-enhancing effect of higher education persists, population aging can be expected to accelerate further, as the younger, larger, and more highly educated generations grow older.Preparing for and coping with changing demographics requires a more nuanced understanding of what population aging really means. For that, the right indicator — the real elderly dependency ratio — is essential.John MacInnes is professor of sociology and Jeroen Spijker is a senior research fellow at the School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh. Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2013. .project-syndicate.org迷你倉

Source: Erie Times-News, Pa.迷你倉Jan. 03--2013 REVIEWPIAA wrestling championsA year strewn with PIAA gold and silver medalists from for District 10 students began last March at Hershey, site of the state wrestling tournament.Three meet qualifiers, Saegertown lightweight Devin Brown, Reynolds middleweight Austin Matthews and Lakeview heavyweight Sam Breese, each received gold medals from atop the Giant Center's podium as Class AA titlists in their weight classes.Brown became the Panthers' third state champ when he pinned Bethlehem Catholic's Luke Karam in overtime of their 106-pound Class AA championship match. He could win another PIAA title as a Panther come this March, but only now a Franklin Regional Panther. Brown transferred to the Murrysville school for 2013-14.Matthews finally won a state title in his third straight appearance in a PIAA Class AA final. The senior doubled up Coudersport's Kyle Bova 4-2 at 152.Brown's transfer and Matthews' graduation means that Breese is District 10's only returning state champ.Breese, then a junior, thought he was headed to overtime in his 285 final against Port Allegany's Nicholas Budd. However, he reversed Budd as time expired for a dramatic 3-1 decision."I've been working on that (move) all year with extra practices and time in the weight room," Breese said. "It was persevering and never giving up, and now I finally got what I wanted."Meanwhile, Central Tech heavyweight Andrew Welton finished as the state runner-up, and Cathedral Prep's Jake Gromacki took fourth place at 113 pounds -- his third consecutive state medal.PIAA swimming championsDistrict 10 saw three qualifiers each record first-place finishes at the state meet in Lewisburg.Each not only won in their respective finals at Bucknell University's Kinney Natatorium, but did so with diverse back stories.A year after Franklin's Phil Emerson became the program's first-ever PIAA individual champion, he became the first to repeat when he claimed the Class AA boys 100-yard freestyle title with a time of 45.63 seconds. It was Emerson's second gold medal of that meet, as he'd won the 50 free final (20.90) the day before.Fairview qualifier Robert Sikatzki, an exchange student from Leipzig, Germany, also struck gold during each day of that meet. Sikatzki, with his hair dyed to resemble his country's flag, won the 100 butterfly (49.98) by .01 over Eric Tatum of Salisbury. He went on to win the 100 backstroke (49.56) in a final that saw Mercyhurst Prep's Griffin Schaetzle place second (50.80) and Corry's Brent Benedict take third (51.14).Lauren Barber of Wilmington was the district's third PIAA gold medalist. She achieved that even though the school she represented a doesn't have a pool or a program.Barber, who qualified for states through the New Castle YMCA's swimming program, finished second in the Class AA girls 200 freestyle final and first in the 100 breaststroke final. Her low time of 1:02.63 in the latter event nearly erased the state record of 1:02.55."There are no words for this, I'm so ecstatic," Barber said. "I wanted to win, but I also wanted to go (mid-1:02), so to do both is just icing on the cake."PIAA track and field championsWest Middlesex will forever be listed as the Class AA boys team champion for the PIAA's 2013 meet.While true, the Big Reds will forever be indebted to Clay Allen for that title. That's because the senior was personally responsible for nearly two-thirds of their 60 first-place points.Allen, in a span of six hours during the meet's second day, became a four-time gold medalist. He ran a leg of the Big Reds' victorious 400-meter relay (43.41 seconds), ran the fastest in the 100 (10.72) and 200 (22.29) finals and in between surprised even himself by winning the long jump competition (23 feet) even though he was seeded seventh at 22.2."I'm speechless," Allen said. "I didn't think I was going to get four golds when I started this season, maybe one or two. And the long jump (victory), that just shocked me."Erie County had its share of Class AA state champs during that same May 24-25 meet at Shippensburg's Seth Grove Stadium.Northwestern's Kyle McKeen was the first.McKeen, despite a bone-chilling wind, won the boys long jump when he landed at 46-9 1/4 on his second attempt. Later that day, Seneca's Samantha Black made school history when she won the girls discus with a heave of 133-9.That made the senior the school's first PIAA track and field gold medalist."This is probably going to go down in the top three moments of my life," Black said.North East running star Ryan Smathers concluded his career the next day with a gold in the boys 1,600 final (4:22.69) and a silver in the 800.Grace Trucilla, Alison Carson, Bernadette Prichard and anchor Claire Brown also comprised the legs of Villa Maria's winning 3,200 relay (9:29.73). Raven Clark, who ran a leg of that relay when Villa qualified for the final, was also awarded a gold medal.Mercyhurst Prep girls tennis teamLate October and early November isn't a time of year normally associated with tennis.However, interest in that sport when the leaves change color is becoming a norm at Mercyhurst Prep, where the school celebrated team and individual success at the end of the Lakers' 2013 season.Mercyhurst repeated as the PIAA's Class AA team champion with a 4-1 win over Scranton Prep in the Oct. 26 tournament final at the Hershey Racquet Club. It was the 38th consecutive dual victory for the Lakers, who haven't lost since the quarterfinal round of the 2011 state tournament."We don't mind doing this every year," Mercyhurst assistant principal Ed Curtin said during a rally that welcomed home coach Kelly Maslar and the players.Mercyhurst had more tennis to celebrate a week later when Katie Elia and Brittany McBride became the program's third titlists in PIAA Class AA doubles.Elia and McBride went back to Hershey, where the seniors concluded their high school tennis careers with a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Scranton Prep's Grace Reilly and Emily Jonsson in the Nov. 2 championship match."It was a truly perfect ending to a perfect season," Maslar said.Saegertown boys cross country teamSaegertown had an individual state champion with Brown in wrestling, but its boys cross country team made even bigger school history Nov. 2.That morning, the Panthers were collectively swift enough to win the PIAA Class A title. The team was presented the state trophy, a first for any athletic program in the history of the Crawford County school."That's remarkable," Saegertown coach Bill Hetrick said, "because most of the programs you see win (PIAA cross country titles) have track programs. We don't have track. Most of the kids you see here play volleyball in the spring."Brothers Morgan and Matt Schenberg led the Panthers' trailblazing effort at Hershey's Parkview Cross Country Course. Morgan placed 14th overall (17 minutes, 1 second) and Matt was 37th (17:35).Others who contributed to Saegertown's success were Brendon Barclay, Brad Amy, Wyatt Fleischer, Garrett Johnson and Chris Guy.The Class A boys final also featured top-10 results by three District 10 individuals. Maplewood twins Jeremy Parsons (16:25) and Jake Parsons (16:47) were second and sixth respectively, with Mercyhurst Prep's Sebastian Curtin (16:33) sandwiched between them in third.Fort LeBoeuf softball and girls volleyballIt was a year of the near-miss for those Waterford programs.A handful of players on LeBoeuf's 2012 volleyball team, which won the PIAA Class AA title, also competed on its softball team last spring. Those Bison nearly matched the feat the volleyball team accomplished.LeBoeuf, coached by Brian Kirsch, sought to become District 10's first state softball champion outside of Class AA. The Bison made history by reaching a state title game for the first time when they faced Valley View in the Class AAA final at Penn State University on June 14.However, they never recovered from a disastrous first inning when the Cougars scored four runs without a hit off LeBoeuf pitcher Amanda Krolczyk. Valley View counterpart Gina Chieffallo proceeded to shut out the Bison on five hits en route to 5-0 victory."I'm still so proud of these kids," Kirsch said. "They made you want to come to practice. They earned the right to be here, they deserved to be here and I couldn't be more proud of them."The LeBoeuf girls volleyball team then found itself facing Delone Catholic in the Nov. 16 PIAA Class AA final at Central York High School. The circumstances were exactly the same as the year before, when the Bison beat the Squirettes to become Erie County's first state titlists in that sport.Delone Catholic, though, prevailed in the rematch with an exciting 25-14, 15-25, 26-24, 18-25, 15-9 victory."It was really exciting to get here," LeBoeuf's Jolene Young said, "but I wish we could have finished better. I'm real proud of everyone. We worked really hard for this."Girard-Sharon football gameVeterans Stadium has experienced plenty of dramatic games since it opened in 1924, but nothing quite like the one held there Nov. 11.That's when Girard and Sharon met in a District 10 Class AA quarterfinal.The YellowJackets and the Tigers were supposed to meet there two days earlier. However, the game was called off because of an automobile accident that killed Sharon teammates Corey Swartz and Evan Gill, and injured brothers Greg and Craig Osmon, the night before it.Sharon originally chose not to play, but reconsidered after a meeting between coaches, players and family members of the victims. The quarterfinal was hastily rescheduled for the Vet on a Monday night.A driving snowstorm and some last-minute heroics only added to the already emotional atmosphere.The Tigers scored a touchdown with less than three minutes left that gave them a 19-14 lead. However, Girard march 70 yards on its final possession, which was concluded when Bryan Divido scored on a 13-yard pass from quarterback Joe Dunn with 13 seconds left.The forever image from Girard's 22-19 victory soon followed, when Dunn was spotted consoling Sharon player Trenton Mosley."To see that kid in tears after a game like that," Dunn said, "honestly it brought me to tears, and I don't even know the kid. The fact that something like that would happen to a team, I knew I had to walk over and let him know they had some heart coming out and playing."Save-An-Eye milestone gameVeterans Stadium also was the site for the Erie Lions Club Save-An-Eye Game on July 26. It was the 75th game in one of the nation's oldest all-star high school football series.Save-An-Eye officials went old school for the milestone meeting between City and County players who graduated in 2013.Joe Bufalino, who coached Strong Vincent to the 1991 PIAA Class AAA title, coached the City. The County was coached by Jack Bestwick, whose 163 career victories were all at Fairview.Also honored at halftime that night was Fort LeBoeuf graduate Brian Milne, who was presented a jersey signed by every City and County player. Milne missed his senior season with the Bison because of Hodgkin lymphoma, but dramatically returned to compete in the 1991 Save-An-Eye Game and then went on to play at Penn State and in the NFL.As for the game, the City beat the County 17-13. City quarterback Jarrett Koper of McDowell passed for 172 yards and two touchdowns, including the game-winning, 40-yard score to Cathedral Prep graduate Brendan Klemensic with less than 6 minutes left in the fourth quarter."It was just so much fun to be back out there," said Koper, who missed most of his senior season with the Trojans because of a broken leg.Andy Schulz retiresThere were strands of Lou Gehrig's famous retirement speech when Andy Schulz talked about stepping down as General McLane's boys basketball coach after the 2012-13 season."It really has been a joy to coach at General McLane throughout my entire career," said Schulz, whose record there was 600-179 over 29 seasons. "I've said it before and I truly mean it: I am the luckiest coach in America to be surrounded by such great people from the players to the families, administrators and assistant coaches."One of Schulz's assistants was Roy Stauffer, whom Schulz actually replaced as coach in 1984. They were court side when McLane won the 2006-07 PIAA Class AAA championship, the highlight self storagef Schulz's tenure.McLane wasted little time in naming Brian Schulz, Andy's son, as successor for the program. Brian Schulz played for his father in the early 2000s and assisted him later that decade."I really feel fortunate to be part of a great program that my dad built," Brian Schulz said.Besides that state title seven years ago, McLane also won 17 league and eight District 10 championships under Andy Schulz's guidance.In memoriamThe year 2013 included the deaths of Jack Yaple, Harry Boback and Pat DiPaolo, three people with strong connections to three distinct District 10 sports.Yaple, who founded the Wattsburg Wrestling Club in 1981 and coached Seneca's varsity wrestling program for 23 seasons, died April 29 at age 62. He resigned from the Bobcats after the 2012-13 season in order to fight the lung cancer he was originally diagnosed with the previous fall."I never dreamed I'd be there 23 years," Yaple said in a March 10 Erie Times-News article. "But, hey, I love the sport and kept sticking with it."Yaple's Seneca teams went 174-155 in dual meets. He was in Mike Wroblewski's corner when Wroblewski won the PIAA Class AA 130-pound title in 1996, and also watched Matt Mongera receive the Class AA 215-pound silver medal at the 2010 state tournament.Boback, 88, and DiPaolo, 44, died five days apart in August.Harry Truman was President when Boback became a PIAA-certified basketball referee in 1950. Barack Obama occupied the Oval Office by the time World War II veteran and Bay City Forge employee finally whistled his last game in 2011.PIAA administrator Cathy Good said Boback was still listed as an active official at the time of his death, which meant he was considered part of the organization for 63 years. He was one of 65 acknowledged officials who worked more than 50 years."I've enjoyed every minute of it," Boback said in a 2010 Times-News article, "and it was truly the best feeling that's ever happened to me. It's kept me thinking clearly, and I feel fresh and young."DiPaolo, a significant figure at three Erie schools, saw his life cut short by a lengthy illness.The 1987 Cathedral Prep graduate played football for the Ramblers and went on to coach his alma mater's junior varsity program in that sport. He left in 1999 to become the football coach at Central Tech, where he led the Falcons for four seasons.DiPaolo then accepted the assistant principal position at East. He was that school's principal at the time of his illness and retirement."There are so few people in the world that, the first time you meet them, you just know you're going to get along," Central Tech athletic director Greg Holland said about DiPaolo. "Usually, there's a warming-up period for me. Not with Pat. He was a wonderful person."-- Mike Copper2014 PREVIEWClass AAAA footballDistrict 10 will hold a Class AAAA championship game for the first time in seven years.That was a bittersweet development for a McDowell football program which sought to return to District 7 membership for the PIAA's next two-year cycle.District 10 officials forced the Trojans to return as one of their teams for 2012 and 2013, but then granted their release upon the conclusion of this past season.McDowell immediately applied for WPIAL membership in football but was rejected during the organization's Dec. 16 board meeting."We were really hopeful after several years of good experiences with WPIAL schools that we would have been reinstated for the next cycle," McDowell principal Tim Rankin said in an Erie Times-News article. "We wanted that consistent level of competition, and it would have been a really good opportunity for our program."Since the PIAA doesnt include independent teams in its postseason football brackets, the Trojans were forced to reapply to District 10. They were welcomed back, and will now automatically take on General McLane in the first Class AAAA final since Cathedral Prep edged McDowell 15-13 in 2007.McLane was classified a Class AAA program for 2014 and 2015 but opted to play up for the next enrollment cycle."We felt that we have a chance to do what's best for the student-athletes of General McLane," athletic director Rob Kennerknecht said, "and give them an opportunity to compete at the highest level."McDowell footballWho coaches the Trojans in that game was unknown when the calendar flipped to 2014.That's because Mark Soboleski announced his resignation Dec. 19, three days after the WPIAL's decision to reject the Trojans for the upcoming cycle.Soboleski's record was 45-26 in six seasons as coach of his alma mater, which included a 4-2 record against Cathedral Prep."Increasing challenges within the program have made it so that I'm unable to continue to coach the way I feel is most conducive to my coaching style and to the success of the program," Soboleski said. "I feel that I impacted the players and I hope they got as much from me as I got from them. I will miss the players and wish them well."District 10's new two-year cycleGeneral McLane's football team wasn't the school's only athletic program that made news when District 10's new classifications were announced.The Lancers also will compete as a Class AAAA team in girls basketball for the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons. They'll be joined by Fort LeBoeuf and Warren, who also could have opted to compete in Class AAA.The Girard girls basketball team, a longtime Class AA participant, also opted to compete in their designated Class AAA level.Mercyhurst Prep's decade-long reign as District 10's Class AA girls tennis champion could be a reason Fairview and Warren opted to move up to Class AAA for their 2014 and 2015 seasons. McDowell is District 10's only Class AAA team, although Central Tech chose to play up in recent seasons.Other programs that volunteered to play up over the next two-year cycle are Strong Vincent boys cross country (Class AAA) and Meadville softball (Class AAAA).Erie First Christian Academy boys basketballErie First, coached by Phil Gernovich, is 4-5 in its first season as a full-fledged District 10 program.However, the former New Penn Conference team and current non-region entrant showed it could be a viable selection to the Class A playoffs.The Eagles upset Girard, a traditional District 10 power, 49-43 in the Dec. 27 semifinals of the C. Thomas Barringer Classic at Iroquois. They kept up with East in the ensuing final before the Warriors prevailed 62-59.Erie First features local players like Luke Hess and Logan Kallay, but it's most notable presence is Olusola "Valentine" Sangoyami. The 6-foot 11-inch senior center from Nigeria is a force in the post.Erie First resumes play Tuesday against Cambridge Springs. The most intriguing games left on the Eagles' schedule are Jan. 10 at Cochranton and Feb. 6 at Kennedy Catholic. The Cardinals and Golden Eagles are two of the top teams in District 10 Class A and possible playoff opponents for Erie First.Competitive spiritBefore last year, most fans watched school cheerleaders perform their routines during breaks in the action of District 10 athletic events.That all changed last Jan. 26, when those cheerleaders were the actual event itself.More than 300 fans showed up that day at Fairview, which hosted District 10's inaugural girls competitive spirit championships. Five of the eight squads advanced to the inaugural PIAA meet, held at historic Hersheypark Arena.One of the squads which made that trip was Harbor Creek, which won the district's medium-school division."We've won meets before," Huskies co-captain Eva Chase said, "so it's not a different feeling for us. But being taken so seriously like this and having a lot of support from our school here is just overwhelming."Whether the intense interest in that meet was a one-time thing or not will be learned Jan. 11, when this season's District 10 meet takes place at McDowell Intermediate High School.However, it's very likely that competitive spirit is here to stay as a state-sanctioned sport. The PIAA expanded its 2014 meet to two days, Jan. 24-25, and moved it to the Giant Center in Hershey.Junior golf programCathedral Prep coach Jay Willow anticipated 20 to 30 kids for last summer's inaugural Flagship City Junior Golf Tour.That prediction by the Erie District Golf Association's new executive director was wrong when the first event was held June 12. Turnout that day at Corry's North Hills Golf Course exceeded 50 players.Willow helped create the tour as a way to keep junior high and varsity golfers sharp during the summer, as well as closer to home. Their only viable option before then was to compete in the Ohio-heavy North Coast Junior Tour."When the younger players get to be freshmen in high school," Willow said, "the first time they play competitive golf won't be so daunting for them."The 2014 Flagship Tour is scheduled to start June 17 at Downing Golf Course.BaseballMaybe no team is more emblematic of District 10's collective frustration in the PIAA playoffs than the 2013 Saegertown Panthers.Saegertown, a Class AA program, beat Class AAAA McDowell and Class AAA Cathedral Prep last season. They did so with a roster that had three players, highlighted by University of Miami (Ohio) recruit Stephen Sada, who were all-District 10 selections.Still, the Panthers were eliminated in the first round of the Class AA state tournament. So were District 10 Class A titlist Cochranton and Class AAA champ Slippery Rock. McDowell never made it that far, losing to DuBois in a PIAA Class AAAA subregion game.Those losses mean the 2014 season will be District 10's latest chance to claim a PIAA title in that sport since state play began in 1977. Linesville (Class A, 1999), Sharpsville (Class A, 2000) and Villa Maria (Class A, 2006) are the only three teams ever to vie for that honor.LacrosseDistrict 10's growth in the sport will continue this year with the addition of a boys team in Meadville. The Bulldogs were added as a PIAA-sanctioned program after competing the last two springs as a club sport.Meadville, coached by John Heflin, is expected to play District 10's existing programs at Fairview, McDowell and Cathedral Prep.Donald Benedict will coach the Ramblers when their new season starts. The former Mercyhurst University player took over for Jeff Lord, who had led the team since its inaugural season in 2006.The McDowell boys and Fairview girls will be the district's defending champions this spring.Cathedral Prep tennisThe PIAA singles and doubles tournaments were open class events, and its team tournament more than a decade from its debut, the last time the Ramblers played a season without Kent Peightal in charge.Peightal announced his retirement last August after 26 seasons at Prep. The Ramblers won 280 dual matches during his tenure, plus eight District 10 titles in singles, 17 in doubles and eight as a team.Pat Grab was one of the players Peightal coached with the Ramblers. Grab was hired to replace Peightal for the 2014 season after assisting him since 2010."It's an honor to take over a program that Kent has built up to such high standards," Grab was quoted in the Prep news release announcing Peightal's decision. "Tennis has been one of the most successful sports at Prep because of him. The tennis team won't be the same without him."Varsity CupSome of District 10's best players, teams and moments from 2013-14 will be honored when the Varsity Cup awards dinner takes place June 4. The fourth annual event will return to the Marriott Hotel's Ambassador Center.John Liesering will return as the master of ceremonies, with the keynote speaker to be determined. Previous speakers were Meadville native Amy Palmiero-Winters, a Sullivan Award winner as the nation's top amateur athlete; Edinboro University athletic director Bruce Baumgartner, a four-time Olympic medalist in wrestling; and actor Marc Blucas, a two-time PIAA basketball champion at Girard who went on to play for Wake Forest.McDowell was the Varsity Cup winner for 2012-13. Cathedral Prep/Villa Maria (305 points) led the current Cup standings after the fall sports season, with Mercyhurst Prep second (240), Hickory third (250) and McDowell fourth (225).-- Mike CopperCopyright: ___ (c)2014 the Erie Times-News (Erie, Pa.) Visit the Erie Times-News (Erie, Pa.) at .GoErie.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷利倉

Royal Bank of Scotland, brought to its knees in 2008 and still dogged by bad debt and a tattered reputation, needs to get back to basics and focus on customer service, says CEO Ross McEwan.迷你倉 By Cai HaoxiangASKED about possible job cuts for the 125,000 staff of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), Ross McEwan turns the question to what jobs are needed for the bank to better serve its customers. "I don't think it's a matter of 'what's the number'," says the newly-appointed RBS CEO, who is steering the nationalised British giant through a business review and trying to restore its damaged standing with customers."We need to think about what's important for customers, what are their needs, what would they pay for, and have an organisation that's flexible enough to provide those services at a price they'll pay. That's going to be the next five years for us," he tells BT in a recent interview.For example, the mix of RBS employees will change over time to have more in the front-end departments, and fewer in the administrative and operational back-end functions, Mr McEwan says. "We will reshape our business. Because I need more people at the front of our business facing customers... and more economies of scale at the back."These are the things we are now able to concentrate on given that we're a good, sound organisation again. For five years we've been trying to save the organisation, we're now past that."Mr McEwan, a 56-year-old New Zealander who started his managerial career in human resources, went on to insurance and retail banking, and became RBS's chief executive in October, continues to face a rough road ahead.Despite being slowly patched back to financial health after a dramatic collapse and contentious bailout in the global financial crisis of 2008-9, RBS, a lending giant in the UK, is still dogged by a massive portfolio of bad assets and a tattered reputation.Just last month, the bank suffered an IT systems failure in the UK that left many customers unable to withdraw cash or pay for goods on a busy shopping day. The bank admitted to having neglected its IT systems for decades. A week later, finance chief Nathan Bostock resigned from his post after less than 10 weeks on the job.Right now, accusations on two issues still stand out, related to the bank's troubled past. The first is that after reckless lending in the lead-up to the financial crisis, the bank "swung too hard to one side", as Mr McEwan had put it, and did not want to lend to deserving small and medium enterprises (SMEs), being too complicated and too slow to meet the needs of customers.The second is more damaging, one which Mr McEwan denies. A report by businessman and government adviser Lawrence Tomlinson at the end of November has accused the bank's turnaround division, Global Restructuring Group, of deliberately bankrupting distressed clients to make a profit for the bank.RBS has appointed law firm Clifford Chance to examine these allegations, and has rejected the claims that there was a "systematic" effort to profit from distressed customers, saying no evidence has been provided for this. "The review will investigate the claim fully and I will report back on its findings," Mr McEwan says. "It is vital that we enjoy the trust of our customers and I cannot allow these allegations to undermine that trust."As far as he was concerned, it was time the bank moved on. "As ever with any long and difficult job, a degree of weariness and even defensiveness has crept in. We have got to move on as a company," he told RBS employees in his first message to them as CEO on Nov 1.The way to do so, from his perspective, is quite simple: go beyond cleaning up bad assets, and get to the nitty-gritty of customer service by simplifying transactions, improving processes, and thus cutting down on wasted time and creating efficiencies. Getting these basics right will grow revenues and make the bank profitable, he says."The heart of our performance problem is quite easy to understand: we make it too hard for customers to do business with us and too hard for our people to serve those customers well," he said in his message. "We still receive far too many complaints, often on issues that would never arise if our systems and processes were more effective."We are the biggest backer of small businesses in the UK. Every year we speak to thousands of potential new small business customers but at the moment we don't convert enough of those conversations into actual new loans."And we haven't made the most of the opportunities in our international network by connecting the different parts of our corporate franchise to the needs of our customers."Changing processesFor a start, over the last few months, RBS has cut down the time taken to get new customers onto its transaction platform to five days, down from an astonishing 62 days before."There was no change in the system but we changed the process," Mr McEwan says.On how it once took so long, he explains: "Over time, in any organisation, these things build up and up and people add pieces to it... instead of saying what is it we really need from the customer, what does customer really want, and paring it back to the essentials."Technology can also be connected together to cut down on processes like doing checks on customers. Anti-money laundering checks can be automated. Checks on meeting regulations in each country can all be done in one place.Mr McEwan says he is pushing his staff to do more. "The challenge I have for them is, could you turn the five days to actually one day, or less than one hour, have it completely automated, so customers can sign up and use the electronic or manual platform."It's about pushing the organisation into being simpler and easier to operate. You can do (the process) in front of the customer and have them signed up and ready to go with all the detail and the documentation." Mr McEwan gives another example. RBS is still taking up to five weeks to get an agricultural loan approved in the UK, he notes."To me the question is, why isn't it five days? Why would you make the customer wait that long? There are internal roadblocks of making sure we had the right data correctly, and putting it through a process. There are too many people involved and not enough accountability at the front of the business to put the loan in and get the data right."Maybe only have two people involved rather than five people involved. We've become far too bureaucratic."Good bank, bad bankInefficiencies like these, while having increased costs and frustrations for customers, were not what brought RBS to its knees five years ago.In the decade leading up to the global financial crisis, RBS had embarked on a series of ambitious bank takeovers, growing so big that it became, for a while, the largest bank in the world.Bad bets, such as its purchase of parts of Dutch bank ABN Amro in 2007, weak capital, doubtful assets, an exposure to subprime mortgage assets in the US, and the credit-starved environment caused by the systemic banking crisis in 2008, all mini storageombined to deplete the bank's cash reserves. The British government then stepped in to bail the bank out. Today it has an 81 per cent stake.Despite billions of pounds of asset sales and tens of thousands of job cuts, it was still unclear as late as last October if the bank would survive. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, the British equivalent of the finance minister, was still weighing whether to break the bank up into a "good" bank - the profitable parts that can be saved and eventually sold back to the private sector - and put its non-performing loans and other doubtful assets into a "bad" bank.The costs and risks of breaking up RBS were eventually deemed too much. On Nov 1, at its third quarter results, RBS announced it would create an internal "bad bank" to hold an estimated ¢G38 billion (S$79 billion) of commercial real estate and troubled loans and to sell them quickly over the next few years to strengthen the bank financially. The bulk of impairments and disposal losses will hit RBS' financials in the years through to 2016, it said.To raise more capital, RBS will also speed up the sale of its US subsidiary, Citizens Financial Group, and targets an initial public offering this year, with a full divestment by end-2016.The risky assets in the internal bad bank, including various loans and Irish commercial real estate assets. should be easier to sell, now that the world is growing. "There's a market for these assets now. People want to buy them. It's surprising how many people are after them," Mr McEwan notes.Meanwhile, costs need to go down from a cost-to-income ratio of 65 per cent, to somewhere in the mid-50s, Mr McEwan says. Results of an ongoing business review will be completed next month, when the bank reports its full-year results.The review, essentially, focuses on the front end, back end, and the organisational structure as a whole.On the front, the bank is finding out that while it operates in 38 countries, its customer base in these countries is not well connected together. Asia is a prime example, where only 10 per cent of RBS' business in Asia is linked to its UK operations. RBS can better support its existing UK customers who trade in Asia, support its Asian clients doing business in the UK and Europe, and attract new customers from Asia who trade in the UK, Mr McEwan says.RBS will focus on its strengths in the debt capital markets, cash management, trade finance, and risk management in foreign exchange and rates, he adds.On the back end, information technology systems and operations functions could work together better. Functions done cheaper elsewhere might actually lead to more inefficiencies."For example, for a transaction account in the UK, somebody at the front could do some data work on it, go to back office, scan it onto India, India would put it onto the system, and it would come back to the front. The question I'm asking is, why doesn't the person just do that at the front, be they sitting in Singapore, Hong Kong, or India."India was cheaper but the problem is you're relying on a back-end process that's not connected to what's in the front," he says. "This is an instantaneous world. You want today a mobile app to do it all for you, you want to see your data right now."Finally, RBS itself is being streamlined to take out layers of bureaucracy and non-core business layers. For example, it had hived off its insurance business to form the Direct Line Insurance Group in 2012. After the company's initial public offering then, RBS had been slowly whittling down its stake. RBS now owns 28.5 per cent, and has said it will sell off the rest of its holdings by end-2014.Now, the bank is looking at "how do we structure the corporate office, across human resources, compliance, risk, any support functions, how do we make them connect to our businesses better", Mr McEwan says.Exciting businessAll this seems daunting. But Mr McEwan says he enjoys the challenge. Born in New Zealand in 1957, he had majored in personnel management and industrial management at university in the late 1970s before beginning his career in human resources in multinationals Unilever, Dunlop, and insurance giant National Mutual. Mr McEwan rose fast, becoming chief executive of AXA New Zealand, which had taken over National Mutual, before he turned 40."I soon realised that I actually enjoyed running businesses, so got into the sales force of National Mutual, then ran the life insurance business in New Zealand," he says. "To me, running a business is the most exciting path. It brings together the dynamics of strong people skills, focusing on customers, and connecting people with other businesses."Mr McEwan then went on to stockbroking firm First NZ Capital Securities, and then the Commonwealth Bank at Australia where he focused on retail banking. He lost out on the top job there in an internal race, but was then poached by RBS in 2012 to run its retail operations.Thereafter, he kept a relatively low profile, until he was asked in mid-August 2013 to replace Stephen Hester, the former RBS CEO who had overseen the rescue job of the bank from 2008 to 2013."I thought it would be a great role to have to follow on from what Stephen had done," Mr McEwan says. "I was very excited about it. I thought we could again recreate a really good bank out of RBS and all its subsidiaries."There is a tailwind that is helping: The British economy seems to be "quietly improving" with unemployment drifting down and corporate activity is picking up, he adds.Ultimately, he sees RBS as a traditional bank, going back to its roots to lend money to customers and protect them from fluctuations. "We're a very big transactions service bank. We move money on behalf of customers. That's what we do very well... We will get most of what we want to achieve (in terms of focusing on the customer) in three years," he says."We focused on saving the bank in the last five years, now we'll put all that energy into the customer."It's all around execution. Many people think, oh it's only IT, oh it's only processes. But you can connect processes with technology and the ability of people."haoxiang@sph.com.sgROSS MAXWELL MCEWANCEO, Royal Bank of Scotland1957 Born in Hastings, New Zealand1979 Graduated with Bachelor of Business Studies, majoring in Industrial Relations & Personnel Management, Massey University, New Zealand1980 Personnel manager, Unilever, NZ1984 Personnel manager, tyre division, Dunlop, NZ1986 Human resources manager, National Mutual, NZ1990 General manager of agency operations, National Mutual, followed by various managerial positions1996 Stanford University-National University of Singapore executive programme1996 CEO of AXA New Zealand, after buyout of National Mutual by AXA2001 CEO of First NZ Capital Securities2002 Head of ASB Group Investment and head of retail bank, ASB Bank2006 Executive general manager, Commonwealth Bank of Australia2007 Group executive of retail banking services, Commonwealth Bank of Australia2012 CEO of UK Retail, RBSOct 1, 2013 CEO of RBS儲存

【特訊】立法會議員關翠杏提書面質詢，迷你倉問當局會否跟隨香港要求銀行取消對低額存戶和不動戶收費，其書面質詢如下：「澳門消費者委員會二○一○年的調查顯示，本澳各家銀行基本都有對不動戶口進行收費的規定，有部分銀行甚至對存款低於一定金額的存戶收取服務費，有關做法對客戶、尤其是弱勢社群並不公平！兩個月前，香港金融管理局與香港銀行公會，已聯同當地廿二間銀行簽署了《公平待客約章》，推動銀行公平對待所有客戶，並有至少五間當地銀行率先宣佈取消不動戶口的收費，相信其後亦會有更多銀行跟隨加入。而香港銀行公會亦已發函所有會員銀行，鼓勵銀行檢討小額存款戶的收費方式，並建議銀行不設最低存款額收費，亦已有銀行響應豁免屬弱勢社群的小額存戶收費。反觀澳門，暫時在這方面仍未見有任何舉措。根據資料，本澳各銀行當年是跟隨香港銀行的做法，實施對低額存戶和不動戶進行收費。而現時香港銀行既已陸續取消相關收費，本地亦應跟隨，對此，澳門金融管理局實有責任推動本澳銀行履行社會責任，取消有關收費，讓不同經濟能力的銀行存戶都能更公平地獲得服務。另一方面，該局負有指導、統籌及監察本澳貨幣、金融、外匯及保險活動及市場的職責，確保其正常運作，對於迷你倉將軍澳及居民切身利益的銀行卡安全問題，亦有必要儘快作出跟進和推動。為此，本人向當局提出以下質詢：一、就香港金融管理局與香港銀行公會推出措施，鼓勵銀行取消不動戶及低額存戶收費的做法，當局會否跟進並推動全澳各家銀行取消有關收費？二、因應近年本澳曾發生多宗居民因銀行卡資料被盜取後，個人存款在外地被人盜取的案件，本人去年曾就銀行卡的安全問題兩次質詢當局。當局曾表明本澳銀行將於二○一四年完成晶片借記卡的更換工作，不過據居民反映，部分於今年才更換的借記卡仍是磁帶卡，到底當局會如何跟進有關情況？怎樣確保所有銀行能在限期內更換晶片借記卡，以保障銀行卡的交易安全？三、為更好地防止跨境盜取存款的犯罪，香港金融管理局已於二○一三年三月一日要求發卡銀行，將所有香港發行的借記卡和信用卡的境外自動櫃員機提款功能預設為『未啟動』，並由持卡人自行申請更改設定和內容。本人曾就有關問題質詢當局，可惜未獲回覆，基於現時本澳部分銀行已率先推出上述措施，究竟當局是否會有措施推動本澳所有銀行跟從有關做法？對於借記卡消費功能設置上，金管局曾表示會對其開通，包括預設為『未啟動』等問題作出跟進，以保障本澳居民的存款安全，究竟現時進展如何？」倉