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f1 · 1 year

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Norris says McLaren 'can't be satisfied' with 2022 season after P5 finish

Lando Norris says McLaren “can’t be satisfied” with fifth place in the constructors’ standings, and insists his team must improve if they are to achieve their goals of one day winning the championship. Norris had a strong individual season as he finished a best-of-the-rest seventh place in the drivers’ championship – although he says he "hates that saying" – and was the only non Red Bull, Ferrari or Mercedes driver to score a podium in 2022. However, his McLaren team finished 14-points adrift of fourth-placed Alpine in the constructors’ standings. Asked at the season finale in Abu Dhabi how he reflected on the year, Norris admitted that McLaren had not met their pre-season expectations but he praised the team for recovering from their tough start at the opening race in Bahrain – where Norris finished 15th behind team mate Daniel Ricciardo in P14. READ MORE: McLaren announce IndyCar champ Alex Palou as reserve driver for 2023 “I mean from where we were in race one, I think we’ve done a good job, we’ve recovered well. If I think of before the season, did we achieve in 2022 what we should’ve done as McLaren? Honestly, it’s no,” Norris admitted. “If we want to do well and we want to be champions at some point and we want to win races, we can’t be satisfied with where we have been this season. But we can certainly be satisfied with the progress we’ve made, from the mechanics, with our pit stops, our strategy, the whole team, the work ethic. So many things are working well, it’s just that we need a slightly better car.” Norris says the characteristics of McLaren's 2022 car must be improved over the winter When questioned about the issues with their 2022-spec MCL36, Norris said: “It’s just our car. So, the characteristics of the car… when I have enough front, for me its front, all I need is front in my car. READ MORE: Best drives, biggest shocks, and funniest moments – Our writers reflect on the thrilling 2022 season "I don’t need rear tyres. When I have front, we can be quick. We know we can perform well like [in qualifying in Abu Dhabi] and [in the race] when I put on a set of new tyres, we were very quick. But we just kill the tyres within like five, six laps and as soon as we destroy the front tyres we are seconds off." He added: "We are half a second, one second off. So, it’s just the characteristic, what the car relies on too much. But we know all of this. We’ve known it. It’s something we’ve had for years, sadly, and it’s our job to get rid of that for next season.” Norris says he still has faith that McLaren can turn their performance around Prior to the start of the 2022 season, Norris signed a multi-year contract extension to stay with McLaren until 2025 and the six-time podium finisher insists he has full belief his team can make their way up the grid. READ MORE: 'A pretty special one' – Piastri hails 'awesome' first day with McLaren at Abu Dhabi test “It’s just faith, it’s just honesty, that’s the main things I need,” said Norris when asked what assurances McLaren had given him about moving in the right direction. “I’m not a guy who in any way likes BS, or who likes people trying to make me happy. I like just people being honest. “I have faith in McLaren, I have faith in the guys I work with, the whole team. But time will tell. You can never be a hundred per cent certain where you are going to be, but you can have a good shot at it.” via Formula 1 News https://www.formula1.com

#F1 #Norris says McLaren 'can't be satisfied' with 2022 season after P5 finish #Formula 1

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nidhishoppingdeals · 22 days

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Price Alert! Mastering the Art of Snagging Dream Smartphones with Notification Magic

The dynamic world of smartphones is a haven for innovation, but navigating the ever-fluctuating mobile price in UAE can be a daunting task. Flagship releases often boast hefty price tags, leaving budget-conscious shoppers yearning for a better deal. But fear not, tech-savvy consumers! This guide empowers you to become a master deal hunter through the power of price alerts.

Here, we delve into the art of setting up price alerts, ensuring you never miss a lucrative smartphone offer in the UAE, whether you're in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, or any other Emirate. We'll explore popular platforms offering price alerts, unveil strategies for maximizing their effectiveness, and equip you with valuable tips for securing the best mobile phone offers on your dream device.

Why Price Alerts? Your Secret Weapon in the Mobile Market

Price alerts act as your personal guardian angel in the ever-changing mobile landscape. These automated notifications keep you informed the moment a specific phone's price drops, allowing you to capitalize on limited-time deals and flash sales. With price alerts, you can ditch the constant price checking across retailers and online stores, freeing up valuable time while ensuring you snag the best mobile phone offers in the UAE.

Optimizing Your Price Alerts: Strategies for Success

Specificity is Key: Don't settle for generic alerts. Specify the exact model, storage capacity, and color variant you desire for the most accurate notifications.

Set Your Target Price: Don't just wait for a price drop. Research typical mobile phone offers in the UAE for your desired model and set a target price alert, ensuring you secure the best deal.

Monitor Multiple Sources: Don't rely on a single platform. Utilize price alerts across various websites and apps to gain a comprehensive picture of available mobile phone offers.

Combine Price Alerts with Research: Price alerts inform you about price changes, but research is vital. Before purchasing, assess user reviews, compare specifications with similar models, and ensure the price reduction aligns with the phone's overall value.

Beyond Notifications: Additional Tips for Securing the Best Mobile Phone Offers in the UAE

Embrace the Power of Patience: Major shopping holidays like Eid al-Fitr and Dubai Shopping Festival often witness significant price drops on mobile phones in the UAE. Strategically timing your purchase can result in significant savings.

Explore Trade-In Programs: Many retailers offer trade-in programs that allow you to exchange your old phone for a discount on a new one. This can significantly offset the cost of your new device.

Consider Refurbished Phones: Eco-conscious shoppers can explore certified refurbished phones. These pre-owned devices undergo rigorous testing and refurbishment, offering excellent value for money with significant savings compared to brand new models.

Compare Mobile Phone Plans: Don't just focus on the mobile phone price in UAE. Analyze mobile phone offers bundled with service plans from providers like Etisalat and du. Sometimes, opting for a bundled plan with a handset contract can be more cost-effective in the long run.

Conclusion: From Price Alerts to Smartphone Bliss

By mastering the art of price alerts and incorporating the additional tips outlined above, you'll transform yourself from a passive observer to a proactive deal hunter. The UAE boasts a vibrant and competitive mobile phone market, and with the right strategies, you can snag your dream smartphone at a price that makes your tech-savvy heart sing! So, set your price alerts, research diligently, and get ready to experience the exhilaration of securing a fantastic smartphone deal in the dynamic mobile landscape of the UAE.

#mobile price in uae #mobile offers #mobile phones #mobile price in abudhabi

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citizenrecord · 1 year

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Europe a 'few years' away from overcoming energy deficit, OMV chief says

Europe is a “few years” away from overcoming its current energy deficit triggered by the loss of Russian gas supply, according to Alfred Stern, chief executive of Austrian energy group OMV.

The continent is in the middle of its worst energy crisis after Russia, the region’s biggest natural gas supplier, curtailed exports sharply in response to EU sanctions over its military offensive in Ukraine.

However, the crisis has been a few years in the making. Spending on new oil and gas projects has nearly dried up amid pressure from investors, who have adopted more pro-renewable energy strategies in recent years.

This issue is “bigger than Europe” and is a result of underinvestment in the energy sector, as well as from “thinking that we could magically move to renewable energy overnight”, Mr Stern told The National at the Adipec energy summit in Abu Dhabi.

“Fixing this up will require significant investments, and typically, our industry is one that has very long investment cycles,” he said.

Upstream oil and gas investment needs to increase and be sustained near the pre-coronavirus levels of $525 billion through to 2030 to ensure market balance, according to the International Energy Forum.

Upstream investment in 2021 was depressed for a second consecutive year at $341bn — about 25 per cent below 2019 levels.

To replace Russian gas in the short-term, some European countries have brought coal-fired power plants back into operation and this has triggered concerns about their ability to meet climate commitments.

“Too much coal power is coming back on stream, but the carbon-dioxide footprint is much better with natural gas … we should make sure that we bring this back on track because, otherwise, we are going to go backwards on climate change,” said Mr Stern.

Europe boosted its liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports from the US and Gulf countries before the start of the peak winter season.

Austria’s gas storage sites are completely full and now the EU country is looking to secure supplies for 2023.

Last week, OMV signed a preliminary agreement with Adnoc with the aim of purchasing an LNG cargo for next year’s winter.

“Even if the Russian supplies should stop, we can supply 100 per cent of our customers in Austria with non-Russian gas … we are already looking to next winter and that is why it was important to sign this [deal],” said Mr Stern.

OMV, which has a long-term LNG contract with Qatar, is “also looking at the US and other sources of supply”, said Mr Stern.

The US, which exported 11.1 billion cubic feet per day of LNG in the first half of 2022, has more LNG export capacity than any other country, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

The current strains on gas supply have led to energy shortages in several parts of the developing world that rely on imported gas, notably Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Meanwhile, major growth markets for gas, such as India and China, have sharply reduced their LNG imports in 2022.

“Developing countries can no longer afford the [high LNG prices] … we need to ramp up capacity,” said Mr Stern.

#BUSINESS #ENERGY #OIL AND GAS #EUROPE

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meaningofmotorsport · 3 years

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My opinion of the F1 teams and drivers so far this year!

As F1 is currently on its summer break, I thought it would be a good time to give my report on how each team is fairing so far in 2021!

With this year’s car being very similar to the previous year’s one, it was expected that it would be as easy this year for Mercedes as it was last year! However, with some new rules which were clearly aimed at slowing down Mercedes, it has become a much more difficult prospect for them! On the whole, they have handled it pretty well, I don’t think they have the fastest car, at least over the tracks we have seen so far, so to be leading both titles is a good job, even if it has happened through luck and certain circumstances! Mercedes cannot be totally happy though, as they have lost out on a bag of points through strategy errors, and the car just not working at some tracks. Hamilton has not been perfect this year, with some misjudgements creeping into his game, yet he has been pretty close to it, and will need to stay at that level to keep up with Max. His fitness is a real concern, due to long covid symptoms! As for Bottas, with no wins to his name, and some pretty diabolical weekends to add to that, it has been a sub-par year for him to say the least. Plus, now was when he least needed it, with a massive threat from Russell for his seat!

Despite it being their best start to a season for many years, Red Bull have been massively unlucky so far. If luck was on their side, they would have a big title lead in both standings, but that is not how it has worked out, and the team needs to pick themselves up and come back stronger! They have the fastest car, Perez is getting better by the weekend, and with Lewis showing signs of weakness, and Mercedes potentially signing Russell, it could cause drama at their team too! This season could well come down to the mental strength of Red Bull, which they showed none of after Silverstone, and their overreaction undoubtedly distracted them going into Hungary, where Mercedes beat them in qualifying! Much like Lewis, Max has been near perfect, only some slight errors earlier in the year, and perhaps he needs to tone down the aggression a bit! Otherwise, he has what it takes to bring down Mercedes! Perez would have hoped for more when the season began, whilst there have been highs, there have also been many performances, especially on a Saturday, which have been underwhelming! If he can just gain a few tenths, to put himself above McLaren and Ferrari, and start to upset Mercedes in the race, it would be perfect for Red Bull!

There were high expectations for McLaren going into this year, off the back of 2 growing years for the team, and with a new star driver coming in. In some ways they have matched that, if not bettered it, as Norris is currently sat in an incredible 3rd in the driver’s championship, after a superbly consistent year. Yet with Ricciardo, it has been rather lacklustre on the most part! Obviously coming to a new team won’t be easy, however, he has been the slowest to adapt by far, and even by now isn’t quite where he should be. I think he will get there eventually; it is just the little nuances of the car he is struggling to work around! This team may be the best as a unit so far in 2021, as we have rarely seen them miss a trick at all. Despite this, the fight with Ferrari will be a tough one, and will require both drivers to be up at the front!

The gains that Ferrari have been able to make in what has been a pretty static rule set from last year to this, is impressive to say the least! This has mostly been on the engine side, after the circumstances with their 2019 engine, that I am sure we are all aware of! Leclerc has once again been getting the most out of the Ferrari, including 2 pole positions, however, there have also been some big mistakes in there too, namely at Monaco, which could even have cost them a win! Sainz has adapted the best to his new surroundings of all the drivers who moved, as he was right with Charles from the first round of the year! A couple of podiums show that he has been pushing his teammate hard all year, much more than most people probably expected! That could be their biggest strength in the fight with McLaren, if they still aren’t able to get Ricciardo fully up to speed!

For the most part, it has been another year where Alpine (Renault) has not been able to fight where a manufacturer should be, and the positive trajectory from a couple of years ago has faded away really! That being said, another part of sport is making the most of the opportunities that are handed to you, which Alpine certainly did last time out at Hungary! It was clear that they were slower than the Aston Martin there, yet Ocon and the team got the job done, and I hope this will act as a bounce pad, not only for the rest of this year but also going forwards! Over the 11 races so far, Alonso has really been the better driver, especially given he has just returned from some time out of the sport. Ocon is a very talented driver, he just needs to show it more consistently, at least he has the security of a long term contract!

AlphaTauri looked ominous in pre-season testing, and the expectation was that they would at least be in the battle for 3rd in the constructors, if not winning it! The reality has been far from that though, partly due to strategy and driver errors, and also just a lack of race pace! In qualifying they have been probably 3rd or 4th best, with Gasly at least, but it isn’t often they finish there! Pierre has been one of the stars of the year so far, as whilst there have been some slip ups, he has been maximising the car he has mostly! Tsunoda arrived on the scene with so much hype around him, and in Bahrain he matched the hype, however it has been downhill for the majority of the time since then. Overdriving seems to be the main issue for him currently, as he just expects too much from himself at this stage in his career!

2020 was probably the best year ever for the Silverstone based team throughout all its previous guises. I didn’t see anything wrong with them copying the Mercedes, copying has always happened in our sport, so it was nothing new really. The problem with copying the best team on the grid, is that rule changes will be aimed at slowing you down, and as we have seen this year, it has really damaged Aston Martin in terms of car performance. Bearing that in mind, they have made the best of a bad situation, with some very promising results coming to them throughout the year! Vettel has been reinvigorated at the team, as he may not be a top level driver, but he has made a step forward from his final years at Ferrari. Stroll as you would expect has not been able to match him most of the time, but has not embarrassed himself either, as he gains experience during his time in F1.

When Williams said they had make a ‘peaky’ car for this campaign, it had the potential to work really well for them, as being consistently out of the points means nothing, as opposed to 1 point scoring race! The team was tremendously unlucky to not score points before Hungary, although they have now got what they deserved, with a huge 10 point haul for them! That may be enough to stay 8th, however, they may even be able to grow their lead further in the remaining 12 races! Russell for the most part has been outstanding in what is still a poor car. There have been a few blemishes, such as Imola, but everything else he does is the best advertisement possible to Mercedes, as to why he should be there next year! Latifi has mostly been hidden behind the limelight of George. On the odd occasion he will push him very hard, which is good to see, I am just not sure if it is enough to keep his seat!

Alfa Romeo came to join the Sauber team on such a high note back in 2018, as they grew the star of Leclerc, before he went to Ferrari! Since that point, points have been hard to come by for them, as they battled to stay above the bottom of the table. They should be able to do it again this year, however their position won’t be that satisfying! Their performance isn’t helped by 2 drivers who aren’t a match for the rest of the grid. Kimi in his prime was an excellent driver, but this year especially he hasn’t really shown much to write home about! Giovinazzi has had a few years now to grow in the sport, and although he is beating Kimi very often, he isn’t showing any signs of being a star of the future. I think a driver overhaul for next year would do them a world of good!

It has been a woeful year for Haas, as an underdeveloped car with 2 rookie drivers, is a painful combination. As they focus on 2022, the good thing is that their drivers seem to be improving as the year goes on, to prepare for what they hope will be an upturn in results! Schumacher has been a class above Mazepin, as we thought would happen. It was also nice to see him get his elbows out whilst battling with some of the top runners, even if it didn’t last long! Mick just needs to tune out the crashes we have seen from him this season, otherwise he could have a promising career ahead of him! Nikita has at least stopped his habit of crashing, which plagued him to start the season, now he just needs to get on terms with his teammate in both qualifying and the race.

If the second half of this year is as good as the first, we could have a monumental season on our hands! All I hope is that we have a title fight which goes right down to Abu Dhabi, for the first time since 2016, and maybe some drama along the way to keep it like that!

-M

Thank you very much for reading this article! To keep up to date with when they go out, and to see my reactions to races and other news, follow me on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/MeaningofMotor1

Also, if you want to support me, I have a Patreon Page at: https://www.patreon.com/meaningofmotorsport

#f1 #f12021 #f1 2021 #motorsport

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sandlerresearch · 4 years

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United Arab Emirates Projects, H2 2020 with COVID-19 impact update - MEED Insights published on

https://www.sandlerresearch.org/united-arab-emirates-projects-h2-2020-with-covid-19-impact-update-meed-insights.html

United Arab Emirates Projects, H2 2020 with COVID-19 impact update - MEED Insights

United Arab Emirates Projects, H2 2020 with COVID-19 impact update – MEED Insights

Summary

It has been a difficult 12 months for the United Arab Emirates Projects, market. Previously viewed as a stable market relatively immune to the oil price, it posted a substantial fall in total project awards in 2019 to just over $31bn from $48bn the previous year.

The United Arab Emirates Projects, market has had a more difficult first half of 2020 than its neighbours with contract awards down more than a third on the same period last year. As with neighbouring markets Covid-19 has been a factor but it has masked the fact that the market was already in sharp decline thanks to oversupply in its real estate sector.

The issue is compounded by the federation’s exposure to the global tourism shutdown and a decrease in aviation and retail spending. Despite a series of government announcements and initiatives to stimulate the economy, it is clear that it will be sometime before the market can return to its pre-2015 levels.

In the absence of a vibrant property sector, contractors and consultants will increasingly look to the government infrastructure sector as a source of new project opportunities. Water, power, road and other transport infrastructure will take on a greater significance as companies seek to win a smaller pool of new business opportunities.

Many project companies active in the federation have reacted by lowering margins in the face of increased competition or by focusing on other countries, particularly Saudi Arabia. Others have downsized to cut costs or left the market altogether.

In this challenging environment firms will have to be smart in order to prosper. Selecting the right clients, specialising in niche sectors, and introducing novel technologies are all tools companies can harness in order to stay ahead of the competition.

It is not all doom and gloom, however. Some sectors, specially water and renewable energy, are growing. Oil and gas spending in Abu Dhabi is also forecast to increase over the coming year.

Likewise, the pipeline of Projects, in the United Arab Emirates sits at more than $670bn. Although there are undoubtable challenges in the short term, the long term prognosis is still relatively healthy. Regardless of what happens, the United Arab Emirates market will remain one of the largest Projects, markets in the region.

Written by MEED, the Middle East market experts within the GlobalData Group, “United Arab Emirates Projects, H2 2020”, is the update to this year’s H1 report. Focused on data, it is aimed at helping companies create strategies for targeting and growing the market.

Reasons to Buy

– Opportunities and challenges in the United Arab Emirates’s Projects, market – Analysis of the pipeline of planned Projects, and contract awards – Key policies and drivers shaping the outlook for Projects, in the United Arab Emirates – Political and economic background – The barriers and challenges that may arise – Sector-by-sector breakdown of future project plans – Key drivers of Projects, in each sector – The United Arab Emirates’s most valuable key Projects, and major project sponsors

#Manufacturing

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technologyinfosec · 4 years

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Combating coronavirus: UAE can now conduct 10,000 screenings day by day

As much as 7,100 individuals may be examined day by day with the brand new drive-through Covid-19 testing services unfold throughout the UAE, in response to authorities. A complete of 14 new drive-through testing services are actually operational, stated the Abu Dhabi Well being Providers Firm (SEHA). The nation now has the capability to conduct 10,000 assessments or extra day by day because the determine from the drive-through services exclude the assessments being performed at authorities hospitals and out-patients clinics throughout the UAE. SEHA opened up the services following the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, for shielding the well being, security and well-being of the UAE neighborhood, and curbing the unfold of the novel coronavirus. All of the drive-through centres have been outfitted with superior testing programs, strategies and globally-accredited healthcare groups. Dr Hessa Al Dhafir, supervisor of the Al Bahia drive-through testing centre - one of many newly opened up facility - instructed Khaleej Occasions that each one the drive-through testing centres have been opened on Thursday and have began conducting assessments. "At Al Bahia testing centre, we performed 800 assessments on the primary day. These new testing services are fast and distinctive. They supply for the early analysis of individuals contaminated with the virus and to shortly shut down their contact circles for quarantine," she stated. "For the reason that opening up of the brand new services, extra circumstances of Covid-19 have been detected and the sufferers have been quarantined and receiving therapy. Conducting extra assessments assist determine the contaminated individuals and may help in containing the virus and stopping its unfold within the nation," she added. The testing course of takes between three to 5 minutes from registration utilizing the Emirates ID to screening the place the nurse takes the individual's nostril swab. The individual will then go away with none direct publicity or contact with others, together with well being employees. The examination course of begins by reserving an appointment upfront by calling the 8001717 Estijaba centre, or by the SEHA good utility, for an preliminary evaluation. Precedence testing is given to these with signs, senior residents, pregnant ladies and those that undergo from power ailments. Al Dhafir has nonetheless suggested these with extreme Covid-19 signs to go on to SEHA's hospitals and outpatient clinics that conduct assessments and likewise see physicians. Precautionary examinations price Dh370, and cost will probably be finished electronically by the SEHA utility. Unfold throughout the nation Seven drive-through testing centres have been opened in Abu Dhabi, of which three are positioned in Abu Dhabi Metropolis, Al Wathba and Al Bahia - every having the capability to conduct 600 assessments day by day. The Abu Dhabi centres are open between 8am to 8pm, from Sunday to Thursday. Two centres opened in Al Ain are positioned within the Asharj and Al Hili areas. Every centre is able to accommodating as much as 600 particular person bookings. Different two centres opened in Ghayathi, and close to the Madinat Zayed Council in Al Dhafra and are operational from Saturday to Thursday 8am to 12pm and 4pm to 8pm and are able to testing as much as 800 individuals a day. In Dubai, there are two services with one positioned at Port Rashid and one other in Al Khawaneej. One centre has been opened in Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah. Leaders inaugurate services His Highness Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah, inaugurated the Ras Al Khaimah drive-through Covid-19 nationwide screening centre on Sunday, which is positioned subsequent to the Eid prayer floor in Khuzam space. In Fujairah, Sheikh Mohammad bin Hamad bin Mohammad Al Sharqi, Crown Prince of Fujairah, on Sunday morning inaugurated the primary drive-through Covid-19 screening centre within the emirate. Every of those seven centres outdoors Abu Dhabi are outfitted to check 500 individuals a day, and are open from Sunday to Thursday from 10am to 6pm. Steps for testing coronavirus on the facility Step 1 >E-book an appointment by Estijaba 8001717. >Take part in a pre-assessment screening, to reply questions associated to their situation. >Following the pre-screening, people who find themselves thought of to have contracted the virus and those that are most weak, such because the aged, pregnant ladies or individuals with power ailments will probably be prioritised. The check is free for these people. >For the broader neighborhood preferring to do the examination for reassurance solely, the testing process will price Dh370. Step 2 >Because the affected person reaches the drive-through testing centre, he/she is going to obtain a welcome message from SEHA, which is broadcast by way of the in-car radio. Sufferers should maintain their ID playing cards prepared and home windows closed. >On the registration level, SEHA workers will present the affected person medical steriliser for his or her arms. >He/she is going to insert Emirates ID into the e-reader for registration, earlier than continuing to the subsequent level. >After registration, the affected person should decrease their automobile window for a nostril swab check. The check takes about 5 minutes. >On completion of the check, the sufferers go away and return to their houses the place they're suggested to keep up self-isolation till they obtain their check, and are cleared of contracting the Covid-19 virus. Step 3 >Sufferers will obtain their outcomes inside six hours by SMS and on the SEHA smartphone app. Read the full article

#technology #technologyinfosec #uae

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thisdaynews · 4 years

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Brazilian Grand Prix: Ferrari's 'silly' problem is a rather large one

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/brazilian-grand-prix-ferraris-silly-problem-is-a-rather-large-one/

Brazilian Grand Prix: Ferrari's 'silly' problem is a rather large one

It took 20 races, but finally the inevitable happened at Ferrari at the Brazilian Grand Prix. Their drivers Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel collided, taking both out of the race and leaving the team with a rather large problem on their hands.

“Silly” was the word team boss Mattia Binotto used to describe the incident. In his cool, detached way, he deflected a series of opportunities to lay the blame, and said he would reconvene with Vettel and Leclerc at the factory in Maranello this week to analyse what happened, come to some form of judgement and decide on next steps.

The question now for Binotto is what he does next and how he manages what has become the most combustible driver pairing in F1, not so much for the one remaining race this year, but to prevent the internal competition from derailing their 2020 campaign.

Verstappen wins in Brazil as Ferraris collide

How the Brazilian Grand Prix unfolded

Listen: “Come on guys!” Hamilton feels the heat in Brazil

What happened?

The collision occurred on lap 66 of a frenetic race, with five to go, as the two Ferrari drivers found themselves at the back of a queue of cars being held up by Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes, running second to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen on much older tyres than those behind.

Ahead of them, and behind Hamilton, was Red Bull’s Alexander Albon, who was trying to pass the Mercedes while also holding back Vettel, who in turn had Leclerc behind him.

Leclerc saw an opportunity and dived for the inside of Vettel into Turn One. It was a daring move, aggressive certainly, but absolutely clean. But not one that Vettel was likely to take lying down.

The German had use of the DRS overtaking aid on the run towards Turn Four, and Leclerc moved to the inside to defend his position, leaving just enough room for Vettel – but not an inch more – on the outside.

Approaching the corner, Vettel then moved across on his team-mate, his left rear tyre touching Leclerc’s front right. Although light, the contact broke Leclerc’s suspension and ripped the tyre off the rim, and also gave Vettel a right-rear puncture.

Both cars retired from the race, prompting the final safety car that triggered a bonkers last two laps, in which Mercedes did what technical director James Allison described as “plain dumb” in pitting Hamilton for fresh tyres, the world champion collided with Albon, costing the Anglo-Thai a first podium, and Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly finished a wholly unexpected second.

What did the Ferrari drivers say?

Vettel did what he always does in controversial situations and kept his public pronouncements to a limit, repeating the same few sentences in every interview.

Whose fault was it?

“It doesn’t matter now,” Vettel said. “We both didn’t finish the race, which is bad for us as a team.”

What happened?

“There is not so much to say, I think it’s pretty clear. But obviously it’s bitter and a shame for the team to lose both cars. I didn’t have much space on the right. I had a better run out of the chicane and tried to pass and then we touched.”

Vettel is 19 points behind team-mate Leclerc in the drivers’ championship

Leclerc was a little more forthcoming.

“We will have to analyse better the crash,” he said. “I overtook in Turn One, then on the run to Turn Four I closed the door.

“I was aware he was on the outside. I left little space but enough for him and then I think he tried to squeeze me a little bit towards the inside and we were very close so we touched straight away. Very disappointing to end a race like this.”

The stewards – to the surprise of some, given that Vettel had clearly changed his line and instigated a collision – ruled it a racing incident and took no further action.

How did it happen?

How the two Ferrari drivers came to this juncture is a rather longer story than the events of this weekend.

To those on the outside, it was only a matter of time before something like this happened. The pressure inside Ferrari has been building all year as Leclerc has established himself as a star and threatened – and perhaps usurped already – Vettel’s seniority in the team. Vettel, meanwhile, is a proud man who, in the car, is as stubborn as they come when it comes to protecting his competitive position.

All year, Binotto has been doing his best to manage the inevitably tense situation.

Ferrari started the season with Binotto saying Vettel, as the senior driver, would have priority in any “50-50 decisions”, and the first few races passed with a series of team-order calls, the majority in Vettel’s favour.

Vettel’s refusal to move over for Leclerc in Russia eventually played into the hands of race winner Hamilton

Leclerc said he accepted the situation but also that he would do his best to change it. And as soon as the second race in Bahrain, he dominated Vettel and everyone else and was on the way to a superb victory when his engine developed a problem in the closing stages.

Tensions cooled after the first few races, as it became apparent that Ferrari did not have the pace to mount a title challenge, and Vettel established the upper hand as Leclerc’s chances were comprised by a few too many mistakes in qualifying, usually by him, but sometimes also by the team.

But at the French Grand Prix in June, Leclerc turned a corner and went on a run of nine races in which he out-qualified Vettel, while the German continued to make the sort of pressure errors that have blighted his last three years at Ferrari.

Leclerc won twice in Belgium and Italy as Ferrari made a flying start to the second part of the season. In Monza, there was a controversy when Leclerc failed to do his part of a prearranged team strategy for the drivers to give each other tows in qualifying, which angered Vettel.

Vettel then won in Singapore, but only after the team inadvertently got him ahead of Leclerc, who has been leading from pole position, by pitting Vettel first to try to pass Hamilton for second place.

Then in Russia Vettel directly refused team orders to let Leclerc by – which had been agreed pre-race following a decision to get Leclerc, again on pole, to let Vettel past with a slipstream into the first corner, so both Ferraris could be running one-two in front of Hamilton.

Since then, Vettel has been on a bit of a run, and has out-qualified Leclerc in the last two races, and the battle for primacy at Ferrari has taken another twist. And now this.

What next?

It’s not hard to work out what has happened here. Vettel will not have taken kindly to being passed by his team-mate. He has then made what many will see as a misjudgement in trying to reclaim the position and been too aggressive in moving over on Leclerc.

As Leclerc put it: “The result was a huge disaster but the incident itself was a very small touch. It’s unfortunate.”

Vettel has form at this sort of thing. Those with long-ish memories will recall the Turkish Grand Prix in 2010, when in trying to pass Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber, he moved over and the two touched, handing a one-two to McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button.

In 2010 Vettel had this to say about his collision with team-mate Webber: “I dived down the inside and I had the corner.”

And in the past two years, Vettel has become infamous for making a series of errors in racing situations. Many will see this as the latest example.

After Russia, the two Ferrari drivers were sat down by Binotto to discuss the situation. But the issue for Ferrari is that in the past Vettel has proven time and again that he is reluctant to be managed – unless the situation is in his favour.

What will Binotto do about this aspect of his former number one driver, he was asked?

“It is not a matter of managing,” Binotto said. “It is matter of recognising what has been the actions and mistakes. Whether you are a driver or engineer or whatever, recognising mistakes is important because it can only make you better.

“It is not for me to blame them, it is for them to recognise it.”

On the other hand, while Vettel undoubtedly triggered the incident, Leclerc – who was making his own point in the psychological and on-track battle between the two – may come to conclude that in pinching his team-mate so close to the grass, he was making himself vulnerable to exactly the kind of move Vettel made.

“We need to clarify within the team what is silly and what is not,” Binotto said, “where is the limit of the actions. But when you have a crash, something was wrong, no doubt. When you are free to fight, it is a driving matter how much you can take the risk but today the risk was not necessary.”

The potential consequences

In Brazil, the two Ferrari drivers were free to race because the team had secured second place in the constructors’ championship and all that was left was to decide which finished ahead in the drivers’.

Heading into Brazil, Leclerc was third in the championship, ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Vettel. Verstappen’s superb win at Interlagos, coupled with the retirement of the Ferrari drivers, has promoted the Dutchman to third and given him an 11-point cushion on Leclerc, a margin that the Monegasque will not find it easy to overhaul at the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi on 1 December.

More important for Binotto, though, is how he handles the Vettel-Leclerc situation going into 2020.

Vettel and Leclerc are under contract with Ferrari until the end of the 2020 season

Leclerc is likely to finish this year ahead of Vettel on points, on race wins, on pole positions, and on their qualifying head-to-head, despite the advantages Vettel had at the beginning of the year, and despite the fact that he is in his first year with the team and only in his second in F1, against a four-time champion with 53 wins.

To all intents and purposes, Leclerc is now Ferrari’s lead driver, and Binotto cannot go into next year giving Vettel priority. But nor will Vettel accept it being given to Leclerc. He just doesn’t work that way. He believes his status in the sport demands more.

As for Binotto, he has a number of times this year described having two such closely matched and competitive drivers as “a luxury”. Does he still think that way?

“I am still convinced it is a luxury because they are both very good drivers,” he said. “They both represent a benchmark for each other and they have improved during the season.

“Seb in the second half has been very fast. What happened today, I would say it was even lucky it happened this season because there will be an opportunity to clarify with them for it not to happen next year.

“Currently they have a good relations and are going well together. Certainly what happened today may not help. But I don’t think there is a drama at all and I see it more as an opportunity in view of next year to clarify what is needed.”

#large #problem

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herokita · 4 years

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15 ways air travel might be different in the future, from immunity passports to blood tests, Business Insider

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Airplane interiors might look different in the future.

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Avio Interiors

Travel has essentially come to a standstill: The TSA reported 90% fewer passengers in the air than this time last year because of the coronavirus.

Airlines and airports are rethinking their health and safety regulations in order to get travelers flying again.

As is already the norm in many places, face coverings will likely become mandatory on flights.

Some experts predict the emergence of a social distance-friendly class, an in-flight janitor, and a document to prove immunity.

Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.

While the coronavirus pandemic has all but devastated the travel industry, most experts agree that travel will rebound – it’s just a question of when.

It’s also a matter of how, as some experts predict a second, and even third wave of the coronavirus to hit, and don’t expect a return to relative normalcy until 2021.

Airlines are scrambling to get travelers flying again, and both airlines and airports are rethinking their safety and health regulations to earn passenger’s trust and avoid the virus’ spread.

A report by airline strategy firm SimpliFlying predicts a whopping 70 ways in which air travel might be different post-pandemic. “In total, over 70 different areas in the passenger journey are expected to either change or to be introduced from scratch to restore confidence in flying after COVID-19,” the report states.

Keep scrolling to see some of the most recent new procedures, as well as some potential future policies.

You might be required to take a blood test or nasal swab ahead of a flight, or upon arrival.

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Pre-flight health tests might become the new normal.

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Getty Images/Chip Somodevilla

Emirates began administering COVID-19 blood tests to passengers departing from its hub in Dubai in April. The tests gave results within 10 minutes. While the test is not yet available for widespread use, Adel Al Redha, the airline’s chief operating officer, said in a statement that they are hoping to “scale up testing capabilities in the future.”

Hong Kong recently introduced mandatory COVID-19 testing for all arrivals, making it the first airport to do so, and Japan’s Tokyo Narita Airport requires testing for passengers arriving from high-risk countries such as Italy or the US, though results are said to take up to two days.

Temperature checks might become the norm.

Air Canada was the first North American airline to say it will introduce mandatory temperature checks ahead of flights. This comes as part of its new CleanCare+ program, which will go into effect on May 15, and will also include a required health questionnaire, and an amenity kit complete with hand sanitizer.

CEO Calin Rovinescu said in a statement: “We have been a leader in progressively introducing new measures in response to COVID-19, such as introducing personal protective equipment for our employees and being the first North American carrier to require face coverings for customers. We are now the first airline in the Americas to administer pre-flight temperature checks system-wide.”

Frontier Airlines followed suit, saying that it will require pre-boarding temperature checks for all passengers starting June 1, and London’s Heathrow Airport also said it will begin experimenting with widespread temperature checks.

Etihad is trialing kiosks in Abu Dhabi that will monitor passengers’ health, and in Puerto Rico, thermal-imaging cameras will sound an alarm should anyone with a temperature higher than 100.3 degrees pass through Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan.

In the US, there is debate as to whether the TSA should start making temperature checks on passengers and employees mandatory. Airlines for America, a trade group that represents American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and Southwest, spoke out in favor of these checks.

However, as Business Insider’s Aylin Woodward points out, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease says that between 25% and 50% of people who have contracted the virus are asymptomatic. That notwithstanding, even those who don’t show any symptoms can pass the illness on to others, so the effectiveness of temperature checks remains somewhat unclear.

You’ll probably have to cover your face throughout flights.

Since masks have become mandatory in public in many places, it comes as no surprise that most airlines are also making wearing them compulsory for passengers. In fact, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) recommends mandatory face coverings for both passengers and crew.

Forget crowded lines — you could start getting texts telling you it’s time to board.

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Forget long, crowded lines to board flights.

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Toby Melville/Reuters

Heathrow’s chief executive John Holland-Kaye said that lines to board planes could be around half a mile long with social distancing measures in place and that airports don’t have enough space to implement this.

The New York Times reports that to combat crowded lines, “cellphone location data may cue your arrival to an airport, which can then check you in curbside and move you on to a security tunnel in which passengers continue moving – sci-fi style – as they are screened by TSA and health authorities.”

According to The Daily Mail, passengers may receive text messages when it’s their time to board, thereby eliminating the need to stand in line.

Flying could get more expensive.

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Social distancing measures could make airfare rise.

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Laurent Thomet/Getty

While some experts predict lower fares as airlines try to entice flyers, a press release by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) anticipates fares rising by up to 54% in some places due to social-distancing measures with fewer seats available to sell. According to the IATA, social-distancing measures would reduce planes’ maximum load factors to 62%, when most airlines need their planes to be 77% full to break even.

Airplane design could fundamentally change.

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Airplane design might incorporate social-distancing measures in the future.

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Avio Interiors

Italian design firm Avio Interiors put forward renderings that posit a potential solution for keeping flights full while minimizing passengers’ exposure to each other. Its “Janus” design reverses the middle seat in each row of three, and includes transparent dividers that shield passengers from one another.

Instead of redesigning plane interiors entirely, Florian Barjot, an aeronautical engineer from France, created “PlanBay,” a removable shield that can be placed on middle seats that protect passengers both from behind and from neighboring seats.

A social distance-friendly class may emerge.

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A private suite in Emirates’ First Class.

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Emirates Airlines

Ross Dawson, author and futurist, previously told Insider that he believes that people will be “highly sensitized to the risk of a pandemic,” and foresees airlines having to step up their precautions, including possibly offering various degrees of distance between people. He even predicts the rise of a new kind of plane class that he somewhat jokingly refers to as an “isolation class,” which could be anything from seats with dividers between them to small rooms as we have seen in some airlines’ first-class cabins.

While short-lived, we’ve already seen the idea of paying extra for social distance when Frontier said it would begin charging $39 for a guaranteed empty seat next to your own. However, the initiative was dropped only days after being announced after drawing considerable criticism.

Full body disinfection booths could become commonplace, maybe even cleaning robots.

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An Intelligent Sterilization Robot at Hong Kong International Airport.

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Tyrone Siu/Reuters

Hong Kong International Airport is already testing booths that are said to disinfect people from head to toe in 40 seconds thanks to an antimicrobial spray, as well as cleaning robots that use an ultraviolet light sterilizer as well as an air sterilizer to disinfect public spaces.

Bags may need to get sanitized separately.

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“Sanitagging” might become a thing.

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Valerie Macon/Getty

SimpliFlying foresees luggage going through its own fogging or UV disinfection process prior to being loaded onto planes, which it dubs “sanitagging.”

Both terminals and plane cabins could become contactless.

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Touchpoints will be reduced as much as possible.

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Wolfgang Rattay/Ruters

In an effort to minimize touchpoints, SimpliFlying predicts that seat-back pockets, which they say have been found to be the second-most contaminated spots on planes, will be left empty, or could be removed entirely.

Touchscreen entertainment systems may be replaced with various ways to use your own devices to enjoy in-flight entertainment.

“To replace the in-flight entertainment system, airlines might just ensure that a USB and power-outlets are available at every seat and that some form of device holder or stand is available,” the report suggests.

At airport terminals, SimpliFlying sees a rise in touchless kiosks (similar to those being trialed by Etihad in Abu Dhabi) that can both check passengers in and test their health, or a fully biometric check-in and immigration process based on facial recognition, which is already widespread at terminals with international routes.

Hot meals may be a thing of the past.

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In-flight food and drinks have widely been cut to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

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Edward Wang/Reuters

Many airlines are currently either cutting food service entirely or switching to cold and pre-packaged meals. Instead of getting cups of water refilled, passengers will get their own bottle at the beginning of every flight to decrease touchpoints, according to SimpliFlying, which also suggests that passengers may begin buying their meals at touchless vending machines pre-flight.

In-flight janitors might become part of cabin crews.

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There might be people onboard flights dedicated to keeping “high-touch” areas clean.

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Aaron Ontiveroz/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty

SimpliFlying brings up the possibility of in-flight janitors whose job will entail regularly cleaning the lavatories and any other “high-touch” areas during flights.

Plexiglass shields might become ubiquitous.

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Plexiglass shields will probably be everywhere.

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Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty

Plexiglass shields between customer-facing airport employees and passengers have been recommended by the US Travel Association. These could become the norm everywhere, from check-in desks to shops and eateries.

You might need to show ID, as well as some sort of immunity document or health certificate.

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Some countries already have passports detailing vaccination records.

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Juan Mabromata /Getty

Thailand is already requiring passengers flying in from certain countries to present health certificates that deem them COVID-19-free before they can board flights to the country, and the IATA has suggested something similar, proposing an “immunity passport.” SimpliFlying compares these to the Yellow Fever cards passengers must show ahead of traveling to certain regions.

You may have to get to the airport even earlier.

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People may be required to show up four hours prior to departure.

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Reuters

As both bags and people may need to get sanitized, and health checks become the new normal, the process of checking in and boarding might start taking longer. “People may be required to show up four hours prior to departure depending on the specific airlines, airports, and procedures,” SimpliFlying predicts, adding that families with children and the elderly will likely be most inconvenienced, and that this may prompt business travelers to drive or take the train instead.

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safarabbani · 5 years

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In-house Enrolling Versus Utilizing Recruitment Agencies

Nowadays, discovering incredible applicants is hard. Extremely hard. With joblessness rate lower than any time in recent memory, it's an applicant driven market out there. In a circumstance like this, your best occupation applicants are latent employment searchers - they don't effectively search for a vocation, since they as of now have one. This implies posting your open employment position on occupation sheets is in no way, shape or form enough to pull in the best applicants.

You have to define an extraordinary representative offer, make work post that will emerge, advance it on different web-based social networking and manufacture an ideal profession website - such just to pull in applicants and persuade them to apply to your open employment positions. When you at last get applications, you have to put in a really long time to experience them and discover qualified hopefuls. Doing every one of that requires significant investment. It is a great deal of (hard) work!

In the event that you don't have a devoted in-house enrollment specialist, different colleagues need to endure under extra selecting remaining burden. Regardless of whether you have a devoted in-house enrollment specialist, you probably won't almost certainly find and achieve the kind of hopeful you need.

In case you're in a comparative circumstance, you're most likely thinking about utilizing the administrations of a recruitment organization.

Recruitment agencies can enable you to discover and waitlist amazing applicants. In any case, utilizing a recruitment organization has the two preferences and hindrances. Peruse on to find every one of the upsides and downsides of utilizing a recruitment organization!

The aces of utilizing recruitment agencies

There are the 3 fundamental favorable circumstances of utilizing a recruitment office:

Quicker contracting

Higher quality competitors

Pro information.

Bit of leeway #1: Faster employing

Utilizing a recruitment organization will abbreviate the time expected to fill your open employment positions. You won't need to invest energy drawing in competitors and experiencing huge amounts of profiles and applications to locate a couple of qualified ones. A recruitment organization will do all that and convey just a couple of top contender for your thought.

Additionally, a recruitment office can normally discover applicants a lot quicker than you can. This is on the grounds that recruitment agencies as of now have a huge ability arrange. When utilizing a recruitment organization, you can take advantage of its enormous ability pool of as of now checked applicants. This will essentially abbreviate your opportunity to contract!

Bit of leeway #2: Higher quality applicants

Utilizing a recruitment organization will improve the nature of applicants in your recruitment procedure. As we previously referenced, recruitment agencies have huge ability pool with as of now pre-screened and pre-referenced competitors. It implies that you will just arrangement with applicants who are deliberately evaluated and reviewed.

Furthermore, recruitment agencies are specialists in hopeful determination. Office spotters are expertly prepared to survey hopefuls. They utilize the best practice strategies to separate genuine specialists from great interviewees. They additionally have an immense encounter you can profit by.

Favorable position #3: Specialist information

Utilizing a recruitment office will enable you to take advantage of an expert knowledge your in-house enrollment specialists probably won't have. An in-house selection representative as a rule needs to cover a wide scope of various jobs an organization needs.

Then again, most recruitment agencies are represented considerable authority in selecting for a specific industry, job or level. It implies that they have better information and more profound comprehension of their focused on employment market sections. Accordingly, recruitment agencies can give you important understanding and valuable counsel that can enable you to discover and contract better competitors.

Since we've analyzed the key masters of utilizing a recruitment office, how about we go to cons.

The cons of utilizing recruitment agencies

Obviously, utilizing a recruitment office has a few drawbacks, as well.

There are the 3 principle detriments of utilizing a recruitment office:

Greater expense

No social fit evaluation

Absence of manager marking.

Drawback #1: Higher expense

Utilizing a recruitment organization can be a very costly undertaking. As a rule, recruitment agencies' charges are around 20 to 30% of the worker's yearly pay. The expense of utilizing a recruitment organization can get much higher in case you're hoping to make a contract for a difficult to fill job. In any case, when utilizing a recruitment office, you should pay a fixed charge each time you need to make a contract.

Then again, in case you're taking care of your recruitment procedure in-house, you can investigation and test your recruitment strategies and channels. That way, you can quit squandering cash on recruitment strategies and channels which don't work for you and put it into those that yield the most elevated rate of return. You can likewise put your cash in structure your ability pool for your future procuring needs, hence setting aside cash over the long haul.

Disservice #2: No social fit

Recruitment agencies can't guarantee the social attack of their recommended competitors. Recruitment agencies can convey the applicants that are the best fit for a specific position and job. In any case, they are a lot more fragile at evaluating a social fit.

At the end of the day, recruitment agencies can enable you to pick the best contender for your vacant position, yet not for your organization culture and your group. Best recruitment agencies will make a special effort to get comfortable with your organization objectives, mission, vision and qualities. In any case, organization scouts will never have a similar comprehension and experience of your organization culture as your representatives who live and take in it consistently.

Impediment #3: Lack of manager marking

On the off chance that you use recruitment agencies, you pass up on a chance to construct your organization's boss marking system - and claim it. Each progression of enrolling procedure is a chance to figure, present and advance your notoriety for being a business of decision.

In any case, in the event that you put your selecting endeavors in a hands of a recruitment office, you won't have a full control of your boss image. Another person will present and offering your boss image to your potential hopefuls. Your potential competitors will make their initial introduction of your organization dependent on used data - not an immediate contact with your organization.

Best Recruitment Agencies In Abu Dhabi, Recruitment Consultants In Abu Dhabi, Recruitment Agencies In Dubai

#Manpower Agency In Saudi Arabia #Recruitment Consultants In Abu Dhabi #Manpower Consultancy In Abu Dhabi #Best Recruitment Agencies In Abu Dhabi #Best Recruitment Agencies In Saudi Arabia #Employment Agencies In Uae #Payroll Companies In Dubai #Manpower Consultancy In Dubai #Staffing Agency In Dubai #Recruitment Agencies In Dubai

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cryptnus-blog · 6 years

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How the Board Can Make the Most of Blockchain

New Post has been published on https://cryptnus.com/2018/10/how-the-board-can-make-the-most-of-blockchain/

How the Board Can Make the Most of Blockchain

The boardroom will never be the same after the rise of blockchain, nor should it.

Blockchain is a technology that enables secure transactions without the need for third-party verification. Data is distributed on a large number of computers. Participants in a blockchain confirm the blocks or transactions; “smart contracts” automate payments or data transfers based on pre-defined rules.

Sectors that are fuelled by record keeping and verification, such as financial services, government and healthcare, have the potential to be transformed by blockchain. The technology can record any type of transaction and its application goes beyond business. For example, the World Identity Network stores refugees’ key data, such as birth certificates and university degrees, in digital “lockboxes”. Ukraine is investigating the use of blockchain in elections. The Iranian government is preparing to launch its own cryptocurrency to bypass American-led economic sanctions.

These developments have not gone unnoticed in the boardroom. A Gartner report indicates that although 91 percent of directors have heard about blockchain, they don’t necessarily have a clear idea about its implications, with 36 percent viewing it as an opportunity and 21 percent as a threat.

Incorporating blockchain into board work

The rise of blockchain requires the board to become tech-savvy. Directors need to consider a number of new aspects to their work.

AGMs and increased transparency

A recent paper by Lafarre and Van der Elst notes that the ritual of the annual general meeting (AGM) is changing: “Its important theoretical functions, the information, forum and decision-making functions, are de facto eroded.” This erosion includes blockchain-based voting platforms, which will lower shareholder voting costs and increase the speed of decision making. A number of stock exchanges and securities settlement organisations in Abu Dhabi, Russia, Canada and Estonia have announced prototypes of shareholder e-voting in AGMs.

Directors will have to learn how to communicate with shareholders differently. At traditional AGMs, directors may be confronted with unexpected questions and they can respond “off the cuff”. In virtual AGMs, this “human factor” is missing, and seasoned directors could find handling challenging questions from shareholders to be nearly impossible. Also, large, institutional shareholders will need to find new ways to discuss matters with the board outside official channels (“side-stepping”).

Established takeover tactics will change as the transfer of securities becomes transparent. The practice of stock lending and various forms of insider trading will also become more difficult. Blockchain technology could help activists acquire shares in an easier and cheaper fashion, but with less secrecy.

Virtual directors

A step further than blockchain’s smart contracts is the decentralised autonomous organisation (DAO), a company without employees, solely governed by software or a virtual board of directors voting electronically. While this may sound futuristic, one Fortune 500 company is already using the DAO framework. In May 2017, Siemens started a blockchain initiative that enabled its employees to raise funds with minimal administrative and operational costs for SOS Children’s Villages, an NGO that helps socially disadvantaged children.

Blockchain Board Review

Regular assessment of a company’s strategic and operational competence ensures a constant monitoring of blockchain-related risks and opportunities. Here are key questions the board should ask executive management – and themselves.

Current state of play and competitive landscape

• How are we using blockchain today?

• What are the business opportunities and threats for our industry and our company?

• How are our competitors and companies in other sectors approaching blockchain?

• What are the best-in-class approaches in other organisations?

• What can we learn from other companies’ failures or successes?

Technology assessment

• How mature is our selected blockchain solution?

• What are the financial implications and what unexpected costs might occur in the future?

• What is the state of our current systems? Are we ready to use blockchain or would this imply a larger modernisation of our technological landscape?

Risk management

• Do we understand the full suite of risks connected to blockchain? Does it fall under our data protection strategy? • Have we looked at the overall strengths and vulnerabilities of our key technology partners?

• How dependent are we on a single technology partner?

• Have we looked into reporting, accounting, regulatory or compliance requirements?

• What do the blockchain-related audit processes look like? Who will be auditing our systems externally?

Blockchain competency and readiness of the board

• Looking at the board composition, the overall corporate strategy and its blockchain strategy, do we have the right competencies?

• Do we have a Lead Blockchain Director who can provide vision and thought leadership?

• How are we ensuring that our directors stay abreast of technology matters?

Remuneration in tokens

In a recent INSEAD Knowledge article, Professor Andrew Shipilov suggested creating “token-curated registries” in which the verified profiles of potential directors are visible to the community, tying directors’ fees to certain milestones governed by smart contracts. In the United States, the Internal Revenue Service considers tokens issued to individuals in exchange for services as compensation subject to income and payroll taxes. Therefore, companies must determine the fair market value of the tokens in real currency to properly report it. Remuneration and nomination committees will need to become familiar with related technical and legal implications.

Relationships with auditors

Blockchain-based accounting can largely eliminate the need for manual bookkeeping and consolidation as it projects financial transactions in real-time. This will significantly lower accounting and auditing costs, especially in large, complex organisations. The technology will also re-define the role and importance of audit firms and the requirements and profile for a financial expert on the board of directors.

ICOs and raising capital

Initial coin offerings (ICOs) are a new and powerful financing instrument, with over US$18 billion raised since 2014. These offerings enable companies to raise capital quickly without necessarily giving away equity shares or triggering the listing and reporting requirements of a traditional IPO. They are attractive yet complex vehicles. For directors, overseeing such a transaction requires new skills, as traditional financial acumen will need to be augmented with technological and legal know-how.

Blockchain and risk

Using blockchain involves new forms of risk. Previously, investments in technology platforms were multi-year projects, often managed by the CIO who usually did not have a seat on the board. Decisions about which technology systems or third-party providers to use exposed the company to uncertainties.

Smart contracts can automate internal and external transactions. These transactions are based on code, rather than on law. However, if the code is law, then flaws in the code are also law, and vice versa.

Another risk stems from a blockchain’s jurisdiction. For example, if a U.S. company operates a blockchain, it needs to make sure that non-U.S. banks or exporters cannot use the technology to perform Iran-related trade transactions. Otherwise, the company could be subject to prosecution.

Blockchain and board recruitment

Boards face two issues regarding adding tech-savvy directors: a dearth of talent and a reluctance to recruit technologists. Deloitte reports that only 3 percent of public companies appointed a technology-focused director in 2016. On average, board directors in 2012 were 62 years old and had spent the majority of their professional lives in a pre-digital era.

A logical pool of suitable director candidates would be the “inner circle” of blockchain technology providers, start-up ecosystems and similar organisations.

A dedicated technology committee could give blockchain an even stronger presence in the boardroom but this is a rare course of action. Given blockchain’s overall impact on risk, allocating a blockchain-competent director to the risk or audit committee could also be an option.

Board directors need to ensure that they understand blockchain and stay informed about the technology’s developments. Directorship training should include this topic. Ultimately, the chair will be responsible for keeping the board “blockchain-ready”.

Hagen Schweinitz (INSEAD IDP 25.2 cohort) is a Senior Client Partner at Korn Ferry International. He is an expert on corporate governance from a human capital point of view. He has published several whitepapers on corporate governance, non-executive directors in fast-growing technology companies and, most recently, on corporate governance in Iran.

Follow INSEAD Knowledge on Twitter and Facebook

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ultrasfcb-blog · 6 years

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Canada GP: Jolyon Palmer column - will McLaren

Canada GP: Jolyon Palmer column – will McLaren

F1 driver Jolyon Palmer, who left Renault during the 2017 season, has joined the BBC team to offer insight and analysis from the point of view of the competitors.

This was supposed to be the year McLaren would finally return to their former glories.

Plagued by three years of driving with what they led everyone to believe was a terrible Honda “GP2 engine”, they made the call to switch to Renault, the power-unit which had powered Red Bull to eight victories in the four seasons since the V6 hybrid engine regulations were introduced in 2014.

But while Red Bull have kept winning this year, with Daniel Ricciardo taking two wins in seven races so far, McLaren are far from it.

Only twice out of 14 attempts have they even managed to qualify in the top 10 – when Fernando Alonso achieved it in the two races preceding last weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix. At the same point last year, they had achieved that feat three times over the two cars.

Montreal is a difficult mix of low-speed corners and a long straight, the perfect storm for this year’s McLaren, which has poor grip in slow corners and too much drag. But it showed up the woeful position they are in this season.

Were McLaren slowest of all in Canada?

In qualifying there’s a case for saying they had the slowest car in Canada.

They qualified 14th and 15th, but the only team not to have a car qualify in front of them were Williams. And if you consider that Alonso, one of the greats, could well be more than 0.6 seconds quicker around a lap than Lance Stroll, who made a mistake and didn’t improve on his last run, and rookie Sergey Sirotkin, then it’s certainly valid to argue that is what the McLaren was.

Not only that, but they actually qualified higher up last year with the Honda power unit they complained so vocally about. Alonso was 12th on the grid in 2017.

This is a case of humble pie for McLaren, but it’s not just the egos of everyone in the team that will be hurting. There has been a financial cost as well.

The switch to Renault engines cost not far off $100m (£75m), taking into account the money Honda were paying into McLaren, including sponsorship income and half the drivers’ salaries, and the cost of paying for the Renault engines.

Because of that huge cost, there have been constant promises and a desperation to justify their switch this season.

After the opening round in Melbourne, where Alonso drove to a fantastic fifth place (with a dose of luck from the safety car and cars dropping out ahead), he said “now we can fight” on the team radio. On the surface, it seemed that the McLaren-Renault partnership had brought them closer to the action.

But when rookie Pierre Gasly in the Toro Rosso, using the Honda engine which McLaren ditched, finished fourth at the very next race in Bahrain, question marks were raised. Indeed, Gasly mocked McLaren and Alonso by repeating the exact same words on the team radio after the race.

Alonso retired form the Canadian Grand Prix because of an exhaust failure

Few signs of progress

After continually disappointing performances in the early rounds, we were told the ‘real’ car would arrive with a big update in Spain last month. In reality nothing has changed. The pecking order is as it is and there are no new promises as yet.

Zak Brown, recently promoted from a commercial-biased role to become boss of the entire team with responsibility for performance as well, admitted pre-season that this year there would be nowhere to hide for McLaren.

They were the only team running Honda engines for the last few years but now they have direct comparisons to Renault and Red Bull.

And what a shame that is for them. Red Bull are a league apart and even Renault in Montreal were nearly a second ahead of Alonso’s leading McLaren in second qualifying.

Even reliability hasn’t gone McLaren’s way this year. Alonso has retired from points-scoring positions in the past two races, suffering a gearbox failure in Monaco before an exhaust issue ended his hopes in Montreal.

Engine reliability has improved, though. While McLaren suffered a lot of reliability problems with Honda early last year, they have enjoyed better success in that department with Renault.

But then Honda have also stepped up their own reliability, with Gasly’s smoky blow-up in Melbourne the only engine-related failure for Toro Rosso.

Clearly the Honda engine is nowhere near as bad as it was made out to be. Toro Rosso have already matched their best result from last year with it and are similar on pace to McLaren.

The switch has made no big difference to the competitive order between them. Last year both were in the midfield, this year it’s the same story.

A blessing in disguise?

However, there is one big positive out of this. Having a direct comparison with Red Bull has forced McLaren to stop passing the buck for all of their issues onto their engine supplier and start to work on their own flaws.

It seems the team were not even aware they had these flaws last year, when they were declaring that they could be winning races with the Mercedes engine.

To the casual observer, this year would look like a step forward, because in terms of points scored McLaren are a league above where they are this year.

That’s partly due to the increased reliability this year compared to Honda’s struggles in the early part of 2017, but also due to Alonso, who has a reputation for wringing the neck of a Formula 1 car, extracting the very best when all seems lost.

Alonso celebrated his 300th Grand prix with his fellow Formula 1 drivers

Alonso’s talent being wasted

In Canada, Alonso was celebrating his 300th Grand Prix – although it turned out there was not much to celebrate with his and the team’s worst performance in qualifying this year and a retirement from the race.

Before the weekend, Alonso proclaimed himself as one of the best F1 drivers ever, and it’s tough to argue against him.

I grew up watching Alonso as an incredibly talented rookie, before becoming the youngest ever F1 champion in 2005, winning the first of back-to-back titles for Renault. I’ve always admired his never-give-up attitude, which he has shown with his gritty determination down the years.

In 2010, his first year with Ferrari, he proclaimed after Silverstone halfway through the year that he would win the title that year. He was 47 points behind the leader, and without the fastest car. Yet he came oh so close, losing out only with a costly, heat-of-the-moment strategy call by the team in Abu Dhabi.

Then in 2012 he again almost won the title for Ferrari, in a car that should have been nowhere near Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull.

Even when I was racing him wheel-to-wheel for the last couple of seasons, he was the one driver who never knew when he was beaten. Many times I thought I’d made a move stick on him and he would somehow find a way to wriggle back through at the next corner, where many others would accept defeat and cede the position.

It’s that commitment and drive that is keeping McLaren in the midfield mix this season, and it’s the cause of another headache for the team – can they keep him motivated for another year?

Alonso’s team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne is a driver I rate highly, having raced him in GP2 before F1. If he was paired as team-mates with most other drivers in the midfield group, I believe he would be looking pretty good. But Alonso is making him look distinctly average right now, such is the Spaniard’s class.

It would be a shame for F1 to lose one of the great drivers, still in his prime and a great character for the show as well

Can Alonso face another year of this?

Given this was the season McLaren said they should be back at the front, the one that Alonso has been waiting for, and it’s turning into another nightmare, how can his motivation hold up?

Another retirement from the race in Canada won’t help things. With every race, it’s starting to ring more and more of 2017, when he retired in Montreal and went and sat in the stands with the fans.

Alonso heads to Le Mans next weekend with a chance to win a race again. He won his endurance debut for Toyota at Spa a few weeks ago and surely must be enjoying that racing more than his time with McLaren this season.

There have been more and more mutterings of McLaren joining Indycar in the US next season. If they do, that could well give Alonso the chance to have another crack at the Indianapolis 500 and a full-time switch to American racing, where the atmosphere is more relaxed and he would have a much higher chance of success.

After all, while McLaren can turn this around in the longer term, they aren’t about to have a race-winning car anytime soon. There is too much ground to make up. And with Alonso turning 37 next month, you wonder how he will motivate himself to keep driving the wheels off underperforming cars in the midfield.

Only he will know what he wants to do. Maybe his love for F1 will be enough for him to stay. But with his contract up at the end of the season, and no apparent opportunities at the front of the field in drives his talent deserves, he could easily decide it is time for him to move aside.

It would be a shame for F1 to lose one of the great drivers, still in his prime, and a great character for the show as well.

But I think Alonso realises his talent is more than what he’s capable of showing right now in terms of results.

His assault on Le Mans this weekend, and aspirations to win the Indy 500, are about leaving a legacy as one of the greatest drivers ever. Putting it down on paper.

Winning the triple crown of motorsport events, those two, plus the Monaco Grand Prix, which Alonso has completed already, would be an unparalleled achievement in the modern era.

For McLaren, despite their improved championship position, no points in the last two races, a disillusioned star driver and an underperforming car are all cause for great concern.

They have on their books a young prodigy in Britain’s Lando Norris, current F2 leader, which is a reason for future hope. But Alonso’s shoes would be very tough to fill for any rookie.

If Alonso leaves, there will be a massive void to fill at McLaren to prevent them slipping into a Williams-esque slide to the back.

BBC Sport – Formula 1 ultras_FC_Barcelona

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filtration-products · 6 years

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Jebel Ali project is a new direction for DEWA and Besix

The $237 million contract awarded by Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) for a seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination plant represents a big step for the client, and for Besix Concessions & Assets, which won the work in partnership with Acciona Agua.

The project site is U-shaped, and is surrounded by lots filled by industrial operators and their associated infrastructure

For DEWA, the project is a decisive step on the road to building up its capacity in reverse osmosis desalination, as part of an ambitious strategy to reduce reliance on thermal desalination during the coming decades, to improve efficiency, cut costs, and reduce carbon emissions.

Meanwhile for Besix Concessions & Assets — one of three business units within Besix Group, which also includes Besix Contracting, and property developer Besix Real Estate — the contract win is a vindication of its strategy to compete for design and build work in desalination, because this was the first tender it entered. The size of the project also makes it significant for Besix Group, whose entire turnover is about $3 billion a year globally (about 40 per cent of which comes from the Middle East).

Entrepreneurial energy Fully open book integrated joint venture of Besix and Acciona Joint venture will hand operations to DEWA after two years First bid by Besix for the engineering, procurement and process design elements of a desalination project

A joint venture of Belhasa Six Construct (Besix), and Acciona Agua won an AED 871 million ($237 million) desalination project from Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) in March 2018. The contract covers a 40 million imperial gallons (MIGD) a day (182,000 m3/d) seawater reverse osmosis desalination plant and associated facilities, including intake, outfall, pre-treatment and a two-pass reverse osmosis system. The date for commissioning is May 2020, and the joint venture will operate the plant for a two-year warranty period.

The contract win is significant for Besix Concessions & Assets, because it’s the first time the company has bid for the engineering, procurement and process design elements of a desalination project. Besix has a long history of operating in the Middle East, particularly as a marine contractor, and has a fleet of hundreds of barges, dredgers and other vessels, all designed, built and owned in-house. It has constructed very many of the seawater intake and outfall structures, plus the related pumping stations and civil environments, for seawater desalination and power plants dotted around the Gulf.

“We may be one of the top five water contractors in the world, but what we have been lacking is the process side, we basically stopped at the civil and marine work, but we could not do the engineering and procurement and process design,” says Rolf Keil, project development manager, Besix Concessions & Assets. “A couple of years ago the company had a vision to develop and grow for the future, especially taking into view the upcoming public-private partnership (PPP) model that is being employed across the region. That vision is what Concessions & Assets has developed into a reality, and that is what I was hired to lead.”

Besix Group has strong roots in the Middle East, in some cases working with sponsor families in relationships reaching into the second and even third generations. It has built some of the most ambitious projects in the region, too, including the Burj Khalifa skyscraper in Dubai, Dubai Water Canal, the Emirates Palace hotel, Abu Dhabi; and back in the 1960s, Sultan Qaboos Port, in Muscat, Oman.

At about a quarter of a million dollars, the investment is sizeable for a group whose entire revenue is around $3 billion. And the nature of the model employed by Besix and Acciona — an integrated, open book joint venture — is a significant step. “Because each side opens their books to the other. We know exactly how much one pays for a kilo of concrete, and the other knows exactly for how much to buy the pumps, and we can challenge one another about what is the best optimised process. It’s not like two entities working separately and then each pops up with a price. We are working together in the same office, same teams, fully open book. It’s a fantastic experience, and one of the first times that this has been done here at Besix,” explains Keil, adding that the joint venture has instilled an entrepreneurial energy in the project that is helping to drive innovation and efficiencies. In particular, it cuts out the contingencies that are often put into a project to allow for unknowns or pitfalls that may occur due to lack of detailed knowledge about a partner’s approach. “If we can sit together and challenge what would be the best idea how to do it, then I have a very close and sharp knowledge of what I really need to do, and I can be much more competitive and more accurate to reality,” he says.

Site and design Design-led engineering reimagines buildings over one storey, and not two Located in Jebel Ali industrial zone Project is more accurately described as greenfield than brownfield

The project has been billed as a brownfield scheme because it’s sited in an industrial zone; in fact, it would more accurately be described as greenfield, because the allotted space is vacant and has no existing assets that require demolition, modification, or integration. The site is U-shaped, and is surrounded by lots filled by industrial operators and their associated infrastructure, including power and gas installations. “The design is a little bit complicated for the intake and pumping station because we need always to find the gaps in between the neighbours,” explains Keil.

The main design challenge was to fit everything onto the compact site. In the consultant engineer’s original designs, the process buildings were foreseen as two-storey to accommodate all the process equipment. “That makes the whole structure more expensive to build. Through our experience as a contractor and designer, we could optimise certain buildings and structures, and together with Acciona, we saw how to fit the process into it, and we were able to put everything onto the ground floor, and could be very competitive,” says Keil.

As part of the design process, Besix drew on its back catalogue in building power and water plant intake infrastructure systems, including how other customers wanted to solve similar puzzles. “This made us very competitive, and enabled us to stay fully compliant with the specifications and requirements of both the client, DEWA, and its consultant ILF,” he adds. Further, keeping all the buildings to a single storey has a positive effect on the future cost to DEWA of owning and operating the plant. “Just imagine, if you need to pump your water onto the first floor, the cost of extra pumps, electricity. We are saving on that cost every day for 30 years. The approach that we took was, ‘what if I had to operate it for the next 25 years.’ If you think like that, you will challenge yourself in a much smarter way,” Keil says.

Technology and efficiency Plant performance “significantly improves” on industry average energy consumption Large size Dissolved Air Flotation and Dual Media Gravity Filtration systems Proprietary energy recovery technology that utilises brine

The project team brought innovation to its technology and process design: The intake infrastructure and pumping station are to be built new, and the team had to find routes and channels under roads and around neighbouring structures. The project will use a pipe intake reaching 1.2 kilometres into the sea, and an outfall pipe of two kilometres — in line with the Environmental Impact Assessment, and relevant environmental regulations. “We looked at the currents, and at the nearby coral reefs. We decided to go a bit further, to protect those,” says Keil.

The pumping station is about 16 metres in depth, and water is pumped into a Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) unit of 26 metres by 110 metres, which typically has 99 per cent recovery. From the DAF, the water goes to a dual media gravity filtration (DMGF) system of 50 metres by 95 metres, partly above and partly below ground, with a hydraulic design making it more economical. Any sludge from the DAF or DMGF is sent to a thickening treatment system, and then into a centrifuge and trucked for recycling or fertilisation. “This is something that DEWA will take the benefits from, and that we included in our design thinking as developer,” adds Keil.

After the DMGF, the water goes through a typical two-pass RO — seawater RO followed by brackish water RO — and then for remineralisation. “Remineralisation is a difficult process that must be done correctly, that includes limestone filters, and introduction of minerals to make it good quality drinking water,” says Keil. There is a proprietary technology for energy recovery from brine, and a brine treatment process, before the final waste brine is discharged back into the ocean.

“The design requirements from DEWA and ILF were super challenging, but from our perspective it is a pleasure to work in such an environment, because if they set the technical requirements very high, and you come with real value engineering, it makes a difference. It’s not necessarily the quickest and cheapest, but what you can achieve is outstanding. If we had to sell the water as owner of an Independent Water Plant, it would be a very competitive rate,” Keil says.

The new plant “significantly improves” on industry average energy consumption, he adds.

Treatment train

“The main process structures, the brine concentration, Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF), the dual media filtration, the reverse osmosis (RO) building, the calcite filter, the chemical building, and the flush treatment, as well as the RO clean-in-place, the electro-chlorination drainage — in the original plans, all these were to be on top of each other in a two-storey building that would take up about 60 percent of the plot, and the rest, the left and right legs, would be for the potable water storage tank, the outfall, and the electrical building. We swapped the left and the right leg. We put the tanks and electrical buildings on the opposite side, and having done so we discovered that we had the electrical building much closer to where we have the high pressure pump, and then we reconfigured our process: If you have two rectangular shapes and turn them around by 90 degrees, you can try to fit them into a particular framework, and this is what we have done. We were able to fit everything into the perimeter quite comfortably.” Rolf Keil, project development manager, Besix Concessions & Assets

Introducing Filtration Products Website: Filtration Products database assembles the recent reports, developments and purification items direct from the filtrations industry. Filtration-Products.com keeps you informed on treatment and all the major market innovation including string wound depth elements, pleated filters, melt blown filtration, bag filtration, Pre-RO filtration, from brands such as Lakos utilized in liquid recycling, and anything else the purification field has to tell.

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mancitynoise · 6 years

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This Saturday, Manchester City can win their third Premier League title and the crowning can come courtesy of a win over a hated neighbour who made their lives a misery for so very long.

Victory will ensure that this is the earliest point of a season when a title has been wrapped up and if this was not a surreal enough day for their fan-base it’s a defining, once-in-a-lifetime occasion that will see City field an under-strength side. In a derby. To win the league. Why? Because bookending the fixture are two Champions League quarter final clashes with Liverpool.

These are strange days indeed for Blues and being one myself it’s hard to make sense of it all. The human condition has a need to put everything that life offers up into boxes – that goes there and that goes there and that can be a few different things but let’s place it in that category so at least we know where it is. How can you do that to what is essentially the most ludicrous day-dream imaginable occurring in real time? There hasn’t been a box invented yet of a shape and volume to put all of this in and sellotape it up and hold it in your hands and say ‘this, this is what it feels like’.

The past helps. It provides some sort of ground zero; ballast and contrast. Ten years ago this week City lost at home to Chelsea to cap off a largely miserable period that produced just three wins in 15. The latest defeat prompted under-fire boss Sven Goran-Eriksson to say: “When you lose like we did you cannot criticise the team. They tried and that is what you want to see”. The Swede’s appointment was supposed to herald an exciting new dawn for the club after decades of farce and struggle. Now simple effort was more than sufficient.

Going back further still, 20 years ago City were rock-bottom of the second tier despite being pre-season favourites to win the division. Protests against their chairman Franny Lee were vociferous and heartfelt while chants of ‘You’re not fit to wear the shirt’ were commonplace. It was a claim that had substance given that the squad included Tony Scully, Jason van Blerk, and a striker in Lee Bradbury who couldn’t hit a barn door for love nor money.

In between those two markers in time was a soap opera that ended each episode with the main character shooting his foot off with his own trigger-finger. City became a national punchline. They aimed for the stars and fell flat on their face. They flailed, going through managers at a rate of knots, and yes admittedly that Manchester City and this present Manchester City are so completely different as to only share strands of DNA but it’s right to start here when attempting to make sense of what came later.

Because what the Abu Dhabi United Group inherited when they shelled out £210m to take control of the club in September 2008 was an impressive ground (that the club did not own), a promising young keeper by the name of Joe Hart and a handful of highly proficient talent, namely the Brazilian Elano, Micah Richards and Shaun Wright-Phillips. Throw in Pablo Zabaleta and Vincent Kompany, two signings so recent the ink had not yet dried on their contracts, and that was the summation of City’s building blocks from which to construct an empire. That and a heritage of under-achievement.

Considering the enormous scope of their ambitions – both on the pitch and off – it would therefore necessitate a quantum leap to elevate the club into the realms of the elite. Or, to put another way, just to get into the room Manchester City would have to invest an eye-watering amount of money and this they duly did embarking on a period of free-spending that rival supporters still associate them with today.

So admittedly in those early days it is hard to see a linear and premeditated strategy other than an aggressive targeting of the very best talents available regardless of expense and when Mark Hughes was jettisoned after just 12 months the fear was that this knee-jerk approach extended to the dug-out too.

With hindsight though it can be said that Roberto Mancini was the perfect appointment at the perfect time for this vast, fledgling project. An arch disciplinarian blooded in winning meaningful silverware (the Italian had guided Inter Milan to three consecutive Serie A titles prior to taking the Eastlands hot-seat) Mancini’s demand for excellence and work ethic quashed any concerns of mercenariness that could have divided this collection of assembled personnel. Instead he forged a purposeful and driven side who quickly established themselves as a top four inhabitant and better yet one capable of consistently displaying brilliant football.

We all know how his tenure peaked and when it did – at precisely 4.51pm on May 13th 2012 with Sergio Aguero peeling off his shirt and a ground now rechristened as the Etihad exploding in disbelieving jubilation – just as we know what it meant in every conceivable facet to the advancement of the modern-day Manchester City.

Yet later that year came a development that cannot compare in importance to a first league triumph in 44 years but can – to an extent – in relevance. With former Barcelona head honcho Ferran Sorriano having already replaced Garry Cook as the club’s chief executive a significant boardroom reshuffle was finalised that October with the appointment of Txiki Begeristain.

Until his departure in 2012, Begeristain had been Barcelona’s director of football during a quite staggering era of continental dominance. He was a man widely respected throughout the game and more so a man widely credited with being Pep Guardiola’s mentor during that astonishing spell that saw Xavi, Iniesta and Messi reinvent what was possible on a pitch.

Naturally then his arrival led the media putting two and two together and in this instance coming up with three. “Two down, one to go?” asked the Guardian, heavily insinuating that City’s next step was to secure the services of the world’s greatest coach.

It was a fair assumption because City had put everything in place to make themselves as appealing as possible to a coach with such a singular vision including the procurement of his two closest allies. Away from the pitch meanwhile a breath-taking transformation had taken place in the area surrounding the ground including the completion of a £200 youth academy that made Barcelona’s famed La Masia resemble a village kindergarten, while it was hardly a secret that the club’s owners did not simply want them to be the biggest and the best but the most respected and admired. In short City’s model owed much to the template that made the Catalonian giants so formidable.

It naturally followed then that when Mancini’s strengths became only negatives and his disciplinarian ways turned dictatorial the club turned to the person they believed could take their grand project to its greatest heights.

Only Guardiola, refreshed from a self-imposed hiatus and keen to undertake a new challenge chose the Bundesliga and Bayern and we can only speculate what a blow that was to a club that now had a clear and concise blueprint of what they envisaged their future to be.

Spurned, they instead turned to Manuel Pellegrini and though it would be highly disrespectful to deem the Chilean as a mere placeholder (after all, the ‘Engineer’ did preside over a title win that accrued a hundred goals) it was evident throughout his three years in Manchester that City were playing a waiting game. They wanted Pep. They needed Pep. Everything was in place bar him for City to take that final quantum leap into the stratosphere.

When they finally got him in early 2016 it was unquestionably their most defining signing since the takeover. From here anything was possible as they aimed for the stars.

#FootballFanCast #News

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jobdxb · 6 years

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Responsible for proactively soliciting and managing group/catering-related opportunities. Manages group/catering opportunities not handled by the Event Booking Center. Actively up-sells each business opportunity to maximize revenue opportunity. Achieves personal and team related revenue goals. Ensures business is turned over properly and in a timely fashion for proper service delivery. Responsible for driving customer loyalty by delivering service excellence throughout each customer experience. Provide service to our customers in order to grow share of the account on behalf of the company. CANDIDATE PROFILE Education and Experience High school diploma or GED; 2 years experience in the sales and marketing, guest services, front desk, or related professional area. Previous work experience in Abu Dhabi. Should have UAE driving license CORE WORK ACTIVITIES Understanding Markets & Maximizing Revenue Identifies new group/catering business to achieve personal and property revenue goals. Understands the overall market - competitors' strengths and weaknesses, economic trends, supply and demand etc. and knows how to sell against them. Closes the best opportunities for the property based on market conditions and property needs. Monitors same day selling procedures to maximize room revenue and control property occupancy. Gains understanding of the property's primary target customer and service expectations; serves the customer by understanding their business, business issues and concerns, to offer better business solution both prior to, and during the program/event. Conducting Daily Sales Activities Responds to incoming group/catering opportunities for the property that are outside parameters of the Event Booking Center. Uses negotiating skills and creative selling abilities to close on business and negotiate contracts. Uses sales resources and administrative/support staff effectively. Executes and supports the operational aspects of business booked (e.g., generating proposal, writing contract, customer correspondence). Providing Exceptional Customer Service Supports the company's service and relationship strategy, driving customer loyalty by delivering service excellence throughout each customer experience. Services our customers in order to grow share of the account. Executes and supports the company's Customer Service Standards and property's Brand Standards. Provides excellent customer service consistent with the daily service basics of the brand. Executes exemplary customer service to drive customer satisfaction and loyalty by assisting the customer and ensuring their satisfaction before and during their program/event. Partners with Event Management and/or Operations in providing a customer experience that exceeds the customer's expectations. Sets a positive example for guest relations. Interacts with guests to obtain feedback on product quality and service levels. Attends pre- and post-convention meetings to understand group needs, obtain feedback on quality of product (e.g., rooms, meeting facilities and equipment, food and beverage), service levels and overall satisfaction. Executes exemplary customer service to drive customer satisfaction and loyalty by assisting the customer and ensuring their satisfaction before and during their program/event. Serves the customer by understanding their needs and recommending the appropriate features and services that best meet their needs and exceed their expectations, while building a relationship and loyalty to the company. Building Successful Relationships Works collaboratively with off-property sales channels (e.g., Event Booking Center, Market Sales, Strategic Accounts) to ensure sales efforts are coordinated, complementary and not duplicative. Builds and strengthens relationships with existing and new customers to enable future bookings. Activities include sales calls, entertainment, FAM trips, trade shows, etc. Develops relationships within community to strengthen and expand customer base for group/catering sales opportunities. Manages and develops relationships with key internal and external stakeholders. Provides accurate, complete and effective turnover to Event Management. Additional Responsibilities Utilizes intranet for resources and information. Conducts site inspections. Creates contracts as required. Participates in and practices daily service basics of the brand. Marriott International is an equal opportunity employer committed to hiring a diverse workforce and sustaining an inclusive culture. Marriott International does not discriminate on the basis of disability, veteran status or any other basis protected under federal, state or local laws.

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