Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/468421
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 25 FEBRUARY 2015 12 Business Today Regular market closed – 24/02/2015 Symbol Code Volume Traded Value Traded Trades High Price Low Price Open Price Close Price Change Twap t BOV 210178 445284.680 34 2.120 2.110 2.120 2.120 -0.006 2.119 s GO 11660 31260.180 7 2.700 2.660 2.660 2.700 0.020 2.681 t HSB 102809 195174.010 21 1.952 1.880 1.952 1.900 -0.070 1.898 t IHG 5000 5100.000 2 1.020 1.020 1.020 1.020 -0.009 1.020 t LOM 2772 5058.900 1 1.825 1.825 1.825 1.825 -0.075 1.825 t MDI 5500 1265.000 2 0.230 0.230 0.230 0.230 -0.005 0.230 l PZC 83740 71179.000 4 0.850 0.850 0.850 0.850 0.000 0.850 s SFC 400 1280.000 1 3.200 3.200 3.200 3.200 0.080 3.200 t G15A 405648 412544.020 3 101.700 101.700 101.700 101.700 -0.120 101.700 t G15B 1000000 1035200.000 2 103.520 103.520 103.520 103.520 -0.060 103.520 t G15F 1500000 1541100.000 4 102.740 102.740 102.740 102.740 -0.060 102.740 s G16A 4660 5009.500 2 107.500 107.240 107.240 107.500 0.260 107.500 l G16B 9318 10057.850 1 107.940 107.940 107.940 107.940 0.000 107.940 s G17C 264000 291640.800 3 110.470 110.470 110.470 110.470 0.030 110.470 l G18A 2330 2906.910 1 124.760 124.760 124.760 124.760 0.000 124.760 t G20B 30000 35610.000 3 118.700 118.700 118.700 118.700 -0.010 118.700 t G21A 22907 28542.120 3 124.600 124.600 124.600 124.600 0.060 124.600 t G22B 26200 31869.680 3 121.640 121.640 121.640 121.640 0.040 121.640 t G23A 5746 7645.050 1 133.050 133.050 133.050 133.050 0.050 133.050 t G28A 460000 610895.000 6 132.810 132.600 132.600 132.810 0.280 132.800 t G28B 2507000 3240982.600 12 129.280 129.180 129.180 129.280 0.320 129.280 t G29A 40000 54620.000 2 136.550 136.550 136.550 136.550 0.280 136.550 t G30A 88400 122213.000 4 138.250 138.250 138.250 138.250 0.290 138.250 t G31A 23500 32185.600 4 136.960 136.960 136.960 136.960 0.250 136.960 t G32A 42000 54020.400 3 128.620 128.620 128.620 128.620 0.290 128.620 t G32B 64800 81440.640 1 125.680 125.680 125.680 125.680 0.290 125.680 t G33A 124500 152559.900 5 122.600 122.350 122.350 122.600 0.350 122.540 t G34A 125000 150570.000 3 121.000 120.200 120.200 121.000 1.120 120.460 t AX24A 5000 5425.500 1 108.510 108.510 108.510 108.510 0.010 108.510 l BV18A 25000 27375.000 3 109.500 109.500 109.500 109.500 0.000 109.500 l BV19A 30000 33300.000 2 111.000 111.000 111.000 111.000 0.000 111.000 t HB17A 29500 31022.260 2 105.180 105.100 105.100 105.180 -0.020 105.160 l HB18A 40100 44110.000 3 110.000 110.000 110.000 110.000 0.000 110.000 t HM24A 10000 10490.000 3 105.000 104.500 105.000 104.500 -0.300 104.900 s IG19A 5000 5150.500 1 103.010 103.010 103.010 103.010 0.060 103.010 l MI17A 30000 27000.000 1 90.000 90.000 90.000 90.000 0.000 90.000 l PT24A 2800 2982.000 1 106.500 106.500 106.500 106.500 0.000 106.500 Market Summary as at February 24, 2015 Equity Official List Session State ................................................................... closed Number of trades ............................................................. 155 Volume Traded ................................................................. 7,345,468 Value of € denominated securities .................................... 8,844,070.1 Value of US$ denominated securities ................................ 0.00 Value of GBP£ denominated securities .............................. 0.00 Current Index ................................................................... 3424.439 Previous Index ................................................................. 3452.34 Change in Index (%) ......................................................... 0.808% 6pm Holdings plc ........................... 0.700 0.00% Malta International Airport plc ........ 2.650 0.00% Bank of Valletta plc ......................... 2.120 -0.28% MaltaPost plc .................................. 1.360 0.00% FIMBank plc ................................... 0.490 0.00% Medserv plc ................................... 1.420 0.00% GlobalCapital plc ............................ 0.800 0.00% Middlesea Insurance plc ................. 1.020 0.00% GO plc ............................................ 2.700 0.75% MIDI plc ......................................... 0.230 -2.13% Grand Harbour Marina plc .............. 1.750 0.00% Plaza Centres plc ............................ 0.850 0.00% HSBC Bank Malta plc ...................... 1.900 3.55% RS2 Software plc............................. 2.970 0.00% International Hotel Investments plc 0.630 0.00% Simonds Farsons Cisk plc ................ 3.200 2.56% Island Hotels Group Holdings plc .... 1.020 -0.87% Tigné Mall plc ................................. 0.671 0.00% Lombard Bank Malta plc ................. 1.825 -3.95% Pefaco International plc .................. 2.190 0.00% Malita Investments plc .................... 0.770 0.00% Santumas Shareholdings plc .......... 2.000 0.00% One of the most frequent things we have to do in business is to solve problems. Some might say life itself is one continuous problem-solving adventure. My point is that the need to solve problems is inevitable but how good you are at it isn't. Unfortunately, too many people get lost in problem-solving and are horribly ineffective at it. In today's business world we need flexible, open and creative minds. If you are stuck in your ways, fear change (or dare I say constant change) and are overly conservative, you will definitely struggle with problem-solving at work since the target is always changing. As someone once told me at business school: 'Be a dolphin, not a dinosaur'. The first thing I would advise you to do is to dedicate a lot of time understanding and analysing the problem. I think it was Einstein who said that if he only had one hour to save the world he would spend a staggering 55 minutes defining the problem and only five minutes to finding the solution and I think that says a lot about how to approach problem-solving. In doing so, you should rephrase the problem and challenge underlying assumptions. For example, when a Toyota executive asked his employees to think of ways 'to increase your [their] productivity' he got nowhere but when he rephrased his question to 'find ways to make your jobs easier' he was inundated with great ideas and suggestions. Similarly, when innovating a company's business model, I frequently ask the top management to intentionally throw out of the window the obvious industry assumptions (home truths) since this always leads to innovation. Low cost airlines did this circa 10 years ago and they revolutionised the airline industry; Apple under the leadership of Steve Jobs disrupted several industries by challenging previously held assumptions; and FaceBook definitely ignored a lot of industry assumptions to come up with its constantly evolving product. My point is that problem-solving requires you to have an open mind and this includes how you frame the problem and what assumptions you make (or ignore). The second step requires you to break the problem down to smaller (bite size) pieces. Every problem is arguably a smaller piece of a greater problem. A tool I find very useful is the "Five Why's", which involves asking the question 'Why' five times before getting close to the root cause of the problem. You see, the difficulty in problem- solving is that very often people mistake or confuse the root cause with the symptom(s) of the problem. With the "Five Why's" you move yourself from the problem to a possible cause to the actual cause. For example: The problem is that a company finds it hard to recruit new people. First why: Because people haven't heard of us? Second why: Because we don't have a strong brand presence? Third why: Because we spend most of our marketing budget on B2B foreign customers and hardly any on local brand building? Fourth why: Because our KPIs are tied to global sales? Fifth why: Because our Sales Department has a lot more clout and influence with the CEO than our HR director? The third step to problem-solving is to obtain a 360 degree perspective. Look at the problem from multiple / different perspectives. Look at the problem from your customers' point of view, from your front- liners' point of view, from your competitors' point of view and from the perspective of your top- management. Identify the gaps and think of how these can be bridged. Also focus on understanding the differences and similarities. The idea here is to start coming up with alternative actions. The fourth and suggested final step is to literally start removing the obstacles of the problem. For example, if you are finding it difficult to increase sales, think of ways to decrease sales and then simply reverse your answers. Obstacles become solutions. In English, we say turning the problem on its head. Obviously, there is a multitude of problem-solving techniques you can use. For example, the 'Is/Is Not Matrix', the 'Six Honest Men' (What? Why? When? Where? Who? How?), the 'Six Thinking Hats', Structured or semi-structured Brain Storming sessions, 'Leap Frog Analysis', 'Force Field Analysis', 'Tree Diagrams' and even Scenario Thinking. I would suggest that you play with different tools and see what works best for you and always get external / independent help. So, if your problem at work is problem solving, you now know the basics. Don't be emotional or instinctive about it but use problem solving techniques and tools to arrive at the answers. The business environment has become so dynamic and ever changing that you really need to be nifty and effective in your problem-solving, otherwise your business will always lag behind and eventually become a dinosaur. What's your problem? The definition first; the rest second. Kevin-James Fenech is a management consultant at FENCI Consulting When innovating a company's business model, I frequently ask the top management to intentionally throw out of the window the obvious industry assumptions (home truths) since this always leads to innovation Kevin-James Fenech What's your problem?