Another budget airline in Asia bites the dust and, no surprises, hundreds were left stranded with perhaps thousands more wondering about tickets for upcoming trips. No wonder angry passengers in Macau tried to storm the departure area at the airport yesterday. However, I can't condone subsequent actions that included attempts at preventing other passengers flying non-bankrupt airlines getting to their gates on time (see more here).

The Viva Macau website is still operational, although I can't see any notice about the planes being grounded.

On a related note, while looking for a list of budget airlines in the region that have gone broke, I came across this website: Low Cost Airlines Graveyard. It makes you wonder how many of these outfits cared about anything other than a quick buck.

The cover story for the Financial Times Asian edition this morning is Toyota's massive recall. With US dealers repairing close to a million vehicles so far, questions are now being asked about 'confused' priorities. Akio Toyoda has admitted the company lost it way and sense of priorities as it expanded rapidly. Putting growth and profits ahead of safety is clearly costing the company dearly now, and not just in profits. In the 2009 Interbrand rankings of the best global brands, Toyota came in at Number 8 (down from number 6 the previous year). It will be interesting to see what happens in the 2010 rankings.

McDonald's in Singapore is having a pig problem.  Not a problem with a living pig but a missing toy pig.  The pig toy was to be part of the 12 character Doraemon set depicting the animals of the Chinese Zodiac calendar.    But McDonald’s decided not to include the pig toy to avoid offending Muslim customers, and had a Doraemon Cupid toy in its place instead.  The removal of the pig has made it to the press with journalists expressing that actually it was Chinese consumers who were offended - with those born in the year of the pig missing out on the chance to collect the full set.  A McDonald's spokesperson said that the Pig was replaced with Cupid as Valentines Day is also coming up.  Sociologist Daniel Goh said that if McDonald’s did not consult Muslim opinions before making the decision to exclude the pig toy, the company had then presumed Muslim sensibilities. He added that it amounted to a form of self-censorship. Some have stated in response to the media stories that whilst McDonald's could have handled the issue better at least it was a sign that the company was trying to be culturally sensitive, others are commenting that McDonald's should be boycotted until they get cultural sensitivities right.    So what is the right thing to do in this instance? Some stakeholder engagement to find out what people think about your product and how you market it?

ASEAN countries exporting to EU nations will need to comply with more stringent EU food and safety requirements. As on of the major exporters to the EU, ASEAN will need to abide by the safe food regulations as to ensure that food exported to the EU is safe and suitable for consumption. Read more here.