.

I Can Only Imagine - Mercy Me

2008-10-22T06:28:00.000-07:00

I can only imagine
What it will be like
When I walk By your side
I can only imagine
What my eyes will see
When your face
Is before me

I can only imagine
I can only imagine

[Chorus:]
Surrounded by Your glory, what will my heart feel
Will I dance for you Jesus or in awe of you be still
Will I stand in your presence or to my knees will I fall
Will I sing hallelujah, will I be able to speak at all
I can only imagine
I can only imagine

I can only imagine
When that day comes
And I find myself
Standing in the Sun
I can only imagine
When all I will do
Is forever
Forever worship You
I can only imagine
I can only imagine

[Chorus]
Surrounded by Your glory, what will my heart feel
Will I dance for you Jesus or in awe of you be still
Will I stand in your presence or to my knees will I fall
Will I sing hallelujah, will I be able to speak at all
I can only imagine
I can only imagine

I can only imagine [x2]
I can only imagine
When all I will do
Is forever, forever worship you
I can only imagine

2008-06-13T19:04:00.003-07:00

20501034 Entry 15

2008-06-13T19:04:00.001-07:00

Transforming Giants
Original Article
From the interview with Havard Business School professor,

Moth Kanter in Chosun Ilbo on May 10 2008

Summary
Many people has stereotype about the big corporations. However, this is the different era. The giants companies could be also fast and flexible.IBM, P&G, Cemex, Cisco, Banco Real, these are the world renowned companies which is fast and flexible. The professor found the common things from those companies.

In the one hand, they globalized themselves. On the other hand, they localized. They standardize but at the same time innovate. They emphasize on universality and diversity. Not only this, they tey to realize value creation and social contribution. They grow not only "Soft Asset; people, culture, and responsibilities" but also "Hard asset; techonologies and product innovation"

My opinion

I have been seeing that many huge corporations like Enron, Daewoo, Worldcom went into bankruptcy. However, I think it will be hard to see the large corporation falling down in the future. The giants of the present have a lot possibilities to remain as the giants in the future.

I found the similar evolution of the enterprise with evolution of the poitics. Socio-economic has been improved experiencing trial and error. According to the Karl Marx, socio-economic system has been through primitive, slavery, medieval, capitalism, socialism and the final stage he predicted is communism. Communism as a last resort could be controversial but the initial intention of communism is to distribute the goods as many people as possible and everybody can share what they deserve. I believe the business will follow those development steps as socio-economic system does.

From the past, companies have been expanding its boundary. Family to the town. Town to the province. Province to the nation. And the nation to the globe. Once globalized, the companies realized how important to sustainably develop satisfying and feeding all the members who involved. They should keep middle income family through contributing and helping, so that they can keep pumping money from out of them. Therefore, they contribute the society and try to grow with the world that they are surrounded by.

20501034 Entry 14

2008-06-13T11:04:00.000-07:00

CEO's role and Value Preposition

Original Article

By Ahn Sukwoo from Chosun Ilbo on June 8 2008

Summary

How the company Apple was dependent on the current CEO, Steve Jobs was proven when Steve Jobs had Pancreatic cancer. When his having cancer was announced, Apple's stock was decreased about 2.4%. One of the finest Wallstreet investors predicted "If Steve Jobs leave the Apple, Apple's stock price will be decreased about 20%. How the huge organization like Apple that control tens of thousand of employees can be influenced by just one CEO? It is because strategic postioning that CEO made will decide companies performances.

My Opinion

Strategic positioning is the strategy that corporation concentrates given resources on the target market. However, this strategic positioning is getting difficult and challenged especially in service industry, because customers’ needs are becoming more diverse and it is getting hard to find common things among them. If the company is big enough, it can target various kind of market at the same time. However, if the company doesn’t have enough resources, it’s almost impossible to target various markets. Even though, the company that has enough cash and capacity, it became very hard to keep competitive advantages in every market they are getting involved with. In the worst case, the company could front the fact that they don’t have any competitive power in any market. Therefore, many times, it could be more efficient to target specific demographics and heavily focus specialized competitive advantages and resources on the target group. Once the company positioned in specific target group in the market through this strategy, the satisfied consumers who were targeted by the company can create new customers in the other market through the oral marketing.

The market that the company concentrates on could be the specific area or particular age group. The important thing is to arrange the very narrow target group and massively focus on. When Starbuck launched into Korea for the time, they did strategic positioning. They decided highly targeted places, City hall, Jong-ro, Gangnam where most people who have purchase power walk around and Starbucks opened the shop almost every corner of this districts. As a result of this strategy, Starbucks could successfully appeal the luxurious image and high quality and then it was kind of easy to open the business in other district because Starbucks already got a reputation among people.

Of course, this strategic positioning isn’t always successful and it is quite risky to put all the resources into the specific target group. Therefore, the company should have enough time to consider about what their competitive advantages are and how to implement it.

Entry # 21 20600331

2008-06-13T08:11:00.000-07:00

My Opinion/Summary:

The reintroduction of United States beef into the Korean market happened on the eve of Lee Myung Bak’s term of office. This is not a good strategic plan for him in Korea. United States beef has not been in Korea since last year when a full ban went on it. Lee Myung Bak’s approval rate dropped dramatically since his landslide victory over his competitors. Furthermore, no Korean president’s approval rating has dropped so low and so quickly. The Korean public has disliked this decision so much that they have been protesting in the streets. More than protesting, they tried to march onto Lee Myung Bak’s house. However, they were met with force from the Korean Police.
Another problem that Lee Myung Bak is facing is that his policy-makers pushed for exports. This fueled growth in the economy, however, inflation has taken a huge rise. Therefore, prices of everything and not just oil are rising in the United States. Public opinion is a huge part holding a public office. The public opinion of him is growing worse and worse everyday.
All of these problems are not allowing Lee Myung Bak to implement the plans that he wishes to put forth. The negative publicity put into place with his first two decisions in office is greatly hindering the possible good that could possible be done. With such hostility in the air, it would be wise and prudent to change something in the policy.

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Korea's U.S. Beef Brouhaha

President Lee Myung Bak's removal of restrictions on U.S. beef has plunged his administration into a crisis that could imperil a free-trade pact with the U.S.

South Korean riot police disperse protesters as they try to march to the Presidential House after a candlelight vigil against US beef imports, in Seoul on June 8, 2008.

by Moon Ihlwan
Rarely has a newly anointed Korean President fallen so far and so fast. Less than four months into a five-year term, Lee Myung Bak's decision to remove restrictions on U.S. beef has sparked widespread protests over food safety and engulfed his administration in a crisis that threatens a free-trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries. Lee's approval ratings have plunged to new lows, and opposition politicians are planning to boycott Parliament.
It wasn't supposed to happen this way. Lee had strong voter backing after winning a landslide victory in December. On Apr. 18, Lee, eager to cement ties with his country's closest ally, lifted the ban on U.S. beef imports for the first time since it was re-imposed last year. Korea had banned all American beef in 2003 following an outbreak of mad cow disease in the U.S. Seoul briefly allowed in boneless beef from cattle younger than 30 months of age before suspending that last year when bone chips turned up in shipments.
Seoul had hoped to coax the U.S. Congress into ratifying a free-trade accord, which the two governments signed last year. The lifting of the ban came on the eve of Lee's first summit with President George W. Bush in the U.S. in April. Korea was once the third-largest U.S. export market for American beef, with an annual turnover of more than $800 million a year. The on-again, off-again beef ban had fueled opposition to the free-trade pact among key members of the U.S. Congress, including Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, from the beef-producing state of Montana. A grand gesture from Seoul might do the trick, was the thinking.
Protests Outside Seoul's Blue House
So much for grand gestures. For the past three nights, as many as 60,000 farmers, students, and housewives have demonstrated against the resumption of American beef imports. They have jammed Seoul's streets leading to the Blue House, the presidential residence. Many of them have shouted slogans demanding Lee's ouster for risking public health, and accused the Korean leader of kowtowing to Washington. Some think Seoul could have let in beef from young cattle bred in the U.S. but kept out meat from older cattle, which are more susceptible to mad cow disease. Korea's neighbor Japan bans imports of beef from older cattle.
Lee's loss of popular support has been swifter than anything ever experienced by a Korean President. His approval ratings (BusinessWeek.com, 12/18/07) are now below 20%, down from almost 60% in early March. And a June survey by pollster Korea Research and YTN cable news network has shown that 87% of those polled expressed disappointment with the government's talks with U.S. officials over beef. "We have reached a point where we can't expect much political leadership in Korea," lamented Lee Hahn Koo, a senior member of Parliament from the ruling Grand National Party, on June 9.
Government officials worry that the row could derail the free-trade pact, which experts estimate could boost two-way trade by $20 billion annually. Opposition lawmakers have boycotted a new session of parliament this month, threatening to shelve the trade pact for now. "Given huge political pressures, it would be difficult even for the Korean National Assembly to ratify the FTA unless the beef issue is resolved," says a senior aide to Lee who asked not to be identified.
Rising Inflation Hurting Consumer Confidence
Lee's misfortunes aren't only beef-related. His choice of policymakers, who pushed for export-fueled growth but didn't worry enough about inflation, hasn't helped. Amid soaring oil and material prices, Lee's government allowed the Korean currency, the won, to depreciate by about 10% against the U.S. dollar. That helped propel inflation to a seven-year high of 4.9%. Now with consumer confidence at a low ebb the government faces the prospect of missing its target for 6% economic growth this year. Private economists forecast growth between 4% and 4.9%, compared to last year's 5% growth and 5.1% in 2006.
The brouhaha over beef is interfering with Lee's plan to institute pro-business reforms. He is pushing to privatize government assets that would free up tens of billions of dollars to stimulate the economy as well as an ambitious tax reform package. Also on the agenda: a tougher hand with labor unions and deregulation of the financial-services sector. "Lee's blueprint for change is fading badly even before he opens it," says Park Gil Sung, a sociology professor at Korea University.
Seoul is hoping Washington can step in with a diplomatic solution to defuse the crisis. On June 9, Lee dispatched a team of negotiators to Washington, asking them to make sure shipments of beef from cattle older than 30 months won't be allowed. At the weekend, Lee called Bush for a 20-minute phone conversation during which Bush, who is scheduled to visit Seoul in July, told Lee that Washington would cooperate closely with Seoul. He said the U.S. is "ready to support American cattle exporters as they reach a mutually acceptable solution with Korean importers on the beef trade," according to White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe, who gave no further details.
The Beginning of a Trade War?
Eager to appease an angry public, Seoul is grappling for a solution. It could press for a renegotiation of the terms of the beef trade. But asking the U.S. back to the table or scrapping the existing accord could trigger calls in the U.S. for tit-for-tat amendments to the free-trade pact. Detroit's concerns that Korean cars and parts will surge into the U.S., risking even more U.S. auto industry jobs, might find a more receptive audience in Congress.
Could the tensions develop into a full-blown trade war? It's possible, says Han Sangwan, chief economist at think tank Hyundai Research Institute in Seoul. The beef dispute could become a bigger issue if it's taken up during this year's U.S. Presidential election. The Korean public could inflame tensions, too. "Unless the U.S. shows flexibility over its beef exports to address Koreans' concerns over food safety, a wholesale boycott of U.S. products could follow," says Han. "And that could trigger protectionist retaliation." The collapse of an FTA would mean a "serious chasm between the two," he adds.
Lee now appears to be reconsidering the hard-charging style that he displayed as the CEO at Hyundai Group. The forcefulness that worked at a conglomerate that has long epitomized Korea's breakneck industrialization is being regarded as a liability and the mark of a leader who is deaf to public demands. In a meeting with Catholic priests on June 9, Lee admitted that he had made policy mistakes and hinted at a Cabinet shakeup. Already seven top presidential aides have offered to resign. Winning back the public's trust won't be easy for Lee.
Moon is BusinessWeek's Seoul bureau chief.

Entry # 20 20600331

2008-06-13T07:48:00.000-07:00

My Opinion/Summary:

Retirement wage gap is a big problem between men and women. Women usually take off of work for a period of time due to maternity leave. However, when they do come back and catch up on the time lost due to a baby in the family, they still come up short to their male counterparts. Female workers in the United States earn about $0.77 per every $1.00 that equal male workers make. Over the course of the working lifetime that is a difference of three hundred thousand dollars. Therefore, a disparity in the payrate between men and women in the workforce is translated into a disparity in the retirement wage between men and women.
This is a problem strategically in the United States. There are more and more women entering the workforce. Furthermore, there are more and more women graduating out of college every year. If this continues, there will be more and more disgruntled women employees throughout the United States. With women becoming a bigger and more prominent part of the workforce, if they decided to strike, it could lead to a huge situation in the United States economy.
With this problem becoming bigger everyday, the United States cannot continue to ignore this problem and make reparations starting today.

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Article: Overcome the Retirement “Gender Gap”
by Stephanie Loiacono
Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Many people won't save enough money for a comfortable retirement, but women have an even higher risk than men of coming up short when they stop working.
There are three key factors that have the greatest influence on retirement savings: income levels, risk tolerance and life expectancy. In each of these categories, women may hold the losing hand. Read on to learn why women fall behind on retirement savings and what they can do to catch up.
Income Falls Short
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, three out of four women earn less than $40,000 a year. In part, women earn less than men because of time spent out of the workforce. Women frequently take time away to have children, raise families and increasingly, to care for aging parents.
At the same time, however, women are often paid less for the work they do, regardless of how long they're employed. According to the Women's Institute for a Secure Retirement (WISER), in 2007, women earned only $0.77 for every dollar on average, compared to men. That's a $300,000 loss over a career's lifetime!
Because retirement benefits are based on accumulated earnings during a working career, this "gender wage gap" quickly turns into a retirement wage gap. As such, WISER points out, women with pensions receive about half the amount men do, or $4,200 annually compared to $7,800 each year for a man.
The impact of this gap is multiplied by the fact that women typically live seven years longer than men. Add on the possibility of divorce or widowhood, in which women may lose out on a portion or all of their spouse's pension benefits, and women clearly head into retirement with far less wealth than men.
Risk Tolerance Is Low
When it comes to choosing how to invest retirement savings, every individual must decide which risk-return relationship is comfortable, but also ensures their financial goals are reached. A common mistake is to invest retirement assets too conservatively, thereby sacrificing long-term growth.
Investment history and theory have proved that higher returns are attained by taking on more risk. For women, being overly cautious with an investment strategy for retirement will only magnify the problems they already face as a result of lower lifetime incomes and longer life spans.
Figure 1, below, shows two retirement-savings scenarios comparing a conservative investment strategy with a more aggressive growth strategy.
Figure 1: Conservative vs. aggressive investing returns
The conservative investor is a 45-year-old woman making $40,000 a year. She has saved $35,000 and is adding another $200 per month into retirement savings. She invested her money conservatively for 20 years: 20% stocks, 50% bonds and 30% in short-term money market funds.
The aggressive investor is a woman with the same income, the same savings and the same time horizon, but she invested her money aggressively for 20 years: 85% stocks, 15% bonds and 0% in short-term funds.
By age 65, the conservative female investor saved $235,000 in retirement money, while the aggressive investor reached $352,000. As you can see, by taking on some additional risk and investing more in stocks, the aggressive investor created $117,000 more in retirement funds. Not considering taxes, if each woman lives to be 80.5 years (current life expectancy of women in the U.S. according to the CDC), the aggressive investor would have around $24,000 per year to live off of compared to the roughly $16,000 the conservative investor would have.
It's All In Your Mind
Psychological factors play a very important role in how women deal with money and investments. A review conducted by James Byrnes, David Miller and William Schafer (1999) of 150 psychological studies of risk-taking by men and women found that women generally perceive more risk, and are more risk-averse in situations ranging from health to the environment, public policy or finance.
The reasons for this risk-gender discrepancy are complex. Some studies suppose that women's greater responsibility in childbearing and reproduction leads to risk-aversion (J. LaBorde Witt, Journal of Women and Aging, 1994). Others point to the way women are raised. Regardless, most women can recount feelings of fear and intimidation when it comes to dealing with money and investments.
A recent analysis by John Watson and Mark McNaughton in the Financial Analysts Journal in July 2007 quantified the impact that risk-aversion has on women's projected retirement benefits. Controlling for age, income and education, the study concluded that women choose more conservative investment strategies, and that this is the primary reason why women can expect to have less retirement savings than men. The effect is compounded because women make less, retire earlier and live longer than men.
What's Next?
Women require more financial education to help them determine the appropriate risk, return and retirement strategies to meet their goals. A growing number of financial advisors, banks, and organizations have recognized this knowledge-gender gap and are creating education programs aimed specifically at women.
It's time for all women to take charge of their retirement savings. Seek out a financial advisor, an investor education materials and other resources that target the unique circumstances women face. Ask questions. Don't wait.Stephanie Loiacono, CFA, is a financial writer and analyst with 20 years of experience in investment management and research. She is currently writing a book, titled "Financial S.O.S. for Divorced Women."

Entry # 19 20600331

2008-06-13T07:45:00.000-07:00

My Opinion/Summary:

Yahoo has experienced decline and stagnation over the past couple of years. Icahn, wants to replace the current board of directors and put into place himself and others. This is a good idea because Yahoo has been a decline for the past few years. To add to this problem, Google a competitor has grew tremendously. I believe this is a sound strategic plan because the current board has done nothing or could do nothing to change the current outcome, it may be time to change the board. If something is not working, it is never a good idea to continue on that path and hope that it will somehow find the right answer. However, I do not believe that Icahn’s actions though well intended for Yahoo were the right course of action. A more level-headed cooled approach may appeal to more investors in Yahoo to make the switch from the current board to the new one. Currently, Yahoo has posted an injunction to try and stop Icahn’s plan.

-----------------------------------

ReutersIcahn trashes Yahoo for failed growth plan
Monday June 9, 2:34 pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Carl Icahn on Monday fired off another letter savaging the board and management of Yahoo Inc (NasdaqGS:YHOO - News) for failing in its growth plan, the latest volley in an escalating proxy battle the billionaire investor has staged at the Internet company.
Icahn -- who is seeking to replace the board of Yahoo with his own nominees, including himself -- took aim at Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang, saying he has failed to come up with a suitable plan to beat back rivals including Google Inc (NasdaqGS:GOOG - News).
"While Google's income from operations grew 59 percent per year for the last two years, Yahoo's income from operations shrank 21 percent," Icahn said in his latest salvo to Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock.
"What was the board doing over this period? Where was their great plan? Why did you permit Google to leave you in the dust?" Icahn asked.
Later on Monday, Yahoo filed its proxy statement for its August 1 shareholder meeting with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The Web company urged shareholders to reelect the current board of directors, including Bostock and Yang, and reject Icahn's slate.
Yahoo also said in the filing it expects to foot $12 million in proxy solicitation costs.
Shares of Yahoo were down 6 cents at $26.38 in afternoon trading on the Nasdaq.
(Reporting by Dane Hamilton and Anupreeta Das, editing by Mark Porter and Gerald E. McCormick)

Entry # 18 20600331

2008-06-13T07:39:00.000-07:00

My Opinion/Summary:

Underinsured Americans and uninsured Americans have been the norm in the United States and have increased since 2001. This is not a good strategic plan for the United States. Families in all income levels have increase in the number of those families who were either underinsured or uninsured. One big problem is the percent increase in the cost of the premium for these coverages. The percentage increase since 2001 has been seventy-eight percent. However, the wage increase among workers in America has only been seventeen percent, meanwhile, inflation over the past seven years has been seventeen percent.
Another problem that they are facing is that just because someone owns health coverage; it does not mean that all of the medical costs would be covered. Plans like the HMO and others in the United States have failed the public so many times that the American public does not trust the insurance companies anymore.
Health costs that have been the burden of employers are now being felt more and more by employees. With health care plans offered by employers becoming more and more limited, angrier employees and more disgruntled employees may surface. This also leads to the problem of underinsured Americans.
Therefore, the United States must act and put in policy that would allow Americans to become more and more adequately insured.

------------------------------------------------------------

MarketWatch
Millions with insurance still face serious financial, health risk
Thursday June 12, 1:30 pm ET
By Kristen Gerencher

Number of underinsured up 60% last year vs. 2003, study finds
Despite the U.S. economy's growth in the last five years, the number of people with health insurance who face high out-of-pocket medical expenses relative to their incomes has risen sharply since 2003, according to a new study.
More than 25 million working-age Americans were underinsured last year, up 60% from the 16 million who had inadequate coverage in 2003, according to a report from the Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation in New York. The rate of underinsurance nearly tripled among middle- and higher-income families, those with at least $40,000 in family income.
"Lack of insurance is only one part of the problem, as even the insured have serious gaps in coverage," said Karen Davis, president of the Commonwealth Fund. "Insurance coverage is the ticket into the health-care system, but for too many, that ticket doesn't buy financial security or genuine access to care."
The upward trend in the underinsured rate reflects how much rising health-care costs have outpaced wage gains. Premiums for family coverage have jumped 78% since 2001, while wages have risen 19% and general inflation has gone up 17% in that time, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Researchers considered people who had coverage all year long underinsured if they had out-of-pocket medical, prescription, dental and vision expenses that amounted to 10% or more of their total household income, or 5% if they were low income. People who had deductibles equal to or greater than 5% of their income also qualified as underinsured because of their potential financial exposure.
During 2007, 42% of adults, or 75 million people, were either uninsured or underinsured, up from one-third in 2003, according to the study of 2,616 people ages 19 to 64. It was published online Tuesday in the journal Health Affairs.
Similar patterns to uninsured
Employers burdened by rapidly rising health-care costs have been shifting more of those costs to workers or limiting benefits, the study found. The underinsured were more likely to have individual or small-group coverage, and those with employer-based health insurance were more likely to work in low-wage jobs or at small firms than their adequately insured counterparts. What's more, the underinsured were more likely to report paying high deductibles and many paid high annual premiums.
The underinsured often resembled the uninsured more so than the insured in their health-care choices and experiences. More than half of the underinsured -- 53% -- and 68% of the uninsured avoided needed care because of cost, compared with 31% of the adequately insured who went without, the study found. That includes not seeing a doctor when sick, not filling prescriptions and not getting recommended diagnostic tests or treatments.
About 45% of the underinsured reported difficulty paying medical bills, being contacted by collection agencies or changing their way of life to keep up on health-care payments, just shy of the 51% of uninsured who said the same.
In the U.S., even people with health insurance can rack up medical debt or face bankruptcy, said Cathy Schoen, senior vice president of the Commonwealth Fund. "As a nation we are losing ground. We need to move in new directions."
Leon Rousso, a certified financial planner in Ventura, Calif., who sells health insurance as part of his business, said he tries to place moderate-income people in health plans that have a sensible annual out-of-pocket maximum and reasonable coverage for their biggest potential out-of-pocket costs. Sometimes that means moving them to a higher deductible plan in exchange for lower premiums.
Of course, many people have to take whatever their employer offers them, he said.
Insured people "don't really have a lot of clout," Rousso said. "Middle to lower middle class, that's really where the vulnerable spot is. You see a lot of people who don't have a lot of money."
Those who shop for their own plan are wise to look for coverage of big-ticket items. Rousso advised focusing on financial protection for hospitalization charges and prescription drugs.
"Those are the biggest places to lose your fortune," he said. "It's all about protecting your assets."
Many of the underinsured are in scaled-down, more affordable health plans, said Nancy Davenport-Ennis, chief executive of the nonprofit Patient Advocate Foundation in Newport News, Va. The group tries to help people with chronic, debilitating and life-threatening conditions get the care they need, with 78% of its annual cases involving cancer patients.
"We actually found that an underinsured consumer has a tougher time getting to resources than a completely uninsured consumer," she said.
The underinsured are often in plans that have limits such as dollar caps on diagnoses and specific services and restrictions on the number and kind of drugs covered, which can undercut the kind of aggressive care many cancer patients count on, Davenport-Ennis said.
"In affordable plans, it's almost standard to see a cap on the number of radiation visits you can have a year - somewhere between 12 and 15 -- while most cancer therapies that have radiation as part of the treatment protocol historically require six consecutive weeks of daily treatments," she said. "If you're capped at 12, you're going to be a private-pay person for the next 18."
The Patient Advocate Foundation offers free case management for health-insurance issues of the seriously ill. Its hotline is 1-800-532-5274 .
Controversy over cost controls
The U.S. spends enough on health care -- 16% of its gross domestic product -- to extend adequate health insurance to all, said Alan Sager, a health policy and management professor at Boston University's School of Public Health.
"It's something everyone wants and deserves, and crafting durably affordable health care is essential to rebuilding the economy," he said.
"If we continue to accelerate toward the cliff, we'll be spending more money on care but will have more uninsured and underinsured people, which means hospitals and doctors will work harder to overserve those of us who still have good insurance."
In Massachusetts, a statewide reform law passed in 2006 that aimed to cover all residents "took an important step" but introduced new tensions, he said, especially around politically palatable cost-control methods. Many of the ones currently in vogue in national politics as well won't do the trick, Sager said.
"The ideas that are under widespread political discussion -- electronic medical records, prevention, chronic-care case management or deinsuring patients so they will be more motivated to shop by price and quality -- none of these things will work to contain costs," Sager said. "They're all being pushed because they offer the shallow political promise of containing costs without actually disrupting business as usual in health care. Business as usual in health care means regular, large infusions of more money every year."
Still, Sager said he's optimistic that the next five years will bring major improvements in the nation's health-care system.
"We all know we're medically vulnerable because none of us is going to live forever, but as more of us realize that we're also financially vulnerable, we'll demand change and [solutions] that work financially, medically, ethically and politically."

Entry # 17 20600331

2008-06-13T07:36:00.000-07:00

My Opinion/Summary:

Retirement at a later age in the United States seems like an unavoidable fact. With social security running out and retirement plans and pensions not being sufficient, workers in the United States have had to work longer throughout their lives. With all of the numbers increase over the past two decades, older workers is the future workers of America. This may actually be a great strategic initiative for the United States to get out of the recession that is currently plaguing the economy. First, if more workers are working because they have to retire at a later age, then there would be more productivity in the United States overall. Too many people retired would leave too much stagnant money in the pockets of those individuals. However, if they continue to work, money could continually circulate throughout the United States economy and thus jumpstart the economy.
Second, studies have shown that older employees are less likely to change workplaces. Finding another job elsewhere is something that older people do not enjoy doing and would prefer to stay at their current place of employment. Companies that employ more older employees have seen a dramatic decrease in their employee turnover ratio. This in turn allows them to save more money by not spending more time training new employees.
Third, certain business industries have seen more customer loyalty due to employment of older workers. Bookstores and other businesses that have customers that are older have enjoyed their shopping experience more because of the age level of the employees.

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Article: Older Staffers Get Uneasy Embrace

by David Wessel

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Americans are going to have to retire later, we're often told. They live longer than their ancestors. Neither their retirement savings nor the taxes of younger generations can support ever-longer retirements.
Americans are, in fact, working longer, reversing a long trend toward earlier retirement.
The nation's typical worker now retires at age 62, up from 60 a decade ago, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute. About 60% of men between 60 and 64 are in the labor force, and 20% of men over 65, up from 55% and 17%, respectively, a decade ago, says the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The pattern is similar for women.
But will employers want more older workers?
"There's a lot of happy talk around that we're going to have slowing in the rate of growth in young workers and, therefore, employers are going to want to hire older workers just at the time that older workers are going to want to work," says Boston College economist Alicia Munnell, co-author of "Working Longer," a book to be published this month by the Brookings Institution. "We think it's much less clear than that."
The "happy talk" case relies on the demographic fact that the ranks of prime-age workers will shrink as the huge baby boom generation ages and on the logic that employers will have no alternative to older workers. Plus, today's jobs require less of the physical stamina that led to mandatory retirement ages, changes in pension plans have diluted economic incentives for employers to encourage retirement, and age discrimination was banned in 1967.
A significant minority of employers see this demographic reality, broadcast affection for "mature workers" and win plaudits from AARP, an advocacy group for older people.
CVS Caremark, the drugstore chain, advertises for older workers with the slogan: "Abilities are ageless." Of its 190,000 employees, 18% are over 50, up from 7% in the early 1990s. More than 1,200 snowbirds, mainly older workers, work at CVS in the north in the summer and in Florida in the winter.
Bookstore chain Borders Group says it finds "mature workers" appealing because half its customers are over 45 and turnover among older workers is one- sixth that of under-30 workers. About 18% of Borders' 30,000 workers are over 50, double the fraction six years ago, and the company anticipates by 2010 one in four will be.
At the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association in Chicago, 40% of 1,000 mainly professional employees are 50 or older and 25% are 55 or older. "We want to keep these people as long as we can. They know the business, the values, the customs. And recruitment is becoming more difficult," says William Colbourne, senior vice president for human resources. The trade association has sweetened benefits for older workers, paying half the tab for financial planning and awarding extra days off to those 62 and over. It soon will offer part-time work at full-time pay to selected workers who agree to defer retirement and mentor successors, Mr. Colbourne said.
For all the heart-warming pictures such efforts produce, they appear to be exceptions. Buyouts of graying colleagues and early-retirement parties are common in many workplaces. "Relatively few companies thus far have fully positioned themselves for the coming work-force demographic shifts," consulting firm Towers Perrin said in a 2005 report prepared for AARP.
Surveys by Boston College's Center for Retirement Research found that employers expect about a quarter of employees currently in their 50s will want to work two to four years longer than past workers. Then employers were asked if they would accommodate half those who wanted to work later. "On a scale of 1 (unlikely) to 10 (likely), the median response was a lukewarm 6," the researchers say.
While employers are "reasonably comfortable" with the older workers they currently employ, "they are not keen on retaining even half who want to stay on to age 67 or 69," the Boston researchers concluded. They predict "a messy and uncomfortable mismatch with large numbers of older workers wanting to stay on while employers prefer that they do not."
Why? Employers fear older workers "cost too much, lack current skills and don't stick around long," Ms. Munnell and co-author Steven Sass write. Wages tend to rise with seniority. Health costs for older workers are higher. Older workers are viewed, rightly or not, as less supple in dealing with new technologies. And old workers tend to be in older industries and occupations in which employment is growing slowly if at all.
The image of companies loyally retaining scarce, seasoned workers is at odds with reality. Among male workers between 58 and 62, only 44% still work for the outfit that employed them at 50, down from 70% two decades ago. And even if labor shortages emerge, they argue, many employers will hire younger immigrants, shift work overseas or deploy labor-saving technology (like the cashier-less grocery-store checkout) instead of hiring older workers.
One silver lining: Lengthening life spans don't mean you have to find a boss who will let you work forever. The Boston College scholars say delaying retirement three or four years -- to 66, instead of 62, say -- will boost retirement income by a third.
Copyrighted, Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.

Entry # 16 20600331

2008-06-13T07:34:00.000-07:00

My Opinion/Summary:

The economic downturn in the United States has hit men hard over the past few years. What is interesting is that this same economy has been able to hire women at an alarming rate. This is in part because the part of the economy that is in recession is the part in which men are more of the workforce than women. The manufacturing and construction portion of the economy is being hit hard while health professional and education sections of the economy are not. Men however, shy away from such positions in the economy. From jobs that range from teachers to nurses, men have traditionally viewed those jobs as those that are done by women. This is not a good strategic viewpoint in part of the men. By reinvesting their time and efforts into such fields, they could still continue to work and be hired in alarming rates. Furthermore, the recession may not hit the United States workforce as hard as it did. With gender roles changing within the United States culture, this change in job view may change.
However, with this solution, men would have to change their instinctual tendencies. It has been noted that men work better in settings where there is a clear hierarchical setting while women have flourished in fields that are viewed to require sensitivity and collaborative work. Again, this is not a good strategic viewpoint in the minds of United States men and unless this changes, we may face another and even harsher recession or depression in the near future.

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Article: The Slump: It’s a Guy Thing

by Peter CoyMonday, May 12, 2008provided by

Men, concentrated in the weakest sectors, are losing jobs in this downturn, while women make gains

They eat from the same dishes and sleep in the same beds, but they seem to be operating in two different economies. From last November through this April, American women aged 20 and up gained nearly 300,000 jobs, according to the household survey of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). At the same time, American men lost nearly 700,000 jobs. You might even say American men are in recession, and American women are not.

What's going on? Simply put, men have the misfortune of being concentrated in the two sectors that are doing the worst: manufacturing and construction. Women are concentrated in sectors that are still growing, such as education and health care.
This situation is hardly good news for women, though. While they're getting more jobs, their pay is stagnant. Also, most share households—and bills—with the men who are losing jobs. And the "female" economy can't stay strong for long if the "male" economy weakens too much.
The troubles for the American male worker, while exacerbated by the current slump, are hardly new. The manufacturing sector is in long-term decline, and construction goes through repeated booms and busts. Meanwhile women are graduating from college at higher rates than men. Some analysts even argue that men are less suited than women to the knowledge economy, which rewards supposedly female traits such as sensitivity, intuition, and a willingness to collaborate. "Men have tended to do better in the hierarchies, following orders and relying on positional power," says Andy Hines, a futurist at the Washington (D.C.) consulting firm Social Technologies, who previously worked for Kellogg and Dow Chemical.
Problem Industries
Whether you buy that argument or not, it's clear that right now men are in a bad spot. The share of all men aged 20 and over with jobs has fallen since last November, when private-sector employment peaked, going from 72.9% to 72.2% in April. For women the ratio rose, from 58.1% to 58.3%. The adult male unemployment rate has risen twice as much as the female jobless rate since November. Those figures from the BLS' household survey are echoed in its separate survey of employers.
To see why, go sector by sector. Manufacturing is over 70% male and construction is about 88% male. Meanwhile the growing education and health services sector is 77% female. The government sector, which has remained strong, is 57% female. The securities business, which is filled with high-paying jobs, is likely to be the next sector to get whacked—and more than 60% of its workers are men.

Men are having a harder time than women getting back on track after losing a job. "For a man to move from a $20- or $30-an-hour union job to being a Wal-Mart greeter is devastating," says Claudia Goldin, a Harvard University labor historian. Men also shy away from some of the growing fields, such as nursing. Only about 10% of nursing students nationwide are male, notes Harriet R. Feldman, dean of the Pace University School of Nursing. Some retired nurses are actually going back to work because their husbands have lost jobs, says Lois Cooper, vice-president for employee relations and diversity at staffing firm Adecco Group North America in Melville, N.Y.
The weakness of the male economy is squeezing people such as Brian Day, 45, a union carpenter in Ossian, Ind., who made about $35,000 in construction last year but only $1,500 so far in 2008. The family of five is living off his jobless benefits and the $35,000 salary of his wife, a supermarket supervisor. Says Day: "I feel guilty about it." Jeff Bainter, 53, a railroad worker in Muncie, Ind., has enough seniority to keep his job but sees younger men getting the ax. He says there's more security but lower pay in what his wife, Cynthiana, does for a living: medical billing.
Stubborn Pay Gap
The Presidential candidates haven't figured out how to play the disparity between men and women. In BusinessWeek interviews, advisers for all three said they want to help everyone. Austan Goolsbee, chief economic adviser to Senator Barack Obama, said: "Because the unemployed are disproportionately men, they may especially benefit from Obama's program to get us out of recession. But gender has nothing to do with the policy's design." Senator Hillary Clinton's economic policy director, Brian Deese, said: "The goal is not to appeal to men more than women."
One reason for the candidates to tread lightly is that even though men have done worse on jobs lately, they continue to earn more than women on average. Over three-quarters of people who earned over $100,000 last year were men, says Queens College political scientist Andrew Hacker. In fact, although the pay gap between men and women has been gradually narrowing, it actually widened a bit over the past year. Median usual weekly earnings for men grew 4.6% from the first quarter of 2007 through the first quarter of 2008, vs. 3.1% for women.
That might be evidence that the jobs women are landing aren't necessarily good ones. Says Eileen Appelbaum, director of Rutgers University's Center for Women & Work: "We had an expansion of jobs for home health aides, retail clerks, child-care workers. They're low-wage, they're dead-end, and they don't have any benefits."
Another reason politicians aren't making hay of the plight of males is that they are well aware that women are in no mood for it. Working-class and lower-middle-class women in particular, whether or not their men have jobs, are feeling economically stressed, says Bill McInturff, a pollster for Senator John McCain. He adds, "In focus groups they talk about how 'I'm taking care of my parents, his parents, buying groceries, taking kids to the doctor.' These women are tired."
There's no easy remedy for what ails the male economy. Edward J. O'Boyle, senior research associate at the Mayo Research Institute in West Monroe, La., says part of the solution is reviving manufacturing—a gargantuan task. On construction, he favors financial reforms to even out the booms and busts.
Economists are debating whether the overall economy is in a recession. For men, the evidence is clear.
With Maggie Gilmour and Jing Zhou in Chicago and Jane Sasseen in Washington, D.C.
Coy is BusinessWeek's Economics editor.
Copyrighted, Business Week. All rights reserved.

Entry # 15 20600331

2008-06-13T07:32:00.000-07:00

My Opinion/Summary:

Biomimicry has been a huge craze among designers and companies for the past ten years. Biomimicry is the concept of using designs and processes from nature to produce better and more efficient products for the end-user. This is a great strategy being implemented by companies across all spans of businesses. For example, the bullet train’s design in use today in Japan have been heavily influenced by biomimicry. The nose cone was influenced by the beak of the kingfisher bird, and the turbines have been designed based on the fins of a whale. These are great improvements because God designed nature and to mimic God’s perfect designs in our inventions would only make sense. Other inventions based on biological things have proven to be very efficient in energy storage and use. Ford currently is working on a product inspired by abalone that would allow for thirty-five percent less fuel usage during normal driving. Benyus the inventor of this movement wrote a book in 1997 that explained that designs based on nature could improve efficiency at all levels.
With the oil crisis in place today and no viable alternative in the near future, preservation of the oil that we have available now may be our best alternative today. By creating newer products that are more environmentally sensitive, we may be able to at least put off the problems we will eventually face for another day and that extra day may be what we need in order to find another source of energy.

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Article: Using Nature as a Design Guide

Janine Benyus, dean of the burgeoning "biomimicry" design movement, helps companies look to the natural world to help take their business green

by Matt Vella

The nose cone of Japan's 500 Series Shinkansen bullet train is modeled after a kingfisher's beak. Getty Images
Spot the common theme: a bullet train with a distinctly bird-like nose; massive wind turbines whose form was inspired by the shape of whales' fins; ultra-strong, biodegradeable glues developed by analyzing how mussels cling to rocks under water. The creators of each product used nature as their guide. In the past 10 years the practice, known as biomimicry, has yielded a variety of compelling, quirky, and elegant innovations across industries. And as consumers and companies alike find themselves grappling with ever-larger ecological footprints, the design method is taking its place as a core sustainability strategy.
Enter Janine Benyus, the driving force behind the movement. Benyus is the biologist-cum-evangelist who first defined its contours in her 1997 book, Biomimcry: Innovation Inspired by Nature. In it, she detailed how companies could study nonpolluting, energy-efficient manufacturing technologies that have evolved in the natural world over billions of years, delivering in the process a lesson on the importance of living in harmony with nature.
In the ensuing decade, with concerns of sustainability coming to the fore for companies and consumers alike, Benyus has proved well placed to continue preaching her philosophy. Named by Time magazine as an environmental hero of 2007, she's now preparing to take the wraps off the sequel book, Nature's 100 Best Technologies, and an accompanying Web project that could, if successful, radically increase the reach of her thinking and consolidate biomimetic design as a go-to corporate sustainable strategy.
Clients Include GE, HP, and NASA
"Biomimicry is an idea that just acquires people," says Benyus, from her office in Missoula, Mont. In other words, the simple, elegant mechanics developed by nature often make sense in a human context, too. And Benyus, who divides her time between the research nonprofit Biomimicry Institute and the for-profit innovation consultancy, the Biomimicry Guild, is on a mission to show engineers and designers how to translate those ideas into a corporate, commercial context.
Along with strategic consulting and sustainability-focused workshops, the Biomimicry Guild provides a "dial-a-biologist" service that makes one of her team of 10 scientists available to answer designers' technical questions and runs a referral service connecting engineers with field scientists who may be working on relevant research. To date, the Guild counts among its clients companies including General Electric (GE), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), IDEO, and NASA.
In the past few years the consultancy has broadened its scope to help clients improve internal processes, too. "Often we find ourselves being asked not just how to green a product but how to begin greening a whole company," she says. For instance, Benyus consulted with Interface, a company that famously transformed itself from being the poster child of environmentally harmful textile manufacturing into a $1.3 billion model of sustainability, with biomimetic design one part of its strategy. "More and more, we are helping clients think about running their business like a food web," she adds, referring to self-sustaining biological ecosystems that produce no waste or harmful byproducts.
Following the Flight of Locusts
Biomimicry has also gained traction outside of Benyus' practice, with a wide variety of innovations from companies of all sizes making it to market in the past decade. In 2005, Ford's (F) Volvo Div. developed an anti-collision system based on the way locusts swarm without crashing into one another.
By studying the neurological mechanism that governs how locusts fly in groups, the car company began devising a system that can sense an impending crash and simultaneously trigger an alarm for drivers. Known as the Accident Avoidance System, it's now available on Volvo's high-end vehicles. IBM (IBM) designers analyzed the way abalone shells form by melding microscopic particles of calcium carbonate chalk in a process called "self-assembly." They're now applying the same principles to the development of a series of processors. While still experimental, results reduce energy consumption by some 35%.
With hopes of fostering more bio-inspired innovation, Benyus' next book will be an encyclopedia of unusual forms and processes devised by nature that have yet to be used in industry but which might help solve common problems. "It'll be a compendium of the elegant solutions in nature that answer a lot of questions business people are asking right now," says Benyus, noting that the book will include industry investment analyses to help executives understand the potential economic consequences of implementing designs that specifically follow the natural world's lead.
And in a wily streak that reveals Benyus' inner activist, most of the innovations will be taken from organisms on the so-called Red List, an international inventory of severely endangered species published annually by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature & Natural Resources. That, Benyus hopes, will create an embedded incentive for businesses to safeguard imperiled habitats, protecting nature's design lab not just as a matter of stewardship but as a matter of economic self-interest.
Nike's Goat Tek a No-Go
A companion Web project, meanwhile, will give the compendium a life of its own online. The Biomimicry Design Portal will be a free, open-source, wiki-like database enabling anyone to read and contribute examples of nature's solutions to industrial problems. Entries will be cross-referenced so users searching for adhesive mechanisms, for instance, can find articles on species that create natural glues, their chemical properties, as well as bios of the prominent scientists working in that field. Submissions to the site will be thoroughly peer-reviewed by academics in a fashion similar to the rigorous vetting that scientific research is subjected to before being published. The portal site is intended to be a practical guide for scientists, engineers, and designers as well as students and more casual readers.
There's still plenty more work to be done. Biomimetic design, while a compelling strategy for creating green products, doesn't ensure market success. Nike's (NKE) so-called Goat Tek running shoes were discontinued last year, after just one season on the market. The design of the shoes faithfully mimicked the feet of go-anywhere mountain goats. Human beings, apparently, aren't interested in having goat feet, however nimble it might make them. But while a Nike spokesperson declined to comment on specifics, the company's failure may provide a valuable lesson about the challenges of biomimetic design—that it may be more profitable not to copy nature, but instead to translate ideas in a way that's appealing or even invisible to a human audience.
Still Benyus, perennially optimistic, says the demand for biomimetic design is only likely to grow. "More and more, consumers are asking for the backstories of where their products come from." This, she says, is encouraging companies to look further "up" the production chain to find out exactly where products come from and assess their environmental impact. As green concerns become more common preconditions of purchase, companies will increasingly ask questions of how nature has solved similar design problems. If Benyus has her way, this fall's release of her new book and online portal will begin answering those questions.
View the BusinessWeek.com slide show.
Matt Vella is a writer for BusinessWeek.com in New York.

Entry # 14 20600331

2008-06-13T07:31:00.001-07:00

My Opinion/Summary:

Pure Digital Technologies introduced a camcorder in 2007 that took the world by storm. This was possible through the business strategy of product design and marketing techniques used in order to boost sales. The Flip camcorder is a camcorder for the everyday person and user. They stripped the phone from all of the crazy buttons and slots that are available on other camcorders produced by rivals such as Sony. They made the display simple and easy to use. They got rid of the extraordinary amount of wires required to connect it to the PC as well. They saw that camcorders that could be used easily was a need not being met. They noticed that Youtube and other video blog sites were becoming the craze and an easy to use camera was just the answer.
Another reason why the strategy was so good was the pricing of the product. They were first introduced to the United States market for one hundred fifty dollars to one hundred and eighty dollars per unit. This was a huge plus for them because the average camcorder cost about three hundred dollars a unit. The Flip was much more affordable to the average everyday camcorder user. They offer two models that can record either up to thirty minute segments or up to a one hour segment. Another product design feature that was successful was that they were offered in different colors for different tastes.
They were able to be marketed by celebrities such as Oprah and Rosie O’Donnell and were a big hit on Amazon.com. By making such decisions they were able to hit the one million units sold mark in under a year, which is a huge accomplishment. These decisions have allowed this small San Francisco based company to rival against giants such as Panasonic, Sony, and Samsung.

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Article: Pure Digital Flips the Script

How the Flip—a bare-bones digital camcorder—grew from a simple idea to a contender among giants like Sony

Nicholas Eveleigh

by Reena Jana

It's hard to imagine that Pure Digital Technologies, the company behind the popular Flip Video camcorder, wanted to design a "shy" product. But that's how Jonathan Kaplan, chief executive and founder of the San Francisco-based startup, describes the playful, inviting look of the device.
With nearly 1 million Flips sold since the digital camcorder's May, 2007, debut, and with enthusiastic fans like Oprah and Rosie O'Donnell, Kaplan and his design team seemed to have struck a chord with consumers. In a cutthroat market dominated by global consumer electronics giants such as Sony (SNE), little-known Pure Digital and its 80 employees have changed the game by making a bare-bones, affordable camcorder (starting price: $120 vs. the average $314). To put the number of Flips sold in perspective: About 6 million camcorders were shipped to U.S. retailers in 2007, according to the Arlington (Va.)-based Consumer Electronics Assn. Getting close to the 1 million mark in less than a year is impressive for a new product in this category, says CEA economist Shawn Dubravac. "Before, companies flaunted technical features for nerds and geeks, but consumers are responding to the Flip's convenience and price."
For years, the behemoths have been racing toward designing ever-more-complex video cameras. Then along came the Flip, daring to compromise video quality to offer a cheaper, simpler device. Its images lack the crisp resolution offered by big-name cameras. So should the likes of Sony and Panasonic be worried? Maybe: During the tough 2007 Christmas shopping season, Flip camcorders dominated the top five spots on Amazon.com' (AMZN)s list of most-popular digital video cameras. Kaplan says revenues have jumped 300% in the last year, though privately-held Pure Digital doesn't disclose sales figures. So how did this obscure upstart with no name recognition charm so many fans with a low-tech camcorder with subpar images?
Pure Digital began in 2001 as a maker of throwaway digital cameras for both still pictures and video. The cameras were sold in drugstores and required users to have their images processed on the premises or at a designated digital-photo lab. Buyers started offering unsolicited feedback. "They wanted a more permanent, shoot-and-share video camera that was fun and easy to use," Kaplan says. He paid attention, and created a product for them—without hiring focus groups.
SOAP-BAR SIMPLE
Timed to tap the craze of homegrown videos posted on blogs and YouTube (GOOG), the Flip made it easier for users to become amateur filmmakers. It's a no-frills camera the size of a bar of soap—without cumbersome cables that connect to PCs ("A Sweet and Simple Camcorder", BusinessWeek, 6/04/07).
Kaplan gave his designers a broad goal: strip away all control buttons and features from a typical camcorder and add back only the essentials. They began by eliminating the slot found on many digital cameras for extra memory cards needed to store lots of images. Instead, the Flip offers internal storage from a half hour to an hour, depending on the model. They replaced multiple controls with a simple series of buttons. The hardest part was replacing the unwieldy USB cables and chargers that come with most digital camcorders. First the team tried retracting power cables. But that didn't eliminate cords, which can tangle or get lost. Instead, they chose cheap AA batteries to power the Flip—so there's no need for a clunky plug or AC adapter.
Pure Digital's solution to the messy cables often needed to attach a camcorder to a PC to upload files is a design breakthrough: the flip-out USB key. And it became the Flip's brand symbol. Kaplan's inspiration came not from Silicon Valley but from Detroit—from the key to his Audi.
The car key is concealed in a plastic case until the driver presses a button, causing it to shoot out like a switchblade.
Similarly, the camcorder's USB key is hidden on the side until a button is pushed and it flies out. Users plug it into the USB port of a PC or laptop to quickly transfer their video to a hard drive, and then post clips online. To begin editing or storing video, users don't need CDs to install software on their hard drives when they buy the camera. Its built-in software (compatible with Macs, too) loads instantly each time the device is plugged into any computer.
LIMITED EDITING
Pure Digital pushes new products to market quickly. In September, 2007, four months after its first release, it began selling the smaller Flip Video Ultra in 20,000 stores, including Wal-Mart (WMT), Costco (CSCO), and Best Buy (BBY). Prices are modest: $150 for the 30-minute version of the Ultra, in basic stark white or black, and $180 for the 60-minute one, also available in orange and pink. And to drive consumers to certain stores to buy a particular color, almost like collector's items, some camera colors are exclusive to their retail outlet.
Still, the Flip has flaws. And Kaplan is quick to agree: "O.K., so we don't have the highest-quality components or expensive paints." But those compromises helped Pure Digital keep its own manufacturing and consumer prices down—a helpful lesson for companies looking to save money for themselves and their clientele in a recession.
Critics point to the cameras' simple software, which doesn't offer such features as the ability to add fancy, Hollywood-style titles and scene transitions. To this, Kaplan says, hey—it's a camera and software bought together for less than $200.
"We hear the challenges, but we don't want the software to become more complex," he says. "We want to have software that helps users feel smarter."
Kaplan's position is counterintuitive, just as the Flip's success is. He says Pure Digital is looking for new niches, working on even tinier models—and possibly other devices that feature some of the Flip's user-friendly elements. The small startup that shrank the camcorder is now challenging the big players—in a way that's anything but shy.
Return to Inside Innovation Table of Contents
Jana is the Innovation Dept. editor for BusinessWeek.

Entry # 13 20600331

2008-06-13T07:29:00.000-07:00

My Opinion/Summary:

Institutional innovations seem to be the new wave in innovation technology. It is a strategy that allows for the best thinkers and minds to collaborate their ideas in making the best possible product for the end-user, us. This is a great business strategy for them and for us. Companies can now share the costs of research and development in order to produce newer and better products for us to use. This would greatly decrease the cost to us because the research and development costs would be shared among a couple of companies and not just one. This is also a great idea because the best minds in each company can now work together. Better products could be on the horizon because better minds are working to find them.
One group, the Myelin Repair Foundation, has been able to collaborate their innovator and inventors to create a new model in which myelin repairs itself. This was possible through the collaboration of four research teams. With this new model, there are new hopes in which a drug could be formulated to be able to repair myelin, a problem that is the cause of many diseases, including Huntington’s disease. Royalties and intellectual rights for this new product and idea should not be a problem. Myelin Repair Foundation has signed agreements with other academic institutions and have agreed to make available patent opportunities for them as well. Overall this is a great new innovation in itself because it allows for more and better products to be introduced to the public at a lower cost in shorter amounts of time.

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Article: Institutional Innovations

A Silicon Valley nonprofit fostered the development of a radical open-source platform for top-level health research

by John Hagel and John Seely Brown

As a management topic, innovation couldn't be hotter—even as the economy is cooling down. But how much innovation is there on innovation itself? Nearly everybody goes beyond products and services to think about innovations to the core processes of the firm. Some even subscribe to the notion of management innovation. Yet all of today's discussions about innovation are bounded by a common flaw: They stay cloistered within the four walls of the enterprise.
Innovation is needed within companies, to be sure. But today's most powerful and exciting forms of innovation are taking place across company boundaries. Think of them as institutional innovations—the changes companies make to redefine roles and relationships across independent entities to deliver more value to the marketplace and to society. Institutional innovation transcends what an individual inventor or even an innovative company can do. Innovation is a decidedly social process encompassing diverse individuals, corporations, communities, networks, and regions.
Rather than taking the four walls of the enterprise as a given, today's most promising institutional innovations seek better ways of connecting talent wherever it resides and building relationships that foster and focus learning.
An Effective Research Road Map
Consider the powerful example of the Silicon Valley nonprofit Myelin Repair Foundation (MRF), which provides an early glimpse of next-generation institutional innovation (BusinessWeek.com, 11/15/07) as it emerges on the edge of medical research and drug discovery. As its name suggests, MRF has a very specific target—to mobilize and focus research on a particular biological process, myelin repair.
Myelin is the substance that coats our nerves to facilitate the passage of electrical signals. In multiple sclerosis, that myelin coating begins to degrade, resulting in a host of symptoms, including fatigue, blindness, and loss of balance, ultimately leading to paralysis and death. The MRF was founded by Scott Johnson, a civil engineer and MBA by training, who himself suffers from the disease.
What's new and exciting about MRF's approach to myelin-repair research is that it creates a distributed network of researchers within diverse academic disciplines such as neurobiology, immunology, and neurology from independent academic institutions in the U.S., including Stanford University and Case Western Reserve University. These researchers collaborate in defining coordinated research initiatives across institutional boundaries—sharing results with each other in real time.
By jointly developing a research road map, participants construct a shared model of possible explanations of the myelin-repair process and pursue parallel, rather than sequential, problem-solving. This approach, combined with rapid iterations where participants review each other's results and refine their approaches based on this shared learning, dramatically compresses the time required for research to generate promising discoveries.
Collaborative Effort and Intellectual Property
To date, MRF has recruited four top researchers, each of whom runs a lab of 10 to 18 research staff who all contribute full-time to this growing, distributed network. These researchers maintain their existing institutional affiliations but join together in the collaboration infrastructure created by MRF, which includes joint research reviews three times a year, monthly conference calls, a shared audio/video/data platform to virtually link all participants, daily interactions, and the archiving of critical intellectual property for patent protection. MRF supplements the capabilities of this core team by contracting other academic researchers and commercial entities to expedite completion of the research plan and move discoveries into commercial drug development and clinical trials.
MRF signed intellectual-property agreements with each of the academic institutions involved, with which it will share royalties generated from discoveries it has helped to fund.
Lawyers engage with the researchers at an early stage of the research process to identify patent opportunities and document contributions to the discovery process so the appropriate researchers are credited for their contributions. And MRF also helps to identify appropriate commercialization partners in the biopharmaceutical industry for license agreements on patents to speed the transition from lab to clinic. With its 50% share of anticipated royalties, MRF will be able to fund even more research in the years ahead—and ultimately become self-funding.
Accelerating Results
But the real incentive for researchers entering this collaboration was not the MRF funding or the potential royalties down the road; it was the opportunity to make faster progress in their own areas of interest and to deepen their own understanding by working with other leading-edge researchers. The researchers are coming together in this process network because they see an opportunity to make rapid progress in solving large, complex, real-world medical problems.
As Ben Barres, professor of neurology at Stanford and one of the four senior researchers collaborating in the network, notes: "We are bringing together academic scientists that operate in an environment where traditionally data cannot be shared until after experiments are complete and published. Within the consortium model, every time the team gets together, sparks fly. There's no question that better teamwork in science can significantly accelerate results."
Scott Cook, the founder of Intuit and an early contributor to the MRF, observes: "The Myelin Repair Foundation is pioneering a new way to organize medical research that speeds breakthrough drug discovery. It uses a unique approach to shared incentives to produce intense collaboration and rapid idea-sharing among the leading neuroscience centers."
Time Frame and Takeaways
In 2004, the MRF undertook a five-year, $25 million research program with the goal of licensing its first myelin-repair drug target by 2009. Conventional research approaches would take 15 to 30 years to identify and validate a single target suitable for drug development. The MRF is currently pursuing leads for 18 targets and is confident it is on track to license the first one by next year. Before coming into the MRF network, the primary researchers had accumulated 125 years of research experience and, in that time, filed for two patents. In the few short years since the MRF network came together, they have already filed for nine patents with eight more in the pipeline.
So, what can executives take away from the MRF story?
1. Institutional innovation amplifies other forms of innovation. The researchers in the MRF network are generating significant discoveries, leading to much greater patent activity. The MRF itself has innovated on the discovery process. But underlying all of this innovation is the institutional innovation driven by Scott Johnson and his team—finding ways to more effectively coordinate research activities across distributed teams in very different disciplines and across major institutional boundaries. As the race for talent intensifies, all businesses will benefit from innovating innovation at this fundamental level.
2. Customer co-creation will become even more profound and sustained. The MRF took shape under the leadership of an MS patient, not an academic researcher or a pharmaceutical company. Experiencing MS firsthand, Scott Johnson had little patience for the slow, sequential pace of traditional medical research and a strong motivation to pioneer innovative approaches to generating promising treatments. Most of the stories of customer co-creation to date spotlight relatively narrow and episodic input provided by customers into specific features or products. Johnson's involvement in the medical research process is far more engaged: He actively participates in the sessions that define the research agenda.
Companies need to seek out customers with the kind of insight and passion that Johnson brings—and find ways to engage with them in much more fundamental ways than conventional market research or customer forums permit. Customers represent an important edge that will drive business innovation in the future. Companies should also remember they are customers themselves and find ways to promote institutional innovation among suppliers and other business partners.
3. Boundaries between domains of knowledge represent significant edges for innovation. Knowledge silos help to deepen knowledge, but they can become significant barriers to insight when experts find it difficult to connect across them. The MRF has paid a lot of attention to building shared understanding and respect across very diverse domains of research. By bringing together experts from such different areas, it's possible to generate insights that simply would not have arisen from individual domains.
4. Innovation is not just about idea generation. Too often, discussions of innovation tend to focus on ways to generate more creative ideas. In our experience, the core innovation challenge in the business world is rarely about generating more ideas. Sift through any business organization and there is an abundance of ideas. The real challenge is to mobilize a critical mass of resources behind promising ideas and to create the mechanisms to more rapidly test and refine ideas as they move from concept to delivery. This is one of the core insights of MRF's institutional innovation—it focuses on accelerating the idea-testing process and creating the necessary incentives to rapidly scale the most promising ideas into commercially successful products.
5. Distributed innovation does not necessarily mean loss of intellectual-property protection. A key institutional innovation of the MRF was to develop a way for participants to file for patent protection more rapidly while still sharing their discoveries traditionally via publication in peer-reviewed journals. Without adequate patent protection, the intellectual property generated from MRF's research would have little appeal to biopharmaceutical companies that will have to invest significant amounts of their own money to commercialize products. At one level, the MRF has created an open-source platform engaging peers from diverse institutions while finding a robust way to protect intellectual property.
John Hagel and John Seely Brown are co-chairman and independent co-chairman, respectively, of Deloitte LLP's Center for Edge Innovation. John Hagel writes a blog at Edge Perspectives. Their monthly column, Innovation on the Edge, explores what executives can learn from innovation emerging on various forms of edges, including the edges of institutions, markets, geographies and generations. Sign up here for an RSS feed.

Entry # 12 20600331

2008-06-13T07:27:00.000-07:00

My Opinion/Summary:

Facebook has taken over the markets where MySpace and other different blog sites have dominated in the past few years. Facebook originally started as a blog site where college students could find other college students and friends in college. It was a major tool for those users to be able to network. In the past couple of years, Facebook opened itself up to all users, not just the college-user. Facebook has recently run into a problem however. With more and more applications being put up onto Facebook, the actual page is becoming cluttered and harder to use. This is a problem because its clean appearance was what won users over from MySpace and other sites in the beginning. The managers at Facebook decided to give the website a facelift. This is a great idea because this was the same problem that MySpace ran into and could not solve. Eventually MySpace has fallen from the limelight in the United States. The managers have mentioned taking the different applications available on Facebook and putting them all on separate pages. This would in turn free up the home page that is beginning to already look much cluttered.
Another decision that Facebook has made is to not listen as much to the users’ input into how the applications should look on the website. With now much more users on Facebook it is not viable for them to be able to evaluate all of the suggestions and then make a decision. Therefore a decision was made to trust the web designers more. This is a good idea because the process of new applications coming onto the website would be more feasible than if all of the suggestions were accounted for.

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Facebook's Big Facelift

The social networking site's coming redesign will be marked by a cleaner, more organized look to appeal to its vastly bigger, more diverse user base

by Matt Vella

Facebook's designers want to cut the clutter. The Palo Alto (Calif.) social networking site is readying an extensive overhaul of its core profile pages in an attempt to bring back the sleek aesthetic that helped fuel its early popularity. Executives say the redesign should hit the Web browsers of Facebook's 70 million worldwide users in the next few weeks.
The moves come in reaction to Facebook's becoming "more cluttered and harder for users to parse," according to Katie Geminder, the site's director of user experience and design, who oversees the design team working on the project. As such, the redesign represents a major simplification. Elements currently displayed on one crowded page—personal information, photos, the continually updating news feed, and the "wall", where users can post comments, for example—will probably be divided between separate pages and accessible through distinct tabs. The new design also collects and sidelines independently developed applications, such as games of Scrabble or the chance for users to rank the "hotness" of their friends.
"People are starting to feel that Facebook is quickly becoming like MySpace," says Adam Ostrow, editor-in-chief of Mashable.com, an online social networking news site. He's referring to the fact that News Corp.'s (NWS) MySpace has allowed its more than 100 million users to create wildly different looking pages, replete with neon backgrounds and blinking text. In contrast, Facebook's design had been praised for being clean and tidy. But now, with the proliferation of viral applications that are simply "spam in disguise," according to Ostrow, things have gotten messy. So in February, Geminder and her team set to work. The same team, which includes people from engineering, graphic, and user interface design, will also analyze usage data and process user comments once the changes launch.
New Ways to Arrange the Info
The makeover itself is more than skin deep, though many critical elements of the site's identity remain untouched, including its typography and color palette. "They're not questioning the visual identity of the brand," says Christopher Fahey, a partner at New York's Behavior Design. Instead, designers are focusing on the site's wider architecture and on ways of displaying and ordering the information. That, says Fahey, could give users more options without radically altering the look and feel of the site. As Fahey points out, this belief in a company's fundamental design language has worked well for companies such as Apple (AAPL) and Amazon (AMZN) and signals a sense of C-suite confidence in the product at large.
That confidence will come in handy as Facebook deals with maturing from a scrappy campus startup into a corporation valued at $15 billion, thanks to the $240 million investment made by Microsoft (MSFT) last October. The new design, template, and architecture have to keep pace with the site's growth—U.S. membership has jumped 71% since last March, according to comScore (SCOR)—and with the increased diversity and desires of its user base. Of course, off-loading some features onto new pages could also increase page views, a critical metric for advertisers looking to spend their marketing budgets online.
Facebook's designers have been open about changes, publicizing their proposals through the company's developer blog and wiki. Designers also created a Facebook Profiles Preview group within the site, which has about 55,000 members who are monitoring the redesign and commenting on new features as they are developed.
It's an obvious response to a series of public missteps, such as the introduction of the news feed feature (BusinessWeek.com, 9/8/06) added in September, 2006, which drew immediate animosity from users. In March, co-founder Mark Zuckerberg apologized for missteps associated with last fall's launch of the Beacon advertising platform (BusinessWeek.com, 11/28/07). "In this round, we are focused on listening to users, gathering feedback, and giving users more control," says Geminder.
Designers to the Fore
Still, the site's designers are facing a milestone. A quintessentially Web 2.0 product, Facebook was an early cohort of sites whose growth has been characterized by developers and designers' willingness to heed users' desires when creating new features. Now the site may have reached a point where designers need to listen to themselves as much as the users. "Sites like this have evolved depending on how people want to use them, but Facebook is [so big it] may need to slow down and formalize its process," says David Armano, vice-president for experience design at Critical Mass, which has created sites for the likes of NASA and Mercedes-Benz (DAI).
"In many ways, the hallmark of the Web 2.0 movement is users' belief that 'this is our Web,'" adds Bruce Temkin, vice-president and principal analyst of customer experience at Forrester Research in Cambridge, Mass., who says listening to feedback could be as important as asking for input ahead of launch. For her part, Geminder says Facebook's designers are engaged in the process, preparing smart changes rather than simply foisting them on an audience without allowing them to interact or push back. "Sometimes," adds Fahey, "a designer's job is to interpret carefully what may lie behind even cantankerous feedback." Users, in other words, may not appreciate all the ramifications of their requests, and designers must sort through the responses and apply what's appropriate.
And, as Temkin points out, it's hard for the designers of a social network to formalize too much of the user experience. While designers of, say, an online banking application can make changes purely in the name of usability, Facebook's designers must strike a balance between the site as a form of entertainment, on the one hand, and a useful tool, on the other. "If you take the fun out of Facebook, you've got a big problem," says Temkin.
In the end, the moves today could provide a blueprint for future high-profile redesigns at the company. In fact, if the site's designers pull it off, restoring simplicity while maintaining popularity, Temkin says the move could even become a test case for "what happens at the next level of maturity for a lot of Web 2.0 companies, writ large."
Matt Vella is a writer for BusinessWeek.com in New York.

Entry # 11 20600331

2008-06-13T07:25:00.000-07:00

My Opinion/Summary:

Tesco is a foreign firm that has succeeded in Korea where Walmart and Carrefour have failed. Tesco recently has bought out one of their competitors Homever back in early May. Tesco has been very successful due to their business strategy that they implemented when they came into Korea. When they first started, they started by a joint venture with the Samsung Group. They came and decided against trying to implanted business structures that were successful in their hometowns. When Walmart and Carrefour came before Tesco, they tried to implant plans that were very successful in the United States and France, respectively. Koreans fell in love with the idea of discount stores replacing the small local stores but were not big fans of buying food in bulk and the whole warehouse shopping experience. Tesco instead decided to use the approach of informing the public that it was a store that offered very fresh produce, vegetables, and seafood that is replenished frequently throughout the day. This approach has been very successful. First, Tesco was able to buy out a fellow competitor, Homever. Second, the company boasts that Korea accounts for more than fifty percent of all of the sales that come in from their Asia operations.
This plan that Tesco implemented was very successful because they were able to make changes and decisions based on the failures of other companies. They took the original business model that Walmart and Carrefour put into place in Korea and were able to change the parts that made them unsuccessful. Other evidence that shows that this company’s business model was successful is the growth in market share from fifty percent to about ninety-four percent of the current Korean market.

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Article: Why Toys 'R' Us, Tesco Are Hits in Korea

By relying on local partners' expertise, the U.S. toy store chain and the British retailer are succeeding where Wal-Mart failed

by Moon Ihlwan

South Korea is a notoriously tough retail market for foreign players. Just ask retail juggernaut Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) and France's Carrefour (CARR.PA), which both pulled out of the country in 2006 after years of losses from fierce local competition. Yet some companies know what it takes to succeed in Korea. Tesco (TSCO.L) posted an estimated operating profit of more than $320 million (BusinessWeek.com, 4/15/08) in the year ended in February, up from $249 million in the previous year, on sales of $5.85 billion, up 15%. And Toys "R" Us has rung up record sales since opening its first Korean store last December.
Now the British supermarket company is pursuing much bigger Korean numbers with a strategy that's similar to that of the American retailer. On May 14, Tesco announced a $2.2 billion takeover of Homever discount chain (BusinessWeek.com, 5/15/08). Both Tesco and Toys "R" Us rely heavily on expertise of local partners for their business strategy, and the British company's new acquisition, which will boost its Korean sales by about a third, indicates their common approach is a winning formula. "Tesco is a rare foreign retail player to flourish in Korea, and the key has been its well-executed localization," reckons Park Jean, retail industry analyst at brokerage Woori Investment & Securities.
What have Tesco and Toys "R" Us done right? Unlike Wal-Mart and Carrefour, Tesco didn't try to repeat its strategy from back home. While Koreans were enthusiastic about the massive discount stores that began replacing mom-and-pop shops in the 1990s, they never liked the lofty shelves and concrete floors of the warehouse experience. The local consumers also prefer not to buy in bulk—the method big foreign discount store operators imposed.
To cater to local tastes, Tesco formed a joint venture with Korea's Samsung Group in 1999. The joint venture's Home Plus chain has tried to satisfy the local appetite for fresh fish and vegetables, ensuring that sushi, squid, cucumber, and spinach are restocked frequently. It has also provided such services as a guide to direct shoppers to a parking spot. Tesco has since increased its stake in the venture to 94% from the original 50% and Korea has emerged as the British company's most profitable overseas market, accounting for half of all its Asian sales.
Thriving Franchise Toy Stores
Going local was the approach Toys "R" Us also took in Korea. To capitalize on local expertise, Toys "R" Us struck a franchise deal with Lotte Shopping, a unit of local retail and hotel giant Lotte Group, and let it run the stores as it sees fit. Lotte wanted a completely new setting for the toy stores to create a "theme park" atmosphere and offer experiences to kids, according to James Sung, general manager for Lotte's Toys "R" Us business team. Departing from the warehouse concept, it decorated five of its sections under different themes of star, moon, sun, aurora, and the galaxy, with register stands built in the shape of trains.
In just over five months after Toys "R" Us opened its first store in South Korea on Dec. 8, the retailer has been on a roll. The shop, located in Guro, a mundane residential district of Seoul, has reported average monthly sales of $1.2 million, the second highest in Toys "R" Us' franchise division that involves 212 stores in 24 countries.
In the crucial Christmas week, the Guro shop emerged as the top performer with net sales of $816,000, about 14% more than the runner-up store in Hong Kong, which has been in operation the past two decades and has been the biggest in terms of annual sales.
The buzz underscores the reversal of its fortune vis-à-vis Wal-Mart. Back at home, Toys "R" Us is under fierce pressure from deep-discount chains that beat it at its own game of wiping out competitors with cut-price, no-frills, big-box outlets. Yet in Korea, it is outshining Wal-Mart. Lotte has since opened two more shops in Korea, and in the week ending May 3 all three were among the top 10 in the franchise division. "It is one of the most remarkable success stories in Toys 'R' Us," boasts merchandise director Kyoji Kato, whom the U.S. retailer dispatched to Korea.
A key strategy was to appeal to education-crazed Korean parents. That's important in a country that spends 7.5% of its gross domestic product on education, more than any other industrialized country, and that's even before taking into account the nearly $40 billion Korean parents shell out annually for after-school cram sessions. Included in the learning category, which accounts for about a quarter of Korean sales, are English audio books accompanying cartoonlike illustrations for 1- or 2-year-old toddlers and electronic learning pads aimed at familiarizing prekindergarten children with numbers.
Expansion Plans
The Korean retailer has also tried to make the 36,000-square-foot store a hangout destination for kids. It allows visitors to play such hot electronic games as Nintendo's Wii, Sony's (SNE) PlayStation 3, and Microsoft's (MSFT) Xbox 360, and set up a racing track for remote-controlled toy cars. Other "experience" spots include Lego building tables, sliders, house sets, and LeapFrog's (LF) interactive learning toys. "Toys 'R' Us has become one of my top weekend destinations since my son likes me to bring him here," says 33-year-old Jang Jin Seok as he helps his 2-year-old boy tinker with Lego blocks.
Such positive response is prompting Lotte to speed up its expansion. Although its plan was to run three Toys "R" Us stores this year, it is considering adding two more. Now Lotte, confident that the three stores will exceed their sales target of $30 million in 2008, aims to seize some 17% of Korea's $2.7 billion market for baby products and toys, games, books, and sporting and educational products for children by 2012, when it expects to have 20 Toys "R" Us stores and 100 Toys "R" Us boutiques inside its Lotte Mart discount store outlets.
Sure, competition is bound to mount, with discount stores already representing about half of all toys sold in Korea. "Prices have always been important in this market," says So Jae Kyu, chairman of the Korea Toy Industry Cooperative, "but no one has satisfied this pent-up demand for experiences of fun." Sung at Lotte believes the Toys "R" Us brand has all the ingredients to meet the demand and "all we need is to get creative to connect to customers." Lotte's experiment could well serve as an interesting lesson for Toys "R" Us, which has yet to make forays into the giant markets of India, China, and Russia.
Moon is BusinessWeek's Seoul bureau chief.

Entry # 10 20600331

2008-06-13T07:22:00.000-07:00

My Opinion/Summary:

The current oil prices are skyrocketing compared to forecasts made by so-called experts in this field. The oil prices have skyrocketed for a couple of reasons and one of them is called China. With China’s oil consumption rate rivaling that of the United States, more oil than predicted has been not available to the rest of the world, thus increasing the price per barrel that everyone else pays. This is not a good business strategy in any sense. Back in late 1990’s experts believed that at that current consumption rate the world had about eighty years of oil available. In the last couple of years, another study was conducted and found that only forty to fifty years of oil was left. This is due to the intense use of oil from both the United States and China.
Now I am not saying that China is to blame and that the United States is the only country that is allowed to use oil at those consumption rates. What I am saying is that the United States and China should be both looking for alternative methods of energy much more diligently and purposefully. Estimates say that we could be the first generation to go back to the horse-drawn carriage. After only a little over one hundred years, the world will deplete its entire resource of oil.
A great strategy would be to make a joint effort to find alternative sources of energy. This could solve the problem of increasing oil prices. This could also solve the problem of us funding terrorists in those countries in which we buy our oil from. However, that is a totally different argument and for a different topic.

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Article: Oil's Murky Math

Where are we headed: Up to $200 a barrel? Down to $80? With little good data on supply or demand, oil's next price move is anyone's guess

Getty Images
by Peter Coy

At around $125 a barrel, crude oil has more than doubled in price since the end of 2006. How is it possible that the vast majority of government forecasters, stock analysts, economists, traders, and journalists who follow the oil market failed to foresee this? Moreover, how can it be that even today, the bulls and bears on oil are extremely far apart, disagreeing not only on the oil outlook but even the present situation?
The answer is simple. You can't predict what oil prices are going to do even in the short-to-medium term unless you have a good handle on the forces of supply and demand. And that requires thorough and reliable data—which don't exist. Regrettably, the world oil market is no more transparent than a fragrant barrel of extra-heavy Orinoco crude. And the situation is getting worse because the world's fastest-growing oil consumer is also one of the most opaque: China.
Contradictory Predictions
The scarcity of good global data is a key reason why it's impossible to know for sure whether the next "super-spike" in oil in the coming three or four years will be up to $200 or more…or down to $80 or less. Even though the statistics aren't exact, they're all anyone has to go on, so they still have an enormous impact.
On May 13, for example, the price of crude oil rose to a record close of $125.80 on the New York Mercantile Exchange after the International Energy Agency announced its estimate that inventories of distillate fuels such as diesel and heating oil in developed nations fell 6.7% in March from a year earlier. If inventories really are shrinking, it should be bullish for prices because it indicates that production isn't keeping up with consumption. That's certainly the viewpoint of oil bulls like Matt Simmons, president of Houston investment bank Simmons & Co. International. Says Simmons: "We have lousy data, but what data we have is somewhat scary." He sees prices hitting $200 to $500 in six months to four years.
But other experts say oil inventories appear to be at least adequate. While agreeing with Simmons that the oil market is "data-famished," analyst Edward Morse of Lehman Brothers (LEH) concludes in a May 9 report that "fundamental misperceptions" have caused prices to overshoot. He thinks crude could fall to $83 by next year, a one-third drop.
No Transparency
Chalk up the poor underlying data to a combination of gamesmanship and incompetence.
Oil statistics are reasonably good for the wealthy nations that make up the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), although even in data-rich countries like the U.S. there are unexplained discrepancies. But the rich countries matter less and less because their production and consumption are both roughly flat.
Outside the OECD, where the growth is, countries either don't want to divulge data for strategic reasons, or haven't yet developed the systems to collect and compile the necessary numbers. The Joint Oil Data Initiative, an organization launched jointly by producing and consuming nations in 2002, is supposed to improve matters. But the group acknowledges on its Web site that "the database is still far from perfection."
China, which has grown into the world's second-biggest oil consumer after the U.S., stands out as a particular problem. Just ask Eduardo Lopez, who tries to dope out the China market as the senior demand analyst for the Paris-based International Energy Agency, an affiliate of the OECD. He says China does not report demand, leaving him and others to figure it out from data on production, trade, and inventories. What's more, he says, "there are thousands of so-called teapot refineries all over China" that are technically illegal and therefore left out of China's official statistics.
Making his job even more trying, China appears to be creating a strategic stockpile of oil, but has never acknowledged it, Lopez says. If Lopez and others are underestimating how much oil China is squirreling away, then they're inadvertently overestimating true global consumption, and vice versa if they've overestimated China's stockpiling.
Speculation, Too
Many other countries aren't much better. Lopez says Russia produces "awful data" and demand statistics are patchy in countries like India and Indonesia. On the supply side, OPEC nations don't report their output reliably, sometimes because they don't want to officially admit they're producing above OPEC's quota. That leaves the agencies relying on unofficial "tanker trackers" like Lloyds Maritime Information Services and Petro-Logistics SA, a tiny company that operates upstairs from a grocery store in Geneva, Switzerland. OPEC members also jealously guard critical data about when new fields will begin production and how quickly existing fields are declining, says Matt Cline, an economist for the U.S. government's Energy Information Administration in Washington.
What makes good information so important in the oil market is that both the supply and the demand for oil are extremely inflexible, especially in the short term. That means even a small, unanticipated shortfall in output—from, say, strife in Nigeria—or a bigger-than-expected rise in consumption can send prices through the roof. On the other hand, prices can plummet if demand growth drops because of an economic slowdown or production jumps because some delayed project finally comes on line.
One indication of uncertainty is the extreme range of bets being made in the oil options market. On May 13, bulls were willing to pay around $1.40 per barrel for a "call" option that will pay off if oil goes over $200 a barrel by next February. Bears, meanwhile, were paying about the same amount for a "put" option that will be in the money if oil goes below $84 by then. Larry Chorn, chief economist of Platts, the McGraw-Hill Companies' (MHP) energy information unit, says the actual costs incurred in producing the most expensive oil is only around $70 or $80 a barrel, meaning that about $50 of the current price represents "the market's risk premium plus speculation."
In other words, there's a big slab of unknown built into the price of oil. Lots of people will confidently predict where prices are headed next, but most of them, including the bulls, have been wrong more than once. Truth is, the world is almost as starved for information as it is thirsty for oil.
Coy is BusinessWeek's Economics editor.

Entry # 9 20600331

2008-06-13T07:20:00.000-07:00

My Opinion/Summary:

Google was now looking to start a cellular phone operating system. They had support from companies like T-Mobile but another company named Verizon snubbed Google’s plan completely. Verizon decided to go with another operating system named Android. Verizon is planning to introduce new phones in the United States with the Android based operating system. Verizon’s decision to not take Google’s new platform as their primary operating system for their phones was a very good business decision for them. Google has already become a mega giant in the internet field. For them to go into the cellular phone business would be a viable option. If the operating system was a success, that could be the step they use to make their footprint bigger in the cellular phone industry. If Google was able to do this, this would only make another competitor for Verizon in a market that is already saturated. For Verizon, this could pose a very large problem, with T-Mobile and Cingular already fighting Verizon for a market share in the cellular phone industry.
Not using the Google platform was also a great idea on part of Verizon for another reason. The operating system Verizon is going to use, LiMo, has already made plans and is in the production of making operating system that is compatible for their mid-grade and low-grade phones. LiMo is an operating system that is viable for their smartphones, so another platform would be necessary for those who would want consistency in all the level of their products that they produce. This is a great plan because customers who could only afford the lower-end phones could get used to using the same type of platform that the higher-end phones use. So moving up to the higher end phones would not be difficult for them, thus being able to keep already existing customers. If the customers knew that all the platforms were related and easy to use, new customers could also be drawn to Verizon over Cingular and T-Mobile.
These are the reasons why the choice of LiMo over Android was a very good business decision.

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Article: Verizon Snubs Google's Platform

The cellular giant is throwing its weight behind the Linux-based LiMo operating system, instead of Google's Android, for its mobile phones

by Jennifer L. Schenker

When Google (GOOG) revealed last November that it planned to develop its own operating system, called Android, for mobile phones, and had garnered the support of big names such as Germany's T-Mobile (DT) in an industry group dubbed the Open Handset Alliance, it sent shock waves through the mobile business. Speculation was that the search giant's move would reshape the landscape and aid Google's bid to extend its multibillion-dollar online advertising empire onto mobile devices.
But the mobile industry has long been reluctant to cede the heart of handsets to any scheme that furthers the business model and ambitions of a single company. Android is proving no different: Six months after the initial flurry of announcements from Google and the Open Handset Alliance (OHA) not a single operator has revealed concrete plans to introduce an Android phone.
While major operators don't rule out adding Android-based handsets to their offerings, some already expect them to be niche products. In that sense, they'd be similar to handsets powered by Microsoft (MSFT) Windows—which still amount to just 12% of smartphone sales some six years after they first hit the market—or the Apple (AAPL) iPhone, which for all its buzz may capture just 2% of the global smartphone market, analysts say.
Verizon Wireless Goes for LiMo
Now, in what industry experts describe as a major move, Verizon Wireless (VZ and VOD), the second-largest U.S. mobile operator, have dealt a blow to Google. On May 14 the company said it would throw its weight behind an Android rival created by an organization called the LiMo Foundation. "LiMo really is gaining substantial traction, while Android is increasingly looking a bit out on a limb," says Geoff Blaber, director of devices and platforms at CCS Insight, an independent British mobile consultancy.
Launched in January, 2007, by six mobile industry leaders, LiMo's technology is based on the open-source Linux operating systems and is meant to be an "open platform" that the entire mobile industry can use to power next-generation, media-rich phones that don't cost a bundle. LiMo's original backers included Motorola (MOT), NTT DoCoMo (DCM), NEC, Panasonic Mobile Communications, Samsung Electronics, and Britain's Vodafone, whose 252 million global subscribers make it the world's largest multinational mobile operator.
Verizon Wireless, which will take a seat on the LiMo board, brings the total number of members in the organization to 40. "We will support LiMo in our device line-up and in all our direct retail channels," says Rosemary Garavaglia, executive director for technology at Verizon Wireless. "From a major thrust standpoint, this is where we are putting our resources."
The involvement of Verizon Wireless is especially meaningful. The joint venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone has created the most profitable U.S. cellular business in part by tightly restricting the selection of devices and applications allowed to run on its network. Over the past year, though, the company has begun shifting toward a more open model to help reduce costly support overhead. Early on, Chief Executive Lowell McAdam said Verizon Wireless was looking at Android (BusinessWeek.com, 12/3/07). So the embrace of LiMo is doubly significant.
No Support For Android
The company now says it will accept Android phones onto its network when they appear, along with any other devices that pass basic certification testing. But it will only provide customer support and services for products that are distributed through its official retail channels—and as of now, it has no plans to sell Android devices in its stores.
"This is not about 'against or for' anything," cautions Garavaglia. "But traction is important to us. The appeal of the LiMo initiative is that there is broad membership from the full [mobile] ecosystem and a number of devices already on the market."
The other draw for Verizon and other major operators around the world is LiMo's promise to enable a new generation of midrange and even low-end phones that can be more easily modified and upgraded to offer the latest whiz-bang features, especially those involving Internet services.
In today's environment, lower-end handsets (called "feature phones" in industry parlance) tend to use inflexible, homegrown software that's nightmarishly hard for handset makers and mobile operators to modify. On the other end of the scale, high-end devices (a.k.a. "smartphones") require serious horsepower to run adaptable but complex PC-like operating systems such as Windows—and thus remain too expensive for mass-market customers. Both LiMo and Android aim to span the gap.
170 Million Smartphones?
It's a big opportunity. Analysts figure the smartphone market being targeted by the likes of Apple, Microsoft, and London-based Symbian, which is backed by Nokia (NOK), will amount to about 170 million units this year. By comparison, unit sales of feature phones of the sort that could run LiMo or Android should top 300 million. By 2012, figures New York market watcher ABI Research, some 127 million mobile gizmos will be running some form of Linux, up from 8.1 million last year.
With Verizon's move, LiMo now looks to have the upper hand. "When it comes to traction in the market, commitment, road map, and software maturity, LiMo is a long way ahead of Google," says stock analyst Richard Windsor with brokerage Nomura Securities in London.
On May 14, LiMo also announced seven other new members: French mobile operator SFR, Korea's SK Telecom, chipmaker Infineon Technologies (IFX), French handset maker Sagem (SAF.PA), Norwegian software developer Siving Egil Kvaleberg, browser company Mozilla, and Red Bend Software, a developer of mobile management tools. U.S. chipmaker Texas Instruments (TXN) also recently joined. LiMo's executive director, Morgan Gillis, says the group is in advanced negotiations with other wireless operators and handset makers in Asia, Europe, and Latin America.
Hedging Their Bets
Vodafone already has introduced several Motorola handsets built on LiMo and plans to add others to its network later this year, says Guido Arnone, director of products and technology at Vodafone and vice-chairman of LiMo. And more than 10 million phones per year are expected to migrate away from a Japanese flavor of Linux to LiMo over the next two years, says Kiyohito Nagata, managing director of products and services at NTT DoCoMo, and chairperson of the LiMo Foundation.
To be sure, some companies, including DoCoMo, are hedging their bets. The Japanese operator also belongs to the Google-backed OHA, as do Motorola and some other LiMo members. More than 30 companies have joined the OHA, which aims to develop technologies for mobile services and technologies, with the Android platform serving as a first step. The OHA describes its target as a software environment including an operating system, middleware, user-friendly interface, and application programs.
The trouble is that operators say they are not sure to what extent the applications—namely Google's—can and will be separated from the operating system. Indeed, Vodafone Chief Executive Arun Sarin has said publicly that his company won't support Android until it knows exactly what Google plans to do with the data it can collect via phones. Operators aren't willing to cede information about their customers that Google could leverage for its advertising business, says CCI Insight's Blaber.
Google executives counter they're getting into operating systems only to ensure that an open-source mobile phone really goes forward. Eric Chu, Google's group marketing manager for Android, dismisses talk that the software isn't catching on. "We know there will be carriers and handset makers that are going to deploy it," he says. "The level of activity around Android has been extremely high."
$250,000 Prizes
As proof, he mentions the Android Developer Challenge, a contest to identify promising new mobile applications. Google already has received 1,800 submissions from 75 countries, two thirds of them from outside the U.S. Ten top winners will receive $250,000 each to develop their programs, while another 10 runners-up will each get $100,000.
Analysts predict that Taiwan's High Tech Computer (HTC), which does not have an operating system of its own, will be the first handset vendor to make phones incorporating Android, and that T-Mobile will probably be the first operator to offer the phone. But they predict that few devices will be on the market by the end of the year and that the first version is likely to be imperfect.
Christian Lindholm, a partner and director in the London office of Fjord, a strategic design consultancy who is credited with being the father of Nokia's Series 60's user interface, says Google may be underestimating just how tough it is to build a mobile operating system. "The integration of the hardware and software is ridiculously hard," says Lindholm. "To get a real proper user experience, you need a deep fusion between software and hardware."
Many of the same challenges face the LiMo Foundation. But whichever initiative first manages to produce a user-friendly Linux mobile operating system with global uptake will create a seismic shift in the industry. "These are big bets," says Lindholm. "Whoever wins is going to win massively."
With reporting by Olga Kharif in Portland, Ore.

Entry # 8 20600331

2008-06-13T07:16:00.000-07:00

My Opinion/Summary:

China’s earthquake was a huge blow to many companies that base their production operations in their. Many foreign companies such as Nike, Reebok, Walmart products, and Nokia all have production plants that are in China. Due to the earthquake many of these firms have had to stop current operations because of infrastructure problems. However, China has told the world that even with all of the problems put on the country because of the earthquake, these problems are not so big in comparison to the harsh winters that China normally experiences. Therefore, it would not be a sound business decision for these companies to pull their operations and locate elsewhere. During the winter months, shutdowns are a normal part of operations because of the extreme cold that China endures. Therefore, if they looked at this earthquake as a once in a lifetime ordeal, then it should be a no brainer for them to stay. Factories also take billions of dollars to put into place. Unless this ordeal has cost these companies more than a couple of billion dollars, it would not again be a sound judgment for them to relocate. China also expects the economy and the country to bounce back quickly and everything should be normal within the next couple of weeks to months.

-----------------------------------------

Article: China Quake Won't Shake Economy

The May 12 earthquake in Sichuan has claimed 12,000 lives, but many economists expect the impact on overall growth to be limited

GETTY IMAGES
by Chi-Chu Tschang

At 2:48 in the afternoon on May 12, Wu Zhigang was working at his desk at Sichuan Gaojin Food's headquarters in Suining, a city of about 4 million people in the western Chinese province of Sichuan, when the earthquake struck. Although it is 150 miles away from the quake's epicenter, the company's building shook so much that Wu and his colleagues had to run outside.
By 3 p.m. they returned to their desks, but other workers at Gaojin Food weren't so lucky. The company temporarily halted production at the three of its seven food processing plants located closest to the epicenter. The earthquake knocked out power and water supplies and cracked the plants' walls. "This will affect our results, but it won't be a very big impact," says Wu, an employee in Sichuan Gaojin's securities department.
The 7.8-scale earthquake that struck the mountains of western Sichuan province is the deadliest natural disaster to hit China in nearly three decades. The earthquake has claimed over 12,000 lives, mostly from collapsed buildings. However many economists expect the impact on the Chinese economy of the power outages, communications breakdowns, and blocked roads to be limited. "In the short term, there will be a temporary disruption in industrial production, but it should recover very quickly," says Lehman Brothers (LEH) Hong Kong-based economist Mingchun Sun. One reason, he says, is that the quake hit a rural area without a big manufacturing base.
Not as Bad as Winter Snowstorms
Indeed, while the human toll is immense, the earthquake is likely to have a smaller impact on China's economy than the freak snowstorms this winter, which affected a greater swath of the country. Sichuan's economy, like other provinces in China's western region, lags behind China's wealthier coastal regions. The province's industrial output only accounts for 3.9% of China's gross domestic product, according to Merrill Lynch (MER). Sichuan has a population of more than 87 million, roughly the same as Vietnam, and many Sichuanese either stay at home to farm or go to China's manufacturing bases in the southern and eastern regions to work.
When the earthquake hit, most companies, not only in Sichuan but as far away as Beijing and Shanghai, evacuated their employees from offices and factories. Intel (INTC), Toyota Motor (TM), and Yamaha Motor (YAMHF) are among the companies that have suspended operations at their factories in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, while they inspect the damage caused by the earthquake. Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., a Shanghai-based chipmaker, also evacuated employees in its semiconductor manufacturing, assembly, and testing facilities in Chengdu. "We had to evacuate. But we expect the disruption to production to be very minor and be back tonight or tomorrow, or very soon," says Matthew Szymanski, vice-president of corporate relations at SMIC.
Other local companies might have a harder time returning to normal. Before they can resume production, many factories need a restoration of electricity and water supplies. Sichuan province lost 4 gigawatts of electrical capacity while neighboring Shaanxi province lost another 1.5 gigawatts after the earthquake knocked out 10 power stations and transformers in the two provinces, according to State Grid Corp. of China. "As a precaution, Intel has removed the facility from local power or water service until a full seismic assessment is completed," Intel spokeswoman Lucy Meng wrote in an e-mail.
"While the current situation is dynamic, we hope to resume operations as soon as possible, pending restoration of utilities and a seismic assessment."
Roads to Disaster Areas Blocked
The earthquake has also created logistical headaches, hampering not only transportation of products but also rescue efforts. Some flights passing over the region have been canceled. Some trains to Chengdu have been suspended. Since the evening of May 12, rain in Sichuan has caused mudslides and debris to block the roads. Soldiers mobilized for relief efforts have had to walk to disaster areas. Premier Wen Jiabao flew to Chengdu Monday afternoon and tried to go directly to Wenchuan, the epicenter of the earthquake, but was unable to because the roads were blocked. Wen ordered the roads leading to areas hit by the earthquake to be cleared before midnight local time on May 14. "After the earthquake, transportation to the disaster area is extremely difficult," Ministry of Civil Affairs disaster response director Wang Zhenyao told journalists at a May 13 press briefing in Beijing.
The difficulties in reaching the disaster areas have been exacerbated by telecommunication problems caused by the earthquake. The country's largest cell phone operator, China Mobile (CHL), said that 2,300 base stations, or 0.8% of the total, stopped working due to power failures or congestion, making it more difficult for friends and family to reach their loved ones (BusinessWeek, 5/12/08) in Sichuan province . Nokia (NOK) and Motorola (MOT) said that they would donate cell phones as part of their disaster relief packages. "Our experience is that when there is [this] type of disasters, phones are actually quite useful for people involved in rescue and also people living in the area," says Thomas Jonasson, director of communications, China area, at Nokia.
Despite the disruptions, companies and economists expect China to bounce back quickly from the earthquake. Many employees were already back at work on May 13. As reconstruction efforts start, the government is expected to boost investment in roads, bridges, and other fixed assets in the second half. Lehman Brothers economist Sun points out that when a 6.9 magnitude earthquake hit Kobe, Japan, in 1995, it temporarily disrupted Japan's industrial output but the region quickly recovered in the coming months. He says, "It's a big tragedy in terms of human life, but in terms of growth it's not a big deal."
Tschang is a correspondent in BusinessWeek's Beijing bureau. With Bruce Einhorn in Hong Kong

Entry #14 20601011

2008-06-12T22:20:00.000-07:00

Original Documents

Drive Your way

Hyun Dai

HyunDai is a one of the famous car company in the world by their quality, price, and service. To become the company like Hyundai, Hyundai went through many steps to get into the global market. Through their philosophy, people could analyze where Hyundai head to now.

Hyundai Philsophy

"Based on its creative, progressive, and challenging spirit, HMC seeks to implement 'Trust Based Management', 'Field Management', and 'Transparents Management', share economics, environmental, and social values with all stakeholders, and become a leading global sustainable enterprise which priotirizes the improvement of mankinds' of quality life."

When I just analyze only their philosophy, they are much familiar with the environment company and, they also support a lot into R&D. They also manage thier market area to attract more investors by showing their sustainability.

"This spirit of creative challenge, which has paved the way for its growth, is the core value at HMC. HMC looks to creativity and innovation to actively respond to changes in the business environment.Based on this philosophy, HMC aims to provide automobiles and related support services to enrich the overall quality of life for both domestic and overseas customers. In addition, HMC has taken steps with shareholders, customers, employees, suppliers, and local communities to build mutual trust. "

Vision

My opinion

Hyundai is now trying to create car culture by thier R&D research. Even there are many competitors in the market. The point for the car business is who leading the car culture. However, Hyundai have to consider their quality of car. One of the most reason is that their quality of engine is not strong enough to compete with other people. Before they create their own car culture, they have to consider their market customer to know what they wants. Each countries have different tastes of their car design and effienciency; however, one sustainabiliy does not change is that engine quality is keep improving. If Hyundai wants to lead the culture of car. They should R&D much more for their engine not just importing Benz engine to desing their luxury Car.

References.

http://worldwide.hyundai-motor.com/common/html/about/overview/sustainability/philosophy.html

20601016 entry#--14

2008-06-12T08:21:00.000-07:00

iPhone takes one the world

original article: Business week June 6 2008

iPhone is now trying to release their sixth big product to the world for all our sake. Apple which is well known for its multi-media player iPod is now focusing on iPhone following technological trend. iPhone as a succession of iPod contains everything that preexistent iPod was having. However, Apple has officially launched the iPhone in only couple of countries; the US, Britain, France, Germany, Austria, and Ireland. Now, the company has an ambition trying to expand its area to all over the to reach international markets.

Incessant innovation through R&D
To get the most out of something, we should think over and over about and make an every effort to achieve it. At this point, Apple’s iPhone is doing so well. It is preparing to release its new product after long studies. They work and study for a better product as world’s famous soccer coach Hidink had said “I’m still hungry.” after winning Spanish in semi-final of 2002 World-cup when he was leading Korean team. So, new product will likely be able to run on speedier wireless networks, also it may boast improved navigation services, and it's expected to support a batch of new software tools and features made by third-party developers.

Extend markets to all over the world
As I’ve mentioned at the very begging of this essay, until now, Apple has officially launched the iPhone in only six countries; the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Austria, and Ireland. But Apple's recent agreements with wireless carriers around the globe will bring the iPhone into an additional 64 countries by the end of the year. The two latest deals, announced June 4, are with Telefónica in Spain and Softbank in Japan.

Bigger seller that Blackberry?
At the beginning of the business apple has concentrated on its domestic market(the US) and naturally most of its income came out from US selling smart phone. Market research firm DIC pegs Apple's share of the U.S. market for smart wireless phones at 19%, behind Research In Motion's BlackBerry, which has a 44% share, and ahead of Palm's 13% share. However, when it last disclosed sales, Apple had sold 4 million iPhones globally, so it’s so promising that it will dominate lots of world in the future. Although the situation is not going so well now, if something has its own outstanding strategy and spirit, it can be changed any time.

We just think that present Apple(iPhone) has easily made by certain luck or their smart-easy working and so forth. But as we look through all, their source of power and success is not because of good luck or other factors but because of their unlimited hard-working, studies, creativity. We, as future leading businessmen should change our mind if we still tend to be satisfied with what we have or having inertia. What is Apple doing now? They never waste time. They are busy thinking new products, studying for better system, expanding their market to every single countries etc. These are the things that we should learn and work hard on these days when we do business.

Refernce:
http://kin.naver.com/open100/db_detail.php?d1id=5&dir_id=50101&eid=1BjnbyvVwJYIzopzwxMsebQ9G+9OmCvM&qb=aXBob25l&pid=fZBwXloQsDKssvgCQqwsss--441789&sid=SEjlGX7SSEgAAD-Vqvk

Ranbaxy + Daiichi Sankyo

2008-06-12T00:28:00.000-07:00

Indian pharmaceuticals company Ranbaxy, who was previously known to be the competitor of other pharmaceutical giants such as Merck has been bought by Japanese Daiichi Sankyo for the price of 4.6billion dollars giving Daiichi Sankyo 50.1% of Ranbaxy.
Ranbaxy started off as a family business founded by the grandfather of most recent CEO Malvinder Mohan Singh, with his brother Shivinder Mohan Singh. It wasn’t until Bhai Mohan Singh(the second generation this family line) took over that this company started to grow and expand.
It is said that many Indian companies do not go through acquisitions unless they are in desperate need for help. This is because they are loyal to their family name and can not trust foreigners. However following the previous acquisition of the telecom giant Hutch Essar, Ranbaxy seems to be following its steps to expand the company. Contrary to the customs that have been followed up until now, Indian firms seem to be opening up to foreigner in the interest of prospering.
As the possibility for expansion and growth through these acquisitions might be welcoming, there also is a possibility for these plans to fail. It might have an impect on the employees as some of them might still be conservative on their views about foreigners and although profits might rise n the beginning, if the work force is not fully and happily cooperating with the top management, it is impossible to come out with a long sustained success.
However, the bright side of this deal is that through this acquisition there will be a sharing of the pros of each company making the fusion of both a more complete environment for the growth of the company. While the Indian Ranbaxy will offer its low cost production facilities and global distribution, Japanese Daiichi will offer its expertise on drug building.
This acquisition could be a successful international mission only if the cards are played out properly by the leading managers taking into account everything, starting with the simple issues such as the diverse cultures and geographically dispersed location.

http://ridingtheelephant.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2008/06/11/ranbaxy-makes-indian-corporate-history-with-daiichi-deal/

entry #14 20100656

20501034 -Entry 13

2008-06-06T07:47:00.000-07:00

Why GE is getting out of the kitchen
Original Article on May 16, 2008 by Matt from Business Week

Summary
GE is getting out of its appliances business. As IBM and Kodak successfully transformed themselves from traditional business model to highly profitable but risky business model, Since December, 2002, The CEO of GE, Immelt has sold off more than $75 billion in GE business such as its plastics and insurance units, while spending more than $50 billion acquisitions in faster-growing sectors including wind power and aviation.

My opinion
As we learned in the business strategy class, every companies has life cycle. Life cycle is made of market introduction, rapid growth, competitive turbulence, maturity and decline. For the big conglomerate like GE has several sector which placed in various steps. The units that GE already sold like plastics and insurance are obviously regarded to be in decline step. In other hand, The units that GE has been bought like wind power and aviation are regarded as a rapid growth sector.

While GE has been bought and sold several sectors, the important thing that I think is the timing. It isn’t difficult to realize which industries are going up and which industries are going down. However, it is quiet different even for the CEO level business men to decide when is the right moment to maximize the profit and minimize the loss. If the companies bought the potential sectors too fast, it will take long to make profit out of it. If the companies bought the potential sectors too late, not only they lose market identity but also they have to struggle among numerous competitors. Therefore, we need to keep an eye on GE’s financial report whether their decision was made in the right moment or not.

crisis

2008-06-06T01:48:00.001-07:00

It’s been quite a while since the shortage of an appropriate energy source has been an issue to humanity. Our world and society that revolves around energy, gas, electricity and other fuels has become so dependent on fuels that it would have no where to go if these fuels were to run out and disappear. Many people use fuels in their everyday lives. Cars, electricity, cooking, and so many other daily appliances that energy has become a crucial resource to all mankind that has become indispensible. As this shortage rises more and more scientists and professional s are looking for alternative sources. As this search continues, reproduceable natural resources are becoming the target such as sugar cane for the production of ethanol. There is a worry from critics that this energy crisis will lead to more global warming due to deforestation. Deforestation caused as a result of planting products to produce this one type of fuel. I personally have not had much of an idea of how critical this crisis really was. Until recently when I was introduced to the fact that at the current of energy consumption, we will soon be left with no energy at all. This has given me time to reflect that whatever God allows mankind to have, must be appreciated and not taken for granted. Taking God’s blessings is a mistake almost everyone goes through however, looking at these issues around us, we must consider what we must do as a result of these issues.http://www.msnbc.com/20100656 entry #13

20601011 Entry #13

2008-06-05T23:56:00.000-07:00

origianl Articles

World Famous Skateboard Company

Element

Element is the one of the biggest skateboard company in the world. They sell skateboard, clothes, shoes, and accessories for women and men. It is a kind of simple business, however, it also do many differentiation in each products quality. Most American and Europe age 10 to 30 likes to watch skate board demon show. They might buy one skateboard from markets when they were young. There are also many skateboard markets. To be the best company in the world, Elements differentiate the price, quality, and make sponsor for pro-skater to use their products.

Advertisement

When people think of skateboard, they would think skateboarding as extreme sports. Many teenager thinks skateboarder as cool. Even in S.Korea, skateboard fashion was boomed. Usually, skateboard companies do not advertisement. However, Elements quickly target the teenager and maniac to the skateboard. They did advertisement by using their sponsor stars like Bam Magera and Tony Hawk by demo show. It has great effects to the young people in America. They sold their skateboard and many clothes more than usual

Differentiation

Elements open many program for young kids, such as educational program, skate program, camp program, and events for skate competition. This is the most different things from other skateboard company. One of the reasons why is that many adults think skateboarder as funk, This programs change their view of skateboarder. This program also changes the quality of element skateboard as best in the world. When people think of elements, it is the best.

Mission

“A non-profit, youth based organization. The mission of Element Awareness is to reach out to youth through the avenue of skateboarding and education, in order to develop self-esteem, awareness, and tools to lead successful lives.”

My opinion for Elements

They started their business in 1992. They grow their company as top skateboard company in the world. It still shortage of international market. Even, they could grow bigger than now. They are not really concerning for the international market. They should check each countries culture and needs to check their service system and sell their products. The weakest points for all skateboard company are after service. Any skateboard company who overcome this weakest points will be the recognized.

References

Johnny Schilleref, Element Mission, http://www.elementskateboards.com/mission/,1992

20601016 Entry#-13

2008-06-05T04:24:00.000-07:00

original article: From Business week - Corporate strategy

BRICs or South East Asia?

Microsoft corporation which is well known for its dominant software system(Microsoft windows operating system) now tries to dominate all the countries’ market. It seems to reflect one of Bill Gates' key visions for the company; "to get a workstation running our software onto every desk and eventually in every home". The outgoing Microsoft executive chairman went Asia for a business trip. He is so busy meeting heads of each South East Asia nation and doing business with them. During the Gates trip, Microsoft announced several new partnerships with Asian governments and companies to develop e-government services as well as make computing with Microsoft software less expensive for people in developing countries.

Target a star market
- There are four market types in accordance with BCG(Boston Consulting Group) matrix. These are Cow, dog, Question mark, and star. It is very important to know a status of markets when we do business. Because that way we can cope with problems well if we have and at the same time innovate or develop the company so that it could grow much in the future. At this point, Microsoft is doing so well by actively expanding its market to east Asia countries. One of the biggest purposes of business is to make a large profit out of what we have now. Therefore, target the “STAR”.

Target a boss(Heads)
- Everything consists of its subordinates complexly. Therefore, when we do business in the business world, we cannot deal with everything. We might not have that much time and also we might not have that much labor to do that. There is efficient and effective solution for these problem; dealing with heads. In every group or society, there are organizations which connect between upper class and lower class. If we negotiate with the heads and get a good deal out of it, it’s pretty much set. At this point, Microsoft is doing so well by working with internet café owners.

Connection with local area community
- We cannot live a live for ourselves. We live together because we are so weak ant it’s more convenient. Like there is saying “Two heads are better than one.”, when it comes to business, it is easier and efficient if we have connection with others that are related to the business. In case of Microsoft Corp., having connection with University around the company is so beneficial factor that generated lots of company profits. So, do not try to do by yourself, just look around and try to find accompanies and be smart. It will bring you a lot more profits than struggle on your own. -

Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft
http://www.builderau.com.au/news/soa/Asia-is-Microsoft-s-window-to-mobile-market/0,339028227,339284194,00.htm

20501034 -Entry 12

2008-05-30T06:33:00.000-07:00

"LG will clean up with or withour GE"

Original Article from Business Week

on May 29th by Moon, BusinessWeek's Seoul bureau chief.

Summary

Since General Electric revealed plans to put its appliances business on the block May 16, LG has been regarded as the most possible potential buyer. GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt visited Seoul to discuss with LG executives. 10 years ago, LG was known as the maker of cheap microwave ovens and toasters but now LG has emerged as the world’s No.3 manufacturer of white goods after whirlpool and Electrolux. LG is also doing very good job in mobile phones. Besides of LG, GE CEO Immelt is considering Haier Group, Controladora Mabe, Arcelik and Electrolux as a potential buyer of GE Appliances.
For LG, GE is very attractive because it has renowned reputation in US while LG want to increase its market share and expand to the high profit margin appliances industry. However, current price for GE will be critical for LG to decide whether to buy GE Appliances or not.

My opinion

I don’t think LG has clear vision about merging GE Appliances. As a matter of fact, GE has renowned brand power in North America and it could be very attractive factor for the company that is expanding its business in North America. However, the thing is that LG can make synergy effect with merging GE Appliances.
As the professor Lee mentioned, Samsung’s M&A with Corning is the one of the best precedent of win-win M&A. Samsung has bright blueprint how to maximize their profit margin sucking up the technology that Corning had. At that moment, Corning was decreasing but Samsung found that the optical technologies would be prime components manufacturing high end display. Therefore, both Samsung and Corning realize win-win situation.

Based on research I did about M&A(Vein & Company report about M&”A), there are 4 things to avoid. First thing to avoid is unreliable investment logic. The buyer must be able to indicate why they should buy the company. Second, the buyer company must decide proper price for the company by thoroughly analyzing external and internal environment. Third, it should take precaution against the overestimated synergy effect. When investors estimate the company’s value, they look at synergy value rather than its actual value. But, in current M&A, the merging price is being formed 16~20 times higher based on EV/EBITDA. Lastly, spending more than how much company can afford is also put the company in great danger. Many companies depend on loan when they are doing M&A. If the purchased company doesn’t make expected profit, sometimes they must sell the new company with the much lower price that they paid.

PMI(Post-merger integration) is also carefully pre-planned. They should think about how the both companies’ culture function together and how to capture the core man of ability after M&A.
I hope LG carefully analyze all of the factor that is related to M&A and successfully rebirth as the world top appliances companies.

20601011 Entry #12

2008-05-30T00:39:00.000-07:00

Original Articles

Camera for The Best Pictures

Canon

Cannon is the one of the high quality camera companies in the world. When people talk about camera, Canon always comes out to be the best camera in the world. “The Canon name represents innovation and leadership in photographic products. They continue to create digital solutions for both the professional and amateur photographer, like digital cameras that easily connect to a photo printer the size of your hand. Canon was the first to introduce this product because of our expertise in both cameras and printers.”

History of the Canon

“Canon started out as a company with a handful of employees and a burning passion. That company soon became a world-renowned camera maker and is now a global multimedia corporation. However, the origins of our success remain unchanged: the passion of our early years and technological expertise amassed over more than 60 years. Canon will continue using its technologies to benefit people as it pursues its objective of becoming a company that is loved by people throughout the world.”

Philosophy of Canon

“Canon maintains a deep commitment to socoal and environmental responsibility. This determination to live and work together for the common good — Canon kyosei — permeates everything we do: from research and development, to product manufacturing, marketing, sales and distribution.” As people could know reading by their philosophy, Canon is the familiar environment companies. This reason affects to the advertising the Canon as good images. They are supported by a many popular advertising campaigns, such as commercials on televisions and print advertisements that appear year round and in a number of TV shows, magazines, business publications, and trade journals. Each advertisements serves a specific purpose and delivers a specific message, about how you, our valued customer, can benefit through one of our latest technological advancements. From leading consumer imaging technologies, to business workflow enhancements, to the latest in industrial imaging products, Canon is the brand that America has come to know and trust.

My Opinion for The Canon

Even the Canon is the best camera company in the world. They should consider their market maturity competition. Because of the high price, I bought Nikon which a little more efficient than canon with low price. When efficiency is similar with low price, people would buy low price one. Even, Canon has good images in the environment section for the people. When consumer bought products, consumer may think first of their benefits. I could say that camera market is on the price competition. One of the reasons is that Canon is not for just professional peoples. It is for the every people in the world.

References

Canon inc, Tsuenji Uchida, http://www.canon.com/about/business/index.html, 2006.

20601016 Entry #12

2008-05-29T04:19:00.000-07:00

Original Article:

Should company cover
the cost of commuting to work for employees?

- Time for Self-centered Strategy -

Situation:
- We consume gas more and more exponentially, but it is limited. Therefore, we are suffering from the shortage of gas. Naturally, gas price goes up, so it has been burdensome to employees to take the gas price all on their own. The cost is more than $4 a gallon(about $140 monthly just on commuting). It’s so expensive. Also, in the future, it will be way higher than now as it runs out of. Therefore, as workers and employees of companies we should find a way to solve this kind of problem. What would it be?

Biking:
- Biking could be a real good salvation for this problem. It is not only cost-effective but also eco-friendly. Moreover, it is good for our health. Think about that we ride a bicycle every morning and evening for 30-1hour while we commute. However, as we can think, it has distance limitation. In other words, it is an option for employees who live close to the office. In this point, people who commute from far away from a company cannot commute by a bicycle.

Customer-centered strategy of Jobing.com
- Jobing.com is well known for a career search Web site. It is an employment website focusing on local recruiting in 18 U.S. cities. It is a three time Inc. 500 "Fastest Growing Company," making the list consecutively in 2005-2007.

1. Saving money
The company is privately held and employee-owned. A unique and special strategy of this company is selling or renting wrapped car offering a monthly $500 stipend. In addition, it is optional for customer if they buy or lease. The first employees said that “Driving around town with his employer’s logo was a bit embarrassing at first but the benefits far outweigh that feeling”. Therefore, it has an awesome advantage in the point of saving money.

2. Advertising effect
There are other benefits. Having lots of employees driving around with a wrapped vehicle is great advertising. So company can save money from advertising and promotion, then they can use it to the other things; Human resources, Research & Development, Finances, and so forth.

3. Rising corprate image
Thirdly, they can have a good corporate image by take a loss. It is not loss but benefit for them in the long run.

Conclusion:
Like the Jobing.com we should take a loss for customers at first then, uncountable benefits will follow in the future.(Being more to be in a customer’s side rather than being busy taking own business profits) I would rather change the “loss” to “investment”. Because it will turn to a lot of money in the future which is beyond imagination. It is true that we cannot have any if we don’t invest something.

Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jobing.com
http://lasvegas.jobing.com/company_profile.asp?i=38561

ADI DASSER

2008-05-22T23:00:00.000-07:00

Another case of brand imitation. Indeed the globally known three stripes is to any consumer synonymous to Adidas. Started as the trefoil by the German Adi Dassler, in the recent years of its success it has been changing its logo from the trefoil to the brand with three stripes. This sports goods producing company is not only known for its fine products for comfort in sports, it is also a very fashionable item now in this modern age of eccentricity and comfort. The brand Adidas also has many loyal consumers thanks to the great success of its number one rival Nike. Now many pop icons are labeling themselves with this brand. Starting way back from the rap group Run DMC all the way to the more recent hip hop artist Missy Elliot. This identity has an immeasurable value to it and if someone is going to cheat on this value, they better pay the price.
In my opinion, I think that Adidas was lenient on Collective because of the immense value of their brand name and its popularity. Not only its long history, Adidas is a true authentic brand that consumers can go to for good quality, comfort and popularity. In my opinion these three facts are more than enough reasons to penalize Collective in a more severe way.
Here in Korea, there are plenty of imitation Adidas, however they are not just robbing the logo and putting another name to it. They actually have the Adidas logo on their products. Although this might not be an ethically correct way of doing business, they are still promoting Adidas.

Entry # 11
20100656

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24490028/

Entry #11 20601011

2008-05-22T22:14:00.000-07:00

Origianl Articles

Where Music Lives

Music Business Industry

When people think about movie star or famous singers, it exactly connected with rich. One of the biggest music industry company in the world is M.net corporation. Their business strategy is using web TV to conquer the world TV show market.

History of M.NET

“The Electronic Media Network Limited was founded in 1985 as South Africa's first private subscription television service. The first broadcast, comprising one 12-hour channel, went out in October 1986.” “Today, M-Net boasts an array of general entertainment and niche channels and broadcasts to over 1,23 million subscribers in 41 countries across Africa.” When I check the history of M.Net, they are going to world market and trying to diversify their programs that are not just music but movie and many sections.

Mission Statement

“'To create the best television entertainment in Africa and beyond.'” Most people would agree with this mission statement, they now achieved the company goals. Even, they affects to the politics by using famous stars to help their corporation. As star earn much money, M. Corporation get much more money than stars.

Charity Program

They started their business in South Africa. They open many charity programs by using famous stars. As many peoples checking out the M.Net, they are all customers to attract in their programs. It has also good effects and bad effects. For Christian, they also open many secular programs, too.

Products

They sell many shows. They also make money by giving opportunity to have advertisement. It has great effect to the company. Many companies spend more than $5M for 30 seconds advertisement. M.Net give awards to the people who did the best show or movie. It is also great advertisement for the stars. They also get much invest money to take more film industry.

References

http://www.mnetcorporate.co.za/

20601016 Entry# 11

2008-05-22T06:30:00.000-07:00

Google dominates the world (case study)

Google founders are Sergey Brin and Larry Page. They met in 1995 as Stanford Iniversity graduate students. They created a search engiune that combined the technologies of Page’s PageRank system. Because Google was so effective, it quickly became the search engine of choice for Webusers. Today Google handles nearly 50 percent of Web searches.

Google’s source of power(Strength, Value proposition)

- All in one
Google offers not just search engine but also PDF, PostScript, text, Microsoft Office, Lotus, PowerPoint and so forth. Therefore users can do everything just using by google which has all-round capability.

- Competitive
Google only needs to spend 1dollar for every 3dollars its competitiors spend to deliver a comparable amount of computing power. In this point it is price competitive(low price and high quality and also it has everything) and so efficient if we work with google.

- Smart system
In 2002, AdWords Select introduced cost-per-click(CPC) pricing so that advertisers only pay for their ads when users actually click on them. In this way Google collects inbformation of customers what they need, prefer, tastes. It is helpful for their future product plan and also in the long run it will affect positive effect for their company profit.

- Keep their competitive advantage
Google’s IT infrastructure is a closely guarded secret because it is part of its competitive advantages. MapReduce, a programming model to simplify processing and create large data sets and Google File System, which keeps copies of data in several places so that the data will always be available even if a server fails. These two are good examples of Google’s competitive advantages that only google have.

Problems or challenges that Google face

- Side effects of CPC(cost-per-click): clic fraud
Companies who are advertising through Google should pay by the total number of customers click on their products or whatever the things that are related to the company. Therefore, there are huge chances that company members will abuse this kind of system in a bad way. They by themselves will click on other product to higher the hits.(click fraud)

- Rising other system which in on the same position
Microsoft’s MSN and another famous search engine Yahoo could be a threat of Google. Technology has been developing so fast as time goes by so Google should try work hard on what they are doing.

- Little experience
Google has less experience than Yahoo in negotiating with content providers, who are particularly concerned with piracy in the digital age. Therefore when they meet some huge problems or hardships, it will be difficult for them to overcome it. Because they might not have any kind of those experience before.

By the way, Google is still enlarging and dominant in the internet market. Profits continue to soar, and Google will continue to innovate. I think Google will spread its affection if they bring their area on the off-line world. Schmidt estimates that Google will need 300 years to organize all of the information in the world.

Reference:

Management Information Systems Pearson international edition

(P308-310)

http://ventureblog.com/articles/2003/05/4_keys_to_googl.php

20501034 - Entry 11

2008-05-20T12:51:00.000-07:00

"Toyota Camry: Can It Beat the Ford F-150?"

Original Article

on May 19th by Jim Henry is a reporter covering the automotive industry(Business Week)

Summary
According to Ford’s US sales analysis manager, the Ford F-150 and its ancestors have been the best-selling vehicles in the US for 26 years in a row, and the best-selling truck for 31 years in a row. It seemed that the Ford F-150 could never be knocked down. However, Camry is definitely rising model and Camry has been closing the gap.
The reason why Camry is doing well is that in the US market, gas prices, the housing meltdown, and changing consumer tastes have all combined to drag down sales of large pickups. The same high gas prices have made fuel efficient cars more attractive, especially gasoline-electric hybrids like Toyota Camry Hybrid. So Ford also react against Toyota Camry by promoting Ford Focus which is small and has reached the top 10-selling car this year.

My opinion

US big auto maker’s pickups have been cash cow but they can’t guarantee those pickups would stay in cash cow section. I expect the pickups to be in the dog section probably in 3 years. So I am going to point out some of geographical and econmical factors which have influences on sales of pickups.

Geographical and Economical Factor
Expensive oil price diminished the sales of pickups. Currently oil price is skyrocketing. According to the Bloomberg, NYMEX crude future is being traded with US $128.93 per barrel. This is already expensive. As everybody knows, expensive oil price discourage people to buy pickups. Not only this, another factor will accelerate the sales of compact car like Camry. Another factor is potential change of city structure owing to energy crisis. As energy cost go extreme, there will be great influx of people into the city because they want to save money for oil price which is consumed during commute. More people in city, smaller space people have. So there will be certain movements or government policies that discourage people to buy big and space consuming car like pickup and encouragement for compact car.

Political factor
These day, there are very positive movement about environment. Starting with "An Inconvenient Truth", the voice of environment is become strong. They criticized that current oil price is too cheap because it doesn't include external effect. So there are possibilities that oil price even go higher and it will ultimately affect the sales of pickups.

Conclusion
From what I mentioned above, because of increasing oil price, we can assume that the sales of pickups will drastically fall down and the compact car which is oil-efficient will fill up the space of pickups. In the future, compact car will have majority of market share. Even among the compact car brand, the technologies to maximize and save energy will be key factors to dominate the auto market.

20501034 Entry 10

2008-05-16T07:57:00.000-07:00

Focus on Star and Question Mark!!
Original Article
Good-bye to GE Appliances
Posted by: Diane Brady on May 14

Summary
The world renowned US corporation, GE is about to sell its appliances business. The reason why GE decided to give up its electronic appliances division could be summarized two things. First, it’s not global and US domestic market is so volatile. Second, GE’s electronic appliances business doesn’t have competitive edge in comparison with its competitors.

Due to its powerful brand awareness, electronic appliances company love to buy GE electronic appliances division. Especially Sweden’s Electrolus is expressing strong interest in merging GE’s electronic division. However, it isn’t clear that GE appliances unit would be appealing or not, if GE doesn’t allow a new buyer to use their brand name.

My opinion

Thomas Edison started GE in 1878 with his invention product, light bulb. After that, for 130 years, GE has been continually grown due to its innovative spirit. GE has awesome slogan which is pretty well matched with their value, “Innovation at Work”. Whenever I read this slogan, I could feel that GE continues to grow through taking a risk rather than stay safely where they positioned.

In this sense, selling electronic appliances division is something I could expected GE to do. To be quiet honest, I actually thought that GE already sold its traditional department. Although people still have perception that GE is still making major part of profit from its traditional division like plastic or electronic goods, in fact, GE successfully transformed itself as a high technology and solution company as IBM did. I can’t say GE’s electronic appliances division has been negative factor for GE because it played a role as a cash cow for last 5 years due to prosperity of US real estate market. However, owing to sub-prime mortgage, the demand of house was radically plunged so the profitability of electronic goods also were decreased.

At this moment, selling less profitable division that is considered to be ‘dog’ and restructuring group organization are considered to be right decision. GE has been restructuring their business model and now GE provide competitive products and services in finance, aviation, health care, energy, security which is placed in ‘star’ or ‘question mark’. I think those are the division which will feed GE for the next 10 or 15 years and they have to focus on those star and question mark rather than grabbing dying dog.

20600331 - Entry # 7 The Mac in the Gray Flannel Suit

2008-05-16T07:53:00.001-07:00

The Mac in the Gray Flannel Suit

Writer - Peter Burrows

Resource: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_19/b4083036428429_page_4.htm

My summary/opinion:
The computer industry is a competitive one. When a networking company offers to buy one's computers the usual response is of relief and gratitude. Nevertheless, this is not true for Apple. Perhaps it is due to the company’s recent success. Apple’s share price has risen an overwhelming 2,300% over the past five years. This has brought the company a market capitalization at $154 billion. Apple beats that of Hewlett-Packard, Dell, and Intel. Although in the beginning many have seen the Mac as the preferred computer for students and artists, now it is loved by many. Although Apple is acting on popular demand, it refuses to provide for network companies. Apple continues to focus on their consumers and education customers.

Despite past failures, Apple has been slowly opening up to the option of providing for networking companies. Decanti, the vice president for technology at Werner Enterprises, is very satisfied with his relationship with Apple. Since Apple adopted Intel's microprocessors in 2006, it has been easier for companies to switch to using Macs. Another plus for using Macs is that the user is able to use something called the “virtualization" software. This software enables the user to use the Mac operating system and Windows at the same time and switch easily between them. This is why the current trend is to change to Macs.

Although many factors such as competition and price-wars would normally affect the growth and well-being of a company, clearly this is not true for Apple. Because Apple has been able to target to the young generation with its iPods, the same crowd are more likely to jump into another brand division, the Mac. According to a survey, 43% of college students desired to purchase a Mac. This is quite promising.

In my opinion, I do not think Apple will be thinking about getting into the corporal market for a while. With its future full of potential, it is highly unlikely. Also, with all the possibilities of failure, I do not think joining hands with other corporations is what Jobs is looking for. He is thinking about how this might affect the company; perhaps he thinks that Apple is not quite ready yet. I’m sure Apple will do so in the future, just not right now.

20600331 - Entry # 6 For Pilots, Dreams Run Into Reality

2008-05-16T07:19:00.000-07:00

My summary/opinion:
For many years people have been fascinated with flight; this lead to the creation of airplanes. Now there are so many airplanes for travel, war, crops, and other different uses. Although being an airline pilot is quite prestigious, because of the airline industry's current financial collapse, a huge number of these hopeful want-to-be-pilots are left with a fierce competition. Thanks to the rise of fuel prices, some pilots may find themselves without a job. After the September 11th incident, many airlines reduced the amount of planes significantly. So, naturally the airlines would need fewer pilots to fly their planes. Competition increased with the work hours, yet the pay decreased. Due to unsatisfactory conditions, there are fewer applicants. Fewer applicants mean a shortage of pilots.

Shortage of fuel is a serious problem. It is affecting our economy and the well-being of our citizens. This article reminded me once more how serious the consequences are for not using our resources wisely. With the current rate of consumption of fuel, it is most likely that we will use all our fuel supply in the matter of less than fifty years. We should be finding another replacement. This problem is as real as ever. Sure, every year an article like this will appear, but are we not seeing the signs everywhere? Even as early as this year I have seen the harmful and strange affects that we are facing for not taking care of our planet. The weather is strange. Winter should have been very cold, but compared to past winters it was fairly warm. It is the middle of May. It should be quite warm; however, it is so cold you still have to wear a sweater around. We should take care of our world better. Because once we use up our resources, it is not only comfort that we have to compromise. We have to trade in our dreams for survival. I hope that it doesn’t come to that.

-----------------------------------------------------
Article is below:

For Pilots, Dreams Run Into Reality
IRVING, Tex. — Among the jobs little boys dream of — policeman, fireman, bulldozer driver — airline pilot long held the added virtue of satisfying grown-up dreams: pay that reached $300,000 a year, 20 days a month off work, the prestige of one day commanding a $200 million airplane, and a lush retirement at 60.
But the airline industry’s financial collapse this decade did away with much of that, leaving thousands of young men — and increasingly women — chasing a dream toward a disappointing reality.
“My wife thinks I’m nuts,” said Jason Captain, 32, of Fort Worth who left the Navy last November, walking away from $75,000-a-year lieutenant’s pay for flying military brass in and out of Guantánamo Bay.
He started training last month to fly a 76-seat regional jet for a Northwest Airlines subsidiary and expects to make about $21,000 his first year. Like most airline pilots, Mr. Captain had his heart set on flying “ever since I was a little kid,” he said. “I can’t see myself in an office.”
In recent years, he and his wife, June, were in the odd position of saving part of his military pay so they and their two sons could afford to have him work in the private sector. It could take him a decade to work his way back up to his former income.
He hopes, of course, to jump ultimately to the big jets at Northwest Airlines, where the most senior pilots can still make more than $150,000 a year, but there is no guarantee he will get there.
And, with the airline industry ready to go into another swoon because of high fuel prices, Mr. Captain and other junior pilots could find themselves furloughed.
“You’re much better off going into plumbing, from a purely financial perspective,” said Ed Grogan, a financial planner in Gig Harbor, Wash., who has pilots among his clients.
The military is turning out fewer pilots, so aspiring aviators increasingly attend private flight schools, emerging with as much as $150,000 in student debt. Student loan payments can exceed $1,000 a month.
After Sept. 11, 2001, the biggest domestic airlines reduced their fleets by hundreds of planes, so they needed fewer pilots. And through actual and threatened bankruptcies, airlines managed to cut pilot pay by 30 percent or more. Many pilots lost big parts of their pensions. Work hours increased.
Certainly, top pay of $200,000 a year at the biggest airlines, down from $300,000, is still a nice living.
But cuts at big airlines were just the beginning of the decline in pilot careers. Regional airlines, which pay far less than hub-and-spoke carriers even after the pay cuts, expanded to handle much of the flying that bigger airlines had abandoned. Many new pilot jobs are like the one Mr. Captain is taking, with a rock-bottom starting wage that creeps slowly toward $100,000 a year.
Poor pay and fewer big-airline jobs to move up to have led to fewer applicants, creating a pilot shortage that is most acute overseas but is also felt here.
Regional airlines have had to reduce hiring standards drastically. Earlier this decade, they could insist on a candidate’s having at least 1,500 hours of total flight time before an interview. Today, that minimum is 500 hours at many regional carriers. The decline is contributing to safety concerns among some experts.
The seniority system — a new pilot starts at the bottom at most airlines, earning the lowest pay and getting the worst shifts — limits job-hopping. So choosing the right employer the first time around is crucial. Moving from first officer, the right seat, to captain, the left seat, brings the biggest leap in pay and status.
Thus, Mr. Captain, who looks forward to being called Captain Captain, turned down a job at American Eagle Airlines, the regional division of American Airlines. It initially paid better, but the wait to upgrade to captain is six and a half years. At the Northwest regional carrier, Compass, which is growing, he could make captain in as little as one year.
But things change. Network carriers like United Airlines and Delta Air Lines hire regional carriers, which are separate companies, to fly feeder routes from smaller cities into hub airports. But the big airlines renegotiate contracts every few years, often switching carriers to reduce costs. That means today’s fast-growing regional airline could be laying off pilots tomorrow.
“It’s a nightmare,” said Kit Darby, who retired a year ago as a United pilot and runs a pilot job fair business, Air Inc.
Some pilots leave the business. Paul Rice, a vice president of the Air Line Pilots Association, a pilots union, said that in previous decades nearly 100 percent of furloughed pilots came back when temporary layoffs ended. Since Sept. 11, 2001, though, 30 to 35 percent did not return when offered their old jobs.
At Mesa Air Group, a big regional carrier, 784 pilots left last year, some moving up to hub-and-spoke network carriers, some moving laterally to other regional airlines and about 10 percent leaving the business altogether, said Michael Jayson, until recently the pilots union chief at Mesa. Turnover is high at some other regional airlines, too.
Todd Lehmacher, 39, learned to fly as a teenager and worked a variety of airline jobs in crew scheduling and as a ticket pricing specialist and flight attendant while accumulating the flying hours to be a pilot. “It was something I just had to do,” he said.
He was hired by Mesa in August 2005, but long hours and unpleasant relations between pilots and management wore on him.
He sometimes slept on the plane during late shifts — “camping trips,” pilots call them — that required him to fly again early the next morning. He said he often worked a 13-hour day to get in five hours of flying time, the only hours pilots are paid for.
Mr. Lehmacher quit last September and runs a travel agency in Phoenix that sells cruise trips to airline workers.
Mesa officials did not return phone calls seeking comment.
Samantha Negley did not get the flying bug until a boyfriend took her up in a four-seat Cessna in 1999. It was a bright day in San Luis Obispo, Calif., and they flew over farms, across the beach and over the ocean. “He let me take the controls. It was amazing,” said Ms. Negley, who is now 30.
She graduated from college that year with a journalism degree and spent four years working odd jobs — tending bar, substitute teaching, tutoring — to save money for flight lessons. Landings were her favorite part.
In an essay for a $1,500 scholarship she won to supplement her flight school costs, Ms. Negley said she planned a life around flying. “In five years, I plan to be a captain at Mesa Airlines,” she wrote. “In 10 years, I plan to be a first officer with a major airline, awaiting my chance to upgrade.”
She was accepted at a New Mexico flight school that feeds pilot candidates to Mesa and was hired in 2004. “The day I found out was like the best day ever,” she said. Making about $15,000 initially, and saddled with $50,000 of school debt, she moved in with her sister in Washington, flying out of Dulles Airport.
A typical day had her up at 5 a.m., at the airport by 8 a.m., and making three flights spread out so that the last one landed about 10 p.m. Then it was wait for a hotel shuttle; sleep; get up again at 6 a.m.
She also worked overnight shifts, sleeping across a row of seats and being awakened by a gate agent in time to brush her teeth in the plane lavatory and tuck her shirt in before passengers came aboard. “It was crazy,” she said.
“I was enjoying the landings. I was living my whole life for those three minutes a day.” Otherwise, she thought, “this is the worst life ever.”
She quit last July and went to work at Mattel, where she writes copy for packaging of Hot Wheels and other toys. She makes more money and has whittled her student debt down to $30,000.
She knows she will be home every night in Long Beach to walk the dogs. She plays beach volleyball. And became engaged in February. “Normal job. Normal life,” she said. “I know I made the right decision.”

20601016 Entry#10

2008-05-16T00:43:00.000-07:00

Games girls play

Is it niche? Or a big star?

original article

+++ Trend of game industry
These days, as technology has been developing game industry is so booming. At the same time, as our life is changing to be more free(women have more of their free time) women is rising as a emerging target which has lots of potential that we are investable. Main type of game that they used to play and enjoy is “casual game”. Let’s find out how it will work effectively and also efficiently in the future in the game industry.

+++Why the casual games are so popular especially to women?

- It is easy to play
Compare to other games casual game is way easy to play. It requires only couple of keys to enjoy playing game. In addition to it, the play pattern, from beginning till the end, is so repeatedly performed. In general, women are worse at playing game or driving than men. At this point the casual game attracts women more than any other games.

- It lowers costs
It usually costs lots of money to make game to high quality graphics-intensive such as NBA live 2008, Halo3, FIFA2008 and so on. In case of “Halo3” it takes years and tens of millions of dollars to make, while it costs 150,000dollars with a team of two or three in nine months or less to make a normal casual game. Also it takes little distribution and production cost.

- It is easy to sell this games to users equipped with everything from mobile phones or personal computer on online in web browsers.
Since it doesn’t required special skill or cutting-edge graphics, it is easy to transfer this game to on-line or mobile phone. This is another unique and useful good aspect of casual phone.

- There are so many options to choose distribution channel
To release and sell more of the products we need distribution channel which make a connection between the game company and customers. In case of other futuristic or violent epics is confined to store shelves and online retailers like amazno.com. However, casual game developers have many distribution options to choose; portals(RealArcade and Big Fish), or sites affiliated with AOL, Yahoo or MSN. The most good thing of this is that gamers can try playing game for a while before they buy it.(Divisibility in ACCORDs)

+++It is Ubiquitous as a bit Star
As we all look through above, “casual game for women” is not any more niche market. It is a huge star. 75% of all demand of casual game is women gamers and its remarkably big portion of the industry. Therefore, characteristic and feature of game is going like woman and it has been focusing more on women gamers.(for example, game story is about noticing heroin more that hero, or dealing with household stuff, women’s adventure etc.) Again, casual game targeting women is not any more niche it is a big potential star market!

Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casual_game
http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3562&Itemid=2

http://www.bizreport.com/2007/07/lifetime_rolls_out_casual_games.html

20601011 Entry# 10

2008-05-15T07:20:00.000-07:00

Original Articles

Make It Easy to Find What You Want

Naver

Naver is the one of the biggest serching engine company in Korea. It achieved great success now. Their business purpose is to make that people find what they wanted. They give much informations that news, café in, shopping for knowledge. Average visiting people is 16 million per day. Naver is like the Google in Korea.

Purpose of Company

Make it Easy and Comfortable for people to find what they want.
Be a Global company with their Internet service skills and technology.

Starting of Company

Their motivation was that they should be the best searching engine for Korean in Korea. They give service of e-mail, home-page, file and game with good quality for free to people.

Differenciation

Naver specialized each section like cartoon, news, image, and knowledge sections. As they arrange their information, people easily find what they wanted. They give chances that people can share their idea which is called Ji-Sic In. They knew the comfortable color for the people that are green, and they use the green as their web skin. It also indicate their visual identifier as their image. This image worked as their visual branding.

My Opinion

Naver is the best searching engine in Korea. When I compared with other searching engine companies in Korea, service is pretty different. It is much comfortable to find the information what I want. They had specialized many interesting categories for kids and adults, such as cartoon, sports news, global news, best books for this month, and review for new movie. Their differentiation pretty matched with people’s taste. They hit with their creativity idea about sharing people’s idea in the internet.

Reference

Naver, http://story.naver.com/naverbrand/main.nhn, 1999

20501034 - Entry 9

2008-05-09T07:42:00.000-07:00

MS!
Play
In
Your
Home
Field!

Orignial Article
'Inside Microsoft's War Against Google'
by Greene, BusinessWeek's Seattle bureau chief.
(http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_20/b4084036492860_page_4.htm)
2008. 5. 8

Summary

Nicholas Utton, chief marketing officer at online broker E*Trade said that “When it comes to internet search sites advertising, Microsoft is way behind front-runner Google.” He also mentioned that Microsoft isn’t getting much of search engine dollar. However, Steven A. Ballmer, Microsoft CEO had begun laying the groundwork for a strategy to compete with Google in online advertising. He states a reason that Microsoft should compete in internet search site advertising; Consumers and businesses increasingly are switching from desktop software like Microsoft’s to free online services that do the same things.
Google is taking in 77% of the revenues from text ads that show up in internet search engine. Meanwhile Microsoft is getting only 5% of it. However, Microsoft has competitive advantages in the display business that has a lot of potential to grow in the future.

My opinion

I think Microsoft should think more about what they could do the best or at least better. In the book “Re-imagine”, Tom Peters show the IBM as a wonderful business model. IBM searched about what they are good at and how they are going to maximize the profit out of it. IBM was famous as a computer manufacturer but now they are transformed as a solution company. IBM found there was no future in computer manufacturing business due to stiff competition with China. China could make PC with much cheaper price than IBM and computer manufacturing business doesn’t require much high technology. IBM sold and got rid of every single department that was regarded to be no more profitable. Then they promoted solution business as their star business.
However, Microsoft is trying to compete with Google in internet search engine advertising field. Everybody knows that Google is the best in internet search engine advertising field and it’s their home. Microsoft doesn’t need to play away match. I think Microsoft must find what they could do the best in ad-related business and bring Google in their home field. Fortunately, Microsoft is good at display advertising business which is already verified as the ‘Question mark’(Wild cat).
What Microsoft should do at this moment is to make internet search engine ad obsolete as fast as possible and encourage people to consider display business as a more up-to-date means of advertising.

20601011 Entry # 9

2008-05-08T22:40:00.000-07:00

Original Articles

1969 Gap Revolution

Don Fisher, Gap Inc. Founder and Chairman Emeritus created Gap with simple idea. They keep basic principal to make clothes. In 1969, Americans have jeans revolution. Gap Inc. catches what people want which is demand. When Gap created company, their purpose to make clothes is that “to make it easy for you to express your personal style throughout your life.”

Gap’s leadership

If people see the clothes between Gap and banana republic, they might find out those clothes styles are not really different. The differences are price and little bit more luxury. Banana Republic is a division of Gap Inc. It is a similar as car business. When car business starts their business, they release new model with low price and high quantity. When car companies try to change their brand conception, they release new brands with different high luxury model with high price. Gap’s purpose is to make simple to move. When Gap differentiates their image, they release new brand which is banana republic.

Marketing Department

Gap has several marketing department. For example, International marketing department, Outlet department, and Social responsibility department are the most managing marketing departments to keep their customers. International market departments work to know the difference style and culture of international market. Outlet department are managing to send over products to outlet mall. Their social responsibility is maintaining their after service. As they manage well, their recognition of brand images are top 30 companies in the world.

Targeting

When they started business, they target their customer around 20~30. Now, they target all age. As they have many marketing department, they are investing their money in R&D. As R&D improves their quality, they develop better and better. As they target all age, their market is getting bigger.

References

http://www.gapinc.com/public/About/abt_howourclothesaremade.shtml

20601016 Entry#-9 - Is your great idea real business?

2008-05-07T18:18:00.000-07:00

original article

How to succeed in business market

(Alalysis by ACCORDs)

1. Do you have advantages?(Value Proposition)
- To be successful in the business market, company should have their own strength which is called value proposition. Value proposition is one of great means to attract customers to buy their products. For example, in case of “NIKE” a special motto “JUST DO IT”&”Using one of greatest basketball player Michael Jordan as their model” can be a great value proposition. It motivates customers to enjoy sports and then naturally it makes them to buy NIKE products to play sports well like Michael Jordan.

2. Is it simple and easy to use?(Complexity)
- The main purpose of product might be how it functions well. Also how it is made for customers to use it handy is important as much as it. When people make product, they should consider complexity and user-friendly. Steven Jobs “MAC” is one of the companies which pursued those things. It made customers to feel comfortable by a sound effect when we turn on the computer. Also, it is the first company which started to use MOUSE which is prevailed to all over the world.(convenience)

3. How it is well adapted to cultures and life styles?(Compatibility)
- Social structures, cultures, traditions are different among each country. Therefore, if people want to make a product to be permeated to other country or circumstances, they should make their products by considering those cases. Let’s think about why microwave industry is not popular in France while it is a big hit in the US,(Because of their slow pattern life style)

4. Research customers behavior and needs(Observability)
- There is saying that if we know ourselves and enemy we will win 100 of battles of 100. Like this, to succeed in the business world, we should know customers well. Business people should listen to customer’s “sense, seeing, touch, hearing, and emotional variation” Car companies’ focused on car door and appearance of engine is one of a good example of this. Car sellers do that because they have found that most customers are so much care about those things.

5. How much risk do you take?(Risk)
- I’d like to define doing business as a risk game. To get something from business market, we should take loss(investment). That way we can obtain a lot bigger thing. There is acronym that represents risks that we should take “FUD=Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt”. When Hyundai’s market share was not good they took risk saying “If car breaks down within 10years, we warranty it.” This is a awesome example of taking risk

6. Do you offer sampling and trial to customers?(Divisibility)
- Before buy products, customers might want to know the products if it fits well or has no defects on the products etc. Therefore satisfying these customer’s needs is rising as a new trend of business market. Giving opportunity for customers to experience in person is very important when we do business. In case of cosmetic company, they let people to apply their products if it fits them well or looks good after they apply it. It’s a good system to get customers mind.

Reference:
http://www.edn.com/index.asp?layout=roadblock&sid=280464759&target=index%2Easp%3Flayout%3DCommunity%26industryid%3D47048%26industry%3DBusiness%2BStrategy
http://www.strategy-business.com/
Lecture from 8 APL 08 Class (ACCORDs)

models.

2008-05-05T23:37:00.000-07:00

It’s true that beauty can sell. And the price of this beauty? 35 Million dollars. Currently ranking number one for beauty by popular vote is Brazilian model Giselle Bundchen. Loved and worshipped by many because of her astounding beauty and magnetically cheerful character. She is above even the most famous models that the previous generation knew such as Heidi Klum and Kate Moss. Giselle and these other girls are raking in money by presenting their physical characteristics to companies to sell their products.Indeed, advertising and giving a brand or product a face is important however is it that important? Important enough to pay 35 million dollars for it? In my experience I totally agree. It is truly worth it to give a product a face, and while they are at it, if it is a pretty face, it will definitely attract more people. Clothes lines, foods, electronics. All products can be advertised and be-friended the customer just by adding a pretty smile to it. A friend of mine actually used to buy a specific type of peanut butter because it had the picture of an attractive lady on it. As we all have heard repetitively, humans are very simpleminded. We can be influenced by such small unnoticed things, and these beautiful women are one of those things. Displaying an attractive woman on the advertisements for their products can can target more than just mere pleasure for men. It also reaps a large amount of envious females who look at these female models as their role models or their despised enemies. No matter what they are, it all comes down to wanting to look like these models. If this psychology is going through the populations of consumers, then maybe 35 million is still a cheap price to pay these models.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24395276/

20100656 entry # 9

20601016 Entry # 8 - A real threat to Google

2008-05-02T01:52:00.000-07:00

original article

IPhone as tipping point

We generally think that Google’s rivals are companies like Microsoft, or yahoo. However Google’s real rivals are not those companies any more but cell phone companies. The cell phone industry has been emerging as a dreadful threat to Google.

SWOT analysis

1. strength
Firstly Google is fundamentally focused on the purpose what portal is to be, whereas the others(naver, yahoo, daum etc.) are more focused on their commercial purpose. If we just get into Google, we will be noticing simplicity, neat and ease arrangement of contents compare to any other portals. In this point Google is competitive and carrying its roll very well. Secondly, it offers lots of functions so that customers can do any work that they need to do in one site. It surely offers ‘searching engine’, ‘images’, ‘dictionary’, ‘G-mail service’, ‘google office’, ‘blogs’ and so on.

2. weakness
As I mentioned in the strength part, it has not deeply interacted with companies like the other sites. At this point, there is limitation of its revenue and service route. Also, unorganized web searched result can be one of weaknesses. When we search on the internet using Google, so much of information pop up without being organized by its categories. So we sometimes have hard time getting the information that exactly we wanted.

3. Opportunity
We cannot deny the truth that Google is Number 1 portal site in the world. It has been considered as the best site and getting lots of recognition by people. This is one of great opportunities of Google, and source of its power. Corporate image is very important(not just corporate image but any image to anything) to company. If it’s good it will produce lots of profits to the company, otherwise companies will go bankrupt easily. In this point Google has lots of potential to grow more. Because most of things that it invent(release) in the future will be sold well unless it’s surely bad or inferior.

4. Threat
So far, normally we can fit about 10 ads on a standard computer. But on your cell phone, if you type in a search query at google.com you get only one or two paid ads in response. In addition to this if web on the cell-phone has been prevailed, it will cause fatal effect to Google. As we expect, it is pretty sure that Google company income will be exponentially decreased. Then it will also bring about low-recognition. Like this, bad effect will cause other bad ones. It’s getting worse and worse like this.

As technologies are continually developing and new technologies are emerging rapidly, preexistent market will meet a crisis. To overcome these, innovation and modification by thorough R&D and enlightening or training every single employee systematically are fully required. Also following up-to-date technological trend and pursuing customer-centered market strategy will be helpful to lead the company successful.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*reference:

http://www.apple.com/iphone/

http://2aday.wordpress.com/2007/08/06/gphone-to-iphone-the-2-minute-threat/

http://www.iphonebuzz.com/google-not-a-threat-to-the-iphone-according-to-arm-executive-071715.php

20501034 - Entry 8

2008-05-02T01:00:00.000-07:00

Loyal Customers & Switching Cost

Original Article

Since I was 15, I have been dealt with the City bank. My father also has transacted account with City Bank. Once I dealt with the bank, I found that it is very difficult to change the bank, even if other banks suggest higher interest or sometimes better services. Because my current main bank don’t charge commission when we use ATM (Automatic Teller Machine) after office hour due to credibility our family built. They also know how our financial situation is and offer best services for us.
Many of my friends go to church which is very far from where they live. They said they can’t simply change the church because they formed great relationship with people in that.

In management term, people call this “Switching cost”.
People tend to stick to use what they chose for the first time. They rarely switch the product or companies even though new companies offer better products or services. Therefore, companies try to pre-occupy the market prior to any other competitors. So switching cost could be working as barrier in Porter’s model.

We can find that many companies try to increase switching cost. I found that there are two ways of applying switching cost, offering incentives or causing difficulties. For example of offering incentives, Airplane company offer mileages to their customer to make them keep using their plane. For professional business men who often fly, it could be very economical and the airline companies can grab these big spenders. As an example of causing difficulties, we can think of Windows. Many people including me are fascinated by fantastic interface of Mac. However, because of compatibility issue, majority of people keep using and buying Windows. We love interface of Mac OS but we are afraid that we have to give up lots of software that we are familiar with and pay for new software that we don’t know.

I think business is not just offering good products or services with reasonable price. We also think about how to grab secure our customer group even though the competitors offer better quality of products or services. To achieve this goal, the concept of “switching cost” could be applied in many different and practical ways.

20601011 Entry-8

2008-05-01T07:59:00.000-07:00

Original Article

Would you like to ride some movies?

Amusement Park Evolution

the one of the famous tour course in USA. This amusement park is growing a lot. It is now gohe worldwide. Now, Universal Studio is in USA and Japan. They plan to build another amusement park in 2002. The place is in S. Korea. To check the Universal Studio’s SWOT

Strength

They differentiated programs. When I compare with other amusement park in USA, most parks theme is for enjoy with the family. However, Universal Studio theme is enjoy and educating with the family about movie. They are trying to show how to make a film by show. In my experience, I went Universal Studio in Orlando three times. Most of shows are that I could enjoy and learn. Many American kids want to go to the Universal Studio. It is not just targeting the American people. Most customers are coming from different countries.

Weakness

Their weakness is that people can’t find what their star item is. They are targeting the all the movies. They are trying to make their movie as roller coaster. If they do not have their star items, people might go 1 or 2 times in their life-time. Even, many customers are coming to the Universal Studio. It might be limited later.

Opportunity

They are trying to target the world wide. Now, they already have other theme parks in Japan. They plan to develop Universal Studio parks in Dubai and Singapore. As growth to the world business, it is changing differently. Dubai is a big tour market. As developing Universal Studio in Dubai, it is also huge advertisement to grow more.

Threat

Universal Studio should consider customer’s culture. Some country might have opposite culture of their theme. To get all of customers are in the world. It is a pretty important fact.

Universal Studio is a huge busines tour market that has many options and good location for vacation to visit. Most customers go to universal studio, Sea World and Disney World. They have good tour package for family who want to visit with discount price. They have several advantage to grow. I could say, Universal Studio is one of the succed business market in USA.

References

"Universal Studio Florida and Beach for The Vacation", http://www.google.co.kr/imgres?imgurl=http://www.awesomeflorida.com/images/universal-studios-b.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.awesomeflorida.com/florida-attractions/universal-studios.htm&h=90&w=135&sz=71&tbnid=v0t3JidDmTcJ:&tbnh=90&tbnw=135&prev=/images%3Fq%3Duniversal%2Bstudio%2Borlando&hl=ko&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=11&ct=image&cd=4

Kelly Olsen, "Universal Studios plans theme park in South Korea" , http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2007-05-23-south-korea-theme-park_N.htm,

20501034 -Entry 7

2008-04-25T06:54:00.000-07:00

All about Strategic Positioning
Markstrat
Article

Since April 1st, we have been playing business simulation game, Markstrat in business strategy class. As a matter of fact, it is very exciting game and the competition that was around this game is far beyond my expectation. Looking back what we did for this game for the first moment of this game, we messed up the game. We don’t exactly understand the manual of the game and we didn’t play the Markstrat based on analysis but sense. As time goes by, we realize we are in trouble. Our stock index rapidly decreased and our market share is getting smaller and smaller. Experiencing trial and error, I realize that this simulation is all about “strategic positioning.”

Strategic positioning is the strategy that corporation concentrates given resources on the target market. However, this strategic positioning is getting difficult and challenged especially in service industry, because customers’ needs are becoming more diverse and it is getting hard to find common in them.

If the company is big enough, it can target various kind of market at the same time. However, if the company doesn’t have enough resources, it’s almost impossible to target various markets. Even though, the company that has enough cash and capacity, it became very hard to keep competitive advantages in every market they launched into. In the worst case, the company could front the fact that they don’t have any competitive power in any market in which our team is. In other words,

Therefore, many times, it could be more efficient to target specific demographics and heavily focus specialized competitive advantages and resources on the target group. Once the company positioned in specific target group in the market through this strategy, the satisfied consumers who were targeted by the company can create new customers in the other market through the oral marketing.

The market that the company concentrates on could be the specific area or particular age group. The important thing is to arrange the very narrow target group and massively focus on.
When Starbuck launched into Korea for the time, they did strategic positioning. They decided highly targeted places, City hall, Jong-ro, Gangnam where most people who have purchase power walk around and Starbucks opened the shop almost every corner of this districts. As a result of this strategy, Starbucks could successfully appeal the luxurious image and high quality and then it was kind of easy to open the business in other district because Starbucks already got a reputation among people.

Of course, this strategic positioning isn’t always successful and it is quite risky to put all the resources into target group. Therefore, the company should have enough time to consider about what their competitive advantages are and how to implement.

20600331 - Entry # 5 A Drought in Australia, a Global Shortage of Rice

2008-04-24T23:00:00.000-07:00

Artle Title - A Drought in Australia, a Global Shortage of Rice
Writer - Keith Bradsher

Resource = NY Times
Site=
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/17/business/worldbusiness/17warm.html?ref=todayspaper

--------------------------------------

My Summary/ Opinion:

Rice is very important part of life, especially in many parts of South East Asia. Here rice is what bread is to the west. It is a “life food.” For the past six years, the severe drought in Australia has affected many people. The Deniliquin mill, which used to process enough grain to meet the needs of 20 million people around the world, dropped all production by 98 percent. It is a significant drop that has left the whole world in utter chaos. Violent protests are occurring here and there in countries such as Cameroon, Egypt, Ethiopia, Haiti, Indonesia, Italy, Ivory Coast, Mauritania, the Philippines, Thailand, Uzbekistan and Yemen.

Many specialists blame this climate change to global warming. Perhaps it is nature’s warning to take care of her better. Whatever it may be, rice production is very low. Also a plant disease in Vietnam is also affecting how much rice is being shared. More than 90 percent of rice produced is consumed by the country that has it. So this would mean that countries that don’t produce it are in trouble.

People have to do something about it. We should put more limitations on greenhouse gas emissions, or else this is going to make things worse. Climate changes will also produce more intense bad weather, more pest and weed outbreaks, and changes in sea level as polar ice melts. Rivers like the Mekong in Vietnam, Chao Phraya in Thailand and Ganges-Brahmaputra in Bangladesh have changed sea level in the past few years and influenced on the countries’ rice production.

I’m sure that people would develop or find something to replace rice somehow; however, I doubt that it is going to be any time soon. We have to learn to use our resources carefully, or it will have tremendous consequences on our country, economy, and future children.

7. What Makes Ford Different

2008-04-24T22:39:00.000-07:00

Original Articles

What makes Ford Different?

Foreign Market opportunity

Good Risk Taker

It capability

Foreign Market Opportunity

Ford most achievement is now going on in South America and Europe. That means customer from South Americans and European that they have good tastes on Ford Cars. One of Ford’s good strategies was that they are trying to know what customers think about Ford Car. They prepare for the international market like Europe and South America that Ford company made overall profit than estimate one. It totally surprised Wall Street’s Stock Market. Ford Company helps American economic system. This result change peoples’ perception about the Ford Car in United States as a patriot car brand. It might have great effect on forecast.

Good Risk Taker

Ford CEO is a good risk taker and stragier to know the threat, opportunity, weakness, and strength. To export their car, there might have some great barrier which is taxation in South America and Europe. They know about their strength that if they use in good opportunity of price competition. They guess the hitting profit. They invest in foreign market to sell their car. As a result, It was totally boomed

IT Capability

In Car business, their car IT capability is so important that most customers check capability of cars when they buy a car. “Mark Bunger, an analyst with Forrester Research who covers the automotive industry, says Ford’s choice of Adams as its top strategist reflects IT’s importance to the company." Every core function at an automaker today is strongly affected by its IT capabilities.” To see the main point in car business, it’s not just car business competition but IT competition.

Reference

http://money.cnn.com/2008/04/24/news/companies/earns_ford.ap/index.htm?postversion=2008042407

http://www.cio.com/article/10501/ON_THE_MOVE_IT_Drives_Corporate_Strategy_at_Ford

St #: 20601011

20600331 - Entry #4 Behind China's Anti-Foreigner Fever

2008-04-24T22:29:00.000-07:00

Article Title - Behind China's Anti-Foreigner Fever
Writer - Dexter Roberts

Resource - Business Week
Site -http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/apr2008/gb20080424_222320.htm?chan=globalbiz_asia+index+page_top+stories

-------------------------------------------

My summary/opinion:

Many Chinese people were angered when they heard that Carefour supported Tibet. They started boycotting the French supermarket chain. Now the winds are blowing towards America as well. At first it began when CNN supposedly made biased reports on the recent protests in Tibet as well as those surrounding the Olympic torch relay. This added pain to injury when CNN commentator Jack Cafferty referred to the Chinese government as "basically the same bunch of goons and thugs they've been in the past 50 years." Although later on he did say that he meant the government, not the people, it did not help lesson the situation.

It is quite fortunate that this has not influenced how American companies perform in the Chinese market; however, many French companies are not doing so well due to the French President Nicolas Sarkozy boycotting the opening ceremony of the Olympics. The Chinese government views foreigners as a threat. They are trying to convince people that foreigners are attempting to ruin the plans of a successful Olympics in China. Thanks to the government, many Chinese people view the Olympics as a “coming-out” party.

China is trying so hard to prove that it deserves to be part of the center-stage that it forgot some common sense. China has put patriotism on the forefront and forgot how to accept criticism. Instead of listening to what foreigners have to say, China has decided to lash out on foreign corporations and put a limitation to what Chinese people can know because it's criticizing the government.

If they keep continue on to do this, it is going to influence how they do business with other major corporations whose culture and opinions will be very different from their own. People, no matter where they are from, should learn to work together despite their many differences.

20601016 Entry # 7 - Here comes another hit: LG’s competitive new phone

2008-04-22T05:59:00.000-07:00

World’s thinnest phone

original article:

- LG Electronics Inc. released new black label phone. Many customers are really looking forward to seeing new LG’s new model and expecting its good performances and conveniences.

*Differentiation(Competitiveness) of LG’s New phone
: To win among many industry markets competition, differentiation is one of the best strategies. To get customers attention and make them to buy our company’s product, it is necessarily to have strengths that are remarkably outstanding compare to any other company. That way we can produce lots of profit by appealing at least to certain customers who considers good quality and performance most. In this point LG’s unique ‘handset design’ is good enough to generate a lot of profit in the future.

* Research & Development
: This awesome product “LG’s new black label phone” is outcome of well-done research and development. To make preexistent product better, we should research markets, sales-forces, customer-segmentation, economic trend and so forth. Through these procedures we can upgrade or innovate a product.

* Modification
: LG’s new cell-phone, black label phone is third series after Chocolate, Shine phone which generated lots of profits before. Main concept and components of this new phone are almost same with pre-model; Chocolate, Shine phone. However, LG Electronics Inc. made a little change to it and released it as a new model; it added more high quality and slimmest 5 mega-pixel camera. Most of customers might not recognize it clearly and 100% trust on the new product thinking this is better one since new. This is showing how powerful and important to modify preexistent product and actually release it. Though this, we can save money and needless to say, and generate lots of profit.

* LG’s targeting overseas markets
: LG Electronics Inc. has targeted Europe market first(it will be launched in Europe on April 24) and later is will go around to the rest of the world. Targeting overseas markets will bring lots of profits especially in case of cell-phone product. Because foreign cell-phone markets is not developed yet like Korean markets. Therefore our product might be so competitive. In addition, it is also price-competitive. Moreover, if this product is so successful in overseas markets, it will get lots of good reputation to Koreans and it will naturally be sold a lot when the product comes in Korea. This is another good benefit. In these reasons, LG’s ‘first targeting overseas’ choice is good strategy.

Reference:
http://nexus404.com/Blog/2008/04/06/new-lg-black-label-cell-phone-lg-promises-the-worlds-thinnest-5mp-camera-phone/
http://mobile.dpszone.com/the-third-lg-black-label-phone/
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/

Student NO.: 20601016

20501034 Entry-6

2008-04-18T08:02:00.001-07:00

Toyota Lexus Market Penetration Strategy

In 1989, Japanese automobile brand Toyota launched high ended luxurious car, Lexus in American market. Lexus was the new brand and Toyota didn’t mention their Toyota intentionally in the Lexus commercial. As a matter of fact, Toyota’s cash cow was Corolla and Camry and both of them was regard as very reliable and price worthy car. However, in American thought that Toyota didn’t match with the luxurious automobile brand.

The LS 400 that was the first model of Lexus was $ 35,000 and 16,000 cars were sold. Experts estimated that Toyota barely made a profit with $ 35,000 retail price. However, with this penetration strategy, Toyota sold 63,000 cars and the people who were riding the LS 400 became the valuable oral marketer for Toyota. For the first 2 years, Toyota secured the American luxurious automobile market.

LS400 became kind of symbol in high ended car market and always the top of the consumer satisfaction survey. The doubt American might have about the capability of Toyota suddenly disappeared. And then Toyota increased the price of Lexus.

The history of LS 400 retail price

1989 $35,000
1990 $35,380
1991 $39,000
1992 $42,600
1993 $47,030
1994 $50,370
1995 $51,680

In this way, Lexus successfully positioned itself as a luxurious brand. For the first year, Lexus barely made a profit but in the long term perspective Toyota developed the Lexus brand as the strongest brand in the American high ended car market and now Lexus became star item concering BCG matrix.

ORDEM E PROGRESSO

2008-04-18T07:37:00.000-07:00

Pele’s legendary dribbling skills and legendary goals, Ronaldo’s wide open front teeth, Roberto Carlos’ powerful UFO kicks, the samba, the carnaval, the statue of Jesus Christ and the great Amazon river all represent the biggest country on the continent of South America; BRAZIL. One more asset is about to be added on to the long list of “Brazilian goods”. This is energy. As a result of petroleum power, Brazil is being predicted as one the biggest to-be energy suppliers of the world. Ranking their recently discovered oil deposit third biggest in the world, Brazil is expecting to have massive amounts of resources for an energy-hungry world.
Up until now Brazil has been mainly famous for its excellent soccer skills. An endless count of soccer talents have been produced from Brazil and seems like every four years, the World Cup is filled with new Brazilian soccer genius who will show that lively, Brazilian soccer spirit over and over again. Just when we thought it was over after Ronaldo lost his moment in the World Cup, Brazil, amazingly enough produced two of the most genius players on the soccer fields presently; Roberto Carlos and Ronaldinho.
Just like Brazil’s soccer game, it seems like Brazil’s economy is not going to give in when it is being challenged by the environment of a torn continent where socialism is slowly creeping its way into the minds of many South Americans.
Energy is the most precious thing that our present world I quickly running out of. Energy gives this industrialized and computerized world its air to breathe. It keeps it alive. Because of this crucial responsibility that has been now bestowed unto Brazil, it should be capable of and start managing these resources, not only for the good its own country but for the good of the whole world. Brazil must make plans in advance as to what steps it will take to use this resource in the most efficient way possible and also it must create a safe environment for the investment and value of this resource.
Like all natural resources, the one in Brazil will also dry up. What Brazilians should focus on right now, is the conservation and efficient use of this product so that it would benefit everyone and lead to a more stable world. Just like the words on its national flag, Brazilians should strive for "order and progress".

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24185233/

Entry #6 (20100656)

What Has to Be Considered in Car Business?

2008-04-17T20:41:00.000-07:00

What Part of Car Most People Care When People buy Car

Original Article

It is so important in car business to know what people want. In business strategy, it is called as tarketing. Now a day, most people prefer to pay more if car has safety detector which is warning for the blind spot. Many of luxury car brands attached safety detector to their selling cars. That is the most reason that people buy luxury cars.
Differenciate in Car Business
Most car businesses competite with their differenciation, such as pedestrian-sensing detector, panoramic sunroofs, rear-seat entertainment, and satellite video. They most consider about the safety. Most People care about their gas tank size for fee. In car business, it is important to check how much gas has to be spend to drive 100 miles. As people know, gas fee will cost higher than car price after several years. Good car needs to have good quality of gas to drive. It is good way to differenciate not just facility and safety but also gas tank.
Technology and Design
Car business consider most part of techonology what they have. Most part is the engine. They also consider car design. Now a day, car design also choose price of car. For example, Hyun-Dai company product many cars which has same engine with different design. They just put different name on car by design of car.
My Opinion in Car business
My opinion in car business is that most people buy their car in the off-line because they want to check car which is check for the damage of car. However, if car company give customer insurance to sell the cars. Even, on-line car business could work much better. For now, most used cars are selling on the internet. For latest cars, people usually buy them by off-line. Car business should differenciate their service of car after service not just ability and design to compete with other car companies.
Reference
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24159301/
ST #: 20601011

20601016 Entry-6

2008-04-17T09:21:00.000-07:00

Which one will be better: Casual or hardcore?

original article

+ Research on the market.
- In doing research for generating maximum profit, knowing main customers is very important. We should find out which customer is majority of all or which customers are willing to buy at high cost. Also, we need to know what the customers are considering most for example, higher, quality, lower price. As there is saying “The beginning is the half of the whole.” A market planning by customers needs is the most essential thing. That way in the long run your company will be more successful and improved.

+ Analysis on game industry
- There are three main game players which are Nintendo’s wii, Microsoft’s xbox360, or playstation3. As we can assume, a target that we should aim for the game industry is teenagers. Who are they? Most of them don’t want to think seriously or study hard on anything, so usually they pursue games that really simple. In this point, to get teenagers attention, making games simple is most important.(simplicity) In the article, the reason of wii’s dominant selling in the market is; Nintendo’s wii was focused on casualty whereas the others were focused on hardcore. In this point before you start a business you should find out who your customers are and what they might needs.

+ A tendency of characteristics of game
- As we get something more, we want more and more of it. As same with this in terms of game industry, we want more virtual, exciting, stimulus visuals as it fills up our desires little by little. Therefore, in the future, games will be turned more stimulus, violent, and virtual. While teenagers(main users) playing games, they might be influenced by these tendencies of games. Therefore, there is chance that it will bring about some social or ethical problems.

+Future game industry
- As technology has been developed so much, we could enjoy our leisure. Therefore, game industry is also will grow in the future. These days, people do so much care about health(so as to be called)”well-being”. I think a game which we can enjoy by actually using our body would be popular in the future. How interesting a connection between game and sports!

reference:

http://us.wii.com/

http://www.nintendo.com/wii

student NO. 20601016

Professor Google

2008-04-11T07:12:00.000-07:00

Prof. Google. Our economics professor refers to the mega search engine www.google.com as “Prof. Google”. If you quite don’t understand opportunity cost, go to google. If you are finding it hard to comprehend all those graphs, go to google. This is how much the average person depends on this search engine to solve their problems. Because even professors are suggesting them to. Google is one of the most biggest serach engines presently existing giving access to millions of people all around the world to valuable online information. It requires a few steps to effectively use this tool to acquire all different types of knowledge. Its casual design and free ambient makes it friendly to many people who would rather a more relaxed view. It is unlike the design of yahoo which portrays a formal, systematic look and other korean sites which are too clogged with all sorts of information and links to different places. Opposed to that, google has a more spacey juvenile design. This also might be another reason for its popularity. Giving it a young appeal.
Google is not only a perfect site for valuable information, but it is also a perfect site for the thousands of people who are tired of all those clogged, uptight sites that just make one dizzy at the site of it.

20100656 Entry#5

20501034 - Entry 5

2008-04-11T06:18:00.000-07:00

Original Article

Glaxo's Price Strategy

Based on Value

Zantac is the most famous product of Glaxo. Before Zantac came, the market was dominated by SmithKline's Tagamet. As Glaxo launched the market, SmithKline lower the price as much as 20%. However, Paul Girolami, the president of Glaxo decided to put Zantac in high price point because it is much better than Tagamet in many ways. When Zantac came to the market, the price of Zantac was 56% more expensive than Tagamet.

In addition to this, they set the marketing strategy with Roche, marketing partner firm in USA, to notify its excellence. As a result of these effort, the benefit of Zantac was broadly notified. Especially the doctor who prescribed the Zantac had seen that the patients who take the Zantac didn't feel pain anymore. Moreover, the patients doesn't need to take any more stomach operation. Therefore, doctors could recommend the Zantac with confidence.
This strategy was not the option unless they have strong confidence about their product's excellence and marketing capability. However, Glaxo proceeded what they believed and the consequences was proved as a great success.

Zantac's case could be the wonderful model of value based price strategy.

5. Warning to the U.S economy

2008-04-10T22:19:00.000-07:00

Original Articles

Warning to The World Economy

As people know the truth about American economy related to many other countries. If U.S economy going down, it could cause inflation and economic chaos. Many countries depend on dollar cost. Most of U.S. economy problem caused by amid housing. People lent money from the bank to buy a house. However, they do not have ability to pay back. Federal Reserve Bank takes their house instead of money. It affects U.S. dollar value. As U.S. economy going down, dollar is cheaper and cheaper. It is going to cause inflation. Federal Reserve Bank should have strategy to defense U.S. dollar value.

Economic Growth

U.S. 0.5% growth
China 11.4% growth
Japan 1.4% growth
Canada 1.3% growth
India 7.9% growth
Russia 8.1% growth
As people can see the result. U.S. economic growth is too slow. "Many private economists and members of the U.S. public believe the country has already fallen into its first recession since 2001. For the first time, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke acknowledged last week that a recession was possible." When FRD trying to limit the damage, they lower the interest rate to find their money. Their most problem started at subprime mortgage. They now have to consider their economy to rise up. U.S. economy already experience Great Depression. U.S. economy affects most of countries economy. It is now not just U.S. economy but all around the world economic problems to limit the inflation.
ST #: 20601011
Referencese
http://money.cnn.com/2008/04/09/news/international/world_economy.ap/index.htm?postversion=2008040910

5. Threat to Netflix&Blockbuster(Series2)

2008-04-09T15:05:00.000-07:00

original article

1) Strength and weakness of VOD, Movielink & iTune

- There has emerged VOD(Video-on-demand) after Blocbuster&Netflix video-rental business industry. VOD is kind of mixture of video-rental service and telephone service. Through this system customers don’t need to move to a video-rental shop anymore. Only thing customers need to do is click a button and choose the movie that they want to see from the list.

Secondly, Web site Movielink is another factor which is intimidating preexistent market. So far, Movielink had offered movie-downloads as rentals, which, like the VOD model, the customer could watch for only 24hours. However, they improved this problem by offering download service. Therefore, customers can have movies exactly same as they buy them in the DVD store. But they have some problems like piracy issues, uncertainty of success(risk taking), technologic problems(hard to transport the download movies from computer to the TV screen). The more people download movies from Movielink the more the piracy will be prevalent. It will bring about patent problems. Since this is new trial of the business industry, there are lots of uncertainties to success. Movielink’s higher download fee than iTunes is another weekness and things to overcome to grow larger.

Lastly, it is not yet free from technologic aspect. To watch movies on a television screen, users would need to have Windows Media Center, which is designed to connect to a TV, or special jacks and cables. This technology has not come into wide use yet. Also, it requires customers to study and think to get used to it.

Another force that Blockbuster and Netflix have faced is the entrance of Apple into the movie download market. As we know, Apple’s iTunes is already a huge unchallenged company, so just its coming to the business could be a heavy burden to them. On the other hand, there are some problems they are having. First, it’s time consuming to download movies via that service. Because, even using a broadband Internet connection, high-quality movie files, which generally surpassed 1 gigabyte in file size, required in the neighborhood of 90minutes to download completely.

Moreover, it takes certain time to make customers to adapt to the new technology. Also, they should spend some time to learn how to use the system. In brief, it’s more complicated than just buy DVDs and watch it. Lastly, many piracies will be prevalent. Then, naturally it will cause downwardness of Movie industry.

2) Its effect in the future to Blockbuster&Netflix Market

- I don’t think nor Blockbuster and Netflix will keep there market share in the future unless they innovate present system and organization. Because, as time flows lots of new entrants will be coming into this industry with better contents. Since science and technology are developing fast these days, position of the bricks and mortal industry like Blockbuster is getting smaller and they are now facing crisis. To survive in this tough, competitive environment, Blockbuster and Netflix should innovate on their present structures and ideas to catch up changing trends.

3) Different point of view: Would the Netflix model work in Korea? Why or why not?

- It will be little bit tough for Netflix to succeed in Korea. Because, most of environments and circumstances are different between US and Korea.

Firstly, Korean technology has developed so well, so there are many ways to download movies and even dramas at low cost. For example, Korean internet site ‘we-disk’ offers 10MB/1Won download service. Also it helps us to download a movie within 5minutes. It’s really convenient and time-saving. Therefore there is no room for Netflix to come into Korea market.

Secondly, Korea online DVD&Video rental industry is already fixed firmly. It’s already full like Cashcow of BCG Matrix. Therefore we don’t need to use foreign company.

Thirdly, it’s really easy to access offline store. If we leave home, we can reach DVD&Vedio rental store just by few steps. We don’t want to spend our time and labor searching on the internet to rent DVDs via online.

Reference:

Management Information System -Pearson Education- P121-123

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_on_demand

http://industry.tekrati.com/research/news.asp?id=7746

student NO. 20601016 entry-5

cool shoes?

2008-04-04T01:55:00.000-07:00

GEOX respira. Means “GEOX breathe” in spanish. These are the first words you see when you go into www.geox.com. Geox is a shoes and clothing manufacturing company that manufactures shoes that actually “breathe”. With the original idea developing from an arduous hike and a visionary who believed in his creation, Polegato (founder and president of GEOX) came up with an innovative product in an industry that was slowly starting to depend on bizarre models and name brand to survive. As GEOX, which was previously only a shoes company, expands it is now trying to grab a piece of the athletic shoes market pie.
GEOX shoes are normal shoes but with a touch of comfort in them. These shoes actually let your feet breath and cool down. GEOX shoes are made similarly to any normal type of shoe except the sole. The sole is a perforated one that allows air to ventilate through its holes but at the same time leaving all the water and liquid substances out of the shoe. Making it a cooler shoe. (As in decreasing the temperature and stuffiness inside the shoe).
But making a cooler shoe is quite hard these days as shoes, not only dress shoes but even athletic shoes are all becoming “apparel”. Nike’s Air Jordans, which were specifically designed for maximum comfort and efficiency on the basketball courts, are now being worn by consumers with no experience or interest in basketball. The Adidas “Samba” were also designed and manufactured for soccer players and people who play the game of soccer. However this shoe has become more of a casual wear to match with a pair of pants and a casual shirt. My point is that many of the athletic footwear that were once designed for athletic purposes are being used for a different purpose. And these companies are making profits because of their “looks”, not because of their comfort and strength on the soccer field.
As GEOX tries to jump into the athletic footwear market, GEOX should consider its apparel more than it is doing right now. From what it looks like, GEOX is investing zero research on fashion and the way the athletic shoe looks. My first impression when I saw the GEOX atheltic shoes reminded me of a “Nice” instead of a Nike, an “Adidos” instead of an “Adidas” and a “Fuma” instead of a “Puma”. In other words cheap and not cool.
In Geox’s attempt in marketing its “cool” shoes, GEOX should probably focus more on the “coooool” that would come from the consumer’s peers mouth rather than the “cool” that the wind would bring.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_15/b4079058287126.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index_global+business

Entry #4 (20100656)

4. Nolbu's business

2008-04-03T19:47:00.000-07:00

Original Articles

NolBu's Business Strategy

1. Tarketing

2. R&D

3. Franchise

One of the famous restaurant in Korea is Nolbu Bossam. They started their business at 1987 with only 15 ft size of restaurant. However, they are now big restaurant company in korea which has many franchise all around in S.Korea.
Tarketing
When Nolbu CEO started their business, their customer tarket was worker who go to big company. They also consider the customer age about 30~50 who usually has money in their poket. They also tarket the korean foods for customer. Nolbu CEO knew that most Korean workers like bean soup, Kimchi, and meat. They started as sole proprietorship which is entrepreneur.
R&D

When Nolbu company grow bigger and bigger. They invest their money for new product to be competitive and Interior design for the luxury atmosphere. As people know, when people go to Nolbu restaurant, they told that Nolbu's facilities are clean and shiny which has good looking. They made good first impression to the customer, and it affected as strength of their company. They also invest to the new product. When Nolbu started their business, they only has menu for the Bossam which is their star product. Now, Nolbu menu has more developed and products. Nolbu invest R&D for only korean tradition food. They now have Bossam, Dolsot bab, and Budae JJigae. All of this product made big hit in restaurant business. They also invest to get people's opinion by event.
New Products
Interior Design
Internet Business
Franchise
One of the reasons to be growing big company that is franchising. Especially, Nolbu CEO earns their most profit from their franchise. Because of brand name, people recognize their foods and eat their food. Their brand name is so strong. It became one of the famous restrauant in korea. Even, many korean, who lived in outside of Korea, also know the Nolbu brand. They now tried to open their market outside of Korea.
Reference
http://month.foodbank.co.kr/etc/search_view.php?secIndex=1036&page=4&section=&serial=&keyfield=all&key=
St #: 20601011

20501034 - Entry 4

2008-04-02T08:55:00.000-07:00

TGIF

Original Article

Just 10 years ago, having a meal in family restaurant like TGIF, Outback, Marche is regarded as one of snobby life style. Once, some woman who loved to go to family restaurant enjoying fancy life style was very much criticized and named “된장녀”. However, we don’t criticize anybody who has a meal in family restaurant since more and more people are experiencing and getting used to these kinds of life style. As the pie is getting bigger and bigger, family restaurants are competing each other to have more market share. In this situation, TGIF has been shown as leading company. Let’s see how they did.

External environment

Social factor
Increasing the number of career women
Two career couple
Showing more interest in recreation
Anti-America emotion

Cultural factor
Improvement of cultural sense
Westernized eating habit
Introduction of western food culture

Economic factor
Economic growth
Globalization
Progress in FTA

Technical factor
Improvement of packaging technique
Technical cooperation with famous brand

Competitors analysis

Bennigans
Bennigans has the second largest market share after TGIF and has as many menus as TGIF does. In comparison with TGIF, it is evaluated as more sweet and spicy. Overall theme color is green and atmosphere is like middle part of America.

Tony Romas
Tony Romas is specialized in rib.

Marche
The concept that Marche is promoting is “World Tour Pursuing the Taste.” People can feel that they are shopping all different kinds of food in outdoor market.

Jungle Jim
Korean company developed the brand by themselves without any technological cooperation. It locates mainly in theater, institution, etc and attract a number of people. However, it doesn’t have crowded impression.

Chillis
Chillis is specialized in American style Mexican food. They consider foreign customers posting certain percentage of foreign staffs. They offer child meny.

Internal anlaysis

Taste and atmosphere
TGIF has extraordinary “Cajun” source, and “Pizzadilla” menu which is popular among customers. The number of menu is also very diverse, so customer can pick some of the menus they would love to have. TGIF is also putting great effort on its bar and have various cocktail menus. Stripe that is made of red and white and American curio makes TGIF’s unique atmosphere.

Differentiated service
Since they opened the first shop in early 90’s, TGIF has been promoted by customers who experienced TGIF’s service. TGIF induces customers to visit again by service and good food that worth more than their high price. For example, TGIF executed “Puppy dog service” that server kneel down to have proper eye contact. TGIF has not only “Puppy dog service” but also physically challenged people policy, service guarantee and clean toilet.

No.1 market share
TGIF has been seen the best family restaurant in popularity and market share. TGIF has been attracting consumers offering coupon, 25% discounts for SK telecom customers.

SWOT Analysis

Strength
Various menus, differentiated service
No.1 market share

Weakness
High price point
Limitation of responsiveness due to increasing consumers

Opportunity
Increase of people who eat out
Possibility of expanding shop

Threat
Aggressive promotion among the competitors
Consumer's diminished purchasing power

4. Who will be the final winner?

2008-04-01T08:27:00.000-07:00

original article

DVD-rental business competition:
Blockbuster VS Netflix

1. How successful Blockbuster & its business model
- Blockbuster entered the video rental business in 1985, at that time, only certain customers were using it, but after 20years, it rapidly has been prospered. John Antico is CEO of this company. The rental giant opened 9,100 stores in 25 countries, gaining a market share that has been enjoyed by few companies in any industry.

1) Blockbuster simplified the procedure - using bar code scanner system
Blockbuster equipped each of its video rental stores with custom software it had designed to simplify rental and sale transactions. An automated point-of-sale system uses a laser bar code scanner to read data from items being rented or sold and from a Blockbuster customer’s identification card.

2) Blockbuster’s CRM(Customer Relationship Management) – Knowing customer’s needs on the basis of the record
These data are transmitted to Blockbuster’s corporate computer center. Management uses these data to monitor sales and to analyze the demographics, and rental and sales patterns for each store to improve its marketing decisions. Blockbuster’s success was based on video tape rentals and sales and rentals of DVDs. By 2004, Block buster possessed a 40-percent share of the U.S. video rental market, estimated to range from $7billion of business per year to $9billion; Blockbuster also had video sales of around $16billion.

3) Benchmarking – Analyze competitor and apply their strength to ours
Blockbuster faced a crisis as a new business model emerges to the industry. Unlike Blockbuster Nflix sells products via online. It was sensational and competitive at that time. So, it generates lots of profit. Seeing and analyzing this business model, Blockbuster decided to adopt it to survive in the industry. More commendable thing is Blockbuster doesn’t only adopt other’s model but also restructure their old system by offering “a monthly subscription service for in-store customers”, “a subscription service for video games”, “a trading service for movies and games” , etc. to the customers.
Finally, Blockbuster yielded 100$ million increase in capital expenditures from 2003 to 2004.

2. How successful Netflix & its business model?
- Netflix is one of video rental industry like Blockbuster. Reed Hastings is a CEO of this company. When it first emerged into online DVD rental industry, it was focused on customer’s convenience by giving new way to rent&buy DVDs; via internet. All interactions between Netflix and its customers took place on the Internet and through the postal service. Only thing that customers need to do is make a wish list and click some buttons to order it. Another good thing is that customer could keep for DVDs as long as he or she wanted without incurring late charges. That way, customers feel more secure and comfortable when they use Netflix. It was truly successful. According to Kagan Research LLC, revenues from online movie rentals, which were nonexistent in 1998, rose to %522 million in 2004. Also, total revenue would approach $1billion in 2005 and $3 billion by 2009. As Netflix caught on and its subscription model became popular, Netflix’s gains in market share, from 2 to 7percent between 2003 and 2004, gave Blockbuster true cause for concern.

3. Future of Blockbuster&Netflix
- I don’t think nor Blockbuster and Netflix will succeed in the future unless they innovate present system and organization. Because, as time flows lots of new entrants will be coming into this industry with better contents. Since science and technology are developing fast these days, position of the bricks and mortal industry like Blockbuster is getting smaller and they are now facing crisis. To survive in this tough, competitive environment, Blockbuster and Netflix should innovate on their present structures and ideas to catch up changing trends.

Reference:
http://writer111.blogspot.com/2006/02/blockbuster-beats-netflix-in-service.html
http://www.thelogicofsuccess.com/blockbuster-netflix-innovation-competition.htm
Management Information System -Pearson Education- P121-123

Student# 20601016 entry:4

20501034 - Entry 3

2008-03-28T06:59:00.000-07:00

Nikon
During Korean war, the pictures of the most extremely severe battle like Aprokgang(압록강) combat were only taken and reported by Life magazine that was using Nikon camera and lens. When it comes to camera’s and lens’ function, until now Nikon is regarded as the most reliable company. How they develop their company as a world renowned camera company?

History of Nikon
The moment Nikon launch into camera industry was just after World War 2, November 1945. Japanese Optical Engineering that had grown as a military enterprise was trying to find a new market that they could apply their optical technology. Soon they found camera industry which is perfectly fit for their company. The first compact camera’s brand name was Nikon.

Nikon’s Strategy

Organizing Nikon Club
Nikon organizes community that is made of professional photographer and it has been running more than 40 years. The number of community member is around 180,000 and they passionately support Nikon as Apple users do.

Running Nikon Salon
Nikon Salon is photo exhibition that is located in the most crowded commercial area, Tokyo, Ginja. The pictures being hung on in Nikon Salon are all excellent work and they were taken by using Nikon camera and lens. This is not only social place for Nikon users but the place where whole Japanese professional or amateur photographers debut. Nikon also promotes their new camera and lens. This is strategically very significant place of Nikon’s brand promotion.

Recommending World renowned Photographer Nikon
Nikon recommends world renowned photographers who work for newspaper, magazine to use Nikon’s camera and lens. This promotion forms some kind of impression that people who use Nikon are likely to be professional and look cool.

Pursuing high quality
To have better quality, Nikon has been operating 2 or 3 more quality control steps than market competitors. In fact, Nikon camera and lens are being estimated durable and uniformed functional. However, the shape of camera isn’t look good and seems to be all same, but they emphasize on their function and quality not design. This consistent strategy formed mutual trust with their customers.

Focusing on R&D
The center of Nikon organization is Engineer group. Engineer always come up with new idea and lead development of new product. They are also fully supported by management. Many times, Nikon sell asset like land or building to invest R&D. This R&D oriented mind can be seen in promotion. 7 out of 9 president are started their career in Nikon as an Engineer.

3. The Seoul of World Design

2008-03-27T23:50:00.000-07:00

The Seoul of World Design
The Korean capital, soon to host the Design Olympiad, is funding projects to promote style in Korean brands—and help keep growth on track
by Moon Ihlwan

Korea's economy has long been one of Asia's success stories, but pessimists fret for the future as Korea is sandwiched between fast-growing China and longtime rival Japan. Could a government-backed plan to raise Seoul's standing as a city focused on design help keep its growth on track?
Seoul Mayor Oh Se Hoon certainly thinks so. Oh, leader of a city home to nearly a quarter of the country's population of 48 million, is convinced Korea can stand out from its larger neighbors by establishing the capital as a international design center.

The 47-year-old mayor says thinking about design will have numerous benefits. At an individual level he believes cultural benefits can enrich the daily lives of work-obsessed Koreans. Just as important, a renewed creativity can help the economy. "Design is everything," declares Oh.

The hyperbole isn't pure talk. Since taking office in July, 2006, Oh has set about turning Seoul into a global design hub with a slew of initiatives. He quickly established a new design division headed by a vice-mayor and initiated design competitions aimed at improving the city's looks. He has also begun offering training and seminar courses for young designers. The effort will kick into high gear in October when the city hosts the first Seoul Design Olympiad. It has also commissioned international "starchitect" Zaha Hadid to design the $98 million Dongdaemun Design Park.

Seoul Named 2010 World Design Capital

Oh's ambition got a huge boost last October when the city was designated as the World Design Capital in 2010. The title is bestowed biennially by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID), which represents some 150,000 designers from scores of countries.

These combined efforts, Oh reckons, will help increase the size of Korea's design market—measured by the total of revenues by design houses and investments in design by ordinary companies—to $15 billion in less than 10 years, from $7.4 billion last year. "In coming years we'll see aspects of design in our everyday life," predicts Lee Kun Pyo, president of Korea Society of Design Science and an acolyte of Oh.

Understandably, some find the challenge daunting. After all, Seoul isn't alone in seeking to boost its global standing through design. Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo, and Yokohama all hold ambitions to be design centers. Then there's global competition from cities like London, Paris, Milan and New York, with many decades as leading arbiters of design. Yet Oh and design industry leaders insist there's big potential in Korea. For one, Seoul beat some 20 rivals, including Singapore and Dubai, to be named ICSID's first World Design Capital to be chosen through competition. (Torino, the first city to win the award, was named as pilot.)

Better Design Boosting Korean Blue Chips
Perhaps more important, Korean companies have also made great strides in recent years in improving brands through design. Companies like Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, and SK Telecom (SKM) boast leading designers in the fields of digital displays, handsets, and mobile products and services, garnering international design awards along the way.
The fruits of their efforts are reflected in the improved global standing of Korea's blue chips. Last year Samsung overtook Motorola (MOT) to become the world's second-largest cell-phone maker (BusinessWeek.com, 12/16/07) after Nokia (NOK).

Samsung also beat all Japanese rivals to become the No. 1 flat-TV brand, and LG consolidated its position as No. 5 in handsets and No. 4 in flat TVs last year. "In the TV market, design will be a critical differentiator," Simon Kang, president in charge of LG's digital display unit told BusinessWeek earlier this year.

Promise from the Next Generation

The argument is straightforward: In a world awash with digital and high-definition TVs boasting super picture quality, it takes more than technological superiority to win business. Consumers may consider the purchase of a flat-screen TV as much for its look as a piece of furniture as for its technogical capabilities (BusinessWeek.com, 1/16/08).
Korea also has a remarkably large number of wannabe designers. In Seoul alone about 11,000 students are majoring in design at 18 universities, while another 2,600 students in 51 graduate schools attended design programs in 2007. Recognizing this potential talent, Japanese auto companies, including Nissan (NSANY), have begun hiring young Korean designers. "When I first saw the sketches that Korean students were drawing, I was utterly shocked. Their design is very emotional and powerful," Shiro Nakamura, Nissan's chief creative officer, said last year.
The city government has set aside $180 million to finance projects ahead of Seoul becoming the first World Design Capital, part of which will go to sprucing up Seoul's streets, buildings, parks, and the Han River running through the city. Big business, sensing an opportunity, will lend a helping hand by dispatching senior designers to help out on projects. Cha Kang Heui, chief designer at LG's handset division, reckons the overall effect could echo the impact of the Seoul Olympics in 1988. "Just as the Olympics often serve as a coming-of-age party for a developing country, design could provide momentum for Seoul," he says.

All Eyes on Seoul This October

For Seoul mayor Oh, though, the highlight of the design drive will be the Design Olympiad in October. Oh plans to invite top designers from fashion, graphics, and other different design fields. He's counting on attracting 2 million people to the 21-day event featuring competitions, exhibitions, live performances, and light shows. If that doesn't whet the world's appetite for Korean design, perhaps nothing will. "I want people around the globe to say, 'If you want to check out the latest in design trends, go to Seoul,'" says Oh.

Taken from http://www.businessweek.com

-----------------------------------------------------

My opinion/summary:

It was nice for me to have read this article. I wasn’t really expecting to read a whole article about the design industry in Korea. It was refreshing, like a breath of fresh air. Although I myself am a student of Design, in all honesty, I don’t really know much about the industry. This really helped me to realize different things about the design industry in Korea. I always knew that Korea belonged to the top when it came to output. When I mean “output,” I am talking about the visual expression or presentation of the design. We have many talented artists and designers that are parts of agencies and companies all over the world. One example is Cartoon Network. Many of the work are done by Korean designers. When it comes to animation, visual, and product design, Korean designers are slowly getting attention. Yet because of heavy competition with other countries, I’m not quite sure if Korea could really make top-notch names for themselves.

Regardless of whether or not this dream of Seoul Mayor Oh Se Hoon is possible to accomplish, knowing that the government is trying to help encourage the industry to grow was heartening information. There are thousands of designers in this country. Yearly more and more are joining the industry and trying harder and harder to make it here. Making a lot of competitions for these young designers is a good thing for the over-all economy of Korea as well. It will give numerous career opportunities.

I totally agree that the Korean people truly need to take a break from their busy lifestyle and learn to appreciate the different aspects and experiences that life can offer. I truly hope that Korea will take the opportunity that the Design Olympiad in October will give us and take this time to look back how we have spent time in our work place and home and also look to the future to see how we can change it and make this country a more culture-friendly nation.

20600331

2008-03-27T23:00:00.000-07:00

What does it take to make a great successful entrepreneur? An ability to accurately predict the future would be good. But we all know that that only happens in the movies. However a close approximation to predicting the future is possible. This is done by research, research, and more research. In other words, preparation. Researching to see past trends and getting to conclusions through those past trends could lead an entrepreneur to predicting the future.
The first character of this article tells about how he gathered information about the neighborhood and the direction it planned to go. This gave him an idea as to what the future of that neighborhood would be and what the needs of that specific area would be like. The information he gathered and the conclusion he ended up with drew him a picture of what he should invest in matching his business to the needs of this neighborhood.
As an entrepreneur, there is always a big risk to take when starting a new business in a new place. It is obvious that a business has a 50/50 chance of surviving. However this is not the case when there is plenty of research and preparation done. Researching and analyzing the pros and cons of the whole situation its durability and its potential.
However as unstable markets are, businesses are also unstable. In the face of these threats and hardships the only thing the entrepreneur can do is research hard and leave it up to God to do the rest. Not just stop with the research after the business opens, but continually making it a habit to research around and gaining knowledge about the external factors that may or may not affect the business. These types of preparations are essential for the development of a successful business. And a great business means a great entrepreneur.

20100656 - Entry #3

3. Delta melt~a

2008-03-27T19:28:00.000-07:00

Original Article

Delta's Cancelation

Delta made bad business strategy. They did not make worst decision, but they made bad decision.

Importance of Customer Service

They should considerate on customer service. In this news, people could see how bad delta’s service is. 10 percent of flight is canceled by safety problem that also indicating Delta did not prepare for service to customers. This customer service should be fixed as perfect as possible. As people can see, customer service is that Delta’s biggest weakness. Even they do not have good customer service that does not mean cheap flight fee. In this case, they should reconstruct their business plan. If they lose customers' satisfaction, customer might use other airline to flight. For example, if CEO of companies have a important conference in foreign country, they might use other airline to keep time.

Delta company also related with many companies. If Delta airlines are going down, the other company, which is related with Delta airlines, will also going down. This is the red light for Delta to reprocess their business strategy.

Experience of Mine

When I was child, I went several countries for tour with my family. During those time, I could compare the each airlines by their service. The best facilliy with faculty system airline that I can pick Singapole Airline. Their service were great still that I remember. When customer need something, flight attendents ready for service. I also had a funtime with their facility. However, When I was on the Delta airline, I could feel air sickness first time. Their slow service and sits were uncomfortable.

If I have a chance to go abroad, I would pick singapole airlines not Delta.

Advice for Delta Airline

If they want to fulfill their customer satisfaction, they might reconstruct their plane interior design. When I walk to toilet at the airplane, Delta airplane hall way was too narrow. Even, I could see uncomfortable face through stewardess when they move food and drink carts. If Delta do not provide good environment, it also cause the bad service by their workers.

Airlines are big service companies that customer service is promise with customer. Airlines should be ready to keep time. Usually, customer service is defend on worker's attitude. It also means that if you treated well to your workers, workers might treat well to the customers. It is usually basic sense in business world. If Delta provide good environment to their workers, service might be faster and better to the customer who use Delta airlines.

Reference

http://money.cnn.com/2008/03/27/news/companies/delta_airlines/index.htm?postversion=2008032707

ST #: 20601011