Nokia opened its first flagship megastore in Shanghai, its largest retail site worldwide to date. Nokia is the market leader, with nearly 30% share based on sales volume. Motorola and Samsung, meanwhile, have market shares of 18.5% and 10.8%, respectively, according to Analysys International. The new Shanghai outlet, located on Nanjing East Road in a prestigious fashion and business district, is the seventh of 18 planned flagship stores overall and is the second in Asia/Pacific, following Hong Kong.
By the first half of this year, the total number of mobile phones users in China exceeded 600 million. The number of subscribers has been increasing by an average of 6.76 million per month.
In an age of experience-driven consumption, retailers must do more than simple advertising and product placement, said Colin Giles, Nokia's China president in Beijing. Successful retail requires a personalized shopping experience for consumers to interact and become familiar with the products.
"A mobile phone is no longer a traditional communication device, as it has become part of our daily lives and represents a new lifestyle. The mobile device that you use is representative of your lifestyle, taste, and preferences--ultimately, who you are," said Mr. Giles at the opening ceremony last weekend in Shanghai.
Source: AdAgeChina
A college student recently asked Sumner Redstone, 84-year old entertainment mogul, what is uppermost in his mind these days. “The issue of whether I’m going to wake up tomorrow morning,” Redstone replied. But meanwhile, he has other things to worry about. Redstone’s daughter, Shari, is locked in a struggle with the ageing titan over the future of his fortune. Five years ago he saw her as his heir; now they barely speak. Quoth Redstone the Elder: “I’m in control now, and I’ll be in control after I die.” Read more about this family feud in the November 12 Forbes magazine or online. And as an added bonus, read this earlier letter from Mr Redstone to Forbes, part of the ongoing battle.
Chairman of the House Appropriations committee David Obey explains why he’s not going to approve the President's request for an additional $46 billion for the war in Iraq. Obey plans to slow down the supplemental funding until the country gets a better idea of what the future spending for the war is going to look like. Listen to this interview on NPR
An interesting article in the New York Times about the young multimillionaires appearing in Silicon Valley and elsewhere around the country. These young people in their mid to late 20s have made enough money to never have to work again but in the case of Max Levchin, one of the founders of PayPal, are working on the next new company to make it big. You've got to love the entrepreneurial spirit!
Want to catch up on your reading this weekend? Currently on the Popular Books rack in Jackson Library: The Only Three Questions That Count: Investing by Knowing What Other's Don't by Ken Fisher; New Ideas from Dead CEOs: Lasting Lessons from the Corner Office by Todd G. Bucholz; Milton Friedman: A Biography by Lanny Ebenstein; The Assault on Reason by Al Gore; and Way of the Turtle: The Secret Methods That Turned Ordinary People into Legendary Traders, by Curtis M. Faith. This is just a smattering -- there are many more, including bios on Andrew Carnegie, Andrew Mellon and Alan Greenspan, and words of wisdom from legendary coach John Wooden and Dwight D. Eisenhower. Come on in, grab a book, and spend some relaxing down-time over the weekend.
Just a reminder that the Stanford Social Innovation Review Fall 2007 issue is out on the shelves. It includes a study of twelve nonprofits ('Creating High-Impact Nonprofits'), as well as articles on the power of strategic mission investing, how investors are serving lower-income communities, a profile of the VP of corporate social responsibility at Nike, "worst practices" of the social entrepreneur, a discussion of how for-profit clinics are healing the rural poor in Kenya, and much more. Read the latest on the racks at Jackson Library -- or subscribe.
Has the U.S public recovered from the events of the late 70’s and 80’s -- Three Mile Island and Chernobyl -- and the release of The China Syndrome, so that we can now seriously reconsider nuclear power? Global warming is fueling the conversation. Will the benefits outweigh the risk? Even environmentalists are divided on the issue. Read the arguments,pro and con in Briefing: Rethinking Nuclear Power in the October 26th issue of The Week. In print in Jackson Library or online
A short time back we blogged here about a coming event at Stanford. This is just a tickler to remind everyone again that Steve LeVine, formerly of the Wall Street Journal, will be on deck November 6, sponsored by the Freeman Spogli Institute, talking about his book The Oil and The Glory: The Pursuit of Empire and Fortune on the Caspian Sea. If interested, you will want to RSVP by November 2. Learn more at the event website.
On September 19, I blogged EU vs. Microsoft = $688 Million Fine about the EU ruling which upheld a previous decision concerning Microsoft’s market dominance. At that point Microsoft could have filed another appeal. In the meantime fines for not complying with the first ruling have been accumulating. Today Microsoft agreed to share the code to some of it’s server with competitors thus allowing them to write programs compatible with certain Microsoft servers. In essence agreeing to abide by the original ruling put forth by the European Comission in 2004. Read more about it at the Financial Times, CNN and Bloomberg
A new branch of Tiffany & Company opened at 37 Wall Street in the financial district of Manhattan. Tiffany & Company was coming back to the old neighborhood. It was just around the corner, on Broadway, that the luxury jeweler was founded in 1837 by Charles Lewis Tiffany and a partner. If this branch does well, other luxury retailers could move into the neighborhood. It seems like a good idea to me as the people who could afford to buy the items work just up the block. Read about it in the New York Times.
Thomson, a media company, is the world's most transnational firm, according to the 2007 World Development Report from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The report's index of transnationality is calculated using the average of the shares of a firm's assets, sales and employment located abroad. Thomson has 97.8% of its assets, 96.6% of its sales and 97.3% of its jobs outside its Canadian homeland. Many of the top transnational firms are from small but rich countries, such as Switzerland, with limited domestic markets. Two notable exceptions are Liberty Global, an American telecoms company, ranked second in the study, and Honda, a Japanese carmaker.
Source: The Economist, 20 October 2007
For years one of the main problems with solar energy has been the cost of producing solar panels. John O’Donnell thinks he’s figured it out and has developed a system which uses a field of mirrors to produce more energy than photovoltaic cells and wind. The article entitled Solar’s Day in the Sun delves deep into the problem of solar energy production and delivery and what needs to happen to make solar energy as profitable as using fossil fuels.
At the same time National Geographic has focused its October issue on Biofuels: Green Dream. Exploring what stress alternative fuels have placed on the environment. Additional discussion about alternative fuels can be heard at npr.org in their program Fuels of the Future: How Far Down the Road?
BusinessWeek October 8 issue targets The Power 100 -- their list of the most influential people in the business of sports. Leading the parade is NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, but other highlighted figures include agent Scott Boras, Big Ten conference executive James Delany, Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson, and Angels owner Arturo Moreno. The full list is a who's who of recognizable names including Tiger Woods, Dick Ebersol, George Steinbrenner, Lance Armstrong, Kobe Bryant and Yao Ming. Check out the list online, or read more in the issue in Jackson Library.
Harvard's Professor James Heskett muses on the historical evolution of business schools, particularly in connection with his colleague Rakesh Khurana's book From Higher Aims to Hired Hands. Following Khurana, Heskett cites key developments in the mid-Twentieth century that transformed the character of management education -- such as Milton Friedman's mantra that the sole concern of American business was the maximization of profit, and the vision of the 'Chicago school' of managers as agents of the shareholder. Heskett wonders if these influences in fact created a 'shareholder' capitalism that bypassed 'managerial' capitalism. A reading of the history of business education also inspires the question as to whether they are truly professional schools, like their counterparts in medicine and law. Read Professor Heskett's article, together with the many insightful and provocative comments it generated.
Geekipedia is created by the editors of Wired and published as a supplement to the magazine. As opposed to Wikipedia, Geekipedia has only 149 entries which cover contemporary trends, people, places, ideas, and happenings which, in the opinion of its creators, is a “must” knowledge in today’s Wired world. Easy-to-read and fun-filled stories not just define the subjects but “tell you what they really mean”. To list just a few entries: read about BitTorrent, Copyleft, Long Tail, Social Networking, or in Venture Capital entry, find a “template” for a letter to Sand Hill Road. Enjoy the print copy of Geekipedia in Jackson library or browse it online.
Companies operating in China must find advantages that go beyond cheap labor. McKinsey Quarterly identified manufacturing concerns in China.
• signs of incipient wage inflation can eventually drive up labor costs
• waste is endemic in Chinese factories
• defect rates are high
• managers lack crucial skills in problem solving and industry-specific expertise
• high employee turn-over
• the rush to build new factories created overcapacity
• Chinese factories often make products in big batches and thereby creating large inventories
• poor coordination between different steps in the production process often created bottlenecks
• cultural norms stand in the way of addressing wasteful practices – hierarchical nature of Chinese organizations hinders the cooperation and joint decision making across departmental boundaries as well as up and down the chain of command
Read suggestions to closing the gap in McKinsey Quarterly, 2006 Special Edition available at Jackson Library.
Roger Urban, GSB Alum '67, President of the Urban Wallace Associates, photographer, author -- and ardent fan of ballet -- has just published a limited edition book of rare photographs of ballet legend Rudolf Nureyev, Life Behind the Metaphor, a beautiful collection of photographs taken during the artist's 1978 U.S. tour with the Dutch National Ballet. These previously unpublished photographs are stunning, showing the power, strength and matchless artistry of Nureyev.
Mr. Urban has donated the complete collection of his photographs, along with original set and costume sketches from the tour, to the Jerome Robbins Dance Division of the New York Public Library of Performing Arts, along with proceeds from the book sales. A strong supporter of libraries -- and ballet -- is always tops on my list.
Are you trying to access Jackson Library Databases away from the GSB or Schwab? With WebApps down you will only be able to access those databases with campus wide access (those with an  icon) via Proxy Server. Please use Ask A Librarian if you need further assistance.
For information on how to update your FastJack toolbar, how to get access to Jupiter Research, the secrets to business success, and much more, check out the October JacksonLine.
The Aspen Health Forum gathered an impressive group of over 200 people to discuss the most pressing issues in health and the medical sciences on October 3-6, 2007. Blogger and GSB alum Alvaro Fernandez reports "It was the first conference, by the way, where I have heard a speaker say: 'I resuscitated a woman yesterday'." Highlights? Global health problems require the attention of the GSB community, national scientific enthusiasm will be required to create the next sputnik-like breakthrough, there is a rising role of public-private partnerships, a growing impact of patient advocacy groups, and more. Read about it at Alvaro's SharpBrains website.
Into each life some rain must fall. Likewise for corporations. So what do you do when your firm faces a downturn? Get creative. That's what legendary executives Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard did, as described by GSB Professor Bob Sutton on his blog. Sutton advises a company to preserve its employees, when possible, during the occasional downturn, avoiding laying them off and thereby incurring even higher potential costs training new staff. He commends Michael Malone's book Bill & Dave to the reader as a window into the distinctive Hewlett Packard management style. Sutton also cites approvingly a quote by Bill Hewlett from Bill & Dave's Memos, a collection from the HP archives (edited by Albert Yuen): " When times are difficult, we don't take it out on the lowest man on the totem pole". It is the business acumen behind such statements that made Hewlett and Packard Silicon Valley giants, and their wisdom can be as timely today as ever. So when the going gets rough ... take it easy on the totem pole.
What happens to research that fails to produce desired results or a surprisingly rosy outcome? “It ends up stuffed in some lab drawer,” according to science writer-editor Thomas Goetz, whose article Mind the Gaps appears in this month’s issue of Wired magazine. But keeping so much dark (dissonant) data from seeing the light of day has negative repercussions for the sciences and the public at large. Tying up “a vast body of squandered knowledge … represents a waste of resources and [is] a drag on scientific progress.” Fortunately, the Public Library of Science, Creative Commons and other organizations have begun taking notice, working collectively to free up dark data as a resourceful means of stoking advances in genetics, neuroscience, and biotechnology (the idea being that dissonant results can nonetheless be of immense value to other research scientists). But potentially useful dark data isn't contained within the forgotten repositories of science alone. Get the full skinny online, or at the display rack in Jackson Library.
I just ran across this NPR Marketplace report that talks about a study which states that higher gas prices could help reduce obesity levels by encouraging people to drive less and walk or ride bikes more. The study found that an additional $1 per gallon would reduce U.S. obesity 15 percent in three years. So it may come down to your wallet or your waistline getting smaller.
UC Berkeley has begun to publish its lectures on YouTube, the first university to team up with the video-sharing site to offer full courses online. It's the latest move to bring higher education to the masses through the Web.
"YouTube is an extension of our reach," said Ben Hubbard, co-manager of webcast.berkeley.edu, the program that gathers the lectures and makes them available online. "We feel strongly as a public institution that we should be providing a window into the intellectual riches of our university." Some 200 clips, representing eight semesterlong courses on bioengineering, physics, and chemistry, etc. are available at youtube.com/ucberkeley. More courses are expected to be added.
UC Berkeley already was posting videos on Google, which acquired YouTube last year for $1.65 billion. Before the videos were shifted to YouTube, they were viewed 1.3 million times and downloaded 700,000 times. On UC Berkeley's local site, the school's lectures were seen 4.3 million times last year. And on iTunes, some 2 million podcasts have been downloaded since April 2006.
So guess which one has received the top view? A lecture from the School of Information and Management Systems, SIMS141 Search Engines, Technology, and Business with Sergey Brin, Co-Founder, Google receives a total of 46,414 views so far.
Source: SFGate.com
Young and rich. What's not to like? Entrepreneur magazine (October 2007) highlights Young Millionaires, budding entrepreneurs who found an idea and converted it into success. Among those who describe their rise to the top: Kelly Flatley, 28, and Brendan Synnott, 29, whose Bear Naked manufactures all-natural granola products; Herman Flores, 34, Myles Kovacs, 33, and Haythem Haddad, 31 of Dub Publishing Inc., which puts out the hot auto mag DUB; the Vanderhook brothers (Tim, 26, Chris, 28, and Russell, 30) of Specific Media, an advertising firm whose clients include more than 200 of the Fortune 500; Megan Duckett, 35, whose Sew What? Inc. manufactures custom theatrical drapes and flame-retardant fabrics; Devon Rifkin, 33, of The Great American Hanger Company, which sells more than 400 types of hangers; and many more. Read about it online or in the issue in Jackson Library.
Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology is far from replacing barcodes completely but it’s used in a wide variety of industries and continues expanding into new geographical locations. Here at Jackson Library we even have a periodical devoted to the subject, the latest issue of which contains an article on RFID magic mirrors ... coming to a shopping mall near you. Here’s how they work.
You walk into Bloomingdale's (let’s say) and decide you really must have that elegant Edwardian princess gown, but not in cherry satin -- but you don’t have enough time to compare sizes or try on other colors, nor do you wish to make the purchase without consulting your fellow fashion mavens, none of whom are present. And it would please you immensely to leave the store with said gown in hand since three nights hence you intend to wear it to an exclusive upscale dinner party (yeah, right). Outside the dressing room you discover a three-panel interactive mirror with touch-screen menu. The mirror reads your RFID-tagged gown and then virtually displays it in all colors, lists all sizes, and recommends accessories. By uploading contact info from your cell phone you then IM your fashionable friends attaching a hyperlink containing your fashion choices. Any 'hot or not' feedback from your pals would then be displayed on one of the mirror panels to facilitate decision-making. “It’s the way women shop,” says Robert Savage, president of Nanette Lepore’s in Manhattan. “They like to have input.”
At Britain’s Nick Tentis Living Retail Theatre, magic mirrors will also serve as customer style guides enabling access to detailed information on clothing. “But most importantly … the tag will trigger the lighting and music in the fitting room to change based on the qualities of the piece the customer is trying on.” Slip into an evening suit and “the lighting will dim and the music will adapt to represent the night-time dining environment where the buyer likely will be wearing the piece.” And if a clerk isn’t handy to snag you another size, alert the mirror and a clerk will be dispatched to assist you (yeah, right).
With such efficiency-enhancing applications including self-automated checkout, monitoring high rollers at casinos, keeping toilets from overflowing, and tracking everything from wheels of parmesan cheese to shoppers’ personal preferences, it’s easy to see why many businesses regard RFID as a cost-effective tool for building customer loyalty. But if in the marketplace “loyalty is [merely] an allegiance to the next big thing and the next cool brand” (1 to 1 Magazine, Sep ’07), and if RFID can be used to track you as well as your shopping profile, then ostensibly advantageous RFID applications may ultimately tune in frequencies of distrust among freedom lovers everywhere.
The most difficult issue of Global Warming is how to evaluate its impact on the planet, however we do know that it will have some sort of impact on people, government, the environment and business. The October issue of the Harvard Business Review has a special section entitled forethought which focuses on Climate Business: Business Climate. In a series of articles the effect of climate change on business is discussed, from stakeholders reaction to a company’s poor environmental performance to how climate change impacts a balance sheet. Current Stanford affiliates can view the main article and additional articles online. Non-Stanford readers can view the TOC online or purchase a copy of the journal from the newsstand.
Americans are in debt. We are in debt up to our eyeballs. The Federal Reserve has released the latest Consumer Credit report and the numbers are not good.
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