A Norwegian company's challenge to the car market

I read an article about release of a new-type electric car. Think Global, the Norwegian company, released a realistic electric cars. Actually, there were many prototypes of electric cars in US market. For example, GM introduced several models of cars and already invested about 4 million dollars to the development of the company's battery research and development operations. But their electric cars were just innovative products. Actually, the cars failed to attract customers except innovators. But Think's car is different. It's more fuel-efficient and cheap that normal cars. Think has been selling gas-free, Lilliputian city cars in Europe and will start peddling them to fuel-crunched Americans in 2009. The company's newly formed North American division has high hopes for Think's existing models—and even higher ones for the upcoming Th!nk Ox, a concept unveiled at the Geneva International Motor Show earlier this year.

Electric car is one of the alternatives that will replace gasoline and gas cars. Think's Ox is a preview of Think's next-generation production vehicle, due out in 2011. They planned to introduce more innovative and efficient cars. The Ox can travel between 125 and 155 miles before needing a recharge, and zips from zero to 60 miles per hour in about 8.5 seconds. Its lithium-ion batteries can be charged to 80% capacity in less than an hour, and slender solar panels integrated into the roof power the onboard electronics. It's a surprising performance! Even today, they can make independent electric car market through their products. They said that they will price the cars about $25,000.

Also, Think developed some very distinguished designs. Think's senior vice-president for design, Katinka von der Lippe, says the Ox is a "real car, a big step away from the cuteness of [other] electric vehicles." All that distinguishes the Ox from name-brand, fuel-sipping compact cars, in fact, is its silent hum and zero emissions. They considered their products as gasoline cars. That means they want to increase the efficiency of their cars to the level of gasoline cars. The Ox also embodies the characteristic simplicity of Scandinavian design, featuring uncomplicated lines and clean, uncluttered surfaces. A band of unpainted metal stretches from the front of the vehicle to its rear, revealing the Ox's interior architecture, an aluminum frame. An unassuming grille is tucked between sophisticated sloping headlamps.

The company's business model is very innovative and is similar to that of Dell's, which fueled its rise by ruthlessly optimizing its manufacturing and supply chain. Think's ultralean manufacturing system lets it build production facilities for about $10 million, compared with the billions invested in new plants by old-line manufacturers. That means more factories closer to customers, further cutting costs. I think it will very effective to penetrate niche markets. Maybe someday, the Norwegian company can be a number one producer of entire car industry.

Author: Matt Vella

Title: The Electric Car Lives

Date: June 16, 2008, 12:32PM EST

Page: 1

reference: http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/jun2008/id20080616_955452.htm?chan=innovation_innovation+%2B+design_top+stories

entry # 15 20700067

The government's policy to lower mobile phone bills for the poor

Recently, a news article conveyed the fact that the government has announced its policy, that it would expand cuts in wireless service charges for low-income earners as part of efforts to alleviate the burden of rising inflation. It sounds reasonable. However, there are many things that should be considered before the government actually put this into effect.

As the government is thinking of enhancing the nation’s power and well-being, it is undeniable that low-income earners must have some advantage that can help them elevate their positions. After all, a country cannot keep its power if there is a huge gap between the rich and the not-rich. The middle-level people must exist to make it possible for the country to keep growing and developing, and perhaps not to fall down. However, the problem is, how would the government afford the cost in helping the poor?

The way how the government will afford the cost is quite a sensitive issue. The article says that the nation’s three mobile carriers will take the whole financial burden for the new program, which is expected to cost 300 billion won each year. This does not seem to be so good. If the government forces the mobile carrying companies to an extent, making them take the financial burden for lowering mobile phone bills for the poor, the companies will try to get the money back by increasing mobile service fees to not-low-income earners. This will make the middle-level earners suffer. In addition, there can be some confusion in deciding who gets advantage and not, who gets categorized as low-income users and not-low-income users. This will bring arguments.

The government’s thought and consideration to help the low-income level heighten their economical level and overcome the sufferings from the inflation that is taking place in the nation is quite impressive. However, there muse be lots of efforts to figure out pros and cons and which way is the best way to perform the plan as effective as it can be. Otherwise, it will bring huge side effects. In fact, the constant government seems to having trouble in performing their policies generally, and they seem to have confusions in determining whether or not their plan is good. The most reasonable way is to listen to what the citizens in this nation is requesting and what they really want. It is strongly recommended that the government goes back to the basics.



Reference : http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LS2D&mid=sec&sid1=108&sid2=208&oid=044&aid=0000074521


20700273 Entry 15

War against China's Blogs

          Since the Internet allowed so many emerging new businesses to enter the market with a unique business model, one company in China is now successfully carrying out its value to its clients. Daqi.com is a Beijing-based firm which looks for the comments or posts from more than 500,000 online forums that might affect crucially to certain business or firm and try to reslove the problem that those consumers have before anything gets worse.

          Since Daqi.com is the first to provide such service, they charge firms from $500 to $25,000 a month to seek out for those influential comments on the web so they could effectively manage the brand image. The CEO of the firm states that even a single negative comment can end up influencing the entire industry.

          When Daqi.com finds out those kind of postings or comments, they first figure out whether it is influential or might flare up. And then they determine who are behind of the criticism and what they are trying to get from it. When the information is collected, they also concider how fast the complaint is spreading on the web.

          Many other similar businesses are jumping into this market; they often hire college students to write positive comments or create false comments on the competitor's products or service, which can be concidered as unethical. One the other hand, people who are hired for such job gets average of 1.5 cents per post.

          I think when companies use this kind of method to create a keen relationship with its customers can significantly increase the loyalty towards the company, and therefore, acquire greater market share. However, the problem that I'm worrying about is the ethical issue that it would face in many cases if it is used for a wrong prupose. Sadly, China is often concidered as one of the most unethical countries in the world for providing poor quality of good and services, and for having many pirates on the web. I hope firms like Daqi.com would become a leading company in China to change this kind of perception and help the right Internet business models to be settled in the market.

Reference;
Roberts, Dexter. "Inside the War Against China's Blogs" BusinessWeek. June 12, 2008.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_25/b4089060218067.htm?chan=technology_technology+index+page_top+stories

20601008 - 14th Entry

GM's Struggle to change its sturucture

I read an article about GM(General Motors)'s struggle to change the production structure. GM is a American company that provides converts or trucks. But now they try to focus on the small car market. GM's CEO announced that there will be plans to introduce a new line of compacts for North America, while also boosting passenger car production and closing four truck plants. Also he said GM will build the Chevrolet Volt electric car in 2010. It's because of the recent losses in the truck market. GM lost $3.25 billion in the first quarter of 2008, including special charges. Accordingly, management now suggests that they should downsize the production of trucks and more focus on the small fashionable cars.
Also, as the gas price goes up, there will be low consumption in the big cars like trucks. Accordingly, GM plans to introduce a new compact car that will be better equipped than today's compacts, with more amenities and also a 9-mpg boost over today's 27-mpg Chevrolet Cobalt. An all-new version of GM's Korean-made Chevy Aveo subcompact is coming. Also, they will close four truck plants. They said that "If the market is going away, there's no sense making the vehicles". In other words, it time to change.
Also, they plan to diversify their production to outside of the US. As the production costs go up and they felt needs to reduce costs by employing cheap labors. It seems so past, but to GM it's a recent innovation. Actually, they were proud of their location is mostly on US. But for survival, they have to break their rule. Also, now Americans don't prefer cars like trucks or converts. Many of customers recognize Japanese and Korean brands as the better small cars, that GM can offer competitive models. Accordingly, if GM will develop nice-looking small car, there will be harsh competitions betweem GM and asian companies. If GM cannot catch the market, they will someday bankrupt and find other businesses.
I think the case is well adapt to korean companies. Actually, past decades, Korean companies used low cost car strategies. But now customers want to find cars that have good design and also cheap price. Accordingly, korean company like Hyundai now try to develop very-low price car that has new age design. But I think there must be some high-quality cars in production mix of Hyundai. Because if they cannot produce these cars, their brand will be like a cheap image. Actually, Toyota, Japan's worldclass car company, used strategies like Hyundai do. But they realized the necessities of high-price, but high-quality car. And they developed the LEXUS. Now nobody thinks their image is cheap. I think it's a good model to Hyundai. Also, other korean companies should learn the lesson.

Author: David Welch
Title: GM: Small Is the New Big
Date: June 3, 2008, 12:27PM EST
Page: 1

reference: http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/jun2008/bw2008063_595262.htm
entry # 14 20700067

United, US Airways to charge $15 for 1st checked bag

The United Airlines and the US Airways announced their new fees recently. Most carriers in the U.S already have instituted $25 charge for checking a second bag. Southwest Airlines will be the only U.S carrier that permits two checked bags for free. According to Tom Parsons, an air travel expert expects more service fees to come. Because of the extra charges for seat reservations, he expects the legacy carriers to follow the lead of discount carrier spirit Airlines. Currently, the prices are $5 for middle seats, $10 for window and aisle seats and $15 for exit-row seats. Other airlines also have started to charge money for window or aisle seats.

United Airline said the baggage fee will goes into place with customers who buy tickets beginning Friday for domestic flights. This will not apply to customers flying in first or business class. Also for those who have premier status with United or Star Alliance. It also increased their fee to check three or more bags in the Chicago-based carrier. The overweight bags or items that require special handling costs $125 from $100, and $250 from $200.

The United’s chief operating officer said, “With record-breaking fuel prices, we must pursue new revenue opportunities while continuing to offer competitive fares by tailoring our products and services around what our customers value most and are willing to pay for.” United expects $275 million of the potential revenue from baggage handling service fees a year. US Airways already planned to takes fees at the beginning of July 9th.

The US Airways Chairman mentioned that they must write a new playbook for running a profitable airline in this new and challenging environment. Also, the Steady rise of fuel surcharges continued with United, Continental Airlines, Delta Air lines, US Airways and Northwest Airlines. They all matched the cost which was increased $20. It was because of the fuel surcharges that were initiated by American on most of its domestic routes. Now, United Airlines are at their lowest level in the company’s three years out of bankruptcy.

I think while other companies raise their costs it would be a competitive advantage for companies that do not charge the same amount of fees. The situation might be difficult to lower the cost, however, increasing the market share through lowering price strategy would greatly benefit their profit.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/141246/page/3

20620042 – entry # 14

South Korea will need 730,000 more homes after unification

A recent news article has announced that South Korea will need 730,000 more homes after unification. This announcement was based on a discussion which was held at a forum on the future of the country’s housing that was hosted by the Korea Housing Association in May 2007. Most experts in this field has agreed to the fact that a large number of North Koreans are likely to move to the South in search of better economic and social opportunities after unification. This is something that we South Koreans should not neglect to focus on and prepare in advance. Not only about the house problem, but also there are lots of significant economic aspects that should be considered before and after the unification. So it is recommended that we study about the economic influence that unification will bring, and prepare for it.

Millions of people do think that unification in Korean peninsula is something that must be done. However, most of them don’t actually think about what it’s going to be after unification, and what we should do to actually bring the unification. It might be because both Koreans have lived so many years separately, and people actually don’t want any significant changes. However, whether or not we are prepared for it, the unification will come someday, and we’ll have to live after unification also. That is why we should prepare for it in advance.

Unification in Korean peninsula will absolutely bring a huge crisis to Korea’s economy. As we all know, South Korea’s economy scale and quality is definitely better than North Korea’s. The gap is so huge that it is even useless to compare. So whenever the unification takes place, the subject will be South Korea, leading the unification. And the form of unification will be South Korea absorbing and supporting North Korea. This is the problem. The gap between two countries is so huge that it will definitely bring severe crisis to South Korea’s economy. Back in the history, when Germans had unification between West-Germany and East-Germany, West-Germany’s economy scale absorbed East’s and West supported a lot. However, Germans had some hard time after the unification because the economic gap between two countries was so huge. And the thing is, the gap between South Korea and North Korea is huger than the gap between West and East-Germany. Also, South Korea’s economic power isn’t that strong, compared to West-Germany’s at that time. This really is a serious problem. Also, even if the unification had gone well and South Korea has passed the struggling time due to the economic crisis caused by the unification, there is another problem. The people from North Korea who came to South won’t be able to adapt themselves into capitalism and competitive society, and they won’t be competitive enough to survive. Also, their characteristics won’t be progressive enough to motivate themselves to learn new skills and new lifestyle. So concerning all these problems, the unification in Korean peninsula doesn’t seem to be so optimistic.

As we look deeply into the reality of unification in Korean peninsula, we realize that it is not definitely optimistic and hopeful. It will bring many side effects to Korean economy. However, even though, that doesn’t mean that we should avoid the unification. The unification in Korean peninsula is a must. No one can deny this. So what we should do is to prepare for the unification, not to face a chaos after it. The most effective way to do that is to interact with North Korea in economic ways. We should motivate them to change their attitude toward economy, and we should help them to develop their ability to survive. This is the ultimate way to not face the economic crisis after unification.


Reference : http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&sid1=108&oid=044&aid=0000067793

20700273 Entry 14

LG's music phone in China

          LG is pusing heavily on its music phone in China whereas they put a greater effort to promote their touch-screen phone in developed countries. The company stated that they would launch two new phones specialized in playing MP3 and distribute those models in countries like China, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Brazile, and Chile.

          The main reason why they are targeting China is that as the country gets developed and have more income annually, they would replace the low-end mobile device and purchase more high-tech goods with more advanced techonology. According to one research, LG already had shipped more than 23.6 million handsets in the first quarter of 2008 to China, compared to 16 million in the same period last year.

          As LG gains more of its popularity in those emerging countries, they are also planning to promote those touch-screen phones called "View." However, some experts advises that LG should remember even though the touch-screen phones are attractive, they do not appeal to everyone in the market; some people just want to have a cellphone that can simply dial and answer the calls.

          I still remember the time when Samsung first introduced its multimedia oriented cell phone to the market and instantly became the hit. When one of my friends started to carry the phone, everyone were almost immediately attracted by it and wanted to buy one for themselves. I think developing countries like China and India are now experiencing the same thing; younger generations are widening their eyes to more various materials and want to have a taste on many new technologies. However, I hope LG would never forget what they had planned for the first time and will keep its good work until it seizes its reputation in those developing countries.

Reference;

Cho, Jin-seo. "LG Bets Heavily on Music Phones in China" KoreaTimes. 2008/06/04

http://koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2008/06/123_25323.html

20601008 - 13th Entry

Apple's expansion to all of the world

I read an article about Apple's new product, iPhone 2.0. When Apple first developed iPhone, their market was only America. But now they expanded their market to Europe. It's a marvelous advancement! Actually, before iPhone, Apple was a failed company. iPhone 2.0 will have many functions that include network, e-mail, memo...etc. And the new product will be sold in 64 countries. Apple's market region was just 6 countries. And most of their products are sold in America. Now they will challenge to the global market. In wireless phone market, the biggest company is Blackberry. The company occupy about 44% of US market. And Apple's iphone occupy about 19%. If the innovation will be successful, Apple can defeat Blackberry and can be the best wireless phone company.

Actually, iPhone is the best product in the history of Apple. Analysts say Apple can sell about 40 million iphone by the end of 2009. It is humongous amount! If the prediction will achieve, Apple can be a leading company in wireless phone market. But yet Apple is not a international company. There are many opstacles they have to overcome to be a global company. Actually, their product portpolio and financials are excessively dependent on US market. There are already Europe's 5 countries, but Apple is not well in Europe. European think iphone has too many functions to use. They often pursue a product that is convenient to use. I think Apple has to consider these tendencies if they want to expand business in Europe.

Apple also considers China market. They think China is a big market and it can replace the US. Now Apple try to appeal chinese with many products that follow chineses' tendencies. Apple now considers many alternatives to penetrate international market. They learned many things in US market, and now made contractions with two wireless carrier companies in each country. Actually, in US, they just employed only one carrier company. And they realized that if they do things like in US, they will fail in the market.

Then what's the characters of China market's products? China is a country that embrace humongous populations. They already employed Chinese carrier company and ready to introduce iphone. I think if Apple wants to successful in China, they have to employ many chinese. Because, in China, there are many characters that are different those of US. I think Apple and korean companies have in common. Korean companies are now expanding to the world. They developed many first class technologies. Through these technologies, korean wants to dominate global market. In some regions, korean companies already dominate the market. But if we fail in the competition, Korea can be bankrupt and something like IMF will overwhelm Korea's economy. A dice is already casted away. It's the time that starts limitless competition era.

Author: Arik Hesseldahl and Jennifer L. Schenker

Title: iPhone 2.0 Takes on the World

Date: June 6, 2008, 12:01AM EST

Page: 2

reference: http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jun2008/tc2008065_290813.htm

entry # 13 20700067

Koreans Spend Billions of Dollars on Studying Abroad

A recent news article has announced the fact that Koreans are spending billions of dollars on studying abroad. This doesn’t sound unfamiliar because we already know that lots of people are outside of Korea, studying abroad. We might even have one or few of our family members who are studying abroad. In this situation, a concrete study about the utility of studying abroad is needed. ‘What is the ultimate goal of going out?’, ‘What can we do to make it more effective?’ are some subjects that should be specified.

When talking about studying abroad, how many people are going out and how much money is being spent is important. These figures help us know approximately about what is going on. However, the essence is, ‘why.’ Why do people go out? Why do people spend billions of money on studying abroad? Well, this is quite simple. Most Koreans who go to English speaking countries – USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, etc. – have a common goal. They go to these countries to study English more deeply, develop their English skills, and to experience high-quality education. More frankly, they do think that these advantages will bring success to them. So, whatever the reason is, most people who are studying abroad do believe that their time & efforts will enable them to make lots of money and earn fame. Then we start to wonder, “Is going out for studying abroad is the only way to make them happen?” “Isn’t there any other way except studying abroad?”

Studying abroad has some side effects. Students who don’t actually study eagerly and don’t try to make the best of their time in the specific foreign country, might end up with nothing. However, with lots of efforts to make their future more successful, students do have a chance to make their lives more valuable while they are studying abroad. This is why many people are willing to go out and study abroad. However, it costs lots of money. It really does cost enormous money that normal people can’t even think about going out. So, it is recommended that people find more effective and cheaper way.

There are some ways that people can get what they want more effectively and cheaply. For example, studying in Handong can be an alternative. With relatively cheaper tuition fee, Handong can offer high-quality education, and people in Handong have plenty of opportunities to enhance their English ability. Second, studying hard and applying for scholarship in foreign universities can be another way. Why can’t we achieve scholarship? It is our responsibility to do our best while we’re studying abroad. If we do, we will be able to get scholarship. Third, it might be a good idea to go out and study abroad when the exchange rate between Dollar and Won is relatively low. If one dollar worth below 1,000 Won, it is a good chance.

We are living in a global age. Visiting foreign countries and studying abroad are inevitable. However, thoughtless and blind visit to other nations is something that we must not do. As we all know, studying is about making money in the future. When it comes to studying abroad, it becomes more evident. We don’t spend our time and money in other nations just for fun. We think of making lots of money, earning fame, and eventually making our lives more successful. So the best way is, studying hard. No matter how expensive and how hard it is, we do have to study hard and make the best use of it. We should keep in mind that studying is also a part of business, making money.



Reference : http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSOD&mid=sec&sid1=108&oid=040&aid=0000052734


20700273 Entry 13

Hynix to Raise DRAM prices by 15% in June

The world’s #2 memory-implemented chip maker, Hynix Semiconductor said that it will hike contract prices for computer memory chips by about 15 percent in June. They will raise prices by about 15 percent this month, a similar level seen in May and April. Also, they are talking to bigger clients about narrowing the differentiation on a percentage increase level and the final decision will be fixed by the second week of the month. Chip manufacturers usually negotiate their prices with PC set makers twice a month.

Kwon Oh-hyun, CEO of the world’s biggest memory chipmaker said that his company will be more aggressive spending 7 trillion won on the memory business this year. Samsung took up to 30 percent of the global DRAM share in terms of sales in the first three months. Hynix trailed up to 18.6 percent and Japan’s Elpida with 14.5 percent over the same period. This is according to data from iSuppli. However, bigger chip manufacturers are busy raising their contract chip prices in the belief that prices will recover due to investment spending cutbacks and increased demand in the future of new school year and the year-end shopping season.

A Hynix official said that this year’s recovery my not be as quick as in previous years because the global chip industry should be in a demand and supply balance by the third or fourth quarter. While Samsung has raised chip prices by 5 percent in early Many and was known to implement a similar measure in June. Elpida plans to raise more money to its customers for more profitability. The Asia’s biggest on-line trading site DRAMeXchange, gave an average contract price of the industry’s mainstream 512-megabit double-data-rate-two chip rose 6.6 percent.

Chipmakers had invested heavily in new facilities in 2005 and 2006. They are hoping to gain more market share with higher expectation of Microsoft’s Window Vista operating system. However, higher speculations about technical flaws in the system forced PC makers to avoid releasing such sets with the new computing system. From this, chip prices have fallen almost 90 percent since 2007. This dragged down the profitability of chipmakers to below manufacturing costs. Because of this dilemma, Hynix is attempting to solidify a strategic partnership with Taiwanese chip manufacturers to a bid to cut costs. Recently, the government gave approval to transfer its distinguished memory chip processing technology to Taiwan’s ProMOS technology. From this approval, ProMos will start using the 54-nanometer technology owned by Hynix on a foundry basis to make 12-inch chips by late 2008. Samsung and Hynix had been in this “verbal fights” that saying Hynix is leaking technology to its competitors.

Personal Opinion

The way Hynix shared their technology to a Taiwanese company was a hug mistake they have made. I understand why they reacted in such way but sharing information and technology to other country is dangerous and can be a threat in the future. The reason is that there are many cases of sharing technology that ended up defeated by other rivals. This is how Asian companies grew from the influence of western technology. I would prefer to share it with domestic firms instead of firms outside country. Even though Hynix’s greatest competitor is Samsung, they should have figured out different strategy increase their profit.

http://koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2008/06/123_25086.html

20620042 entry # 13

Smoking ban at Caterpillar

          The smoking ban at Caterpillar from coming Sunday have resulted the United Auto Worker union to file a law suit stating Caterpillar is promoing an unfair work practice against its workers. The union is complaining that this kind of regulation will go against guarantees in the UAW contract saying that smoking has been their privilege for more than 60 years.

          On the other hand, Caterpillar points out that it's about time to finish smoking on its properties across the country and work places. The spokesman from Caterpillar stated that it would be disappointing if someone quick their job for such issue because what Caterpillar wants is just to provide the healthiest and safetest work environment possible for its employees. Also, he said that it includes not only Caterpillar's workers, but also the visitors from the outside.

          In an effort to minimize the worker's complaints, Caterpillar is hoping to cooperate with UAW in order to find the right way to promote the company's new regulation and maintain its good relationship between employees and the company.

          One of the main causes for such ban is to follow Illinois, "...where the heavy equipment maker is based, passed a law that prohibited smoking in the work place and elsewhere." (BusinessWeek)

          I'm personally impressed with such ban on smoking because for me, it's quite outrageous (but in a good way) and surprsing to see the company is pursuing such policy that could be so controversial. It might cause a lot of talking for now; however, in a long run, it would create a good brand image for the company since Catepillar has such a bold and musculne image from thier business, having this kind of smoking ban would create a appealing or even a clean and softer characteristic of the firm. I hope Caterpillar would have find an appropriate way to deal for keeping a good relationship with its employees even after the smoking ban.

Reference;
"Smoking ban has union huffing at Caterpillar" BusinessWeek. May 30, 2008.
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D90VTO881.htm

20601008 - 12th Entry

Dell's effort to restore past reputation

I read an article about Dell's turnaround and it's future strategy. You know Dell once the most popular computer producer in the world. But now Dell's position in the market is being faded. But recently, Dell's sales forces are increasing and it exceeded expert's expectations. What's the reason of this rising? The author said that it's because of developing new market. In fact, Dell have very conservative aspects. Sometimes it looks like a stupid attitude. When Dell was a No.1 producer, they didn't try to develop other markets outside US. As of the result, Dell is now N0.5 in the market following HP, Apple, Acer, and Toshiba. In fact, Dell has very sophisticated ordering system and people really loved Dell's computers. But they failed to adapt the turbulent global market trend.
Now, Dell try to develop new market like China, South-east asia, and Europe. Especilly, they try to penetrate China's price sensitive market. China's consumers mostly don't have enough money to buy computers. Dell considered these factors and lowering their prices daringly. But many critics warn that Dell's innovation is like a venture. And they also pointed at the dangers of price sensitive market. Also, Dell is a huge company and this effort can make their products' quality. Accordingly, there can be many defective products and they can drop the reputation of Dell. In fact, Dell's strength was reliability and convenience. Experts suggest that Dell should read the customer's tendency with less information. Many global companies failed because of lack of information. But it's the reality and they have to cultivate the market. In other words, they have to learn the ability to read the customer buying tendency.
I think iRiver and Dell have in common. They both were the most honorable producer and also failed steeply. But there is one difference. iRiver was completely failed and Dell can be a No.1 producer again. I think Dell shows the way that Korean companies will pass through. Although now korean companies rule many parts of global market, some time they can be a failure and maybe cannot survive anymore. Our companies were survived from IMF, but I think the more dangerous crisis will come to Korea. We don't know the time, but we have to prepare for survival.

Author: Aaron Ricadela
Title: Dell Appears to Turn a Corner
Date: May 30, 2008, 12:01AM EST
Page: 2

reference: http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/may2008/tc20080529_159057.htm
entry #12 20700067

Dell shares get boost from strong earnings report

Dell Inc. has beat Wall street expectations for first-quarter sales and profit. The world’s second largest seller of personal computers rise their shares up 9.9 percent and the investors will try to determine if the results were a one-term or a sign that CEO plan is working. Notebook shipments jumped 43 percent in the first quarter compared with a year before which made them a priority in developing products for emerging markets. Also, the Round Rock, Texas-based company rang up more sales overseas than at home for the first time. Their revenue rose up to 19 percent in Asia, 15 percent in Europe. Also, other areas helped Dell to rise their weak American market from cutting back on technology spending. An analyst with American Technology Research said “Dell did relatively well, but it was against low expectations.”

Much of the strength has come from international businesses. Dell is more dependent on U.S sales than HP Co. and sees U.S business customers as “holding back from spending” on desktops. And Chief Financial Officer Donald J added that U.S companies may continue to defer technology spending into this summer. Dell trails Hewlett-Packard Co. in worldwide PC shipments but leads in U.S sales but that could make Dell more vulnerable to a slowdown in the U.S economy. They earned $784 million which is 38 percents per share in three months. Their revenue rose 9 percent to 16 billion. Their strong Asia sales were partly due to a 140 percent surge at 1800 stores in China that sell Dell machines. By august of this year, Dell wil be in 3,500 Chinese stores.

However, there were some critics that Dell’s strong first quarter was helped by the weak dollar and unusually sharp job cuts, which might be more difficult to repeat
Dell’s strong cost controls resulted in part from cutting 3,700 jobs in the quarter.
They had eliminated 7000 jobs in the past year which is 8 percent of last year’s work force. Although that has been partly offset by 2700 jobs added through acquisitions. Dell is trying to cut costs of $3 billion by 2011 and their biggest challenges for the company now were continuing to control costs and to improve the product line.

Opinion & thoughts,

From this case, I saw how a company can get a great success by getting support from their international Business. Business in Asian and European Countries helped their financial report to perform better which made their stock price higher. But I see no major strategy that they would improve drastically in the future. The reason is that this change in stock had only occurred by the change in the exchange rate which is unstable and flexible. Also, I think the Asian and Eurpean Market will be more competitive soon because of the fast growing technology. Therefore Dell should prepare and launch their new, innovative product by strong R&D.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/139157/page/3

20620042 - entry 12

Hollys Coffee opens its first US store

I recently read an article announcing the fact that Hollys Coffee, Korea’s largest coffeehouse chain, opened its first store in the United States. It is really interesting not only because a Korean coffeehouse chain opened its store in US, but also because most of people don’t know Hollys is a Korean company. For that reason, I think this can be a good chance for us to study about Hollys, and get some lessons from its achievement.

Hollys Coffee opened its first store in Gangnam, in 1998. Though it was rather small at the beginning, it eventually became a successful business by the year of 2007, in which it opened the 100th chain in Gangnam. One of the reasons that made this possible is that Hollys did willingly offer franchising to many newcomers to the company. Also, the company always tried to provide the best product to customers. In addition, the company not only tried to satisfy the customers, but it also tried to give the best support to the franchisees and the employees. All these aspects brought this company into success in a relatively short period of time. Most of all, it is our national coffeehouse chain company which went through all the competitions with others – such as Starbucks – and survived. Eventually, it opened its first store in US, where all coffeehouse chain companies struggle to go in, and to survive. It really is a great achievement.

So now we end up wondering, ‘how could Hollys go in to American market?’ ‘How did it make it?’ There are some various reasons. First of all, Hollys itself is ready to compete in the global market with a build-up of know-how and expertise in the art and management of coffee brewing. Second, this achievement comes from the confidence of interpretation of Western coffee culture. Hollys knows what is and what to do in Western coffee culture. And the really ironic fact is that people actually don’t know that Hollys is a Korean national coffeehouse brand. It has no disadvantage of getting regarded as Korea-from or Asia-from in foreign countries. Plus, it provides some unique beverage menu such as yogurt-base shakes and sweet potato latte.

From this achievement and its on-going success, Hollys reminds us the fact that venturing is important. After all, how would we going to achieve or even get something if we don’t venture out at the beginning? Also, Hollys reminds us the fact that making business successful is all about our ability. Business is all about money. And to get the money, we have to be able to make moneys through business. So simple and so obvious, however, we should not neglect to think about it all the time.







Reference :

http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSOD&mid=sec&sid1=108&oid=044&aid=0000072701

http://www.hollys.co.kr

20700273 – Entry 12

Ford cuts North American Production, cuts profit goal

Ford cuts North American Production, no longer expects profit by 2009 as gas prices hurt sales.

Due to fast rising gas, Ford Motor Co. dropped its goal of becoming profitable by 2009 and said it will cut production of trucks and other vehicles through the rest of this year. This was a situation that warned U.S auto industry which is facing its worst sales in the previous years.They will release more detail about its cost-cutting efforts soon and is forecasting light vehicle sales this year to between 14.7million and 15.1 million. This is down from 17 million as recently as 2005. If sales drop as low as 14.7million, it would be the slowest year for U.S since 1993. Ford will cut North American production by 15 percent in the second quarter and this will affect pickups and sport utility vehicles. These have seen sales fall in recent months due to rising gas prices. The automakers’ revenues will hurt from the production cuts because the companies book vehicles as sold when they leave the factory. The President of Ford said that the most important thing we can do for the long-term success of the Ford Motor Company is to deal with this problem.

Ford was doing well at the first-quarter by making 100 million and a billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian was about to by 20 million shares of Ford stock because of their potential growth. However, the shares dropped to 64 cents which remained 7.16. From this, some experts said that it was a good strategy to respond to the challenging market. Lately, Ford was trying their best to prevent inventories from building up at the dealers and has been very cautious on production.

Looking at their competitors, General Motors Corp. forecast their cuts in the second-quarter production in North America by 5 percent. GM has less pressure on cutting and will have no additional cuts because their motor business was not as serious as Ford’s. Chrysler cut North American production by 16 percent in the beginning quarter of this year. Also, Toyota and Nissan have cut North American production to meet lower demand.

An expert said that the greatest challenge for Ford will be maintaining its U.S market share at 14 percent. But Ford remains heavily reliant on the kinds of large vehicles that have been struggling in the current market. Their F-series trucks were down 16 percent through April. They are trying to improving on fuel economy and is not considering dropping any trucks or SUVs from its lineup.

In my opinion, I think the way Ford had decided to cut the production was a right choice to make during their recession. During their hard time in sales, they made a great judgment on minimizing their loss and searching for new business strategy. They should stop any deteriorates and problems that bothers their business and should be more aware of improving their products to meet the customer’s demands. As it is mentioned in the last paragraph, they should get out of their idea of producing old products and produce innovative commodity to gain more shares in their market.

www.newsweek.com/biz

20620042 entry #11

Johnson & Johnson's innovation about its design

I read about changes in J&J's design process. The innovation brought from Chris Hacker, the design director of J&J. He was hired 2005 and did many successful works. When he firstly came to J&J, he found that J&J don't have any independent design process. He insisted that they have to create something for their own design and he changed the design process completely. Now, J&J's revenue is tripled compared to that of 2005. Amazingly, the costs of design declined and the quality of design improved. But the tasks were not easy. At first, they experienced many obstacles. Originally, J&J's design is done by outsourcing companies. Accordingly, the contractions between J&J and these companies were huge problems. Also, the management didn't like the change because the innovation was so costly at that time. But Chris persuaded them and achieved great results.

Then, what are the points of his success? He didn't waste resources in J&J. Even though J&J's old products looks bad and the contents are not different those of competitors, he tried to redesign the products and also reduced production costs by establishing stirct design process. Of course, it was very succesful. In the view of business, old products are just pains in the neck. Because the products don't have large market share and the growth potential power is very low. However, if we can derive something new from old one, we can achieve completely new results. Secondly, Chris knew the brand portfolio of J&J. Generally, design specialists focus only on his products, but he investigatied all of J&J's brands and tried to find out the core problems of J&J. If you don't know much about your company, you are doing wrong in your performance, even though you did your own work completely. You know the success of japanese companies. How they can achieve high revenues in America? It's because of the loyalty of employees. Japanese employees think the company as their lifelong place, and they did their full efforts to their company. I think the corporation culture of Korea is also a good one, but the real loyalty don't exist in the korean companies. If we need loyalty from employees, we have to innovate ourselves completely.

Chris also wanted to change the concept of sustainability. In current global world, one of the most positive words is 'sustainability'. All of the resources and advantages can be written as sustainable resources or sustainable advantage. And in the area of design, the words used as 'sustainable design'. Chris insisted that the sustainability is not a object of a company. Of course, sustainability can be a key to success, but it can be achieve in the process for results. In other words, the sustainable advantage or design can be achived if companies try to achive high performance in the market. His opinion is reasonable and we need to change our companies' concept of objectives. In korea, companies often insist that sustainability is very important. But they don't know how to achive it and instead they throw away their chance to achive these advantages. I think if we can realize these factors, we can improve greatly, and can dominate the market. We already dominate global market by innovative technology, but if we can achieve these innovative concepts, we can be a real great country.

Author: Mark Lamster

Title: Johnson & Johnson's Big Design Challenge

Date: May 21, 2008, 3:11PM EST

Page: 1

reference: http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/may2008/id20080521_194730.htm?chan=innovation_innovation+%2B+design_top+stories

entry #11 20700067

Not So High-Speed Broadband in the U.S.

          Even though the Internet itself first started in the states, compared to many other countries who are adopting high-speed broadband access fast, the U.S. is falling behind when it comes to speed. According to the article, "...the U.S. ranked 15th among the 30 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development in terms of broadband availability" (businessweek).

          Denmark is ranked in the first place followed by other European countries and Asian countries, including Korea. Even though the rate of Americans who have access to broadband service rose 20% in 2007, it's still only 73 million which amounted just 23 of every 100 residents.

          Officials argue that it's due to the geographic difficulty that prevents the U.S. to improve its speed and distribution of accesses to people compared to other smaller countries. In fact, saturated population over small geographic area is easier to distribute higher speed broadband service with lower cost. That explains why some of low-population states in America still have comparably low quality internet service.

          However, many experts critics that lack of competition in the U.S. market is the main cause for such insufficient broadband service because few major internet service providers share the market and charge more than any other leading countries. Verizon Communications, AT&T, Time Warner Cable, and Comcast are dominating their markets without sharing their lines with competitors which has been the entry to barrier for many new entrants.

          Many people are now asking FCC to step forward about these major companies’ behavior to lower the price which would allow many new companies to jump into the market. However, new concern has been raised as Verizon and AT&T acquired the license for the new wireless spectrum lines, their manipulating over the industry might get stronger.

          Now a day, the Internet is essential for all businesses and the cost for using the network for the company takes a great portion on their expense. While other developing countries offer same or faster internet service with lower rate, if the U.S. continuously has higher price for the such service, it would automatically become their competitive disadvantage which would hurt a lot in global market. Also, high quality broadband internet access increases the productivity and save time resulting more efficiency. I believe only way to solve this problem in the U.S. is to have more new company entering the industry; therefore, have a competition over price.


Reference;
Holahan, Catherine. "The Sad State of U.S. Broadband" BusinessWeek. May 22, 2008.
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/may2008/tc20080522_340989.htm?chan=rss_topStories_ssi_5

20601008 - 11th Entry

Korean banks rushing to Dubai

I recently read an article about the rush of Korean banks to Dubai. It was quite interesting because I’ve never heard of our national banks – Woori, Shinhan, and such - operating in other countries. And, I’ve never thought of Dubai as the financial center of the Islamic world, and of course, I’ve never thought that our national banks would rush to go there. This situation really gave me a desire to study about it.

The reason why Korean commercial banks are rushing to move into the Dubai International Financial Center in the Middle East is because DIFC has emerged as a financial center of the Islamic world, with oil dollars pumping into the area in the wake of skyrocketing oil prices. Korea Exchange Bank recently filed an application with the Dubai financial authorities to open shop in Dubai. Woori Bank also plans to open an office in Dubai to seek to meet demand in Dubai in conjunction with the operation of its Bahrain branch. Shinhan Bank is also set to submit an application this week to win approval to open its Dubai branch. These movements of our national banks are very impressive because they’re trying to take the opportunities that exist, by actually doing something to take it. In addition, this situation is also an opportunity for Dubai, too.

There are some reasons why the movement of Korean banks to Dubai is an opportunity for both them. First, banks need money to operate. No matter what they do to make lots of profits, they certainly need money to do something. Even though Korean national banks are having enough money to operate, it would be a good chance for them if they can make lots of money in Dubai to be deposited in the accounts that they are taking care of. They would have to leave Korea and open offices in Dubai, which is something not so easy. But then, why not? Why wouldn’t they leave Korea if they can get lots of money to take care of in Dubai? Second, lots of people or organizations in DIFC can also regard this situation as a chance to increase their money. Even though they already have enough money to spend in their entire lives, however, they will lose the value of their money if they don’t put it into bank accounts due to inflation. And concerning this, as far as I’m concerned, Korean banks are somewhat the best dealing with customers’ money. Therefore, this can be a good opportunity for DIFC’s riches.

The rush of Korean banks to Dubai reminded me of a simple truth. As we all know, “Business is all about money.” I really don’t think there are any good reasons to persuade me that business is something which is beyond earning money. There may be some other factors that are important. However, no one can deny that business is to make money, and to make our lives more wealthy.


Reference : http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSOD&mid=sec&sid1=108&oid=014&aid=0001964761


20700273 – Entry 11

Facebook gets its new face

          Widely loved by many social-network users, Facebook is now going to have its new face with fresh and well-organized user interface which was their main business driven factor earlier days. According to the Executives, the newly designed Facebook will launch in next few weeks which about 70 million worldwide users will be using it from now on.

          This decision was due to its over-crowded users posting millions of profiles, and due to its quite disorganized design, users couldn't get the information a hundred percent clearly. Therefore, the new design's main concept is targeting simplification. All the functions of the current Facebook - personal information, photos, the news, and comments will probably have different tabs or pages respectively, making users to clearly define their information.

          Facebook has been criticized for being more like MySpace lately for having few ads and banners on the web and creating the messy kind of look because Facebook had been well known for its neat and well organized interface. That's why the new design team had set up to solve this problem. - "differentiation"

          This project was based on a part of the $20 million investment from Microsoft last October. Due to its rapid growing - U.S. membership has jumped 71% since last March - the new design must keep up with potential customers as well.

          I think the main concern for this dramatic change is this: Now, the designers have to listen to the users, not the users who have to follow what the designers have already made. Because of its powerful force of users, Facebook must listen to their users carefully and adopt what they really looking for as much as possible. Also, redesigning does not guarantee that it's being differentiated from other similar service providers. When the firm creates a new feature or function, it should be seriously considered the "what if" factors as well. In that way, I believe they can create the "win-win" situation for both parties. Sometimes people do not need too many things. They just want to see and do what they really need to do; not the side dishes you think they would also like to enjoy.

Vella, Mett. "Facebook's Big Facelift" Business Week. May 14, 2008.
http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/may2008/id20080514_205389.htm?chan=innovation_innovation+%2B+design_top+stories

20601008 - 10th Entry

Rivals LG, Samsung Cut Cross-Purchase Deal

Samsung and LG is long-time rivals in electronics industry. However, they recently have agreed on a cross-purchasing deal to aim in surviving the fierce competition in the global market for flat TV screens and panels. Lee Sang-wan, chief of Samsung Electronics mentioned that they will supply their 52-inch liquid crystal display (LCD) panel to LG Electronics from July. He said “As the supply and demand imbalance will be eased, thanks to the operation of the second phase of the eighth-generation line."

60,000 sheets of production capacity from the line is expected per month. Previously, Samsung Electronics has been refusing calls by LG Electronics to provide larger-sized panels making a tight supply in the industry. But as market situation is getting rough, Samsung will decide by July in purchasing 37-inch panels from LG Display. Although panel pricing and the technology gap is still remained as some technical matters experts are looking forward of the decision. If it goes well, as experts hoped, the Korean TV manufacturers will be in a advantageous position to compete their Taiwanese rivals.

Deciding Cross-purchasing has long been disputes but the bilateral tie-up will help Korean firms to widen the market gap with their rivals in Taiwan and Japan. According to industry estimates, Samsung buys a ambined 60% of its 32-,37-,40-,46 and 52 inch LCD panels from Taiwan-based suppliers while LG Electronics buys a combined 34% 32-,37-,42-,27 and 52-inch panels. Because the global flat TV demand is estimated 100 million this year, the Korean and their Japanese rivals (Sony, Sharp) have been competing mainly in U.S and European markets even thought there are concerns over profitability by aggressive price- cuts. The Taiwanese panel suppliers have been enjoying the increasing orders from LG and Samsung because they both wanted more market share in the global market. Samsung have also engaged in specific discussion with LG Electronics and LG Display to cross-buying unfinished LCD panels or cells and a decision will be made in the coming months.

In my opinion, I think cross-purchasing deal for Samsung and LG would benefit our domestic firm’s profitability and will be a good step to weaken their rivals from other nations. Before Samsung & LG had bought panels from Taiwanese to compete each other it only benefited Taiwanese firms to grow and rise to a position where they are able to compete with conglomerates of Korea. Because competing fiercely with their own nation’s firm will only give advantage to firms in other nations. I’m positive of the way Samsung & LG are cooperating to become the world’s greatest provider of LCD market.

http://koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/biz_main.asp?CategoryCode=123

20620042 entry # 10

HP's Innovation in experimenting area

I read an article about HP's innovation in experimenting area. Generally, many corporations are progressing many research projects by inputing a lot of money. But most of the research projects don't have enough consequences. HP's new director of research labs, Prith Banerjee, considered these blind spots and cutted the scale of research projects. Originally, there are $150 million budget and 150 research projects, and he cutted the scale to 20 and maintain the budget. According to his interview, he considered the effectiveness of research projects. Sometimes the scientists don't consider the consiquence and just use the money in their research. Also, they didn't approve the interference of management.
The new director now engaged both research team and management. Through these changes, he expect that the techniques of HP will inprove rapidly. But perhaps he has to overcome many obstacles. At first, scientists don't like any inference in their experiments and often react negatively. Also, headquaters don't know much about research project. Secondly, cutting of research projects may result in the absence of core technology in the future. Although many of research projects spend huge money and the effectiveness is too low, there can be many possibilities. But I agree on the viewpoints of HP's new director.
In Korea, companies have high technologies. And some companies like Samsung or LG lead the global market.
But there are many sunk costs in research programs. Korean companies traditionally think little of engineering students. So, students hesitate to go engineering colleges and it can be great risks to korean technology. For example, Samsung considers engineering students as bluecollars and pay very little money to them. There are no countries in the world that despise these engineering students. I think it makes great distance between scientists and management in Korea. Most of managers don't have engineering skills at all and they just supervise performance of labs. Tf we want to be a advanced country, we have to throw away these concepts. And management should have special skills in engineering. I think it can be solved by enducating students both engineering and management. It's time to change our stereotypes and advance our viewpoints to the world.

Author: Aaron Ricadela
Title: HP Labs' Latest Experiment: Itself
Date: April 17, 2008, 5:00PM EST
Page: 1

reference:
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_17/b4081072888929.htm?chan=innovation_innovation+%2B+design_innovation+strategy
entry #10 20700067

Naver Under Siege in Antitrust Debate

NHN, the operator of the most used portal sites in Korea "Naver," is now charged with 227 million won in antitrust fine to the Fair Trade Commission. The FTC also stated NHN's monopolistic behavior in the Internet market, having more than 70 percent of the Internet search from Korea.

This first action by the FTC to rule over NHN for its monopolistic operation with Naver might facilitate further investigation of the government agencies to carefully analysis NHN's business progress until now. Having a huge amount of fine to pay and the government's observation from now on, it is possible that what used to be a creative decision making process might be slowed down after all.

Many other competitors have envied the success of Naver and put NHN on a lot of criticisms for having such a huge share in the Internet industry. Consequently, for many Koreans, when they open up the web browser, the first web page to appear is most likely Naver. The portal provides useful information including basic news to weather forecast, links to articles and blogs, and most importantly, a huge amount of knowledge database called "Ji-sik-in." One of the major criticisms NHN has been receiving is that they do not open up their datebase of Naver to other search engines unlike Google or Yahoo.

Of course, the company eagerly took an action insisting they will bring this to the court for the unfair charge against them. According to the article, NHN stated that since the Internet does not have any kind of barriers to entry, their success on Naver cannot be a monopolistic action.

In my opinion, having this kind of regulation over Naver is just a part of other competitors' jealous lobby to the goverment regulation because Naver is surely one of the best web sources where the information it provides is mostly accurate and productive. From basic new search to its blogs, photos and more, people are benefiting from the portal every day. Also, unlike other portal service providers, Naver is user-friendly, which means it's easy to use and not messy. I hope that instead of blaming NHN for its so called "monopolistic" behavior, other competitors would do the best work they could to compete fairly and equally with Naver.

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2008/05/123_23976.html

20620042 entry # 9

Huge Internet Portals

I read a news article reporting the change of market possession rate among huge internet portal sites. Since Naver of NHN has been the No.1 competitor for many years and it doesn’t seem to lose its top position, lots of portal sites have struggled to take the second place. However, despite the positions in the market, lots of portal sites have grown to become extremely huge and their role in the internet service is humongous. We cannot think of ourselves using internet without these portals, and therefore, we should really study about portal sites to use them effectively and to recognize the business affects of huge portals.

The reason why portal sites have become so popular is because they are the hubs of internet affairs. For example in Korea, almost every people using internet nearly automatically visit Naver/Cyworld/Daum homepage. They can communicate with others, read the latest news articles, and they can express their thoughts in these portal sites. Furthermore, people can get almost any information about what they do not know from portal sites’ searching function. In America, when people recognize that they have something they do now know while having a conversation, they simply say “Google it.” For all these reasons, we cannot think of not using portal sites while doing internet affairs. This is why portals have become so popular and huge.

The fact that some successful portal sites have become so popular and tens of millions of people are visiting these sites day by day has brought some other aspect. Lots of profit-oriented organizations which are trying to find the best way to advertise their products (i.e. movies, dramas, songs, clothes, shoes, etc.) have realized that putting commercial video clips or pictures on portal sites is amazingly effective. It’s quite obvious because if a picture was held like 10 minutes on portal front page, humongous number of people would have a look at it. And also, the effectiveness of putting commercials on portal sites has already been proved by its result. Many companies have recognized that it’s worth paying lots of advertisement fees to portal sites.

Portals are also making lots of money from individual users. There are lots of contents that attract millions of individual users to actually pay for achieving those contents (i.e. the acorn system of Cyworld). This business is really effective and well-going, and it is a good profit source to many portals.

Like this, we are living in a digital age in which huge portals have become so popular and important. Plus, we are experiencing the business aspect growth of several portals. In this situation, there are some advices to be recommended. For companies, it is recommended that they keep on using the portals as a way to advertise their products. And for individuals, it is recommended that they use portals just as they have been using it - communicate with others, search for information and such. In addition, why don’t some brilliant people create own portals? If someone who is really smart and confident can make such kind of portals, he/she can definitely make lots of money. In short, internet portals are opportunities.



Reference : http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&sid1=105&oid=076&aid=0000089609


20700273 – Entry 10

Nokia And Its Users

          As meeting the customers' demand is the major objective for all firms to fulfill, Nokia is finding a unique way to cooperate with their mobile users which wasn't something they had planned to see.

          March of 2007, Nokia introduced an application for their cellphones called Sports Tracker to open public which was designed to help some sports lovers such as runners, hikers, cyclists to use the global positioning capabilities that are included in some Nokia models. Researchers and developers of the application haven't expected that it would be used by so many people; ever since they posted the application on the web, more than a million users have downloaded the software.

          Quite interesting fact is that people have used the appliation for the purposes which the developers haven't expected such as paragliding, hot-air ballooning, and motorcycle riding. Also, what is more important is that people who used the program have given them a lot of feedbacks to Nokia so they could improve the function of it and then release that again to the public. The current application allows "... to create online groups where users can share favorite routes and even photos they took along the way" (BusinessWeek).

          For the company, Nokia, having a keen relationship with their customers is a great business strategy since they could react to what the public wants or what they want to be fixed on Nokia's products. Not only it would save the money and time, but it would also have a great switching costs for the customers since they are having a good customer services with the feedback they are looking for. Using Nokia's Beta Lab Web site, which they post new application of user interface for the cellphones, allows Nokia users to download the application, try it, and then give some advices to the firm instantly. This process helps Nokia to meet high-tech users' rapid changing tastes.

          I have never used Nokia cellphone but when I work at the cellphone retailer store, Nokia was one of the most popular cellphone brands. Not only they have an affordable price, but the functions of each device are very easy to use and user friendly with less defects. Having a strong brand value not only helps firm to sustain its position in the market, but I think it would also affect the country where Nokia comes from - Finland. I hope Samsung, LG, or other newly established international organizations in Korea to be like Nokia so they could improve the image of the whole county.

Reference;

Ewing, Jack. "How Nokia Users Drive Innovation" BusinessWeek. April 30, 2008.

http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/apr2008/gb20080430_764271.htm?chan=innovation_innovation+%2B+design_top+stories

20601008 - 9th Entry

Best Buy's challenge to find a way out

I read an article about US retailer Best Buy's challenge to the European market. They recently 50% of Britain's Carphone Warehouse. And it cost them about $2.1 billion. They are a great electronic retailer and they achieved high performance in US, even in the recessions. Then what made them so urgently? It's because of their globalization. The world is changing day by day and markets of the world are integrating. Though Best Buy is a giant retailer, the advantage can disappear within a few years. The integrated labor force and supply chain can make a great retailer company. If Best Buy satisfy themselves and don't try to change their strategies, they will fail in business.

Best Buyer's choice is European market. Europe's customers have slow buying tendency and they don't change their elecronics rapidly. Because of these difficulties, they decided to progress their strategy step by step. Though they shared most of Europe retailers, they will not use their name immediately. Actually, they use other European retailer's brand. Of course, a few years later, they will use their own brand names. But in the market development process, companies have to inform customers their brands. If they just injected their name through ads, they cannot get positive image.

But there are many criticisms about Best Buyer. Critics say that the planned process can be harder than first thought. Firstly, European customers buy electronics less frequently than US customers. And also recessions of European economies are obstacles of Best Buy's challenge. Thirdly, the main product of Best Buy is carphone. And carphones are not translated into mainstream products.

I think Best Buyer's challenge is essential to the future of Best Buyer. If they don't do any challenges they will fails soon. Korean companies also face situations like Best Buyer. Many of our global companies are now facing some difficulties in competing with world class companies. We have to find the Blue Ocean. If we cannot do things like that, we will lose in global competition. Change is dangerous but necessary to the survival. It's time to change and innovate our entire structures.

Author: Mark Scott

Title: 'Best Buy Barges into Europe'

Date: May 8, 2008, 1:28PM EST

Page: 1

reference: http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/may2008/gb2008058_717135.htm?chan=technology_technology+index+page_top+stories

20700067 entry # 9

Park Ji - Sung in EPL

I recently read an article which informs us that South Korean international soccer player Ji – Sung Park scored a goal during his team’s English Premier League (which is one of the world’s best football league) football match against Fulham. I was really excited about this event because Ji – Sung Park is one of our national football team members, and simply, because he is Korean. However, there are some business issues that we should look at and study in Park Ji – Sung playing in EPL, not just caring about nationality.

Most of people do know that Ji – Sung Park earns tons of money playing in EPL. We all love him not just because he is Korean, but also he has made lots of deeds that no other Asian player can ever do again. He is our national pride. However, even though he is earning lots of money and he is our pride, it has nothing to do with our money and our business. There are some other factors that make Park playing in EPL a business, which we should not neglect to look at.

Manchester United, the team that Park Ji – Sung plays for, gives about 5,000,000,000 Won to Park per a year. Well, even though ManU is a rich club, that amount of money is not small. However, ManU gets even more money than that by having Park Ji – Sung as one of its players. First, Korea broadcasting companies such as ‘MBC espn’ pay for the relay fee to ManU and EPL when they relay matches that Park plays in. These days, other Asian countries like China and Japan are also relaying it on live. Second, ManU gets somewhat significant amount of money by letting Korean Firms to participate in marketing Ji – Sung Park in Korea. For example, the uniform of Park and the soccer shoes of Park are on sale in Korea. In short, all these factors enable ManU to feel that it’s worth to pay Ji – Sung Park lots of money. Not just because he plays well, but also he is a business icon.

Lots of Korean organizations paying money to ManU gets enough money to afford it, too. Several broadcasting systems that relay Ji – Sung’s matches gain profit by advertisement fees. Because lots of people are willing to watch Park playing in EPL, even though in late nights, many firms do think that it is really effective to put advertisements on that time. In fact, there are a few commercials that actually feature Ji – Sung Park in it. They turned out to be really influential on sales

So now, from all these factors, I am sure we all agree to the fact that Park playing in EPL is not just about his honor and wealth, but is also a profitable business to many organizations.



Reference : http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LS2D&mid=sec&sid1=108&sid2=211&oid=040&aid=0000050115


20700273 – Entry 9