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