HGU - Business Strategy "Shasta"

A Norwegian company's challenge to the car market

2008-06-20T23:01:00.003+09:00

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

2008-06-14T23:40:00.002+09:00

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

2008-06-13T21:41:00.003+09:00

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

2008-06-13T13:17:00.003+09:00

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

2008-06-13T12:42:00.002+09:00

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

2008-06-07T18:26:00.003+09:00

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

2008-06-06T22:37:00.003+09:00

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

2008-06-06T15:31:00.002+09:00

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

2008-06-03T16:36:00.005+09:00

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

2008-06-02T21:08:00.003+09:00

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

2008-05-30T21:54:00.003+09:00

          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

2008-05-30T16:12:00.002+09:00

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

2008-05-30T14:45:00.002+09:00

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

2008-05-30T11:36:00.003+09:00

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

2008-05-23T21:53:00.003+09:00

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

2008-05-23T16:06:00.004+09:00

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.

2008-05-23T11:14:00.002+09:00

          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

2008-05-19T01:30:00.004+09:00

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

2008-05-16T21:38:00.004+09:00

          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

2008-05-16T14:49:00.008+09:00

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

2008-05-16T13:23:00.003+09:00

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

2008-05-12T23:37:00.004+09:00

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

2008-05-10T22:08:00.001+09:00

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

2008-05-09T21:23:00.006+09:00

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

2008-05-09T19:04:00.003+09:00

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

2008-05-05T02:29:00.003+09:00

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

Social Networking Sites Losing Energy

2008-05-02T21:39:00.004+09:00

          What Cyworld does best is that it connects people all across the contry (now, all over the world) and allows people to share their personal photos, post journal, play videos and more. Since its capacity to search and pupularity among younger generation, it became Korea's number one social networking site very quickly.
          Although it's almost like a daily routine for cyworld users to check their so called "minihomepy" and post and scrap pictures, the popularity is now losing its power as people are now so used to it and have a full connection between people. This is not only Cyworld's problem, as MySpace launched its first service in Korea end of last month, it hasn't influenced many Korean users yet, having only 29,000 people had visited for the first week of its launch.
          SK Communication who owns Cyworld, reported "its revenue from the service decreased by 6 percent in the first quarter of the year, compared to the same period last year. Its sales were 19.3 billion won in the first three months of the year, down from 19.8 billion won in the previous quarter" (KoreaTimes).
          However, SK Communication stated that they will open up a new service in June which would have a 3D graphic interface allowing people to interact realistically in third-dimension world. Some experts are doubting that since few companies had already introduced such services but did not do well, Cyworld's new business plan has to be considered seriously to satisfy users' demand.
          I noticed that Cyworld recently has lowered its virtual currency called "dotori" so that people now can purchase songs and decorating items for their homepies. Affordability is an important purchase driving force in the business and lowering dotori might help SK Telecommunication. However, I really expect Cyworld to differentiate their services because these days many web-based social-networking sites offer very similar functions and services. Being the first in the market does not always guarantee the success.

Reference;
http://koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2008/05/123_23547.html

20601008 - 8th Entity

M&As, Restructuring to Sweep Delivery Services Industry

2008-05-02T17:09:00.003+09:00

I read an article about M&A on businesses on deliver service industry. The quick delivery service companies are having difficulties on doing business due to fierce competition in its market. It seems inevitable to offset worsening profitability and the Analysts expect a huge number of mergers and acquisition (M&A) among those companies. The problem is that there are too many players in the market share which is becoming limited for each company to earn profit. Also, a growing interest by conglomerates to jump into the parcel services is igniting competition in the market. This adds pressure on small or mid-tier firms to fold their businesses.
Kim Sung churl, an analyst of Hyundai securities stated that the market is overflowing with players in addition to conglomerates launching delivery business. Also, everyone, including the Big Four is going through rough times. He mentioned Big four as Hanjin Corporation, CJ GLS, Hyundai Express and Korea Express. It is respectively in terms of the number of packages they delivered to customers. Those four companies dominate 60 percent of the market which their businesses are not authentically verified by any organizations.In order to face the tough competition in the limited market share, CJ GLS has recently merged with CJ HTH. This signals that the market will once again be swept by M&As and restructuring. Until now, M&A have always been highly active in the market with small or mid-tier size firms and most of the times, they were acquired by conglomerates.
One of the examples of this is that before CJ had bought Samsung Corporation, they acquired mid-sized company. They bought Samsung Corporation before liquidating most of its retail and logistics businesses. For further examples, Eugene took over logen, Dongbu acquired Aju Logistics and KTlogis, and shinsegae launched sedex while Lotte is also consider jumping into the parcel business. Most companies are trying to survive and make it through the day by offering low delivery prices. The price competition is adding downward pressure on companies’ operating profits even though they managed to increase the volume of parcel deliveries. Those companies are in trouble for the prices are already too low and further lowering will bring less profit. For customers, this phenomenon benefits them and they will certainly shun companies that raise prices. Therefore, companies are expected to either put up for sale or restructure in the near future.
My opinion about this phenomenon is that the companies should make an agreement to stabilize the price to avoid reduction on profit. Also, for mid-size and large companies, they should either focus on searching for other market (new service) or compete fiercely until they acquire majority of their market share on quick delivery service. Since companies earn profit through services, they should improve or should come up with innovative strategies on their services to gain customer’s loyalty and win their competitors.

http://koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2008/05/123_23509.html

20620042 entry # 8

What is a great board?

2008-05-02T12:19:00.004+09:00

I read an article about building a great board. You may think that a great board is an architecture composed of talented people. The article refute to the common truth. A great board is not a composition of geniuses. Actually, it's like a sports team. You know the USA basketball team in 2004 Olympic. The team was composed of great super stars. They were all NBA's super stars. But their record was just a bronze medal. Then what was their problem? The problem was that they didn't play like a team. They were so self-admired that they didn't do excellent team play. I think the board also has to do team play. If they trust their name value and do things individually, they will eventually fail in business.

Then how can we make a great board? I want to compare boards between USA and Korea. In Korea, becoming a board of director means that they get honor. As a result, they often do their work without any pay. But in USA the wage structure is so strict that even directors get payed from company. But Korea's problem is corruption of boards. For example, korean directors often try to receive black money and give important position to their relatives or families. There are few good points of Korean directors, but I want to catch one point. This is the cooperation. Actually, American directors perform their work individually and do their work very well. Even though, their results sometimes bad or fail. I think the core of problem is lack of cooperation. You know the IMF in Korea. When IMF invaded Korea, many people thought that Korea will bankrupt within a few years. But Korea survived from the economic crisis. What was the motive power of Korea? I think it was great cooperation. Many big companies' directors made great cooperation and overcame the crisis. In this reason, the cooperation of board is so important.

In general, there are many good things in American boards. Also, Korean board members have to learn the efficiency and talent of American boards. But I think that there are always competitive advantage in each country's board. If we want to make a great board for our company, we have to benchmark other companies. Instead of making a board with super stars, we have to make a board with shaded players and super stars.

reference: http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/apr2008/ca20080429_920167.htm?chan=careers_managing+index+page_top+stories

20700067 entry # 8

Areas in Seoul, other than Gangnam

2008-04-28T00:17:00.003+09:00

I recently read an article which gives information about the recent trend of house prices in Seoul. According to the article, prices of small homes, homes in areas other than Gangnam (southeastern Seoul), and zones for urban redevelopment, which were unpopular until as recently as two to three years ago, are steeply rising as investors scramble to jump into the foray. In the meantime, homes in “bubble seven areas” which led home price gains, large sized home, and homes for reconstruction are quickly losing popularity in the face of a string of regulations, depressing their prices. The market trend has completely been reversed.

Before we talk about the home price differences among areas in Seoul – simply, Gangnam and not-Gangnam -, we should focus at Gangnam and study about it, first. Through many years, Gangnam and areas near Gangnam have been the No.1 district in Seoul. More concretely, Gangnam station district, Jamsil station district, MyungDong, ShinChon and such areas have been extremely popular and the home prices and business building prices in these areas were extremely high. As many people do know, the reason is quite simple. It is because of millions of people’s desire to settle in these areas. And the reason why many people want to settle in these areas is because these areas have lots of businesses and conveniences. In fact, millions of people come to these places everyday for various reasons. They come to work, study, sightseeing, hanging around and go home. All these popularities haven’t been settled in short period of time. It took many years to develop these areas and lots of years have past since these areas have become the heart of the Metropolis, which means that these areas will go on developing and popularizing unless there are some major events that can block them developing. However, the popularity of these areas has brought a serious gap between ‘Gangnam’s and ‘not-Gangnam’s.

The Korean government has done lots of thing to reduce the gap between ‘Gangnam’s and ‘not-Gangnam’s in Seoul. Several regulations were carried out to discourage the overdevelopment in ‘Gangnam’ areas. Since the home prices and business building prices in ‘Gangnam’s have decreased due to several regulations so far, it seems that the government’s actions are working. However, thing aren’t actually following the government’s will. Even though the prices have decreased a bit, it is not a critical decrease. In fact, more and more people are still actually coming to Gangnam areas for various reasons. Statistics cannot show the reality truly. Gangnam is Gangnam. It cannot be fallen in a short period time. And also, as a matter of fact, the government is making a mistake. Why would they want to discourage the development and well-going of Gangnam? It is certainly unreasonable. It they want to reduce the gap, they can certainly design some good places dealing with lots of businesses and entertainments in areas other than Gangnam. Is the way to reduce the gap is to discourage Gangnam? Absolutely no.

Reference : http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSOD&mid=sec&sid1=108&oid=014&aid=0001961192

20700273 – Entry 8

Samsung Will Invest W28 Tril. This Year

2008-04-25T18:36:00.008+09:00

          In addition to current three free economix zones, the government of Korea has chosen three more sites to be additional free economic zones today. Of course, the major objective for taking such a decision is to attract and bring more foreign investments.

          The three new economic free zones are illustrated in the picture, they are; Pyeongtaek, Gyonggi Province and Dangjin, South Chungcheong Province, and West Sea Area. The government selected these sites as strategic hubs hoping to revitalize the economy.

          Each site has its purpose to be selected as free economic zones. First of all, as Daegu is not on the coastal side whereas all the other sites, the governmemt will specialize the site in IT, textile industry, and machinery parts production, according to the article. The Gunsan area will be under cultivation in order to attract future business and tourism. Furthermore, the West Sea Area will be targeted as "center for global cooperation to compete with eastern Chinese economics districts" (Koreatimes)

          Other three already existing economic free zones are Incheon, Jinhae in Busan. and Gwangyang whici is in South Jeolla Province. Since these free economic zones are under a lot of ciriticism and having some problems among Korean investors, such as lobbying or illegal transactions, many experts are raising doubts for having additional free economic zones.

          We have talked about this free economic zones (AKA FEZs) in Korea for several times in Korea, and noticed that there are some questions to be solved in order for Korea to fully benefit from these areas by "...drawing foreign interests, capitalizing on their eligibility for building foreign facilities such as schools and hospitals, prior to nationwide deregulation" (KoreaTimes). Also, I personally think Korean investors should stand back from these zones for the national interests. What have been the problems in existing FEZs is that instead of attracting foreign investments, Koreans are the ones who are buying out all the real-estates and blocking foreign investors to put money in those free economic zones. We always have to see a big picture, and if we do so, I blieve we would have more chances in the future with successes in the FEZs for having abundant foreign investments.

Reference;
http://koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2008/04/123_23131.html

20601008 - 7th Entry

In CEO Succession, Stakeholder Matter

2008-04-25T17:24:00.003+09:00

I read a journal about potential successor of CEO position. When you leave the management position, there are many problem the candidate may face in the relationships with board members. Even though, the candidates are great in his or her career and can do well in the CEO position, it is useless if he can't get trust from board members. Accordingly, it is important that the former CEO must mediate between the potential successor and board members. The writer said that the relationship problems are very critical to the success of potential candidates. It may look so tiny that you can ignore the factors of relationships.

And also other stakeholders are very important. The most important factor is relationships with peers. If you are the CEO and you may think 'It's is all about my decision' , and can ignore the opinions from your subordinates. But the positive relationships between potential successors and peers are very important to the success of the company. If the successor have positive relationship with board members, he may think that ' that's all about relationship'. But the former CEO have to teach the successor that the positive relationship with peer groups are also very critical to his success.

And finally, relationship with customers are very important. The common mistakes that new CEO can commit are neglect the customers. He is very talented and effective person and he can focus only his tasks and ignore the problems that customers may have. I think this problem can be solved by some market researchs and the imformation from the former CEO.

The key stakeholders have great influences to the success of new CEO and the former CEO has to try to solve the relation problems that the potential successor can collide. I am not a CEO yet, but I think it is very important to know the methods successfully transfer my position to another person. In Korea, many of big companies are ruled by the family of founder. This is called a clan management. Many developed companies are now employing CEO from outer sides of their companies. But in korea, there are short of management specialists. Samsung, for example, there are very few managers from outer of the Samsung family. The chairman Lee Geon Hee, now excuting some succession process to his son Lee Jae Yong. But I think this is not good for the future of Samsung, and there must be a specialist of management. The remodeling task is very important because many of corruptions are came from these clan management. Now, Korea face a economy limit and there must be an innovative ways, and I strongly recommend the employment of specialists.

reference: http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/apr2008/ca2008048_044214.htm?chan=careers_managing+your+company+page_top+stories

20700067 entry # 7

Seoul, Beijing, Tokyo Eye Joint ATM Network

2008-04-25T16:26:00.003+09:00

I read about an article about integrating bank systems in three countries(Korea, China and Japan). South Korea has proposed China and Japan to make a joint ATM machines to enable travelers to withdraw cash at low costs from any where. The (BOK)Bank of Korea is planning to set up a joint electronic payment system controlling cash machines that are available to use in three countries.
The Central banks of South Korea, China and Japan agreed to discuss the idea and are conducting fesibility studies. The Bank of Korea suggested that countries should clear various obstacles to link ATMS (including cash machines). They said three countries need to stadardize related systems and design new cards to work by all ATMs in the If three countries decide to set up the joint network, soon they will launch a pilot system in a year of two. Korean, Japanese and Chinese travelers in Korea are currently using Visa or Master cards to withdraw cash in Tokyo, Beijing and seoul which they pay high fess for using currency exchange services and the card firm’s international network. People of Korea, China and Japan can save money under the new system of using cash machines in each others country. Also, they can use the same cash card in all the countries. The newly designed card will became a popular item for travelers because of Seoul, Beijing and Tokyo making efforts to promote cultural exchanges. The South Korean credit card spending in overseas had reached a new high of $6.37 billion in 2007. The number of travelers overseas has increased 13.3million which is twice the number of inbound travelers at 6.4. Most foreign tourist paid for goods and services in cash rather than with credit cards because of the won’t appreciation against major currencies.
In my opinion, implementing this system is a good way to improve customer service. Also, three country’s central bank will operate their system in an effective and efficient way because of integrating their bank systems. I am optimistic of this attempt in integrating three banks. The reason is that this will not only influence bank systems to consumers, but this will be an opportunity to share cultures and languages among countries so that they will improve both economic and political ways in the future.

http://koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2008/04/123_23115.html

20620042 entry - #7

Menswear get skinnier, slimmer

2008-04-24T11:54:00.002+09:00

I recently read an article which gave me information about the recent trend of menswear. It narrated that these days men are wearing more and more skinnier and slimmer clothes. It may be good news to some people who can manage to wear skinnier jeans and such. On the other hand, people who are not that skinny won’t welcome this kind of trend. Nevertheless, if the trend is becoming like that, people – suppliers, customer – should be ready to follow the trend.

The trends of men’s/women’s clothes are always changing. They don’t stay still. There are various reasons why the trends keep changing. It may be because of the customers who want to try new type of clothes, and it may be because of the designers who keep making new kinds of cloth designs. However, the most important issue on this subject is that the companies which are making clothes, shoes and such are the ones who make and lead the trend. Simply, they keep promoting new ones to attract customers. For example, if a mobile phone company has sold 100 phones to 100 customers, the customers won’t need any new phones. In this situation, if the company wants to go on making profits, they have to launch new phones with high-tech and better design using various ways – R&D, Invention, Innovation. If they do, even though most of customers will still use the old ones, they’ll be able to sell at least 30~40 new phones to the previous customers. But if they don’t, they won’t be able to survive. Like this, companies making clothes keep promoting new ones to attract customers. Jeans and shirts and all those stuffs are the ones that last at least half a year. But if the customers don’t buy new clothes for about half a year, the cloth making companies won’t survive. They need to persuade the customers to buy new clothes. Therefore, they make new clothes and they promote them by advertisements and such. This is a simple truth that most people do know but don’t try to do something about it.

Now that both constituents of the simple truth do know about it, there are things for them to do. For the companies, there is a critical need for them to recognize that making new clothes isn’t the ultimate goal. Simply, one company isn’t the only one who makes new clothes. There are lots of competitors. In this situation, the company should develop two ways. First, it should compete with other companies by advertisements and sales promotions and such. It has to persuade the potential customers to acknowledge the fact that its clothes are better than other companies’ in designs and practical uses. Second, they have to innovate their own clothes style. Just competing with others to take more place in the market won’t bring them much profit. They have to invent something that cannot be replaced by anything. Nike basketball shoes featuring Michael Jordan is an example. People buy the shoes at anytime and anywhere. There is no trend. This kind of product lasts somewhat longer than other ones which have to keep following the market trends. Companies should recognize this fact. They have to make some invaluable products that cannot be replaced by anything and cannot be regarded as old style by the recent trend.

The customers also have to find a way to be economical. If they just keep buying new clothes not to fall behind in changing trends, they will not find themselves satisfied and won’t be able to be frugal. They have to recognize the fact that companies make somewhat long-lasting products. They have to find these jeans, shirts and shoes. They have to keep this in mind unless they’re millionaires.

Reference : http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LS2D&mid=sec&sid1=108&sid2=210&oid=044&aid=0000072060

20700273 – Entry 7

Posdata to launch IPTV in California

2008-04-18T15:38:00.002+09:00

POSDATA is an Internet and network service subidiary. This company is from the largest steel producer in Korea called POSCO. Recently, it has been diversifying its portfolio to diverse network equipment(such as Mobile WiMax). They have the experience of doing content business such as animation and traffic information in Korea. Also, they have experience in building the IPTV system of Hanarotelecom. With these experiences and local marketing activities, their primary goal is to dominate the market before others get in on the business.
POSDATA is aiming at approxiamately 1 million ethnic Koreans living in the west coast of U.S, California. This year september, they will start Internet-Protocol TV services (IPTV) by setting up joint venture with Celrun, a set-top box maker, and Acanettv, a digital TV platform provider. POSDATA will settle their Internet TV station based on Los Angeles. The initial capital of the joint ventrue is to be $ 104 million. The name and their brand of the new company will be announced soon and the firms did not breakdown their investment but POSDATA will be the leader of consortium. This is another hard challenge for a Korean IT firms to offer services business on the U.S because previous attempts of other firms had mostly failed. The giant conglormerate, SK telecom, is an example of many struggles of signing up subscribers for its Helio mobile phone services in the American soil for several years. So POSDATA made their business strategy by targeting the huge Korean people first to minimize the risk. Also, they are waiting for other local TV companies in California to party their consortium to share both fincancial burden and opportuinties. California has the largest korean ethincs residents in the world. According to Korean embassy, there are about 340,000 legal and illegal Koreans living in Los Angeles. There are already several Korean-language cabel channels in serivce but none of them has video-on-demand service of popular Korean TV programs. However, POSDATA said, Korean dramas and entertainment shows will be the main items of the new IPTV serivce. After that, education, shopping, karaoke and games will be shown. IPTV refers to paid IV services that use home broadband Internet lines to receive IV signals. It is becoming popular in many nations such as Western Europe and Hong Kong since it offers video-on-demand movies and other advanced functions.
In my personal opinion, I think POSDATA will succeed in their strategy in focusing on Korean residents in California. Since Koreans are strong in keeping their ethincity, they will be glad to have a new serivce on Korean TV shows with more conveinency. While experiencing Korean-American residents, I am sure that they would find the right taste of pure American needs. I think niche on Korean residents and gradual expansion of the TV market will bring success to POSDATA.

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2008/04/123_22704.html

20620042 - Entry #6

Apple's small failure in Europe

2008-04-18T13:07:00.005+09:00

Apple is famous for it's innovative product; iphone. Apple was survived from their big failure in computer industry by the success of iphone. But their wonderful product is not effective in Europe market. There are many factors of this short period failure. At first, iphone's price is too high to European. Actually, there are world's mobile leading company, the Nokia. And Nokia sells their mobile phone at very low price compared to that of Apple. Next, the monopoly of mobile carrier in each european country is a cause of Apple's damage. In European countries, government allow only one mobile carrier. It's very different environment to Apple. Because there are many mobile carriers in America. And because of this monopoly, Apple cannot adapt to the need of mobile market.
Consequently, now there are many inventories of iphone. Although now Apple is selling their old iphone at a bargain price, the utility is too low. If Apple launch their new iphone same way, they must fail in the market. And this may result in a serious damage to Apple. I think they have to research the mobility of European market. Maybe they have some self-contentment of their high technology. But they completely guessed wrong about the tendency of European consumers.
Through this failure, Korean companies must learn the importance of prudent market research. Maybe Apple didn't do enough research about the habits of European people. They only consider the function and design of their product. And now there are many global companies in Korea. And they contribute to Korea economy very well. Their products are so popular and effective in all around of the world. But when they don't do enough market research, I'll give assurance, they will fail. Of course now they do very well in global market, but I think they have to learn some lessons from Apple's failure.

reference: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_17/b4081000500950.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index_businessweek+exclusives

entry 6 20700067

MySpace offers site designed for Korea

2008-04-17T14:22:00.003+09:00

          One of the most well-known personal homepage provider MySpace is now heading its way to Korea, where young Korean generation's internet entertainment is highly achieved through such activities. It's a part of the ongoing process of MySpace's effort to expand internationally, and in order to differenciate, they have also included some of the new features to its Korean version MySpace, so called "Minilog."
          Korean youths like to have their toughts and daily stories to be written down on their mini homepages and decorate them; Minilog features enable that kind of activities on MySpace. Also, color blue, which MySpace traditonally has been using, has been softened to make Korean users to feel more comfortable and intimated by the design.
          Since there is a company called Cyworld in Korea which provides almost same service as MySpace does, it would face a tense competition in Korea. Cyworld is already well-known for its high quality social-networking system through so called, "mini-homepy" and has been used widely by both young and old generations.
          According to the article, the chief executive of MySpace stated that the company has cooperated with local specialists to imply Korean social culture to its web. He also said that they are hoping MySpace tp be "...a way for Koreans to connect with Americans and others around the world" (BusinessWeek).
          I'm currently using Cyworld, and few days ago, it introduced a new software to upload pictures to the mini-homepy. With the new features, I can decorate, resize, put text in it, adjust the colors and more. Using Cyworld has been always easy, and because of its user-friendly interface and ability to connect great number of people all toegher, it became one of young generation's must-have culture. I tried MySpace when I was in the states; however, since I was so used to Cyworld, I thought some of the features that MySpace has were quite useless or inconvenience. To get Koreans' attention and have them to use MySpace would have to go through a lot of deep analysis and strategies. If they could provide something that Cyworld hasn't done yet, I believe there is always a great potential in any social-networking industry on the web.

Reference;
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/tech/D901UJT03.htm

20601008 - Entry 6th

KTF seeks to bolster its global business

2008-04-13T00:46:00.004+09:00

I recently read an article announcing KTF’s global business. It told me that KTF is now seeking to bolster its global business by investing its money and operating its service in emerging markets with high growth potential. It is certainly a good idea of the company because firms operating in our nation will not manage to survive unless they seek and develop markets outside of this country.

KTF is the nation’s second largest mobile carrier. According to a statistical resource in 2007, KTF has 12772526 members out of 39703210 in market total. Simply thinking, KTF is a successful company and it is making lots of money by its mobile service. In addition, a new kind of service brand ‘SHOW’ has brought lots of new customers to KTF. It is sure that KTF is doing well and it won’t lose its position unless it makes some critical mistakes. However, the situation isn’t that simple. Although it is performing its service pretty well and it is making its profits quite good, there are some difficulties. Frankly speaking, KTF is not the only one who is facing some uncontrollable difficulties. Mobile carriers in Korea – KTF, SKT, LGT – is now facing a situation pretty much alike to a war. Because the domestic market is already been saturated, it is really difficult to make a new customer. For example, If there are 90 people who can use mobile phones out of 100 and the competing firms has already made 88 customers in total, it is impossible to make new customers. It is simply true in mobile service market in Korea. There aren’t any left spaces that the competing firms can take over. Consequently, this brought a war among the companies. They’ve been having ad-wars, trying to attract customers of other firms to change their suppliers. Also, they’ve been persuading customers of other companies to use their service, providing new cellphones in low price. But, this is non-sense. It doesn’t make any difference. Even though one company successes to steal other firms customers, it won’t be so profitable to them. They’ll have to pay the cellphone price for their new customers, and they’ve already used lots of money in advertisements and sales promotion. Simply, the only way to get out of this bloody environment is to expand its service areas to overseas. From this point of view, KTF’s movement is quite wise and appropriate.

KTF has not mad any significant actions in global business. The only impressive movement it has made is the major investment abroad with the acquisition of Malaysian 3G startup U Mobile with Japan’s NTT DoCoMo, both investing a combined $200 million for a 33 percent stake in U Mobile. However, even though its movement is not that big, it will bring some positive effects. The thing is, KTF actually performed an overseas investment, not just having ideas about it. This really is a good sign. They’ve actually tried to find a way out of the red ocean, domestic market. Furthermore, if KTF successes its venture in overseas, other competitors – SKT and LGT – will try to expand their service areas to overseas as well. This will somewhat reduce the tightness in domestic market, which is a positive effect. In addition, if these three companies make success in outside of Korea, they will be able to get revenues from outside of Korea, which means they have outer sources of money to provide quality services in Korea, and which means the service fees will eventually decline. This is why most of mobile customers in Korea is welcoming KTF’s adventure.

Reference : http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSOD&mid=sec&sid1=108&oid=044&aid=0000072041

20700273 - Entry 6

KRX, BlueNext Seek Carbon Trading Tie-up

2008-04-11T17:56:00.002+09:00

BlueNext is established in France in January 2008 by Euronext and Caisse (French state bank). It is a carbon emissions market and Euronext owns 60 percent of stake in BlueNext. BlueNext is looking forward to expand more of their business to North America and Asia. It currently has 73 members from the fields of energy, finance and environment to trade. They are selling products such as EUA (European Union Allowances) on the market and have plans to come up with a new product called CER (Certified emission reductions).
The (KRX) Korea Exchange and BlueNext are considering of building partnership on the development of a carbon trading market in Korea. The partnership could be in the form of an alliance through cross-shareholdings. Another way is developing emission credit products for listing. The reason is that both sides are hoping to build a trading platform that allows domestic firms to buy and sell carbon credits abroad through BlueNext. KRX is seeking to establish a carbon trading market before 2013. They want to be ahead of other Asian markets such as Hong Kong, Japan and China. Currently, Korea is the world’s 10 largest emitter of carbon dioxide. Both KRX and BlueNext want to discuss more on the establishment of a carbon trading market. Samsung Economic Research Institute noted that carbon trading market is expected to reach 150 billion dollars worldwide by 2010. The world’s biggest carbon market, Europe, is accounting 80 percent of total trading.

http://koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2008/04/123_22272.html

20620042 - entry #4

Credit Card Spending Sets New Record

2008-04-11T16:58:00.003+09:00

          Because of its easiness to use, people are spending more with the credit cards instead of cash. The rate of credit card usage had been declining lately; however, according to the research, it has rapidly increased since late February which set the new record of 25.8 trillion won. It is a 25.5% compared to March of last year.

          One of the main reasons is that now people can pay the bills using the credit cards and still have all the benefits of its mileages and promotions as well. Although the card spending is more than ever, according to the article, Credit Finance Association states that it's hard to tell it's a sign that the economy is recovering because number of card users have grown, too.

          Actually, according to the article, “the consumer confidence index fell to its lowest level in 23 months in March as more consumers turned pessimistic about their living conditions this year due to growing costs, the National Statistical Office said Monday” (BusinessWeek).

          The concern about “credit crunch” like in the state is also growing as more people are using the credit cards; however, the Bank of Korea says that only a part of people have lend riskier mortgage. Also, banks in Korea now have strict regulations for lending money in order to keep the interest rates low.

          I also sometimes use credit card and enjoy all the benefits from it including promotion, discounts, easy balance transfer and so on. Using such conveniences help us to live easier and more comfortably. However, when it goes beyond the line, it always makes problems. Many experts elaborate that using credit card can be beneficial, but also risky at the same time. I think using it wisely and putting it under your control are the most important facts for using the credit cards.

Reference;
http://koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2008/04/123_22216.html

20601008 - 5th Entry

To be an entrepreneur: Risk Taking

2008-04-11T12:27:00.006+09:00

I read a journal about the risk taking of entrepreneurs and what entrepreneurs should check before they start their businesses. The 4 basic points that the writer suggested are Training, Tools, Fitness, Partners. He explained the concepts of these by comparing entrepreneurs to ice climbing. When we decide to clime a vertical ice mountain, we have to ready for several things. We have to practice the climbing and the uses of climbing tools and improve the strength of our body, and most importantly pile up trust with our climbing partners.

In fact, starting a business is like a gamble. Because we have to invest our house, money, and almost everything. Also the success of a business is dependent on the possibility. Even if we exert to succeed our businesses, the key is mostly dependent on the environments of markets. But through some steps we can minimize the risk of uncertainty. Here I will introduce the basic steps. As I already wrote in first paragraph, the points are Training, Tools, Fitness, and Partners.

At first, Training means the judgment that we have to process when we knock against a problem. We have recognize proper skills and strategies in each problem. Secondly, Tools are strategie that we can use when initiate our business in a creative way. For example, we can choose several creative products before begin our business. The more suitable to the market, the more we can earn profits. Next, Fitness is a process that improves our reflection to the fluid market. Before we decide to start our business, we have to research the market and ready for the needs of the market. Through the process, we can respond to the market fluidly. Lastly, Partners are necessary to minimize the risk. We have to pile up trust with our close business partners. When we meet the emergent capital insufficiency, we can borrow some money from them. And also we can gain confidence in the market.

I think the decision to start a business is a difficult thing. Almost 90 percent of the ventures fail in the first period of the business. But to be an entrepreneur is so interesting to me. If we make full effort to prepare our business, we can succeed in the turbulance market. And also these ventures are the motive power of economies.

reference: http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/mar2008/id20080312_205292_page_2.htm

entry 5 20700067 Kim Nam Joong

No way out from Iraq

2008-04-07T12:16:00.004+09:00

I read an article about the war in Iraq. The article told me that the situation in Iraq is very bad and it is not a good situation to America. It gave me a briefing of how the war began and what’s up to this day. Simply, although we cannot say that America’s decision to begin a war was absolutely wrong, it is certain that the outcomes did not turn out to be as what it was in American governors’ mind. There seems to be no end in this war and more and more people are dying. There is a well-known Pay-Per-View in WWE, which is called ‘No Way Out.’ It really seems to be a ‘No Way Out’ to America.

Briefly speaking, the beginning and the current situation of this war is like this. After 9/11, America was really concerned about terrorism. It really wanted to keep itself from terrorism, didn’t want any similar event to happen. So, President Bush went on not only to protect America from terrorism but also to attack terrorists in advance. Iraq was somewhat known as a dangerous country. America assumed that Saddam Hussein has lots of mass destruction weapons in Iraq. So, American armies attacked Iraq. They simply won but that was not it. It turned out to be that there was no such thing as mass destruction weapon in Iraq. America got blames because most of countries thought that America was trying to achieve the oil in Iraq. In addition, even though America was the winner of this war, the war actually did not end. “Small wars” between US troops and terrorists such as al-Qaida are still in progress and there seems to be no way out of this serial disaster. Time went by and more and more people got dead. However, the situation did not change at all. America is still having difficulty dealing with terrorism and there is no certain prediction about when US troops will leave Iraq.

Frankly speaking, there are some good aspects that America has done in this war. The most important thing is that the collapse and death of Saddam Hussein actually brought some sort of democracy to Iraq. The thing is that that’s not what is important. America should leave Iraq as soon as possible. America had already lost justification when it couldn’t find mass destruction weapons in Iraq. Spending more time in Iraq and trying to make change the situation are making the situation worse. They should leave. Needless to say about the importance of people’s lives and peace, America and its alliances are having difficulties in economy. Ironically, most of people do know that the war in Iraq is very critical to the economy of America and its alliances, buy they don’t know about it concretely.

People in the world do know that America is a huge country. Not only its land-size but also its economy scale is humongous. Yet, people don’t know that military business such as selling weapons to other countries takes a lot of part of US economy. America earns lots of money by selling its military equipments to other nations. Many countries such as Korea are eagerly willing to pay lots of bills to buy US fighting planes. This really makes a lot of money for America. For example, although they lost in the war in Vietnam, America had made a lot of money due to this war. So, not only did America wanted to get oils in Iraq, but also wanted to makes use of its military stuffs by attacking Iraq. Plus, they wanted to show off to other nations about its militarily excellence, encouraging others to buys its fighter planes and such. However, America was somewhat wrong. America has already spent more than 800 trillion won in this war, which is more than 3 times of Korean national budget (250 trillion won). Moreover, there is no certain plan about when US will leave Iraq completely, which means they have to spend more money. This is a bad news to America.

For these reasons, America should get out of Iraq. Not only the matter of peace but also the matter of economy is threatening it. America should find a way although there seems to be no way.

Reference :http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSOD&mid=sec&sid1=108&oid=040&aid=0000050628

20700273 – Entry 5

Samsung, the pride of Korea

2008-04-04T18:21:00.005+09:00

I read an article which told me that Samsung marked the 70th anniversary of its founding on March 22. It was very interesting because I didn’t know that Samsung had a long history like that.

Samsung is one of the most successful corporations in Korea. Needless to say about its influence on Korean economy, it actually marked its sales to 152 trillion won in 2006, 14.2 trillion won in net profit, and 64 trillion won in export. But then, now what? So far, Samsung seems to be the most successful company in Korea. However, there are some critical threats that can damage Samsung’s strength seriously.

Samsung is now facing a huge legal problem. The lawyer who worked for Samsung came out of the company, and he revealed some serious illegal actions that Samsung did in the past. Even though no one thinks that Samsung will collapse because of this matter, Samsung is having a hard time. In addition, the global market seems to be not so easy to Samsung. Although Samsung did make a great job in the past, there is no certain prediction that Samsung will go on its business successfully in the future. In short, Samsung is now facing some threats that can seriously damage its business career, which means Samsung is in need for solutions.

There are two kinds of solutions that can be done to help Samsung come out of this situation. First, the government and social organizations should give Samsung some kind of a favor. Even though Samsung made some illegal mistakes, why don’t we give it a break? Korea is now the 12th rich nation in the world, and everyone agrees that Korea is going its way to become an advanced country. However, without Samsung still competing in the global market, Korea will not be strong enough to keep on developing. It is certain that Samsung got lessons from this matter, so why don’t we just give it a favor?

Second, Samsung itself should keep go on developing its strength. Great deeds in the past and possessing lots of money in current situation, doesn’t mean that it will be the same in the future. Samsung should make some dramatic movement to fulfill the challenge that it’s facing. They should invest more money on R&D, and they should pick great young people to lead its future. Not only excellent in academic skills, but also fulfilling the need of honesty in the environment. In short, they should pick HGU students.

Reference : http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSOD&mid=sec&sid1=108&oid=014&aid=0001955903

20700273 Entry 4

Woori Bank to Cut Money Transfer Fees

2008-04-04T17:12:00.002+09:00

Having money transfered in Korea always has been a pain of the neck since the transaction fees were too high compared to any other countries. Unless you are covered with some sort of special promotion or on a contract, some customers have to pay the fees even the transation was happened within their bank.

From this Friday, Woori Bank announced that it would decrease its transation fees at its offline outlets nationwide to help people who are using the service instead of online banking which the fee is much cheaper.

According to the article, Woori Bank will "...lower charges on remittance of less than 100,000 won ($103) for Woori customers to other banks to 1,000 won ($1.3) from 3,000 won. " (BusinessWeek). Also, the commision on transactions of 100,000 won to 1 million won will be lowered to 2,000 won from 3,000 won. The fees for the intra transfers will be also cut down to 500 won and 1,000 won depending on whether the amount is less or more than 1 million won.

In an effort to decrease the transaction fees, the government also played an important role to pressure the major banks to cut down its fees. The Fair Trade Commission charged 9.59 billion won in fines last month on eight mojor banks in Korea for fixing foreign currency commission fees. Some pundits are worrying that if the government gets into the action directly, it might promote those major banks to work together and protest against the goverment's action; however, since so many citizens or their service users are finding that the fees are too high in Korea, the article states that other banks are more likely to follow Woori Bank's steps.

I think it's about time for banks in Korea to lower their service charges. When I had accounts with Bank of America or HSBC Direct, they didn't charge that much for the services, and often they even eliminated the fees if I was using their ATM machines. Therefore, I strongly agree with their efforts to meet customer's demand and needs.

Reference;
http://koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2008/04/123_21942.html

20601008 - 4th Entry

LG Telecom Launches Open Internet for Mobiles

2008-04-04T17:02:00.002+09:00

LG Telecom mad a new challenge to local mobile internet environment by launching an open, full-browsing internet service at a low price. They Launched the Oz service on Thursday, with an attractive fixed-rate plan that allows unlimited data download for 6000 won per month (It is $6 per month). The CEO of LG telecom, Jung ll- Jae said that before Oz, phone users had to visit firms’ portal sites to gain access to the mobile Internet and they had to pay for information which was free for PCs. Now they will develop an open Internet world for mobile phones where everyone can enjoy the Internet. Mobile Internet services in Korea are provided in a closed portal from each telecom companies. Mostly, they are slow, hard to customize. Also, users, internet companies and foreign phone makers were frustrated by this too. Portals are notorious for charging users for services and data subscription fees were much higher than broadband Internet fees for PCs. The CEO had decided that it is time to open up the mobile Internet environment for users to freely go to the websites just like using PCs. LG telecom first introduced two premium handsets from LG Electronics and Japan’s Casio for the launch of the Oz service. However, the CEO’s mind is to sell more than ten models in 2008. Just the reminder, the overall users for each top three Telecom firms in South Korea is 22.4 million for SK Telecom, 13.9 million for KTF and 7.9 million for LG telecom. SK Telecom and KTF have been investing to establish the third-generation (3G) platform(WCDMA), which allows face to face video call services. LG telecom has gone a separate way and improved its existing 2G network with much less investment. They focused on implementing the full screen PC internet interface onto the small phone screen.

http://koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2008/04/123_21896.html

20620042 entry #4

Google's green light: turbulent ad war

2008-04-04T15:54:00.003+09:00

I read a article that Google's aquisition is approved. Recently, the Microsoft, dominant software company, tried to take over Yahoo. And Google, dominant serching company, now try to take over DoubleClick. In the searching service industry, the advertising power is very important. And it decides the market share of the company. Google occupied almost 70 percent of the search market. And the second is Yahoo.

The EU approved Google's extension. Even before that time, EU thoroughly regulated monopoly. But now Google has the rights to occupy the Europe market. On the other hand, Microsoft didn't get approval to merge Yahoo. Microsoft is already a huge and monopolic company in software market. If Microsoft occupy the searching and displaying market, Microsoft can become a supernational company. In America, the antitrust law is very powerful. Then, why the government don't regulate Google? It's because the government admited somewhat monopoly. But they regulate the conglomerate monopoly.

What are advantages of that companies by taking over other internet companies? The article says it's because the share of ad banners. You see everyday ad banners everywhere. And you might think 'Why companies try these things? I think it's wastes of money.' . But actually the influences of that ads are very effective. And that's the reason companies try to influence their share in the ads market like banners. Google's aquisition will bring many powerful influences in search market.

I think the monopoly is the common flow of the world. But excessive monopolies must be regulated by governments or nonprofit organizations. If we could't defend this flows, and someday the basis of capitalism will crumble

20700067 entry 4

reference: http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/mar2008/tc20080311_855889.htm?chan=innovation_branding_top+stories

Strenght Weakness Opportunities and Treats analysis

2008-03-28T18:06:00.009+09:00

SWOT Analysis, is a strategic planning tool used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats involved in a project or in a business venture. It involves specifying the objective of the business venture or project and identifying the internal and external factors that are favorable and unfavorable to achieving that objective. the awot anylysis provides information that is helpful in matching the firm's resources and capabilities to the competitive enironment in which it operates. As such, it is instrumental in strategy formulation and selection. The following diagram shows how a SWOT analysis fits an enironmental scan. STRENGHTS: A firm's strenghts are its resource and capabilities that can be used as a basis of developing a competitie advantage. example of such strenghts include: patients, strong brand names, good reputation among customers, cost adantages from propriety know -how, exclusive access to hig grade natural resources, favorable to distribution networks. WEAKNESS: the absence of certain strenghts may be viewed as a weakness .For example lack of patient protection, a weak brandname, poor reputation among customers, high cost structure. I n some cases weakness may be the flip side of a strenght. for example a firm has a large amount of manufacturing capacity . while this capacity may be considered a strenght that competitors do not share, it alos may be a considered a weakness if the large investment in manufacturing capacity prevent the firm from reacting quickly to changes in the strategic environment. OPPORTUNITIES The external environmental analysis may reveal certain new opportunities for profit and growth. fro example an unfulfilled customer need, arrival of new technologies, loosening of regulations, removal of international trade barriers, TREATS Changes in the external environmental also may present treats to the firm. For example shifts in customers tastes away from the firm's products, emergence of substitute products, new regulations, increased trade barriers. SWOT Matrix: The SWOT Matrix helps visualize the analysis. Also, when executing this analysis it is important to understand how these element work together. When an organization matched internal strengths to external opportunities, it creates core competencies in meeting the needs of its customers. In addition, an organization should act to convert internal weaknesses into strengths and external threats into opportunities. http://www.quickmba.com/strategy/swot/ postes bu 20700735 entry number 3

Global Management, R&D to Drive Up SK

2008-03-28T17:25:00.003+09:00

I read about an article of Korea’s third-largest conglomerate SK’s Research and Development. SK wants to expand their company globally, and is aiming to solidify its position overseas and widen research and development in the life sciences industry. SK, established SK International (SKI) this year to maximize the efficiency of all offices abroad (They have offices at U.S, China, and Vietnam.). Chey Tae-won, the Chairman of the company is searching for new opportunities to be in the top conglomerate in the world. He met several leaders during a conference called Davos and discussed constructing a U-City in Saudi Arabia and a cude oil processing plant in Kuwait with President Roh Moo-hyun. Company officials say the CEO’s strategy in global management is directly translated into company revenue. SK earned $25 billion last year and assuming approximately $27 billion this year. The Core businesses in SK are energy and telecommunications which both made an important leap outside Korea. SK telecom has selling mobile phones in U.S and China. They are searching for more countries to launch their product by entering the Indian and Indonesian markets that seems to have potentials. They are also currently carrying out exploration projects worldwide with the company currently securing proven reserves of 510 million barrels of oil in fourteen countries such as Brazil, Peru, and Vietnam.
For Research and Development, SK invested one trillion won this year for the first time which is 14 percent of the company’s annual investment. They have six operating local R&D centers and opened seven more during the same period to expand into diverse research areas. Also, there are more than 2000 staff researchers overseas such as New Jersey, Shanghai, and Bejiing to focus more on R&D. There are several successful R&D and one of the examples of it is Advanced Catalytic Olefin (ACO) technology. It gives higher overall olefin yields. The company’s investment on R&D does not stop and is planning on extend ongoing developments by setting next year’s R&D budget about 10 percent higher.

http://koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2008/03/234_14691.html

20620042 – Entry 3

SK Telecom's Discounts on Data Roaming in Asia

2008-03-28T17:16:00.003+09:00

          In an effort to increase data usage in overseas, the largest wireless company in Korea, SK Telecom, is giving a major discount on data roaming service in eight Asian countries. The discount would be applied through a flat-rate data plan beginning on April 14, and it would allow internet users in countries like Hong Kong, Singapore, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Australia and Taiwan, to have an access to internet 85 percent cheaper than the normal rate. However, the discount would not be applied to the voice calls.
          This new business strategy was possible because SK Telecom and other 11 large wireless operators in Asia, SingTel of Singapore, Maxis of Malaysia, Bharti Airtel of India and Telkomsel of Indonesia, had agreed on joining the "Bride Alliance." According to the article, "the Bridge Alliance has about 200 million subscribers in 11 nations. SK Telecom joined them last year as its 10th member." (BussinessWeek)
          Although the current data usage in other countries is not that big, SKT is expecting it would fit the increasing demand of international data service. The promoting data service would be available only for SKT's WCDMA services. SK Telecom's goal is to "...encourage the use of automatic roaming of WCDMA phones and make SKT's roaming leadership concrete via partnership with global players." (BusinessWeek)
          I'm not a passionate data user since the rate is relatively very expensive and there are not that many components that I need from mobile internet service. However, I heard that many industries are now using such technology to connect employees in overseas together and communicate through mobile internet or e-mail services. I think it would be very pleasant news for many businessmen since they could save a lot of money when they use data service in some of the countries in Asia. It's yet only for SK Telecom users; however, both KTF and LG Telecom are now competing aggressively over reducing rates of both voice and data service, I think it's a matter of time that the other two would follow the steps that SK Telecom is doing now.

Reference;
http://koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2008/03/123_21508.html

20601008 - 3rd Entry

NOKIA in Korea

2008-03-28T12:25:00.001+09:00

I read an article which gives information about recent Mobile Phone business in South Korea. It says that NOKIA is meeting the opportunity to expand its market rate in Korea. Well, we all know that this Finnish brand is the number one competitor in mobile phone business in the world. According to the article, its market share percentage is even bigger than the sum of Samsung, Motorola and Sony-Ericsson. Then, what makes it so fresh news that NOKIA is expanding its market share in Korea?

In the past days, NOKIA wasn’t able to perform well in Korea. The mobiles service operators in Korea were somewhat hostile to other phone-making companies like NOKIA, which are not Korean companies. Also, the Korean government was definitely not familiar to companies from other nations. It had lots of regulations and barriers. However, the situation is getting changed. These days the Korean government is realizing the fact that they should open the mobile phone market to other nations’ companies to prevent monopoly by few companies in Korea, or to lessen the monopoly situation. In addition, the mobile service operators in Korea - KTF, SKT, and LGT – is trying to adapt the WCDMA system which is an universal platform, and NOKIA owns many core technologies there and can produce good phones at lower prices compared to other makers. Either way, it is an ongoing truth that NOKIA is getting more and more favorable view and treats from Korea.

It is definitely good news to NOKIA and other corporations in mobile phone business which are trying to enter the Korean market. However, there are some argues whether it is good or not to Korea itself. To customers who want to have different mobile phones other than they used to have will greet this situation. And to customers who want to have various selections of mobile phones will be pleased to have the opportunity to buy phones from other companies. It is good news to the customers. But, there is some aspect that is not good. Even though the world is getting more and more related to each other and globalization is not news anymore, it doesn’t mean that there should be no barriers in business. Very exclusive barriers are not good because the customers won’t get enough advantages. But also, very few barriers are not good because it won’t be able to protect domestic companies from the attack of other nations’ companies. Well, I guess the most important thing is to be moderate. Not so exclusive and not so familiar.

Reference : http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/tech/2008/03/129_20853.html

20700273 - Entry 3

Succession Planning: The most critical work for the Board

2008-03-28T02:06:00.004+09:00

I read a article about succession planning of companies. Actually, I didn't read something like this article. In Korea, the succession of CEO is almost same as the succession of ownership. Because Korean enterprisers have an unusual concept that their children should succeed their businesses. But the article says that the planning of succession is very critical work. In America, there is many boards, but few boards are planning the next generations of their CEOs or managers. If they don't prepare this project, their company can be bankruptcy soon. The CEO's tasks are so important that these can influence the possibility of the company's survival.
Today, many major companies in America, are going bankruptcy because of the errors of poor CEOs. When Boards don't prepare for the succession of CEO, they can make mistakes in the process of selecting their new CEO. And this can cause a disaster to their company.
Then, why the boards have difficulties in deciding the planning? The main cause is the lack of well-defined process. When they pick their CEO, they just look at the candidates' talented resume and it's the final of their planning. But resume is not important thing. The adaptability of candidates is more important. The main cause of bankruptcy is not a absence of talented CEO, but it is a disorder of important processes.
We have to know our leaders. It isn't limited to a business abilities, but it also includes the leader's families and their states of health, and their hobbies. You might think this is no use, but the success of key to company is the stability of the CEO.

reference: http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/mar2008/ca20080325_494855.htm?chan=careers_managing+index+page_top+stories

20700067 -entry 3

NCsoft Expanding Non-Game Biz

2008-03-21T18:20:00.003+09:00

NCsoft, the online computer game company is growing its non-game business. They are trying to make an effort to diversify its business portfolio. NCsoft is organizing a new team that would lead the sales and marketing of non-game Internet Businesses. They are looking forward to start online identification and social-networking services. During the process of planning this new business, they are hoping a mid-career journalist Hwang Soon-hyun, from Chosun llbo to take charge of the strategic affairs of the internet service operation. It is common for Korean Internet companies to recruit IT journalists for their high position job.
NCsoft is one of the largest game companies in South Korea and has produced high quality games such as “Lineage” and “Guild Wars.” These two games were a big hit in South Korea with thousands of users. However, as the growth of the game sector has been stopped, the company started to look for new business items in the non-game sector. They began to operate in-house software studio called Openmaru which they made a number of Web utility services. Until now, NCsoft has invested approximately 30 billion won on the non-game business. One of the new items they made was called “Open ID project” which allowed internet users to access multiple web sites with and ID and a password. NCsoft has already become a leader in the Open ID business in South Korea and looking forward to improve through producing innovative services online.
NCsoft has been passive in promoting activities of its non-game sector for several reasons.1) They have yet to make any profit from the Openmaru projects. 2)in its oversee(U.S), the movement was sometimes interpreted as a sign of the firm’s decreasing investment in the game sector. In addition, the company made future plans of nurturing the non-game business by building several partnership deals with web portal sites. Since the beginning of this year, they signed contracts with Daum Communications and Yahoo Korea to provide its Web tools.

http://koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2008/03/123_21073.html

20620042 - entry 2

Lexus: Too Japanese for the Japanese

2008-03-21T15:18:00.003+09:00

I read an article about a Japanese Motor Company called the Lexus. Lexus was introduced by Toyota to aim at drivers who want luxury Cars. Toyota wanted to
sell luxury cars like other German motor companies (BMW and Audi). However,
from a recent research, most car buyers, even Japanese people prefer German cars
rather than Lexus as their choice in buying luxury cars. An example of a 46 year old doctor says that "Lexus makes excellent cars but if you ask me whether I'd buy one, the answer is no because is too Japanese for my tastes". The reason he chose foreign brands is that they have more individuality. For most Japanese car buyers, "foreign"
refers to "German". Lexus has been the top selling luxury nameplate in the U.S 19years ago. But they didn't sell cars until the year 2005. When they began selling cars in their homeland, it was too late to grab all the luxury car buyers because of the German brands dominating the high end. They are still having hard time competing the competition with the German brands. The main problem they had was the initial lineup. The company started only with three models: GS sports sedan, SC convertible and the IS sedan. All three had previously been available in Japan under the Toyota nameplate for about 20% less than the Lexus models. Also, the buzz Toyota created for Lexus have benefited the Germans. The rivals say they saw increased interest as customers visited foreign motor company’s showrooms to compare (such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi). From the research, it says 80% of early Lexus buyers were former Toyota driver and only 5% came from Mercedes or BMW. Some disadvantages for foreign companies are that the steering wheels are on the opposite side and the streets of Japan are very narrow. Still, few are giving up on Lexus in Japan. Lexus is still trying their best by launching the latest version LS sedan. They are also trying to create a brand image to rival Audi, BMW, and Mercedes.

20620042 – Entry 1

Why do we care about 'Won-Dollar Rate'?

2008-03-21T01:03:00.005+09:00

I read an article talking about the international value of Won currency. It says that Won currency fell to its weakest point against Dollar and Yen among recent years’ figures, which means that we need to have 1,033.7 Won to buy a Dollar and 1,061.58 Won for 100 Yen.

As the countries are getting more and more related to each other, the effects of an event taking place in a certain part of the world is spreading its range to all over the world. Economically, this situation is very important because things happening in U.S.A surely effect the economy of Korea. In this kind of circumstances, a remarkable change among currencies is very important. People become happy and unhappy by the ups and downs of a certain currency against others. Why? What about it? Well, there are some good aspects as wells as bad aspects when a certain currency’s value falls or rises.

If Won-Dollar rate goes up, corporations which are exporting good to U.S.A will be happy. They can sell more products than they did before, because the prices of the goods they are selling to America will be relatively cheaper. On the other hand, companies which are importing goods from America to Korea will be unhappy if the Won-Dollar rate goes up. They have to pay more money than they did because the value of Won currency against Dollar has gone down. Then, the prices of the imported goods in domestic market will rise in order to profitable for those companies who have imported it. Consequently, this will affect other economy markets in Korea and eventually will bring inflation.

The above explanation is not just a theory, but a real practice which is taking place right now. Then, what should we do about it? Well, there is no best answer. The change itself is not 100 percent bad. It brings good effects to some people, as well as bad effects to some people. And also, blocking changes in currency values is impossible because the currencies are somewhat organic. They go up and down. They don’t stay still. So, it is rather good to try to block rapid changes than trying to block the change itself. Then, it won’t affect the markets greatly in a certain period of time. Furthermore, we should develop our economy qualities, not just growing its volume. Then, we will become stronger and will be able to make ourselves be safe even in rapid changes. We all know that it’s not easy in real life. There are lots of things for us to concern, and we can’t even control all the things that we are supposed to care of. As it is said before, there is no best answer. We just have to do our best to survive in this rapidly changing world market.

Reference : http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2008/03/123_20871.html

20700273 Park, Yong - Kyun Entry 2

Green Strategy in business

2008-03-20T23:52:00.003+09:00

I read a article about American green policy. Green policy is representing some kinds of alternative energy industries. In Korea, alternative energy industries are not common. Because people think it is not a profitable industry. But In America, the images of this industries are completely different. The green industries are considered as a great promise business in USA. And even the presidential candidates, Hillery Clinton and Barack Obama, selected the green policy as the main force among their promises. I think the fossilizated resources, you know the petroleu, natural gas and so on, will run out soon. And when the resoures are run out, what will happen? Many pessimists think that human will return to the primitive time. But I think it's a great chance to rule the all economy bases of the world. When we develops the main technology of alternative energy, and we will be another Rockefeller, the king of petroleum. In USA, the developments of main technologies were already launched in USA. And the consequences are now in market and related businesses are rapidly growing.

Although the first was USA, but we can catch up them soon. We have to do benchmarking from American green technology companies. I think the race is just started. And our government and companies have to invest in the green technology soon. You know Samsung, south korea's global corporation, is a number one semiconductor producer. But the era of semiconductor is dependent on the green policy. If we can't make ready, we have to pay high royalty to use the innovated technology. But this type businesses can't achieve by only the related companie' investments. In USA, there are much helps from local societies. In Korea, When a company present a plan for facilities, then the local residents' first action is a demonstration. They don't try to understand the necessity of the business. I think local community's assistance is the most important key to green businesses.

In businesses, entrepreneurship is so important. It 's because the company's expanding presence and survival. I think green businesses are closely related to the survival. Green policy is not an option, but it's duty.

20700067 Kim Nam Joong entry2

reference: http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/feb2008/id20080211_334519.htm?chan=innovation_innovation+%2B+design_green+design

korean internet business

2008-03-20T14:40:00.017+09:00

I read an article about the internet business in Korea. It explains how countries all over the world are fighting to take the lead in e-commerce. Korean companies are accelerating their efforts to facilitate the e-commerce while the government endeavoring to com up with industrial policies central to e-commerce by establishing the basic Act on electronic commerce in 1999, "Comprehensive Policies for e-Commerce Development" in 2000 and "e-Business Initiative in Korea" in 2001 It says that If the Korean government's strategies are implemented as planned, e-commerce -- which has been delayed due to absence of cooperation among enterprises and lack of investment capability of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) -- will be disseminated throughout the nation’s entire economy. The report given was designed to examine the possibilities for growth of e-commerce by reviewing the current status of and prospects for e-commerce in Korea. It will examine the e-commerce infrastructure, followed by the status of each e-commerce area, major e-commerce issues, and will examine problems and key policies of the government. Thanks to a rise in the distribution of computers and the rapid development of information technology, the E-commerce is expanding in Korea as the number of Internet. Thanks to the vastly increased distribution of computers and the growing number of PC communication subscribers since the late 1980s, The Internet is being widely disseminated at a rapid pace in Korea. These explain the Korean well-established IT infrastructure and positive government policies supporting the information and communication sector. Korea is one of the most advanced countries in terms of establishment of broadband networks; the cable internet and satellite internet are growing so quickly. This expansion enables users to gain faster and easier Internet access to high-quality and high-quantity contents, thereby contributing to the nation becoming an information superpower. Korea has established in accordance with global legislation related to e-commerce, various Acts and regulations, such as consumer protection and electronic payments. They are promoting projects such as creating infrastructure by establishing and standardizing B2B networks in industries, developing technology, and fostering manpower. They are also promoting projects on international cooperation for the global B2B market and the expansion of e-commerce in other regions. They don’t cease to fight for the improvement in the market in accordance with their government, private institutes and research centers.

reference:http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=latestnews&id=1850
posted by GEMIMA 29700735 entry 2

Unlimited Tunes from Apple?

2008-03-20T13:36:00.012+09:00

          Ever since the first iPod was introduced, demand of from young generation to the old has increased greatly. By the look and the easy to use factor of iPod allowed millions of people to carry it with them and play music whenever they wanted to. However, there are still a lot of competitions in the market- actually it is growing faster than ever- and Apple's sales through iTune have been slowing down. To restore its fame over music industry on the web, there's been a rumor that Apple is now considering to pursue a new business strategy to increase its sales through iTune, which is the unlimited access to music service (so called "Tunes") with monthly subscription.
          Currently, iTune offers each piece of music for .99 cents and customers can purchase 12 songs a month and no more for months on end. According to the article, the music industry has been complaining about iTune's pricing option since they do not offer different prices for the songs that are considered to be more valuable instead of .99 cents for each song.
          The benefit of Apple for having the monthly subscription is that it allows the company to have constant predictable stream of revenue. Also, the article explains that if iTune adopts this strategy, there are people who don't want to buy each song for .99 cents on iTune but would pay monthly subscription to have unlimited access to all kinds of songs.
          The main reason why Apple does not adopt this plan yet is that iTune has been very successful in the world; now “it’s the second largest music retailer in the U.S. behind Wal-Mart Stores. It boasts some 50 million customers and has sold some 4 billion songs since its inception in 2003.” (BusinessWeek). However, since the sale of iPod is slowing down, Apple might want to consider a new business model such as the subscription plan. If the sale of iPod decreases, sales on iTune is likely to decrease as well because most of people who use iPod purchase songs on iTune; they are complementary goods. Also, other new competitors such as Facebook and MySpace are now working on their own music store plans.
          I’m not an iPod user or very into music; however, since I’ve seen how much Apple has grown through its sales on iPod and iTune, it’s very interesting to see that now Apple might have to consider a new business model to compete in the industry. I remember that when the first iPod was introduced, I used to say it looks dumb and the function of it cannot match with other MP3 players such as iriver or Samsung. However, with right marketing and business strategy, I noticed that more and more people carry iPod with them, not only for listening music, but a part of their fashion trend. Furthermore, I believe that iTune has been playing an important role on keeping the copyrights and informing teens to know that downloading songs from the web without paying the right amount for the service is illegal. I hope that Apple would consider having such strategy to stay strong in the industry because I also think that it would allow many other customers to benefit from the unlimited access to their favorite music.

Reference;
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/mar2008/tc20080319_503917.htm?chan=technology_technology+index+page_top+stories

20601008 2nd Entry

THE FIST TOWARDS THE FUTURE

2008-03-14T19:00:00.003+09:00

some women think that to change the world ,you need to be a man or someone very special.

to change the world we don't need to be any great person, we don't need to be any president of any powerful country, we don't need to be a C.E.O of any big company.

all we need is courage and determination.

we are all able to change the world starting with the little we are, the little we have, wherever we are.

i am a woman ,proud of being a woman who has the vision to change the world.

join me, let's all have courage, hope , determination,faith, and never give up.

let's all have our fists towards the future.

Pink is the key

2008-03-14T10:55:00.005+09:00

I read a couple of articles which were talking about Pink color. One of them said that one reason why women actively prefer pink among the colors is that it's their instinct to survive. In the primitive ages, women had to choose men with relatively red (healthy) skin to survive. And they also had to find red (ripe) fruits to save them from famine. The article said that these became their instinct and it is still well-spread all over the world. Well, this idea is somewhat brilliant that most people don't know the exact reason why women prefer pink. People simply think that it's because women think pink is pretty. Or, it's because the marketing methods of corporations which are trying to convince women that pink is pretty. Even though they both are reasonable, there wasn't any scientific research. However, now that we have and idea that is somewhat scientific, we now have a relatively exact idea that explains women's psychology. It's brilliant.

The other article said that these days men are becoming to prefer pink color. Unlike the past days, men are putting more and more effort to make themselves be a good-looking person. So, some of them do not want to wear boring colors like gray, black and blue. They tend to try bright colors, and this phenomena is becoming a trend. For example, I prefer bright colors when I buy clothes because I know that they are very good fashion items.

These two articles were very interesting because they gave me a unique idea of pink. I did know that women like pink the most. But, I didn't think deeply so I simply thought that they preferred pink because it is pretty. However, now that I know that pink is something essential for women's survival, I can use this as a business idea. Why not pink hair? And why not a pink pet? Not just pink manicures and pink clothes, women can have those things. And it will bring a competition among women, who are willing to be the most pink-loving woman. On the other hand, why can't men wear pink shoes? And why can't men have a pink bag? Since women do prefer pink things, it will be great for men to have pink things. That will make themselves more competitive. Furthermore, as an assumption which came from my head after reading those articles, it might be men's instinct to be chosen by women to prefer pink clothes. Yes, I'm sure now that it is men's instinct. Every time I wear pink clothes, I think lots of girls looking at my clothes with a favorable view. So, why don't we start a business that stresses the competitiveness of pink for women and also for men. We can create and make unique items. We are going to makes lots of money. The fortune is on the way!

20700273 Park, Yong - Kyun

Refernces : http://blog.naver.com/ustedyyo?Redirect=Log&logNo=60001643579
http://blog.paran.com/artmanager/21349116

Samsung's strategy to become No.1 in TVs

2008-03-14T10:35:00.006+09:00

      As we all probably know, Samsung is now the No.1 company in television industry around the world. The TV market used to be led by Japanese companies, such as Sony, Panasonic, and Sharp. However, according to market researcher DisplaySearch, Samsung took over the first place in 2007 for shares of 13.6% in world's TV market.
      The article tells why and how Samsung could become the world’s leading company in TV market where the competition is very intense. There are few important factors about it; they are, working through Samsung’s unique supply chain management (SCM) system, learning by trial and error, growth of HDTV, and banking on minimalist design.
      The chief of Samsung’s SCM system sends out the week’s new instruction and plans for production and shipping based on the previous week's data on sales, manufacturing, supplies, and product development to 20 television and monitor factories in 11 countries. Through his system, Samsung was able to connect each manufacturer efficiently, and therefore, decrease inventory turnover. Since the electronic markets are very competitive and the prices drop quickly, it was essential for Samsung to decrease its inventory level, which is now 15 days compared to 21 days in 2004.

      As the demand for high quality TVs has increased, Samsung has standardized the part components for the most models in an effort to minimize the production time from 16 weeks to 4 weeks. By doing so, according to the article, Samsung was able to produce different kinds of models at the same time, which allowed them “…to occupy one section of the display shelf, making it easier to stop shoppers in front of them.” (BusinessWeek)
      Samsung has never underestimated the importance of their products’ design. The company has six design centers around the world as their efforts to find the leading trend in the market, not only for the value of their products, but also to add craftsmanship to them.
      As the article states ""the race to rule the industry is far from over," I also think the competition is just started. There would be even higher demand for the high quality TVs in the future, and other small and big companies will try as hard as possible to survive in the competitive market. As a consumer, knowing these kinds of company's effort to produce better and higher quality product is very interesting because that means we, the consumers, will have more valuable choices when we go shopping. After reading the article, I felt so proud that one of my country's company is doing so well in the world market and wished this would be a good role model for other companies, too.

Reference;
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/mar2008/gb20080313_758981.htm

20601008 1st Entry

The way of revival among turbulance competitons

2008-03-13T23:43:00.003+09:00

I read a article about the degeneration of STARBUCKS. STARBUCKS is one of the largest franchise companies in the world. But in 2007, the stock value was nearly halved. Then, what's happened to them?

The problem is rapid expansion of its business. It sounds like a parodox. But the main point is in there. When STARBUCKS started it was so localized and people who live the location enjoyed the localized service and taste of STARBUCKS. But as STARBUCKS growed more and more, the service of STARBUCKS is standardized. So now STARBUCKS is planning a localization. Consequently, the key of the survival is differentiation even in the same franchises.

Then let's consider the way of innovation in Korea large companies(also called conglomerate- a very special case in the world). Maybe you know IMF. In 1997 Korea was in the condition of nonredemption. So Korean government requested capital to the IMF and many large companies and banks were under bankruptcy. But a few companies like LG, SAMSUNG successfully overcame the test of IMF.

LG was troubled after IMF because LG's main products are White Goods. White Goods are some products which improve convenience of customers in daily life. And White Goods markets were depressed after the crash of IMF. So LG was so dangerous at that time. But they applied the 6-sigma to the evaluation of their products, and they can make specialty in their markets. 6-sigma is a way to achieve strong quality by the viewpoint of customers. And now LG is the leading company in White Goods.

Second example is SAMSUNG. Recently the images of SAMSUNG were completely changed. When you see the premierleague soccer team 'Chelsea', you can see the player's uniform. And there is SAMSUNG logo. Only a few years ago, the reputation of SAMSUNG was limited to the domestic economy. But now they are global corporation! How they could do this innovation?

SAMSUNG innovated the traditional deficit(or red) structure to the black structure by doing value innovating activities. And also they developed the LCD techniques and they are now the number one producer of LCD in the world. They didn't spare money in advertising and promotioning themselves.

In the two cases of Korean companies, I can find the ways of company survival. These are careful marketting and ceaseless technic innovations. Although my opinion is not correct, but I think it's the main point of businesss.

Thank you to read my crude writing

20700067 Kim Nam Joong

References:http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/feb2008/id20080220_372003.htm?chan=careers_managing+your+company+page_top+stories

http://k.daum.net/qna/view.html?boardid=QDL&qid=3BjW4&q=%B1%E2%BE%F7+%C7%F5%BD%C5&srchid=NKS3BjW4

Welcome to Team Shasta's Blog!

2008-03-09T22:33:00.000+09:00

Hello, everyone!

This is team "Shasta" from Business Strategy!
First of all, thank you for visiting our blog, and we all hope you to have a great time here.
We are planning to post a lot of interesting topics on this blog, so please visit us as often as you can!

Our first task is having a dinner together.
We will arrange the schedule so we could have a wonderful time!
Team Shasta is looking forward to it!
Let's have fun!