On May 1, World Expo opens in Shanghai. Anxious to hide one of China's worst sins, piracy, authorities have ordered all retail stores selling pirated software, music and movies to stash away their illegal goods. The solution? To literally cut the store in half. In front, and in public display, are real discs no one will buy. Behind a sliding wooden partition is where you'll find Avatar for a buck.
Eleven years ago Dunkin' Donuts pulled out of the Russian market after its franchisee ignored its contractual promises to Dunkin' and began selling meat pies and liquor alongside doughnuts. Now, Dunkin' is back with 20 stores planned in Moscow this year. Dunkin' has some challenges. In the U.S., over 60% of sales are generated by coffee, but overseas that number is much lower. Starbucks is already present with coffee and pastries, and Russians aren't that familiar with doughnuts. Still, another Russian partner has successfully built up another Dunkin' brand, Baskin-Robbins, to the number two Western restaurant brand behind McDonald's, and Dunkin' is hoping to do the same with doughnuts.
In Asia and Europe, Asian carp is a delicacy, with a bland white flesh that is juicy and firm. In the U.S., however, the fish are seen as a menace to fishermen and boaters. The solution? Try to get Americans to eat more carp.
Geely, the Chinese car company that purchased Volvo from Ford for about $1 billion in mostly borrowed funds, is hoping to use some of Volvo's product engineering capability to improve and shore up their own manufacturing base, which up till now has suffered from a reputation of being second-rate and shoddy. On the marketing side, the company is hoping to revamp by launching three new "baby" brands -- Gleagle, Emgrand, and Englon.
This is a captcha, which stands for "completely automated public Turing test to tell computers and humans apart." Captchas are employed by websites to prevent spam -- by requiring real people instead of automatic scripts to sign up for services on the web, companies hope to limit adding valid emails to spam lists. Now, spammers have figured out a way to get around Captchas -- pay poor Indian college students 80 cents for every 1000 they solve. The work's not great, but if you're poor and trying to put yourself through college, the money is enough to ensure a steady supply of workers.
A visit to Wall Street wouldn't be complete without a picture next to the bull, a symbol of power and prosperity when times are good and the economy is strong. Now, a visit to Shanghai will include a similar shot, as Shanghai installs its own bull. The Shanghai bull is identical in shape and size and weight since it was created by the same artist. There are some differences however -- a redder color (the color of China), lean to the right instead of the left, and an angrier and more aggressive tail -- as if the Chinese bull is sending a challenge to its American cousin.
This is Kraft Foods CEO Irene Rosenfeld. You may recall she recently led Kraft on a hostile takeover bid of British sweet manufacturer Cadbury, over strong objections from her own shareholders including Warren Buffett, and won. Now it's time to realize the benefits from the acquisition. First up: using Cadbury's strong distribution networks in emerging economies such as Mexico and India to sell Kraft products. The company plans on launching Tang in India through Cadbury's distribution network, and then Oreos and cheese.
One of biggest scams currently being perpetrated on the American public is in disposal of old electronics, also known as e-waste. Much of our e-waste is eventually exported to developing countries with no environmental protections. A group called the Basel Action Network is seeking to change that, as I report in my other blog this morning.
"The Last 3 Minutes" From Shane Hurlbut, ASC from Shane Hurlbut, ASC on Vimeo.
The world's fourth most populous nation, Indonesia has always held great promise as a potential market. Years of corruption, domestic unrest and grinding poverty have hindered economic development, but things are finally looking better for Indonesia. Ford opens a new dealer showroom every six weeks here, Heinz sales are up over 40% from last year, surpassing China's rate, and Unilever's March sales alone were up 17%, one of the company's fastest growth rates in the world.
If you're ever invited to give a public speech, such as a graduation speech, don't ever decide to crib it together using speeches given by celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey, Barack Obama, Conan O'Brien, or J.K. Rowling. They have professional speech writers, and their speeches are easily searchable on the Internet. That lesson comes a little too late for Manual Pangilinan, a prominent and well-respected businessman in the Philippines with a compelling rags-to-riches story who did exactly just that this March, and is now facing a storm of criticism for his plagiarism.
For the third day in a row, "red shirt" protesters in Bangkok have occupied the main shopping area in downtown Bangkok, forcing businesses and banks to close and further worrying analysts that Thailand's important tourism industry may soon suffer. A few years ago "yellow shirt" protesters shut down the main airport in their attempt to overthrow the government, and this time the red-shirts are hoping to orchestrate a similar overthrow of the government, which they claim is corrupt and not watching out for the interests of poor rural farmers. Next week is Songkran, or Thai New Year, and observers are waiting to see if the protesters will leave the city then.
Thailand is one of the most inequitable countries in Asia. The gap between rich and poor is wider than it is in China, Malaysia, the Philippines, or Vietnam, according to a World Bank report. Put simply, the rich (concentrated in the capital city Bangkok) are really rich, and the poor (from rural areas) are really poor. For generations, this gap has gone unchallenged by most Thais, as Thai culture doesn't lend itself to rapid social change or confrontation. This has changed recently as political turmoil has exposed the rift between rich and poor in ways never seen before, and technology enables the poor to organize their masses. The result is a renewed willingness among poorer Thais to confront what they see as gross unfairness in the way wealth is distributed in Thailand.
Imagine a beach resort town where five star hotels charge $1500 per night for their hotel rooms, golf courses charge $180 per round, and where apartments with sweeping sea views and bathtubs on balconies are being sold at $885 per square foot. It's not the French Riviera or Miami beach -- it's all happening on Hainan Island, China's newest playground for the thousands of newly rich Chinese who have, literally, bags full of money to spend. As this slide show demonstrates, the resulting property boom on Hainan is being watched with a mixture of awe, envy, and horror.