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Revlon China
Revlon to shut down China operations – US cosmetics company Revlon says it was shutting down its operations in China to cut costs. The move will cost 1,100 people to lose their jobs. Revlon accounted for just 2 percent of the companies global revenue, so the decision to leave China must have been easy. It is likely to be a blessing in the longer term for Revlon
Business
Firms using ‘black PR’ to tear down rivals | SCMP – no real surprises here, in the UK and US it’s called competitor depositioning but I think black PR is a better name (paywall)
Design
Huckberry | In Defense Of The Defender – really nice overview of the iconic Land Rover
Economics
China’s debt: The auditors’ footnotes | The Economist – not as bad as the numbers looked (paywall)
China’s non-manufacturing PMI eases | RTHK – slowing non-manufacturing growth
China’s Rebalancing: A Transition to Slower Growth | The Diplomat
Don’t Blame the Robots: Assessing the Job Polarization Explanation of Growing Wage Inequality | Reports – it’s public policy, not technology
FMCG
The Doughnut Paradox: Indulgence Positioning in a World Obsessed With Health and Wellness – Euromonitor International – indulgence is basically a luxury experience
Ideas
Will you disrupt the future or optimise the past? The choice is yours.
Luxury
Luxury market cooling down – Xinhua | English.news.cn
49 pc of ultra-affluent US consumers prefer American products and services: study
Hermès rethinks winter catalogs with narrative video – Luxury Daily
A Fashion Community, Share, View and Tick:: Tickalook
Media
4.7 million reasons China got the latest season of Sherlock three weeks before the US – Quartz – piracy and nascent revenue streams in China from licensed content
Digital Ads: How Facebook, Google, And Twitter Target Us – ReadWrite
Online
Baidu’s Zeitgeist: Top Search Terms in China in 2013 — China Internet Watch
Study: Women Love Social Media More Than Men (Unless It’s LinkedIn) | Adweek – (paywall)
Software
WhatsApp Is The Leading Messaging App – Business Insider – what Business Insider fail to understand is that its not a zero sum game
Web of no web
Tencent, not Google, maps out China’s biggest ‘street view’
China’s reform plans could put a big dent in Macau’s $45 bln casino business – Quartz – facilitating moving money out of the country more easily
Wireless
Apple Gains Holiday Smartphone Market Share Weight in the US
NFV up, iOS down: mobile predictions for 2014 – Rethink Wireless