Novartis & more news

2 minutes estimated reading time

Novartis

Novartis slashing thousands more jobs in global reorganization, shifting many to India – FiercePharma – Novartis moving jobs from Switzerland to India as a bet that it will improve margins and the work will be of equivalent standard. The challenge for Novartis is the amount of intellectual property walking out between the ears of the fired researchers and managing to maintain a common culture in Novartis India

Business

WPP strengthens social data capabilities | Marketing Interactive – the two questions I would ask are: what will WPP build on top of the DataSift stream that will be better than buying COTS products? How good will the feeds be from Chinese social platforms?

Economics

The World in 2030: 10 Key Statistics – Analyst Insight from Euromonitor International – 54% in of the world’s population in the APAC region, 60% will live in cities

How to

Best practices for social media monitoring – Smart Insights Digital Marketing Advice – pretty much essential reading for PRs

Ideas

The Technium | Edge.org – Kevin Kelly on his theory that technological progress has its own momentum

Innovation

Building a Better Battery – NYTimes.com – the real innovation required for wearables / internet of things etc

Media

Teens On Facebook Revenue Statistics – Business Insider – but they are invaluable for marketers in many trend driven sectors

Mobile ad fees are cloud on Google’s horizon – Rethink Wireless – they will rise as the context around the ads sharpen up and brands do a better job with m-commerce

Retailing

New tech helps Amazon predict what you will buy next – Digital Intelligence – next Jeff Bezos provides pre-cog service that points out which customers will commit thought crimes

Customers ‘3.5 times more likely to buy after multichannel experience’- Rakuten – Digital Intelligence

Security

Hackers access 800,000 Orange customers’ data | ZDNet – in France thankfully

Software

A VC: iOS8, Health Data, and Open Data – likely to disrupt both the device market and consumer privacy

Technology

Lenovo’s Huge Deals Show How China Lags Behind | TIME.com – is it also because China can buy brands cheap they don’t necessarily need to invest in building them themselves. Huawei is cited in here as a brand getting it right. Again Huawei is about value: you get your switches and support on an easy to pay finance package and total lifetime cost is cheaper than others; even if the products are less reliable. Huawei does struggle in the consumer space

Telecoms

Is 2014 the Year that We Break the Internet? – a reason why multicasting on routers maybe a solution and another reason to beat buffer bloat

Web of no web

Telenav buys Skobbler to challenge Google Maps – Rethink Wireless – distribution will be key to drive adoption

Wireless

China Unicom failing to capitalize on opportunities|WantChinaTimes.com – churn