My mind cast back to one of the first modules I studied at college. There was a lecture on the role of complaint resolution as part of customer services. The idea was that effective complaint resolution engendered trust in a customer service function and was more likely to increase brand loyalty and recommendation to other people. In reality Ehrensberg-Bass Institute have explored this area in more depth and found that customer penetration is more important than customer loyalty.
US National Archives: Approaching Logan Airport. 05/1973 by Michael Manheim
I suspect that the benefit in complaint resolution is more around a premium brand positioning rather than the business benefits of loyalty. This is an interesting frame to consider AirHelp’s global airline ranking. Unlike SkyTrax that focuses on experience, AirHelp weighs its ranking heavily on complaint resolution.
British Airways came 82nd out of 83 airlines assessed, which won’t be a surprise to anyone who has flown with them over the past four years.
Many airlines that would have a high SkyTrax service ranking, didn’t perform as well on complaint resolution.
So there wasn’t a clear correlation between experience resolving lots of customer complaints or a highly evolved service offering.
Emerging car brands scrutinised by Bloomberg and Grant Thornton | Manufacturer – “Chinese brands are dominating the scene with good products, big screens, and impressive interfaces.” However, the challenge arises when considering pricing, as Chinese EVs like the XPeng’s G9 SUV was 72,000 euros competing against the likes of BMW and Mercedes. So they’re going to find it very, difficult and it’s going to come down to price.” Dean pointed out MG’s success in the UK market was achieved by hitting exactly the right sweet spot in terms of pricing. The MG ZS, the second-best-selling battery electric vehicle in the UK, is priced at an average of £31,000, making it compelling in terms of competitive pricing especially in a country where consumers are not fiercely loyal to specific brands. – interesting reading. The way for Chinese vendors to win would be to have Chinese incentivised lease financing, particularly in a time of higher interest rates a la Huawei in the telecoms markets.
American men are dying younger. – by Richard V Reeves – I just don’t think this can be addressed in the current climate of othering and privilege. It would be like trying to hold a meaningful discussion on immigration a few decades ago.
Xi in Nanning; Shanghai and Beijing real estate tweaks; More Hong Kong bounties; Sim Love | Sinocism – the Hong Kong puts bounty on the head of US citizen who has criticised the Hong Kong government in the US. They are all ethic Chinese. So China and the Hong Kong government think that ethnic Chinese wherever they are should be loyal to their respective administrations – in essence their face is their passport. Not even Israel does something similar with the the world’s Jewish community, or Ireland with our diaspora.
Innovation
Quantum Breakthrough: Caltech Scientists Unveil New Way To Erase Quantum Computer Errors – Researchers from Caltech have developed a quantum eraser to correct “erasure” errors in quantum computing systems. This technique, which involves manipulating alkaline-earth neutral atoms in laser light “tweezers,” allows for the detection and correction of errors through fluorescence. The innovation leads to a tenfold improvement in entanglement rates in Rydberg neutral atom systems, representing a crucial step forward in making quantum computers more reliable and scalable.
It has taken me far too long to finish Chip War and write this review, so apologies in advance. Chip War was one of the FT’s best business books of 2022. In reality it’s a book about history, that happens to feature businesses.
The lens shaping everything else that I have written here
I am a sucker for books on the history of technology and Chip War was right in my wheelhouse. It complemented, rather than overlapped some of my existing favourite technology history books like Bob Cringely’s Accidental Empires, John Markoff’s What The Dormouse Said or most of Michael Malone and Steven Levy’s output to date.
The author
The author Chris Miller wasn’t a familiar name to me. Unlike Cringely, Markoff, Malone or Levy; Miller is an academic rather than a former journalist. Miller currently teaches international history at Tufts University. Chip War wasn’t his first book, his previous ones have focused on Soviet and Russian history. As a technology sector outsider, Miller’s Chip War has a very different tone my other favourite books from the genre.
It also allowed Miller to view the history of semiconductors in terms of a global perspective, that I hadn’t previously seen done.
On to Chip War itself
Other reviewers have used words like ‘outstanding’ and ‘epic’ to describe the book – which while being a reasonable guide to overall quality and length of read aren’t really all that helpful. It took me six months to read as a casual book. This is partly down to a hectic work schedule and that its a long book. I suspect that some readers when they reviewed the book seem to have thought ‘long’ as difficult to read. It’s actually 351 pages ignoring acknowledgements and the footnotes at the back of the book. Being an academic Miller worked hard to source everything in Chip War.
The book starts in the post-war period as the defence industry moves from being focused on hammering steel to developing smarter systems using semiconductors. That road takes the book past Texas Instruments and the early Silicon Valley of Bob Noyce and other members of the treacherous eight.
The book also zooms out to cover the Soviet Union’s failed efforts to replicate Silicon Valley as well as domestic industrial espionage and the start of globalisation which begat the current industry.
The Japanese challenge is covered in depth as is the rise of Korea including challenges that the industry faced in the early 2000s. The rise of Taiwan and its use of semiconductors as a hedge against invasion from the mainland. European tool maker ASML gets its own section, which is a case study in how to make a virtue of necessity. Finally it covers the technology conflict with China. Bring this up to date circa 2022.
If you are student of Silicon Valley history, then Chip War is unique in the way it puts everything in context. There were some completely new parts to me such as the political role that Sony founder Akio Morita played in advocating for a robust Japanese semiconductor industry as part of reasserting Japanese importance internationally.
You can get hold of Chip War here. More book reviews here.
The Michelin Snow Sock or to give it its proper name SOS GRIP(R) Evolution does a similar job to studded tyres or snow chains (often called RUD Chains after the German company RUD Ketten – a famous manufacturer of snow chains).
The Michelin Snow Sock looks much easier to store and fit than snow chains and is likely to be less damaging to road surfaces. This new Michelin Snow Sock seems to rely on the black bands across the face of the tyre.
A key difference is that snow chains can also be used in really muddy conditions and can be used to protect the tyres in hard surfaces such as quarries and mines – although this is usually the domain of a specialist product. You can’t doe these things with the Michelin Snow Sock.
Inspecting a car before purchase
Interesting tips on inspecting a car that you are interested in buying. Its interesting how democratised specialist tools have become.
Twitter
Professor Scott Galloway talks to Christiane Amanpour about the current economy and the rollercoaster moves at Twitter. My favourite quote from this, describing the recession as a ‘Patagonia vest’ recession affecting knowledge workers the most so far.
Junya Watanabe Menswear Fall/Winter 2022
I am about 10 months late to this, but Junya Watanabe did a menswear collaboration with Jay Kaye from Jamiroquai mirroring his mid-to-late 1990s style. Its a mix of indigenous wear that was popular from gap year students (or people who wanted that boho look), rave culture and Goa trance, sports wear and technical outdoor clothing.
Here is the mini video look book that Junya Watanable made for the menswear collection.
Here is the original video for Virtual Insanity
Behind the scenes on how the Virtual Insanity video was made. How the effect was achieved was quite surprising.
Shakatak
I didn’t realise how popular jazz fusion group Shakatak was in Japan. To me there where pre-house UK dance music. I found this Japanese festival performance by them.
The Tokyo Crossover Festival was was originally organised by the Kyoto Jazz Massive member Shuya Okino.
It was April 2002. I was invited to the Future Jazz Festival held at Zagreb, Croatia. The well select lineup for this 3-days event was Victor Davies, Jessica Lauren, Rainer Truby, Azymuth, Zero dB and many more. The huge success all owed to Eddy & Duss and their incredible local support attracted 1500 enthusiastic people each day! Frankly, and forgive my ignorance, I was quite shocked. This was Zagreb, Croatia. The media that I was exposed to depict the negative image of an on-going civil war for all what I remember. Needless to say, I was inspired and at the same time wondered why Japan never had such festivals. Sure we have money-flowing mainstream Rock Festivals and Techno Festivals but nothing such as Deep House or Future Jazz festivals – which is surprising especially when Japan holds the biggest market share for such music. What is more depressing is that the “traditional” Jazz summer festival seems to be loosing its energy every year… I waited. I thought someone would eventually do the future-jazz festival here in Japan. There were few attempts but did not leave strong impact. Waited few more years…and thought it was time for me to take some action. I called it “Tokyo Crossover Jazz Festival”! This is the first year and I am treating it as an introduction or presentation for the successful year to come. Therefore, it will not be a gigantic outside “typical” festival but the main purpose for this first festival is to cause Crossover Jazz awareness and for artists who have same music vision to gather together. Of course, I am aiming for the fan-pleasing exciting showcases. We have a good “crossover” jazz scene in Japan and I want the fans, all over the world, to know. In the future, the festival will feature artists from Jazz, Techno, Hip- Hop, House and the music will cross all over – the ideal festival that I keep visioning and working hard for! At the end though, all I want for everyone and myself is to…have a good time!
Shuya Okino (Kyoto Jazz Massive)
Internet explained in five levels of difficulty
I showed this to my Dad and he loved it. So I thought I would share it here too.
Mobileye is an Israeli based business acquired by Intel. It specialises in advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving. Its EyeQ series chips are used by pretty much every volume car manufacturer. I don’t know if the US sanctions on China for semiconductors will impact Mobileye negatively. The Mobileye EyeQ debuted in 2008 in the BMW 7 series alongside the model’s first hybrid power plant, the first turbocharged petrol engine for the model series and the first time that it had used four-wheel drive. Modern semi-autonomous functions may require several Mobileye EyeQ processors in the one car.
Acquisition by Intel for EyeQ tech
Mobileye went public in 2014 and was acquired by Intel in 2017. The same year Mobileye published a mathematical model for safe self-driving cars. In January, Intel announced plans to retake Mobileye public with a sale of a minority stake of the business.
There’s a number of good arguments for the Intel move:
It allows engineers to be rewarded based on their work rather than on the overall group performance through Mobileye stock grants or stock options.
It allows the company to spread the risk of autonomous driving as a future area that might not take off. While ADAS services are here and valued, there are technological, legal, regulatory and consumer hurdles for autonomous driving to overcome:
Mobileye public offering represents trouble at Intel
However, the Mobileye public offering makes a lot less sense given the decline of the stock market since the start of 2022. It implies that Intel is desperate for a capital infusion, presumably to fund the rebuild of Intel’s technological prowess under Pat Gelsinger.
More content related to issues like self driving cars can be found here.
Islamic State Rhetoric Targets China | Foreign Policy – The linking of Chinese imperialism to historical Western colonialism in Central and South Asia to some extent echoes contemporary Indian discourse on the contentious China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Rising Chinese economic expansion via the BRI is especially perceived as a threat to the West’s global dominance, which has also been challenged by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the potential U.S.-China conflict over Taiwan. Amid the chaos in a transition from a unipolar to a bipolar world order, the Islamic State-Khorasan sees an opportunity to establish the Islamic State’s global caliphate. – I can’t see China getting cooperation from western countries or even India on this. Pakistan has proven itself to be an inconsistent unreliable partner over the decades and Russia has its focus elsewhere. Consider in concert with: China Blocks Polish Delegation’s Flight to Korea – The Chosun Ilbo – There was no explanation from Beijing for the tantrum, but Poland is among the most vociferous Eastern European countries and NATO members seeking to increase armaments due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and China seems to be siding with Putin. – interesting that the paper thinks this is aimed at Poland. This looks like a nail in the coffin for BRI and European market access for China
Shang-Yi Chiang says he will never return to work in China | DigiTimes – Mr Chiang is a star in semiconductor development and formerly worked at TSMC and had been a vice chairman of Chinese manufacturer SMIC. He was a key signifier for Taiwanese engineers that the Chinese businesses were good to work for. His leaving SMIC and this assertion about China will hurt China’s efforts to catch up and surpass, you can’t overstate the impact of Mr Chiang’s coming out and saying this
The Financial Times is the only UK newspaper that could have this honest discussion on Brexit. Interesting that political parties still can’t engage with the issue from an economic point-of-view. The anger and unrest that could break out if parties did engage with it could be devastating.
Yahoo Finance Tech newsletter with Daniel Howley | The pandemic rubber band is hitting the tech industry. – The recent bad news in the tech industry could be a delayed blow from the pandemic. Interest rate hikes, inflation hovering at 40-year highs, and sinking demand are hitting tech companies that have benefited from two years of pandemic-driven growth that saw valuations for some companies eclipse the $2 trillion mark. “As we entered the pandemic, everybody was afraid that there were going to be these disastrous layoffs and it was going to be horrible. And there were, very briefly, in a few places…but that immediately turned around,” TECHnalysis president and chief analyst Bob O’Donnell told Yahoo Finance. “In a weird way, it almost feels like now we’re getting some of the impact of the pandemic after the fact,” he added. “I think people are recognizing they maybe overextended their hiring when they expected some of the growth that happened during the pandemic to continue in the tech industry.
The Omnipotence of China’s Xi Jinping: “Chairman of Everything” – DER SPIEGEL – his influence extends all the way to Germany. For companies like Volkswagen or Mercedes, China is the key sales market. In early November, Olaf Scholz will be traveling to Beijing for the first time as German chancellor, and despite the ongoing debate about the German economy’s unsustainable dependence on China, he will likely bring along a significant delegation of German executives – what’s interesting is the vulnerability and fragility that Der Spiegel notes in their own country’s political and business elites. Add to this idea, the current debate over Hamburg: EU warned Germany against approving Chinese investment in port – Handelsblatt | Reuters – The European Commission warned the German government last spring not to approve an investment by China’s Cosco into Hamburg’s port, German daily Handelsblatt reported on Friday, citing sources. Shipping giant Cosco last year made a bid to take a 35% stake in one of three terminals in Germany’s largest port in the northern city of Hamburg. Germany’s ruling coalition is divided over whether to approve the investment, government sources say, even as Beijing urges Berlin not to politicize the bid and the port authority warns this could hurt the economy
Screening of Batman film scrapped after Hong Kong censors say it is ‘not appropriate’ for outdoor showing – Hong Kong Free Press HKFP – The Dark Knight banned under Hong Kong’s Film Censorship Ordinance, organisers of movies screenings are required to submit works to the Office for Film, Newspaper and Article Administration (OFNAA) for film classification and clearance. Films must meet criteria relating to depictions of violence, cruelty and offensive language or behaviour. Since the passing of the national security law, censorship has been tightened to require authorities to evaluate whether the exhibition of a film would be “contrary to the interests of national security.” – presumably interests of national security includes a plot where Batman comes to Hong Kong to pursue an enemy, a corrupt Chinese businessman who laundered money for a mafia group. Just waiting for commercial disputes to be ruled ‘contrary to the interests of national security’ and the banking sector get screwed over
Hong Kong court allows media tycoon Jimmy Lai to hire UK lawyer for national security trial – Hong Kong Free Press HKFP – The judge ruled on Wednesday that issues which would arise during the trial, such as how the national security law and the sedition law should be understood in relation to freedom of expression, were “of great general public importance.” – what’s of more interest is the reasons why the Hong Kong government opposed his appointment. A lack of alternative counsel wasn’t seen as a reason to bring in the British lawyer. They described the case as lacking complexity as an additional reason – however it will be interesting to see if they view it as being sufficiently complex to move to the mainland when Owen becomes involved… and National security: Hong Kong court allows police to search journalistic materials stored on Jimmy Lai’s phones – Hong Kong Free Press HKFP – “Although always subject to the protection and procedural safeguards based on public interest and vigilant judicial scrutiny, journalistic material is not immune from search and seizure in the investigation of any criminal offence,” the judgement read. “As a matter of principle, the same must be true for offences endangering national security.” Excluding journalistic materials from the definition of “specified evidence” would also reduce the effectiveness of police investigation and prevent the national security law from serving its legislative purpose, which was to “effectively” stop, prevent, and punish offences endangering national security, the judges wrote.
Great video from Asianometry on the history of field programmable gate array.
Japan
Toyota Starts Plant in Junta-Led Myanmar Over a Year After Coup – WSJ – Toyota began assembling one or two Hilux pickup trucks a day at its plant in Yangon last month, a spokeswoman for the Japanese auto maker said Wednesday. She said Toyota wanted to contribute to the industrial development of Myanmar and the livelihood of local employees and their families. The car maker’s decision to begin production in Myanmar highlights a divide among foreign companies over whether to withdraw from the country, whose elected government was ousted in February 2021. As of the beginning of this year, close to two dozen major foreign companies had decided to suspend business operations in Myanmar, including energy giants Chevron Corp. and TotalEnergies SE and Japanese beer maker Kirin Holdings Co., according to the World Bank. Toyota had previously been included on that list. Companies suspending operations have cited shareholder pressure and a worsening human-rights situation among other reasons. Some activists have pushed companies to pull out of Myanmar to isolate or bankrupt the military junta – sounds more like assembly of knock down kits, likely coming in from Thailand
Korea
Kakao co-CEO Whon Namkoong quits over South Korea app outage chaos | SCMP – while its being described as a fire, it might not be an accident. The Koreans are still investigating. What’s more shocking is that there was one chokepoint of failure in a single data centre which took out both Naver and KakaoDaum services
Marketing
Tough times and low confidence call for bold action | WPP – When economic indicators are tough and consumer confidence is low, remember that brands with strong value propositions are 100% more recommended and 91% more loved than the rest, says WPP’s Lindsay Pattison We are in uncharted waters – consumers and businesses alike. Inflation has spiked, interest rates are on the up, the impacts of war are unknowable, and the OECD’s Consumer Confidence Index
The Return of Industrial Warfare | Royal United Services Institute read in conjunction with: Chokepoints – Center for Security and Emerging Technology – China’s most acute “chokepoints” are technologies—particularly high-end electronic components and specialized steel alloys—dominated by one or a handful of companies based in the United States or other like-minded democracies. Rather than playing for the “national team,” Chinese companies—both private and state-owned—often prioritize their brands and bottom lines over marching in lockstep with Beijing’s industrial policies. Many PRC firms choose to buy vital high-end components from trusted foreign suppliers because they harbor doubts about the quality of goods provided by domestic vendors. Technological breakthroughs made by Chinese universities and research institutes frequently fail to find commercial applications, leaving the PRC market dominated by foreign products.
Australia investigates claims China tried to hire former military pilots | South China Morning Post – Australia’s Defence Minister Richard Marles said he had asked the defence department to investigate claims that former Australian military pilots had also been recruited to join a South African flight school that operated in China. “I would be deeply shocked and disturbed to hear that there were personnel who were being lured by a pay check from a foreign state above serving their own country,” Marles said in a statement. “I have asked the department to investigate these claims and come back to my office with clear advice on this matter.” and Britain and Australia plan steps to stop China hiring their pilots — Radio Free Asia
Saying out loud the quiet bit about work-life balance; tectonic plates of streaming move again – I’ve found myself thinking about one panel in particular – the participants in the session on advice for aspiring leaders went beyond the usual platitudes, and shared a couple of uncomfortable truths about an industry which is trying to rebrand itself as a gentler place to work. – I think that we’ll see more of this move away from a gentler place to work as companies look to cut staff. I entered the workforce in the middle of recession before I went to college, this was the time of micro serfs and mcjobs. The idea of a gentler place to work seemed to be a transient one to me – one that would come and go with economic growth. Zero hour contracts really grew during and after the 2008 financial crisis, which is as far away from a gentler place to work as you can get.
Why Is the Web So Monotonous? Google. :: Reasonably Polymorphic – The primary purpose of the web today is “engagement,” which is Silicon Valley jargon for “how many ads can we push through someone’s optical nerve?” Under the purview of engagement, it makes sense to publish webpages on every topic imaginable, regardless of whether or not you know what you’re talking about. In fact, engagement goes up if you don’t know what you’re talking about; your poor reader might mistakenly believe that they’ll find the answer they’re looking for elsewhere on your site. That’s twice the advertising revenue, baby! But the spirit of the early web isn’t gone: the bookmarks I’ve kept these long decades mostly still work, and many of them still receive new content. There’s still weird, amateur, passion-project stuff out there. It’s just hard to find. Which brings us to our main topic: search. – It is more than search, there is also motivation and consumer behaviour change in the old web versus the new one – The Founder of GeoCities on What Killed the ‘Old’ Internet | Gizmodo
Innovation
How the American semiconductor industry claimed back technological and market leadership from the Japanese
Ocado, the online supermarket – is this a legitimate content partnership with Disney? Something feels a bit off about the Ocado | Disney inspired meals. The ‘inspired by Disney’ tagline and the Lion King themed ‘green grub pasta’ feels weird.
Government concerns over China-owned CCTV company embedded in UK – Channel 4 News – There are more than a million of Hikvision’s cameras installed across the UK – monitoring every aspect of our lives. But Channel 4 News has learned that there are growing concerns within the government about the Chinese state-owned tech company.
