Annyeonghaseyo – welcome to the Korean category of this blog. This is where I share anything that relates to the Republic of Korea, business issues relating to Korea, the Korean people, Korean culture and the Korean language.
At the time of writing this category descriptor its been about 10 years since I have last been able to visit Korea. In that time the country has risen on the world stage.
There have been continual disputes with Japan and more recently continual bitter disputes with China. The Japanese disputes are related to history and territory. Korea had been occupied as part of the Imperial Japanese empire. Independence came with the end of the second world war.
The Chinese disputes are more complex. Chinese investors are buying up Korean property particularly in Seoul, Busan and Jeju island, while many Koreans can no longer get on the property ladder. Chinese tourists blitz Korean shops in a similar way to what they’ve previously done in Hong Kong.
Chinese nationalism has seen claims made on Korean cultural assets from the national dress to kimchi. Finally China has interfered in Korea’s efforts to defend itself from the threat in the north.
Often posts that appear in this category will appear in other categories as well. So if Samsung launched a new smartphone that I thought was particularly notable that might appear in wireless as well as Korea. If there is Korean subjects that you think would fit with this blog, feel free to let me know by leaving a comment in the ‘Get in touch’ section of this blog here.
Child farming is not some cynical way of getting indentured slaves, fresh organ donors or creating human batteries to power The Matrix. Instead it was used by Karen Crouse in her article Koreans learn to speak LPGA’s language (International Herald Tribune, November 2, 2008) to describe ‘cultivating successful sons and daughters confers great prestige on the parents.’ Whilst there is balance needed in everything, I think that child farming is healthier than having parents that don’t care, or don’t take an active part in the upbringing of their child.
The article discusses the way LPGA management, in particular commissioner Carolyn Bivens tried to impose American culture and values: assimilate the South Korean players into a culture starkly different from their own and to emancipate them from what she characterized as overbearing fathers. It sounds to me like a particularly distasteful form of hubris, cultural fascism and possibly racism. It reminded me of the way indigenous children were taken from the ir parents and put in boarding schools to break them from their culture.
It would make more sense to work with the parents instead, something that Bivens seems to have an aversion to do. What’s next? US high school-type show-and-tell practice for Europeans unused to public speaking compared to their US counterparts?
Purpose based marketing
Purpose based marketing – in the words of former P&G marketer Jim Stengel purpose-based marketing is ‘defining what a company does – beyond making money – and how it can makes its customers’ lives better.’ This isn’t a new concept, P&G’s Pampers higher purpose is helping Mums bring up ‘happy, healthy babies’ rather than keeping them dry and clean. Unilever brand Surf washing powder conversely is about helping Mums having clean happy families.
That doesn’t necessarily mean that purpose based marketing will neatly align with corporate and social responsibility goals. Although I could see that these two things will get conflated at some point into a primordial soup of everything ‘doing good’.
It’s about alligning your brand with customers emotions, values and needs. Apple is a really good example of this. Kudos to The Wall Street Journal Europe – P&G Marketer sets up own shop by Suzanne Vranica (Monday November 3 2008).
James Earl Jones has one of the most distinctive voices in the entertainment industry as you can hear in this Sesame Street clip. You might recognise from his appearance in Conan the Barbarian film, but James Earl Jones has a surprising variety in his career across film, television and stage performance. James Earl Jones has done voiceover work for everything from Disney’s The Lion King to CNN station idents.
Hollow Spy Coins – talk about niche businesses, this is definitely on the long tail. You have to admire their dedication to engineering this.
Economics
Boomtown of Dubai feels effects of global crisis – International Herald Tribune – Until recently, credit in Dubai was growing by 49 percent a year, according to the Emirates’ Central Bank — a rate almost double that of bank deposits’ growth. That unnerved some bankers here, who felt it could lead to a collapse. “In the U.S., the challenge is about keeping the banks going,” said Marios Maratheftis, chief economist for Standard Chartered Bank. “Here, the economy has been overheated, a correction is needed, and it’s about making sure the slowdown happens in a smooth, orderly manner.”
Klein Verzet: Freaking doomed – the premise is that the demand for shipping of raw materials like coal, bauxite and iron ore have ground to a stand still and soon even the factories of China will be a lot quieter – so the economic outlook is nothing short of ammegeddon
P&G to launch washing gel that cleans at 15 degrees – Brand Republic News – Brand Republic – “According to P&G, Ariel’s Cool Clean campaign encouraged more than five times as many customers than normal to switch to low-energy washing programmes, with Ariel customers twice as likely as the average consumer to wash at a lower 30 degrees temperature (28% of Ariel customers in 2007 versus 13% of those using other brands). P&G has a partnership with the Energy Saving Trust, which encourages people to use energy efficiently and reduce their carbon footprints.”
I, Cringely . The Pulpit . Data Debasement | PBS – cloud computing versus DBMS, interesting reading, I need to go back and look at it a few more times to understand it fully. But initial take is that parallel computing as well as parallel processing changes how computing works and databases have to be adapted (like Oracle’s Grid database concept from the tail end of the dot com era and cloud computing. It’s the failings of Moore’s law rather than progress that is driving this change
Cloud computing is a trap, warns GNU founder Richard Stallman – while I have sympathy for some of what Mr Stallman says, his argument misses the point about the benefits of social software. Open formats and APIs allow you to move from one service to another as needs must.
I, Cringely . The Pulpit . Collateral Damage | PBS – interesting take on the mobile market, not one that I necessarily agree with, but interesting none the less. Cringely expect that Microsoft Windows Mobile software will fail and has some interesting ideas around the why. I think Microsoft has everything to play for with enterprise users and can leverage items like security authentication and Outlook email access – they might not be dominant but they could still be in with a shout
Beginning of end of megapixel marathon – Pixel count gives phones and cameras the ‘Dixons Factor’ – being able to be sold easily by some pimple-faced oik; but doesn’t mean you will have better quality pictures. I have a digital SLR which takes pictures at 5.1 megapixels and a phone camera that will do the same – no prize for which one takes the better pictures.
Talking heads spar over Carrefour boycott – internal debate on China’s self confidence and identity and how it should be expressed. I think that Wang Xiaodong was one of the authors of China Can Say Now – a groundbreaking collection of essays on Chinese nationalism published in 1996
EastSouthWestNorth: Why Is CNN Patriotic? – interesting piece on the western media from a Chinese perspective – it tells us a lot about Chinese national identity, confidence and rising Chinese nationalism
When China learned to say no – interesting interview with Chinese authors about ‘China can say no’ and the Chinese national identity. It does beg the question of when does Chinese national identity stop and Chinese nationalism start
Trace Me Luggage Tracker Purchase – interesting that this has been developed by a UK company – the home of the disastrous baggage handlers at LHR have won world-wide acclaim for their unique approach to their work. Definite must have though
Web 2.0: Obsolete within three years? – this isn’t as bad as it sounds, most technological progress is littered with failures. I think the bigger issue is the yuppification / tech bro culture starting to rear its ugly head in Silicon Valley. Web 2.0 is the last gasp of the ‘hippy’ influence on Silicon Valley culture – something that the article doesn’t address
Innovation
Upgrading processors for speed is doomed to failure – the need of paralellism in software – PS3 coders who have had a lot experience on programming for paralellism could be in demand doing business software
Paper is passe for tech-savvy South Koreans – SEOUL (Reuters Life!) – Young, tech-savvy South Koreans are making coupon clipping a thing of the past and turning to their mobile phones instead. Some of the fastest-growing mobile phone services in the country let retailers send discount coupons…
Powerset’s Dilemma: Go For It, Or Sell – I hope that they go for it, Powerset is built on some interesting ideas, the big challenge is finding an advertising model to monetise it and prevent them running out of cash and selling their intellectual property for pennies
Skype for your mobile – VoIP java application for some 50 low and mid-priced feature phones, it will be interesting to see how the networks (with the exception of 3/Hutchison Telecom) handle this
Social network decline is likely hard to define at first, we would likely seem small signals here and there. It may be easier to see in smaller, niche platforms. It is hard to know when a backing track of Jim Morrison droning ‘this is the end my friend. This is the end’ would be appropriate a la Apocalypse Now.
Cyworld pulls out of Germany – JV with Deutsche Telekcom and SK shuts up shop after six months. In the case of Cyworld’s aspirations of large scale penetration, the social network decline is obvious
I, Cringely . The Pulpit . War of the Worlds | PBS – There is a technology war coming. Actually it is already here but most of us haven’t yet notice. It is a war not about technology but because of technology, a war over how we as a culture embrace technology.
Joost Disappoints as Next YouTube – Portfolio.com – profile on the internet TV phenomena, my problem with Joost is that the content isnt updated on many of the channels. More manga please like Space Battleship Yamamoto and Atom Boy
How Companies Learn Your Secrets – NYTimes.com – right around the birth of a child, when parents are exhausted and overwhelmed and their shopping patterns and brand loyalties are up for grabs
Fire Eagle, the early days – nice overview by Tom Coates, can’t wait to see what the eco-system looks like by the time there is a developer meet-up in London later on this year