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Five international audit companies are caught squarely in the middle of a fight between Chinese and US regulators. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is demanding the auditors turn over internal accounting paperwork from nine Chinese companies listed on US stock exchanges. These China-based companies are under investigation by the SEC for potential accounting fraud against U.S. investors. Chinese accounting regulators say they don't have to, because they ban these kinds of investigations. However, the audit companies are caught in the crossfire of the fight. Who will the winners be? Or, will there only be losers?
Search, but will you find
There's an established rule in business circles. If you start a new company, it is hard to challenge the current leaders in the industry. This is especially true in the B2B field, where one product can look much like another. For customers, one random search can save you much time, but it can hardly meet your specific requirement of goods and suppliers. But two young Americans have gone ahead. Why? They think they can do a lot better.
Everyone knows about GPS these days, the handy little box that finds good restaurants for you and then tells you how to drive there. But pretty soon, users in China will be learning another name too -- Beidou, the new alternative to the American Global Positioning System. All Beidou equipment connects to the Chinese satellites which can tells ships or vehicles their exact position. This function once saved Chinese sailors from assault. Keeping sailors safe is far from Beidou's only capability. Now satellite navigation systems start businesses -- rich businesses. How does China's work, and who's beginning to profit from it?
Lightbulb: No More Free Music
Plenty of people download songs from the internet without paying for them. At home you might be able to get away with it, but in public places like restaurants or shopping malls, it's obviously against the copyright law. It turns out business owners really need professional advice on paying for their background music, and for picking the right kind of music as well. But who would play the role? Is there any market potential for this?
Last month China Eastern Airlines successfully made a test flight powered by biofuel -- aviation fuel made from the oil of palm trees. The company hailed it as a 'significant milestone' in the development of sustainable fuels for aircraft in China. And now gutter oil, the waste from restaurants, is scheduled to go on trial. China's experimenting with environmentally friendly aircraft biofuels. If it all works, will the new technology better protect the environment, even help it out? Can the alternative fuels be scaled up to commercially viable quantities?
Lightbulb: Windmills in China's farming industry
When you think about farming in China, usually rice paddies, water buffalo would be the first things that pop into your head. What about windmills-something that commonly thought belong in the Netherlands, and medieval flour mills? Not much so. However, that's not the idea of one American who thinks windmills can be a very important addition to modern farming in China. He's got a factory in Wuhan making windmills, and he's trying now to sell them all over the country.
Lihgtbulb: Establishing your connections via the APP?
Anybody who's been in China, even for the shortest time, knows the importance of "guanxi." Establishing and keeping good connections with others is a skill, and it is crucial to getting just about anything done here. To establish connections, is there a way to scan people around you in terms of their interests, jobs, and locations? Maybe there's someone you'd like to know, someone who could help you in your job, or someone who would pay you to help them? There's an expat in town who can help you out, thanks to Alvin Wang Graylin and his APP. The Guanxi APP tells you which other users are nearby, and scores them for you depending on how many interests you have in common.
Lightbulb: Mannequins: set the style of fashion and busines
Fashion is a part of life in Shanghai, and beautiful clothes and stunning dresses make even window shopping a pleasure. But, have you ever paid attention to the models in the window? To be accurate, the mannequins, that set the style for the styles, and are crucial for brands projecting their new designs. Here's a story about an Australian who started out making mannequins for Shanghai, and now makes them for the world. Her road to success is tough. Even though China is the world's largest manufacturing base for the garment business, the display industry started only a few years ago.
China arguably has the best-performing economy in the world but it arguably has one of the worst-performing market in the world at the same time. People don't need to be reminded about how bad the Shanghai Stock Market was in 2012 or the fact that it has been bad for a long time. However, many people are saying that 2013 will be the start of a new bull market. Is that really possible, or are the brokers just trying to gin up some more commissions? Stay tuned and this edition of Hot Chat will present to you a range of opinions from individual investor, experts and academics on the prospect of China's Stock Market 2013.
Expat's Business Idea
You've probably seen modern workout gyms, full of shiny equipment worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, on which you are invited to sweat and pant. What about a workout business that doesn't have to bother about any of that kind of high tech investment? Save money and make money at the same time? Stay tuned for another good business idea, on Lightbulb, where we will introduce to you the Australian who has brought some unusual workouts to the country that invented Taiqi and Kungfu, and who is now exercizing all the way to the bank.
You probably know one of the most popular words in China these days -- "PM2.5," a measurement of one of the most dangerous particles in polluted air. People in many cities have been complaining about it for two week. In the midst of China's winter-time pollution problems, everyone's talking about how to make the country greener. Actually six years ago the government began urging banks to adopt what it called Green Finance, and put their money into anti-pollution projects. How is the Green Credit project doing? How will China fight against environmental pollution?
Lightbulb--Taking Responsibility When Taking Money
Everyone would agree that companies exist to make money. Can companies make money and exhibit social responsibility as well? Many multinational corporations realized that their business activities affected not only their investors and managers, but also other important stakeholders -- government, customers, suppliers, trade unions and the communities in which they work. Corporate Social Responsibility is still a new idea in China and that's why a Korean expat established his consulting company in Shanghai -- to show companies the advantages of being responsible to society, to their employees, and to the government.
Sany Corporation, the biggest engineering machinery manufacturer in China has had quite a year buy purchasing the famous German construction machinery maker Putzmeister. It also had a project in the US halted by Washington on national security grounds. And now the company is moving from its hometown Changsha to Beijing - surrounded. What the real reason behind the sudden moving? Why did Sany take radical measures to promote sales? What's all that about?
Can CHIC Project Become a Win-win in Developing Rural Areas?
The CHIC Group, a company we have reported on earlier this year, is trying to narrow the gap between rural areas and big cities. This goal happens to be the same as one of the main objectives set out at the recent 18th party congress and the company has been dedicated to facilitating both economic growth and the development of infrastructure in the rural areas. So, how is CHIC doing, and could their ideas become a national model? This edition of Lightbulb will take you to visit one of their projects in Anhui Province and will provide you with interesting insights on how the company is crating new lives for farmers there.
Gloomy days for China solar power industry now: on the one hand, several big Chinese solar panel makers have either gone bankrupt or are recording huge losses. On the other, ten years after China's solar power industry started up, only a few individual solar power users are now connecting to the State Grid, China's electric power supplier. Why so late? And can these individual power user-generators really be a sign of things to come, of an energy-saving future for China?
Light bulb: Entering China - Virtually
How do you make a marketing impact in the biggest city in the world? How do you do it quick and cheap? Especially if you're a foreign company that doesn't really have much of a physical presence here. Light bulb is going to introduce you this kind of service, which combines online social networking with publicity events to create a following for foreign companies in the Chinese market, to create so called "virtual assets." How do they make it?
Economist and bestselling author Juliet Schor lays out a positive vision for rethinking our relationship to consumer goods in this accessible and timely analysis of the devastating ecological, social, and personal costs of mass consumerism. Ranging from cutting-edge developments in economic theory, social analysis, and ecological design to real-world examples of these ideas being put into practice around the world, Schor makes a compelling case that preserving dwindling natural resources and enhancing economic security should have less to do with managing scarcity and learning to sacrifice than with envisioning new forms of plentitude. The result is a bold and practical vision for replacing the old dead-end, debt-financed, work-and-spend cycle with a new paradigm of sustainability fueled by the abundant and infinitely renewable resources of time, creativity, and community.
At the very heart of business operations is the production of products or services - the input of raw materials, human resources and capital, and the transformation process that turns input into output. Operations extend also to areas such as transport of raw materials, distribution of products or services, advertising and marketing, finance and management. This program examines operations using four different case study businesses in New Zealand and Australia, and also explores unpacking operations, inputs, the transformation process, outputs and operations, productivity and competitiveness.
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Much attention has been paid to the banking system in China but are you aware of the fact that a large slice of it in fact lives in the shadows? Some of the irregular activities may not sound foreign to you including the so-called wealth management products, off-balance-sheet loans, and underground finance. There are increasing concerns about China's shadow banking system as it has experienced explosive growth. How big a threat does this informal and unregulated lending pose to the economy? And how can China walk out of the shadows? This week's Hotchat will take you to uncover the investments in question and shine some light on the subject.
Having a Good Name in E-Commerce Era
Having a good brand name has always been important for businesses and it turns out that it is also essential to have the right name on the internet. Domain names, those little addresses you type in to find your way around the digital world, can be of value if they are chosen by the right company. Some may worth a surprising amount of money. As the number of internet users in China continues to climb up, buying into the right domain names has become an important task for businesses. This week's Lightbulb will tell you how the domain name market works in China.
Factory owners in China are having a tough time coming to grips with a severe labor shortage. Young employees complain that factory jobs are boring, and repetitive. And they have higer expectations for the quality of their lives than their parents' generation. What will those expectations mean for the future of China's manufacturing sector?
Dialogue: Management Matters
A business magazine recently listed the 'Top 100 Managers' in China. This week, two of them join us for a discussion about management. What quality they think are the most important in management? What is the biggest challenge managers face? How can they avoid potential conflicts in boss-employee relationships? And we will also see how a manager persuades an employer to take a pay cut through the role-play.
Investment in Beeswax Amber
303 years ago, the Russians began to build a special chamber with amber, then 15 times as expensive as gold. In fact, amber has been treasured since the 4th century B.C. This week we take a look at a special kind of amber, which has grown quickly in value over the past few years -- beeswax amber.
Starting and operating any business is not simply a case of putting up a sign or registering a website and declaring yourself open for business. In the establishment of any enterprise, capital is needed before to cover the start-up costs. Likewise for established businesses, growth, expansion or diversification requires finance. This program examines the various sources of finance available to businesses. Barry Morse from the Cardiff Business School, in conjunction with the presenter, takes us through a range of sources of finance including shareholder funds, venture capital, silent partnerships, banks, trade credit and factoring. There is also an additional bonus section on hiring and leasing.
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In March 2011 a tsunami hit a Japanese nuclear reactor and ignited a new debate on the safety of nuclear energy. This film explores the very different energy policies of two countries: Australia and Sweden.
AUSTRALIA: For decades people in Australia campaigned against the nuclear and uranium industries - but global warming has now led some environmentalists to change their minds. Coal and gas generates 90 per cent of the country's electricity, and the fossil fuel lobby virtually dictates Australia's energy policy. They've come up with a technological fix that promises emission-free power from coal - but the technology is in its infancy, and the eventual costs are unknown.
SWEDEN: For the past 20 years Sweden has generated half its electricity from nuclear reactors. Many people feel nuclear is safe - despite the Chernobyl disaster of 1986. One of the greatest fears associated with nuclear energy is how to dispose of the dangerous waste - and Sweden has an elaborate plan for this, but many other countries, including Australia, are having problems agreeing where to put it.
ALTERNATIVES: Are renewable forms of energy, such as wind, a feasible alternative source of energy? Denmark, the wind power capital of the world, gets an astonishing 20 per cent of its electricity from wind power. Says one commentator: "There are other necessary and urgent things that we should do to stop polluting the planet, and building nuclear power plants is not the answer."
A film essay in tableaux, FUTURES MARKET traces the connections between memory, public space, and the real estate bubbles that led to the international financial crisis.
Beginning with Greek lyric poet Simonides of Ceos' invention of the 'memory palace' - in which memories are arranged in an imagined physical space - the film suggests that the recent flurry of credit-fueled property development has depleted not only national treasuries, but the distinctive characters of these nation's cities -- and therefore, their cultural memory as well.
FUTURES MARKETS takes us inside the fluorescent-lit showrooms of real estate expos, where developers hawk shares in hotel and condo projects in places from Dubai to Miami. Outside, cars crawl forward on endless stretches of anonymous highway whose "straight lines point in the direction of promises." This is Spain, but it could be almost anywhere in the world.
"The art of memory was practiced by philosophers, poets, and architects", a narrator tells us. In the film we see the art of forgetting is practiced by the real estate developers, as well as business school gurus - who pledge the keys to success in the same convention centers. Meanwhile, investment bankers bark orders into multiple phones, trading futures in their non-descript offices. All peddle the same dream: a tidy and prosperous future in identical spaces the world over.
To make room for these new dreams, history must be evacuated. FUTURES MARKET meditates on great art works from the past by painters like Bosch, Michelangelo, Mantegna, and Raphael. The grand philosophical and spiritual visions represented in their paintings have been replaced by the vulgar ones embodied by the glass tower condos and infinity pools in gleaming architectural models.
A modest alternative is offered with the introduction of Jesus Castro, a 92-year-old junk dealer more interested in collecting than selling. We watch movers cleaning out an apartment in an old building slated for demolition, bagging up the books, furniture, and religious artifacts that bespeak a particular cultural identity. They turn up in the new repository of cultural memory: not a palace, but Castro's flea market. His stubborn refusal to bow to the marketplace's demand to forget makes him the hero of this film, which illustrates how little most of us choose to remember.
Reviews
"A compelling meditation on dreams that doubles as an expose of how cheap those dreams have become, "Futures Market" is a wise and fulfilling film that bears lofty comparison with the work of Spanish maestro helmers Victor Erice and Jose Luis Guerin." - Variety
"Draw[s] attention to the invisible architects of the postmodern economy at the moment before it crashed, and...between what is discarded and devalued and the inflation of false values and dreams." - Sight & Sound
Award
Jury Special Mention, 2011 Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema (BAFICI)
Hardly a day goes by when we do not hear or read issues in the news of 'consumer spending down', the 'Australian dollar rising', and 'business sentiment at a five-year low'. We also often hear a politician or editorial writer advocating a change in economic policy. If you think these issues are very complex ... you are correct ... they are complex. But those who think these issues have little to do with them need to think again. Whether you can find a job or afford an overseas holiday depends on events in the macro economy. This program provides a useful starting point to explore the nature and purpose of macroeconomic activity in contemporary Australia, and the implications for our standard of living and long-term economic prosperity. It will assist students to understand the nature and importance of the Australian Government's key economic goals including low inflation, strong and sustainable economic growth, full employment, external stability and equity of income distribution.
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MARX RELOADED is a cultural documentary that examines the relevance of German socialist and philosopher Karl Marx's ideas for understanding the global economic and financial crisis.
The recent crisis triggered the deepest global recession in 70 years and prompted the US government to spend more than 1 trillion dollars in order to rescue its banking system from collapse. Today the full implications of the crisis in Europe and around the world still remain unclear. Nevertheless, should we accept the crisis as an unfortunate side-effect of the free market? Or is there another explanation as to why it happened and its likely effects on our society, our economy and our whole way of life?
Today a new generation of philosophers, artists and political activists are returning to Marx's ideas in order to try to make sense of the crisis and to consider whether a world without or beyond capitalism is possible. Is the severity of the ongoing recession a sign that the capitalist system's days are numbered? Ironically, 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, could it be that communism might provide the solution to the growing economic and environmental challenges facing the planet?
Written and directed by Jason Barker - himself an experienced writer, lecturer, translator and doctor of philosophy - MARX RELOADED includes interviews with leading thinkers on Marxism, including those at the forefront of a popular revival in Marxist and communist ideas. The film also includes interviews with leading skeptics of this revival as well as light-hearted animation sequences which follow Marx's adventures through the matrix of his own ideas.
Interviews with leading experts include: Norbert Bolz, Micha Brumlik, John Gray, Michael Hardt, Antonio Negri, Nina Power, Jacques Ranciere, Peter Sloterdijk, Alberto Toscano, and Slavoj Zizek.
Reviews
"An engaging hour-long talking-head-meets-animation doc examines the potentially terminal crisis of the free market system through Marx...creating a compelling dialogue of Marx's theories as they apply to its contemporary form." - Little White Lies
"Lively...well worth a watch for those with an interest in philosophy, politics and the general state of the world as we know it." - Time Out
A fundamental proposition in economics is that people have unlimited wants, but there are limited resources, which leads to the problem of scarcity. Hence the central question in economics is how best to allocate limited resources to produce goods and services. In this program we introduce the market system, the law of demand and supply, price elasticity, market structures, market failures and government response, and many more key concepts. Featuring clear explanations, excellent graphics and examples from all over the world, this program introduces the classic concepts of microeconomics in an engaging and thought-provoking way.
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The benefits of carbon emission reduction go beyond environmental considerations. They affect future economies, agriculture, sustainability and energy security. Each country is entering sustainability economics with its own history of environmental problems. Local business startups around the world are responding to the demand for sustainable products and provide much needed employment. But, despite being the least responsible for carbon emissions, sub-Saharan Africa remains the most unprepared to face the challenges of climate change.
Buy a bar of fair trade chocolate and help people in the developing world, too. This is the unique selling point of Divine Chocolate - but is it too good to be true?
SOCIAL ENTERPRISE: Divine was set up a co-op of cocoa farmers in Ghana to give them a share in the profits from their cocoa beans. Divine is a social enterprise and claims its ethical motivation shapes everything it does. But it's had to fight a major marketing battle to find a place in the cutthroat confectionery market.
MARKETING MIX: The big chocolate companies spend millions promoting their brands - by comparison Divine can spend almost nothing. Instead it makes creative use of the internet, public relations and its ethical back story. Divine's had to work hard to get onto the supermarket shelves and now wants to get its product to the other outlets people buy their chocolate.
BUT IS IT ENOUGH? As well as more money, fair trade has brought real benefits to the African farmers who own Divine. Women get a better deal. Villages get badly needed facilities like wells. But fair trade has its limitations. What about people working in poor conditions in the developing world who aren't in the fair trade loop?
The "forgotten space" of Allan Sekula and Noel Burch's essay film is the sea, the oceans through which 90% of the world's cargo now passes. At the heart of this space is the container box, which, since its invention in the 1950s, has become one of the most important mechanisms for the global spread of capitalism.
The film follows the container box along the international supply chain, from ships to barges, trains, and trucks, mapping the byzantine networks that connect producers to consumers (and more and more frequently, producing nations to consuming ones). Visiting the major ports of Rotterdam, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Guangdong province, and many places between, it connects the economic puzzle pieces that corporations and governments would prefer remain scattered.
We meet people who have been reduced to cogs in this increasingly automated machine - the invisible laborers who staff the cargo ships, steer the barges, drive the trucks, and migrate to the factories, and whose low wages form the base of the entire enterprise. The film also introduces us to those who this system's efficiency has marginalized: the longtime unemployed occupants of a California tent city, Dutch farmers whose land is bisected by a new high-speed train line, and the displaced residents of Doel, Belgium, whose city is slated for demolition in order to expand the port of Antwerp.
Employing a wide range of materials and styles, from interviews to classic film clips, essayistic voiceover to observational footage, THE FORGOTTEN SPACE provides a panoramic portrait of the new global economy and a compelling argument about why it must change.
Reviews
"An engrossing and provocative essay film... Various experts offer informative analysis, but the testimony of seamen, factory workers and residents of a California homeless encampment is at the heart of the film's guiding ethical and aesthetic principles, which have to do with the defense of human dignity in the face of a system that so often appears hostile or indifferent to it." - A.O. Scott, The New York Times
"THE FORGOTTEN SPACE begins as an investigative documentary and concludes as a mythopoeic essay on modernity and the sea." - Artforum
"To say that the subject of THE FORGOTTEN SPACE is the global transformation of labor caused by container cargo shipping is like saying that WAGON MASTER is a Western. Noel Burch and Allan Sekula's essay film is a journey around the world, to the ports of Rotterdam, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Bilbao-each a trove of stories, encounters, and observations at times angry and at times wry. The whole thing is held together by Sekula's adventure-happy, politically astute, partisan commentary, which itself is a masterpiece of nonfiction." - Olaf Moller, Film Comment
The car was once a symbol of American ingenuity and technological progress. But globalisation is having a huge impact on both how it's produced and on the lives of the people in the complex networks of countries across the world involved in its production.
INDIA: In Chennai, India, Boniface works making radiator caps which will end up on a US pick-up truck. The global car industry has given him a good job and great hopes for his future and that of his family.
BRITAIN: In West Bromwich, UK, Brian's firm supplies springs and washers to Boniface's company to make the caps for the pick-up truck. But Brian sees his business under increasing pressure from companies outsourcing production to India and China.
AMERICA: In Tennessee, USA, Teresa's company makes the radiators for the pick-up truck - but loses her job because of global competiton.
"Everybody is competing with everybody," she says. "They are doing what they need to do to survive - but we don't have to like it."
CHINA: But when it comes to global competition, there's one country no one can afford to ignore - China, the new Detroit of the world car industry. Car companies aren't only moving into China to make goods for export, but also to meet local demand for cars - the new status symbol in one of the world's newest economies.
The rise of foreign car companies and global networks of suppliers raises the question - what now is an American car? Is there such a thing? Some countries are winning, some losing - but no one can predict the ultimate direction of the global car industry.
When George Becali's limousine was stolen in 2009, he didn't call the police. Instead, Becali - one of the wealthiest men in Romania - turned to his personal bodyguards. They tracked down the alleged thieves, then captured and tortured them. Becali was imprisoned briefly. Soon after his release, he was elected to the European Parliament.
Few stories better illustrate contemporary Romanian economic and political realities: the fluid line between private wealth and political power, and the egos of wealthy men who see their own actions as above the law.
Becali is one of the rich and powerful Romanian magnates who have dominated the post-Communist Romanian economy, and to whom filmmaker Alexandru Solomon introduces us in his startling documentary Kapitalism: Our Secret Recipe.
With the 1989 fall of the Ceausescu regime the future seemed bright. Freed from its tyranny, Romanians looked forward to a capitalist, entrepreneurial age marked by freedom and a higher standard of living.
Twenty years later, Romania has the smallest GDP of all former Communist countries, with a third of the economy controlled by a small group of millionaires. Meanwhile, spending on infrastructure has stagnated: Romania's roads rank 110th in the world. Kapitalism: Our Secret Recipe seeks to understand how this came to pass - how public assets enriched very few, to the detriment of the country.
Rather than trying to understand the elite from a distance, Solomon sits down with them and asks them pointed questions. And they are surprisingly forthcoming in their responses.
Take Dan Voiculescu, the Vice-President of the Romanian Senate, who leveraged a job with a state-controlled export company into a net worth in the billions. Speaking in his palatial home, under an oil painting of himself, Voiculescu makes no apologies: a small group of people were in a position to get rich, and they did.
Then there's Dinu Patriciu, who bought a state-owned oil refinery valued at 615 million Euros for only 50 million Euros - then sold it a few years later for two billion. By its very nature, capitalism in a transitional period is "immoral" he says.
Intermingled with the interviews, are whimsical but effective animated sequences that use clay, LEGO and Playmobil to visually highlight key points and clearly demonstrate labyrinthine transactions. In addition to its personal interviews with the oligarchs, Kapitalism also depicts them at a distance, on television screens overlooking Bucharest, for instance. Here, they are remote, unapproachable - as most Romanians would experience them.
Ultimately, what Kapitalism suggests is that not much has changed over the last 20 years. The film imagines Ceausescu returning from the dead to tour the country now, and finding much to like. "You have maintained the three pillars of the Communist Party," this imaginary Ceausescu tells a group of assembled magnates. "Prejudice. Corruption. Relationships."
This is the story of a farmer who stood up against a massive multinational, and its right to claim ownership to a living organism.
One day representatives from the multinational company Monsanto visit Canadian farmer Percy Schmeiser and demand he surrender his canola crops. They sue him for $200,000, claiming he had illegally used their patented genetically modified seeds.
Percy counter-sues Monsanto for environmental pollution and launches a nationwide campaign defending farmer's rights.
Modifying canola's genes makes the planet resistant to specific weed killers and, according to the makers, generally improves yield.
But Percy's campaign highlights popular questions about GM crops and food with GM products in. In particular there are fears of "terminator technology" and worries about the impact on farming communities.
Schmeiser also accuses Monsanto of using intimidating tactics against him. For days, according to the farmer, detectives with cars were in front of his driveway, following him onto the fields, observing his every footstep.
Finally, the case goes to Canada's supreme court. The court finds in Monsanto's favour - but he doesn't have to pay a big fine. Percy argues the verdict raises more questions than it answers - including the biggest of all - "who owns life?"
Why you can't afford to ignore these emerging giants.
Four common "mindset" mistakes most companies make.
Lessons to learn from the few companies that got it right.
A successful China or India strategy is likely to become a matter of survival for multinational companies. China's GDP will catch up to that of the U.S. by 2025, predicts Professor Gupta. By 2050, GDP of both China and India will reach or surpass that of the U.S., Europe and Japan combined. Strategies that capture market share, talent, and innovation opportunities in these emerging giants necessitate understanding their unique yet complementary strengths.
China and India share distinct economic realities: they offer mega markets and mega growth via micro customers; they are platforms for reducing global costs and boosting innovation capabilities; and they are springboards for the rise of new competitors. Most companies ignore these realities, but instead see only the opportunity for off-shoring and cost reduction. Other common mistakes include failing to recognize the sheer scale of their growth potential, making generalizations based only on what is known about their largest cities, and failing to tailor existing strategies not designed for countries rich in market size while poor in per capita income. Professor Gupta describes successful efforts based on broader perspectives and multi-pronged, multi-year strategies.
Develop an understanding of the economic history, progress, and ups and downs, of the United States, since the 1800s. This module reviews the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era, sharecropping, and the roaring 20s and the Great Depression.
Blogs, wikis, peer-to-peer networks, personal broadcasting: the Internet has evolved from a static to a dynamic, highly collaborative platform.
Winning companies are leveraging these web technologies to spur innovation and growth.
Manufacturers, suppliers, customers, and even competitors are collaborating and rewriting business norms.
Interactive web technologies, in the form of self-organizing Internet communities, are driving a social revolution. This Age of Collaboration is also creating an economic revolution that is changing the architecture of the corporation in how we create goods and services.
Using the findings of a $9-million research project, Don Tapscott describes how companies innovate using the knowledge, resources, and computing power of millions of people organizing into a massive collective force. These innovative companies are challenging our assumptions about business and competitiveness. They are doing this by leveraging networks of peers, using operational transparency to their advantage, sharing intellectual property, and thinking and acting globally.
Don Tapscott is the author of 11 widely read books about information technology, including "Paradigm Shift," "Growing Up Digital," and "The Naked Corporation." Tapscott is adjunct professor of management at the Joseph L. Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. He holds an MA in Research Methodology from the University of Alberta and two Doctor of Laws (Hon).
Everyday we can see things in our lives that show us that we are connected with people all over the world. But exactly how is Australia connected to the other countries in the world, and what are our responsibilities? This program looks at how Australia is connected with the rest of the world in three key areas - trade and travel, communications, and global organisations and agreements. It features interviews with representatives from:
An export firm (Staedtler Pacific)
ABC NewsRadio
The United Nations
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. There is also a case study of AusAID.
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Resetting employees' minds about what constitutes success.
How to choose which projects to cut or fund.
Why it's critical to concentrate on customer care.
After reinventing itself years ago from a software-for-PCs producer to a software-for-the-enterprise producer, Microsoft is now in the midst of a multi-year initiative to transform itself again-to a software-plus-internet-services provider. And Microsoft remains committed to that transformation, notes Chris Capossela, despite the global economic downturn. In fact, it sees the crisis as an opportunity to rally all parts of the company behind its "big, big bets" for the next five to ten years.
For the short term, Microsoft's strategic direction to employees comes down to four simple guidelines: understand what they can and cannot control, prepare for an unknown length and depth of downturn, strengthen customer and partner relationships to grow market share, and act with a sense of urgency. For the longer term, the single-minded focus on its software-plus services initiative-which led to Xbox LIVER and Exchange Online, for example-will continue to demand innovation on all fronts: technology, new business models, global pricing plans, and even naming and packaging practices.