Hijab-Wearing Barbie and Social Responsiveness
Is so much ado about a Barbie doll warranted? There's a hard-hitting op-ed in al Jazeera criticizing a move one of the United States' largest toymakers has made to produce a hijab-wearing B…
Showing posts with the label Marketing
Hey Trump, Japanese Buy Foreign Cars (Just Not US Ones)
Japanese failing to buy hulking left-hand drive American gas guzzlers = protectionism according to the imbecile Trump. Close links between Japanese business and government are the stuff of legend. T…
Why Google Cars Beat Tesla + Old Mfgs Still Matter
Why tomorrow's king of the (virtual) road may be Google, not Tesla. There's a wide-ranging interview in Vox of automobile commentator Edward Niedermayer on that ever-popular topic, the futur…
Apple vs India's 30% Local Content Requirement
Apple and India don't mix--or rather Apple and protectionist retail policies. India remains one of the last few large economies worldwide that remain avowedly protectionist in the retail sector. …
Era's End: Japanese Stop Making 'Galapagos Phones'
Actually, the flip phone won't die in Japan, just the proprietary OS. The "Galapagos Syndrome" is the term coined to describe standards and technologies that have emerged only in Japan…
Brent Spar 2: Greenpeace, Lego & Shell's Betrayal
This WSJ feature is sponsored by, er, Shell. Environmentalist activists are not infallible despite being ostensibly well-intentioned. Common failings include impractical courses of action as well as…
Social Media is a Wasteland, Corporate Edition
Will Facebook and Twitter "save" America? you must be joking. You may say it's rich for someone with an online-only presence to say that "the Internet doesn't matter," but…
Selling Authoritarianism: Azerbaijan's Atletico Madrid Bonanza
Azeri petrodollars bankroll the mighty Atleti. Football and authoritarianism have a longstanding history. One of this year's Champions League finalists, Real Madrid, received much favoritism duri…
How the Heartbleed Bug Got Its Own Logo & Website
Ah, fun with Photoshop and someone else's logo. Something that's piqued my curiosity about the Heartbleed virus which is designed to, well, bleed through security layers is that it's alwa…
Bhutan's Gross National Happiness & Money-Grubbing
Everybody Wangchuck [L] Tonight and Meet the Jetsun [R]. Us Asians are routinely amused by Westerners buying our dear neighbor Bhutan's schtick hook, line and sinker. You see, Bhutan is famous th…
If Chinese Cars Can't Sell at Home...
The Qoros 3 looks quite handsome, but... ... what more abroad ? There has been a certain fear factor--especially from less competitive European mass manufacturers alike Citroen/Peugeot, Fiat, Ford, O…
Secrets of Orlando's 'Harry Potter' Theme Park Success
You needn't be a movie star to enjoy Butterbeer,; just head to Orlando FL Here's another example of the fallibility of what you read on the Internet--this time from, er, me. Three years ago, …
Colonial Mentality: Chinese Shun Their Own Brands
Given the truckload of goods China makes for the rest of the world, it may seem odd that the Chinese are concerned with their inability to develop homegrown brands: Why should you develop your own…
Cola's Final Frontier: Coke v Pepsi in Myanmar
He thought he was the King of America Where they pour Coca-Cola like vintage wine In 1986 Elvis Costello penned the lyrics above to the first song of his album King of America , "Brilliant Mista…
The Tricky Business of Catering to PRC Tourists
Since I am currently writing up some tourism-related research, two recent articles about the global industry catering to Chinese travelers caught my eye. While there is some debate going on as to wh…
Why Eastern Europe Spanks US in Software Development
Last Thursday our home computer running Windows XP was infected by a fairly old autorun.inf virus. For, we accidentally brought home an infected USB thumb drive from the workplace, which has comput…
LDC Marketing Lessons Selling to Brokebank Yanks
Here's an interesting feature I somehow missed given my interest in the intersection between marketing and international political economy. Nowadays the "American Dream" is a punch lin…