Business Environment in Emerging Countries of Central and Eastern Europe

I'm leaving for CEE(Central & Eastern Europe) tommorow! So excited about it. It's gonna be a study trip to Budapest in Hungary, Vienna in Austria and Prague in Czech Republic (even though sometimes Austria is referred to as Western Europe:)).


To better understand the economic environment and global business in CEE, we will have the chance to visit several great universities (such as Corvinus University) and well-known international companies there (including IBM, Google, Beiersdorf, Strabag, Telecom Austria, etc.). All these companies are leading companies doing global business in CEE countries.

CEE countries are almost formerly communist countries in 1990s.The history, European environment and politics make them special in today's world economics.
I'm sure that we can get some great experience from the trip!!! (The sad thing is that I might not be able to update the blog...)

Endless Dream of Luxury in China

Hello! It's been a really busy week before the finals at Bentley. Hopefully it will end soon. :)

Prada finally gets listed in Hong Kong, followed by perhaps some more luxury companies. The story of luxury in China has always been appealing: people are getting rich, buying luxurious brands and “supporting” companies like Prada. But is this story endless? I am afraid China isn’t the new Babylon, is it?

Hong Kong is right the reflection of the luxury business in China. Rich mainlanders cross the border and crowd into stores of Prada, Gucci, LV and Burberry every day. This has continued for years, yet the market has shown signs to be saturated. However the Chinese passion with luxury is hard to change, Prada may keep enjoying the profitable business for, at least, quite a long period of time.

Social Media Has Little Impact on Online Retail Purchases [STUDY]

Just found a topic online strongly related to my ex post a few days ago... Worth reading...
All those marketers who are rushing to increase their social media spend take note: A new study says social media has almost no influence on online purchasing behavior.
The report, a collaboration between Forrester Research and GSI Commerce, analyzed data captured from online retailers between November 12 and December 20, 2010. The research shows that social media rarely leads directly to purchases online — data indicates that less than 2% of orders were the result of shoppers coming from a social network. The report found email and search advertising were much more effective vehicles for turning browsers into buyers.
“The best analogy is in the South, a lot of people go to church on Sunday,” says Fiona Dias, executive vice president of strategy and marketing for GSI Commerce. “If you go with the theory that you should market where the people are, then you should be running off to market during church services. Facebook has the same analogy. Buying things from retailers is maybe 10th on the list of things they want to do on Facebook.”
Dias says social media outreach is somewhat effective for distributing news about short-term deals. In that case, 5% to 7% of purchases are influenced by social media activity.
What does seem to work is more traditional online marketing, including email and search advertising. Most consumers in the study were exposed to some form of marketing by the retailers before they made their purchase. Seventy seven percent of transactions in hard goods categories (like lawnmowers) and 82% in soft goods categories (i.e. clothing) occurred after the consumers had engaged in some interactive marketing tactic before their purchase. Forty percent of hard goods transactions and 60% of soft goods transactions came to retail websites directly from email and search.
That’s not to say that online advertising plays no role in purchasing decisions. The report found that consumers are exposed to such ads early in the purchase funnel — display ads are the first touchpoint for 13% of soft goods buyers, for instance.
Dias says she isn’t surprised by the survey’s results because she’s been telling retail clients for some time that social media outreach is a waste of time and money. Says Dias: “It’s been a mystery to me why the media is excited about social media. From a retail and commerce perspective, it seems to have no effect.”

Source: http://mashable.com/2011/04/27/social-media-retail-purchases/

Is RMB’s Appreciation Harming Chinese Exporters?

Historically RMB was pegged to US dollar for a long time after Chinese monetary reform in 1980s. However, recently this foreign exchange policy has been challenged by new trends of global economy and increasing pressure by China’s trade partners. People’s Bank of China announced a more “flexible” foreign exchange and gradually liberalized RMB to US dollar in 2005. RMB to US dollar rate decreased from 8.2 to 6.6 in 2011. Meanwhile China’s exporters are grumbling with this change as they complain a “trade barrier” emerges.

When global economy moves into a downturn, there is no doubt China’s export-oriented economy is a victim. Under this circumstance, any assertion that a flexible RMB encumbers exportation needs more thinking.

We are on Facebook, Twitter, Blog and Linkedin. Now what?

This is pretty much a bottleneck that most companies may encounter. Companies use social media to improve their brand awareness and reputation. Through SEM(Search Engine Marketing)/SEO (Search Engine Optimization), companies generate website traffic and rank higher in search engine. But, so what? How can the companies benefit from social media? How can they make real money sooner?

In my point of view, there are two main ways to monetize social media.

a. Offer promotions for the customers exclusively on social media
 Drugstore did a great job in this aspect. It offers 20% off for people who like them on their Facebook fan page exclusively.

b. Try to engage the customers

• Perform an alive representative online and try to build up a two-way communication. 
• Respond to every inquiry quickly. 
• Helping customers or even potential customers to solve problems is a good way to get the customers engaged. 
• Updating the blog frequently and interacting with people in related industry could also build up a community.

How To Clean Your Microscopes?

Make sure that you only clean your microscope lenses when they are dirty and use the proper materials!

If your objective lenses are dirty, you can remove build-up with lens paper dipped in a very weak ammonia solution. Place one eye dropper full of household ammonia in 1/2 cup of water.

If you have any sticky substances on your objectives such as balsam, oily materials or paraffin, this should be removed with xylol.

To clean microscope eyepiece lenses, breathe condensation onto them and then wipe them with lens tissue. Kim-wipes are made by Kleenex and generally will work well. For stubborn spots, wipe the surface with tissue moistened with 95% alcohol. Wipe the lens dry with a dry tissue.

If you see black specks when you look through the microscope, turn the eyepiece lens to see if the specks also turn. If so, the dust is on either the inside or outside eyepiece lens. Clean the eyepiece lens with lens tissue. If the spots remain, remove the eyepiece lens and brush the inside of the eyepiece lens with a camel hair brush or lens paper.

DO NOT USE cloth, ordinary paper or fingers! Make sure that you use only special lens cleaning tissues!

Periodically inspect the power cords and plugs for safety and have a supply of replacement bulbs available.

Professional cleaning and adjusting should be performed whenever necessary at an optical shop specializing in microscopes. Usually the microscope manufacturer can recommend a qualified professional that services their microscopes and will not alter the warranty.

When microscopes are not in use, they should be covered with plastic and stored in a safe area where they won't get knocked over or stolen.

Keeping a clean microscope will ensure that you will get many years of quality use out of your microscope!

http://www.microscope-microscope.org/basic/clean-microscope-lens.htm

AliExpress.com & Alibaba.com

As you may know, we sell our product on AliExpress and Alibaba (both "alibaba.com" and "alibaba.com.cn")

Not many people know the differences and the relationships of AliExpress and Alibaba.

When Alibaba Group decided to launch its new global wholesale platform AliExpress.com, many e-commerce experts in China shed doubts on the big move Alibaba was going to take. However, since AliExpress made its official debut in April 2010, all doubts have gradually gone. Today, as a giant in the arena of small wholesale business, AliExpress speaks another huge success of Alibaba.

 

Over the past decade since its inception in 1999, Alibaba.com has established an unbeatably big name on the global market of wholesale trade and almost all merchants know well about Alibaba.com. Comparatively, AliExpress.com may be still a little bit strange to some businesses. If you are looking for orders in small quantities with fast shipment and secure protection, you are encouraged to learn more about AliExpress, right from here.
As the brand name indicates, AliExpress is composed of “Ali + Express”. Yes, from the very beginning, AliExpress is intended to be Alibaba’s express channel for wholesale transactions. We know, Alibaba.com charges membership fees on suppliers and mainly provides information service between sellers and buyers. Different from Alibaba.com, AliExpress.com does not charge any fees on registered members (either suppliers or buyers) and inspects the whole transaction process between the two transaction parties. It’s a wholesale platform targeting small and medium-sized suppliers and buyers. There minimum orders as low as 1 item are accepted and express delivery, in some cases, fast and free shipping is offered. In addition, a vast array of item categories can be found on AliExpress—it truly is a one-stop-shop for small wholesale orders.