The Earthquake

Asia Business Consulting reports and comments about events in Asia Pacific or events that happen elsewhere and influence the way how business in Asia is conducted now or will be in the future.

As such, we should report about the impact of the earthquake that took place yesterday, as others have done already. However it is our opinion that a neutral or professional analysis about the economic impact might offend the families of the victims. They don't care if the economic damage is US$ so much, or Euro that much. They want to have help now, and want to know how they can reconstruct their life in a human manner.

In the meantime, if you want to contribute or donate, there are many possibilities through official media. There is also a donation drive amongst bloggers in Malaysia, spearheaded by Mack.

To just move on and continue with reporting about other events would also sound cynical or just not right to us. In this sense we refrain from analysing today and will also close for business until January.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims.

Thai's concerned over too much mobile phone usage

Other countries, such as the Philippines or China, but Thailand is complaining. Complaining specifically about the costs that the youth segment occurs by using data and SMS services. It is said that combined spending by all age groups on such services amounted to roughly US$500 million this year, up more than 100% over 2003.

Secretary-general of Ampon Kitti-ampon yhe National Economic and Social Development Board said that "Today Thais, specifically teens, spend too much on mobile phones, and they're encouraged by cell-phone operators' fierce campaigns. Even TV programmes today encourage viewers to participate by sending a short message to express opinions or join a lucky draw."

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Mobile spam outnumbering desktop spam

This is probably a trend of the future - due to better spam protection, spam doesn't reach the desktops in such great growth numbers anymore. But, not to give up, spammers found a new way to reach "the people" by reaching out to them to their mobile phone.

Korea Information Security Agency (KISA) says that mobile spam reported to the state-owned institute numbered 244,151 during the first 10 months of this year, in comparison to 78,063 of unsolicited e-mail messages during the same span. This represents a growth of 480%. In 2002, mobile spam stood at 4,864 cases in 2002.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Quotes of the year

The China Post publishes some of the best quotes of the year from politicians and "normal beings" across Asia Pacific.

Is the U.S. his daddy? What is he afraid of?" Taiwan's former president Lee Teng-hui, an outspoken independence advocate, urges President Chen Shui-bian not to be afraid of pressure from Washington.


"Chen Shui-bian has stolen the country." Lien Chan, chairman of Taiwan's main opposition Kuomintang and presidential candidate, after Chen narrowly won the election one day after he and Vice President Annette Lu were mysteriously shot during an election rally. Neither was seriously hurt in the attack.


"Even a country the size of a booger brazenly criticized Taiwan and former president Lee Teng-hui in the United Nations. It was nothing but an effort to embrace China's 'balls', forgive me using such a word." Taiwan Foreign Minister Chen Tan-sun responds to comments from Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo, who had told the UN General Assembly that an independence drive by certain Taiwan groups would lead to war with mainland China.


"This recent outburst is a source of some pain and sadness to U.S. that it should come to this." Yeo reveals Singapore's unhappiness over Chen's "booger" slur.


"Geez I'm glad to see you." Australian fisherman Dave Richardson to his startled rescuer, who spotted him clinging to a bamboo pole after surviving 35 hours at sea drifting through shark-infested waters for 100 kilometers (62 miles) after his boat sank off Queensland state.


"Many people may have a dreadful, spooky image of him as a dictator. But I found him to be a person who is gentle, a cheerful individual who cracks jokes and is quick-witted." Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il after their summit in May.

Have had fun? DO you know any? Make yourself heard!!

(By Asia Business Consulting)

China's crackdown on porn web sites

We had it a couple of times already - but China's crackdown on porn continues.

As said, web surfers can report pornographic sites and apparently, the site has received 95,000 reports of pornographic and other illegal web sites.

Of those "the related departments have closed 1,278 illegal web sites and 114 sites promoting gambling, superstitious activities and cult propaganda according to the information provided by the informers."

The critical part of this is the "cult propaganda", since it leaves a lot of space for crack down on groups and movements that are simply religious but deemed threatening to the national security.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

China attracts foreign students

China is making its mark in the world economy. This in turn, attracts foreign students that are willing to study in the country - amongst others, to learn Chinese.

It is reported that more than 19,000 foreign students have enrolled in Shanghai universities this year, up 40 percent from last year and that the number of foreign students enrolling will grow to 50,000 and more by 2010.

On the other hand,a record number of scholars is headed abroad. China Daily reports that China will send 7,245 students and scholars abroad next year, 3,100 more than this year.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

400,000 Gifted Students to Get Elite Education by 2010

What would you do as a country to get ahead, climb up the value added ladder, stay ahead of global competition and China.

Plow money into education. Already, Asian students are the global top.

Alread, Korea spend 8.2 percent of the gross domestic product on public education, higher than 7.1 percent spent last year and now, their "The Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development on Wednesday announced the plan to provide elite education for about 400,000 students, or 5 percent of the total students from elementary to middle and high schools by 2010."

It is of course, tough for those that are left behind. Education, especially learning based on memorising, is not everything, and learning, learning, learning might kill creativity. So let's take this also with a bit of salt, but agree that spending on education in itself is a good sign.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Now, mobile phones might be bad for your DNA

Every now and than, a study comes out that says that mobile phones are bad for your health. Following this, there are studies that say that mobile phones are not bad (is there any study that says that mobile phones are healthy?).

Well, it is the usual thing - if in doubt, don't exaggerate. It is clear that fixed line, while on the losing end, are healthier.

A new study says that "mobile phone users are being urged to keep calls short and use hands-free sets after a study revealed using them may damage human DNA.

The research shows radiation from mobiles harms body cells and damages DNA in laboratories. But the study by 12 research groups in seven European countries did not prove mobile phones were a health risk.

Australia's peak mobile phone body said about 350 studies had been done worldwide and none showed adverse health effects."

(Asia Business Consulting)

Introducing Hubo

Japan is known as the powerhouse in the development of robots and "robotic technology".

Japan was also the first country to develop a humanoid robot called Asimo. This one is now followed by Hubo, a Korean "humanoid robot". Hubo's birth came as a shock to Japan as it comes less than a year after the start of development.


(By Asia Business Consulting)

Chinese strikers use SMS and blogs for their struggle

The fascinating world of blogs. It is impossible to control them and if you want, you can call them the voice of the people.

There are plenty of blogs that describe the situation in Iraq, in Palestine, or in China, for that matter. They are the ones that are in the frontline, so to speak, away from the media and report uncensored. Naturally, governments are not always too happy about it.

On the other hand, you have blogs from the corporate world which are also criticised by their own employer. Famous the story of the Microsoft blogger who depicted an Apple Computer in his blog. Other employers fire their employees, like the one stewardess from United Airlines, or the former Web Developer of Friendster.

The interesting part in this is how fast people pick of the blogging tool and start blogging about their experience. I have talked about blogging in China before.

Now, Smart Mobs writes about striking Chinese Workers that use SMS and blogs to make themselves heard:

"Ten days ago, 12,000 workers went on strike in Shenzhen at the factory of a supplier of Wal-Mart.

"The hordes of young women employed here say they are required to work 11-hour days, including three hours of mandatory overtime, in order to earn a basic monthly salary of 484 yuan, or about US$58. The women say they must spend nearly half their wage on the drab company dormitories where, as migrants, they must live," the article reprinted in the IHT says.

While the women are not organized in a union, contacts have improved thanks to SMS-messages.

Now also a weblog has emerged, maintained by the strikers, reports blogger Isaac Mao."

Basically, the message is that blogs can't be controlled. If you are using it in your corporation, make sure that your blogger knows, what is going on. You might not have time to involve your PR department, so give your blogger the freedom and liberty to mess up, make mistakes. Anything is better than being quiet. Blog news spreads fast, and if there is a mishap, be open about it and report immediately. There is much to say about it, but the main thing is that blogging is about changing the mindset of how news is transmitted in an interactive way.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Everyday low prices - Wal-Mart presents the US$498 Laptop

People criticise Wal-Mart for their labour policies. They also say that it is due to Wal-Mart and the tremendous pressure on prices that outsourcing has taken the form it has taken already.

Playboy called Wal-Mart headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., “the epicenter of retailing's Evil Empire.”
They are the largest company in the world. Slate writes that their revenue represents 2.5% of the US GNP. When founder Sam Walton died in 1992, Wal-Mart had 1,714 stores, 371,000 employees, and US$43.8 billion in annual sales. Last year, Wal-Mart had US$244 billion in sales. With 1.38 million employees, Wal-Mart is the world's largest private employer.

But whatever it is, they are faithful to their promise: "everyday low prices."

Now, they are doing it again - together with Linspire they are producing a US$498 Laptop.

It is Linux-based, and "features a VIA C3 1-GHz processor, 128MB RAM, a 30GB hard drive, a CD-ROM drive and a 14.1-inch liquid crystal display. The software includes a built-in firewall to protect users from viruses, spam and pop-ups." It sure will put pressure even on companies such as Dell. Its market surely is the low-end user and it will probably rapidly penetrate into rural areas or households with less purchasing power. But why not? There is a huge market in that segment, that cannot afford the Dell's and HP's.

What are your thoughts about this?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Firefox users create ads for .... Firefox

When consumers or customers are willing to pay for ads for a company that they support, than the company has achieved what every other company dreams of - loyaly, love, support, and a buzz that might be out of contol.

This is happening right now with Firefox. I wrote, just a couple of days ago, about the rapidly increasing distribution of the browser and that I would get worried, if I would be in Microsoft's shoes. What are the advantages of Firefox? Well, it is fast, it is clean - no pop-ups, less advertisements, no spyware etc. I suggested that this was one reason why Microsoft acquired Giant, the antispyware company. But the plan to charge for the usage of the program shows that they still don't really get it.

Anyway, back to Firefox. The Customer Evangelist describes the impact of Firefox even more dramatic. He writes:

"The now infamous Firefox ad ran in the NY Times today. It's a two-page spread on pages A24 and A25. Over 10,000 names of customer evangelists who donated money to make the ad possible appear in the ad .
Rob Davis, who drove the ad idea, says they hit their first goal of 2,500 donations in 17 hours. In the end, 10,000 individuals, families, and companies donated over $250,000.
German customer evangelists also jumped on the idea. 2,403 people donated $93,000 for an full-page ad (PDF) that appeared in the business section of the Frankurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ)."

Now this is something.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Professional risk: Spammers to pay up

Okay - this is not news from Asia but it is worthwhile mentioning it.

"A federal judge has awarded an Internet service provider more than US$1 billion in what is believed to be the largest judgment ever against spammers."

Well, may be such high penalties might deter aspiring spammers from taking up the profession although the salaries or, shall I say, rewards of spamming are still there.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

China's Li Zhaoxing in online talk with Internet users

I have written extensively about the ambiguous position of China with regard to the Internet world, so to speak. On the one hand, they close down cybercafes to prevent access to pornography and similar vices, or, worse, they control Google's access.

On the other hand they promote the usage of the Internet and telecommunications - but both are also tools to position itself stronger in the world economy.

Anyway, China's minister of foreign affairs, Li Zhaoxing, sat down for a remarkably candid online chat with Chinese Internet users, which is an amazing feast. Once this has been done, one wonders, how the Internet can be controlled further down the road, when high-level politicians endorse online communications.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

A sign of times

Chinese companies are good - they are cost efficient, and they produce products of appealing quality. The question is why would I want to buy a high-end product that lasts a long time for a high price, when I can buy a product that produces quality that is just about meeting my needs, but for a much lower price, and, because of that I can replace the product more often than ever before. And when I replace the product, I might be able to reap the benefits of new technological progress.

Why do I say that? Because more and more companies seem to realise that this is a new way how consumers operate. They get out of low-end, low-margin products that take away their focus from those consumers that still demand high-end product for all its benefits.

We first had IBM that exits the PC business by selling that division to Lenovo. Next, we had the rumour that Siemens is selling its money-losing mobile phone division to another Chinese company. Now Philips announced their exit from the low-end flat screen business group to TPV Technology of Taiwan as part of a strategic direction change. Okay, Taiwan is not really China, but you get the picture. What will come next? Any suggestion?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Segmenting mobile phone users

We could call it the problem of the middle. When a company is listening a little bit too much to what consumers say, and when it wants to minimise the risk to its operations, it targets the majority of the consumers. Those, that say, with an overwhelmingly high percentage, they want this feature and that feature. Those that buy their product.

What happens than, however, is that the company loses out on the edges of the market - in groups that might be the future driver of their growth or those that simply have a different desire.

Look at mobile phones. Over the years they became smaller and smaller - and so did the numbers. Tough for those that are older and actually need a bigger screen, larger letters, bigger numbers. When there is a phone that is suitable for those elder users, it is ugly or not really well-designed.

While things might look a bit different. "Handset manufacturers need to start understanding what consumers want in a very segmented way, so that they provide someone with a handset that they feel is designed for them as an individual rather than as part of a broad group." Or simply said - they need to look at their research with a different cap on their head.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Too many teleconferences?

There are many meetings that we have to attend to - client meetings, team meetings, progress meetings and so on. You name it. In addition, there are the teleconferences. They become more frequent especially in the age of globalisation. CEO's like to address their employees across the globe, or projects run gross-border. Anyway. Frequently, that means to interrupt what you have been doing and attend to the conference.

But, honestly, how many of us are thoroughly focussed on the conference? Especially in times when multi-tasking is required, many employees listen to the conference, but might do some work in addition. Or even skip out totally and do something else.

An audio and conferencing company now found out, that ninety percent of people who participate in conference calls find things to keep them busy besides following the discussion.

"Topping the list of distractions: doing unrelated work and looking for materials being discussed on the call. A full half of respondents said they read and write e-mail and instant messages during such calls, while just more than a third said they take the opportunity to fill their stomachs. Twenty-seven percent say they surf the Web during conference calls, while a third said they are guilty of pressing the mute button to talk privately with others."

This is interesting, but than, as long as you do some work, it is better than listen to something that is not really related to what keeps you busy in the moment. And why not writing e-mails while listening in? I am talking about listening in, since not all calls require active participation from all participants.

Whatever- the statistics might be interesting but take care if you use them. Since the company that promotes them has of course an interest in pushing its own products!

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Microsoft and its anti-spyware acquisition

May be they start to understand that spyware is a menace and that it is time to do something about it.

Or, may be they realise that their "newest competitor", Firefox is growing so rapidly that there is a danger that their marketshare in the browser market dips even more.

A third possibility is that their own software development department needs some patching up (just kidding).

Anyway, Microsoft has bought into the anti-spyware business with the acquisition of Giant Company Software, a New York-based startup with a highly rated anti-spyware application.

Let's hope that it gets better with their product development, and that the integration of the company is smooth enough to allow for more anti-spyware programs.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Want to hear something new? Samsung produces, once again, a global number one

How come that they can do this just like that, while in the US, they are thinking of how to get innovativeness going again?

There, a group they recomment about:
- Create a Cabinet-level innovation czar and a National Innovation Prize
- Shift R&D funding priorities to encourage riskier, long-term projects
- Put money in the hands of younger scientists
- Create innovation hotspots

However, Samsung just does it (sorry, pun line). And now, they have developed the world's largest plasma display pane - a stunning 102 inches.

May be the US should study the market in Korea to learn something they don't know yet? Okay, some companies do it already - such as EBay - remember, they visited the country and Meg said that Korea is a testbed for broadband. So, not all is lost over there.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Telekom Malaysia starting to grow regionally

Have you realised something recently? Telekom Malaysia, after years of somewhat slower expansion and even retreat, starts to refocus their business.

There was a time when they were pretty active in Africa, especially in Ghana and than, in South Africa, but those stakes were sold of this year.

But now look what they have done over the last couple of weeks - or better, only this week:

- Acquisition of a majority stake in Excelkomindo, Indonesia's third largest cellular operator

- Than, Telekom and the Singapore government's Singapore Technologies Telemedia , agreed to buy 47.7% of Idea Cellular Ltd., India's fifth-largest mobile phone operator

- This compliments their presence in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Cambodia and India. In Bangladesh, Telekom reaffirmed its commitment to its Bangladesh unit TMIB, the firm behind domestic brand Aktel

While it will take time to realise any profit from their overseas expansion, it is clear that this is a useful, and probably successful strategy. Currently, overseas operations contributed 29% of Telekom Malaysia's 2003 earnings, though this is projected to fall to 21-22% in 2004, according to its CEO. It is also a necessary strategy, in order to start competing against Singapore Telecommunications that became stronger and stronger over the last couple of weeks and months as well. Overseas markets such as Indonesia and Bangladesh have extremely low mobile penetration rates - 8% and 2% respectively, which allow for longterm future growth opportunities for the company. India is another excellent example for possible growth with a low penetration and a huge population base.

Telekom is also struggling at home. While the market in mobile communications Malaysia is quickly closing in to saturation, it lost its leadership in the market to Maxis again, as the integration of Celcom dragged in longer than expected.

Well, let's see how it develops - the company has to show that it can execute. Under their new leadership, I am pretty optimistic.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Official spyware and Trojan horses in Australia

I have to talk some more about Australia. Apparently, the "Australian police have been given the power to install spyware and Trojans on suspected criminals' computers under the new Surveillance Devices Act."

This happens just after their spies received a high-tech boost, just in the beginning of this week.

Clearly, Australia tries to keep up with the fast changes in technology and the adjustments, criminals do to enhance their capabilities. However, let's hope, once again, that everything goes alright on their side.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Employee perks - how does this one sound?

I had a couple of write-ups recently about awards for companies and their outstanding achievements. But how does this one from Shin Corporation in Thailand sound like?

They start a "People Year" in 2005 with the aim of treating their employees better by enhancing perks provided to them. One of them is the cutting of 30 minutes off the working day, which will allow Shin employees to come in a half-hour later, at 8:30 am, and leave at 5:30 pm as usual.

The campaign also "includes three "Fund Access" programmes available for staff looking to start sideline business projects, as well as scholarships for the children of its staff and master's degree scholarships at both local and overseas universities." This is for meant for projects with high potential and related to the group's business direction.

Does this sound great? It sure does!

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Firefox - the fire is spreading

For those interested in numbers - here are some indicating that Firefox is rapidly growing.

"In the period from November 5 to December 3, Firefox's online usage share grew from 3.03 per cent to 4.06 per cent, following a 13 per cent gain during the previous month.
Microsoft's Internet Explorer retains its overwhelming dominance with 91.8 per cent of the market, the report showed. But that has slipped from over 93 per cent two months ago. "

I read somewhere that Microsoft is monitoring the development and that they would get worried about a drop below the ninety percent level and it doesn't look to far away from it, considering that each point dropped consists of millions of Internet users that promote Firefox even more.

Considering that Firefox is really the current buzz in the Internet with sites such as Spread Firefox and Switch to Firefox coming up in addition to increasing word-of-mouth promotion, I would start getting worried, if I would be the big giant. What do you think?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

The battle for the Internet

This article was mentioned over at my friends in Techdirt as they outline a fascinating article by Charles Ferguson about the relation or, better, upcoming battle between Microsoft and Google.

A great read, highly recommended. The basic conclusion is that Google can succeed but only, if they "create open, but proprietary APIs into the Google search engine, basically becoming the locked-in platform on which web applications and services are all built."

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Less reading, more Internet

It is the usual problem or challenge all around the world. Governments are complaining that people read less books and they see it as a serious challenge. So in China, the percentage of people reading books has dropped steeply in recent years, with an average annual decline of 8.7 percent since 1998.

However, the question has to be raised, if those who go to the Internet are not actually accessing websites that are enlightening or knowledge-enhancing? There is the difference of people going online to play games, access pornography or gaming sites and those that go online to enhance their knowledge.

And books, as beautiful and enriching as they are, are stagnant, one-sided. The author writes a book, publishes it and it is sold. There is no interaction with the reading public, or hardly. However, the web enhances this interactivity - via blogs, for example, authors can reach out to their readers, capture feedback, discuss new developments. There are enough examples in all areas of interest where this is happening and it is ongoing, and real-time. There are even books that are pushed via SMS. This is something that a "normal" book, or even a newspaper will never be able to achieve. So while it is important for people - children and adults - to read, in order to nurture their minds, it has to be acknowledged that the web is another medium to enhance the experience.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Siemens selling mobile division to Chinese company?

This is the news in Yahoo, and of course, the German company is denying a possible sale of its loss-making business to China's Ningbo Bird. But the company loses money at the unit, has already scaled down dramatically in Germany and why not selling something that doesn't make much sense to an industrial conglomerate?

In addition, they are way, way behind the market leaders Nokia, Samsung or Motorola. Heck, even the Chinese mobile companies are getting closer to Siemens.

It will happen, sooner or later. Once a company or a company's division is in play, something around it will change. Will the Chinese pull off another one, after the recent acquisition of IBM's PC unit by Lenova or, as they call themselves, Lenovo?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Google Is Adding Major Libraries to Its Database

A dream becomes true - if everything goes according to plan.

Google keeps innovating and apparantly, innovates and improves faster and faster. The New York Times (subscription required) writes that the company "plans to begin converting the holdings of leading research libraries into digital files that would be searchable online."

It will be a long time until the project is completed - some experts guestimate about a decade. "Although Google executives declined to comment on its technology or the cost of the undertaking, others involved estimate the figure at US$10 for each of the more than 15 million books and other documents covered in the agreements."

And Google might not be alone in this. "Because the Google agreements are not exclusive, the pacts are almost certain to touch off a race with other major Internet search providers like Amazon, Microsoft and Yahoo. Like Google, they might seek the right to offer online access to library materials in return for selling advertising, while libraries would receive corporate help in digitizing their collections for their own institutional uses."


But the hopes are high: "Within two decades, most of the world's knowledge will be digitized and available, one hopes for free reading on the Internet, just as there is free reading in libraries today," said Michael A. Keller, Stanford University's head librarian."

Great!

(By Asia Business Consulting)

The Lenova acquisition and Dell's reaction

Dell has its problems with customers. Those who follow Jikon's blog (Daily Ranting) will know about this. And may be one of the reasons is that they are no longer focussed on computers alone but manage their entry into other business segments, such as servers or other consumer electronic products, thus, lost their razor-sharp edge.

But consider that as a operationally efficient company, their focus on consumers is a bit different from other companies that go for consumer intimacy (such as consulting firms) or product leadership (i.e.Nokia or Samsung).

However, Dell's model has its advantages - consumers and corporations can profit from their low prices - and their business model has other companies struggling. But the company has a great management team that does a lot of things right as well.

Many companies fear mergers in their markets - they fear to be left behind despite the fact that not many mergers are very successful. Just think of the AOL/ Time Warner merger or the DaimlerChrysler one. These are companies that are still struggling for reasons outlined nicely in Ben's blog.

So when IBM sold its PC unit to Lenova, calls are getting louder for other companies in the same business segment to react to the merger. Even Dell was called upon. And, what is it that a great company is doing? It doesn't necessarily bow to those who call out. It has a longterm vision and is not hesitant to even have its shareprice pounced (I am not saying that this happened to Dell).

A great company reacts in a way Michael Dell reacted when he was asked about the mentioned merger:

"I'm not a big fan of taking companies and smashing them together. ... When was the last time you saw a successful merger or acquisition in the computer industry?" Or, how fantastic is that:

"We like to acquire our competitors one customer at a time." That's a statement of a survivor, or even better, of one, whose company is able to shape markets!!

(By Asia Business Consulting)


Update: Bruce made me aware that it is actually Lenovo and not Lenova. An interesting case of branding since both names are used in the press. It appears Lenova is used in the Western press with Lenova more in China. I wonder how it came to this point.

Best Employers in India Study

Yesterday, we said that it is great to have various lists outlining "best companies on whatever criteria".

Today, Hewitt Associates is publishing the results of the Best Employers in India Study 2004. The study covered 272 companies and 75,000 employees. Here, Tata Consultancy Services, Bharti Televentures and National Thermal Power Corporation, Proctor and Gamble and Glaxo Smithkline Consumer were named the top five best employers in 2004.

Tata was the 10th positioned company in 2003 and P&G was top last year.

What are the main findings about what makes a best employer best?

- Building a high performance work environment

- Using rewards as the differentiating tool

"About 88 per cent of the best employers use market data to determine fixed pay pre-evaluation, while 24 per cent are willing to pay without regard to compensation band or grades. The best employers use performance as well as improvements in knowledge, skills and abilities to determine increases in salary. Merit pay increases are also used to differentiate between high and average performers. The study showed that 26 per cent of the best employers pay more than 3 times the amount to top performers than that to average performers. Atleast 80 per cent companies pay at least twice as much, the study said. The study added that 96 per cent of the best employers also have formal special recognition programmes to support the performance management."

Interestingly, Mercer Consulting published a similar study just a month ago, also called the 10 Best Employers in India. Here, companies such as Sasken, Infosys, Thermax, HCL Comnet, HDFC, NTPC, Dr. Reddy's, Satyam, Patni Computer and Hughes Software made it to their list but the publication didn't provide any background on what makes a best employer better.

Sure, companies don't want to participate twice in a similar study, thus, differing results are explainable. It surely has an advantage for so-called best employers to be a best employer. Everybody wants to work for one, and it is known that satisfied employees create satisfied customers create satisfied shareholders through increased revenues. And for companies that don't make it to the list? Well, they have a learning experience, for sure, since they are able to compare themselves with the best.

Big question so: Will they compare themselves so much that they look the same and feel the same as the best companies? And companies that make it to the list? Well, the bar gets higher, so they need to stretch themselves even more. Otherwise they drop in the ranking (see above) or even disappear from the market. Oh – by the way. Another list of a survey organized by Hewitt Associates is on the way. Check it out.

But than, may be it is time to have a company that evaluates those surveys and combines the results into something that is useful for your company? Sorry about the self-promotion, but the proliferation of surveys can be confusing.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

2003 Global Influentials

It is always good to have a list of best companies - we had a list for Asia's Most Admired Knowledge Enterprises, but there are other lists such as a Best Employers in Asia List from Hewitt Associates or a WorkAsia™ Study from Watson Wyatt. Just to see who comes up next and what happens to those that start declining. Well, this is an exercise that I won't do for you - if you are interested in changes from 2002 to 2003, you have to follow the link indicated.

CNN and Times Magazine just published a couple of lists - lets take a look at the 2003 Global Influentials, according to their ranking:

1. Shai Agassi -Executive Board Member of SAP
2. Charlie Bell - President and Chief Operating Officer of McDonald's
3. Ursula Burns - Senior Vice President of Xerox
4. John Elkann - Manager with the Agnelli Group and Fiat board member
5. Carlos Ghosn - President and CEO of Nissan and CEO-designate of Renault
6. Robert Iger - President and Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company
7. Hamilton James - Vice Chairman of The Blackstone Group
8. Jeff Jordan - eBay's Senior Vice President, U.S. Business
9. Mel Karmazin - President and Chief Operating Officer of Viacom
10. Ken Kutaragi - President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment
11. Aerin Lauder - Vice President of Estee Lauder
12. Victor Li - Managing Director and Deputy Chairman of Cheung Kong
13. James and Lachlan Murdoch - James Murdoch is Chief Executive Officer of British Sky Broadcasting while Lachlan Murdoch is Deputy Chief Operating Officer of News Corp.
14. Indra Nooyi - President and Chief Financial Officer of PepsiCo
15. Paul Otellini - President and Chief Operating Officer of Intel
16. Adam Silver - President of NBA Entertainment
17. Noel Tata - Managing Director of Trent, a subsidiary of the Tata Group
18. Rex Tillerson - Executive Vice President of ExxonMobil
19. Shiro Tsuda - Senior Executive Vice President of NTTDoCoMo
20. Lu Weiding - President of Wanxiang

The great piece is that there are lots of executives from the Asian powerhouses in China, Japan, and India. What is sad, so, is the lack of entries from Australia dn Souteast Asia.

There are more lists, however, such as the "'Globalists Strategist Category" or the "Innovator List", in case of interest.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Sony launches Portable Playstation

Okay, may be they are no longer the innovator that they used to, but they still have the power behind them.

Sony has just launched the handheld Playstation Portable in Japan. It clearly goes after Nintendo, which holds 95% of the game market. This launch actually comes after Nintendo says that the market is shrinking rapidly. But than, Nintendo has its problems and it was once said that Microsoft set its eye on the company anyway.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

In Australia the spies get hi-tech boost

Normally, or, better, currently, the security industry is one of those sectors that boom in current times, because of terror prevention activities. For example, Changi Airport in Singapore installed a biometric check-in system recently.

It doesn't always work, so and just last week did we write about a computer upgrade of the computer systems of police cars in Australia - the problem was that those were old equipment from 2000.

Australia is now trying it again. Their spies are to have their intelligence gathering capacity boosted by a new highly classified IT and communications project being run by the Defence Signals Directorate.

The Directorate has revealed details - the upgrade includes database and storage, real time processing and intriguingly, a variety of radio interface technologies.

Let's hope the material is up-to-date, and the agency faster in its procurement.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Samsung overtakes HP

Recently, Samsung overtook Motorola as the world's largest supplier of mobile phones to be the number two, after Nokia.

Now they did it again, in the market for liquid crystal display (LCD) monitors. Here they overtook HP to settle on second place, after Dell.

Between July and September, Samsung Electronics raised its global market share of LCD monitors to 10.3 percent, from 9.7 percent of the second quarter.

HP’s share on the other hand dropped by 0.7 percentage point to 9.4 percent in the third quarter from the previous quarter.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Google offers a suggestion

The first feature that I switch off in a computer is the "suggest" or auto-complete feature. I think it is just annoying.

Well, apparently, Google is testing a somewhat similar feature. It works in a way that if "someone starts typing a request into the search box, a drop-down menu appears with suggestions as to what that person could be looking for."

It is clear that companies in the search engine business try to stay ahead of the competition by being innovative, however, may be not all features are desirable to all the users (as usual). So let me just hope that I can switch this one off as well.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

When will China surpass the US in broadband?

Economically, it is stronger than Germany.

In number of mobile users, it is the largest market in the world already.

Now, China is set to overtake the US as the world's largest broadband Internet market due to strong demand. "A recent report by the UN's International Telecommunications Union said in 2004, the United States had over 25 million broadband subscribers, while China has already added 11 million new users in 2003 to reach 13.5 million."

Well, it is time to say, "run, run as fast as you can, ..." but will the wave catch you?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Desktop Search - the search engine war widens

A market leader such as Google blasts ahead. However, now, Yahoo has announced that they follow suit in January. "The initial beta of the desktop client will let users search e-mail and files from their hard drives."

Earlier than Yahoo, Ask Jeeves, Microsoft's MSN and AOL have all confirmed to date that they will launch desktop search applications. What does this mean, overall? That there was a space of 1-2 months for Google to reap the benefits of this innovation. But at least, it rattles the markets and that is great. To "misquote" Fortune Magazine. Yes, Google is worth US$165 a share, as long as they keep doing this.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Per capita income in Korea - The price of growth

If your economy is strong, and the demand is there, than, of course, an economy and its population is rewarded.

As such, despite a currently sagging economy, that the per capita GNP in Korea is increasing and is forecast to may be exceed US$20,000 in three to four years.

It is expected to reach an all-time high of more than US$14,000 this year, up 11.5 percent from last year.

Now they just have to take care that productivity is increasing even faster, otherwise, the economy is headed towards trouble.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

DVD of choice

There is a battle ongoing between different camps in the entertainment industry about which format to chose as a follow up to the current DVD format.

There is one that is called Blu-Ray while the otheris dubbed High Definition or HD-DVD.

Lined up are the woh-is-who of the entertainment industry and the consumer electronics manufacturers:

"Walt Disney, the second largest multi-media corporation in the U.S., announced Thursday that it would adopt the Blu-ray format. Disney will add its formidable clout to a long list of Blu-ray Disc advocates including Sony, Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, Hitachi and Matsushita." Others are Dell, Hitachi, HP, Panasonic (Matsushita), Pioneer, Samsung and Philips

In the other camp you find names such as Toshbia and NEC and the film studios Paramount Pictures, owned by Viacom, Universal Studios, which was recently acquired by General Electric and Time Warner's studios, Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema.

The battle reminds many of the earlier ones, in the 1980s, between Betamax and VHS. Betamax was backed by Sony, but ultimately, the VHS won. It is said that Blue-Ray discs have a storage capacity of 50 gigabytes while HD-DVDs' has 25 gigabytes.

Let's hope that the consumer has got a choice in this as well and that may be for once, the preferred or better format wins - otherwise, some might be unhappy.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

China and the videogames

China is quite an ambiguous country. It is attracting huge amount of foreign investment, becomes more open, morally speaking, but on the other hand, and cracks down on cybercafes. Now, as it did in June, it bans a videogame that offends its territorial sovereignty.

This time it is "Football Manager 2005." This a British game that hit markets on Nov. 5 2004 but won't be sold in China and has no Chinese-language version. "The government is searching for the game online and in computer software markets, cybercafes and newsstands that sell pirated software."

Why? Because the game refers to Taiwan and other regions as separate entities while they are claimed by China. Well, it is also a pretty strange reaction by the game developer Sports Interactive Ltd., who says that said the Chinese ministry apparently was referring to content in the English version that was never intended for distribution in China. In the time of peer-to-peer sharing, this is quite a response, isn't it?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

New Cell Phone Technologies Attract Customers

Back in June we wrote that Nokia launched a new mobile phone - the 3220 and apparently, one can flash pre-recorded messages or images. You can flash the message from up to six meters away.

However, the article actually indicates how much of new technology is introduced in Korea and one of the new technologies resembles the one by Korea. "Sun Data, a local handset peripheral provider, said Tuesday the firm had developed a new gadget named ``Air Beam’’ that enables people to displays text messages or images in the air. To start the magic show, handset owners need to insert Air Beam into a phone connector and retrieve a saved messages or enter a new one.

After pushing the start key on the cell phone, several physical shakes of the phone are enough to display your love or friendship vividly in the air." So there are some differences to the one by Nokia.

The article also indicates the possible convertion of text messaging and televisions, as developed by a company called CJ Cablenet. "Prerequisites for the new offerings are a remote controller equipped with user interface (keypads) for entering text messages and a digital television.

After people type messages on TV monitors and send them to CJ Cablenet, the company will relay them to mobile operators, which will pass them on to an eventual recipient with a cell phone."

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Offshoring in Australia gains momentum

Australia appears to be behind the US in terms of offshoring and even behind Europe. But now, apparently, momentum is gaining, according to a new report.

"The substantial cost savings offered by going offshore - between 25 and 60 per cent - meant that it was now necessary for Australian companies to consider a global sourcing strategy or risk losing businesss." It is said, in addition, that "Australia could not afford to take a protectionist stance on offshoring if it wanted to attract investment locally."

This might be a chance for countries like Malaysia or the Philippines to capture the demand from Australia. Both vy for a top position in the global offshoring market, however, India is still the preferred choice for many organisations. But this might change over the years, since the growth in India also leads to other challenges in that country as well.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Virgin to enter China?

Great - just a few days did we write that Virgin is planning to enter the Indian mobile market - now, they have set money aside to enter the Chinese market within the next 12-18 months. Apparently, it will team up with a network carrier and resell its service under the Virgin brand - what sounds like a MVNO to me. So basically, the company has plans to rock two of the world's largest potential markets.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Sending Christmas cards is out - just send an SMS

Is this the message that you are getting as well? Apparently, it is the case in Australia. With e-mails and search engines that make it possible to get rid of the way to the post office, now we have the trend that an SMS is enough.

A survey conducted by "Motorola Australia's Personal Communications Sector (PCS) and carried out by Galaxy Research, found that 70 precent of 16-34 year olds surveyed planned to send text messages this Christmas."

And "Nearly half of those surveyed preferred to send text messages rather than talking on the phone."

Think about your last holiday - be it Divali or the end of Ramadan or Chinese New Year - at least on my side, I get more SMS, more e-mails but less real greeting cards that I can put up in front of me to show to the rest of my colleagues. What about you?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Asian students are top in knowledge - but girls beat boys in tests

It is a renowned study in the meantime and important since the world economy is moving into a direction where knowledge becomes more and more important. Trying to find the most knowledgeable students in the world, even so the question of testing intelligence and knowledge is always something that might be a bit subjective. But at least, you have a yardstick.

Finnish students are the most knowledgeable, apparently, followed by South Korea, and Hong Kong, China, and Japan ranked three, four and five respectively - as such, the number of Asian countries in the top is amazing.

The United States, the home of Harvard and Stanford, ranked 24th on the list, which is quite embarrassing.

At the bottom of the list were Tunisia, Indonesia, Brazil, and Mexico.

What are other findings of the study?

1.) Girls are better students than boys, even though boys are still outperforming girls in math. However, the gap between girls and boys in math has narrowed.
2.) Girls continue to excel in reading comprehension.
3.) The study finds that a good relationship between students and teachers is critical to good learning.
4.) A non-stressful environment for the teaching of mathematics is important
5.) Constructive rules to enforce discipline is supporting great learning experiences
6.) Big spending on schools doed not guarantee the greatest educational success. Instead, a climate of high expectations, decentralised decision-making and motivated staff and students produced the most knowledgeable and skilled young people.

The study also concludes that:

"It is not the cognitive process underlying mathematics that gives boys an advantage, but the context in which mathematics appear in school."

More than 250,000 students in 41 countries took part in the survey. It will include 11 more countries in 2006, representing a third of the world's population. The test measured knowledge in mathematics, science, reading comprehension and problem solving.

Update: You can find some sample questions here

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Tata wins Ferrari F1 design deal

Is it another sign that the countries in Asia are getting stronger? India's top software exporter Tata Consultancy Services has won a multimillion dollar design deal with Ferrari for its Formula 1 engines.

The US is worried about ongoing outsourcing and offshoring trends but it is said that those companies who are able to develop a competency in design, innovation and creativity will be able to sustain the ongoing pressure.

Tata is one strong company that was also recently awarded as one of Asia's Most Admired Knowledge Enterprises.

While I agree that the US is strong in innovation, design and creativity, and I concur that those are competencies that keep a company ahead, this win by Tata is showing that companies in Asia can make it. Basically, that Asian companies are able to do advanced work. Be aware of the juggernauts from Asia. Now we have Lenova from China that is acquiring IBM' computer business, and that needs to stretch themselves to that innovation challenge followed by the R&D deal of Tata - what is next?

(By Asia Business Cnsulting)

IBM possibly vying to buy Apple

While IBM is exiting the computer business by selling its PC business to Lenova, could it be that they do it in order to buy AppleComputers? Or do the two plan a closer cooperation?

Would that make sense? Nope, not to me. Apple's share is too small in the PC business, and their internal culture seem to differ quite a lot from IBM (even so Big Blue changed over the last 10 years). What would hardcore Apple fans think of being part of the IBM way of doing things?

But what would be the reason for IBM to "burden" themselves with such a "small" player in a business that becomes more and more commodity-like? Is the creativity of Apple's employees an incentive for IBM? However, is the creativity not a function of Steve Jobs? So what if Steve Job is leaving again, will Apple still thrive? Or is it that IBM wants to get back at Microsoft?

I don't agree with any of those ideas - but I am happy to sit at the sidelines and observe, speculate and comment.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Firefox users ignore online ads

Poor advertisers. Already, those with adware struggle to maintain the impression that they are different from spyware (minor differences - you have to agree to download), they are trying to get a handle on feed services, such as Feedster or Feedburner, since this allows users to read news and blogs on the web without advertisements, and now they have a new headache created by Firefox and its increasing popularity.

A new study found that Internet Explorer users are at least four times as likely to click on Web ads than Firefox users and they relate this to different surfing habits. A Mozilla (the developer of Firefox) contributor, "said this trend may have emerged because nontechnical Web surfers, who tend to be IE users, are more likely to click on pop-up ads by mistake, because they think the ad is a system dialog box."

I for one am close to switching. Firefox is downloaded, and resting in a folder. After posting today, I will see how it works.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Trading spyware for free games

Is Spyware bad? Is it okay that companies are able to trace your every step on the Internet? If you get a game for free, or any other freebie on the web, would you, in turn, allow that spyware is installed on your computer? Just like smaller companies have given up on spam prevention?

Many would say no. Many don't want to have spyware but have it installed when they press the famous download button, and wonder, why their computer is slowing down. Even corporations are exposed to spyware, although it might be the case that this is because executives just don't know any better.

Well, there are users who see this as a natural trade-off. The say, I get this free software, so yeah, the company has a right to install this little annoying program on my computer. And they don't even care, if all their activity is routed through a different server, that than allows the company to even get passwords, understand all the transactions that have been done by the user and so on. Their comment? "I doubt they have the time to sit there and read all our messages. Besides, my life is pretty boring anyway, it's not like there's anything interesting or criminal in my e-mail."

I wonder if people have really given up. As a consultant said: "I think some internet users are exhausted by security threats and privacy leaks and are beginning to decide to believe that spyware is necessary for the greater good. If your personal information isn't private anyway, if businesses and governments are trading it at will, then why not give a little more away and get some free software too?"

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Daum and Skype taking on the world

Daum Communications of Korea is a company that wants to make a mark in the Internet world. Back in August they acquired Lycos to expand their presence in the search engine business. Now, they are teaming up with Skype.

is the brainchild of Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom, two Nordic businessmen who also founded Kazaa, the company responsible for Kazaa Media Desktop, which was later sold off to an Australian company called Sharman Networks.

With Skype installed on their computers, users can have crystal-clear conversations with other users over the Internet (VOiP) for free and reduced-rate calls to non--Skype users. Already, 25 million people have downloaded the version of Skype's program and the company is set to crash through the 50 million mark by March 2005. The company provides services in 15 languages to 165 different countries including the United States, UK, France and Japan.

What is good for Daum is that they are going to ride the next wave. With more and more hotspots that allow wireless serving (Wi-Fi) coming, it will soon be possible to use Skype via a mobile phone - which than will be worrying for mobile telcommunications providers - not only in Asia, but all across the world.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Police cars with computers dated 2000

Police cars in Victoria state in Australia will be equipped with new touch-screen mobile computers in a trial project.

The thing is that those computers were basically ordered 5 years back and through some bureaucratic situation, will only now installed.

Those that will be chased by the cars will surely be happy.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Franchise tax - is it gone, finally?

It has been a long and hard fight, but may be this time, it is gone for good - the proposed franchise tax in the Philippines.

Apparently, "Philippine lawmakers were yesterday backing off from a proposal to impose a franchise tax on telecommunications companies after industry leaders and government tax experts argued that the measure would hurt hundreds of small operators."

There surely are better ways to increase revenues than on something that might be developed into a competitive advantage of the Philippines.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

China - again. But how prepared are you?

It is China, all over again. People in the US are worried. The talk about the "China Price." China overtakes Germany economically, that is what we wrote recently.

Asia builds up a tradeblock. To stay somewhat in the race with China. But read the article. And read is again. Are you in Asia prepared to run as well? China is already pushing into some industries in certain countries, such as Indonesia. Look around you and you see that more and more products are made in China. Behind every product that you find in the supermarket shelves is another company that might struggle to create the value to survive the next business round.

Countries that don't upgrade their value of production will be left behind, quickly. Companies and countries need to improve their training, and education. May be that is a way to go. Back in July I wrote that Malaysia is branding itself - and that this is a way to stay ahead of the game. Transparency, and corporate governance is a weapon to attract investments. But individuals must participate, must run in the race. To stay in the game and be worth the money paid by their company. As the company will look for those who are able to create value as well to help them stay ahead of the power and attraction that China exterts.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Sex in China

China is facing a tremendous challenge regarding AIDS infections in the next couple of years if they keep ignoring the issue. This was the statements from groups that pressured the Chinese government to open up a dialogue on sex issues. Now they are successful and how successful the are.

A groundbreaking daily television show dealing in a frank manner with sex issues will debut in more than 50 Chinese cities from January 1, 2005.

Participants in the talkshow will hide behind masks - a sign that the society is not yet that open, but at least, they start talking!

The half-hour show will consist of a discussion with a masked guest of a problem in their sex life, which will then be analysed by an expert. Analysis of erotic film scenes would also be presented.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

File sharing seen as non-hurting to artists - finally

Now this is a study conducted by the reputable Pew Internet and American Life Project and it came to the conclusion that most musicians and artists say the Internet has helped them make more money from their work despite online file-trading services that allow users to copy songs and other material for free.

"Artists were split on the merits of peer-to-peer networks, with 47% saying that they prevent artists from earning royalties for their work and another 43% saying they helped promote and distribute their material. But two-thirds of those surveyed said file sharing posed little threat to them, and less than one-third of those surveyed said file sharing was a major threat to creative industries.

Only 3% said the Internet hurt their ability to protect their creative works."

Well, the recording industry will of course dispute the findings, but there are plenty of groups and singers that say that they do not see harm in file sharing services.

May be, just may be one day, we will see an effort by the industry to embrace the Internet in its fullest and stop fighting against the trend of time.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Maxis expects to sell 5,000 BlackBerry solutions

The news came in last Saturday, so apologies for the late posting. We reported back in September that Maxis and Research-in-Motion (RIM) tied-up to offer the BlackBerrys in Malaysia. Well, the roll-out date is February 2005, and Maxis expects to sell about 5,000 of them. Currently, 100 of its selected corporate customers, all multinational companies, were using BlackBerry on trial basis.

The company currently runs a huge advertising campaign promoting its overseas roaming service - is there a relation between this? Is Maxis tending its focus onto the corporate sector, cconsidering the fact as well, that the mobile market is nearing consolidation?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Companies need to recognise the importance of blogs

Some companies do know that blogs are increasingly important to safeguard the corporate reputation and they start mining blogs and other Internet forums for information from consumers that can than be incorporated into their own business planning.

This is nothing surprising (well may be for those that don't do this), since the number of blogs increase rapidly. In fact, blogs became so important that the word "blog" was voted word of the year recently, which really should be a wake-up call.

Blogs or webpages "against" corporations are growing in numbers - a new survey found out that "There are currently more than 10,500 sites aimed at major global brands on the internet. This is a dramatic increase over the end of 2000 when there were 1,900 hate sites, and the end of 1997 when there were 550. In 1995, there was just one hate site." The survey, initiated by London-based mi2g uses harsh words - I wouldn't call it "hate sites" - or, at least not all sites are hate-sites. And, not to forget, of course, there are raving reviews of corporations on the web as well - just do a search for something like "I Love Ikea" and you will get to that one.

So there is praise and there are those that are critical. What's new is, and I have to repeat it, that it is important for corporations to look more detailed into what is happening on the web, and include it into their own business strategies, and don't also clamp down on those that blog about their company.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

It's China, Stupid

Never ignore your outside competitors. That is one advise that you can give to politicians around the world. It is clear that the current balance of power is shifting and to recognise this is crucial for all the other economic powers across the globe - from the EU to US, to Japan.

Yahoo has this article on China and it identifies China as a new challenge for the US. First, they are stating that fact that IBM is selling its PC division to Lenova, but also that "China has launched a new submarine class -- one capable of carrying ballistic nuclear missiles that will be able to reach virtually any spot on the globe."

They come to the conclusion that China is it, increasingly. Southeast Asia has recognises this - and moves forward, by developing economic cooperations. Despite all criticism, that is one way to engage with the world.

I have written extensively about China - its positive aspects and its negative ones.
Companies and countries need to recognise this - being focussed internally is distracting from issues outside of your view. So, what position has China in your business plan?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Optus porn role exposed - does Singapore Telecommunications know?

SingTel owns Optus in Australia, the continent's second largest mobile phone company. Optus now provides more than half of SingTel's revenues.

Optus has a little secret that might not be known too much - the secret is a "highly lucrative business based on internet phone pornography lines that has been exposed in a Supreme Court judgment against the nation's second-biggest telecommunications company."

Let's copy the whole article:

"Optus acted as the middleman in the trade of internet porn from Vanuatu to the US and Europe. The company also hosted computers in its Australian data centres from which Gibraltar-based porn merchant Gilsan served graphic sex photographs and videos directly to its mostly US and European customers.

In doing so Optus is understood to have generated tens of millions of dollars through a deal which included Telcom Vanuatu. Under the arrangement, the porn traffic was diverted through the Vanuatu telco, which kept US10c of its $US4($5.15)-a-minute global call rate. The balance was split between US telco AT&T, Gilsan and Optus.

The set up came to light after Supreme Court judge Robert McDougall found against Optus in an action brought by Gilsan three years ago.

Justice McDougall found last Friday that Optus had under-reported the number of minutes Gilsan's clients were on the phone to Vanuatu getting their porn. He has reserved the pecuniary judgment but the original claims in the battle were understood to be in the range of $US30million to $US40million.

Gilsan, however, will be forced to pay Optus a much smaller amount, believed to be about $800,000, after the telco counter-sued for rent from the porn merchant for housing its computers. It is understood Optus also houses computers loaded with pornography for other customers.

It is unclear how much Optus, which declined yesterday to comment on whether it was still involved in the business, and its parent company, Singapore Telecommunications, makes from such services.

An Optus spokeswoman said: "The issues in dispute go back several years and the divisions mentioned have been restructured since SingTel acquired Optus three years ago."

It is understood an email from an Optus executive presented during the trial put total revenues from Gilsan at more than $US100million, shared between all players.

While pornography is on the rise in Australia's $10.5 billion-a-year mobile phone sector, Telstra moved last year to block access to such services following complaints from customers, a spokesman said."

Now is this something?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Careers in ICT

"Young people considering a career in ICT were more turned-off by the thought of being stuck in front of a computer all day than the recent downturn in the sector."

This is one finding of a study that has been published in Australia. Which is very okay, because it throws the ball at employers to make sure that those that studied ICT are able to do more than just sit in front of the computer - that being literate in ICT is a necessity to survive in today's world.

It also implies that it is important to do away with the perception on side of the students that ICT is sitting in front of the computer, and nothing else.

ICT is more than just that - it has penetrated all our life and, considering the fact that we are still in the beginning of the transformation of life and business (is there a difference?) through ICT.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Companies Mine Blogs For Market Research

Now this is market research - companies start to look at blogs in order to understand their customers better. Real-time inclusion into product designs. Checking about complaints from customers.

The Wall Street Journal wrote that "the growing popularity of blogs and other online forums has prompted companies to pay more attention to what is being said about them on the Internet, and has given rise to a new kind of market research aimed at finding useful information in the sea of online chatter."

Companies use blogs and other forums to get a better feel of the market. Market research has its merits, of course, but the real-lfe, real-time situation that is provided in blogs or forums - which might be more natural, more bland than what you see in a focus group or as a comment in a questionnaire.

Especially since real, traditional market research is a bit slow at times (not all methodologies - Omnibus surveys or tracking studies are different, at least partly), and during the time that someone in a company waits for research results, a competitor might run away with the market already. And actually, this is also one part of our business, besides business and industrial intelligence, competitive intelligence and benchmarking and best practices.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

IBM exiting the PC business?

The New York Times runs this article today, and well, that would be one story. IBM, the one company that basically put the computing business onto the landscape, exits the computer business and sells its division to a Chinese company, most probably Lenova, formerly Legend Computers.

It makes sense - Dell is just too competitive and it was clear that its constant gain in operational efficiency would put some computer makers out of business. IBM on the other hand is more and more the solution provider and a computer - basically a commodity - is not necessarily the cashcow that needs to be sustained. In fact, it has been a drain on IBM's resources for years, and they, a longer time back, already exited to consumer market.

Lenova, on the other hand, is a computer maker in China that has great ambitions. They struggled in their home market recently, as more and more multinationals put pressure on them. In addition a diversification drive combined with the intend to expand overseas did not too well for the company. So an acquisition of the IBM unit would make sense. It would increase its standing around the globe, reinforce its position in the Chinese market and allow them to enter the corporate world. The question is, will they be able to manage, firstly, the integration of the IBM unit, secondly, keep up the R&D levels that IBM had, and thirdly, are they able to keep the corporate customers. Dell is waiting and made great strides in this area as well.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Corporate PCs 'riddled with spyware'

The Register runs quite an interesting story about corporate PC systems that are invested with spyware. It is clear from studies before that home users are exposed with some of them having an extraordinary amount of spyware on their system.

This was clear - what wasn't clear is that corporate networks are also affected - "Companies voluntarily using Webroot's Corporate SpyAudit tool had an average of 20 nasties per PC. Most of the items found were harmless cookies. But an average five per cent of the PCs scanned had system monitors and 5.5 per cent had Trojan horse programs." Woops - and this despite the fact that people assume that there antispyware programs work successfully.

But it might not be clear for many users that it is better to use more than one software program to get rid of spyware and not only depend on one only.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Internet users can be banned

What is the difference between child pornography and downloads of music from the Internet? Well, according to the music industry, someone who can be banned by Kazaa for downloading child pornography could also be banned from downloading music. The music industry in the court hearing agains Kazaa is saying that there is a warning at Kazaa's website, saying that "if at any time Kazaa finds that you are using Kazaa to collect or distribute child pornography or other obscene material, (the software company) reserves the right to permanently bar you and your computers from accessing Kazaa and other Kazaa services." They are turning it around and say that it should also be possible for the company to terminate the accounts of those who infringed copyright,

This is a heavy comparison but let's understand this in the context that the music industry is upset when people download music. This despite the fact that people still want to own hard-copy music and 92% of people said that CDs are their preferred music format.

I don't want to bring the old argument that the music business as it stands now, needs to change in order to survive or that a ban of Kazaa would only lead to the proliferation of other services. But I also think that it is pretty tasteless to throw child pornography and the downloading of music into the same basket.

May be the music industry should know that the way musicians are promoted and build-up is not necessarily a way to build a business as well, since, for example, over 80% of Britney Spears album owners said they had grown tired of her records. May be with better music, the decline of CD sales could be arrested as well.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Franchise tax for telecommunications industry in the Philippines

We had the discussion in the Philippines about the plans to impose a tax on texting. This didn't go down too well with the population and it was put aside as a bad idea.

But the problem is that if a government sets its mind onto something that could generate some more revenues for them, they won't let go and find new ways to get their "pocket" filled.

Now, legislators came up with the idea to imposed a franchise tax on the country's telecommunications industry. This is a proposal in Congress for the passage of a law that will set aside a fixed percentage of the gross income of these telecommunications companies as tax. While the goverment says that it will be impossible to leverage the tax increase onto consumers, thus, consumers might be saved from additional burdens, companies say that sooner or later this additional charge will be levied. However, there is also opposition on side of the industry against this new tax proposal and it is quite good that the opposition comes from leading telecommunications company Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) and its group chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan.

So let's see how the story evolves - and how hard the Phillipines tries to kick themselves out of the telecommunications game that they ruled so imposingly.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Managers misuse tech to control workers

Many companies have a statement buried in their Annual Reports stating their vision that employees are their most valuable asset.

However, it is always interesting or better, sad, to reflect those statements with what is actually happening. A new survey has come out with the findings that "managers are using technologies such as e-mail, mobile phones, and SMS (Short Messaging Service) to keep tabs on employees when in actuality they are reducing workers' productivity and the amount of time that they spend serving customers."

And it might get worse with time to come and technology to improve.

This is a shift of power in the mindset of employers or their managers. In a time when more and more workers become more and more mobile and knowledge savvy - spend less time visible in the office - managers might feel that their sphere of control is changed - and many will view their power as diminished. When they try to reestablish control by using technology to track their employees, something is badly wrong with the organisation. May be the old saying is still valid - employees join organisations but leave managers.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Spam for Bill: It's only 4 million a year

Remember th widely distributed report that Bill Gates would receive about 4 million spam mails per day?

Well, much less widely distributed is the correction by CEO Balmer - "Ballmer said he misspoke a few days back when he was quoted as saying Gates gets 4 million e-mails a day."

Well, may be it was only meant to promote their own spam fighting department, that is successful enough to filter all but 10 spam mails that Balmer receives. Why don't they use this technology to prevent the hotmail accounts from being flooded with spam?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

eBay Malaysia launched

E-Bay - the online auction house from the U, which expands rapidly across the globe, makes its mark in Malaysia with the launch of EBay Malaysia.

It is said in the article that business-to-consumer e-commerce in Malaysia was expected to grow to US$3bil from US$1.1bil over the next three years.


The exciting thing is that while EBay is pretty disruptive to established auction houses, its model allows for the establishment of a lot of different smaller business groups surrounding its own business. In the US$, for example, people established their own auction businesses or identity that generated up to US$10,000 monthly.

(By Asia Business Consulting)