Something Borrowed… Chinese companies succeed by taking an existing technology and then tweaking it for a local audience

BEIJING—Baidu Inc., owner of the most popular Web site in China, isn’t known for ground-breaking innovation. From the Google-esque look of Baidu.com’s main page to its Wikipedia-like encyclopedia to a question-and-answer service that’s similar to Yahoo Answers, the Chinese Internet search company has long been tarred by critics as unoriginal.

But Baidu also is an example of how many Chinese technology companies manage to outfox foreign competitors by tailoring existing technologies to China’s growing and fast-changing market. While that may not earn them respect as global innovators, their understanding of the Chinese consumer has allowed many of them to beat bigger foreign rivals at their own game in China, home to the world’s largest number of Internet users.

Baidu dominates China’s Internet search market, holding a 61% share of industry revenue in the second quarter, compared with 29% for Google Inc., its biggest Internet-search competitor.(By LORETTA CHAO, The Wall Street Journal, NOVEMBER 16, 2009)

Read More

An Online Market Flourishes in China (E-commerce Fever Makes Taobao China’s Newest Internet Darling)

The so-called Taobao addicts are helping to pick up the slack in a sluggish economy. “I can’t live without Taobao,” said Zhang Kangni, a graduate student in Shanghai. “First, it’s cheaper. I found a dress at a store in Shanghai. It’s a Hong Kong brand that sells for $175. I found it on Taobao for $33.”

But skeptics ask: Can Taobao actually make a profit and emerge as a true Web powerhouse?

The company is not publicly traded and therefore does not disclose financial information, but listings are free on Taobao and the company makes no money from online transactions. Almost all Taobao’s $200 million in revenue comes from advertising, which the company says covers virtually all its operational costs. (By DAVID BARBOZA, The New York Times, August 9, 2009 )

Read More

Turkey’s Shift to a More Open Economy

Applying for EU membership has sped up reforms, and that has helped the country weather the current crisis.

Turkey cannot escape the ravages of the global recession. But this time it may avoid the pains that often afflict this promising country in a downturn. For the Turks, a recession usually goes like this: A wild boom triggers high inflation, the currency collapses, and the poorly managed banking sector, hooked on speculative trading and foreign debt, has a near-death experience. Turkey has a well-educated workforce, proximity to Europe, and a shrewd management class. But financial fragility, including a meltdown that sparked riots in 2001, has kept it from entering the first rank of emerging market economies (By S. Reed, BusinessWeek, October 1, 2009).

Read More

China Firm to Buy Hummer

An obscure Chinese construction-equipment maker plans to buy Hummer, a brawny symbol of America across the globe, from General Motors Corp. in a deal that presages the future shape of the international auto industry.

The prospective buyer, Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co., was announced a day after GM filed for bankruptcy protection in the U.S., and almost a year after the company put Hummer on the block (J. Stoll, S. Terlep and N. King Jr., Wall Street Journal, June 3, 2009)

Can the U.S. Make Vestas’ Windmills Spin?

The Danish wind turbine powerhouse is setting ambitious revenue goals, spurred in part by spending for renewables in Obama’s stimulus package (M. Scott, BusinessWeek, April 28, 2009).

Read Full Article

Building Materials Manufacturer Lafarge Opens New Facility in Silver Grove, Kentucky

Building materials manufacturer Lafarge has begun cranking out product at its new state-of-the-art joint compound manufacturing plant.

This new, fully automated plant – adjacent to Lafarge’s Silver Grove gypsum wallboard plant – will make the complete range of Lafarge’s current joint compound product offerings including Rapid Coat, Classic Coat, Rapid Coat Mid-Weight, Rapid Deco and the new Rapid Coat Low Dust compound (Manufacturing & Technology eJournal, Tuesday, February 17, 2009).

Read full article

Learning from the Great Depression

Here is a sampler of Companies that shunned debt, diversified and innovated during hard times and are still here today.

(S. Perman, BusinessWeek, October 17, 2008)

At 179 years old, Yuengling remains the country’s oldest beer maker. Dick Yuengling, the fifth-generation CEO, says the family kept the business afloat by diversifying into dairy farming, Broadway shows, and dance halls during the Great Depression instead of shutting down or selling out.

Founded in 1833, Martin Guitars is the oldest surviving guitar maker in the world. Sixth-generation CEO Chris Martin credits his company’s resiliency during the 1930s to its pricing and founding principle of remaining fair and equitable while maintaining its strong relationships with dealers—some of which stretch back generations. “Our billing has always been routine,” he says. “No shenanigans. We don’t offer discounts to high-volume retailers.”

Read full article

China’s Factory Blues

The days of ultra-cheap labor and little regulation are gone. As manufacturers’ costs climb, export prices will follow (D. Roberts, BusinessWeek, March 27, 2008).Click on the linkfor complete article.

Japan: Google’s Real-Life Lab

Cutting-edge phones, discerning consumers, and speedy connections make for rich feedback (K. Hall, BusinessWeek, February 14, 2008). Read more