"the initial reaction seems to be disappointment, at least from the people who had been eagerly anticipating the magazine's arrival. Members of the milk group on Douban, a social networking service oriented toward students and young white-collars, seem to agree that the mainland edition is a far cry from the HK original."...which keeps reminding me that Hong Kong and Mainland China are two very different playing-grounds.
"the initial reaction seems to be disappointment, at least from the people who had been eagerly anticipating the magazine's arrival. Members of the milk group on Douban, a social networking service oriented toward students and young white-collars, seem to agree that the mainland edition is a far cry from the HK original."...was mich mal wieder daran erinnert, wie unterschiedlich die Märkte in China und Hong Kong sind.
"One of eBay's biggest problems comes from how it handled decision-making between its headquarters in San Jose and its China operations. Exit interviews with former Eachnet and eBay executives in China indicate that senior management in China felt that headquarters "did not listen to them" at critical junctures. Instead, these former executives believe that San Jose directed from afar rather than trusting its China management to know what would work in China. This sentiment was especially true for executives from the original Eachnet team who felt belittled by the American team after the acquisition."This pattern seems to repeat itself with the majority of all gweilo-companies trying to enter the Mainland market: foreign company can't ignore market in China -- company then buys into Chinese joint venture -- utter ignorance of cultural differences and ill communication take their toll -- foreign company fails utterly a few months or years later -- needs to write off or sell assets.
"One of eBay's biggest problems comes from how it handled decision-making between its headquarters in San Jose and its China operations. Exit interviews with former Eachnet and eBay executives in China indicate that senior management in China felt that headquarters "did not listen to them" at critical junctures. Instead, these former executives believe that San Jose directed from afar rather than trusting its China management to know what would work in China. This sentiment was especially true for executives from the original Eachnet team who felt belittled by the American team after the acquisition."Dieses Muster scheint sich bei der Mehrzahl aller Geschäftseintritte westlicher Unternehmen in den Markt in China zu wiederholen: Risiko nicht in China präsent zu sein ist größer als das Risiko in China zu scheitern -- westliches Unternehmen begründet daher Joint Venture mit chinesischem Partner -- Mißverständisse und das Ignorieren kultureller Unterschiede nehmen ihren Lauf -- westliches Unternehmen scheitert -- und hinterläßt oder verkauft den Rest des Geschäfts.
"It would be one thing if factories were like single people - dating websites enjoy a steady stream of new single customers - but manufacturing is not the same. In the long run (or sooner?), all capable manufacturers are known to the market. The website works best in a world with murky market data. We are heading away from that world, not towards it. There are already websites that allow companies to list information for free and Chinese are using these sites with greater frequency."
"It would be one thing if factories were like single people - dating websites enjoy a steady stream of new single customers - but manufacturing is not the same. In the long run (or sooner?), all capable manufacturers are known to the market. The website works best in a world with murky market data. We are heading away from that world, not towards it. There are already websites that allow companies to list information for free and Chinese are using these sites with greater frequency."Die Schwesterdomain von Alibaba ist Taobao -- chinesische Version von eBay und größte C2C-Plattform in der Volksrepublik. Taobao warf bislang kein Geld ab und wird (laut Jack Ma) auch noch mindestens bis 2008 kostenfrei bleiben; Ma bleibt auch keine andere Wahl, denn er hatte bereit Mitte letzten Jahres erfolglos versucht, bei Taobao Einnahmen durch Werbung und Premium-Keyword-Angebote zu erzielen. Der Vorstoß mußte unter anderem durch die wütenden Reaktionen der Nutzer wieder zurückgenommen werden.
"'More' is the typical game-industry's approach to everything: more levels, more graphic power, more customization and even moreso, intertwining features. Here is a lesson that the game-industry can learn from the Web 2.0-world -- less is more, really," Winter opined. "Less is what a casual audience of above-30-year-olds are looking for. They don't want to waste their time and money on upgrading graphic-hardware just to play Crysis in all its beauty. They are looking for some thirty minutes of ease and challenge besides their working-life, their family and hobbies, instead of spending endless hours of grinding in an online-game."
Communities are the key to online worlds, Winter says -- and the current community within MMOs currently reflects, he notes, the industry's "max-out principle," where the learning curve to fully engage in the virtual society is steep. "This doesn't mix well socially with the casual market," Winter says. "Such social discrepancies -- almost like culture shock -- are among the biggest shortcomings of recent multiplayer-products."
"'More' is the typical game-industry's approach to everything: more levels, more graphic power, more customization and even moreso, intertwining features. Here is a lesson that the game-industry can learn from the Web 2.0-world -- less is more, really," Winter opined. "Less is what a casual audience of above-30-year-olds are looking for. They don't want to waste their time and money on upgrading graphic-hardware just to play Crysis in all its beauty. They are looking for some thirty minutes of ease and challenge besides their working-life, their family and hobbies, instead of spending endless hours of grinding in an online-game."
Communities are the key to online worlds, Winter says -- and the current community within MMOs currently reflects, he notes, the industry's "max-out principle," where the learning curve to fully engage in the virtual society is steep. "This doesn't mix well socially with the casual market," Winter says. "Such social discrepancies -- almost like culture shock -- are among the biggest shortcomings of recent multiplayer-products."
