Can you imagine what will happen if all the people living in Australia start to migrate on one particular day? That’s what happened to China. Chun Yun is the world’s largest regular migration of people. It occurs every year around the Chinese New Year. Chun Yun reached it top of 60,000 passengers per day in 2013.

From my perspective, Chun Yun is a really good example for studying operation.

Let me highlight the main “battle field” of Chun Yun– the Guangzhou Railway Station. What has the Station done?

1. Forecast. By comparing to the last several years, the station made the assumption of how many migrators this year. What’s more, they also figured out what might happen during the Chun Yun. Forecasting is not just about the mathematic number, but the whole picture and all the possibilities. Only after a careful forecast can the station come up with a better solution.

2. Inputs. After forecasting, the Guangzhou Railway Station came up with several ways to solve this problem, for example increasing in frequency (adding150 lines)

3. Coordination. As far as I am concerned, it is the coordination of both internal department and staff with external billions of passengers. By providing the in-time information, the station successfully built a connection between staff and passengers, and ensured everyone getting the most up-to-date information.

Maybe “operation” is a business concept, but the application of it is much wider than I thought.

Reference:

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chunyun

[2]http://www.chinasmack.com/2011/pictures/chun-yun-worlds-largest-yearly-human-migration-1995-2011.html

[3http://www.theworldofchinese.com/2013/01/chunyun-a-spring-migration/

(After talking about the latest iPhone, I want to understand more of the smart phone market, so this time I focus on one of its competitors – Xiaomi)

On September 5,2013 Xiaomi, launched the latest the Mi-3 handset, just 5 days before the launch of the newest iPhone 5s and 5c. Xiaomi is often compared to its giant American rival. “We have never compared ourselves to Apple—we are more like Amazon,” says Lin Bin, Xiaomi’s co-founder.

These years Xiaomi is growing rapidly. Its services revenues were 20m yuan in August, up from 10m yuan in April.

Why are they so successful?

1. their openness to user feedback
2. lower price comparing to other smart phone.

I want to highlight the second point. There’s no doubt that price is the main factor of influencing the customers’ willingness to buy the products. really impressed me. By selling phones direct to customers online, rather than via network operators or retail stores, Xiaomi keeps prices down.

This strategy reminds me of the success of Dell^[2]. Dell’s direct model(suppliers®manufacturers® customers) eliminates the time and the cost of third party distribution. Xiaomi and Dell did one same thing—cut down the extra cost of the third party and tried to low down their prices by simplifying the supply process.

Observing deep into the essence, we can find out the common which may provide some enlightenment and give us some guidance for our further career.

References:

[1]Smartphones in China—Taking a bite out of Apple  Sep 14th 2013, the economics

[2]Magretta, J., & Dell, M. (1998). The Power of Virtual Integration: An Interview

with Dell Computer’s Michael Dell. Harvard Business Review, 76(2), 72-84.

“Apple has unveiled two new handsets: the top-end iPhone 5S and a cheaper iPhone 5C at an event in California.

5S introduces a fingerprint sensor built into the phone’s main button to identify the user. 5C comes with a plastic back in a choice of colours.”

(http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24034507)

Having two mobile phone unveiled in the same time somehow lead to a heavier burden of the production line. However, as far as I am concerned, this is a worth-while trying.

1. The fancy color of new iPhone 5c must be the cup of tea of many teens, who are always the fans of Apple product.
2. The cheaper price of the 5c makes the iPhone product more competitive.
3. The unveiling of 5s guarantees the satisfaction of who have higher income and enjoy the high technical function of Apple.

What’s more, the propagandizing and popularizing of the smartphone is always the strength of Apple, which better ensure the sales volume of the new products.

However there are actually many similar products sold in the market now, such as Samsung Galaxy, Nokia etc. Only when Apple keeps owning the most advanced technology can it win this battle, because its strength is its most advanced technology!! This strength creates a lot of opportunity for Apple. But considering the external threats, Apple still has a long way to go.

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