Xiaomi is a smartphone maker from China. The company was founded in 2010 and officially established its first phone in 2011. During the last three years, it has achieved success. One of the most essential reasons is that it attaches great importance to customers’feedback.

Being aware of what customers need can lead a firm to success.”Product managers at the company can spend half their time perusing the company’s active user forum “,and Xiaomi improves its products frequently. Since Xiaomi has not been founded for a long time, and the scale of the company is not that large, it is easier for it to make reactions to change. In the long run, Xiaomi would definitely expand its scale. Whether it can maintain the high frequency of improvement is a determinant of success.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2013/10/22/how-chinas-xiaomi-does-in-a-week-what-apple-does-in-a-year-update-devices/

http://gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/news/chinas-mini-apple-takes-slice-of-smartphone-pie-302577

https://blogs.ubc.ca/dorisjy/2013/11/14/price-discrimination-in-china/(Link to the classmate’s blog)

I disagree agree with the author’s opinion. In India, most people prefer tea but Starbucks sets much lower price in India than in China. When a kind of good is needed, its price will be set high.

China is now developing at a considerable speed. Most companies consider China as a large market, and it exactly is. People can earn more money than before, and the large population is a factor that cannot be neglected. Chinese, especially young people are willing to accept different cultures. Some young people like to have Starbucks coffee only because they think it is a way to show off. As long as there is large demand for Starbucks coffee, the price would not be cut.

Ultimately, the high price results from the diffident. We think that import commodities and foreign brands are more credible and are of higher quality. Some Chinese firms produce goods of poor quality, which results in the distrust. One drop of poison infects the whole tun of wine. Chinese enterprise must regains trust with honesty.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2012/09/07/starbucks-is-finally-coming-to-india-cautiously/

http://blogs.reuters.com/india/2013/04/04/starbucks-in-india-if-coffee-cools-please-reheat/

I was studying in a boarding school in Nanjing, and I went home every weekend by metro. In every metro station, there are two to four vending machines with food and drink. While I was waiting for the metro, I found that few people bought things from vending machines. I thought it was because of the price, but once my friends and I bought some water there, I found that the price is almost the same as sold in supermarket.

In Nanjing, people can buy a kind of transportation card called Jinlingtong which can be used to take bus, metro, taxi and some other kinds of transportation. If this card is able to be used on vending machines, I believe, the sales will increase. Some people need to catch the subway. So, they will find that opening their bags, looking for wallets and then taking out the money are troublesome. And people need to put the change back to their wallets if the value of the money they use is too much. At the station, some people hold the transportation card in their hand in advance. Using the card is much more convenient and time-saving. This way can benefit both the consumers and the owner of those vending machines.

According to the article, it sees a drop in usage among teenagers while  there are increases in numbers of users of many mobile apps such as  We chat and Vine.

Mobile phones are playing an increasingly important role in people’s life. There is no denying that large population in China contribute to the boost in usage of We chat among teenagers. However, although Facebook can be installed on cellphones, people cannot use it to send voice messages. Comparing to texts, voice messages can convey information more accurate and fast. Pictures can also be sent immediately to friends.  In addition to this, teenagers often wants to share something only with their close friends and would like to  receive replies soon, and mobile apps like We chat can meet their requirements.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2013/11/12/heres-where-teens-are-going-instead-of-facebook/

https://blogs.ubc.ca/shingtzewoo/2013/10/05/milka-giving-the-french-some-love/(Link to classmate)

I have to admit that Milka’s idea about the missing piece of chocolate is ingenious. When talking about chocolate, people always associate it with gorgeous words like “romantic” and “sweet”. And this idea undoubtedly strengthen people’s feeling. Just imagine that after going back home, you open your mailbox, finding an envelop with a piece of chocolate and greeting words from your friend. It is a really nice surprise, isn’t it?

As the technology becomes more advanced, people are increasingly relying on electronic goods, leading to less face-to-face communication. As a result, people are estranged from each other. Some people keep sending texts even when they are having lunch with their family or friends. Milka’s offering can narrow the gap between people, adding a savor to people’s lives. This marketing ideas can capture customers attention and leave a deep impression on customer. In addition to this, customer make tag words such as “tender” , ” thoughtful” and “innovation” to the brand, Milka.

Further information: http://www.brandingmagazine.com/2013/08/31/milka-last-square/

It seems that everything could happen in the mercurial world. Nowadays, everything is changing at a fast past pace. Faced with such situation, a firm can choose to keep steady cash flows or to invest in risky new projects. Mahindra & Mahindra, an Indian multinational automobile manufacturing corporation, took some risk in the last decade. In 2002, it launched a SUV model which became a huge hit in 2005. It bought an IT service firm in 2007, which helped to boost the value of the combined entity. And in 2011, it bought Ssang Yong, and Mahindra & Mahindra, which focused on  manufacturing SUV and tractors, wanted to use the brand to sell pick-up trucks and two-wheelers. Hitherto, these decisions has benefited Mahindra & Mahindra a lot.

A company cannot survive if it stay immutable. Kodak is a typical example. Since everything is changing, change must be made in order to let companies adapt to new circumstance. Certainly, decisions should be based on reality. Mahindra & Mahindra took reality and future prospects into consideration and achieved huge success. Being rigid for a long time is dangerous since a fit of ease may lead a firm to an end.

Reference : http://www.economist.com/news/business/21588885-mahindra-has-become-pin-up-indian-capitalisma-home-grown-automotive-champion-now-it

Ten Fu Group is a tea company from mainland China founded by Ruihe Li, the owner of Ten Ren Group which is a Taiwanese  tea company to explore the mainland market and spread the traditional culture of Chinese tea. Until now, Ten Fu Group has run over 1000 stores called Ten Fu’s Tea since 1993 in mainland China, which is a great success.

Ten Fu’s Tea has a large range of customers. It provides tea to customers with different levels of income and it provides tea with exquisite package. Besides tea, refreshments and tea set can also be bought from Ten Fu’s Tea. This year, it introduces milk tea to the market in order to cater young people’s taste.

Ten Fu Group has its own tea plantations and tea processing factories, which can both ensure the quality of tea and lower the cost. When customer enter a Ten Fu’s Tea store, the shop assistance wearing picturesque overall would offer a cup of tea. The stores are all finely decorated and equipped with traditional Chinese square tables in order to provide customers with a comfortable and graceful environment to drink tea.

Reference: http://www.tenfu.com/

In China, KFC is one of the most popular fast food brands and it is more successful than McDonald’s which has lager market share than KFC in many other countries. How could this happen?

KFC has special menu for China. It provides food that is suitable for Chinese people’s taste, such as Peking Chicken rolls, rice and so on. For breakfast, it provides Chinese porridge and other kinds of Chinese-style refreshments. In addition to this, KFC provides a package called Family Big Box which contains bread, fried chicken,Cream Sweet Corn Cob and a large bottle of cola, and it is suitable for 2 to 4 people to eat. McDonald’s did not offer such kind of package until 2012. Although McDonald’s began to introduce new food, the food does not cater to Chinese taste as well as KFC food does.

Most children in China prefer KFC to McDonald’s because they think fried chicken tastes better than beef patties. In order to accommodate with their children,  parents may eat at KFC and Family Big Box is suitable for a family.There are more KFC stores than McDonald’s stores in China. This is more obvious in some rural area. To increase sales in China, McDonald’s should put more efforts into catering the taste of Chinese.

Within a year, several important things happened to Nokia. By the end of 2012, Nokia decided to sell its head office to raise funds for the development of new products. On the September the 3rd, Microsoft announced to purchase Nokia’s phone business for approximately $7.2 billion.

Nokia did not manage to seize the opportunity of capturing the smartphone market. As increasing more  people chose to buy smartphones, Nokia realized that they had to change their strategy. Although Lumia Series contributed to the sales, Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS made up about 90 percent of the market. Under this situation, both Nokia and Microsoft need an approach to increasing the market share.

The purchase can bring benefits to both of them. For Nokia, enough funds can be obtained for developing new products ,and for Microsoft, it can improve the market share of Windows Phone. Since Microsoft has joined Nokia in 2010, the running-in period will be shorter.

Reference:

http://www.economist.com/blogs/schumpeter/2013/09/microsoft-and-nokia?zid=292&ah=165a5788fdb0726c01b1374d8e1ea285

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/03/us-microsoft-nokia-idUSBRE98202V20130903

As the development International Technology, we can acquire news in almost every second. It is easy for groupies to get recent news of their idols through newspapers, websites and other kinds of media. News on celebrities usually can attract people’s attention. Spending most time in public view, stars has little privacy. However, some media companies still try to excavate secretes of stars, which is an annoying and offensive behavior.

Secrets are appealing to most people but there is no denying that everyone needs privacy. We do not want our secretes to be exposed and neither do the celebrities. We should treat  the others as we would like to be treated. While gathering news, reporters should show respect to others. Respecting others’ privacy is an excellent work ethic especially for the reporters. Achieving the goal at all cost is not appropriate and may even be illegal. To avoid such actions, we need strict laws and tough regulations. Moreover, social conscience needs to be built.

Along with the enhancement of living standard requirement, people attach more importance to benefits. Even though benefits are of importance, we should not abandon moral ethics.