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  yichanliu 6:04 pm on November 17, 2013 Permalink | Reply  

  comment 2 

  After reading Lingyi Xing’s blog post on the success of “no brand goods”, I became interested in how did Muji become such a successful brand. One of the main reasons of Muji’s success would be its unique brand proposition. The brand prides itself on being high quality, simple, and affordable. Best of all, Muji uses as little packaging as possible. There aren’t layers of packaging hiding the product; instead, you can immediately see what it is (even though the labels are in Japanese). Simplicity has never looked so good. Though the brand does not have a corporate tag line, it occasionally comes out with the tag line “Simple. Functional. Affordable”. This is to ensure that the message is engrained in the customers’ minds. Muji goes to the extent of recycling or reselling the unsold products in the same condition, using natural fiber material, and including very minimal and informational manuals, with minimal packaging. All these activities in totality contribute to Muji’s image of a brand that is against the “branded world”. Besides being simple and eco-friendly, Muji’s products are also user-friendly. They do market research in regular intervals to learn about consumers’ habits and preferences, and make corresponding change to the design of their products.

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  References:

  blog 5–The success of “no brand goods”

  http://www.venturerepublic.com/resources/Muji_The_Japanese_No-Brand.asp

  http://nubbytwiglet.com/2007/09/26/muji-japanese-perfection-in-simplicity/

   

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  yichanliu 3:57 pm on November 17, 2013 Permalink | Reply  

  comment 1 

  In Yao Chen’ blog post on online video industry in China, she talked about the competition between the TV industry and the online video industry, and the Youku–Tudou merger issue. In my opinion, the merger of Youku and Tudou is beneficial to both of the two companies, but they will face challenges in the long run. The merger endows Youku Tudou Inc the absolute advantage in terms of user base, therefore helps to increase its media value substantially. With simplified media choice, Youku Tudou Inc. (the new name of the company) will get more budgets for video, and be more attractive to direct customers such as large brand advertisers. After the merger, Youku Tudou Inc takes a stable lead in the industry, while other companies with abundant cash flow and aggressive pose, such as iQIYI, Sohu, LeTV, and Tencent take the second place. In addition, the competition arising from copyrights of some popular videos is among the above companies as well. Therefore, iResearch considers that although the merger uplifts Youku Tudou’s bargaining power in the copyright market, there will still be extraordinarily fierce competition in the copyright market, and the cost of hot videos will not drop dramatically in the short run.

  As for the prospect of the merger, the revenue of the Youku Tudou will be definitely increased and cost cut in the short term. However in the long run, the biggest challenge for Youku and Tudou is how to integrate their resources. Due to the overlap of human resources and operational resources, how to rationally allocate these resources is the first challenge in front of the management. iResearch believes that the position of Youku Tudou in the online video market will be directly determined by the efficiency and results of the resource integration in the future.

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  References:

  Online video in China

  http://www.iresearchchina.com/Views/4076.html

   
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  yichanliu 11:15 pm on November 16, 2013 Permalink | Reply  

  blog post 10 

  Home sales dip in October as market cools since hot summer

  Last month, Canadian home resales dipped for the first time since February, and many see this as a signal that a so-called correction in the housing market remains in place. The Canadian Real Estate Association reported Friday that the number of transactions fell 3.2 per cent in October from September on a seasonally adjusted basis. That still leaves an 8.3 per cent increase from October 2012, when sales were dipping following to a tightening of federal mortgage rules in July of that year. Analysts say the monthly results, while only a snapshot, suggest that the underlying market is soft and that fears of a bubble, voiced during the summer’s strong housing rally, were exaggerated. October’s month-over-month dip can also be evidence that the recent sales spurt came largely from homebuyers with pre-approved mortgages jumping into the market before rates headed higher. Some analysts believe with prices so high, Canada may be due for a sharp correction in prices. However, that scenario has yet to materialize. Soft-landing proponents argue that the two markets are very different because regulations in Canada require a greater degree of equity held by homeowners, high-leverage purchases must be insured, and financial institutions are more prudent in their lending practices.
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  References:

  http://www.ctvnews.ca/business/home-sales-dip-in-october-as-market-cools-since-hot-summer-1.1544674

   
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  yichanliu 11:14 pm on November 16, 2013 Permalink | Reply  

  blog post 9 

  Forbes Media exploring sale

  Forbes Media, controlled by former Republican presidential candidate Steve Forbes, is up for sale. CEO Mike Perlis said Forbes has received indications of interest from investors for the company, which includes Forbes magazine and Forbes.com. The company is looking to sell for about $400 million, according to a report by Bloomberg News. The Forbes family still controls the company after selling a 45% stake to investment firm Elevation Partners in 2006. Forbes Magazine has been focusing heavily on the digital side of its editorial operations to make up for the sluggishness in print ad sales. The company has also focused on diversifying the revenue streams to complement its advertising-based businesses. In an early experiment in native advertising — advertising that resembles the look and feel of a publication’s editorial content — Forbes also began selling access to the publishing platform, allowing corporate sponsors to post their own material on Forbes.com. With a flood of material available, Forbes.com’s traffic grew from about 12 million unique monthly visitors in 2010 to about 26 million. This year, digital advertising surpassed print ads sales for the first time, and now makes up about half of total advertising revenue. To diversify the revenue base, Perlis has expanded the company’s conference business and begun licensing the brand name to office buildings. The publishing software is also licensed to publishers that want to replicate the contributor-submission model of content creation.

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  References:

  http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/11/15/forbes-media-for-sale/3579419/

   
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  yichanliu 2:48 am on November 16, 2013 Permalink | Reply  

  blog post 8 

  Profit bonanza eludes companies chasing obesity business

  Soaring diabetes rates, driven by increasing obesity, have fuelled profits at the Danish company for two decades, but now the company wants to tackle obesity head on by launching a treatment specifically to help patients lose weight. Obesity rates suggest a booming market. Yet it is proving surprisingly difficult for both drug makers and food companies to develop businesses directly addressing the problem.

  In a global economic downturn, modestly effective weight-loss drugs and special diet foods are turning out to be a tough sell when a cheaper alternative is to eat less – or do nothing. Weak economies have curbed demand for pricey, specialist dieting schemes just as competition has exploded from a host of electronic apps that count calories for free – and securing insurance reimbursement has been an uphill fight for new drugs that cost around $160-$200 a month in the United States. Global sales of obesity drugs have halved in the last five years, and even though they are expected to climb again they will remain dwarfed by therapies to treat diabetes, as rates of type 2 disease – the kind linked to obesity – soar.

  Weight Watchers, the leading weight loss company in the United States, is finding the going increasingly tough. Revenue has been roughly flat or down during six of the last seven quarters and the outlook for the next four is even worse. Last month, the company said that despite progress on cost-cutting, it expected full-year revenue to fall at a low double-digit percentage rate if recruitment trends failed to improve. Weight Watchers is battling a declining membership base, growing membership at rivals, and the rise of cheap or free smartphone applications and activity monitors.

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  References:

  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/international-business/european-business/profit-bonanza-eludes-companies-chasing-obesity-business/article15462073/

   
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  yichanliu 10:35 pm on November 15, 2013 Permalink | Reply  

  blog post 7 

  China ‘Cyber Monday’ sales smash record

  Cyber Monday (Nov. 11), which began as a holiday for singles and morphed into an online retail frenzy, has become China’s busiest online shopping day. On that day, nearly all the sellers on Tmall.com (China’s version of Amazon, run by Alibaba) would offer a 50% discount on thousands of brands including Microsoft, Gap and Clarins, while competitor Tencent’s 51buy.com offer promotions on products from Apple, Samsung, Sony and more. Sales on Tmall reached $163 million in the first few minutes of the day. By the end of the day, sales on Alibaba’s shopping sites clocked in at $5.7 billion–nearly double last year’s total of $3.1 billion. Retailers have slashed prices to woo customers, and sales this year were expected to be bigger than ever, said Barclays analyst Alicia Yap prior to the Nov. 11 holiday.

  China’s Cyber Monday reflects the rapid growth in the country’s online shopping market. A growing number of China’s 1.3 billion consumers are paying ever fewer visits to brick-and-mortar stores. A consumer said that she now makes 90% of all her purchases online–anything from blouses to mattresses and lamps. Therefore, holding the discount event on the singles’ holiday would be a wise decision for Tmall, as they are able to sell much higher quantities at that day, and thus make more profits and stay competitive in the industry.

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  References:

  http://money.cnn.com/2013/11/10/news/economy/china-cyber-monday/index.html

   
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  yichanliu 10:14 pm on November 10, 2013 Permalink | Reply  

  blog post 6 

  Intel may sell Internet TV business to Verizon

  Chipmaker Intel Corp is reported in talks to sell all parts of its Internet television venture to Verizon Communications Inc., reflecting its will of focusing on developing intelligent system and uphill battle in securing content for the pay-TV service. Earlier this year, Intel decided to launch an Internet TV service with live and on-demand content in a bid to find an alternative revenue stream as its core business of providing chips to computer makers erodes. The service, called OnCue, has been in the works for the past two years and would stream TV channels over the Internet. Intel also developed a set-top box that company employees were said to be testing in their homes. The field of players competing for in-home entertainment audiences is increasingly crowded. Apple Inc, Google Inc, Sony Corp and Microsoft Corp are jockeying for position to own the living room through TV, while Netflix Inc and Amazon.com Inc’s streaming video services have millions of subscribers. Verizon already has a streaming product as part of a joint venture with Redbox, which focuses mostly on streaming movies and not on TV shows, according to its website. That product competes with Netflix. Intel has struggled to reach content deals with media companies even though it offered to pay sizeable premiums over traditional cable rates. Several news reports indicated Intel is now discussing a potential deal with Verizon to hand over control of Intel Media, the unit responsible for building the subscription TV service.

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  References:

  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/international-business/us-business/intel-in-talks-to-sell-internet-tv-business-to-verizon/article15159016/

  http://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/2013/10/31/reports-intel-may-sell-internet-tv-project-to-verizon/