Plastic Water Bottles: How many will just say No.

One thing has always, ALWAYS, been clear to me about the bottled water market. The market has been driven more by the inherent laziness of consumers than by any fear of the municipal water supply.
How ironic, considering all those people working out with bottles of water in their mitts.
The attraction is the handy size, and the fact that most of us are too absent minded to keep a reusable water bottle full of water in our briefcase, backpack or car. It is not because we doubt the quality of the water from our tap or the office cooler.
As public information mounts about the environmental havoc these ubiquitous bottles cause, companies who make huge profits on hand-held bottles of water are in a panic. Coca-Cola, Dannon, PepsiCo, Nestle.
Beverage Digest reports retail sales of bottled water (excluding vending machines and Walmart) grew only 9% this year compared with 16% in 2006. Explanations abound. For one, it seems people who are paying more for gas, mortgage payments and education are taking a harder look at how much they are paying for…water. It adds up, just like those lattes at Starbuck’s. But there does seem to be multiple factors eroding the growth of water, and one of those factors is the leading edge of green consumers choosing to refill water bottles instead of buying water.
According to water-filtration company Brita (owned by bleach giant Clorox), Americans discard 38 billion plastic water bottles per year, and it takes 1.5 billion barrels of oil to produce them.
Sounding just like the lobby it is, the International Bottled Water Association wants regulators and consumers to know that, before we get hysterical about water bottles, any attempt to regulate consumer packaging should address all categories, not just water bottles.
To which I say: why not start a new campaign with water bottles. Get people thinking about water bottles, and the thinking tends to spread to other parts of their lives.

In my opnion, As this selection said, People have inherent laziness, So they want more convenient shaped bottle, to grap for one hand. However many bottle of water are shaped pretty inconvenient and It would be waste of resources, and not efficent in market. Therefore markets of water are needed some reformed types their bottles of water.

http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/brandnewday/archives/2007/10/plastic_water_b.html

20700658 Cho Dong-Soo

entry 12

SKT's efforts to be Global

SK Telecom, Korea's No.1 mobile service provider, has appointed two foreigners as its human resources executives to help the carrier's efforts to attract global talents, its officials said yesterday.
SK Telecom said it plans to recruit more foreign executives as the company is striving to transform itself into a global firm. The company has been expanding into the United States, China and Vietnam to drive growth as the local market is nearing a saturation point.

This is the first time that SK Telecom appointed foreign executives in its Korean operation. It is also unsual that a Korean telecommunications company, which relies heavily on the local market, is recruiting foreign executives.

I think that these foreign veterans will help the company to draw more global talents and shape the corporate culture in such ways so that it is in line with that of a global company. SKT provides internship programs to the students from some American Business schools and also requires its employees to write all the reports in English as the means to transform the company into a global one.

I think SKT is stepping an important step which had not been done by any other companies in Korea. It is trying to increase the target market by being more global. This sudden change might be a stubling block for a while, however, it will soon translate into a stepping stone on which SkT would stand out among the competitors.

By Jin Hyun-joo

Source : http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/science

20700308 Chris Bang
Entry 11

LG Will Clean Up, With or Without GE

Korea's LG Electronics could win GE's appliances unit and get within reach of No. 1 Whirlpool. But LG's organic growth is noteworthy, too

The LG Total Capacity Refrigerator which has 15" LCD TV with FM radio, temperature adjustment, room temperature display, water controls, a weather & info center, recipes, digital photo album, calendar, BioShield Anti-Bacterial Seal and other features. Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images


Ever since General Electric (GE) revealed plans to put its appliances business on the block May 16, Korea's LG Electronics has been on most everybody's short list as a potential buyer. While visiting Seoul on May 28, GE Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt further fueled the speculation by praising the Korean company as a potential buyer of GE Appliances. LG is "clearly one of the leading candidates," he said during his short visit. Calling LG "a great company," Immelt said "there are many things to be admired about a combination of LG and GE Appliances."


Best known as the maker of cheap microwave ovens and toasters a decade ago, LG has emerged as the world's No. 3 manufacturer of white goods after Whirlpool (WHR) and Electrolux (ELUX). It's also a top name in mobile phones (BusinessWeek.com, 4/30/08). It won't get GE Appliances without a fight, of course. Others on Immelt's list are China's Haier Group, Mexico's Controladora Mabe, Turkey's Arcelik and Stockholm-based Electrolux. Even if one of those other companies ultimately wins GE Appliances, LG is poised to challenge Whirlpool for the top spot in the global households business for years to come.


The Korean company has had the world No. 1 title in its sights for a while. Until Whirlpool took over Maytag in 2005, giving the Americans a big boost, LG had plans to seize the leadership in the industry by 2010. The Maytag deal put Whirlpool out of reach, but LG now could come close to realizing that ambition by acquiring the GE unit. LG's global appliances sales last year of $12.6 billion, when combined with GE's $7 billion or so, would roughly match Whirlpool's $19.4 billion and place it well ahead of Electrolux' $15.6 billion. "The GE unit will certainly whet LG's appetite," says Michael Min, electronics and tech specialist at fund manager Tempis Capital Management. "The question is pricing and terms."


In my opinion, LG grow up fast. LG electronics product famous for design, performance all over the world. LG have to upgrade their ability and quality to their brand value up. General Electronics and LG electronics help with each other. Now on they develop their capacity each brand to stand on the worldly brand.



http://www.businessweek.com/


entry 12
20700623
Min Kyu Jeong

Using Barter to Grow

Barter exchanges can help you build your business without spending a lot of cash.

Jake Kaestner wanted his five-person landscaping company to grow, but he didn't have much money to invest in the business. In 2005, after hearing about ITEX, a national barter exchange, Kaestner, founder of Kaestner Lawn Care in St. Peters, Mo., gave it a try. On barter exchanges, members earn barter dollars by doing work for each other. So Kaestner's $500,000 company did about $4,000 worth of landscaping at the home of another exchange member, a massage therapist. Kaestner turned around and used those barter dollars--currency good only between members of the exchange--to buy advertising in a local paper. "I didn't do any advertising before because it gets expensive," he says. Kaestner has since used barter dollars to buy advertising in local magazines, newspapers, and coupon books.
Whether by working through an exchange or directly with another company, bartering can help you boost your business without spending a lot of cash. Barter can be great for startups as well as for seasonal businesses or those with excess capacity.

I thought of my uncle whose company went bankrupt a couple of years ago. He used to earn a lot of money, however, at the moment he is broke. He was so depressed at first and didn't try to do anything. Then after a while he started a small business that didn't go well. He used to be a chairperson of a huge company so he didn't want to have his sleeves up and work from the beginning. I think what my uncle needed was something like 'barter' to develop his company even if it would have been slow. I think every good marketer should always be ready to do hard work If put in that kind of situation.

Back to BWSmallBiz April/May 2008 Table of Contents
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_64/s0804021853506.htm?chan=magazine+channel_bwsmallbiz+--+what+works'

Entry 10
20700308 Chris Bang

Apple iPhone Tunes into India

Earlier this month, two telecom operators—Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar—announced their plans to launch the Apple iPhone in India. Market buzz is that both subscribers will launch the iPhone around the country's Diwali festive season in October 2008, when consumer spending is at an all-time high.
"There is a certain thrill and euphoria around owning iPhone," said Rajiv Makhni, technology managing editor of NDTV, and anchor of local TV program Cell Guru on NDTV 24X7, a leading news channel in India. "The phone has a seriously large user base in India." Cell Guru is a TV program featuring mobile phones and technology.
Makhni told ZDNetAsia in a phone interview that he receives 2,000 e-mail messages a week for Cell Guru and 20 percent of the e-mail pertain to the iPhone.
"And even though the iPhone has not been officially launched [in India], 10 percent of the people I know already own an iPhone," he said.
Harish Bijoor, brand-domain specialist and CEO of Harish Bijoor Consults, said in an e-mail interview: "With two leading operators launching the iPhone, the Indian consumer will have a wider plank to choose from."
Vodafone has signed an agreement with Apple to sell the iPhone in 10 of its markets around the globe. According to a statement released by Vodafone, its customers in Australia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, India, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa and Turkey, will be able to purchase the iPhone for use on the Vodafone network.
Bharti Airtel, on the other hand, is bringing the iPhone to India through an agreement with its affiliates Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel), Globe Telecom and Optus. Through this agreement, SingTel will debut the iPhone in Singapore, the Philippines and Australia later this year.
Bharti Airtel is the largest GSM mobile operator in India, servicing nearly 62 million mobile subscribers, while Vodafone Essar is the second largest GSM operator with over 41 million subscribers.
With two operators bringing the iPhone into India, Bijoor said "upgrading from the mobile user's existing handset to the iPhone will be that much easier".
In my opinion, I am slightly scared that the iPhone is now coming to India through the official route. But,i think the existing iPhone user base in India is very large. The iPhone is a great branding plank. Customers can change service providers just to get the iPhone. It will enter the Indian market on the strong footing of two large operators.



reference : http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/communications/

20700426 Hyo eun Yoo

entry 11

Home Improvement an Inch at a Time

A new TV ad for Lowe's (LOW) features a family getting a copy of a key made as the gravelly voice of actor Gene Hackman reminds viewers: "At heart we're still a neighborhood store." It may seem odd for a retailer with $48 billion a year in sales to be promoting a service for which it charges $1.47. Then again, no job is too small in the battered home improvement industry these days.
The housing bust is hammering Lowe's and archrival Home Depot (HD) hard. Riding high on the real estate boom, each doubled its number of stores since 2000. Now both are seeing sales dive as falling home prices and rising gasoline costs gnaw at consumer confidence. On May 19, Lowe's reported sales at stores open for at least a year fell 8%, while earnings declined 18%. The following day Home Depot said its same-store sales dropped 6.5% and earnings plunged 64%, due to special charges related to store closings.
With their home-equity lines of credit lines exhausted and home values shriveling, Americans have cut way back on the big-ticket projects, such as remodeling kitchens and bathrooms, that used to ring up hefty sales for the chains. "Those multi-thousand-dollar projects just aren't there," says analyst David Strasser, who follows the companies for Banc of America Securities (BAC).
BACKYARD FURNISHINGS
To make up for that, Lowe's and Home Depot are trying to sell homeowners on cheaper fixes, including painting, laying new carpet, and landscaping. Home Depot, for instance, is benefiting from the debut of a new line of paint called Freshaire. Although at $34.98 a gallon it's pricier than regular paint, consumers like that it that doesn't have any volatile organic compounds and dries fast. Lowe's, meanwhile, has been running ads reminding customers it can match any old paint for folks who want to do touch-ups. It's also had success this year with a promotion to install carpet throughout a house for a flat rate of $199—a fraction of what it used to charge when it billed per room.
Families that have had to shelve plans of trading up to a bigger house are now looking to make more out of what they have. One trend is the move to turn backyards into an extension of the home, complete with sofas, hearths, and lighting. To capitalize on that, Home Depot merchandising chief Craig Menear is rolling out higher-end patio furniture such as a new $1,000 set from Thomasville Furniture made of eucalyptus wood. "Five years ago, all we sold was aluminum. Now it's wood, wicker, wrought iron," he says. In today's market, it seems, such small luxuries go a long way .

From - http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_22/b4086034573963.htm?chan=magazine+channel_news

Nowadays there are a lot of new trend of housing. In past days house was place that just for living, but It is increasing to effort upgrading house. In Korea, there are also different conception for housing than before. As we can see in many TV-CM, It represents conception of house as high-value. Futhermore there are also many supplys to promote their housing interer and exteror, so housing market has much opportunity to make blue-ocean

Cho Dong-Soo

20700658

entry 11

Matsushita's Green Strategy

As part of Japan's commitment to the Kyoto Protocol, the consumer-electronics maker aims to cut CO2 emissions in both its factories and products

Chances are, the PC monitor you're reading this on right now is filled with lead, cadmium, and a handful of other toxic substances. The same goes for the cell phones and music players you carry around or the big-screen TV you've got at home. So it may be hard to think of a consumer-electronics maker that deserves to be labeled "green." But Matsushita Electric Industrial (MC) is spending millions trying.

In November, the Japanese consumer-electronics and high-tech manufacturer made headlines when it announced that plasma displays in all Panasonic flat-panel TVs are now lead-free. That works out to about 70 grams (3 oz.) less lead in your average 37-in. plasma TV, and more from larger sets. It's quite an accomplishment, particularly when you consider that more than one in four plasma TVs sold worldwide is a Panasonic. This year, the company expects to sell roughly 4 million sets.

But Matsushita's broader environmental strategy is yielding more mixed results. Like many big manufacturers, it's finding that revving up growth and cutting emissions of the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming can be tricky. By its own reckoning, Matsushita's carbon-dioxide emissions will reach 4.17 million metric tons in the fiscal year through March, 2007. That's almost 14% higher than levels in March, 2002, the oldest data the company has published.

Japan Inc.'s Emissions Struggle Execs blame the surge in sales volumes of flat-screen TVs, DVD recorders, and music players. To produce digital gizmos, Matsushita has to operate huge energy-hungry plants for semiconductors and plasma panels. And tapping into China's coal-fired utilities doesn't help its emissions tally. "Our total CO2 emissions are actually increasing," says Akira Nakamura, general manager of the environmental-planning division. "But we are not giving up."

It won't be easy. Matsushita must lower its emissions as part of Japan's commitment to the Kyoto Protocol. Under the treaty, which went into effect last year, Japan and other wealthy nations pledged to cut greenhouse gases by an average of 6% from 1990 levels by 2012. Japan risks coming up short: Its emissions have gone up 12% between 1990 and 2003.

In my opinion, now days more and more it is important that eco-friendly product and business. Consumer consider about their family’s health, and well-being. In that case Matsushita’s effort is valuable. Disasters take place the entire world. Not only government but also enterprise has responsibility to protect and preserve our environment.

reference http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/dec2006/gb20061221_409143.htm?chan=search

By Kenji Hall

entry 11

20700623 Min Kyu Jeong

Make Money While you wait

To me, this is a truly interesting story.
How many of you have given a thought in making money doing nothing. If there is, Maybe few.
I was taken aback when I read about the entrepreneur, Herve Aimable who actually translated the 'waiting for the cable service' to a job. How ingenious he is !
Accoding to the article, waiting around for the cable guy tops the list of customer grievances. Therefore, by paying a guy for waiting the cable guy, the grievance is much relieved.

Come to think of it, job can be created out of anything. If you are creative and open-minded to accept things as they are, you can make a living.

Source by Jeremy Quittner
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_64/s0804018852065.htm?chan=magazine+channel_bwsmallbiz+--+frontline

Entry 9
20700308 Chris Bang

E-Game Giants NHN, Ncsoft Struggling

Lack of fresh, creative ideas are costing big game companies dearly, raising questions whether they will be able to continue their stellar growth. Regulatory risk on gambling games and failure to produce global hit products are raising worries among investors in game companies.
The online PC game industry has been the most energetic entertainment sector, exporting some 1 trillion won ($1 billion) of goods and services as well as another 1 trillion won in domestic sales. Games accounted for almost a half of Korea's export of cultural and entertainment goods and services in 2006.
`It was a kind of earnings surprise, but it was mainly because we didn't spend much, especially in marketing and other expenses,'' said Lee Jae-ho, the chief financial officer of NC Soft, in a conference call with investors on Thursday.
The company has operations in America and Europe, but it was domestic sales of ``Lineage,'' a decade-old classic game, that has supported the firm in the first quarter, Lee said. Sales in most of its overseas branches have declined.Lacklustre results of its recent games such as ``Tabula Rasa'' and ``Auto Assault,'' which were produced in its U.S. studio, have forced the firm to fire some of its U.S. staff this year. The company said it won't increase its workforce rapidly this year in order to control its labor cost.

We think the quality of growth at NHN has deteriorated in general,'' said CJ Investment & Securities analyst Shim Jun-bo in his report. These Web board games are played with cyber currency, which can easily be cashed out via online black markets. NGOs asked police to charge NHN, saying it is deliberately overlooking and fostering such illegal activities. Many analysts too expect that those games can face regulatory actions from the government at any time soon. Raising an alarm bell to NHN, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced Thursday that it will strengthen its efforts to monitor and stop illicit online gambling games and the cyber money exchange business. The police will cooporate by deploying some 4,300 officers on this matter, the ministry said. NHN shares fell about 1 percent after the announcement.


NC Soft, a major online game company, reported that its net income fell in the first quarter of this year from the previous quarter, while sales slid by 1 percent. Its operating profit rose by more of half, but this increase is mostly thanks to the reduced marketing expenses and downsizing of its organization.
Meanwhile, NHN, the operator of Naver portal and Hangame online game site, is having a hard time of its own, too. The Internet giant's shares fell, when it admitted that about 90 percent of its online game sales came from gambling games, such as poker and blackjack, which are called Web board games.

By Cho Jin-seo http://www.koreatimes.co.kr

entry 10
20700401 Oh Baul

GM May Launch Chevrolet Cars In South Korea

Adds GM to take decision after completing study by year-end; plan to invest KRW50 billion in South Korea over three years)
SEOUL -(Dow Jones)- General Motors Corp. (GM) is considering launching its Chevrolet brand in South Korea in an effort to capture a larger share of the growing imported car market, a senior company executive said at a press briefing Friday.
The company will take a decision on whether to launch the "globally-designed and produced cars" after completing a study by the end of this year, said James H. Raymond, executive director of GM's Asia-Pacific vehicle sales, service and marketing division.
In the local market, GM Korea currently sells Cadillac sedans at KRW41 million-KRW120 million ($40,000-$115,000) each and Saab sedans at KRW37 million- KRW59 million.
The market has become more important of late because imported vehicles are now claiming a bigger market share, said Raymond.
Imported automobiles accounted for 6.2% of the South Korean passenger car market in April, up from 4.9% a year earlier, according to figures from the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association, or Kaida.
In the January-April period, imported car sales jumped 32% on year to 21,811 units from 16,496 units a year earlier.

The South Korean passenger car market share of the Big 3 U.S. automakers - GM, Ford Motor and Chrysler - have continued to fall to 11.7% between this January and April, from 15% in 2004, Kaida said.
But, in the first four months of this year, GM Korea sold 229 units of three Cadillac All New CTS models, up from 102 units a year earlier, said the company.
It launched two 3.6-liter Cadillac All New CTS models in January and a 2.8- liter Cadillac All New CTS model in March.
"Improved fuel-efficiency in the new Cadillac models helped drive up total sales in the four months," a company spokeswoman said.

GM has a good image in Korea because of high qualitity of services and goods. Furthermore GM Korea - established in 1989 - unveiled more of its plans for its local operations.For instance, it will invest KRW50 billion over the next three years to boost marketing and improve services.
It boosts the volume of sales in Korea market.
Marketing strategies uesd GM is an intimate corporation image. It can easily work in customers.



By Kyong-Ae Choi, Dow Jones Newswires http://money.cnn.com
entry 09
20700401 Oh Baul

Importance of blogs & social-networking sites

The recent rush by major Internet portals to buy advertising companies and extend their sales networks is a sign that the business of being a one-stop shop for information and entertainment isn't what it used to be. Gone are the days of emphasizing ways to attract and keep visitors — the way television networks long have operated — by creating destinations with anything people might need for work, leisure or companionship. Instead, those companies are now more aggressively trying to follow Web surfers elsewhere — and bring lucrative advertising to them. As people increasingly turn to blogs, social-networking sites and other sources of user-generated media, Google Inc., Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Time Warner Inc.'s AOL have spent more than $10 billion collectively this year to acquire companies and technologies that help extend their online advertising networks. That shift is important for the major Internet businesses to grab a substantial share of the marketing dollars expected to flow at the expense of television and print.
Blog marketing is the use of internet blogs to market products and services on the internet.
Many internet marketers are starting out with little capital to fund their internet marketing business so blogs are a favourable option since the introduction of free sites such as Blogger.
I think that internet blog marketing is all about knowing and becoming familiar with the internet. The more we know about what’s going on in the internet world the better off your blogs will be.





http://news.hankooki.com/economy/industry.htm

20700426 Hyo eun Yoo

entry 10

Apple’s new Hollywood deal: Death of the DVD?

The news that Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes let slip in a conference call on Wednesday — that from now on Warner Bros. movies would come out as video on demand the same day as the DVD — turns out to be bigger than he let on.
Apple on Thursday announced that not only would Warner Bros. titles be available for purchase on the iTunes store the same day and date as DVD release, but so too would movies from 20th Century Fox, Walt Disney Studios (DIS), Paramount Pictures (VIA), Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment (SNE), Lionsgate, Image Entertainment and First Look Studios. (press release)
Even before the full extent of the deal was revealed, analysts were talking about the consequences for the DVD business. “Time Warner To Help Kill Off DVD Rentals” was the headline of Michael Learmonth’s piece in Silicon Alley Insider Thursday morning.
What does all this mean? It means Time Warner is finally ready to start weaning itself from DVD sales, which have been Hollywood’s biggest revenue source for years.
It also means that if Blockbuster — or Netflix, for that matter — doesn’t figure out electronic delivery, it is toast. And it means that Sony and Toshiba just incinerated a pile of money in a useless DVD format war. (link)
What convinced the Hollywood studios to cut this deal with Apple’s (AAPL) Steve Jobs? According to Time Warner’s (TWX) Bewkes, the company had been experimenting with “day and date” video on demand (VOD) release for several months and found that DVD rentals only fell by 3 to 5 percent and sales of DVDs actually increased. Since VOD is so much cheaper than printing and distributing discs, it looked like a no-brainer.
“Taking a customer and moving that person over from rental-physical over moving them to VOD day-and-date is like a 60 to 70 percent margin instead of a 20 to 30,” Mr. Bewkes said, according to the New York Times. “So it’s about a three-to-one trade.” (link)
Among the titles immediately available for download on iTunes: “Juno,” “Cloverfield,” “I Am Legend,” “There Will Be Blood,” “American Gangster,” “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly,” “Alvin and the Chipmunks” and “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

opinion

It is a really good phenomenom that Apple involves video contents. Nowadays a lot of video contents are made as DVD, but there are some inconvenient to use DVD contents. It may be needed specific dvice like driver and optimal device and so on. because of those reason, the new content 'VOD (video on demand)' will be good alternation of DVD. futhermore if Apple participate this contents market, that market can get huge success.

20700658

Cho Dong-Soo

entry 10

Nintendo Storms the Gaming World

Hot new consoles and smash hit titles take the company to new heights in the $30 billion video game biz

Nintendo (NTDOY) CEO Satoru Iwata and top execs at the gaming company's headquarters in Kyoto have every reason to be shouting the Japanese congratulatory cheer of "banzai" these days. For one thing, Nintendo's DS and DS Lite portable gaming system is enjoying light-speed growth.

On top of that, Nintendo's Wii console has blown away Sony's (SNE) PlayStation 3 in the early stages of the hotly contested battle for next-gen gaming consoles. Aided by a shortfall of PS3s in the critical U.S. market, Nintendo sold 1.1 million units of the Wii since the product's launch date last November, vs. 687,000 PS3s during roughly the same period. Sales of popular Nintendo game titles such as The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and New Super Mario Bros. are also quick.

Mass Market Potential
Of course, Nintendo still has a ways to go before it can claim industry dominance. Sony's PlayStation 2 holds the all-time sales record, with more than 100 million sold. Also, in the next-gen console category, the leader in terms of units sold is the Xbox 360, with 10.4 million units sold as of the end of 2006.

In my opinion, lately among teenagers, Nintendo is very popular, this is sensation. I think that fact of success this game product is easy to carry, and games in this product are simple and fun. So anyone can play easily. In addition, 10years ago, we could classical game in a games room. But we can play these games better graphic, and more fun story.


http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jan2007/gb20070126_278776.htm
Author: Bremner


entry 10
20700623 Min Kyu Jeong

Slow shopping

Changing the way Koreans shop

Corso Como Seoul, the world's first sister store to the famed Milanese concept shop of the same name opened recently and has gained lots of fame since its establishment.

At the newest hotspot, the sun is out, hitting a little garden surrounded by orange trees. People chat, sipping cappuccinos and espresso. And just inside there is a collection of the latest products in beauty, fashion, books and design.

One very unique aspect of this store is that it is one of the first stores to combine fashion, art, books, music and home design in one space, fusing culture and market into a unified whole.

When it comes to shopping, Koreans are usually impatient and quick to grab one that is on sale. Having a break is unthinkable because many believe that by having a rest, they are losing good products to other consumers. This is the way I have grown to shop.

This new store has opened our eyes for a new shopping style. Now this is what they call "slow shopping." And it is not just because shoppers need to go through the merchandise piece by piece, but also because they can enjoy ongoing art exhibitions in the gallery space upstairs and they get to browse through books, look at furniture and rest at the coffee shop and its adjacent garden.

It is a great idea to fuse culture and market ! People can order foods, leave to see the pieces and come back to dine. They can have a rest, reading various books offered inside the restaurant.

This will attract many Koreans who seek after high-quality goods and services. These people usually are consisted of the rich who are likely to give much profit to the store.

Author : Jean Oh

website : http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/

20700308 Chris Bang

Entry 8

Help! My Wii Says I’m Fat

As Nintendo gears up its next big thing – the May 19 release of Wii Fit – games blogs and websites are abuzz over what might be described as the accessory’s lack of tact. In fact, if you’re overweight, Wii Fit may just call you fat.
Ok, not exactly. But, the Wii Fit – a $90 kit that includes a motion- and pressure-sensitive board and software to help players lose weight and improve their fitness – doesn’t pull any punches. Interestingly, when Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America’s president and CEO, visited BusinessWeek’s offices last month, he said the Fit’s designers had toyed with sugar coating results, worrying about alienating players by potentially calling them overweight or even obese. But, to make the product “useful and honest,” they ultimately decided not to.
Still, gamers are wondering if Wii Fit may come off as harsh. It analyzes a player’s fitness in part via their body mass index. (See the picture to the right below.) But, according to this discussion thread that might turn some players off. User “Mrs Hobbes” relates the story of her ten year old grand-daughter who 4ft, 9in tall, weighs 92lbs and was deemed over-weight by Wii Fit. (This BMI calculator says she would be “normal weight.”) Mrs Hobbes wrote:
She is solidly built but not fat. She was devasted to be called fat and we had to work hard to convince her that she isn’t. I know it is just a game but seriously we already have to worry about young girls starving themselves to look like the magazine models and now we have a game that tells them their fat. This to me is very worrying and I hope that is doesn’t cause emotional problems for any youngsters out there :(
For more, games site Gamespy has an in-depth look at the experience of being deemed overweight by the new Nintendo accessory.
Still, the minor flap hasn’t done anything to dampen excitement for Wii Fit, which is already selling briskly. In fact, some retailers have stopped taking pre-orders thanks to strong demand. Amazon blew through its entire stock in about a month, according to blog WiiFanBoy. Another blog, GoNintendo, is also reporting that Toys R Us may be doing the same thing.
Nintendo is preparing one of the biggest roll-outs in its history, targeting an even broader range of non-traditional gamers than it did when it launched the Wii. Think advertising in The View and Women’s Health. “Consumer-level advocacy is marketing nirvana,” Fils-Aime told me last month, underscoring how important the company anticipates word-of-mouth being.
He added that he’s expecting two big waves of Wii Fit sales, an initial surge made up largely of people who already own Wii consoles and a later wave of players that would be new to the system.

Opinion

As we can see, console games have more variavble genre. It can be possible not only just playing game, but also managing body! Therefore a lot of people,more than past' purchase console games. Nowadays, console game's markets are blue-ocean, and have graet possiblity of develope ment. Now, marketers of console game's company concentrate on variaty of console-game.

http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/gamesinc/archives/2008/05/help_my_wii_say.html?chan=top+news_top+news+index_news+%2B+analysis

Posted by: Matt Vella on May 09

20700658

Cho Dong-Soo

entry 9

NOKIA's Focus

Valued at 33$.7bn this tear, Nokia’s 12% increase has been driven by a renewed focus on the brand. Consumer insights have steered product design back on course. In short, it has rediscovered the theme of Demand Creation by focusing on simple, easy-to-use handsets that are sleek and stylish.

Nokia has not enjoyed quite as much success in the US, where Motorola has been the dominant player. It will be interesting to see how this unfolds. Nokia’s improvement in product and design innovation should challenge Motorola’s RAZR, but the recently launched Apple iPhone has the potential to change perspectives. The device has created a lot of excitement and it seems set to be popular with technology-savvy and fashion-conscious consumers alike.

In recent years, handset design has emerged as an increasingly important demand driver. Competitors such as LG and Samsung have created stylish products and gained market share, some of it at Nokia’s expense. The brand’s ‘bounce back’ this year has been driven by a reinvigorated focus on product design and feature innovation. For example, the Nokia N95 was hugely successful, Integrating mall, web and music in a single handset. It has become the equivalent of the BlackBerry for the consumer market.

To maintain its leadership position, Nokia should focus on defining a cohesive visual style to differentiate its entire offering, rather than being driven by individual models.

In my opinion, in cell phone market, Nokia’s successful factor are simple, and easy-to use. In addition Nokia has multimedia high class spec phone and capture a low price market. Lastly, Nokia extend global market. There are Nokia’s competitive powers. Furthermore, I think most important competitive power is not style and function, but experience. Nokia’s experience makes Nokialish.

reference

http://www.businessweek.com/

20700623 Min Kyu Jeong

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Capcom , worldwide developer of interactive entertainment

Capcom is a leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment for game consoles, PCs, handheld and wireless devices. Founded in 1983, the company has created hundreds of games, including best-selling franchises Resident Evil, Street Fighter, Mega Man and Devil May Cry. Capcom has had consistent success in revenue growth and profit generation, with a proven track record in assembling and building organizations for long-term success. For over 10 years, Capcom has been involved in setting strategic vision and long-term product plans for numerous interactive publishers, with over 5 years of direct responsibility for the some marketplaces.

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20700401 Oh Baul

Design Marketing : The Seoul of World Design

Korea's economy has long been one of Asia's success stories, but pessimists fret for the future as Korea is sandwiched between fast-growing China and longtime rival Japan. So, Korea government-backed plan to raise Seoul's standing as a city focused on design help keep its growth on track.
Seoul Mayor Oh Se Hoon certainly thinks so. Oh, leader of a city home to nearly a quarter of the country's population of 48 million, is convinced Korea can stand out from its larger neighbors by establishing the capital as a international design center.
He says thinking about design will have numerous benefits. At an individual level he believes cultural benefits can enrich the daily lives of work-obsessed Koreans. Just as important, a renewed creativity can help the economy. I think so"Design is everything." Oh Se Hoon has set about turning Seoul into a global design hub with a slew of initiatives. He quickly established a new design division headed by a vice-mayor and initiated design competitions aimed at improving the city's looks. He has also begun offering training and seminar courses for young designers. The effort will kick into high gear in October when the city hosts the first Seoul Design Olympiad. It has also commissioned international "starchitect" Zaha Hadid to design the $98 million Dongdaemun Design Park.
I think his ambition got a huge boost when the city was designated as "the World Design Capital in 2010". The title is bestowed biennially by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID), which represents some 150,000 designers from scores of countries.
These combined efforts will help increase the size of Korea's design market—measured by the total of revenues by design houses and investments in design by ordinary companies—to $15 billion in less than 10 years, from $7.4 billion last year. "In coming years we'll see aspects of design in our everyday life," predicts Lee Kun Pyo, president of Korea Society of Design Science. Korean companies have also made great strides in recent years in improving brands through design. Companies like Samsung elctronics, LG Elctronics, and SK Telecomboast leading designers in the fields of digital displays, handsets, and mobile products and services, garnering international design awards along the way. The fruits of their efforts are reflected in the improved global standing of Korea's blue chips. Last year Samsung overtook Motorola to become the world's second cell-phone maker.


20700426 Hyo eun Yoo
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reference :
1. http://blog.daum.net/ceta21/13002726

2. www.designfestival.co.kr/

Professional Internet Shopping Mall using UCCs & Videos

There has been a sudden upsurge in a number of Internet shopping mall since a few years ago. As our lives become much convenient, people choose to click and buy things at home rather to be bothered to go all the way to shopping malls and look around. Nowadays this kind of shopping style has become almost like a trend. Additionally, with the picture and contents being more reliable to the public, there are a growing tendency in more people toward this Internet shopping.

However, still there is suspicion and doubt about the actual quality of the product if you just see the product on the sites. So someone came up with this brilliant idea which i think would be a new trend in Internet shopping culture. It is using videos to actually show the "live" product. So If you click on a product that you want to know more about, instead of seeing a mere photo of it, now you see a video in which somebody shows it in more detail.

I think i would go for the video. It would be appealing to me. I can get a good idea about the texture, colour and whether it would fit or not if somebody is wearing it on the video.

20700308 Chris Bang

Entry 7

Marketing of department store for '2030' luxury comsumer

After rounded 8:00Pm in which closing time of general department stores, there is another preparation for other consumer. These concentrate on people who are really rich. Those people are treated as a VVIP (Very Very Important person). After the closing time, these store open for only these VVIP. Almost of these people would buy pretty expensive brand such as Louis Vuitton , Gucci, Prada and so on. Moreover one-night selling revenue is approximately 300,000,000 Won per day. It would be very large part of one day selling revenue. And those people are consisted of 2030 which means ‘from 20 years to 30 years’. This marketing strategy is similar to luxury marketing as we can see other parts. As people becoming richer than before this marketing are very successful. However there are also not rich people and these people could be alienated in some cases. As rich people are taken advantages, not rich people should be taken some premiums too.


20700658
Cho Dong-Soo

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Samsung Design

In recent years, South Korea's Samsung has spent hundreds of millions of dollars spiffing up the look, feel, and function of its refrigerators, washing machines, cell phones, MP3 players, and more. In the past four years, Samsung has doubled its design staff, to 470, adding 120 of those just in the past 12 months. More important, Samsung is giving designers greater power to influence not only how products look but also what gets built. "Just as a lizard cuts off its own tail to move on, we will have to break with the past to move forward," says Chung Kook Hyun, the senior vice-president who runs design operations. The effort has paid off: Samsung has grown from a me-too producer of electronics and appliances into one of the world's leading brands, and this year won five Industrial Design Excellence Awards (IDEA)--making it the first Asian company to win more awards than any European or American rival.

In my opinion, investing designs essential for brand. Design decides to their brand image, value, and desire to purchase. So, design as important as any other strategy to enterprise.

20700623 Min Kyu Jeong

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