Wednesday, May 28

Stealing ideas is good


Read any book or blog on innovation and you'll read stories of how people have lifted an idea from a non-related or similar industry and transferred it to another. You'll also read about how ideas are lifted from one geographical region and transferred to another. I came across this neat picture from Guy Kawasaki's Blog. The picture was taken on his recent trip to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. No more straining your neck to catch the eye of a busy waiter -- just press the button for service! This button system also has the advantage of reducing the chances of committing a cultural faux pas while visiting a foreign land, such as snapping your fingers, clapping loudly or shouting out, "Oi, you! Get your ass over here now."

Monday, May 19

Taiwan's brands: Vizio


Vizio: U.S. brand, Taiwanese roots


Here's a Taiwan brand that is making great inroads into the flat-panel television business. If you read Vizio's "About Us" page, it states that they are "headquartered in Irvine, California." Fair enough. That doesn't tell you the whole story, though. Vizio has its roots in Taiwan. You can read a bit more about how the brand started and its founder, William Wang, at the Inc. magazine Web site.

What are they doing that other Taiwan-based manufacturers could learn from?

1. A unique name that has a nice high-tech ring to it.
2. A stated country of origin, the United States of America.
3. Based in California, that romantic state famous for all things techy. California-based Apple, Google etc.
4. Strong channel partners: We all trust Costco, don't we?
5. Fresh, modern, impressive packaging, written in perfect English.

Of these, I guess the name and the country of origin of the brand are the biggies.

Thursday, May 8

Transnational firms and innovation: learning from the locals

What can you teach me?

Understanding the complexities of doing business in China is a difficult task. It's worth sticking with it, though, as you will eventually start to see an underlying structure to what is going on around you -- you'll no longer see just chaos; and glimmers of predictability will emerge. But it takes time: much observing; listening to old China hands; the reading of history books and the odd video on YouTube, such as the one below with Lee Kai-Fu, President of Google in China. Lee Kai-Fu is, like many businesses operating in China, from Taiwan. Grab a notebook! This is the guy that pissed off Microsoft's Steve Ballmer so much when "defected" to Google.


The above video contains some fantastic nuggets of insight, many of which will surprise you. Also, if you think the above video fills you in on things you didn't know about China, just imagine the stuff that the speaker is keeping to himself -- the really valuable stuff!

I've posted some tips below from an old posting on doing business with the Chinese before, along with another must-see video. These resources can help you navigate your way around the dragon's lair. Check 'em out! Photo credit: Jeremy Brooks.

Doing Business in China

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Friday, May 2

Proactive versus reactive innovation

Click to enlarge

I've posted this image, made using Stripgenerator.com, before. I like it because it gets across quite well two approaches to innovation -- proactive innovation and reactive innovation. It also gives some idea of the differences between problem solving and creativity: problem solving being a reaction to an already present resource (problem), creativity being proactive (a quest/a searching/a desire to transcend). Sorry, that sounds like Oprah! 

Images are a great way to communicate some of the concepts associated with innovation. That said, it is really difficult to get ONE image that captures the essence of innovation. Up until now, we are stuck with the lightbulb, which surely needs an update. If you were to use one image to represent the broad concept of innovation, what would it be?