cool global BIZ

More Creatives, More Neocha.com, Please

"Neo Shanghai" by Danwei.org and Adam Schokora/Ginger Xiang of The Shanghai Beat.

A SPATE OF recent stories in China on Neocha.com (company website and Twitter), a social-network site in Shanghai for China creatives that was founded by Sean Leow (LinkedIn), a Chinese American from Silicon Valley and an econ graduate from Duke University in the United States . . . Launched in 2007, the site brings together artists, musicians, designers and filmmakers to share and promote their work . . .  Last year, Leow and partner Adam Schokora, formerly of Edelman Digital for China, founded the NeochaEdge consulting firm . . . Neocha is seen as a bridge between indie Chinese creatives on the street and mainstream corporate marketers and advertisers such as Nike and PepsiCo . . . More cha, please, and don't chill those voices . . . Hope they keep growing, as the New Asia and China keep evolving.

• China International Business, "The Coolest Cup of Cha" by Blake Stone Banks.
• Tech Beijing, "Sean Leow, Founder and CEO, Neocha."
• NeochaEdge,com, "Shanghai Daily Talks to Sean Leow about Creative Chinese Youth."

"Neocha.com Team" by leowsean, under a Creative Commons license on flickr.com.

Ernst & Young CEO James Turley on the New Global Mindset, Diversity & Innovation

Ernst & Young CEO James Turley, on the eve of the World Economic Forum's 2010l meeting in Davos, Switzerland, speaking on global diversity and innovation.  Courtesy of Ernst & Young and World Economic Forum. 

AS THE WORLD speeds into a new economic era, Ernst & Young CEO James Turley hammers home several key points that many companies still seem to ignore in the year 2010.  Accounting giant Ernst & Young and other U.S. multinationals anticipated the new global diversity arising years ago.  In a BusinessWeek opinion piece ("The New Global Mindset: Fostering Diversity . . . Is the Key"), Turley writes that global financial crisis has compelled companies to examine "talent management and development, and the connection between diversity of thought and innovation."  Turley also talks about global diversity and innovation in an Ernst & Young videotaped interview for the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland:

On global demographics and capital (World Economic Forum):  "Each company in the world needs to recognize the two big shifts that are taking place: Both the demographic shift . . . and the shift in capital flows from West to East, from developing markets to emerging markets.  If a company doesn't recognize these two big shifts, they're going to be left behind."

On women entrepreneurs (World Economic Forum):  "Economic analysis by the World Bank, the United Nations and Goldman Sachs show links between gender equality and the level of development of countries.  Other studies examine the relationship between corporate financial performance and women in leadership roles.  Their conclusion is that having a critical mass of women at the top improves financial performance.  One of the most important changes we can make is to support the vast potential of women as an economic force."

On innovation and diversity (BusinessWeek):  "The knee-jerk reaction is to relegate diversity to the realm of human resources, associated with fair hiring practices and good corporate citizenship.  But any company that clings to that old-fashioned notion of diversity risks limiting its creative potential and ultimately losing its competitive edge.  In a globalized world, diversity is much more than just a question of race or gender.  It is a spectrum of attributes, including culture, generation, educational background, skills, personality, education, and life experiences.  And research shows that capitalizing on these differences is a powerful factor in encouraging innovation.  Leading companies have shown that visible benefits to the bottom line result from leveraging inclusive ways of thinking."

• Ernst & Young news release, "Diversity Drives Innovation."
• Ernst & Young survey of 520 senior executives, "The New Global Mindset."
• World Economic Forum, "Women Leaders and Gender Parity Programme."

Hip Hop Culture & Rap Music Keep Going Global

"Hip Hop and it's Influence on Global Culture" - More The Indianapolis Star Galleries

View this gallery at The Indianapolis Star: "Hip Hop and it's Influence on Global Culture"

"Hip Hop and its Influence on Global Culture," a recent program at Butler University featuring rapper Yung Joc; BET host Jeffrey Johnson; rap performer and author Sandy "Pepa" Denton of Salt-N-Pepa; and Butler University history professor Vivian Deno.

THE GLOBAL APPEAL of hip hop culture and commerce shows no signs of slowing.  Born on the streets of New York, today the symbols and stylings of hip hop and rap music may have been watered down for the mainstream (corporate ads, Disney Channel shows, even TV shows for pre-schoolers).  But the music and lifestyle still are a driving force for social and political change around the world, according to Jeff Chang, a cultural writer and author of Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation.  His article in Foreign Policy ("It's a Hip Hop World") sums it up well:

"IT'S CLEAR THAT hip-hop culture has become one of the most far-reaching arts movements of the past three decades . . . Today, the message of hip-hop is even transcending borders. From xi ha in China to "hip-life" in Ghana, hip-hop is a lingua franca that binds young people all around the world . . . It is the foundation for global dance competitions, the meeting ground for local progressive activism, even the subject of study at Harvard and the London School of Economics . . . .

"HIP-HOP IS also a serious business. More than 59 million rap albums were sold in the United States alone last year . . . It sells an estimated $10 billion worth of trend-setting luxury and consumer goods every year . . . This 'urban aspirational lifestyle' market is expected to continue to grow. According to a 2006 report by business research company Packaged Facts, the potential purchasing power . . . in the United States alone is worth $780 billion."

• Jeff Chang's Can't Stop Won't Stop blog, "The World's Best Dance Crew: How Korean B-Boys Conquered Planet Rock"
• Wikipedia, "Hip Hop - Global innovations"
• America.gov, "Hip Hop Exerts Influence on Contemporary Portraiture: Genre inspires musicians, painters, photographers, poets,
• Racialicious, "How Do We View Hip Hop Culture?" by LaToya Peterson
• Suite101.com, "Global Hip Hop in the U.S., South America, Europe, Asia and Africa" by Jen Bouchard.
• CoolGlobalBiz.com, "The Quest for MTV America's Best Dance Crew, Hip Hop Culture & the Urban Market" by Edward Iwata.

 

 

"Freestyle Session 06" by zabara breakdance (in Moscow, Russia), under a Creative Commons license on flickr.com.

 

Global telecom giant Nokia, Jan Chipchase and the future of mobile devices in emerging countries

 

""Uganda Shops," image courtesy of Kiwanja.net.

Jan Chipchase is the principal researcher and "cultural anthropologist" at telecom titan Nokia who jets around the globe, studying how communities and consumers use mobil tech devices.  Raise your hands if you want that job.  Chipchase writes a fascinating blog called FuturePerfect, and he spoke recently at the International CES consumer electronics show in Las Vegas with Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, who pitched Nokia's global business and mobile devices spanning the world -- especially in poorer countries lacking Internet infrastructures, and where most people cannot afford personal computers.  Farmers, shopkeepers and others rely heavily on basic cellphones, smart phones, e-mail, texting and other services that middle-class consumers in the West take for granted.  Here's a video and transcript of Kallasvuo's keynote.

Also, courtesy of Slideshare, see a report below by Chipchase on the future of mobile devices and mobile banking in emerging countries ("Mobile phone practices & The Design of Mobile Money Services for Emerging Markets").  Nokia and Silicon Valley startup Obopay recently launched Nokia Money, a new mobile payment service for Third World consumers without bank accounts, or who may live long distances from banks.

• New York Times, "Can the cellphone help end global poverty?"
• Nokia press release, "Nokia CEO: Mobility brings hope and higher living standards to billions of people"
• Fortune's BrainStorm Tech blog, "The Apple of Nokia's eye" by Jessi Hempel.
• PCMag.com's Forward Thinking blog, "Nokia Talks About Mobile Devices In The Rest of the World" by Michael J. Miller.
• VentureBeat, "Nokia CEO says one-size-fits-all phones don’t fit the world" by Dean Takahashi.

Mobile Phone Practices & The Design of Mobile Money Services for Emerging Markets

View more documents from Jan Chipchase.

Gay global travel, gay dollars, gay pride

For those who still hold old stereotypes of gays partying in the streets, you may be shocked to hear that most are dull as dishwater, just like the rest of us middle-class drones.  Market researchers and the U.S. Census have found in recent years that gays and lesbians -- surprise! -- also live in the suburbs, which means they spend weekends cruising the aisles at Target and Home Depot. According to Community Marketing, a San Francisco-based research firm, about half of the gay and lesbian consumers they've surveyed own single-family homes, and half live with their partners or spouses. They're steady wage earners with average household incomes of $86,000 a year, and more than 60% of lesbians own dogs or cats. Can't get more Middle America than that. At the same time, gay consumers represent a wide range of interests and cannot be easily categorized, notes David Paisley, senior research director at Community Marketing.

(Above, "Pride" by John Carleton, under a Creative Commons license on flickr.com.)

 

Global businesses might be happy to hear that 83% of U.S. gay and lesbian consumers surveyed hold valid passports -- a percentage far higher than the U.S. average of 34% of Americans over 18 years old, according to the just-released "14th Annual Gay and Lesbian Tourism Report" by Community Marketing. About 63% of gay and lesbian consumers surveyed said they used their passports for international travel last year. Their favorite destinations: Canada (Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver), England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Mexico (Puerto Vallarta and Cancun) and Puerto Rico.

They also love to spend on brands that cater to the gay marketplace. In the dawn of the modern gay political movement in San Francisco and New York 40 years ago, red-blooded American companies shunned the controversy surrounding gays. Now, hundreds of reputable companies have no problem selling to gay consumers, who make up a $700 billion market, according to Witeck-Combs Communications in Washington D.C. Among the favorite brands of gays, according to Community Marketing's research:  W Hotels, Kimpton Hotels, Hilton, Marriott, American Airlines, Southwest, Delta and others. The gay wedding market -- all that hotel and travel spending – also brings hundreds of millions of sales and tax dollars into governments and economies, according to the UCLA School of Law's Williams Institute.

(Above, "Gay Buck" by PrizePony, under a Creative Commons license on flickr.com.)

 

What used to be called "pink dollars" by some are looking pretty green now.

• Harris Interactive, "Understanding the gay lesbian, bisexual and transgender market . . . "
• GLAAD, "Overview and history of the global gay and lesbian market."
• National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, "LGBT Entrepreneurs: from Business to Politics."
• AllGov.com, "Gay marriage is good for the economy"
• Newsweek, "Gay-onomics and the marriage debate"