Business and Money Tips

From Bloomberg news dated 23 November 2016 (abridged version) Two years ago, Oppo and Vivo couldn’t crack the top five in China’s smartphone market. Now they outrank everyone after elbowing Apple aside, thanks to people like Cheng Xiaoning. Cheng runs a thriving electronics store in the rural town of Miaoxia, tapping into her WeChat social media account to promote the brands that pay the biggest commission, and in her case that’s Oppo and Vivo. While such payments start at about 40 yuan (US$6), they escalate for more expensive handsets and reach almost 200 yuan for Oppo’s high-end smartphones. “That’s why I like to introduce the Oppo R9 Plus to potential customers,” she said. “Business has been perfect, actually never been better.” Cheng and tens of thousands of like-minded boosters form the vanguard of the pair’s  charge  against Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. Working with the local stores that dominate sales in China’s far-flung provinces, Oppo...

According to Samsung, its market share for smartphones has declined by 28% as at June 2014.  The market share now stands at 25%, compared to 35% in 2013.  Samsung attributed the drop in business to the onslaught of cheap smartphones from China (they never mentioned Xiaomi, but we all know who they're talking about).   So is it true that your competitors take away your business?    We know that even if you half your price, you may still not able to beat your competitor.  (read here for explanation) If you look at the models introduced by Samsung in 2013 and 2014: they are all iterations, that is, incremental improvements over the previous models. Whether it is Galaxy Note 4, S5, Alpha or Note Edge, they all spotted faster processors, sharper screens and higher pixels for cameras. All these are good, but they are just iterations and not major improvements or quantum leaps, unlike the revolutionary Note and S 2 in 2011.  The point is not whether t...

It's hard to imagine: South Korea was almost bankrupt 15 years ago in 1998.  Today it boosts the 12th highest per capita GDP ( Purchasing Power Parity ), way above rich countries like Canada, Australia, Belgium, Sweden and including, yes, Singapore.  South Korea also ranks 4th out of 183 countries on Goldman Sachs' Growth Environment Score, which means that they did not sacrifice the environment for growth. Bear in mind that this country of 60 million Oriental people is still at a state of war with its neighbour nuclear-arms infested North Korea.  Also note that South Korea was almost devastated from the 3-year Korean War in 1950-1953, plus the exploitation by Japan for 50 years up to World War II. How did the Koreans did it?  I was in Korea for a one-week holiday and from I gathered at the museums, streets and institutions, there are 5 factors that we all can learn from them: Self-Sacrifice - the Koreans sacrificed their personal belongings to rescue theie c...

As a boss or entrepreneur, you could be your company's best salesperson as no one understand better than you what you are selling.  That was what the CEO of Apple, Steve Sculley, thought in 1983 when he promoted the Macintosh computer.  But we know that the Macintosh failed miserably, and by 1997, Microsoft and IBM-compatible computers took over 98% of the market share. It seems that the best salesperson can never be from your company or your industry. Unbelievable but true!  That's right, the best salesperson is actually your customer .  When Steve Jobs re-joined Apple as its interim CEO in 1998, he realized this and focused the entire company's operations to nothing but the customer. Not just focus on the customer, but focus on the customer's experience .  Once he does that, Apple's products, from the Macintosh to Macbooks to i-Pod and later i-Phone and i-Pad, sell like hot cakes.  By 2011, Apple has become the world's most valuable company and remain...

By now the whole world realizes that Apple's iPad Air has broken another new record for tablet sales.  Many people wondered what makes Apple successful while others like Samsung and LG are still fighting hard? According to my teacher Andy Ferrari Norman, there are 5 Selling Rules to follow: Non-self. Yes, selling is about not focusing on yourself but on your customers .  You need to find out what customers want and give it to them.  Selling is not about the seller's ego but making customers heros.  Apple has obviously focused on the user's experience and not the brand awareness.  The App Store it created is second to none.    Impermanence : selling is about creating new things every now and then and making things non permanent .  That's why Apple has product upgrades every 12 months or so. Interconnectedness :  As everything changes, everything in this world is connected.  Apple pays attention to the connectivity of things : its...