Yes,what is a red tapes sebenarnye. By definition from answers.com,red tapes is a "collection or sequence of forms and procedures required to gain bureaucratic approval for something, especially when oppressively complex and time-consuming". Contohnya camnie la,kita nak apply loan dari government,in between tue macam-macam benda kita kena go through. Nak isi form tue la,form nie la,approval dari orang atasan la,surat sokongan la dan macam-macam lagi. Leceh,banyak kerja.
Personally aku bukan la amek port sangat pasal politik dalam negara nie tapi kekadang tue follow gak la,bukan apa,terhibur. Korang bukan tak tau wakil-wakil parlimen kita nie titlenya politician cum entertainer. Macam-macam pesen,padahal 2 kali 5 jer (read Khir Toyo). Tak fair la kalo aku singled out sape2 coz truth is semuanya sama jer.
Aku baru nak berjinak-jinak dalam dunia blogging nie. I love to read,i love writing,cari idea,curah idea dan sebagainya. But please,don't call me a blogger. Let's just say that aku nie suka bercerita dan dengar cerita kot. Bagi aku, istilah blogger nie agak overrated,overused and over everything. The only people yang aku rasa layak digelar blogger macam RPK,Jeff Ooi,Kenny Sia and the oh so lovely Nicole Kiss and Xandria Ooi. Even kalau 5 years from now,who knows,i could make a living by blogging,aku still tak nak dipanggil blogger. Malu sey.
Lama gak aku decide nak guna title theredtapes nie. Before,macam-macam yang came out, designbymistake, therandomstuff, somethingeverything, pacinology, dramatology, theblueprint and a few more. Many were taken. Lastly aku decide to go with theredtapes. Eventhough i'm possibly the only person who read this (yes laugh) but i don't give a shit.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Sunday, July 25, 2010
The Avengers preview at San Diego Comic Con 2010
2012 is like a million years to me. 4 May 2012 to be exact. Nie lah tarikh citer nie expected to be released. Tengok dia punye cast je omg, lagi la tak sabo nak tengok! Robert Downey Jr (Iron Man), Chris Evans (Captain America), Chris Helmsworth (Thor), Mark Ruffalo (Hulk), Scarlett Johannson (Black Widow), Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye) and hopefully War Machine will make some appearance in this movie too. War Machine, the guy yang jadi side-kick si Iron Man tue.
Yang tak bestnya Edward Norton won't return as The Incredible Hulk dan digantikan dengan Mark Ruffalo. Mamat nie last aku tengok citer Just Like Heaven alongside Reese Witherspoon. Ala citer romantik tue, poyo jer. Walaupun aku prefer lagi Edward Norton (no Erik Bana please) tapi takpelah, kita tengok dulu performance dia nie macamane.
And another thing, pengarah dia Joss Whedon cam takleh blah jer, writer/creator citer Buffy ngan Angel among others, memang tak penah dengar pun. Bagi la Michael Bay ke, Jerry Bruckheimer ke takpun Roland Emmerich ke. Dah cerita action, bagi la kat someone yang dah established, baru la semangat nak tengok. Apapun kita tunggu dan lihat. Tunggu? 2 tahun tue beb...
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Government intervention and country branding
One way brands achieve this is by associating themselves with either a category or a place. The latter is usually referred to as country branding. French wine, Danish designs, Swiss watches, German engineering, and Italian haute couture are results of very aggressive country branding.
Traditionally the place of branding has conveyed very positive perceptions as in these cases. However, with emerging economies getting integrated into the global economy, brands from these countries are often seen carrying the burden of potential negative connotations of their origin.
Among the many emerging economies, China is usually discussed as a pin-up example for demonstrating negative effects of country branding. China is an economic powerhouse. Every global company aspires to a fitting presence in the Chinese market. The enormous Chinese domestic market, the manufacturing boom that has elevated many sections of the society into middle class and even affluent class and the many untapped customer segments have only increased the global rush to get a piece of the Chinese market.
Despite such corporate frenzy, customers have been very wary of anything that is labeled “Made in China”. The quest for many local Chinese manufacturers of myriad products to cut cost and enhance exports has lead to cutting corners in quality of the products and thereby safety to the customers. Only recently, metal oxides found on toys for toddlers created a huge furor and strongly dented the already negative “Made in China” tag.
Along with such firms are also those who have excelled in the global scene. Lenovo acquired the PC division of IBM and emerged as one of the top three PC makers in the world. Haier has successfully emerged as a powerful player in the home appliances industry in the tough US market. Many other Chinese companies have made bold acquisitions around the world. All these activities have gradually help boost the positive perceptions about brands from China.
However, with the Communist party in control of almost all corporate activities directly or indirectly in China, such consistent progress on improving the country image becomes challenging. This begs the question: How does government intervention impact country branding?
As companies from China struggle to turn around perceptions, how can they manage intervention by the government that can have far reaching effect on worldwide perceptions of doing business in China? This is an important question for both local Chinese companies and also global companies that aspire to do business in China.
Legitimacy through strategic associations: Chinese companies will have to establish a high level of credibility with the global customers. Apart from the factual things about quality and cost that most Chinese companies have been challenged on, the increasingly challenging scenario has been the perceptions born out of the Chinese political system, its interaction with other countries and the lack of control over such things by any local company. One important way for companies to counter this would be through strategic associations.
Enhancing global presence: Even the mighty Japanese brands such as Honda and Toyota and the South Korean brands of Samsung and LG have had to overcome negative country of origin perceptions initially before emerging as global brands. Chinese brands, given their enormous resources, should aggressively increase their global presence.
With a thriving domestic market, such a move may be seen as unnecessary from a profitability perspective. However, from a legitimacy perspective, global presence can help bring these brands in close contact with global customers. Such awareness with and familiarity of Chinese brands will surely reduce the perceptions as brand experiences may alleviate some unjustified concerns about the “Made in China” tag.
Consistent demonstration of quality: Probably the most fundamental strategy to minimize the negative perception is to actually demonstrate consistent top quality of products and services. As important as symbolic actions are, nothing can substitute for substantive worth. Chinese companies should embrace a new orientation where in long term legitimacy through quality of products and adherence to well respected business practices should take precedence over short term profitability through lower costs and questionable quality. Furthermore, such a substantive shift in orientation should be aggressively communicated to the global audience through appropriate events and credible endorsers. Such actions would greatly help Chinese companies to overcome the negative connotations of government intervention.
Managing the actions of the government is a tricky task. Chinese companies, with their inherent links to the government may even be very wary of challenging the actions of the government. As such, the basic steps discussed here can indirectly help these companies overcome the negative associations with the “Made in China” tag and directly help them in developing a long term strategy of gaining global legitimacy.
* Credit : Martin Roll (CEO,Business & Brand Strategist)
Traditionally the place of branding has conveyed very positive perceptions as in these cases. However, with emerging economies getting integrated into the global economy, brands from these countries are often seen carrying the burden of potential negative connotations of their origin.
Among the many emerging economies, China is usually discussed as a pin-up example for demonstrating negative effects of country branding. China is an economic powerhouse. Every global company aspires to a fitting presence in the Chinese market. The enormous Chinese domestic market, the manufacturing boom that has elevated many sections of the society into middle class and even affluent class and the many untapped customer segments have only increased the global rush to get a piece of the Chinese market.
Despite such corporate frenzy, customers have been very wary of anything that is labeled “Made in China”. The quest for many local Chinese manufacturers of myriad products to cut cost and enhance exports has lead to cutting corners in quality of the products and thereby safety to the customers. Only recently, metal oxides found on toys for toddlers created a huge furor and strongly dented the already negative “Made in China” tag.
Along with such firms are also those who have excelled in the global scene. Lenovo acquired the PC division of IBM and emerged as one of the top three PC makers in the world. Haier has successfully emerged as a powerful player in the home appliances industry in the tough US market. Many other Chinese companies have made bold acquisitions around the world. All these activities have gradually help boost the positive perceptions about brands from China.
However, with the Communist party in control of almost all corporate activities directly or indirectly in China, such consistent progress on improving the country image becomes challenging. This begs the question: How does government intervention impact country branding?
As companies from China struggle to turn around perceptions, how can they manage intervention by the government that can have far reaching effect on worldwide perceptions of doing business in China? This is an important question for both local Chinese companies and also global companies that aspire to do business in China.
Legitimacy through strategic associations: Chinese companies will have to establish a high level of credibility with the global customers. Apart from the factual things about quality and cost that most Chinese companies have been challenged on, the increasingly challenging scenario has been the perceptions born out of the Chinese political system, its interaction with other countries and the lack of control over such things by any local company. One important way for companies to counter this would be through strategic associations.
Enhancing global presence: Even the mighty Japanese brands such as Honda and Toyota and the South Korean brands of Samsung and LG have had to overcome negative country of origin perceptions initially before emerging as global brands. Chinese brands, given their enormous resources, should aggressively increase their global presence.
With a thriving domestic market, such a move may be seen as unnecessary from a profitability perspective. However, from a legitimacy perspective, global presence can help bring these brands in close contact with global customers. Such awareness with and familiarity of Chinese brands will surely reduce the perceptions as brand experiences may alleviate some unjustified concerns about the “Made in China” tag.
Consistent demonstration of quality: Probably the most fundamental strategy to minimize the negative perception is to actually demonstrate consistent top quality of products and services. As important as symbolic actions are, nothing can substitute for substantive worth. Chinese companies should embrace a new orientation where in long term legitimacy through quality of products and adherence to well respected business practices should take precedence over short term profitability through lower costs and questionable quality. Furthermore, such a substantive shift in orientation should be aggressively communicated to the global audience through appropriate events and credible endorsers. Such actions would greatly help Chinese companies to overcome the negative connotations of government intervention.
Managing the actions of the government is a tricky task. Chinese companies, with their inherent links to the government may even be very wary of challenging the actions of the government. As such, the basic steps discussed here can indirectly help these companies overcome the negative associations with the “Made in China” tag and directly help them in developing a long term strategy of gaining global legitimacy.
* Credit : Martin Roll (CEO,Business & Brand Strategist)
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