管理學新生

富士康(Foxconn) 高壓失靈....../ 害慘蘋果(Apple)公司: 深陷“中國問題”漩渦

2012-02-10T16:29:00.000-08:00

2010

高壓失靈管理新一代的兩難

2010-06 天下雜誌作者：江逸之,黃靖萱

相關關鍵字：

富士康；自殺；郭台銘

富士康員工連續自殺，引發高度關注，不僅突顯中國新一代工人所面臨的身心壓力，更是數以萬計企業在管理上的共同困境。

五月二十六日，鴻海董事長郭台銘親自帶著三百多位中港台與外籍記者，要說明位於深圳龍華的富士康不是「血汗工廠」。年初跳樓身亡的富士康員工馬向前的父母，突然跪地陳情喊冤，「我要見郭董，馬向前死得不明不白，」馬父流著鼻涕大聲哭訴。

很諷刺的，幾十位富士康員工站在深藍色「Foxconn」招牌後，冷漠地看著這一幕。

走進面積相當於九座台北大安森林公園的富士康龍華廠，就像是闖入了一座巨大的迷宮，所有廠房長得都一樣，唯一不一樣就是小小的廠房編號，四十五萬名員工在龍華幾個廠區內，變成一隻隻沒有名字的小螞蟻，只能用制服顏色來辨別所屬單位，個人價值隱沒在鴻海帝國裡。

龍華廠的每棟廠房牆壁都爬滿了一條條修補裂痕的「成長痕跡」，見證鴻海的高速發展歷程，「廠房剛蓋好，我們等不及水泥乾燥，就直接開工，造成牆壁龜裂，」一位富士康陸幹透露。

廠房外牆龜裂，可以重新修補，但高速擴張企業版圖，管理員工的機制卻跟不上企業成長速度。

富士康龍華廠處處感受得到郭台銘鐵血治軍風格，每一座樓梯都貼滿了「魔鬼都藏在細節裡，走出實驗室，就沒有高科技，只有執行的紀律」的郭語錄，任何人上下樓梯都得複習「郭語錄」。

龍華廠就像是一座與世隔絕的小王國，在廠區內各項生活機能一應俱全，每棟宿舍一樓都是餐廳、便利店、水果店與銀行。但一走出龍華廠，卻是另外一個落後世界，馬路上漫天灰塵，大卡車橫衝直撞，整個龍華地區就只有一家設備簡陋的電影院，連間像樣的餐廳都沒有，四十幾萬的富士康員工嚴重缺乏娛樂休閒活動。

八○後、九○後的富士康員工佔八成以上，下班後唯一的娛樂就是上網，雖然富士康在廠區內設置了網吧，每位員工有免費的上網點數，但仍僧多粥少，無法滿足年輕員工上網打發時間的需求。

龍華廠區每平方公里容納了超過十萬人，即使是全台灣人口密度最高的城市永和市，人口密度也不過四萬人。

最接近的陌生人

相較於其他大陸企業的簡陋員工宿舍，富士康的員工宿舍蓋得美輪美奐，十四層樓的宿舍裡，第一線作業員平均每八人一間房間，十多坪的空間裡，四張上下鋪鐵床與整排內務櫃，生活空間尚屬寬敞。

但為了避免同鄉串連、結黨；在工廠裡，刻意地將同鄉員工拆開在不同的車間；在宿舍，同生產線的員工，也一定會拆在不同宿舍。因為不同上班時間、不同生產線、不同家鄉，同宿舍不見得會交談，「往往一個月都看不到同房間的人，我睡覺時候，他們都在上班，等到我上班時候，同房間的人都在睡覺了，」來自雲南的小鋼抱怨。四十五萬人，彼此成為最接近的陌生人。......

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蘋果深陷“中國問題”漩渦

Getty Images

上

週開始的時候﹐蘋果(Apple)還在因為創紀錄的季度利潤而得意洋洋﹐然而到了上週結束的時候﹐該公司則經歷了一場公共關係的大退步。上週﹐有報道指蘋果在中國組裝熱賣產品iPad和iPhone的工廠存在剝削工人的現象。

眼下﹐媒體關注的焦點集中到了蘋果和該公司的合約供應商──台灣企業富士康(Foxconn)身上。不過﹐隨著國際媒體把目光轉移到中國條件惡劣的製造業﹐中國的領導層也將為之感到不安。

在中國引人矚目的經濟發展的幕後﹐有大約1.2億農民工在辛苦勞作﹐他們大多在條件艱苦的廠區里生活和工作。

中國的工業轉型已經進行了20餘年﹐有關部門應該為戶口制度承擔多大的責任？由於戶口制度的存在﹐民工在他們自己的國家裡差不多成了二等公民。

不過眼下﹐首當其衝的是蘋果。《紐約時報》(New York Times)刊發的一篇關於不安全工作條件的報道引發了媒體的興趣。該報道還提及了蘋果在中國的供應商富士康每天七個小時的工作日和擁擠的宿舍。

斯圖爾特(Jon Stewart)在喜劇中心電視台(Comedy Central)的脫口秀節目里把蘋果巨大的利潤幕後的富士康工廠譏諷為“恐怖工廠”(Fear Factory)﹐這次公共關係事件對蘋果造成的打擊因而又被推高了一個層級。

蘋果面臨的問題在於﹐在幽默而令人震驚的新聞標題背後﹐有關中國大陸工廠的很多真相被揭露了出來﹐這足以令蘋果的客戶感到被冒犯﹐並最終對該公司的金字招牌造成損害。

更何況﹐追究責任以及改進當前的狀況遠非易事。

蘋果的首席執行長庫克(Cook)已經對有關供應商不安全工作條件的報道表達了極端憤慨﹐並且承諾要加強審計。還應該記住的是﹐蘋果只是以富士康為組裝供應商的眾多國際公司當中的一個﹐其他公司還包括諾基亞(Nokia)、戴爾(Dell)和微軟(Microsoft)等。

2010年的時候﹐富士康工廠就曾發生過一系列員工自殺事件﹐當時媒體對此進行過廣泛報道。富士康在中國的雇員人數逾100萬。

自殺事件發生之後﹐富士康不但給員工加薪﹐還開通了幫助熱線﹐拉上了安全網﹐防止員工跳樓。富士康員工的底薪從每月1,200元提高到了2,000元（合315美元）。

因為規模巨大的緣故﹐富士康每每吸引眾多關注的目光。在富士康深圳廠區工作和生活的員工數量超過了30萬﹐相當於一個小鎮的人口。

儘管工人們住的很可能仍是侷促的公共宿舍﹐但過去10年來﹐深圳已經轉變成一個高樓林立、地鐵發達、路上新車川流不息的城市。

農民工面臨的苦悶前景是﹐他們被阻止加入這個新的中國。由於數十年來存在的戶口制度﹐他們不能像當地人一樣享受住房、教育、醫療等居民福利。

這正迎合了省級政府的需要﹐他們不願承擔提供這類服務的成本﹐不願承擔為像富士康深圳工廠這樣眾多工人流入所需的基礎設施的成本。與此同時﹐他們卻仍在從位於當地的企業獲得稅收收入。

在中國開始工業化進程之初﹐這樣一種體系或許還能說得通。但將一批永久的“劣等公民”當作工廠的“炮灰”﹐這樣做不可避免地會導致緊張關係不斷加劇。

這樣一個龐大戶口制度的另一個不良後果是﹐它使農民工家庭難以在新的地方安置下來。估計有5,800萬農民工子女成為留守兒童﹐由親戚或福利院照顧。

圍繞改革戶口制度反復進行了討論﹐但目前為止卻沒有什麼實際行動。面臨的一個難題是﹐不僅是企業從戶口制度帶來的順從的廉價勞動力中獲益﹐省級政府也得到了好處。任何改革都將意味著收入進行重新分配﹐從共產黨機構中分配出去。

然而﹐眾所周知﹐中國需要恢復經濟的平衡﹐以便從投資向消費傾斜。中國的經濟在全球表現突出﹐而家庭消費率卻處於前所未有的低點﹐只相當於國內生產總值(GDP)的36%。

看起來再明顯不過的是﹐良好的第一步將是解除對這些農民工的束縛﹐允許他們實際上安居樂業。記者最近在走訪廣東惠州期間體會到了中國失衡經濟的現實。在那裡﹐工廠旁邊就是不斷擴張的尚無人居住的住宅樓。

人類生活的唯一跡象是在工廠宿舍外閑逛的工人。

對此常見的回答是﹐中國缺乏推進這類戶口改革所需的政治共識。

與此同時﹐蘋果和其他跨國公司會辯稱﹐他們只是在遵守中國等國家當局制定的規定。

這或許可以理解﹐但這種局面還能維持多久﹐特別是如果它開始冒犯具有社會責任感的蘋果消費者的時候？

畢竟﹐如果消費者心甘情願要求購買有機柴雞蛋﹐那麼距離他們要求購買由擁有基本尊嚴的工人所生產的智能手機或許也不太遠了。

這一事件的發展還有待觀察。這回不太可能是蘋果或中國政府在這個棘手問題上的最終發言。

Craig Stephen

Reasonable and non-discriminatory terms

2012-02-09T22:22:00.000-08:00

Google Confirms Motorola Licensees Pay 2.25% Per-Unit Royalties
ReadWriteWeb
Today, Google took steps to assure many of Motorola Mobility's (MMI) existing licensees that it would adhere to that company's existing reasonable and non-discriminatory (RAND) licensing practices for mobile technologies. This after Apple sent a letter ...
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Reasonable and non-discriminatory terms (RAND), also known as fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms (FRAND), are a licensing obligation that is often required by standard-setting organizations for members that participate in the standard-setting process.^[1] Standard-setting organizations are the industry groups that set common standards for a particular industry in order to ensure compatibility and interoperability of devices manufactured by different companies.

Kodak is at death’s door; Fujifilm, its old rival, is thriving. Why?

2012-02-09T04:01:00.000-08:00

Kodak: A Parable of American Competitiveness
When American companies move pieces of their operations overseas, they run the risk of moving the expertise, innovation, and new growth opportunities just out of their reach as well, explains HBS Professor Willy Shih, who served as president of Eastman Kodak's digital imaging business for several years.

Technological change

The last Kodak moment?

Kodak is at death’s door; Fujifilm, its old rival, is thriving. Why?

Jan 14th 2012 | NEW YORK AND TOKYO | from the print edition

LENIN is said to have sneered that a capitalist will sell you the rope to hang him. The quote may be spurious, but it contains a grain of truth. Capitalists quite often invent the technology that destroys their own business.

Eastman Kodak is a picture-perfect example. It built one of the first digital cameras in 1975. That technology, followed by the development of smartphones that double as cameras, has battered Kodak’s old film- and camera-making business almost to death.

Strange to recall, Kodak was the Google of its day. Founded in 1880, it was known for its pioneering technology and innovative marketing. “You press the button, we do the rest,” was its slogan in 1888.

By 1976 Kodak accounted for 90% of film and 85% of camera sales in America. Until the 1990s it was regularly rated one of the world’s five most valuable brands.

Then came digital photography to replace film, and smartphones to replace cameras. Kodak’s revenues peaked at nearly $16 billion in 1996 and its profits at $2.5 billion in 1999. The consensus forecast by analysts is that its revenues in 2011 were $6.2 billion. It recently reported a third-quarter loss of $222m, the ninth quarterly loss in three years. In 1988, Kodak employed over 145,000 workers worldwide; at the last count, barely one-tenth as many. Its share price has fallen by nearly 90% in the past year (see chart).

For weeks, rumours have swirled around Rochester, the company town that Kodak still dominates, that unless the firm quickly sells its portfolio of intellectual property, it will go bust. Two announcements on January 10th—that it is restructuring into two business units and suing Apple and HTC over various alleged patent infringements—gave hope to optimists. But the restructuring could be in preparation for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

While Kodak suffers, its long-time rival Fujifilm is doing rather well. The two firms have much in common. Both enjoyed lucrative near-monopolies of their home markets: Kodak selling film in America, Fujifilm in Japan. A good deal of the trade friction during the 1990s between America and Japan sprang from Kodak’s desire to keep cheap Japanese film off its patch.

Both firms saw their traditional business rendered obsolete. But whereas Kodak has so far failed to adapt adequately, Fujifilm has transformed itself into a solidly profitable business, with a market capitalisation, even after a rough year, of some $12.6 billion to Kodak’s $220m. Why did these two firms fare so differently?

Both saw change coming. Larry Matteson, a former Kodak executive who now teaches at the University of Rochester’s Simon School of Business, recalls writing a report in 1979 detailing, fairly accurately, how different parts of the market would switch from film to digital, starting with government reconnaissance, then professional photography and finally the mass market, all by 2010. He was only a few years out.

Fujifilm, too, saw omens of digital doom as early as the 1980s. It developed a three-pronged strategy: to squeeze as much money out of the film business as possible, to prepare for the switch to digital and to develop new business lines.

Both firms realised that digital photography itself would not be very profitable. “Wise businesspeople concluded that it was best not to hurry to switch from making 70 cents on the dollar on film to maybe five cents at most in digital,” says Mr Matteson. But both firms had to adapt; Kodak was slower.

A culture of complacency

Its culture did not help. Despite its strengths—hefty investment in research, a rigorous approach to manufacturing and good relations with its local community—Kodak had become a complacent monopolist. Fujifilm exposed this weakness by bagging the sponsorship of the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles while Kodak dithered. The publicity helped Fujifilm’s far cheaper film invade Kodak’s home market.

Another reason why Kodak was slow to change was that its executives “suffered from a mentality of perfect products, rather than the high-tech mindset of make it, launch it, fix it,” says Rosabeth Moss Kanter of Harvard Business School, who has advised the firm. Working in a one-company town did not help, either. Kodak’s bosses in Rochester seldom heard much criticism of the firm, she says. Even when Kodak decided to diversify, it took years to make its first acquisition. It created a widely admired venture-capital arm, but never made big enough bets to create breakthroughs, says Ms Kanter.

Bad luck played a role, too. Kodak thought that the thousands of chemicals its researchers had created for use in film might instead be turned into drugs. But its pharmaceutical operations fizzled, and were sold in the 1990s.

Fujifilm diversified more successfully. Film is a bit like skin: both contain collagen. Just as photos fade because of oxidation, cosmetics firms would like you to think that skin is preserved with anti-oxidants. In Fujifilm’s library of 200,000 chemical compounds, some 4,000 are related to anti-oxidants. So the company launched a line of cosmetics, called Astalift, which is sold in Asia and is being launched in Europe this year.

Fujifilm also sought new outlets for its expertise in film: for example, making optical films for LCD flat-panel screens. It has invested $4 billion in the business since 2000. And this has paid off. In one sort of film, to expand the LCD viewing angle, Fujifilm enjoys a 100% market share.

George Fisher, who served as Kodak’s boss from 1993 until 1999, decided that its expertise lay not in chemicals but in imaging. He cranked out digital cameras and offered customers the ability to post and share pictures online.

A brilliant boss might have turned this idea into something like Facebook, but Mr Fisher was not that boss. He failed to outsource much production, which might have made Kodak more nimble and creative. He struggled, too, to adapt Kodak’s “razor blade” business model. Kodak sold cheap cameras and relied on customers buying lots of expensive film. (Just as Gillette makes money on the blades, not the razors.) That model obviously does not work with digital cameras. Still, Kodak did eventually build a hefty business out of digital cameras—but it lasted only a few years before camera phones scuppered it.

Kodak also failed to read emerging markets correctly. It hoped that the new Chinese middle class would buy lots of film. They did for a short while, but then decided that digital cameras were cooler. Many leap-frogged from no camera straight to a digital one.

Kodak’s leadership has been inconsistent. Its strategy changed with each of several new chief executives. The latest, Antonio Perez, who took charge in 2005, has focused on turning the firm into a powerhouse of digital printing (something he learnt about at his old firm, Hewlett-Packard, and which Kodak still insists will save it). He has also tried to make money from the firm’s huge portfolio of intellectual property—hence the lawsuit against Apple.

At Fujifilm, too, technological change sparked an internal power struggle. At first the men in the consumer-film business, who refused to see the looming crisis, prevailed. But the eventual winner was Shigetaka Komori, who chided them as “lazy” and “irresponsible” for not preparing better for the digital onslaught. Named boss incrementally between 2000 and 2003, he quickly set about overhauling the firm.

Mount Fujifilm

He has spent around $9 billion on 40 companies since 2000. He slashed costs and jobs. In one 18-month stretch, he booked more than ¥250 billion ($3.3 billion) in restructuring costs for depreciation and to shed superfluous distributors, development labs, managers and researchers. “It was a painful experience,” says Mr Komori. “But to see the situation as it was, nobody could survive. So we had to reconstruct the business model.”

This sort of pre-emptive action, even softened with generous payouts, is hardly typical of corporate Japan. Few Japanese managers are prepared to act fast, make big cuts and go on a big acquisition spree, observes Kenichi Ohmae, the father of Japanese management consulting.

For Mr Komori, it meant unwinding the work of his predecessor, who had handpicked him for the job—a big taboo in Japan. Still, Mr Ohmae reckons that Japan Inc’s long-term culture, which involves little shareholder pressure for short-term performance and tolerates huge cash holdings, made it easier for Fujifilm to pursue Mr Komori’s vision. American shareholders might not have been so patient. Surprisingly, Kodak acted like a stereotypical change-resistant Japanese firm, while Fujifilm acted like a flexible American one.

Mr Komori says he feels “regret and emotion” about the plight of his “respected competitor”. Yet he hints that Kodak was complacent, even when its troubles were obvious. The firm was so confident about its marketing and brand that it tried to take the easy way out, says Mr Komori.

In the 2000s it tried to buy ready-made businesses, instead of taking the time and expense to develop technologies in-house. And it failed to diversify enough, says Mr Komori: “Kodak aimed to be a digital company, but that is a small business and not enough to support a big company.”

Perhaps the challenge was simply too great. “It is a very hard problem. I’ve not seen any other firm that had such a massive gulf to get across,” says Clay Christensen, author of “The Innovator’s Dilemma”, an influential business book. “It was such a fundamentally different technology that came in, so there was no way to use the old technology to meet the challenge.”

Kodak’s blunder was not like the time when Digital Equipment Corporation, an American computer-maker, failed to spot the significance of personal computers because its managers were dozing in their comfy chairs. It was more like “seeing a tsunami coming and there’s nothing you can do about it,” says Mr Christensen.

Dominant firms in other industries have been killed by smaller shocks, he points out. Of the 316 department-store chains of a few decades ago, only Dayton Hudson has adapted well to the modern world, and only because it started an entirely new business, Target. And that is what creative destruction can do to a business that has changed only gradually—the shops of today would not look alien to time-travellers from 50 years ago, even if their supply chains have changed beyond recognition.

Could Kodak have avoided its current misfortunes? Some say it could have become the equivalent of “Intel Inside” for the smartphone camera—a brand that consumers trust. But Canon and Sony were better placed to achieve that, given their superior intellectual property, and neither has succeeded in doing so.

Unlike people, companies can in theory live for ever. But most die young, because the corporate world, unlike society at large, is a fight to the death. Fujifilm has mastered new tactics and survived. Film went from 60% of its profits in 2000 to basically nothing, yet it found new sources of revenue. Kodak, along with many a great company before it, appears simply to have run its course. After 132 years it is poised, like an old photo, to fade away.

Acer 的法務部是否要檢討或被檢討/訴該Gianfranco Lanci

2012-02-08T19:34:00.000-08:00

宏碁股份有限公司(Acer Inc., 2353.TW)週二表示﹐已在義大利法院起訴該公司前首席執行長兼總裁蔣凡可．蘭奇(Gianfranco Lanci)﹔該公司主張﹐蘭奇於2011年離職後違反了勞務合約中的競業禁止條款。

該公司競爭對手聯想集團有限公司(Lenovo Group Ltd., 0992.HK, 簡稱﹕聯想集團)上個月表示﹐其已委任蘭奇擔任旗下歐洲、中東和非洲業務負責人。

哈哈 Acer 的法務部是否要檢討或被檢討
Chinese PC maker Lenovo has hired former Acer CEO Gianfranco Lanci as a consultant.

Single-Serve Coffee Brewers Make Convenience Costly

2012-02-08T04:32:00.001-08:00

With Coffee, the Price of Individualism Can Be High

Single-Serve Coffee Brewers Make Convenience Costly

Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times

Nespresso capsules for its single-serve espresso machine.

By OLIVER STRAND

Published: February 7, 2012

SOMETIMES it’s hard to tell how much coffee costs, even if you know what you spent. At least that’s the case with many of the single-serve brewing machines that are soaring in popularity.

Multimedia

Graphic

The Cost of Coffee From Single-Serve Systems

For example, the Nespresso Arpeggio costs $5.70 for 10 espresso capsules, while the Folgers Black Silk blend for a K-Cup brewed-coffee machine is $10.69 for 12 pods. But that Nespresso capsule contains 5 grams of coffee, so it costs about $51 a pound. And the Folgers, with 8 grams per capsule, works out to more than $50 a pound.

That’s even more expensive than all but the priciest coffees sold by artisanal roasters, the stuff of coffee snobs.

An exclusive single-origin espresso like the Ethiopia, Gedeo Single Origin Espresso from Sightglass Coffee costs $19 for a 12-ounce bag, or about $25 a pound. La Cima beans for brewed coffee from Stumptown Coffee Roasters, a Grand Cru selection grown at Finca el Injerto, a renowned farm in Guatemala, is $28.50 for a 12-ounce bag, or $38 a pound.

In fact, most high-end coffees cost less than $20 a pound, and the coffees you find on supermarket shelves are substantially cheaper. A bag of Dark Espresso Roast beans at Starbucks is $12.95 a pound, and a bag of Eight O’Clock beans for brewed coffee at the Food Emporium is $10.72 a pound.

How much of that coffee goes into a cup varies according to who (or what) controls the machine. For instance, a Lavazza Gran Crema espresso capsule has 7 grams of coffee, the standard for most chain coffee stores. But independent coffee shops regularly pack 14 to 22 grams into an espresso shot.

When it comes to single-serve systems, you’re not just paying for coffee, you’re paying for convenience and the technology that makes it possible to brew a single cup in seconds. Pop in the pod, push the button: it’s a sure thing every time. Supermarkets and specialty stores are filled with items that make it easier on you, and it’s up to the shopper to determine if it’s worth it.

Some decisions are easy (rendered pork fat, fresh pasta); others are a toss-up depending on who’s in the kitchen (chicken stock, salad dressing). Where single-serve coffee falls on that spectrum depends on whether you regard coffee as something you make or something you drink.

“Americans under the age of 40 are thinking about coffee pricing in cups,” said Ric Rhinehart, executive director of the Specialty Coffee Association of America. “If you asked my mother how much coffee cost, she would have told you that the red can was $5.25 a pound and the blue can was $4.25. If you ask people in their 20s and 30s, they’ll say coffee is $1.75 to $3.75 a cup.”

This generational shift helps explain why single-serve coffee is the fastest-growing sector of the home market. According to a study from the National Coffee Association, single-serve coffee is now the second most popular method of preparation after conventional drip brewers, by far the dominant method. In 2011, 7 percent of the cups of coffee consumed in the United States were made with a single-serve brewer, up from 4 percent in 2010.

The premium that single-serve coffee commands makes it especially lucrative. Julian Liew, a spokesman for Nespresso, said single-serve coffee is 8 percent of the global market, but accounts for 25 percent of its value. It’s likely that the number will continue to climb.

According to Keurig, 4 million of the company’s K-Cup brewers, for regular drip coffee, were sold in the 13-week run-up to Christmas 2011. During that same period, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters sold more than $715 million in K-Cup packs. The pods and brewers are now front and center at stores like Bed Bath & Beyond and Staples. Keurig licenses its technology to other companies, and last year, Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks started making K-Cup pods. Keurig even sells a refillable filter that you can pack with your own coffee.

Nespresso has sold more than 27 billion capsules worldwide since it was introduced in 1986. Later this year Ethical Coffee Company plans to sell Nespresso-compatible capsules for around 20 percent less on Amazon.com. So the United States might see something novel for single-serve coffee: a price war.

台灣的一些大王/基金會/報紙

2012-02-07T00:37:00.000-08:00

昨天說的路上大施工真是威力足我在30公呎外都可以感到震盪
據說是里長向市府建議原來的水泥方塊地磚太醜所以敲起來再做一次

里長只會消耗財力他應該向政府建議附近的臺一冰店必須開發票
(昨天顧客排長龍吃元宵......我幾年前略估過其年營業額 一億元以上.....)
---
品質學會荊先生商談下週一中國深圳某Deming獎訪台時之書展
我的立場很尷尬不過還是答應去
我想到的欣興電子是約1985年的宋文襄先生力邀參訪紀念宋文襄先生
幾月前才知道那而在內壢
---
台灣的一些大王
董浩雲 v 張榮發台灣與香港的船王迪卻不同
hct 的營業額降我還是calls for a boycott: 我為什麼希望台灣有二三十萬人棄買HTC的手機。要拒絕許多表...
---
我當年比較好奇的是 : 龍應台基金會的設置
就好像夏潮出版免費的"兩岸犇報" 每月2萬多份
錢不知哪兒來有位朋友告訴我網路上的董事會
我還是不太相信

改革董事選舉制促進股東民主

2012-02-06T19:47:00.000-08:00

Calpers促苹果改革董事选举制英
美国最大的公共养老基金要求苹果以多数表决方式选举董事，

以促进股东民主

台灣某公司惡搞/Facebook 上市周

2012-02-03T23:10:00.000-08:00

Facebook 上市周

台灣某公司惡搞

Steve Jobs sighted in Taiwan flogging Android tablets

Rumours of PlayBook Elvis discounted

By Anna Leach • Get more from this author

Posted in Bootnotes, 3rd February 2012 17:29 GMT

In the cut-throat tablet market, a Taiwanese company has found one way to make its product stand out: paying an actor to dress up as Steve Jobs and make tasteless jokes about how he's dead.

Tasteless, yes. Successful on Youtube, yes.

The advert for the Action Pad from Action Electronics is light on the new tablet's features saying only "it's amazing" with "great language". From the presentation it appears to be wifi-enabled and based on Android 2.3.

The Action Pad is introduced by a Taiwanese man in Steve's trademark black turtleneck and blue jeans, accompanied by a pair of angel wings and a halo indicating his status as a dead person. Relaxing with his Action Pad, dead "Steve" signs off the video with "at last I can play [with] another Pad". Check out the monstrosity below:

A spokeswoman for Action Electronics told Reuters: "Steve Jobs always promoted things that were good for people, Apple products, so his image can also promote other things that are good." ®

No Vitak Few

2012-02-02T00:09:00.000-08:00

沒有老大的業界就是沒有關鍵少數多是"有用的多數" (USEFUL MANY)　
In China, Facebook Alternatives Thrive

Investors flock into China's social media companies, but a lack of a dominant player in the sector makes it unlikely that a "Facebook of China" will appear anytime soon.

Facebook2012/ Google 2004/ Netscape 1995.

2012-02-01T23:33:00.000-08:00

Facebook IPO filing shines a light on company's finances
Los Angeles Times
Facebook's IPO would be the largest among Internet companies, eclipsing Google Inc. in 2004 and Netscape Communications in 1995. The social networking giant that coaxes 845 million people to divulge the most intimate details about their lives is one ..

上班玩家

2012-02-01T18:38:00.001-08:00

叫「遊戲」太沉重

2004-06 天下雜誌 301期作者：林照真

相關關鍵字：

在台灣，遊戲常等同於賭博電玩。在亞洲，各國卻將其列為重點發展產業。承擔社會風氣的壓力，這個新興的熱門產業在台灣「玩」得下去嗎？

線上遊戲已經成為年輕玩家的主要娛樂，線上遊戲的製作為一專業學問，產值更是年年攀升。這些趨勢令台灣心驚膽跳，即使台灣努力勇猛直追，但社會的禁忌太強，「遊戲公司」、「遊戲系」都得和看不見的輿論壓力作戰，讓他們深覺，「叫遊戲太沉重！」線上遊戲已經被亞洲國家視為賺錢行業，除了日本已穩坐電視遊樂器市場外，韓國已經在寬頻遊戲中開闢江山，如今中國大陸也是一聲令下，官民齊聚全力進攻遊戲產業。國際數據資訊（IDC）最新研究顯示，二○○五年亞太地區線上遊戲營收規模將突破十億美元，中國更可望在二○○七年超越韓國。

在亞洲競爭中，因為日本民族性較不會上網聊天，這塊發展便拱手交給韓國，於是韓國從一九九九年發展「遊戲綜合支援中心」開始，其間歷經「遊戲研究所」、「遊戲教育學院」、「遊戲開發院」等過程，都是以「遊戲」為名。

另外在韓國世宗、中央等國立大學也設立「遊戲系」，理學院的「遊戲學院」也都設立碩、博士課程。

韓國可以大聲把「遊戲」二字喊出來，在台灣卻非常困難。「數位內容學院」處長黃宛華指出，韓國至二○○五年止，共投資六千一百二十四億韓元在遊戲產業上，一年就可以培養三百個精英人才。韓國能夠明確揭示「遊戲強國」的訴求，正在於韓國社會已培植出一定的遊戲文化，反觀台灣對遊戲卻呈現負面看法，才會很難鼓勵優秀人才投入。

在台灣，說「遊戲」太難

台灣長期把遊戲等同於賭博電玩，是不良少年接觸的遊戲，這種形象一直無法排除。遊戲產業觀察家傅鏡暉說，「在部份國家，電玩高手可以保送大學，台灣卻一直背負污名化，當初電玩小子曾政承在韓國奪得電玩冠軍回台時，教育單位就很擔心打電玩成功的案例，會造成教育政策的錯亂。」

現於美國紐約大學任教的葉謹睿主要研究數位藝術，其中就包含網路遊戲，他認為網路遊戲可以刺激想像力，對網路科技接受度較高者，很多都是遊戲玩家。他更發現本性害羞的人特別可以在網路中表現自己。一些平時沈默的學生，在網路匿名狀態下，突然會變得很有主見。

跨文化的觀照讓葉謹睿深刻感受到電玩文化的文化差異，在美國，一流的程式設計師會群聚在遊戲產業中，不像台灣會有這麼多負面聯想。

但現在就連中國大陸都很鼓勵遊戲產業，「遊戲橘子」財務總監兼發言人蘇信泓說，中國本來比台灣落後，這一年來大陸政府一直鼓勵業者自製遊戲，並且對韓國遊戲進行宏觀調控，以配額降低韓國遊戲進口，就這樣把本地廠商扶植起來。

「智冠」公司總經理王俊博則表示，原來台灣領先幾年，大陸也一直打壓遊戲，但最近中國政府態度轉變，把遊戲視為民族遊戲產業，並列為國家發展的十大重點產業，也讓這些產業到美國那斯達克上市，在美國募集很多資金，給這個產業帶來很多活力。

‘Aftershock’/ Insatiable consumers are undermining...

2012-01-31T23:26:00.000-08:00

‘Aftershock’/ Insatiable consumers are undermining democracyBy ROBERT B. REICH 我們每個人都是共犯 ‘Aftershock’/ Insatiable consumers are undermining...

iPhone 真正的關鍵在設計和軟體啦

2012-01-31T22:56:00.000-08:00

包刮台灣某本新書談 iPhone 4S 台灣憂鬱等的說法都沒說到重點
因為真正的關鍵在設計和軟體啦

韓國媒體曾理直氣壯地聲稱iPhone是“韓國手機”，因為韓國大廠生產iPhone最貴、最關鍵的零組件，而打不進核心產業鏈的台商，只能賺辛苦錢……

2011年美國資訊業C.E.O.的失敗教訓

2012-01-26T15:19:00.000-08:00

這篇一個多月前的文章還有意義
作者雖然是紐約時報的產品分析員畢竟是圈內人
December 15, 2011, 2:29 pm

The Year of C.E.O. Failures Explained

In some ways, the most interesting stories in tech for 2011 weren’t the products. They were the companies. Or, more specifically, their chief executives.

The Times’s technology columnist, David Pogue, keeps you on top of the industry in his free, weekly e-mail newsletter.
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Or, to be more specific still, the C.E.O.’s’ idiotic blunders.

There was Hewlett-Packard’s chief, Léo Apotheker, whose software company background apparently left him baffled by H.P.’s hardware business. He killed off H.P.’s promising, brand-new TouchPad tablet only seven weeks after its release, along with Palm Pre phones and a huge range of products based on the company’s WebOS operating system—and proposed jettisoning the computer business that had made it famous.

After a huge public outcry, he was fired, and the new chief executive (Meg Whitman) reversed the changes or suspended them.

There was Netflix’s C.E.O., Reed Hastings, who decided to raise the price of Netflix’s most popular plan 60 percent — and then split the company in two. One would just mail DVDs, while the other would offer streaming movies from the Internet. Each company would have its own Web site, movie queues, billing and name (Netflix and Quickster, or Qwikster, or Qwiquster, or something). It would require twice as much administrative effort by its customers, and it made no sense whatsoever.

After a huge public outcry (and after losing a million customers), he backed off from the company-split idea and left well enough alone.

There was Cisco’s chief executive, John Chambers, who decided to shut down the Flip camcorder business he had bought only two years earlier for $590 million. Killing off the Flip involved taking the world’s most popular camcorder off the market and laying off 550 people.

After a huge public outcry, well, nothing happened. He’s still the C.E.O., and the Flip is gone.

These C.E.O.’s may have had their own internal business reasons for these unpopular decisions. But they were internal, self-interested reasons. Reasons intended to please stockholders, perhaps.

Even so, all three committed several cardinal sins: Putting customers last. Rewarding loyalty with rudeness. Failing to make their cases to the public.

All of them wound up looking terrible. All of them increased the sense of disconnection between big companies and the millions who buy their products.

I’ve never worked a 9-to-5 job, so I may feel the biggest sense of disconnection of all. Maybe life inside a company is so different from real life that what seem like crazy decisions to me seem perfectly justified to the number crunchers.

But it doesn’t seem like you’d need a business degree to appreciate that these would be bad decisions. Whenever I see a company shooting itself in the foot like that, I always wonder: how could anyone be so stupid? When do people become so stupid?

Last spring, I taught a class at the Columbia Business School called “What Makes a Hit a Hit—and a Flop a Flop.” I focused on consumer-tech success stories and disasters.

I distinctly remember the day I focused on products that were rushed to market when they were full of bugs — and the company knew it (can you say “BlackBerry Storm?”). I sagely told my class full of twentysomethings that I was proud to talk to them now, when they were young and impressionable — that I hoped I could instill some sense of Doing What’s Right before they became corrupted by the corporate world.

But it was too late.

To my astonishment, hands shot up all over the room. These budding chief executives wound up telling me, politely, that I was wrong. That there’s a solid business case for shipping half-finished software. “You get the revenue flowing,” one young lady told me. “You don’t want to let your investors down, right? You can always fix the software later.”

You can always fix the software later. Wow.

That’s right. Use your customers as beta testers. Don’t worry about burning them. Don’t worry about souring them on your company name forever. There will always be more customers where those came from, right?
That “ignore the customer” approach hasn’t worked out so well for Hewlett-Packard, Netflix and Cisco. All three suffered enormous public black eyes. All three looked like they had no idea what they were doing.

Maybe all of those M.B.A.’s pouring into the workplace know something we don’t. Maybe there’s actually a shrewd master plan that the common folk can’t even fathom.

But maybe, too, there’s a solid business case to be made for factoring public reaction and the customer’s interest into big business decisions. And maybe, just maybe, that idea will become other C.E.O.s’ 2012 New Year’s resolution.

Conoco Phillips agrees $160m payout for China oil spill

2012-01-26T15:08:00.000-08:00

Conoco Phillips agrees $160m payout for China oil spill

Conoco Phillips had come under criticism for its handling of the oil spill

Conoco Phillips and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) have agreed to pay $1bn yuan ($158m; £101m) for the oil spill at their Penglai offshore field in China.

The spill, which happened last year, saw almost 3,200 barrels of oil and fluids being leaked into the Bohai Bay.

Groups of fishermen from the area had filed lawsuits demanding compensation for alleged loss of livelihood.

The Penglai oil field is China's largest offshore facility.

Conoco Phillps said in a statement that the compensation will be paid "to settle public and private claims of potentially affected fishermen in relevant Bohai Bay communities".

'Environmental stewardship'

The two firms had come under severe criticism from local fishermen as well as environmental groups, which accused them to trying to initially cover up the spill.

They had alleged that the companies had announced the spill almost a month after they had discovered the leaks.

Both Conoco Phillps and CNOOC have denied those allegations.

The US-based Conoco Phillps said that it would also set aside 100m yuan from a previously-announced environment fund to help improve fishery resources in the area.

"Conoco Phillips is committed to delivering on environmental stewardship as a responsible corporate citizen in China and around the world."

邦農業部的一頁日曆

2012-01-26T13:18:00.001-08:00

杜邦農業部的一頁日曆

台中家的餐廳牆上掛一面日曆，約30*55公分，每日一張。據說是跟小姨調貨的。我一讀，發現是台灣杜邦公司農業部的日曆。這家公司是我近20年前的雇主，而農業產品的龍潭廠，我在1989年去參訪過，去見習該廠的安全管理──他廠比起我們是小廠，不過管理上都是公司的樣板。

我們電子部早在1993年被杜邦賣出，而這家農業產品至今仍生意興隆。

當年，我喜歡用日本杜邦印刷精美的月曆。現在看這印製很土的日曆，覺得很親切。就撕下一頁，稍加記錄。

魚躍龍門‧祥龍瑞氣 (歲次壬辰肖龍101年) 2012年1月26日(星期四 THURSDAY一月初四十三立春丙……[喜神]西南 [財神]正西 [日煞]北方[日沖]12龍 [宜]……. [忌]…….)

格言：

「別讓多愁善感來折磨自己。快樂使人長壽，並使生活更有意義。」

日曆的下方三分之一是產品廣告。我約算一下，是隔8-9天產品廣告的循環應用。

本日為殺虫(有圖)劑廣告；

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® 係du Pont de Nemours and Company 之註冊商標

日本NEC公司將砍萬人工作

2012-01-26T04:51:00.000-08:00

ＮＥＣ、国内外１万人規模削減へ　通期１千億円純損失に

Japan's NEC to slash 10,000 jobs

By Tim Kelly and Reiji Murai

TOKYO | Thu Jan 26, 2012 5:15am EST

(Reuters) - NEC Corp said Thursday it will slash 10,000 jobs, almost one in 10 of its workers, in a bid to cut costs as competition from foreign rivals including Apple Inc pushes it deep into the red.

NEC blamed its poor performance on weak demand for its smartphones amid the popularity of Apple's iPhone in Japan, as well as on inroads by foreign rivals into the domestic IT infrastructure business and difficulty in expanding overseas.

It warned it would post a net loss of 100 billion yen ($1.3 billion) for the year to March 31, much bigger than its previous forecast of a 15 billion yen profit and a similar average estimate from eight analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

For the three months ended December 31 it booked a net loss of 87 billion yen.

It also slashed its projection for annual mobile phone sales by nearly a quarter to 5 million phones and most of the job cuts will be in its mobile phone business.

Headcount will be reduced by the end of September and around 7,000 layoffs will be in Japan, Nobuhiro Endo said at a news conference in Tokyo.

Endo said NEC will miss a target to raise overall sales to 4 trillion yen next business year but would still try to reach a goal of boosting its operating profit margin to 5 percent.

The restructuring would result in a charge of 40 billion yen this financial year but would add 40 billion yen to income in the next financial year, Endo added.

Shares of NEC finished unchanged from Wednesday's close at 168 yen. In the past 52 weeks, its shares have plummeted 32 percent. The company announced its results and restructuring plan after the market closed.

($1 = 78.2250 Japanese yen)

(Additional reporting by Nobuhiro Kubo; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)

The Thought Leader Interview: Meg Wheatley

2012-01-25T16:57:00.000-08:00

The Thought Leader Interview: Meg Wheatley

An expert on innovative leadership warns that too many companies are reverting to fear-driven management. Instead, executives should hold to their values and build healthy corporate communities.

by Art Kleiner

With her first book, Leadership and the New Science: Learning about Organization from an Orderly Universe (Berrett-Koehler, 1992), Margaret J. (Meg) Wheatley began developing a body of work around the links between organizational learning, innovative leadership, and such fields of thought as chaos theory, quantum physics, and neuroscience. Around the same time, she cofounded the Berkana Institute, a U.S.-based not-for-profit organization, dedicated to experimental efforts to build healthy communities around the world, often in highly impoverished areas with many serious challenges. During the next 15 years, Wheatley’s views on communities, and her experience with innovative management practice, made her a central figure in a wide network of pioneers in organizational learning and change.

Then, starting in the mid-2000s and accelerating with the economic crisis of 2008, Wheatley noticed new levels of anxiety among her friends, clients, and business acquaintances. Even the most performance-oriented innovative leaders, when confronted with the harshness of global competition or other severe business pressures, felt compelled to cut back their participative management practices — often at the expense of profitability and growth.

Wheatley responded by turning simultaneously inward and outward. During a 15-month period, she produced two very different books. The first, Perseverance (Berrett-Koehler, 2010), is a small, personal book, a meditation on tenacity in the face of adversity. It is written explicitly for people dedicated to organizational change, who have suddenly found their work much more difficult, and who are looking for ways to sustain their effort and their peace of mind.

Walk Out Walk On, coauthored with Deborah Frieze (a former co-president of the Berkana Institute), is subtitled A Learning Journey into Communities Daring to Live the Future Now (Berrett-Koehler, 2011). It describes seven innovative leadership and community-building initiatives: a self-organizing university in a highland Mexican village, where students build small-scale technologies such as bicycle-powered water pumps as a means of local empowerment; a Brazilian institute that sets up “30-day games” in which players come together to improve conditions in debilitated neighborhoods; a Zimbabwean village dedicated to self-sustaining agriculture in the midst of politically created famine; a remarkable network of people transforming healthcare, education, and social service institutions in Columbus, Ohio; and similarly groundbreaking initiatives in South Africa, India, and Greece. The organizers of all these endeavors walked out of restrictive or confining ways of thinking, and Wheatley argues that anyone can do the same — which might mean changing jobs in some cases, but always means shifting perspective within one’s current situation.

We conducted this interview on several occasions in 2011: first by telephone, then at the annual summer workshops of the Authentic Leadership in Action (ALIA) Institute (where we both teach), and finally at the Cape Cod Institute (where Wheatley leads a seminar each summer). Wheatley’s theme, the value of conscious perseverance, may particularly resonate with strategy+business readers — many of whom face the challenge of managing high-commitment, high-performance enterprises in the face of intensive competitive pressure and rising uncertainty.

S+B: Why is perseverance important right now?
WHEATLEY: Because so many innovative leaders are struggling to do good, meaningful work in a time of overbearing bureaucracy and failing solutions. Everyone is working harder, and in most cases, in greater isolation. The current pace of work and life, along with increasing fear and anxiety, make it more difficult to have the energy and enthusiasm to keep going. Years of good efforts have been swept away by events beyond anyone’s control, such as the economic crisis or the natural disasters of the past decade.

And decisions made by politicians and senior executives have been very damaging to those long-term efforts: They capriciously eliminate or withdraw funding for programs and processes that have proven successful. It is a very difficult time for innovative leaders.

I notice that when I ask people how much time they spend thinking together with colleagues, reflecting on what they’ve learned from their most recent efforts, they just stare back blankly at me. It’s getting hard to remember what it felt like to manage reflectively — to take time to figure things out together and to learn from experience. With our frantic pace, we’re screaming past one another (and more easily provoked and angered by each other), so we’re losing the one resource, community, that gets humans through hard times. For me, community — people working together and knowing that others are there to support them — is a critically important but largely invisible resource. In most situations (think of natural disasters, family crises, wars, and dislocations), community is the only thing that gets us through. In a time like this, of economic and emotional distress, every organization needs leaders who can help people regain their capacity, energy, and desire to contribute. And this is only accomplished when people work together in community, not in isolation.

But community is hard to find in most organizations. Not only do many leaders deny that this capacity is important, but they’re actually destroying it through their current management approaches.

S+B: For example...?
WHEATLEY: I have worked with many forward-thinking business leaders over the years. Now, I notice they’re increasingly frustrated. They can no longer motivate people in ways that they know will work. Instead, they’re being driven by imperatives from their boards and bosses. They find themselves doing things that feel meaningless or that waste time — or that they know from experience won’t lead anywhere good. They have to implement continuous cutbacks, and to produce more results with fewer resources. They feel terribly pressured yet believe they have no choice but to respond to these demands.

One of my good friends led the turnaround of his company, one of the world’s top brands. He did it by engaging people: inculcating a strong sense of values, giving people latitude to make decisions and design projects, ensuring that learning was prevalent. Now that he’s retired, that’s all been destroyed. The new leadership is highly restrictive and controlling, using fear as a primary motivator. As a result, the company has been struggling in this current economic climate. And of course it becomes a reinforcing cycle: The worse the financials, the stricter the controls become.

In most companies, we do not have (and I believe won’t have for the foreseeable future) the money to fund the work that we have to do. Leaders have two choices. One, they can tap the invisible resource of people who become self-motivated when invited to engage together. This approach has well-documented results in higher productivity, innovation, and motivation, but it requires a shift from a fear-based approach to a belief in the capacity of most people to contribute, to be creative, and to be motivated internally. Alternatively, they can continue to slash and burn, tightening controls, and using coercive methods to enforce the cuts. This destroys capacity, yet it is the more common approach these days.

S+B: Some might argue that these cuts are reshaping the organization back down to what it should have been in the first place.
WHEATLEY: I would love it if that were true. Executives could be using this turbulence to shift their business models, redesign their HR systems, change how they motivate people, and rethink their own leadership. But I don’t see that happening. Instead, too many people report that mean-spiritedness is on the rise in their companies. And there seems to be a growing climate of disrespect for individual experience and competence — hiring and firing decisions are made on the basis of finding the cheapest source of labor (and I include executives here). If someone can be found to do the job for less money, because they have less experience and fewer skills, that person gets hired.

What makes one salesperson more successful than another? It’s not the reward and motivation system. It has much more to do with complex factors, like the relationships each person has, the ways they listen, their ability to be self-motivated. Instead of paying attention to these factors, companies are simplifying the criteria and acting as if anybody can do any job, that people are easily replaceable.

If you look at job satisfaction surveys, or you listen to people talk, you realize how this business climate has affected most organizations. Management has gone backward from the 1980s and ’90s, when people routinely talked about workforce engagement and intrinsic motivators. Instead, people are demoralized, disaffected, disillusioned. They’re afraid to talk openly about how they feel, because they want to hold on to their jobs. There’s a lot less freedom to walk out in this economy.

S+B: Where does the fear and anxiety come from? Does it have to do with uncertainty, fear of failure, losing jobs?
WHEATLEY: It’s all of that. People are anxious because these times warrant anxiety. They feel pushed aside and powerless. And then there’s a more personal fear, not as easy to name. Leaders are afraid that they don’t know how to solve the problems they face. The old models of command and control — budgeting, strategy setting, forecasting, incentives, evaluations — are not effective in a changing, volatile environment. Nothing is working as it should. A friend of mine quoted a highly placed oil executive, who whispered to her after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill: “None of us can figure out how this happened.” And I often hear descriptions of complex problems and crises described as, “We’re in new territory here. We’ve never been here before.”

Around the time I began writing Perseverance, I read a book by Laurence Gonzales called Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why: True Stories of Miraculous Endurance and Sudden Death [W.W. Norton, 2003]. Gonzalez says that when people are truly lost in the wilderness, they go through predictable stages. First, they deny they’re lost; they keep doing what they’ve always done but with a greater sense of urgency. Then, when they begin to realize that they’re lost, they search frantically for any shred of evidence that would indicate that they’re not. Next they deteriorate, both physically and mentally. Their frantic search for the familiar, and their inability to recognize that their current maps aren’t working, leads to the ultimate moment when they realize they are close to death. If they don’t acknowledge that they’re lost and that they need new information to construct an accurate read on their situation, they will die.

When I read this, I thought, “That’s exactly what I see in organizations (and in our political leaders).” Too many leaders fail to realize that the old ways, their mental maps, aren’t giving them the information they need. But instead of acknowledging that, they push on more frantically, desperate to have the old ways work. When human beings work from fear and panic, we lose nearly all of our best reasoning capacities. We can’t see patterns, think about the future, or make moral judgments.

This leads to a terrible cycle, a death spiral. People in fear look for someone to blame; so leaders blame their staff, and staff blame their leaders. A climate of blame leads to self-protective behaviors. People take fewer risks; creativity and participation disappear. New rules and regulations appear, with unintended but predictable consequences: more staff disengagement, more wasted time, more chaos. People spend all their time trying to cope or writing reports to confirm that they aren’t to blame. When I’m speaking with a group and comment about the number of reports people have to write today, or the number of measures they have to track, the audience members roll their eyes and groan.

In addition, the opportunity is lost to cultivate the intelligence, contribution, and engagement of people throughout the organization. When the next crisis comes, people will be less prepared; they’ll leave it to the leader to solve it. When that doesn’t happen, they’ll kick out the leader for not being heroic enough as an individual. This pattern is visible in the statistics on CEO churn that strategy+business publishes. Over the past 10 years, the average tenure of CEOs has gotten shorter. [See “CEO Succession 2010: The Four Types of CEOs,” by Ken Favaro, Per-Ola Karlsson, and Gary L. Neilson, s+b, Summer 2011.] I have a lot of sympathy for leaders who think that it’s their job to keep things in control, but when they use fear as a motivator, they shut down people’s brains and, as leaders, create the conditions for everyone to fail.

S+B: What’s the alternative?
WHEATLEY: When you’re lost in the wilderness, the only way to survive is to admit that you’re lost — and to stop looking for signs that might confirm that you know where you are. Your old ways of doing things won’t get you out of this situation. Once you realize this, you can look clearly around you, and seek information that will help you rethink what to do. You don’t have to change the situation you’re in; you have to change your mind about it.

For any situation where the old maps are failing, you need to call together everyone who might have information that’s needed to construct a new map. This includes people at all levels of the system — anyone who plays a role that’s relevant. Especially as you face increasingly complex problems that have no easy answers, you need to be brave enough to seek out perspectives from all parts of the system. It takes a lot of courage for a leader to say, “Our problems were caused by complex interactions. I don’t know what to do, but I know we can figure it out together.”

S+B: Isn’t this problem limited to the U.S., Europe, and Japan?
WHEATLEY: Even in other countries, uncertainty is rearing its ugly head. A colleague in Australia invited me to speak at a forum for CEOs, built around reflection and long-term issues. I said, “You know, in the U.S., you wouldn’t get anyone to attend.” He said that Australia was different; they had survived the global financial crisis pretty well and didn’t share our despair or cynicism. Then came the floods, hurricanes, fires, and more economic turbulence. He wrote me back and canceled, saying that in this new, crisis-stricken environment, none of the CEOs he knew had any time for reflection, either. They were now in panic mode and resorting to command-and-control-style management. A very forward-thinking Australian CEO told me that he’s never experienced such fear-based and risk-averse behaviors as those that now characterize Australian leadership, in both business and government.

S+B: If the situation is this grim and pressured, how can you expect people to rethink the way they operate?
WHEATLEY: It’s more interesting to reverse that question. Because the situation is so grim and pressured, why aren’t we rethinking how we operate? We are at a turning point. Either we continue to descend into incompetence and failing solutions or we realize where we are and see new ways of thinking and acting. One of my favorite quotes, applicable to this moment, is from the 13th century Sufi mystic Rumi: “Sit down and be quiet. You are drunk, and this is the edge of the roof.”

There are always choices. Everything in our world — what we do, who we like, what we dislike — is a choice. When we realize this, and start to act on it, we regain our freedom and control. That doesn’t mean quitting your job out of frustration. It means thinking more deeply about the choices you have made, the choices you will make in the future, what you stand for, and your choice to persevere.

Months after Hurricane Ike devastated Houston in September 2008, I received a text message from a friend who is CEO of a large nonprofit there. She was sitting in a meeting with government officials from FEMA [the Federal Emergency Management Agency]. The level of bureaucracy was heartbreaking and infuriating; people whose homes had been hit hard by the storm were still living with nothing, and nobody knew when the aid that was promised would come (it didn’t arrive for 16 months). Her text message said: “Every day I make a choice not to give up.”

For me, that’s the essence of perseverance. Day by day, situation by situation, you become more conscious of your choices. Sometimes the best response is to keep going, as my friend did. Other times the best choice is to withdraw for a while, reassess the complexity of the situation, and see what will serve your cause, your people, and yourself. You don’t persevere by constantly pushing your head against a wall or by burning out.

It’s also comforting to remember that perseverance is the story of humankind. We all come from ancestors who persevered. We wouldn’t be here without them. It’s our turn now.

S+B: If Perseverance is about being lost, then Walk Out Walk On is about being found — the community-building efforts that you and your coauthor, Deborah Frieze, have worked with. Where did the title come from?
WHEATLEY: It was coined by a group of students who left high school in India. The school officials had called them “dropouts.” They responded, “No, we’re not failures. The education system is the failure. We know we can contribute more and learn more if we leave this school.” They called themselves “walk-outs.” A bit later, they added “walk on” — meaning that after you walk out, you have to move forward and find a place where you can make a difference. The full phrase is a declaration of commitment to your own potential.

Often, when people walk out of a difficult job or position, they’re full of fear. They don’t know where they’re going. But they know that if they stay, they’ll continue to lose their self-confidence; they’ll continue to shrink and wither. I met a woman who worked for one of the large pharma companies; they’d been through three major mergers during her 12-year tenure. One day she noticed that her job title was now listed as “income-generating unit” on a budget sheet. In other words, she was regarded as a commodity. She thought, “This isn’t the same company I was working for before the mergers.” When she resigned, she told her boss that these transactional values were the reason. He responded, “Don’t leave; we’ll pay you more.”

Walking out of a limiting situation doesn’t necessarily mean leaving the company — or even leaving your position. It means discarding some of the prevailing beliefs that blind you to the capacity that’s in yourself and other people. And opening yourself up to more contribution, intelligence, and capability.

S+B: Can you give an example?
WHEATLEY: In Columbus, Ohio, several years ago, a group of leaders of local healthcare institutions came together, along with some community members, with the idea that they could rethink their purpose — from the zero-sum game of treating the sick, to a system that would promote optimal health. The convener was Phil Cass, the CEO of the Columbus Medical Association, which is a physicians’ professional group that includes a medical foundation and a free clinic. To bring all these people together, he had to shift his own internal construct of what it meant to be an effective leader. He was already a skilled, traditional heroic leader; now he became the kind of leader whose first responsibility is not to command others, but to ensure that they feel invited and welcome, so they can participate in making something happen that none of them could do alone.

Under his leadership, more and more people in Columbus became trained in productive conversational processes that include all relevant stakeholders in figuring out problems and solutions. This form of leadership continued to spread into many types of institutions — the Ohio Food Bank, hospitals, Ohio State University, even to a federal initiative on homelessness.

Another example is the “Warriors Without Weapons” program that the Elos Institute initiated in Brazil and has spread around the world. In most aid efforts for people on the margins of society, there’s an assumption that their poverty includes a lack of capacity to help themselves. But Elos gathers people together to “play a game,” as they call it. The game is actually an experience of people coming together for days or weeks, outsiders working side by side with residents, to do extraordinarily difficult work, such as cleaning up and rebuilding neighborhoods. They invoke the spirit of play (which is different from fun) to get people past their fear and preconceptions. The participants take risks because it’s “just a game”; they compete with one another; there’s an engaged quality to their relationships. In this way, very difficult work gets done that would otherwise be overwhelming.

In Walk Out Walk On we tell the story of the cleanup of a large, waste-ridden, abandoned warehouse that people in the neighborhood wanted to convert to a community space. Those engaged in the cleanup could spend only 15 minutes each day inside this hellhole; they had no idea if that would be enough to accomplish their goal, but they did realize that had they worked any longer in such terrible conditions, they would have been overwhelmed and given up. And they did accomplish their goal within 30 days!

S+B: These sound like glimpses of a very engaged way of taking initiative and conducting work. But you would be unlikely to see it within the walls of, say, a major consumer products or energy company.
WHEATLEY: No, I disagree. Good leadership can be found in pockets within any large organization. I’ve dubbed them islands of possibility in some of my past work. The leaders of these pockets routinely meet goals, motivate employees, and achieve high levels of safety and productivity. But, ironically, they never change the behavior of the majority of the organization — even though these few islands reach or exceed the goals set by senior management. There’s a lot of evidence that innovators get pushed to the margins. You’d expect that they would be rewarded, promoted, and given the responsibility of teaching everyone else how to do the same. But instead, they’re ignored or invisible. Sometimes their bosses acknowledge their success, but offhandedly say: “I don’t know how you got these results.” And they don’t show any interest in learning about it. I think of this as an autoimmune response. Bosses don’t want to know how you achieved your results if it’s contrary to the way the system works (or doesn’t work). If they became genuinely interested in these innovative approaches, they’d have to change themselves.

At the same time, most of us know from our own experience what kind of leadership works best. I’ve asked people of many ages, in many cultures, to talk about a leader they were happy to follow and what made that leader memorable. Several factors, such as integrity, a sense of humor, and a clear direction and vision, often come up. But the most common characteristic of good, memorable leaders is that they create the conditions for people to be encouraged, challenged, and supported, to become stronger and more capable as they do their work. The descriptions are always the same: “The leader thought about me and trusted me (just as I trusted him or her). He or she believed that I was capable and supported and encouraged me to stretch and excel; the leader was not focused on making himself or herself look good.”

I’ve heard this in so many different cultures that it’s convinced me that there’s only one type of leadership that people respond to positively. If we want people to contribute; if we want them to get smarter as they solve each problem or go through each crisis; if we want to develop our organizations to be responsive, smart, and enduring, then we have to change the way we lead. We cannot continue to lead from fear and control. People will step up to today’s challenges only if they are led with encouragement and support, and trusted to contribute.

Islands of possibility are important because leaders have to intentionally create places where people can contribute. Part of a leader’s work is to create firewalls to keep out the bureaucratic, change-resistant forces of the larger organization, so that staff feels free enough to innovate and create. It’s no surprise to me that inside these islands, people meet plan, become more intelligent and responsive to demands and crises, and generally become more capable.

And sadly, it’s no longer surprising to me that the larger organization ignores these islands of possibility. It’s a terrible waste but it’s just the way it is. I wrote Perseverance so people who are doing things right and making a real contribution could keep going in the face of this dynamic of being pushed to the margins, ignored, or misunderstood.

Those of us who are in that position have to expect that we will encounter a lot of difficulties. We’ll feel a lot of strong emotions such as anger or grief; our good work will go unrewarded. Once we know that these things will happen, we can more consciously choose our responses. We can choose to keep going, to influence where we can, to make a difference in the lives of our staff, and to be the kind of leader that people remember with gratitude. We can become skilled at negotiating within those large, frightened bureaucracies so that people can still do good, meaningful work inside them.

S+B: In a talk at the ALIA Institute last summer, you said that the only leaders who succeed are those who have some kind of personal spiritual discipline.
WHEATLEY: Yes, I’m convinced of this. By discipline, I don’t mean meaningless, repetitive, boring practice. That disables people. Nor do I mean religious practice per se. I mean some regular activity that leads you to reflect on your struggles and challenges in a larger context. For one of my friends, Alcoholics Anonymous serves that role. For others, it can be prayer, meditation, or time in nature. I’m not sure about running or other physical exercise, because I think a practice has to connect you to the rest of life — to take you out of the false perception that you are the center of the universe.

Without that discipline, I don’t see how leaders can maintain their integrity and focus. The prevailing mass culture has schooled a lot of people to follow their passion, find their calling in life, and do what they love. Then they encounter setbacks, failures, disappointments, and very subtle impediments — for instance, their loved ones say, “Why are you working so hard here?” Many people quit. That’s what’s essential about discipline. You do it day after day, even when it’s boring, because you believe ultimately it will lead to a good outcome. The fruit of all this effort becomes apparent only after a long time when it seems not to be going anywhere. Work can begin with passion, but it’s only through discipline that people can persevere.

Brain research is also clear on why we need quiet time, especially when under stress. This spring, I went on a long, solo retreat. I didn’t interact with anyone except my teacher. I witnessed my own mental capacities coming back in full flower. I regained great powers of memory and concentration. I could understand complex ancient texts. I was so mentally alive. Now that I’ve returned to my overly distracted life, I am back to old ways; I’ll walk across a room and not remember what I went looking for. But now I know that my memory loss isn’t caused by aging or deterioration. The cause is distraction, and working in an anxious world. I can regain my mental capacities if I regularly take the time to slow down and focus.

S+B: Not everyone is willing to make that kind of commitment.
WHEATLEY: One question I ask everyone is, Who do you choose to be as a leader? What is the contribution you hope to make?

It turns out that very few people answer that they care most about success and personal survival. They talk about doing the right thing for the people around them and helping them get through this time.

This question, Who do we choose to be as leaders? is important because it acknowledges the historical moment we’re in. We have to become conscious and make choices about what we value; is it just our quarterly P&L or short-term results? It would be easier to articulate the more noble contributions we want to make if we were in a more dramatic crisis, like another world war. But in this crisis, we have to find the deeper meaning ourselves. I am finding that many people want to be called on to contribute to something larger than themselves right now, to walk out of fear-based leadership practices — and for me, that’s the best motivation possible.

Transformative Times: New Opportunities for Business in an Era of Upheaval

2012-01-25T16:47:00.001-08:00

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lauder_Institute

Special Report

Strategic Management
Transformative Times: New Opportunities for Business in an Era of Upheaval
In the 20 articles that make up this special report, students from the Joseph H. Lauder Institute of Management & International Studies explore the many ways that the business community has responded to changes in our global economy. They look at individual companies and industry trends, and analyze how startups as well as established firms are taking advantage of transformative events around the world.
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/index.cfm?fa=viewFeature&id=2923

_________________________________________________________________

Asia

The Groupon Effect in China
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2899

Talent Management at Multinational Firms in China
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2903

Louis Vuitton and the Traveling Chinese Consumer
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2901

The Trials and Tribulations of Japan's Energy Policy
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2900

Uncorking China's Wine Market
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2898

'Thanks But No Thanks' to Made in China?
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2902

Business versus Ethics: The India Tradeoff?
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2897

Europe

Born in the USA, Made in France: How McDonald's Succeeds in the Land of Michelin Stars
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2906

In Germany, the Oxymoron of Mr. Du
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2907

Small Businesses in Russia: Drowning in a Sea of Giants
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2908

Globalization and the French Horse Racing Industry
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2905

Spain No Longer Battling the Windmills
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2909

Microcultures: Cultural Sustainable Development in France
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2904

The Middle East

The Unexpected Early Winners of the Arab Spring
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2915

Saving Vocational Education in a New Arab World
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2916

Latin America

Are Colombian Flowers Experiencing a U.S. Drought?
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2913

Will a Shortage of Qualified Labor Derail the Brazilian Economy?
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2911

Open for Business: The Pacification of Brazil's Favelas
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2910

From Terrorism to Tourism: Waving the Flag of Development in Colombia
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2914

Building Blocks: The Bright Future of Colombia's Cement Industry
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2912

_________________________________________________________________

Knowledge@Wharton High School
Considering Cutting Class? TruantToday May Be Watching
http://kwhs.wharton.upenn.edu/2011/12/considering-cutting-class-truanttoday-may-be-watching/

產品的成本預估相當簡單:A Gadget Is More Than the Sum of Its Parts

2012-01-25T14:17:00.000-08:00

產品的成本預估相當簡單

January 5, 2012, 3:36 pm

A Gadget Is More Than the Sum of Its Parts

As a teenager growing up in the Cleveland suburbs, my first real job was at a Chick-fil-A restaurant in a local mall. I did everything: manned the cash register, made sandwiches and cleaned up.

iFixitiFixit’s iPhone 4S teardown.

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It’d be fun to report that that job taught me important skills and precepts that followed me for the rest of my life, but that’d be pushing it.

That job did teach me, however, one important thing about the business world. My best friend, John, worked next door at a watch shop. He told me he could get incredible discounts on the watches — all I had to do was ask. I needed a watch, in fact, so I picked out a $200 model and asked what I’d have to pay. He said $60.

I was appalled. “You mean to tell me that your shop pays $60 for that watch, and then jacks up the price to $200 for the consumer? That’s outrageous! That’s practically robbery! You should be ashamed to work there!”

John was amused, and he proceeded to teach me a lesson. “Oh, really? That’s a big ripoff, huh? Well, let me ask you this: How much do you think Chick-fil-A pays for each of the chicken breasts?”

I calculated that in the massive quantities this chain purchased, it was maybe 40 cents.

“And the bun?” Maybe 4 cents. “The pickle?” One-tenth of a cent. “O.K., and how much do you sell the sandwich for?” $2.40.

Now, it’s been 30 years. All of the numbers in this story are vague recollections — I don’t need e-mail from chicken-farm vendors setting me straight. But I’m quite sure of the result: By the time I’d done the math, John had made me realize that my sandwich shop was marking up its product more than his watch shop. I was the one who should be ashamed.

Right?

I think of this transaction every time somebody does a “teardown analysis” of an iPhone, a Kindle Fire or some other hot new product. These companies buy a unit, take it apart, photograph the components and then calculate the price of each. Then they tally those component costs and try to make you outraged that you’ve paid so much markup.

IHS iSuppli’s breakdown of the iPhone 4S component cost, for the $400 model, is $245.

(Here’s iFixit’s teardown, which is more about photographic evidence of the teardown and less about the prices of the pieces.)

And here’s the iSuppli analysis of the Kindle Fire, which concludes that Amazon is deliberately selling the Fire at a loss — with the intent of making it up in sales of movies, e-books and music. (It costs Amazon $201 to make one, which it sells at $200.)

These are fascinating studies, of course, just as my Chick-fil-A anecdote has its charms. But all of them ignore the elephant in the room: there’s a heck of a lot more expense to bringing a product to market than component costs.

For example, they completely ignore the cost of developing the software. It doesn’t write itself, you know.
What about the cost of the packaging? Would you like them to send your new iPhone in a Ziploc bag?
What about the shipping from China? The royalties, licensing, taxes and insurance? What about the marketing and PR that let you know the product exists? The tech-support department? The factory workers? The sales and accounting teams? The graphic design? The prototypes, field testing and beta testing?

Big companies can’t work out of a rusty van. They need office and lab space somewhere, and that means rent, facilities management, electricity, heating and cooling, water and taxes.

Every time I read about one of those teardowns — whether it’s an i-gadget or a chicken sandwich — I cringe at the fallacy of the entire exercise. If you think that Amazon’s real cost to make that Kindle Fire is $201, then by all means, go to China and cobble one together yourself.

And if the purpose of the analysis isn’t to get you outraged at the markup, then the premise is suddenly a lot less interesting. What, in the end, makes the component costs any more important than all of the manufacturer’s other expenses? Why aren’t people publishing similar exposés about the company’s shipping costs, or real-estate taxes or licensing fees?

It’s actually amazing that the electronics companies have found a way to make their powerful, beautiful machines available to the masses at prices that millions can afford, even after paying all of those expenses (of which the components are just one component). Once you have the facts, the proper reaction isn’t outrage — it’s awe.

Samsung Places Bet With Logic Chips

2012-01-25T13:30:00.001-08:00

BY EVAN RAMSTAD AND JUNG-AH LEE

SEOUL—Samsung Electronics Co.'s rapid ascent in smartphones got lots of attention last year. But the company is growing even faster in the market for chips inside the phones, springing into the most challenging and lucrative part of the semiconductor industry.

The South Korean company long has been the world's second-largest chip company, after Intel Corp., using its manufacturing muscle to control nearly 50% of the market for memory chips that store data in devices. Samsung has been a smaller competitor in logic chips—the "brains" of computers and other digital devices.

But when Samsung releases its fourth-quarter earnings on Friday, it ...

蘋果電腦公司的高峰

2012-01-25T06:36:00.000-08:00

Apple's Profit Doubles on Holiday iPhone 4S Sales

By NICK WINGFIELD

Though neither iPhones nor iPads existed five years ago, they account for 72 percent of Apple's total revenue.

Apple Sets New Bar

Apple reported its first quarterly results since the death of co-founder Steve Jobs, chalking up new sales and profit records based on runaway holiday demand for the company's iPhones and iPad tablet device.

這種五年內的新產品業務佔7成的現象可能是該公司的頂點吧?

蘋果於 24 日發表第一季財報，業績超出市場預期，總營收來到 463.3 億美元，利潤達 130.6 億，整體較去年同期約增加一倍。總計賣出 3700 萬隻 iPhone、1543 萬 iPad、520 萬 Mac、1540 萬 iPod，裡面除了 iPod 略受到智慧型手機熱賣影響，銷量相較去年同期小幅下滑，其餘產品皆有成長。

這份截至 2011 年 12 月底的第一季財報中，尤以 iPhone、iPad 兩大明星商品表現最佳，相較去年同期 iPhone 有 128％的成長，總銷售量來到 3700 萬台；勁敵三星在最近一期的財報，也有 3500 萬隻智慧型手機的成績，戰況激烈。iPad 表現穩定，相較前季的營收與銷售量都有約三～四成間的增長幅度，總計賣出約 1543 台。

Mac 電腦系列，今年銷量維持成長態勢，小幅提昇 26％，總計將近 520 萬台，其中約有 148 萬台的桌上型電腦，以及超過 370 萬台的筆記型電腦。在 iPod 方面雖然最熱賣款是 iPod touch，但整體表現因受到智慧型手機熱賣影響，銷售量雖較 2011 年第四季大幅提昇，但與去年同期相比下滑約 21％。

日本人送禮禮數

2012-01-25T02:07:00.001-08:00

日本人送禮禮數

美國ＴＩ公司日出（ひじ）工場2013年關廠

2012-01-23T20:18:00.000-08:00

米ＴＩ、大分の工場閉鎖へ　１３年半ばめど５００人削減

　米半導体大手のテキサス・インスツルメンツ（ＴＩ）は２３日、日出（ひじ）工場（大分県日出町）を２０１３年半ばをメドに閉鎖し、従業員約５００人を削減すると発表した。２３日発表の２０１１年１０～１２月期決算は純利益が前年同期に比べ約６８％減少した。業績の悪化を受け、老朽化した日出工場を閉鎖することを決めた。ほかに米テキサス州のヒューストン工場の閉鎖も決め、同じく約５００人を削減するという。（ニューヨーク）

外強中乾的蘋果電腦公司 "i經濟"到"中國血汗工廠"

2012-01-22T08:35:00.000-08:00

判斷企業對於社會的貢獻最重要的指標是它為該社會所創造的工作機會(職缺)
然而國際分工可能造成一種前所未有的工作機會扭曲
這在蘋果電腦公司的暢銷產品為最明"險"
所以紐約時報這篇說法馬上有近500則讀者回應
這是很值得注意的案子和重要的發展趨勢

The iEconomy

How the U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work

By CHARLES DUHIGG and KEITH BRADSHER

Apple and its peers are not as avid in creating American jobs as other famous companies were in their heydays.

Post a Comment | Read (477)

等而下之的狀況就是"中國血汗工廠":

中國血汗工廠？倫敦奧委調查【2012/1/22 14:45】

〔中央社〕有報導指生產2012年倫敦奧運吉祥物的中國工廠壓榨勞工，工作條件惡劣，倫敦奧運主辦單位表示將全面調查。

今年奧運的兩個吉祥物是現代感的獨眼造型玩偶，名為溫洛克與曼德維爾，生產合同在2010年8月由英格蘭中部的金熊公司（Golden Bear）贏得後，轉包給中國工廠生產。

有媒體披露，這家中國工廠的工作環境惡劣、工人薪水極低。

據英國廣播公司（BBC）中文網今天報導，倫敦奧運籌備委員會的發言人說，他們已經下令對有關指控展開全面調查，並將在調查結束後立即公布結果。

BBC引述金熊公司負責人的話說，他們也將認真處理有關指控。

他並說，這家中國玩具廠事先曾通過國際玩具製造業委員會有關工作環境及條件等方面的檢查。

英國「太陽報」日前報導，位在中國江蘇省鹽城市的彩虹公司是個髒亂的血汗工廠，工人一個月工作時數長達358小時，全月無休，薪水只有93英鎊（約合新台幣4千335元）。

報導說，廠內大約60到100名工人製造吉祥物，按件計酬，每做一件只能領到18便士（約合新台幣8.4元），但在倫敦，30公分高的奧運吉祥物每個售價是20英鎊（約合新台幣932元）。

一心以企業為先 IBM's Samuel J. Palmisano

2012-01-20T08:02:00.000-08:00

IBM's Samuel J. Palmisano

我是資訊產業的旁觀者 IBM 公司的頭頭 Palmisano 在2002年上任時讀了許多他的報導
這10年他又把 IBM轉型為確實的世界一流的公司
是相當了不起的

Leadership and Change
(Video with Transcript)
IBM's Sam Palmisano: 'Always Put the Enterprise Ahead of the Individual'
As far as a legacy goes, says IBM chairman Sam Palmisano, "I just want to leave the company better than I found it." Judging by IBM's successes over the past decade, Palmisano, who was CEO of IBM until he stepped down earlier this month, did just that. During an interview with Wharton management professor Michael Useem, Palmisano discussed the sale of the company's personal computer business, the PricewaterhouseCoopers acquisition, how a big company can encourage innovation, and what he learned from his mentors, among other observations drawn from almost 40 years at IBM.
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/2927.cfm

要當正派的主管就不要耍兩面刀:郭台銘王雪紅等等

2012-01-20T05:13:00.000-08:00

我為什麼希望台灣有二三十萬人棄買HTC的手機。要拒絕許多表態支持"92x識"的企業的產品和服務

為什麼企業的主管支持政治可以不過明目張膽者會疏離另外價值觀的既有和潛在消費者
HTC個案在歐美王雪紅可能必須下台表示對htc造成的傷害負責

個別消費者當然有權決策表達這些紅頂商人之不恥----沒關係的啦國家和愛你的朋友會加倍補償你們啦
我希望台灣有二三十萬人棄買HTC的手機。
必須教育這些人不要吃裏"爬"外.....

中華電信的經營和管理的醜聞:藏污納垢的污水庫

2012-01-19T13:34:00.000-08:00

中華電信公司的問題不只是技術的層面更重要的在經營和管理
尤其是執政黨的藏污納垢的污水庫
你如果有機會看員工名冊的史書就可稍知

蘋論：馬總統不能老是西望中國

2012年 01月20日

如果它樣子長得像鴨子，走路像鴨子、聲音像鴨子，那它一定是鴨子，不可能是別的東西。
中華電信態度像國營事業、對市場的反應像國營事業、組織像國營事業、寡佔的事實像國營事業，那它就是國營事業，不可能是民營企業。

中華電信假民營

北市法規會13日公布去年度消費申訴案件統計，電信業躍居客訴榜首，其中中華電信去年被投訴507件高居冠軍。法規會主委說，因智慧型手機普及，上網需求大增，中華電信未能及時擴展設備，通信品質不良，最被消費者詬病。此外，消費者因誤觸或不了解上網費用，產生高額費用，也常遭抱怨。
這隻假民營、真國營的鴨子，因為幾近獨佔市場，成為民眾最無奈的對立物。它長久以來就以費用貴、速度慢聞名於世。「國家通訊傳播委員會」（NCC）多次要求它改革，連馬總統都誓言要它增速降費，它都鴨子聽雷，有聽沒有懂。
消基會12日公布世界各國寬頻費率及速度的比較，台灣平均下載速度為13Mpbs，上傳為2.7Mpbs，遠不及全球寬頻服務平均下載速度的 37.5Mpbs，但是台灣寬頻網路收費高居世界第二，速度是倒數第四。消基會批民眾付高額價格，寬頻網路速度卻不成比例的慢，十分不合理，要求NCC正視之。消基會董事長又以各國「頂級速度」排名做比較，瑞典已逾1Gpbs(1024Mpbs)。日本是205Mpbs，韓國102Mpbs(新推出 1Gpbs)。中華電信號稱最頂級可提供100Mpbs，近來更推1Gpbs的試點服務，但有距離限制，看到吃不到。
中華電信引用最新資料反駁消基會的舊資料，宣稱台灣的實測平均速度已從民國99年底的全球第35名，進步到15名。消基會說即使資料較舊，但中華電信速度提升至22.22Mpbs，仍遠不及前年全球寬頻調查的平均下載速度37.5Mpbs。

霸王機關積怨多

中華電信運氣好，被消基會修理的時候剛好在選舉前，沒人注意。但是民間長久以來對它累積的怨氣難道還嫌少嗎？這個霸王機關連馬總統的要求都馬耳東風，小老百姓又能怎樣。
馬須知道，網路服務的好壞主導青年選票的走向，主導經濟發展，攸關產業創新。馬總統不能老是西望中國，卻視國內亟待改革的問題為無物。

(網路)抗議之新里程:Sopa and Pipa protests not over, Antinuclear Protesters Disrupt Panel in Japan

2012-01-19T05:41:00.000-08:00

Hollywood Loses SOPA Story

The entertainment industry moved to counter growing opposition to antipiracy bills. But its efforts appeared to have little effect as a series of congressional leaders dropped their support for the legislation.

我欣賞朱諸如Wikipedia和Google 等公司的尊守原則的價值觀
Antinuclear Protesters Disrupt Panel in Japan
Wall Street Journal
TOKYO—Protesters denouncing Japan's nuclear watchdog agency as having a pro-nuclear bias held up the initial approval of stress-test results for two idled reactors, as police were called in to break up the demonstration. More than a dozen ...

Wikipedia, Others Go Dark in SOPA Protest

Online sites deliver on promise to rally against the controversial anti-piracy proposals.

READ FULL STORY

Sopa and Pipa protests not over, says Wikipedia

By Dave Lee Technology reporter

Wikipedia's blacked-out message of yesterday's protest was replaced with a white "thank you"

After a 24-hour blackout, Wikipedia has returned to full working order but declared: "We're not done yet."

The site had blocked its content for 24 hours in protest at proposed anti-piracy legislation in the US.

The encyclopaedia said the site had been viewed 162 million times, with eight million people following instructions to contact politicians.

The protest led to eight US lawmakers withdrawing their support for the proposed bills.

Two of the bill's co-sponsors, Marco Rubio from Florida and Roy Blunt from Missouri, are among those who have withdrawn their support after "legitimate concerns".

But backers of the legislation, led by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), described the action as an "irresponsible" publicity "stunt".

The Stop Online Piracy Act (Sopa) and Protect Intellectual Property Act (Pipa) have caused considerable controversy among internet users and businesses since the plans were proposed in October last year.

'Melted servers'

Wednesday's co-ordinated action was intended to raise the profile of the debate to those outside of the tight-knit technology community - an objective Wikipedia said had been met.

"More than 162 million people saw our message asking if you could imagine a world without free knowledge," the site said.

“Start Quote

I am watching the situation closely”

End Quote Eric Van Der Kleij Chief executive, Tech City UK

"You said no. You shut down Congress's switchboards. You melted their servers.

"From all around the world your messages dominated social media and the news. Millions of people have spoken in defence of a free and open internet."

Elsewhere, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg deemed the occasion worthy enough to post his first tweet in almost three years.

"Tell your congressmen you want them to be pro-internet," he wrote, linking to a longer statement on Facebook.

He continued: "We can't let poorly thought out laws get in the way of the internet's development.

"Facebook opposes Sopa and Pipa, and we will continue to oppose any laws that will hurt the internet."

Google, which urged its US visitors to sign a petition against the bills, said more than 4.5 million signatures had been gathered.

Advertising campaign

Supporters of the bill were quick to condemn the actions of the websites. Ex-Senator Chris Dodd, MPAA's chief executive, described the blackouts as an "abuse of power".

Ahead of the day's action, Mr Dodd said: "It's a dangerous and troubling development when the platforms that serve as gateways to information intentionally skew the facts to incite their users in order to further their corporate interests."

Analysis

Rory Cellan-Jones Technology correspondent, BBC News

It looks as though the media backers of Sopa and Pipa have lost this round of the battle to Silicon Valley and the web activists.

dot.Rory: Wikipedia - after the blackout

Meanwhile, Creative America - a group which represents many big names in the movie business including Disney and Warner Bros - has launched an advertising campaign in the US.

A banner advertisement was shown in New York's Times Square offering advice on "what to do during an internet blackout". It suggested reading books, listening to music or watching a movie.

News Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch, a vocal supporter of Sopa, continued to spar with users on Twitter.

He tweeted: "Seems blogsphere has succeeded in terrorising many senators and congressmen who previously committed. Politicians all the same."

Watching closely

In the UK, the plans around Sopa and Pipa have been keenly watched, particularly by those worried about the effect the measures could have on internet companies in the country.

Peter Bradwell, a campaigner with the Open Rights Group, told the BBC: "It's explicit that [Sopa advocates] want to tackle foreign websites.

A television advertising campaign supporting the anti-piracy plans has been launched

"We're concerned about the jurisdiction that gives over the kind of things you or I do on the internet in the UK - and the power that gives US copyright holders over the things that we do here."

Mr Bradwell recounted the comments made by Ed Vaizey, Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries, who in July last year said he was looking at some anti-piracy measures being discussed in the US.

"Hopefully, what the storm around this has helped do is highlight why we are so concerned about proposals for new website blocking powers.

"I hope it really helps them understand how they shouldn't make policy, and really should drive home some of the complaints that we've been making."

'Startling'

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport said it did not wish to comment on the protests, nor on the details of Sopa and Pipa.

In pictures: Sopa protests

View a gallery of protest action taken by some of the web's highest profile websites

Eric Van Der Kleij, chief executive of the Tech City Investment Organisation, told the BBC: "We know that it is important for UK companies but it is definitely something for the US government. I am watching the situation closely.

"Regarding UK regulation, our position is that we are completely committed to an appropriate regulatory environment that protects rights but does not stifle innovation."

The UK's "digital champion" Martha Lane Fox said the blackout technique was surprising.

"Neutrality and equality of access is one of the fundamental principles of the internet," she told the BBC.

"So (while) I understand the concern that many US companies have about the restrictive Sopa law, blackouts are a startling way to show their frustration."

Constructive debate

Echoing the statements of rights holders in the US, Richard Mollet, chairman of the Publishers Association, criticised the blacked-out websites for not engaging "constructively" in the piracy debate.

"They should say: 'OK, there's a problem with copyright infringement. We, as internet companies, have a role here. What can we do to fulfil that role and help rights holders reduce infringement?'"

Creative America posted an image on Facebook of its advertisement on display in New York's Times Square

He argued that while Wikipedia was a valued resource, it would be more noticeable to the world if rights holders were to switch off their content for a day.

"Think what you would lose.

"If you walked around the streets of America or Britain with no creative content available to you, because rights holders had decided to shut up shop, you would be deprived of the BBC, cinemas, radio, bookstores and so on.

"What's at stake when rogue internet sites are available to people and revenues are deprived is a great deal more than the excellent but nevertheless more limited Wikipedia."

陳寬仁《品質人語》/「領導與人格」

2012-01-17T03:42:00.000-08:00

下午陳寬仁老師再續他母親90多歲寫的回憶錄書緣：錢石英《果姑話飄泊－－－側寫中國百年》，因為他知道多年前即轉送某人了，所以補送一本。我們研討要闢一blog來補充說明──我還說此書的一缺點是缺索引，因為書是5百多頁，牽涉到的人物頗多。

他補充的一些家族的故事，我就記在族譜和書末空頁處。

他介紹許多美國軍制與我國的差別。我們談起前月宜蘭某兵工廠炸死許多專家的慘事。他介紹美國是如何慎重和一板一眼地做這種工作，美國還做許多錄影分析安全的做法，即拆炸彈的在工作時要每一個動作都要說出來……..。他還說在美國參觀 Linear Explosives 公司的防爆牆的構法…….

我勸他先將這輩子一些難忘的長官記下來。他馬上引他在《品質人語》(台北：品質學會，2000，頁106-07)中 H. Norman Schwarzkopf 將軍的「我們從差勁的領導中所學到的，遠比從好的領導中所學到的要多得多。你學會不該這樣去做，從而便會知道怎樣去做。」

我們討論兩位中正理工的院長的「領導與人格」──我從該校的歷史，才知道他們這次投票給馬英九是屬於「含淚投票」一族，即他們學校被併入國防大學……跟馬總統陳冤也沒用。

富士康罩門:勞資糾紛一波波

2012-01-16T20:23:00.000-08:00

Foxconn struggles with fresh labour disputes in China

By Kathrin Hille in Beijing

When 150 workers at Foxconn climbed to the roof of one of its factories in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in a labour dispute earlier this month, it was a chilling reminder of the suicide series that shook the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer less than two years ago.

There were no suicides in Wuhan on January 3, and workers present that day said no one was actually threatening to jump. But the drastic protest reflects new labour woes plaguing the company which makes the lion’s share of the world’s iPhones, iPads and other electronic gadgets.

Analysts say Foxconn’s move to transfer mass production of many gadgets from one mega-plant in Shenzhen, the export manufacturing hub next to Hong Kong, to new large plants in inland provinces has created a more complex wage structure and bottlenecks that trigger disputes.

“It seems the very changes they made to address some labour issues have spawned new problems with workers,” said a consultant who inspects contract manufacturing factories for consumer electronics brands.

Foxconn declined to comment on the employment issues at the company.

More than a dozen workers had jumped to their deaths in Foxconn factories in 2010, sending it scrambling to adjust the way the Taiwanese company manages production in its Chinese plants, which employ more than 1m workers.

That year, Foxconn raised wages sharply twice in its plants in Shenzhen, the export manufacturing hub next to Hong Kong where most suicides had taken place. The second raise applies only to staff who had successfully completed a trial period of at least six months – a move Foxconn says is meant as an incentive to lower the high turnover rates.

The group also stepped up its drive to expand production in inland provinces. The company has 27 manufacturing locations all over China, but over the past 16 months it has built and expanded two large factories in the provinces of Henan and Sichuan, where many of the migrant workers manning its older plants in coastal China come from.

One consideration was to control costs as, despite overall wage increases, they are lower in inland provinces.

The company also hoped to address some of the social problems behind the suicides, such as loneliness and unhappy love affairs, which are often caused by housing hundreds of thousands of young men and women in dorms far from home.

The plants in Zhengzhou, the provincial capital of Henan, and the one in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan, employ at least 100,000 workers each already, according to local government officials. Both plants are hiring aggressively and the headcount at each of them is expected to reach 300,000 eventually.

While in the past most Apple products were made in Shenzhen, Chengdu is now Foxconn’s second-largest iPad production base and Zhengzhou its number-two location for iPhone production.

But as the new plants still lack engineers and workers with long experience in making high-end gadgets, the new structure has forced Foxconn to shuffle workers around.

“They do the pilot production in Shenzhen and the mass production in Zhengzhou and Chengdu. Once that starts, workers from there need to be sent to Shenzhen for training,” said Kirk Yang, an analyst with Barclays Capital. “But the money those workers get varies widely because the minimum wage differs a lot in the different locations. With the internet and family networks, these differences are all very transparent, and that creates trouble.”

A worker at Foxconn’s Shenzhen plant from Henan who signed up for a programme to return to work in her home province complains of what she calls unfair wage and social security benefits. “It feels like Henan workers are second-class citizens at Foxconn,” she says, pointing to the fact that her base salary is lower than that on the Shenzhen contract and her Henan health insurance cannot be used in Shenzhen.

The problem is exacerbated by the strong demand for Apple products, which has blessed Foxconn with a full order book. Hon Hai, the group’s Taiwan-listed flagship, in December reported T$317bn ($10.6bn) in sales, the third straight monthly record, due to strong iPhone shipments.

As a result, the company has cut new year holidays for workers in some units and transferred groups of workers between production lines on short notice, a practice which has infuriated many.

The Wuhan protest was triggered by a move to transfer the workers from one unit to another.

Last week, more than 100 workers at a Foxconn plant in the eastern Chinese city of Yantai got into a dispute with human resources managers . The workers protested over differences in base wages and over the planned transfer of some workers to another plant at short notice.

富士康内迁引发新一波劳资纠纷

英国《金融时报》席佳琳北京报道

字号

富士康(Foxconn)武汉工厂的150名工人在本月初因一起劳资纠纷爬上了工厂屋顶，这令人胆寒的一幕不禁让人回想起不到两年前发生在这个世界最大合约电子产品制造商工厂里的连续自杀事件。

1月3日武汉那起事件中无人自杀，而且在场工人们表示，其实也没有人扬言要跳楼。不过，这起激烈的抗议事件表明，这家制造了全球大部分的iPhone、iPad及其他一些电子设备的企业，又面临着新的劳资纠纷。

分析人士表示，富士康在内地一些省份建立大型工厂，将许多生产线从位于深圳（毗邻香港的出口制造业中心）的超级大工厂转移过来，这让工资结构变得更为复杂，并导致一些瓶颈问题，从而引发争端。

一位研究消费电子品牌合约生产厂商的咨询师说：“他们为解决一些劳工问题而做的变革，似乎又滋生了新的劳资问题。”

富士康拒绝就劳资问题置评。

2010年，富士康工厂十几名工人跳楼自杀，让这家员工人数超过100万人的台企不得不迅速调整对大陆各工厂的生产管理方式。

连续自杀事件发生当年，富士康深圳各厂两次大幅上调工资。深圳工厂是连续自杀事件的主要发生地。第二次工资上调只针对已顺利通过至少6个月试用期的员工，富士康表示，此举旨在增强员工的忠诚度、降低员工流动率。

该集团同时开始加速向内地省份扩张。富士康在全中国有27个生产基地，在过去16个月里，它在河南和四川两个省份兴建和扩建了两个大型工厂。这两个省份正是富士康沿海地区工厂里许多打工者的老家。

富士康此举原因之一是为了控制成本，因为尽管工资整体上涨，但在内地省份工资水平要低一些。

富士康也希望通过此举化解导致自杀的一些社会原因，比如孤独感和感情问题。数以十万计的年轻男女住在远离家乡的工厂宿舍里，常常会滋生这方面的问题。

当地政府官员表示，富士康在河南省会郑州和四川省会成都的两家工厂分别已有至少10万名工人。两家工厂仍在大量招人，预计每家工厂的工人数量最终都会达到30万人。

尽管过去大部分苹果(Apple)产品生产地在深圳，但如今，成都已成为富士康的第二大iPad生产地，而郑州则已成为其第二大iPhone生产地。

不过，由于新工厂仍然缺少在生产高端电子设备方面有多年经验的工程师和工人，富士康不得不在不同工厂之间调动员工、以适应新的布局。

“他们在深圳进行试生产，而把量产放在郑州和成都。批量化生产一开始，就必须把郑州和成都的工人送到深圳去培训，”巴克莱资本(Barclays Capital)的分析师杨应超(Kirk Yang)说。“不过，三地工厂的工人工资差距很大，因为不同地方的最低工资标准差别很大。有互联网和亲戚之间互通信息，这种工资差别人人都知道，这就产生了问题。”

富士康深圳工厂的一名河南籍女工在签署返乡工作协议后抱怨说，工资和社保福利不公平。她说，“好像河南工人是富士康的二等公民一样”，意指她的基本工资比在深圳时低，而她在河南办的医保也不能在深圳用。

苹果把大量订单交给富士康生产，而苹果产品需求强劲，这就导致上述问题进一步加剧。因iPhone出货量增长强劲，富士康母公司、台湾上市公司鸿海(Hon Hai)去年12月营收达3170亿元新台币（合106亿美元），连续第三个月创下历史新高。

接单量大的结果就是，富士康部分车间取消了新年假期，并临时通知部分工人转到别的生产线，这令许多工人感到愤怒。

武汉工厂工人抗议事件的导火索是，富士康要求部分员工转移到其他业务部门。

富士康烟台工厂100多名工人上周与人力资源部门发生争执。工人们抗议同工不同酬，以及临时通知他们中的一些人转到另外一家工厂。

译者/何黎

挺所謂92共識的企業我會盡力不跟他們做生意

2012-01-13T23:15:00.001-08:00

對於那些出來挺所謂92共識的企業

我會盡力不跟他們做生意

谷歌跟中國夢賽跑/100分的輸家諾基亞/消基會：我寬頻速度世界倒數第四

2012-01-12T17:53:00.001-08:00

Google Softens China Stance 谷歌跟中國夢賽跑

手機巨人為何倒下？——100分的輸家諾基亞

消基會：我寬頻速度世界倒數第四

針對民眾經常抱怨上網下載速率慢，消基會調查，台灣寬頻實測平均下載速度為13 Mbps，上傳為2.7 Mbps，這遠落後全球寬頻服務平均下載速率37.5 Mbps。消基會也點名業者中華電信提供「看得到，卻吃不到」的促銷廣告，所謂1Gbps等級的試點服務，受限於供裝距離，實際上最頂級速率可能僅為50 Mbps。

消基會副祕書長林宗男表示，所謂供裝距離指的是機房和住家的距離，距離太遠就沒辦法提供應有的速率服務，因此，中華電信應主動升級電信設備。

在英國有針對有線寬頻服務商，要求ISP(網路服務提供者)業者要有能力證明，至少10%的訂戶，在使用上確實能達到廣告上宣稱的最高速率。反觀我國，並無類似對連線品質的要求，消基會董事長蘇錦霞呼籲，主管機關應主動制訂相關規範。

在寬頻速度部分，根據「經濟合作開發組織」（OECD）對34個國家（總共包含686家電信營運商）所作的調查，寬頻服務平均下載速率為37.5 Mbps，日本為80 Mbps，韓國為55.6 Mbps，最快的是瑞典86 Mbps。由於台灣並不列入OECD的這項調查，因此消基會透過臺大測速網實測，結果發現臺灣寬頻平均下載速度為13 Mbps，上傳為2.7 Mbps，排在世界倒數第四。諷刺的是，台灣「寬頻上網費用」卻是世界排名第2，換句話說，民眾用很高額價格在使用速度非常慢的寬頻網路，相當不合理。

120萬中國員工的夢想不是百萬機械人/Hon Hai 武漢工潮

2012-01-12T04:50:00.000-08:00

Hon Hai Plant Dispute Is Resolved Microsoft and its partner Foxconn said that worker unrest at a Wuhan, China, plant earlier this month has been resolved and the majority of workers returned to work.

***20111/8/2

台湾フォックスコン、従業員50万人をロボット100万台で置き換えへ

2011年08月02日 16:09　発信地:北京/中国

【8月2日 AFP】中国国営メディアは1日、従業員の自殺が相次いだ台湾系大手電子機器メーカー富士康集団（フォックスコン、Foxconn）が、今後3年間で、中国国内の工場の従業員50万人をロボットに置き換える計画だと伝えた。

　フォックスコンは、アップル（Apple）やソニー（Sony）、ノキア（Nokia）などの製品の組み立てを行うコンピューター部品メーカー世界最大手。中国のニュースサイト、チャイナ・ビジネス・ニュース（China Business News）によると、同社の郭台銘（Terry Gou）会長は、「単純な」作業のためにロボット100万台を使うと語ったという。

　複数の中国メディアは、7月29日に同国南部・広東省深セン（Shenzhen）で行われた同社イベントで、郭会長が同社従業員1万人を前にこの計画を発表したと報じている。

　フォックスコンは塗装や溶接、組み立て作業などにロボット1万台を導入済み。2012年にはロボットを30万台に増やし、2014年に100万台にする計画だという。この報道について、フォックスコン広報のコメントは得られていない。

　フォックスコンが中国国内に持つ工場の従業員数は合計およそ100万人で、その約半数は深センにある同社の主力工場で勤務している。

　昨年以降、深センを中心に、フォックスコンの従業員少なくとも14人が自殺とみられる死亡をしている。活動家らは、同社工場の過酷な労働環境が死の原因になったと批判し、従業員の待遇改善を求めていた。

　フォックスコンは深セン工場の規模縮小を検討している一方、深セン以外の中国各地で人員を増やしている。(c)AFP

Louis Renault (industrialist)

2012-01-12T03:46:00.000-08:00

Louis Renault (industrialist) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

en.wikipedia.org/.../Louis_Renault_(industria... - 頁庫存檔 - 翻譯這個網頁

Louis Renault (February 12, 1877, Paris, France - October 24, 1944) was a French industrialist, one of the founders of Renault and a pioneer of the automobile ...

轉型正義週訊 No.170(2012/1/12)

＊ 雷諾後代向法政府求償失敗

法國雷諾汽車創辦人的後代，去年底向法國政府提告，要求賠償二戰之後，雷諾汽車被法國政府收歸國有化的損失。

路易雷諾（Louis Renault）和他的兄弟們在1898年創建雷諾汽車公司，二次大戰納粹佔領期間，控制雷諾工廠為德國軍隊生產數千輛卡車與維修戰車。戰後雷諾遭控為納粹通敵者，被送入監獄準備受審，結果在審判前，就因病死於獄中。法國總統戴高樂隨即簽署命令，將雷諾強制收歸國有，目前法國政府仍持有該公司15％的股權，是雷諾最大的單一股東。

這些家屬之所以能提告，是因為法國先前通過法律，允許人民利用訴訟來挑戰既有法律的合憲性。不過受理本案的巴黎法庭已經駁回賠償要求。

這次提起訴訟的原告，雷諾的孫子們說，他們的祖父從未正式接受審判，這種未經法庭判決即宣告沒收財產的處分並無先例，當年的國有化侵害他們的基本法律與財產權利。對造律師對於原告們的「勇敢」大表訝異，指出當年雷諾將絕大部分產品供應給敵方，既未協助法國本地的反抗運動，也沒有號召工人罷工作為抵抗。

而多年以來，面對納粹合作者的污名，捍衛雷諾的人總是主張，當年他是被迫與德國合作，本身也是納粹受害者。並批評雷諾是因為受到嚴苛待遇才會死於獄中。2010年，法國一家博物館，在家屬要求下，撤下一幅雷諾手持坦克模型，向希特勒與戈林元帥（Hermann Göring）解說的照片。理由是照片拍攝日期早於戰爭爆發，因此通敵或合作是莫須有的影射。

這起訴訟同時也引發不同的討論，例如法國共產黨與納粹大屠殺的生還者，即指責雷諾的後人，試圖改寫歷史，要美化先人是納粹同路人的歷史事實。

Corporate Leaders Discuss Innovation, Education vs 台灣不入流的"企業家"談所謂的" 92共識"

2012-01-11T22:15:00.000-08:00

Corporate Leaders Discuss Innovation, Education

It is hard to find a company-- let alone one here at the Consumer Electronics Show - that doesn't love to talk about the importance of innovation. But how do you do it?

台灣不入流的"企業家"談所謂的" 92共識"

敦南商圈LV旗艦店/ Location, Location, Location: The Strategy of Place

2012-01-11T19:43:00.001-08:00

敦南商圈LV旗艦店/ Location, Location, Location: The Strategy of Place

中央日報

敦南商圈沒落　LV旗艦店近4億出售

(2012/01/08 15:47)

LV敦南旗艦店的代銷公司總經理高銘頂表示：「（如果出租）月租金肯定都在100萬以上，甚至是120萬、130萬，應該都沒有問題。」　（圖片來源／翻攝自網路）

記者葉志堅／綜合報導

敵不過潮流的沒落，「敦南商圈」現在傳出最有名的LV旗艦店，已以新台幣近4億元的價格出售；如果真是如此，那未來敦南商圈恐怕將只剩下裕隆集團董事長嚴凱泰所代理的精品西服「亞曼尼（Armani）」，這家喊得出名號的精品名店。

近年來，由於信義商圈的迅速崛起，讓許多知名的國際精品店，都紛紛退出敦南商圈；而現在連最有名的LV旗艦店，都傳出已以新台幣超過3.8億元的價格出售。

根據了解，如果以一樓每坪250萬元、二樓每坪100萬元的價格來換算；在符合市場行情的情況下，佔地超過200坪的LV的敦南旗艦店，最後成交價格可能就逼近新台幣4億元。

另外，如果是以出租的方式，那月租金至少應該也都在百萬之上；LV敦南旗艦店的代銷公司總經理高銘頂便表示：「（如果出租）月租金肯定都在100萬以上，甚至是120萬、130萬，應該都沒有問題。」

Location, Location, Location: The Strategy of Place
Business success in one geographic location doesn't necessarily follow a company to a new setting. Professor Juan Alcácer discusses the importance of taking a long-term strategic view.

Swiss watchmakers set to clock up best year ever瑞士錶大好

2012-01-11T19:22:00.000-08:00

2012年01月12日 06:59 AM

Swiss watchmakers set to clock up best year ever

By Haig Simonian in Zurich

Amid the gloom surrounding Switzerland’s hard-pressed exporters, smarting from the soaring franc, one sector stands out as a glaring exception.

While foreign sales of machine tools and electrical equipment have fallen sharply and paper products plunged, watch exports have soared.

Sales of Rolexes, Omegas and Parek Philippes – just three of Switzerland’s best-known brands – climbed

16 per cent in November year on year to SFr2.06bn ($2.17bn). For the first

11 months of last year, sales were up by 19 per cent at SFr17.4bn.

The figures follow a more than 22 per cent rebound in 2010, when exports recovered from the credit crunch, with 2011 set to exceed

the previous 2008 peak.

“This year is expected to be a record and we are also confident about 2012,” says Jean-Daniel Pasche, president of the Swiss watch industry federation.

Export data tell only a partial story. Most watchmakers are privately owned and guard their information as fiercely as their counterparts in private banking.

Even Swatch Group and Richemont, the two biggest, which have to be more transparent as quoted companies, are sparing when it comes to individual brands, such as the former’s Breguet or the latter’s Jaeger-LeCoultre.

Swiss customs statistics provide the only aggregate data available.

The watchmakers’ story is different for three reasons. First, and most obvious, Switzerland has a virtual monopoly, especially for top-priced mechanical watches.

At lower prices, China, India and Russia produce millions of pieces a year. But few are sold outside the home market. Further up the price band, Swiss brands dominate, whether for “mid-priced” watches, such as Swatch Group’s Tissot, or top names, such as independent Audemars Piguet. Even the two best known non-Swiss prestige brands – Germany’s Lange and Glashütte Original – are Swiss-owned.

Recognition of changing demand has been the second Swiss trump. Most brands have latched on to booming Asian demand – predominantly from China, where Swiss watches are male status symbols.

Swatch Group, which has a glitzy multibrand showroom on Shanghai’s Bund, was one of the early movers, and is now reaping the benefits.

Adjusting retailing has been the third factor. Traditionally, watches are sold via independent distributors, which then forward them to individual retailers.

While distributors remain important for smaller brands, the biggest watchmakers have progressively taken over their own distribution, increasing flexibility and boosting profits.

由于瑞士法郎汇率大幅走高，瑞士出口企业处境艰难、愁云笼罩，但有一个行业却一枝独秀、光彩夺目。

瑞士机床和电子设备在海外的销售额大幅下降，纸产品销售额暴跌，而钟表出口额却大幅增长。

去年11月份，劳力士(Rolex)、欧米茄(Omega)和百达翡丽(Patek Philippe)——只是瑞士众多知名品牌中的三个——的海外销售额同比增长16%，至20.6亿瑞士法郎（合21.7亿美元）。去年头11个月的海外销售额则增长19%，至174亿瑞士法郎。

继2010年反弹逾22%（钟表出口在受到信贷紧缩冲击后已恢复元气）之后，2011年的销售数字有望打破2008年创下的历史最高纪录。

“今年料将成为创纪录的一年，我们对2012年也充满信心，”瑞士钟表工业联合会(FH)主席让•丹尼尔•帕什(Jean-Daniel Pasche)表示。

出口数据只能说明一部分情况。大多数钟表制造公司属于私人所有，它们像私人银行业机构一样对自身的信息守口如瓶。

即使是斯沃琪集团(Swatch Group)和历峰(Richemont)在谈到旗下各品牌（比如前者的宝玑(Breguet)和后者的积家(Jaeger-LeCoultre)）的情况时也惜字如金。斯沃琪和历峰是钟表业的两个巨头，作为上市公司，它们必须有更高的透明度。

只有瑞士海关提供汇总的统计数字。

钟表制造公司的表现之所以与众不同，有三点原因。第一同时也是最明显的是，瑞士几乎占据着垄断地位，特别是在顶级机械表市场上。

在低端市场上，中国、印度和俄罗斯每年生产数百万块手表，但这些手表没有多少能销售到本土市场以外。中高端市场则是瑞士品牌的天下，中端品牌如斯沃琪的天梭(Tissot)，高端品牌如独立品牌爱彼(Audemars Piguet)。就连两个最知名的非瑞士名表品牌——德国的朗格(Lange)和格拉苏蒂(Glashütte Original)——其所有者也是瑞士人。

掌握需求的变化，是瑞士钟表制造公司的第二个制胜法宝。大多数品牌都抓住了蓬勃增长的亚洲需求——主要是来自中国的需求，瑞士表在中国是男士的身份象征。

斯沃琪是最早行动的瑞士钟表制造公司之一，该公司现在也正获益于此。斯沃琪在上海外滩开设了一间令人目眩神迷的品牌陈列室。

调整零售策略是第三个成功因素。传统上，钟表的销售要经过独立分销商，这些分销商随后把表转手给各个零售商。

目前中小品牌仍然依赖于分销商，但各大钟表制造公司都已逐渐掌控了自己品牌的分销，增强了灵活性，提高了利润。

译者/何黎

Apple 公司將憾動四大產業: TV, auto, watch and appliance industries

2012-01-11T01:32:00.000-08:00

Big Picture

Four Industries Apple Can Disrupt in the Near Future

Tim Bajarin is the president of Creative Strategies Inc., a technology industry analysis and market intelligence firm in Silicon Valley.

By Tim Bajarin | @bajarin | January 2, 2012 | 52

Brian Snyder / Reuters

Over the last 10 years, Apple has done a rather amazing job of disrupting quite a few industries. By my account, it has dramatically impacted the PC, tablet, consumer electronics, telecom, music and TV industries in a big way. And I believe that Apple is on the cusp of disrupting at least four more major industries in the next three to five years.

The first industry I believe Apple will shake up is the TV industry. Just about every major PC and consumer electronics company is trying to break into interactive TV (or “ITV” as it is called) and be the first to own this market. To date, Google, Microsoft, Samsung, Sony and even Apple have tried desperately to create the next big thing in TVs and, perhaps more importantly, find a way to integrate the internet and internet video channels into their new visions for the TV.

(MORE: Apple TV: 5 Rumored Features)

In Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs, Steve tells Isaacson that he has “cracked the code” for ITV and, of course, everyone is wondering what this means. The most logical answer is that Apple will apply Siri voice comprehension technology to the TV user interface and then tie it to the iCloud service, marrying all of your digital content together for viewing on multiple screens–with the TV being the one focused on entertainment. Whether it will be delivered in an Apple TV-like box outside the TV or an actual TV itself is still a big question, but Apple’s attempt at creating a new approach to the TV interface and linking it to unified personal content, if done right, could be revolutionary.

Imagine being able to just tell your TV, “Find Big Bang Theory,” and it goes right to all available versions on broadcast, cable, your digital video recorder or online. Or ask it about a football player you just saw make a touchdown, and on the bottom of the screen it shows you his stats. Or if you want to find out about Yosemite, just ask Siri and it will find all related video and web content available and give you exact answers to your query on the TV. But perhaps its greatest feat will most likely be to instantly decipher the plethora of web-based video content that is online, and neatly show what is available for a given topic right on your TV screen.

For example, let’s say you want to see something about how to roast a turkey. Siri could search its database and find out all of the best shows on TV, your DVR or the web and then post them on your screen for you to pick. And I mean any database, including things you’ve bookmarked about roasting turkeys on any of your Macs or Apple devices that are connected via iCloud. Those results could be added to the list of available shows to watch on that topic.

(LIST: The 10 Most Memorable Apple Commercials)

This could be the most disruptive thing in the television industry to happen since the introduction of color, eventually burying the remote control by putting the entire TV industry on a course to use voice as the new remote instead. It will find ways to marry broadcast, cable, satellite, DVR and internet content into manageable channels that bring all of it together in the cloud and display it via voice command on the TV screens throughout the home. And it looks like Apple could be the company to take the TV industry into this new century.

The second industry Apple is poised to disrupt is the auto industry. I have been searching for a new car and one of the major criteria in my search has been the ability to integrate my phone and its content into the navigation and sound system in the car. I want a Bluetooth connection as a speakerphone, but I also want it to use the content in my phone—mostly music and podcasts—and I want it done wirelessly.

In my search I was pleasantly surprised to see how far Microsoft’s Sync system has come. And Toyota’s Entune system already uses a Bluetooth connection to send audio content from a phone to the car’s speaker system.

(MORE: Diabetic? Cloud-Connected Ford Could Someday Save Your Life)

Now imagine if Apple began working with the auto companies directly and, in extreme circumstances, was perhaps able to get a 7-inch iPad into these cars. In this case, it could have a 3G chip inside for direct connection to the internet. And of course, it would have Siri’s smart voice comprehension technology. While most of its greatest features, such as searching for the closest bank or cleaners or pizza place would be restricted to parking mode, many other voice driven features could be part of the user interface and services. It could get and respond to email via voice, do text messages via voice, and more importantly, it would be tied to Apple’s iTunes and iCloud services. That means you would always have access to your content no matter what it is and could call it up on your car’s display whenever you wanted it.

Another way to do this would be to make any regular iPhone or iPad function as host devices while the car’s navigation screen would function as a video terminal that just mirrors their displays. If you’ve ever used the iPad’s Airplay features, you already understand the potential. Using an Apple TV box, I literally mirror the iPad’s content on my big screen TV. And if I use my iPhone 4S, I already have the Siri voice UI—at least for my content. Now imagine having that type of voice UI and content connection in your car.

Sure, there would be restrictions about using certain features while driving, but having the car’s screen running iOS and Siri could make the car’s information system even more useful. Again, Apple could be the big disruptor that brings the auto industry into a century in which information and personalized media become a key part of the auto traveling experience.

The third industry Apple could turn upside down is the watch industry. For centuries, watches have been–for a lack of a better term–dumb watches. Only in the last 30 years have they gotten smarter, with the introduction of things like calculator watches and more recently, chronographs and satellite watches tied to the atomic clock.

But Apple has stumbled onto something interesting with the iPod Nano. Many people have started to use it as a watch. And a whole side industry has popped up that is creating watchbands for iPod Nanos. I don’t believe Apple ever dreamed of the Nano as a watch, but it has become a happy new application for the company’s tiny touchscreen iPod.

(MORE: Apple Tweaks ‘Nano’ and ‘Touch’ iPods, Lowers Starting Prices)

Apple could do some very interesting things to the Nano with a few simple tweaks. What if they put a Bluetooth radio inside and allowed it to become an extension of my iPhone? I normally carry my iPhone in my pocket, so when an alert comes up I have to pull it out to see it. But what if that alert showed up on my Nano watch? Or what if they added a Siri Interface and tied the Nano display to the iPhone? I could just ask my watch to show me the last message or e-mail I received through iMessage and it would pop up on the Nano’s screen.

With voice feedback, Apple could perhaps tie it to the iPhone’s GPS and, when walking, tell a person to turn right or head north to get to the coffee shop you just asked Siri about. Of course, they could put a Wi-Fi radio into the Nano as well, and let it get a direct link to internet data when connected. But it would make more sense for it to use a Bluetooth connection and tie the Nano to the iPhone’s 3G radio so that it would be connected all the time. If Apple used the Nano to mirror some of the functionality of my iPhone in a watch format, the company could potentially redefine the role of the watch.

And the fourth industry Apple could possibly impact is the appliance industry. In 1997, I gave a speech at the Agenda Conference where I envisioned a refrigerator of the future that would have a screen on it and would be connected to the internet. I suggested that it would have a bar code reader on it and that as I put items in the fridge, it would automatically put them in inventory. As I took items out and did not return them to the fridge, it would automatically put them on a shopping list on the screen. I even suggested that if I called up a recipe from the internet, it would be smart enough to see what the ingredients were and pop them onto the shopping list. And if programmed properly, it could even order items from Safeway.com—and all of it would be on my doorstep when I came home from work.

Of course, today we do have a couple of refrigerators with screens on them connected to the internet, but that is all they are–internet terminals.

(MORE: They Should Make It: Connected Self Replenishing Refrigerator)

If Apple applied their iOS software to appliances and married it to iCloud, they could turn pretty much any screen integrated into things like refrigerators, ovens or even cabinets into application-specific smart screens. They could all have access to the internet and iOS apps, which could be tailored for their integrated locations. For example, what if I had an iOS screen embedded into the mirror in my bathroom? As I get ready in the morning, it could be programed to fetch weather reports, updated news items and info related to my commute. It could read out my daily appointment schedules and search my iCloud account for anything I want, including music, podcasts or YouTube videos as I prepare for the day. You get the idea.

I have no doubt that we will have many screens in our home and as part of our digital lifestyles, and if Apple can unify them behind iOS, its apps and its iCloud ecosystem, it could have quite an impact on the appliance industry of the future. And believe me, the appliance industry is interested. Besides embedding a screen on a refrigerator, they have also added internet connections to ovens, microwaves, lighting systems, air conditioning systems and heating systems to try and make them smart devices connected to an internet ecosystem. But today, most of them are acting as dumb terminals. For them to reach their potential, they need to have an operating system that is tied to a broader ecosystem that could deliver even greater functionality through connectivity; and Apple’s iOS, apps and iCloud could play an important role in helping this industry deliver smart homes and smart appliances.

Keep in mind that all of this could happen because Apple has created a fundamentally unified platform—one that’s tied to an operating system, apps and the cloud eco system. It’s consistent across screens but it can also be made to be application-specific depending on what a particular screen’s use might be. So it’s not too far of a stretch to see how Apple’s platform, when applied to a TV, automobile, watch or appliance could give those objects a digital intelligence.

I suppose if we think hard enough we could probably come up with some other industries Apple could impact with this platform. But I believe that the TV, auto, watch and appliance industries could be next on Apple’s disruption agenda.

Avoiding fluff is the surest route to success

2012-01-10T01:04:00.000-08:00

好策略，坏策略
Avoiding fluff is the surest route to success

英国《金融时报》专栏作家约翰•凯


It looks to me as if there is really only one question you are asking in each case. The question is: ‘what is really going on here?’ ”	“在我看来，在每个案例中，你实际上似乎只在问一个问题。这个问题就是：‘这里究竟发生着什么？’”
The remark was made by a colleague of Richard Rumelt at the Anderson School of Management at UCLA, who had sat through several of Prof Rumelt’s strategy classes.	说这段话的，是加州大学洛杉矶分校(UCLA)安德森管理学院(Anderson School of Management)理查德•鲁梅尔特(Richard Rumelt)教授的一位同事。他已经听过鲁梅尔特教授的好几堂策略课。
Prof Rumelt, described by the McKinsey Quarterly as “the strategist’s strategist”, is not the publicity-seeking guru routinely heard on the conference circuit. He is author of two books, with an interval of 37 years between them. The more recent, Good Strategy/Bad Strategy, was the most interesting business book of 2011.	鲁梅尔特教授被《麦肯锡季刊》(McKinsey Quarterly)称为“策略师的策略师”。与会议圈中常见的那些“大师”不同，他不喜欢吸引公众的注意。他著有两本书，这两本的出版时间间隔有37 年。其中较新的这本《好策略，坏策略》(Good Strategy/Bad Strategy)，是2011年最有意思的商业书籍。
The comment of Prof Rumelt’s colleague appears banal but gets to the heart of the matter. I long ago realised that to understand a business I would learn much more by talking to people involved in day-to-day operations than the chief executive. They represented “what is really going on here?”.	鲁梅尔特教授同事的评论听似平常，却一语中的。我很久以前就意识到，若想了解一家企业，应该去与参与日常经营的人交谈，因为这样做了解到的情况要比与首席执行官交谈多得多。这些参与日常经营的人代表着“这里究竟发生着什么？”。
The message of Prof Rumelt’s book is that strategy is really just careful thinking about business problems. Checklists – Swot (strengths, weaknesses/limitations, opportunities, threats), five forces or seven Ss – are popular because they are a starting point for people who are unaccustomed to structured thought. Good strategy begins with diagnosis. And diagnosis is analysis, not a description of symptoms. You don’t go to your doctor to be told you have a sore throat. You go to be told you have an infection and that an antibiotic will fix it. The doctor tries to discover “what is really going on here?” and the measure of his competence is his ability to do that.	鲁梅尔特教授的这本书所蕴含的信息是，策略实际上只是对商业问题的认真思考。清单式分析—— SWOT模型（优势、劣势/局限、机会、威胁）、五力模型(five forces)或7S模型——之所以广受欢迎，是因为它们为不习惯结构性思考的人提供了一个起点。好策略从“诊断”开始。而诊断是分析，不是对症状的描述。你去看医生，不是为了听他说你喉咙疼。他应该告诉你的是，你感染了，用抗生素就能治。医生会努力弄明白“这里究竟发生着什么？”，而他能否做到这一点，体现了他是否称职。
If that also sounds obvious, it isn’t what business people typically do. In the business world – as sometimes in the surgery – the reputation of the CEO or value of the consultant is measured not by the accuracy of the diagnosis but by the confidence with which the prescription is dispensed. Many business gurus resemble George Bernard Shaw’s doctor, Sir Colenso Ridgeon, who treated every ailment with an exhortation to “stimulate the phagocytes”. Their PowerPoint presentations reiterate the patient’s complaint and prescribe their universal template.	尽管这听起来同样很好理解，但商界人士通常却不是这样做的。在商界，就像有时在诊所那样，首席执行官的声誉或顾问的价值并非以诊断的精准程度来衡量，而是以“配药方”时的信心来衡量。许多商界大师就像萧伯纳(George Bernard Shaw)笔下的医生科伦索•里金(Sir Colenso Ridgeon)爵士一样，对每一种疾病都给出“刺激吞噬细胞”的医嘱。他们的演示文稿会复述患者的病症，然后开出通用的药方。
The starting point of bad strategy is often a goal – a 20 per cent share of the European widget market, with a 15 per cent return on equity. The bad strategist confuses policy – to become Europe’s leading widget maker through complementary acquisitions – with strategy. Bad strategy is often fluff – to become the widget provider of choice by exceeding customer expectations.	坏策略的起点通常是目标，譬如，在欧洲微件(widget)市场占据20%的份额，同时实现 15%的股本回报率。糟糕的策略师会把方针（比如通过互补性收购成为欧洲最大的微件供应商）与策略混为一谈。坏策略通常空洞无物，例如，通过超越客户的期望，成为受消费者青睐的微件供应商。
Declining market share or inadequate profitability is not the problem, but the symptom of the problem. But in business, as in the surgery, such diagnosis is frequently uncomfortable and embarrassing. And self-examination demands honesty which is particularly difficult to achieve in groups of competitive individuals. It is easier to announce aspirations, or to luxuriate in fluff. Then you seek “buy-in” to your bad strategy. That process saves thought and minimises disagreement.	市场份额下降和盈利能力不足并不是问题本身，而是问题的症状。但在商界，正如在诊所一样，诊断过程通常是令人不适和尴尬的。自我检查要求诚实，这一点在由相互竞争的个人组成的群体中尤难实现。而展示雄心或高谈阔论则要容易得多。然后，你要做的就是为你的坏策略争取支持。这一过程免去了思考，也最大程度地减少了异议。
For Prof Rumelt, the kernel of a strategy is the diagnoses of a situation, the choice of an overall guiding policy and the design of coherent action. A guiding policy is an element of strategy, but is not a strategy until it is translated into specific actions. One of the silliest remarks in business is “strategy is easy, implementation is difficult”. But strategy that lacks a clear path to implementation is not strategy at all, just wishful thinking.	在鲁梅尔特教授看来，策略的核心是诊断形势、选择总体指导方针和设计前后一致的行动。指导方针有几分策略的意味，但在它转化为具体行动之前还不能算是策略。商界一个最愚蠢的观点是，“制定策略易，实施策略难”。但是，缺少明确实施途径的策略根本不能算是策略，只能算是一厢情愿的想法。
As it was for Chad Logan, the hero of one of Prof Rumelt’s many delicious vignettes, whose strategy was 20/20: 20 per cent growth and 20 per cent margins accompanied by the mantra that you can achieve anything if you want it enough. The same magical thinking served Joseph Silver, the investment banker who proclaimed the virtues of economies of mass. Dr Ridgeon is alive and well – and ensconced at Morgan Stanley. Read Good Strategy/Bad Strategy for the entertaining experiences of a man who has spent 40 years in the strategy business. But read it principally for its profound yet common sense approach to business.	鲁梅尔特教授讲述了许多有趣的小故事。查德•洛根(Chad Logan)是其中一个故事的主人公，他的策略是“20/20”，即20%的增长率和20%的利润率，再加上“只有想不到，没有做不到”的口号。鼓吹聚合效益(economies of mass)好处的投资银行家约瑟夫•西尔弗(Joseph Silver)，也有同样的神奇思想。“里金医生”依然健在，而且就舒舒服服地呆在摩根士丹利(Morgan Stanley)。读一读《好策略，坏策略》吧，它讲述了一个在策略行业摸爬滚打40年的人的有趣经历。但请把注意力主要放在它讲述的深刻而又不违背常识的经商之道上。
	译者/方舟

柯達的故事

2012-01-06T23:41:00.000-08:00

George Eastman 科達
柯達底片公司快倒了... 據說柯達化學還好得很
換句話說常期壟斷的事業的優勢
還是只在一定期限而已
反過來有競爭才可能長治久安
George Eastman 柯達Eastman Chemical

Singapore poised to halve ministers’ salaries 新加坡領導人將集體大減薪

2012-01-05T19:59:00.000-08:00

2012年01月05日 12:33 PM
新加坡領導人將集體大減薪
Singapore poised to halve ministers’ salaries
英國《金融時報》莎拉•米西金香港報導

Singapore is set to cut its politicians' pay by up to 51 per cent amid mounting public concern at income inequality and the rising cost of living in the wealthy city-state.

隨著新加坡民眾對收入不平等和生活成本上升的擔憂加劇，這個富裕城國預計將削減政界人士薪酬，幅度最高將達到51%。

Lee Hsien Loong, the prime minister, has pledged to accept the pay cut proposal, which will reduce ministerial salaries and award bonuses that are dependent on Singapore hitting socio-economic targets, including low unemployment and growth in the income of the poorest fifth of the country's citizens.

新加坡總理李顯龍(Lee Hsien Loong)已承諾，將接受減薪提案。根據這項提案，政府部長們的薪酬將被削減，而獎金將視新加坡能否達到社會和經濟方面的各項目標而定，這些目標包括：失業率保持在較低水平，全國最貧窮的五分之一人口的收入得到增長。

The cuts were recommended by a committee convened by the government after fierce elections last year in which ministers' pay came under criticism from the opposition.

去年新加坡舉行了選舉，選情極其激烈，期間部長們的薪酬問題遭到反對黨的猛烈抨擊。之後政府便成立了一個委員會，減薪提案就是該委員會提出的。

“This is a complex and politically difficult issue with major implications for the future of Singapore,” the prime minister wrote in a letter to the committee.

“這是一個複雜的政治難題，對新加坡的未來有著重大意義，”李顯龍總理在致委員會的信函中寫道。

Singapore's generous pay for ministers is often cited as a reason why the country is relatively efficient and free of corruption. The new pay scheme is designed to link politicians' pay to the welfare of average Singaporeans while remaining competitive with the private sector for talent, the committee said in its report.

新加坡的政府部長們享受著高工資，這經常被認為是該國政府相對高效和清廉的原因之一。該委員會在其報告中表示，新薪酬方案旨在把政界人士的薪酬與普通百姓的福利掛鉤，同時使其在與私人部門爭奪人才時仍保持競爭力。

The salary of an entry-level minister will now be set by the median earnings of the top 1,000 citizens, discounted by 40 per cent. Previously, salaries were benchmarked against the wages of the top 48 earners.

今後，政府部長的起步薪酬，將是收入最高的1000位市民薪酬中值的60%，而過去作為基準的是收入最高的48位市民的工資。

Mr Lee, whose pay will be cut 36 per cent, will still earn S$2.2m ($1.7m). Singapore's president will earn S$1.54m after a cut of 51 per cent. Barack Obama is paid $400,000. Ministers' salaries start at S $935,000.

李顯龍的薪酬將下降36%，但年薪仍高達220萬新元（合170萬美元）。新加坡總統的年薪將下降51%，為154萬新元。相比之下，美國總統巴拉克•奧巴馬(Barack Obama)的年薪是40萬美元。新加坡政府部長的起步年薪將為93.5萬新元。

Ms. Frankenthaler’s “Chairman of the Board,” painted in 1971.

2011-12-30T03:56:00.000-08:00

Helen Frankenthaler, Abstract Painter

Ms. Frankenthaler’s “Chairman of the Board,” painted in 1971.

Unlike many of her painter colleagues at the time, Ms. Frankenthaler, born in New York City on Dec. 12, 1928, came from a prosperous Manhattan family. She was one of three daughters of Alfred Frankenthaler, a New York State Supreme Court judge, and the former Martha Lowenstein, an immigrant from Germany. Helen, their youngest, was interested in art from early childhood, when she would dribble nail polish into a sink full of water to watch the color flow.

Credit: 2011 Helen Frankenthaler / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

In love as in equities, we are regularly fooled by randomness

2011-12-29T21:59:00.000-08:00

2011年12月30日 07:18 AM
小心被隨機性欺騙
In love as in equities, we are regularly fooled by randomness
英國《金融時報》專欄作家約翰•凱

As the year ends, the author of a weekly column should look back and acknowledge the things he got wrong. I made at least one serious mistake. I wrote that if men think about sex on average every seven seconds, the average man last thought about sex three and a half seconds ago. I should have consulted the poet Wendy Cope, who wrote that: “Bloody men are like bloody buses – / You wait for about a year / And as soon as one approaches your stop / Two or three others appear”.

到了年底，每週發表一篇文章的專欄作家應當回顧這一年，承認自己的文章在哪些地方出過錯誤。我就至少出過一次嚴重的錯誤。我曾寫道，如果男人平均每7秒就想到一次性，那麼男人上一次想到性平均是在3.5秒之前（請見FT中文網2011年9月1日文章《統計數據的誤區》——譯者注）。我本該就此徵詢一下詩人溫迪•可普(Wendy Cope)的意見，因為她曾寫過：“死男人們就像那些可惡的公交車，你一等就得等上將近一年，剛有一輛車靠站，其它幾輛就接二連三地來了。”

Her analogy is helpful. If a bus arrives at fixed intervals of seven minutes, you will wait an average of three and a half minutes. But, as Ms Cope knows all too well, the interval is unpredictable: two buses come at once and then there is a lengthy wait for the next one. The average frequency of the bus may still be seven minutes. But if the intervals are alternately zero and 14 minutes the expected wait is now seven minutes, not three and a half. If someone is standing at a bus stop, it is more likely that they are victim of a bus which is late than the beneficiary of one that is early.

她的類比很有幫助。如果公交車到站的時間間隔是固定的，比如7分鐘，那你平均需要等上3.5分鐘。但實際的時間間隔是無法預知的，可普對這一點了解得很清楚：如果同時來了兩輛車，那麼下一輛就得等上很長時間。公交車到站的平均頻率或許仍是每7分鐘一輛，但如果時間間隔變成了要么是0分鐘要么是14分鐘，那麼預期等待時間就變成了7分鐘、而不是3.5分鐘。如果有人現在正站在公交站等車，那麼他們更有可能是要倒霉地去等一輛晚到的公交車，而不是幸運地趕上一輛早到的公交車。

You may think this does not matter very much. But this summer the UK business secretary Vince Cable asked me to devote an entire year to thinking about equity markets. I discovered that the arithmetic of thinking about share values is the same as the arithmetic of thinking about sex. The average length of time for which buyers hold shares today is very short. But the average length of time for which shares have been held by their current owner is much longer. There are many more high frequency trades than passive investors, but passive investors hold a high proportion of outstanding shares.

你可能會覺得這件事並沒有那麼重要。但今年夏天，英國商務大臣文斯•凱布爾(Vince Cable)讓我花一整年的時間對股票市場做些思考，結果我發現，股票價值思考所適用的計算，與性思考所適用的計算是相同的。現在買股票的人的平均持股時間是很短的，但股票在其當前持有者手中停留的平均時間卻長得多。高頻交易的交易量遠比被動投資者的交易量大得多，但被動投資者所持股票在已發行股票中佔很大比例。

The people queuing for a bus are the people whose bus has not arrived, and the people on yachts are those whose boat came in. What we see will always be influenced by the ways in which the sample studied is selected. The traders we interview are mostly successful because mostly it is the successful who are still trading – and this past success may be no guide to future performance. As the essayist Nassim Taleb has observed, we are regularly fooled by randomness, identifying skill where there was only luck, finding patterns in data when none really exist.

排隊在那兒等公交車的，是還沒等到公交車的人。坐在遊艇上的，則是已買到遊艇的人。我們觀察到的現象，永遠都會受研究樣本選擇方式的影響。我們採訪的交易員大多是成功的，因為大多數情況下，仍在從事交易的人正是那些成功者——但過去的成功並不構成未來表現的指引。正如作家納西姆•塔勒布(Nassim Taleb)觀察到的，我們經常被隨機性所欺騙，在那些只由運氣決定的情況中尋找技巧，在實際上毫無規律的數據中尋找規律。

The sometimes counter-intuitive mathematics of variation crops up in many different places. If Persil is sometimes on special offer, the percentage increase when it goes back to its usual price will be larger than the percentage price reduction when it goes on special. If that seems an unremarkable fact, it was enough to send several hundred thousand government employees on strike a month ago.

有時候，這種與直覺認識相反的、關於“變動”的數學運算也出現在其它地方。如果寶瑩(Persil)洗滌劑偶爾進行一次特價促銷，那麼從特價恢復為原價時價格上漲的百分比，會高於從原價降為特價時價格下跌的百分比。儘管這個事實看似再正常不過，但它卻足以讓數十萬政府工作人員在上月舉行罷工了。

The average of price changes shows an increase even though the price has remained the same. And perhaps you buy more, perhaps even spend more, when the item is on offer than when it is at full price. After all, that is why they put it on special. These issues pose problems for compilers of price indices, and there are different methods of handling them. That is the principal reason why the new European harmonised index of consumer prices generally increases by less than the old retail prices index. The UK chancellor George Osborne is planning to make large savings in public expenditure by shifting pension indexation from one basis to the other.

儘管整個促銷過程結束後價格實際上與原來完全相同，但價格變幅的平均值卻顯示價格出現上漲。當商品處於促銷時，你的購買量甚至購買額很可能會比商品處於原價時要多。畢竟，商家特價促銷的目的就在於此。這些情況給價格指數的編制者造成了麻煩。我們可用多種方法來解決這些麻煩。歐洲新的“消費價格調和指數”(HICP)通常比原先的零售價格指數(RPI)漲幅更小，其主要原因也在於此。英國財政大臣喬治•奧斯本(George Osborne)正打算將編制養老金指數所基的指數從RPI換為HICP，以節省巨額公共開支。

The same problem arises in measuring benchmarks and portfolio performance in equity markets. If you average a 50 per cent fall and a 100 per cent increase, you show a 25 per cent gain. But if that happened to your shares, you would – just – have recouped your initial investment. Neither method of calculation is necessarily a guarantee to the experience of real investors.

在衡量股市基準和投資組合表現時，也會產生相同的問題。將50%的跌幅和100%的漲幅相平均，得到的結果是上漲了25%。但如果這種情況發生在你的股票上，那你就只是收回初始投資而已。這兩種計算方法得出的結果，都未必與投資者在現實中的感受相符。

I may have made another mistake in my earlier column. Since it appeared, details have been published of a study by researchers at Ohio State University. They surveyed college students – who, one might expect, think about sex more often than the average of the population. The subjects were asked to make a note each time the topic entered their heads. Men thought about sex, on average, 19 times a day (the figure for women was only 10). Does this mean that we should correct “every seven seconds” to “on average, once every waking hour”? Only if men think about sex at absolutely regular intervals. And neither love nor equity markets are so predictable.

在先前的專欄文章中，我可能還出過另一個錯誤。那篇文章發表後，俄亥俄州立大學(Ohio State University)的研究人員發布了一項調查的詳細結果。人們可能認為大學生想到性的頻率比一般人高，於是研究人員就對大學生進行了調查。他們要求調查對象每次想到性時，就在記錄中記上一筆。結果顯示，男生平均每天有19次想到性（女生則只有10次）。這是不是意味著，應該把“每7秒”修改成“醒著的時候平均每小時想到一次”？不見得，除非男人想到性的時間間隔是絕對固定的。而且，無論是預測愛情還是預測股市，都沒那麼容易。

譯者/何黎

感謝有您邁向2012

2011-12-29T17:30:00.001-08:00

感謝有您 邁向2012

hc的”剪貼簿”在2011年約有25萬人次造訪

戴明圈: A Taiwanese Deming Circle

"交情千千" 電子連絡簿(日報)

胡適的世界 The World of Hu Shih

管理學新生

 Books Birdviews 書海

 People 人物

 品質世界 quality world

教育人

 英文人行道 et cetera, et cetera .

漢語人行道：演變風貌

 譯藝

 英國風

 日本心得帖

 亞洲

 SHE健康一生

“設計缺陷和管理不善”是動車事故主因

2011-12-28T16:28:00.000-08:00

新聞報導 | 2011.12.28
“設計缺陷和管理不善”是動車事故主因

7·23事故現場
7·23事故現場
週三，中國國務院發布了關於高速鐵路安全大檢查情況報告，認為設計缺陷和管理不善是造成7·23特大動車事故的主要原因。有54名相關責任人要接受調查處理。

12月28日，中國總理溫家寶召開國務院常務會議，聽取了關於中國高鐵安全檢查的報告。據法新社報導，這份備受矚目的報告認為，今年夏天造成至少40人死亡，近200受傷的甬溫線動車追尾事故主要事故原因是：列車控制中心存在嚴重的設計缺陷、上道使用審查不嚴、雷擊導致故障之後應急處理不力等人為原因。該報告還指出，在7·23動車追尾事故發生之後，"在事故搶險救援過程中，鐵道部和上海鐵路局存在處置不當、信息發布不及時、對社會關切回應不准確等問題，在社會上造成不良影響。"

這一動車事故不僅造成了嚴重的傷亡和損失，而且在社會上引起了強烈的批評浪潮。中國政府也不得不暫時控制高速鐵路的發展速度。廣大網民和微博用戶要求查清真相，為什麼在前面一列火車因故障停下來之後，後面的一列動車竟然沒有及時得到相關信息。還有很多網民對於官方公佈的死亡人數表示質疑。甚至中國共產黨的黨報《人民日報》也發表文章呼籲，發展必須安全至上，不要"帶血的GDP"。

動車事故也成為2011熱點新聞話題動車事故也成為2011熱點新聞話題

根據周三公佈的國務院報告，原鐵道部部長劉志軍、原副總工程師兼運輸局局長張曙光負有主要領導責任，因涉嫌嚴重違紀違法，另案一併處理。除此之外，還有鐵道部的多名高層幹部、通信信號公司的相關負責人都被認定有重要領導責任，給予相應的處分，並就他們是否涉嫌犯罪立案調查。

劉志軍今年2月因貪污腐敗指控而被免職，據悉，他涉嫌從與中國高速鐵路建設相關項目中貪污了超過8億人民幣。

包括動車組在內的中國高速鐵路網2007年才開通使用，但是由於國家投入巨資支持，高鐵網以驚人的速度發展膨脹，截至今年年底，全國高速鐵路全長已達8358公里，為全世界之最。 2010年12月，鐵道部宣布，中國的高速鐵路最高時速能夠達到486公里，創下世界紀錄。但是在高速鐵路正式投入運營之後不久，種種問題就接連暴露：多次出現列車因遭遇雷擊而斷電停車的情況，而7月23日的動車追尾事故更是造成了嚴重的傷亡。目前，出於安全問題的擔憂，中國當局決定，將高鐵運行速度控制在300公里/小時以內。

來源：法新社，編譯：雨涵

責編：達揚

新闻报道 | 2011.12.28

“设计缺陷和管理不善”是动车事故主因

7·23事故现场

周三，中国国务院发布了关于高速铁路安全大检查情况报告，认为设计缺陷和管理不善是造成7·23特大动车事故的主要原因。有54名相关责任人要接受调查处理。

12月28日，中国总理温家宝召开国务院常务会议，听取了关于中国高铁安全检查的报告。据法新社报道，这份备受瞩目的报告认为，今年夏天造成至少40人死亡，近200受伤的甬温线动车追尾事故主要事故原因是：列车控制中心存在严重的设计缺陷、上道使用审查不严、雷击导致故障之后应急处理不力等人为原因。该报告还指出，在7·23动车追尾事故发生之后，"在事故抢险救援过程中，铁道部和上海铁路局存在处置不当、信息发布不及时、对社会关切回应不准确等问题，在社会上造成不良影响。"

这一动车事故不仅造成了严重的伤亡和损失，而且在社会上引起了强烈的批评浪潮。中国政府也不得不暂时控制高速铁路的发展速度。广大网民和微博用户要求查清真相，为什么在前面一列火车因故障停下来之后，后面的一列动车竟然没有及时得到相关信息。还有很多网民对于官方公布的死亡人数表示质疑。甚至中国共产党的党报《人民日报》也发表文章呼吁，发展必须安全至上，不要"带血的GDP"。

动车事故也成为2011热点新闻话题

根据周三公布的国务院报告，原铁道部部长刘志军、原副总工程师兼运输局局长张曙光负有主要领导责任，因涉嫌严重违纪违法，另案一并处理。除此之外，还有铁道部的多名高层干部、通信信号公司的相关负责人都被认定有重要领导责任，给予相应的处分，并就他们是否涉嫌犯罪立案调查。

刘志军今年2月因贪污腐败指控而被免职，据悉，他涉嫌从与中国高速铁路建设相关项目中贪污了超过8亿人民币。

包括动车组在内的中国高速铁路网2007年才开通使用，但是由于国家投入巨资支持，高铁网以惊人的速度发展膨胀，截至今年年底，全国高速铁路全长已达 8358公里，为全世界之最。2010年12月，铁道部宣布，中国的高速铁路最高时速能够达到486公里，创下世界纪录。但是在高速铁路正式投入运营之后不久，种种问题就接连暴露：多次出现列车因遭遇雷击而断电停车的情况，而7月23日的动车追尾事故更是造成了严重的伤亡。目前，出于安全问题的担忧，中国当局决定，将高铁运行速度控制在300公里/小时以内。

来源：法新社，编译：雨涵

责编：达扬

Knowledge@Wharton /HBS Working Knowledge

2011-12-27T04:15:00.000-08:00

Knowledge@Wharton /HBS Working Knowledge

美國著名商學院的newsletters...

Duke, Google turn hog waste into clean energy

2011-12-26T21:20:00.000-08:00

Duke, Google turn hog waste into clean energy

David Zucchino, Los Angeles Times

Monday, December 26, 2011

Yadkinville, N.C. -- Loyd Bryant used to pump manure from his 8,640 hogs into a fetid lagoon, where it raised an unholy stink and released methane and ammonia into the air. The tons of manure excreted daily couldn't be used as fertilizer because of high nitrogen content.

The solution to Bryant's hog waste problem was right under his nose - in the manure itself.

A new waste-processing system - essentially a small power plant - installed on his 154-acre farm uses bacteria to digest the waste and burns methane to produce electricity. It also converts toxic ammonia into forms of nitrogen that can be used as fertilizer for more profitable crops.

Waste-to-energy systems have been around for at least 15 years. But Duke University, which helped develop and pay for Bryant's system, says this one is the cleanest in existence - and virtually the only one that tackles all of the environmental problems created by animal waste.

Simple process

The system was built with off-the-shelf parts and simple design plans that are free for the asking. It's poised to become the standard for a cleaner waste-to-energy model that brings together farmers, utilities and private companies in an environmentally friendly effort.

"It does it in a way that is not overly complicated and stands to yield many more benefits beyond energy production and environmental protection," said Tatjana Vujic, director of Duke University's Carbon Offsets Initiative.

The $1.2 million project is funded by the university, Duke Energy and Google, which operates a data center in nearby Lenoir, N.C. All three, along with Bryant, will benefit.

Bryant saves money on electricity and gets a cleaner farm. Improved air quality in his hog barns also means his pigs will have lower mortality rates and convert feed more efficiently, fattening Bryant's profits.

Duke University and Google earn carbon offset credits from the system. Duke Energy gets renewable energy credits in a state where a new law requires utilities to produce a small percentage of electricity from renewable resources beginning next year. North Carolina is the only state that will require a portion of that set-aside to include electricity produced from hog waste.

Vast amounts of energy

Bryant, whose family has farmed the rolling Piedmont of central North Carolina for four generations, says the 65-kilowatt turbine generates enough electricity to power the system - and five of Bryant's nine hog barns, where giant fans hum day and night. The digester captures methane equivalent to 5,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year and produces enough electricity to power 35 homes a year.

The Duke system is pioneering, said Gary Gero, president of Climate Action Reserve in Los Angeles, a nonprofit group that runs the nation's largest carbon-offset registry and that developed the protocols that register and verify carbon offsets on Bryant's farm.

The number of waste-to-energy systems nationally is growing every year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Last year, 162 digester systems on U.S. farms produced 435 million kilowatt-hours of electricity - enough to power 25,000 homes for a year.

If 8,200 eligible dairy and hog farms nationwide used the systems, the EPA estimates, they could generate enough electricity to power 980,000 homes for a year. They would create the equivalent of removing 6.7 million cars from the roads by reducing methane emissions and avoiding power plant carbon dioxide emissions.

This article appeared on page A - 16 of the San Francisco Chronicle

經營/管理診斷之後驚訝......

2011-12-24T23:42:00.000-08:00

這是英文人行道 blog之一題
喜歡這圖案:經營/管理診斷之後驚訝......

Really?

The Claim: Symptoms of Heart Disease Can Show Up in the Eyes

By ANAHAD O'CONNOR

Studies have shown that higher levels of lipids in the blood can cause some people to develop raised, yellow patches of skin around the eyelids.

VW's BlackBerry email server to clock off alongside the workers

2011-12-23T18:07:00.001-08:00

大眾汽車助員工擺脫黑莓“騷擾”
VW's BlackBerry email server to clock off alongside the workers
英國《金融時報》克里斯•布賴恩特法蘭克福報導

The working day is over and the Christmas holiday has officially begun, but the blinking red light or vibration of a BlackBerry is still maddeningly hard to ignore.

工作日已經結束，聖誕節假期已正式開始，但黑莓(BlackBerry)那閃爍的紅燈或發出的震動仍很難讓人視而不見，真是令人抓狂。

Angered by the blurring of the dividing line between the workplace and home, Volkswagen's powerful works council struck an agreement with management that employees who use a BlackBerry and whose pay is governed by a collective wage tariff agreement will be subject to new email restrictions.

黑莓模糊了工作與家庭生活之間的界線，大眾汽車(Volkswagen)強大的工會對此感到憤怒。為此，它與公司管理層達成了一項協議：使用黑莓、且工資適用一項集體工資協議的員工，將適用新的電子郵件限制規定。

From now, VW's email server will stop routing messages 30 minutes after the end of an employee's shift and will only send emails again half an hour before the next shift begins.

從這一刻起，大眾的電子郵件服務器在員工下班30分鐘之後就將停止向該員工推送郵件，在該員工上班之前30分鐘才會恢復推送郵件。

The agreement is expected to affect more than 1,000 VW employees who have a company BlackBerry. It is unclear if other unionised German companies are considering such a rule.

此項協議預計將影響1000多名擁有公司配發的黑莓的大眾員工。尚不清楚其它已成立工會的德國公司是否也在考慮實施這一規定。

“The new possibilities of communication also contain inherent dangers,” Heinz-Joachim Thust of VW's works council told the Wolfsburger Allgemeine Zeitung.

“新型通信技術也蘊含著固有風險，”大眾汽車工會的海因茨-約阿希姆•圖斯特(Heinz-Joachim Thust)向《沃爾夫斯堡綜合報》(Wolfsburger Allgemeine Zeitung)表示。

A VW works council spokesman confirmed the existence of the agreement but explained that the rule did not apply to senior management or other workers who fall outside trade union-negotiated pay brackets.

該工會的一位發言人確認了該協議的存在，但同時也表示，這一規定不適用於高管，也不適用於未涵蓋在工會談判達成的工資協議之內的員工。

The works council sought the restriction in response to the tendency for BlackBerry users to be contactable by employers at all hours and amid a growing awareness in Germany of the risks of employee “burn-out”.

黑莓用戶隨時可能被雇主聯繫上，另外德國人也日益意識到員工被“累垮”的風險，正是由於這些原因，大眾汽車工會才謀求確立這一限制性規定。

BlackBerrys began life as toys for executives but have since become a staple of corporate life. So great are their perceived addictive powers that the email devices quickly earned the moniker “CrackBerrys”.

黑莓最初只是高管們的玩具，但後來逐漸成為了企業生活的必需品。人們感到很容易對它上癮，以至於這種電子郵件設備很快獲得了“霹靂莓”（CrackBerry，源自Crack cocaine，即霹靂可卡因——譯者註）的綽號。

The works council said that so far there had been very positive feedback to the new email rules which came into force earlier this year. Workers will still be able to make phone calls using their BlackBerrys at any time.

大眾汽車工會表示，新規於今年早些時候開始生效，迄今獲得的反饋非常積極。員工仍將能夠在任何時候用黑莓打電話。

Volkswagen has been working flat out this year as it bids to overtake Toyota and General Motors as the world's biggest carmaker by sales.

由於聲稱要超越豐田汽車(Toyota)和通用汽車(General Motors)成為全球銷量最大的汽車製造商，大眾今年一直開足馬力運轉。

Martin Winterkorn, chief executive, recently congratulated workers on completing 38 extra shifts and producing 50,000 additional vehicles, putting VW on track to sell more than 8m cars this year.

大眾首席執行官文德恩(Martin Winterkorn)近日祝賀員工們完成了38次額外輪班，使產量增加了5萬輛，為大眾今年銷量超過800萬輛奠定了基礎。

Mr Thust did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. It is unclear if his BlackBerry was switched off.

圖斯特沒有立即回復請他就此事置評的電子郵件。不知他的黑莓是否處在關機狀態。

譯者/方舟

FANUC 公司

2011-12-23T03:52:00.000-08:00

McLennan Likes Japan's Fanuc, Nissin Foods, SMC
Washington Post
22 (Bloomberg) -- Matthew McLennan, portfolio manager at First Eagle Funds, talks about investment strategy and opportunities in Japan. He speaks with Adam Johnson on Bloomberg Television's "Street Smart." (Source: Bloomberg) (/Bloomberg) Correction: ...

About FANUC

FANUC's businesses were founded in 1956 when it started to develop numerical controls (NCs) and servo systems.
Since its founding, FANUC has always emphasized research and development in its management.

FANUC's History

為台灣機械發展全力以赴

本公司自1986年12月創立以來，承蒙台灣工具機業界的支持，使我們的業務能順利的發展，在此深致謝意。

為了回報台灣工具機業界各位的深情厚意與期待，本公司於1999年完成了一個具有最新產品展示之技術中心，我們以新技術中心之開啟，期望能更進一步加強與改善日本FANUC產品的販賣、技術支援與服務。

台灣發那科自動化股份有限公司，以盡力為台灣工具機業界與客戶提供最完善的服務為目標，全力以赴，並衷心希望各位先進能繼續惠予支持與愛護。

台灣發那科自動化股份有限公司除了販賣CNC數值控制器系統、伺服馬達系統與雷射發振器系統外，並提供該商品的售後維修服務。

技術中心內設有常設展示場、展示FANUC FA相關最新商品之外，還提供客戶有關商品最新資訊及技術研修課程、和技術研修說明會。

營業項目

FANUC CNC 系列、FANUC 伺服馬達系列、FANUC 雷射系統
、FANUC 機器人系統

日本FANUC

台灣發那科自動化股份有限公司簡介


	公司名稱		台灣發那科自動化股份有限公司

	設立年月日		1986年12月9日

	資本額		NT$1,395,900,000

	技術中心(營業部)		407-68台中市台中工業區16路10號
			電話：(04)2359-0522
			傳真：(04)2359-0771

	工廠(管理部)		電話：(04)2359-9101
			傳真：(04)2359-2605

zero-based cost management 這玩意至少有近60年的歷史了

2011-12-20T00:03:00.000-08:00

zero-based cost management 這玩意至少有近60年的歷史了

Resetting the Cost Structure at Shell
by Gerard Paulides

A senior finance executive explains how a zero-based cost management effort is leading to significant performance improvements.

Click here to read the full article.

Click here to comment on this article.

zero-based
(zîr'ō-bās', zē'rō-) or ze·ro-based (-bāst')
adj.
Having each expenditure or item justified as to need or cost: "Zero-base budgeting requires its practitioners to justify every dollar they spend" (Wall Street Journal).

各信用評級機構受法國央行行長批評

2011-12-17T19:33:00.000-08:00

2011年12月16日 07:14 AM
法國央行行長：英國才應被降級
Rating agencies under fire from Paris
英國《金融時報》喬治•帕克倫敦, 詹姆斯•麥金托什, 彼得•施皮格爾布魯塞爾, 休•卡內基巴黎報導

The governor of France's central bank attacked credit rating agencies yesterday, calling them “incomprehensible and irrational” as Paris braces for a potential downgrade of the country's triple A status.

法國央行行長昨天批評信用評級機構，稱它們“不可理喻且不理性”。目前法國正面對失去3A評級的可能性。

Christian Noyer, head of the Bank of France, said a French downgrade would not be justified on economic fundamentals. On that basis, he added, the agencies should begin by downgrading the triple A rating of Britain, which “has bigger deficits, more debt , higher inflation, less growth than us and where credit is shrinking”.

法國央行(Bank of France)行長克里斯蒂安•諾亞(Christian Noyer)表示，從經濟基本面來看，降低法國評級是沒有根據的。他補充道，從經濟基本面考慮，評級機構應該首先降低英國的3A評級，因為與法國相比，英國“有更高的赤字、債務和通脹，更低的增長，且信貸正在萎縮”。

“We have put in place credible plans for dealing with our deficit – the credibility of our plan can be seen in what happened with the interest rates on our bonds,” said a spokesman for David Cameron, UK prime minister. “The markets clearly don 't agree with Noyer,” added a UK Treasury official. Privately British officials were astonished by the remarks.

“我們已經為對付赤字制定了可信的計劃——其可信度體現在我國債券利率的走勢上，”英國首相戴維•卡梅倫(David Cameron)的發言人表示。 “市場顯然不同意諾亞的觀點，”英國財政部(UK Treasury)一名官員補充道。私下里，英國官員對諾亞的言論感到錯愕。

Despite tensions, Britain, which last week vetoed a new European Union treaty for all 27 member nations, has been given observer status at talks on a new eurozone fiscal treaty.

儘管存在緊張，但上週對歐盟(EU)27個成員國新條約投下否決票的英國，在關於歐元區新財政條約的談判中，仍得到觀察員資格。

UK Treasury officials say the aim is to “police” the talks to ensure that any issues affecting the single market or London's financial industry are discussed by all 27 member states, but Britain will have no formal role in shaping the new treaty.

英國財政部官員表示，英方力求“監督”談判，以確保任何影響單一市場或倫敦金融業的問題，都得到所有27個成員國的討論，但英國在新條約的製定中將沒有正式角色。

Mr Cameron has said he will look with an “open mind” at whether the European Commission and European Court of Justice should be allowed to give the new eurozone fiscal compact teeth. Britain wants to ensure that the EU institutions continue to protect the interests of all 27 member states.

卡梅倫已經表態，他將以“開放的心態”考慮，是否應該允許歐盟委員會(European Commission)和歐洲法院(European Court of Justice)使歐元區新的財政協定具有約束力。英國希望確保歐盟機構繼續保護所有27個成員國的利益。

Separately, a draft prospectus prepared for the eurozone bail-out fund includes investor warnings that the euro could break apart or cease to be a “lawful currency” entirely.

另外，一份為歐元區紓困基金擬定的說明書草案含有針對投資者的警告，稱歐元可能解體，或者完全失去“法定貨幣”的地位。

The European Financial Stability Facility, which is creating the products to insure bonds of troubled states against default, is debating whether the “risk factors” should be included in the final version. In the latest draft, a summary of the dangers includes “risks arising from a Reference Sovereign ceasing to use the euro as its lawful currency . . . or the cessation of the euro as a lawful currency”.

歐洲金融穩定安排(EFSF)正在設計產品，以針對困境國家債券的違約風險提供保險。這只基金正在辯論是否應在最終版本中列入各種“風險因素”。最新版草案列出的風險包括：“由於相關主權國家停止使用歐元作為法定貨幣……即歐元失去法定貨幣地位，而產生的風險”。

Europe's leaders have insisted a euro break-up is unthinkable but last month France's Nicolas Sarkozy and Germany's Angela Merkel accepted that Greece might leave. “If you put something like this in the prospectus you must consider what possible signal effect it has,” said one European official.

歐洲領導人一直堅稱，歐元解體是不堪設想的，但上月法國總統尼古拉•薩科齊(Nicolas Sarkozy)和德國總理安格拉•默克爾(Angela Merkel)承認，希臘可能會退出。 “如果你在說明書中包含這類內容，你必須考慮它可能產生的信號效應，”一位歐洲官員表示。

譯者/方舟

Now the Franco-German question 歐洲前途係於法德關係

2011-12-16T05:38:00.000-08:00

歐洲前途係於法德關係
Now the Franco-German question
作者：英國《金融時報》專欄作家菲利普•斯蒂芬斯

Germany will have to learn leadership, and France followship. Both will find it a wrenching experience. The rules of the European game changed for ever with the reunification of Germany. It has taken the euro crisis to spell out the brutal implications.

德國必須要學會領導，法國則必須學會追隨。兩國都會發現這是一段令人痛苦的過程。德國的統一永久性地改變了歐洲的遊戲規則。人們通過此次歐元危機，清楚地認識到了這種改變帶來的殘酷影響。

One has to feel some sympathy for Angela Merkel. Germany's chancellor has been excoriated in turn for absent and for oppressive leadership. At one moment she is said to be standing idly by while the euro burns, and at the next of issuing teutonic diktats about the terms of its survival. Germany, the rest of us have been reminded, has always been too big for Europe.

人們不得不對德國總理安格拉•默克爾(Angela Merkel)感到些許同情。默克爾因置身事外的態度和強勢的領導作風而備受指責。一分鐘前，人們還指責她在歐元陷入水深火熱之際袖手旁觀，一分鐘後，又指責她為紓困歐元製定日耳曼式的苛刻條款。這些批評聲音不斷提醒著我們，對歐洲而言，德國總是太大了。

The new German question asks whether Europe – whether it is the European Union or a more closely integrated eurozone – can find a new equilibrium now that Germany is so visibly the preponderant power. This in turn marks the return of the Franco-German question. Berlin is assuming the role of leader with a mixture of hesitancy and tetchiness. Paris will struggle mightily to accept the place of follower.

既然德國非常明顯的是主導力量，那麼新出現的德國問題關係到，歐洲——不管是歐盟(EU)還是一體化程度更高的歐元區——能否達到一種新的平衡。這實際上標誌著問題重新回到了法德關係上。德國帶著幾分猶豫和幾分急躁承擔著領導人的職責，法國則會強烈抵觸追隨者的角色。

The choreography is calculated to conceal this redistribution of power. The euro crisis has been cast as the Angela and Nicolas show – the German and French leaders smiling for the cameras at the Élysée; a jointly signed missive spelling out a euro rescue plan.

這種安排的宗旨是揭示權力的重新分配。歐元危機已經成為默克爾和法國總統尼古拉•薩科齊(Nicolas Sarkozy)兩人的秀場——兩國領導人在愛麗舍宮面對著鏡頭微笑，共同簽署歐元紓困計劃。

This is called keeping up appearances. For France, the survival of the euro is existential. Never mind the initial, enormous economic shock that would follow its failure. The break-up of monetary union would most likely see France slide into the continent's second division . Europe is the engine room of French power. Without it there would be nothing left of its global pretensions.

這就是所謂的裝點門面。對法國而言，歐元能否存續是一個關係到生死存亡的問題，更遑論歐元失敗後接踵而至的巨大的經濟衝擊。歐元區解體最有可能讓法國淪為歐洲大陸的二流國家。歐洲是法國能量的引擎。沒有歐洲，法國在全球就不會剩下多少話語權。

Mr Sarkozy, of course, has been fighting his corner – pressing for a Gaullist, intergovernmental arrangement rather than a leap to fiscal federalism. France has been attuned to the danger of Berlin's habit of elevating the avoidance of moral hazard above restoring confidence in financial markets .

當然，薩科齊一直在維護自己的主張——呼籲推行戴高樂主義式的政府間合作，而不是大躍進至財政聯盟。德國習慣於將避免道德風險置於恢復金融市場信心之上，法國也已經習慣於這種風險。

In the end, however, Berlin has prevailed. As Charles Grant of the Centre for European Reform has observed, the proposals for a stability union presented to the Brussels summit were essentially written in Germany, even if the odd page was edited in Paris.

然而，德國最終佔據了上風。正如歐洲改革中心(Centre for European Reform)的查爾斯•格蘭特(Charles Grant)所言，提交至布魯塞爾峰會的建立“穩定聯盟”的提案基本上是德國編寫的，儘管有幾頁法國進行了校訂。

Assuming (perhaps foolishly) agreement at the summit, the present approach should secure a second chance for the euro: the more so if it provides cover for decisive intervention in the markets by the European Central Bank. But for the very reason it has been written in Germany, the strategy fails to offer a sustainable long-term answer.

如果能在峰會上達成一致（這樣想或許很愚蠢），當前的做法應該會為歐元提供第二次機會：如果它為歐洲央行(ECB)果斷干預市場提供掩護，就更會如此。但考慮到該提案是在德國編寫的，這一策略未能提供一個可持續的長期解決方案。

The economic argument at the heart of all this never really changes. Instead it returns again and again to the disagreement that surfaced nearly 70 years ago among policymakers at Bretton Woods.

所有這些問題的核心經濟論點從未真正改變過。實際上，它一次又一次地回到近70年前布雷頓森林(Bretton Woods)會議上政策制定者的分歧之上。

In 1944 John Maynard Keynes argued forcefully that the planned new exchange rate regime required symmetrical obligations on creditor and debtor countries to deal with any imbalances. If the system was to endure, austerity on one side had to be balanced by growth on the other.

1944年，約翰•梅納德•凱恩斯(John Maynard Keynes)極力主張，擬議中的新匯率體制需要債權國和債務國對半分擔解決一切失衡問題的責任。這種體制要想持續下去，一方的緊縮必須由另一方的增長來平衡。

Keynes lost the argument then, but governments have been returning to it ever since. During the 1980s it was at the heart of economic discord between the US on one side and Germany and Japan on the other. It runs through today's trade tensions between Washington and Beijing.

當時人們沒有接受凱恩斯的觀點，但自那以後各國政府一直在重新提起這種觀點。上世紀80年代，這是美國與德日經濟紛爭的核心所在，現在則貫穿於美中之間的各種貿易紛爭當中。

The big irony, though, is that this very same debate was present at the creation of the single currency. François Mitterrand's effort at the start of the 1980s to pursue an expansionary economic policy ended in humiliation when Helmut Kohl made fiscal rigour the price of the franc's continued place in the European exchange rate system. France resolved never again.

然而，最為諷刺的是，在單一貨幣體系創立的問題上，也有過一模一樣的辯論。上世紀80年代初，法國前總統弗朗索瓦•密特朗(François Mitterrand)努力推行擴張性的經濟政策，這一努力最終以蒙羞的失敗告終，因為德國前總理赫爾穆特•科爾(Helmut Kohl)要求法國推行緊縮的財政政策，以換取法郎保留在歐洲匯率體系中的位置。法國從此一蹶不振。

The outcome was the “franc fort” policy and a push to share economic decision-making between Germany and France. Once the D-Mark had been subsumed in a single currency, the austerity versus growth argument would finally be settled. That was the theory .

於是就有了“強勢法郎政策”的出台，以及推動德法共享經濟決策權的努力。一旦德國馬克加入單一貨幣體系，有關緊縮對增長的爭論就會最終得到解決。這就是當時的理論。

Germany is now within reach of the political integration it sought as a counterpart to monetary union when the euro was established. The danger is an assumption in Berlin that the new structure can be built to an entirely German design.

歐元創立之初，德國就希望建立一個政治同盟，與貨幣同盟相對應，如今，這一願望已不再遙不可及。然而，德國政府認為，新的政治結構可以完全由德國來設計，這種想法十分危險。

Ms Merkel's stability union will endure only if it acknowledges that Keynes was more than half-right. Any supranational scheme, whether enshrined in treaty or otherwise, that condemns much of Europe to indefinite austerity will not survive the realities of national politics.

除非承認凱恩斯的理論基本正確，否則默克爾的“穩定聯盟”不可能持久。面對各國國內政治的現實，任何迫使歐洲大部分國家無限期實行緊縮政策的超國家計劃都不可能維持下去——即使有條約或別的形式做保證也不行。

If German leadership is to avoid being oppressive, it must recognise that fiscal union cannot be a one-sided affair. It was encouraging this week to hear Ms Merkel talk about the competitiveness problems in the weaker eurozone economies. It would be more so were she to talk about formulating a strategy for growth.

如果德國想讓大家心服口服地聽自己的，它必須認識到：財政聯盟必須不偏不倚。本週，默克爾談到了歐元區較弱經濟體的競爭力問題，這令人鼓舞。如果她能夠談一談制定促進增長策略的問題，那將更加令人鼓舞。

For its part, France must begin to reimagine the political geography of Europe. The Franco-German relationship will always be a pivotal one, but it is now unequivocally unequal. Paris needs friends beyond Berlin – in Warsaw, Rome and Madrid. If Britain's Tory party were ever to leave behind its European nightmare, there would also be a case to revive the old entente.

就法國而言，它必須開始重新設想歐洲的地緣政治形勢。法德關係將永遠是最重要的關係，但如今這種關係已變得明顯不平等了。巴黎需要在柏林以外尋找新的盟友——在華沙、羅馬和馬德里。如果有朝一日英國的保守黨決定擺脫自己在歐陸的噩夢，或許法國也可以與其恢復以往的同盟關係。

Radoslaw Sikorski, Poland's foreign minister, recently told an audience in Berlin that the big threat to Europe came not from German power but from German inactivity. Given the two countries' history, that was a pretty brave thing to say. Few would dispute that the survival of the euro now rests with German leadership. There must be more to that leadership, though, than the promise of austerity.

波蘭外長拉多斯瓦夫•西科爾斯基(Radoslaw Sikorski)最近在柏林發表了這樣的言論：歐洲面臨的一大威脅，不是德國的權力，而是德國的不作為。考慮到兩國的歷史淵源，發表這番言論需要相當的勇氣。歐元的存亡如今有賴於德國的領導，這一點基本毋庸置疑。然而，德國的領導必須帶來更多的東西，而不只是緊縮承諾。

譯者/何黎

欧洲前途系于法德关系英
FT专栏作家斯蒂芬斯：德国在欧债危机中占据主导地位，

这实际上标志着问题重新回到了法德关系上。德国必须要学会领导，法国则必须学会追随。

Fitch Ratings下調了6家跨國銀行的評級

2011-12-15T23:04:00.001-08:00

惠

譽國際評級(Fitch Ratings)下調了6家跨國銀行的評級﹐理由是這些銀行的業務模式對金融市場面臨的經濟和監管挑戰尤為敏感。該機構同時表示﹐美國政府對銀行業的支持力度正在下降。

惠譽將美國銀行(Bank of America Co.)和高盛集團(Goldman Sachs Group Inc.)的長期發行人違約評級(IDR)從A+下調至A﹐並將法國巴黎銀行(BNP Paribas S.A.)的評級從AA-下調至A+。

該機構還將巴克萊集團(Barclays PLC)和瑞士信貸集團(Credit Suisse Group AG)的評級從AA-下調兩檔至A﹐並將德意志銀行(Deutsche Bank AG)的評級從AA-下調至A+。該機構還下調了上述六家銀行的個別實力評級(VRs)﹐並對摩根士丹利(Morgan Stanley)和法國興業銀行(Societe Generale)採取了相同舉措。

惠譽表示﹐個別實力評級下調對上述6家銀行發行人違約評級的影響取決於它們的支持評級底線。不過該機構表示﹐由於這幾家銀行在充實資本金和增加流動性緩沖以抵御市場挑戰方面取得了顯著進步﹐因此評級的下調僅限於一至兩檔。

Nathalie Tadena

馬英九的女兒: 101的煙火秀醜聞

2011-12-15T21:38:00.000-08:00

約20年前敦化南路有一家著名的美國顧問公司
它的新進職員中有一位姓陳的留美高材生
這家M顧問公司或許只要陳姓之名就可蒙其祖父的遺澤接到許多肥美的政府案子

這情形與馬英九的女兒在蔡國強的公司任小職員的情形是類似的
結果是101的煙火秀醜聞

西門子 v 東芝

2011-12-15T20:55:00.000-08:00

【西門子“告別核電”的勝算（1）】再次進軍核電的計劃落空德國知名重型機電企業西門子將完全撤離核電事業。……

約10年前日本的Toshiba 公司大舉收購世界核電事業部成為一霸

Facebook 疲勞症

2011-12-12T19:09:00.000-08:00

2. Facebook Fatigue: Is This the Beginning of the End for the Web Giant?

By Ben Bajarin

Many of the young people I surveyed conveyed that they were ready for something else. Call me crazy, but I firmly believe that Facebook has either peaked or is on the cusp of peaking.

McDonald's 11月份全球同店銷售額增長7.4%

2011-12-08T16:52:00.001-08:00

麥

當勞(McDonald's Corp.) 11月份全球同店銷售額增長7.4%﹐增幅高於預期﹐因該公司擴大了在歐洲市場的中高端產品供應﹐同時在美國市場McCafe產品線中加入Peppermint Mocha品牌。

接受Consensus Metrix調查的分析師此前預計﹐麥當勞開業時間不短於13個月的餐廳11月份總銷售額將增長4.9%。

11月份美國市場同店銷售額增長6.5%﹐增幅高於分析師的預測值4.28%。

當月歐洲市場同店銷售額增長6.5%﹐增幅高於分析師的預測值4.24%﹐主要受英國、法國、俄羅斯和德國市場的良好表現推動。

當月亞太、中東和非洲地區同店銷售額增長8.1%﹐分析師此前預計增幅為5.63%。

Berlin's creative community wary of minimum wage

2011-12-08T16:40:00.000-08:00

The Tourist City Berlin: Tourism & Architecture

Labor Market | 07.12.2011

Berlin's creative community wary of minimum wage

Bianca Lean has found it hard to support herself as an artist

The German government's move to reform minimum wage legislation is popular, but Berlin's creative community is concerned about the consequences. Will they become starving artists?

Berlin has long been a hub of European subculture. The city attracts hordes of artists, musicians and creative entrepreneurs, beckoned by the cheap living costs and teeming nightlife. Combined with a huge turnover of tourists, this translates into an incredibly young, transient population with high levels of unemployment. Many young people who migrate to the city find themselves working low-wage cash jobs without employee benefits - and struggling to sustain their creative aspirations.

Twenty-four-year-old Bianca Lean is an Australian visual artist who moved to Berlin in 2009. Since then, she has worked a range of low-wage positions to stay afloat and support her art career. After six months in Paris, she decided to move to Berlin because of its wealth of independent galleries and low cost of living.

She initially secured an internship at a marketing company, plugging search engine optimization keywords into Google for 3.50 euros ($4.70) an hour. She also worked weekends at a bar for four euros an hour. Her hours ranged from none in a week to consecutive 15-hour shifts.

Later, Bianca worked as a baker for two different businesses after quitting her previous jobs. She was paid under the table in cash and was able to pay her rent and live quite comfortably. But working 12-hour shifts, up to six days a week, left no time for her art.

Young artists often tend to work at restaurants and bars"It's a Catch 22 - now I have enough money to go traveling or do anything I want to, but I still haven't created any work out of it. I've had one exhibition and quite a few bits and pieces (…) - but it's not what I expected I would have been able to accomplish," she said.

Stories like Bianca's are commonplace, particularly among artists looking for side jobs while focusing on their true passion. Germany is one of only seven EU nations without a binding minimum wage. Instead, it has a set of union-negotiated "wage floors" for some industries - which vary from state to state - and no minimum at all for others.

Although unemployment as a whole dropped to its lowest level in 20 years in September 2011 - with less than 2.8 million Germans without work - the number of negotiated salaries in low-wage jobs has dropped just as significantly over the past year, according to figures from the Hans Böckler Foundation. This figure is disproportionately represented in eastern Germany, where the wage floors for many industries are consistently lower than their western counterparts.

No standard minimum wage

Currently, the hospitality industry - which employs a large number of inspiring artists - has no set wage floor, but there are enforceable provisions for the rights of employees when an employer holds a voluntary contract with a union. The government has ignored union calls to introduce a general minimum wage, but is currently proposing to facilitate agreements for industries that don't yet have an agreed minimum rate.

Despite the challenges in remaining financially sustainable, Bianca said that an increase in the minimum wage for her industry to 8.50 euros per hour would have a minimal effect on her lifestyle.

Heilmann wants a general minimum wage of 8.50 euros per hour"I don't think it would have much of an impact at all. I'm getting paid under the table anyway, and I make up to 10 euros an hour in tips depending on the day, so I don't think an extra euro or two would help me because I'd have to pay taxes on it - I could end up losing money," she explained.

Bianca is preparing to move back to Sydney, due in part to her frustration at the challenges of supporting herself and remaining productive in Berlin.

Micha Heilmann is head of the legal department for the Gewerkschaft Nahrung-Genuss-Gaststätten (NGG), Germany's food and catering union, which has been a long-time campaigner for a minimum wage across industries.

"If we were to have a minimum wage for the hospitality industry, that would help people if it were, say, 8.50 or 7.50 [euros per hour] to start with, and of course if they always have a sufficient amount of part-time work," he said.

As far as under-the-table work goes, Heilmann believes the existing proposal will do nothing to address the issue. He knows how often low-wage earners are pressured into situations like Bianca's, and believes much stronger regulation is needed.

What's in it for employers?

Matt Kenevin, one of three owner-operators of Berlin's Mexican restaurant Maria Peligro, takes a different view. He said that the NGG's proposed 8.50-euro hourly wage could potentially drive them out of business altogether.

Kenevin wants to see breaks for small businesses

Kenevin and his partners have worked hard to build their business' reputation as a place that gives back to the creative community and treats its workers fairly. He works the bar every day, his chef and kitchen hand are fulltime, and he pays his servers' health insurance, even though he's not required to by law.

But the influx of investment in Berlin's real estate market - the main driver of the hotly debated gentrification of inner suburbs Kreuzberg and Neukölln - has sent rent prices rocketing. Kenevin said that running Maria Pelligro "by the book" means that money is tight, and that competitors don't always take this approach.

"Our staff costs are already through the roof, I honestly don't think it would be worth running a business if the rent goes up again and the wages go up like that," he said. "There's no way they can put the rates up and expect people to pay it. It'll encourage more and more people to keep people off the books. They also have to help out the employers."

For the time being at least, creative types are still flocking to the "poor, but sexy" German capital. But just how long they stay, remains to be seen.

Author: Daniel Bishton
Editor: Kate Bowen

蘋論：政府沒有長照規劃

2011-12-07T19:57:00.001-08:00

蘋論：政府沒有長照規劃

2011年 12月08日

我們社會有一個共同的噩夢，就是對老年失能者的長期照護問題。比這更大的噩夢是政府的迂腐，阻礙了民眾解決長照問題的途徑。

以前，人們的壽命不長，平均壽命僅50多歲，即使有長壽者需要長期照護的，也有大家庭吸收，分攤照護的重擔。現在的小家庭，在薪資普遍低落的情況下，即使夫妻雙薪也負擔不起長照的開支，更何況夫妻必須有一人辭職專事長照。

中產階級負擔不起

目前台灣社會老人去世前，平均7年躺在床上或坐輪椅無法自理生活。本國籍照服員人數不足，而且要求月薪很高，平均6到8萬元，還每天只工作8小時。更糟的是即使願意出到10萬元，還常常找不到人願意日夜照護。這樣的價碼，一般中產階級如何負擔得起？很多家庭就因為父母長照問題而經濟崩潰、家庭解組。

本國勞工望之卻步

為什麼不開放外勞自由進口？政府嚴控外勞人數的理由是：避免剝奪本勞的就業機會。是嗎？不是掩耳盜鈴嗎？本勞根本不願從事長照，他們寧願失業也不做。原因是：工作時間太長、太累、沒有尊嚴、沒有前途、也不願意住進長照家庭。外勞就沒這些問題。所以，政府以為開放外勞會剝奪本勞的就業機會，其實是想當然耳的錯誤推論；結果是家庭陷入困境、本勞還是失業的雙輸局面。
台灣目前的長照及護理人員約3萬人，而外籍看護今年10月底總共18萬4182人，可見本籍照服員人數的短缺。政府在照服員的訓練、教育、證照分級等制度方面沒有規劃，使本勞對長照工作望之卻步；但又限制外勞的人數，豈非跟需要長照的家庭過不去？

反製造出大批掮客

政府的昏瞶還不只這些。為了控制外勞人數，政府對請外勞的資格限制甚嚴，須由兩位醫護人員判定，還要滿足嚴苛的巴氏量表的條件，才能請外籍看護。等於把問題推給醫師把關。醫師最好是來申請的一律都不合格，以免出錯還有法律責任。勞委會防弊第一，便民最末，反而製造出大批外勞掮客居中牟利。
就讓市場供需決定外勞的人數，自由開放外籍照服員，只須訂定管理辦法即可。目前政府這種扭曲市場的行徑只會惡化外勞的服務品質和私逃問題，惡化長照家庭的狀況、惡化老人的病情……對誰都沒好處。

Akio Toyoda: trying to get back to making cars fun to drive again

2011-12-07T19:51:00.000-08:00

在東京車展首日的新聞發布會上，豐田社長豐田章一男話聲一落，會場爆發出了熱烈的掌聲。說實話，筆者也覺得眼眶發熱。但這也同時令筆者切身感到，同樣是重建企業，各國的表達方式卻不盡相同……

這新車據說與另一車廠的新車幾乎一模一樣.....

During Toyota's press conference here at the show in Tokyo, CEO Akio Toyoda said that the company is trying to get back to making cars fun to drive again. He's worried that today's kids are more interested in their phones than they are in their cars.

The Toyota 86 is the company's first shot at getting their attention and it should do a pretty good job of it. You can get a full rundown on all the details in our first drive of the Toyota 86 or just take a look at the pictures here.

Google 公司廣告神話

2011-12-07T00:15:00.001-08:00

廣告神話

許多年前知道Google 公司用內容當Keyword設廣告
幾年過去之後我想為賺錢不必堅持此一原則
這正是我從自己的多個blogs 知道的

新聞工作者，黨的宣傳工作者

2011-12-06T17:21:00.000-08:00

新聞報導 | 2011.12.06
"佔凡體"風行中國網絡

新CCTV大樓
新CCTV大樓
據法新社近日報導，中央電視台新任台長胡占凡在一次講話中稱媒體人首先的定位是黨的宣傳工作者，此番言論遭中國網民抨擊，隨即"佔凡體"風行中國網絡。

據新華網消息，11月24日原《光明日報》總編胡占凡被任命為中央電視台台長。免去原台長焦利職務，另有任用。胡占凡早前除任職《光明日報》總編輯，還是中國記者協會的副主席，央視人事變動倍受網民關注，他在早前的講話也被網友整理成"胡占凡語錄"發至網上。

"胡占凡語錄"之一為：一些新聞工作者，沒有把自己定位在黨的宣傳工作者上，而是定位在新聞職業者上，這是定位上的根本錯誤；

法新社隨即在12月4日報導，中國的網民猛烈抨擊胡占凡，認為在中國缺乏獨立的媒體。一位網友也表示，胡占凡的言論表明，共產黨的需要，將永遠被視為在國家和公眾之上。 "

另外，法新社報導中還說，目前中國當局面向全球開展媒體擴張計劃，北京當局預留710億美元資助國有媒體集團的全球擴張，包括中央電視台、新華社和中國國際廣播電台等。其中中央電視台計劃在北美和非洲建立工作室。

網民用"佔凡體"針砭時弊

“胡占凡語錄”出台後，就當前公共事件的熱點，在中國國內微博、Twitter微博等平台上，模仿胡占凡言論的"佔凡體"也開始風行。

網友"橡樹頂牛犢"寫下："有一些二奶,沒有把自己定位在為首長服務上,而是定位在反腐敗上；有一些郭美美,沒有定位在為紅十字會塗脂抹粉上,而是定位在炫富上；一些觀眾,沒有把自己定位在接受宣傳教育上,而是定位在觀賞上,這都是定位上的根本錯誤"

網友"姜波濤洶湧"：有些大使館不把自己定位在氣象研究員角色上，而是定位在大使上，這是嚴重的失職！

網友"全球笑話大本營"："有一些人，沒把自已定位在感謝國家上，而是定位在自已是納稅人上，這是定位上的根本錯誤！"

網友"丁丁的Twitter"：胡占凡同志沒把自己定位在奴才上，而是定位在台長上，這是定位上的根本錯誤。

"網民再創造的方式喚醒沉睡意識"

中國互聯網專家毛向輝在接受德國之聲採訪時表示，當這個信息在國內的網絡上傳播開來，首先引發的是人們對黨、國家、政府之間到底有什麼差別的思考；其次胡占凡的言論象"媒母"一樣，持續發酵，帶給體制不一樣的衝擊力量。

"中國網民越來越聰明，他們已經學會怎樣去用'媒母'的傳播方式，並且自己去開放創造，去反映不同的社會問題以形成整體的社會現象，這種社會現象非常有殺傷力，我們叫做'混搭創造'，可以將沉睡的意識喚醒，人們馬上就會聯想到生活中發生的各種事情，這種社會意識會形成突破。"

毛向輝也認為相比較傳統的對體制的抗爭方式，從早前溫州動車事件中"不管你信不信"再到"佔凡體"，中國網民再創造使公共事件迅速傳播，對消解或認清執政者的狀況很有幫助，網民在用這種方式化解"中心化"的系統。

新闻报道 | 2011.12.06

"占凡体"风行中国网络

新CCTV大楼

据法新社近日报道，中央电视台新任台长胡占凡在一次讲话中称媒体人首先的定位是党的宣传工作者，此番言论遭中国网民抨击，随即"占凡体"风行中国网络。

据新华网消息，11月24日原《光明日报》总编胡占凡被任命为中央电视台台长。免去原台长焦利职务，另有任用。胡占凡早前除任职《光明日报》总编辑，还是中国记者协会的副主席，央视人事变动倍受网民关注，他在早前的讲话也被网友整理成"胡占凡语录"发至网上。

"胡占凡语录"之一为：一些新闻工作者，没有把自己定位在党的宣传工作者上，而是定位在新闻职业者上，这是定位上的根本错误；

法新社随即在12月4日报道，中国的网民猛烈抨击胡占凡，认为在中国缺乏独立的媒体。一位网友也表示，胡占凡的言论表明，共产党的需要，将永远被视为在国家和公众之上。"

另外，法新社报道中还说，目前中国当局面向全球开展媒体扩张计划，北京当局预留710亿美元资助国有媒体集团的全球扩张，包括中央电视台、新华社和中国国际广播电台等。其中中央电视台计划在北美和非洲建立工作室。

网民用"占凡体"针砭时弊

“胡占凡语录”出台后，就当前公共事件的热点，在中国国内微博、Twitter微博等平台上，模仿胡占凡言论的"占凡体"也开始风行。

网友"橡树顶牛犊"写下："有一些二奶,没有把自己定位在为首长服务上,而是定位在反腐败上；有一些郭美美,没有定位在为红十字会涂脂抹粉上,而是定位在炫富上；一些观众,没有把自己定位在接受宣传教育上,而是定位在观赏上,这都是定位上的根本错误"

网友"姜波涛汹涌"：有些大使馆不把自己定位在气象研究员角色上，而是定位在大使上，这是严重的失职！

网友"全球笑话大本营"："有一些人，没把自已定位在感谢国家上，而是定位在自已是纳税人上，这是定位上的根本错误！"

网友"丁丁的Twitter"：胡占凡同志没把自己定位在奴才上，而是定位在台长上，这是定位上的根本错误。

"网民再创造的方式唤醒沉睡意识"

中国互联网专家毛向辉在接受德国之声采访时表示，当这个信息在国内的网络上传播开来，首先引发的是人们对党、国家、政府之间到底有什么差别的思考；其次胡占凡的言论象"媒母"一样，持续发酵，带给体制不一样的冲击力量。

"中国网民越来越聪明，他们已经学会怎样去用'媒母'的传播方式，并且自己去开放创造，去反映不同的社会问题以形成整体的社会现象，这种社会现象非常有杀伤力，我们叫做'混搭创造'，可以将沉睡的意识唤醒，人们马上就会联想到生活中发生的各种事情，这种社会意识会形成突破。"

毛向辉也认为相比较传统的对体制的抗争方式，从早前温州动车事件中"不管你信不信"再到"占凡体"，中国网民再创造使公共事件迅速传播，对消解或认清执政者的状况很有帮助，网民在用这种方式化解"中心化"的系统。

作者：吴雨

责编：邱璧辉

管理學新生

富士康(Foxconn) 高壓失靈....../ 害慘蘋果(Apple)公司: 深陷“中國問題”漩渦

高壓失靈 管理新一代的兩難

Reasonable and non-discriminatory terms

Kodak is at death’s door; Fujifilm, its old rival, is thriving. Why?

Technological change

The last Kodak moment?

Kodak is at death’s door; Fujifilm, its old rival, is thriving. Why?

Acer 的法務部是否要檢討或被檢討/訴該Gianfranco Lanci

Single-Serve Coffee Brewers Make Convenience Costly

With Coffee, the Price of Individualism Can Be High

Single-Serve Coffee Brewers Make Convenience Costly

By OLIVER STRAND

Published: February 7, 2012

Multimedia

The Cost of Coffee From Single-Serve Systems

台灣的一些大王/基金會/報紙

改革董事選舉制促進股東民主

台灣某公司惡搞/Facebook 上市周

Steve Jobs sighted in Taiwan flogging Android tablets

No Vitak Few

Facebook2012/ Google 2004/ Netscape 1995.

上班玩家

‘Aftershock’/ Insatiable consumers are undermining...

‘Aftershock’/ Insatiable consumers are undermining democracyBy ROBERT B. REICH 我們每個人都是共犯 ‘Aftershock’/ Insatiable consumers are undermining...

iPhone 真正的關鍵在設計和軟體啦

2011年美國資訊業C.E.O.的失敗教訓

The Year of C.E.O. Failures Explained

Conoco Phillips agrees $160m payout for China oil spill

Conoco Phillips agrees $160m payout for China oil spill

邦農業部的一頁日曆

日本NEC公司將砍萬人工作

ＮＥＣ、国内外１万人規模削減へ 通期１千億円純損失に

関連トピックス

Japan's NEC to slash 10,000 jobs

The Thought Leader Interview: Meg Wheatley

The Thought Leader Interview: Meg Wheatley

An expert on innovative leadership warns that too many companies are reverting to fear-driven management. Instead, executives should hold to their values and build healthy corporate communities.

Transformative Times: New Opportunities for Business in an Era of Upheaval

產品的成本預估相當簡單:A Gadget Is More Than the Sum of Its Parts

A Gadget Is More Than the Sum of Its Parts

Samsung Places Bet With Logic Chips

BY EVAN RAMSTAD AND JUNG-AH LEE

蘋果電腦公司的高峰

Apple's Profit Doubles on Holiday iPhone 4S Sales

By NICK WINGFIELD

日本人送禮禮數

美國ＴＩ公司日出（ひじ）工場2013年關廠

米ＴＩ、大分の工場閉鎖へ １３年半ばめど５００人削減

外強中乾的 蘋果電腦公司 "i經濟"到"中國血汗工廠"

The iEconomy

How the U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work

By CHARLES DUHIGG and KEITH BRADSHER

中國血汗工廠？倫敦奧委調查 【2012/1/22 14:45】

一心以企業為先 IBM's Samuel J. Palmisano

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好策略，坏策略
Avoiding fluff is the surest route to success

感謝有您邁向2012

蘋論：政府沒有長照規劃

蘋論：政府沒有長照規劃