This blog isn’t really about politics, but a recent statement about Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin struck me. Apparently, she doesn’t need foreign policy experience because Alaska is so close to Russia, with variations on the theme citing from seventy to 300 miles or so. Without even addressing the validity of that logic to begin with, it got me thinking – just how far is Anchorage from Moscow, where the real seat of Russian power lies? The answer to that (and any distance questions) is here, at the Distance Calculator.

Apparently, Anchorage is about 4,350 miles from Moscow, only about four hundred miles closer than Philadelphia, where I’m writing this. I guess that means I’m almost qualified to be vice president. The Drudge report had a different take on this line of argument, but either way the distance calculator is kind of a cool tool.

image in the public domain, from nationalatlas.gov

Post from: EveryJoe

Proximity breeds knowledge, or does it?

The results of the poll: people in Egypt, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Iran, Indonesia, the Palestinian Territories, plus the Muslim population of Nigeria in general are very favorable towards globalization and international trade, with 63% saying that globalization is good for their own country.

This may come as a surprise to some who think of Muslim countries as trying to protect themselves against “western” influences, but it makes perfectly good sense to me. Globalization in general tends to be balancing global wealth, in effect a bit like Robin Hood, taking jobs from the rich countries and giving them to the poor countries. (Ok, I admit the analogy is not great, since we all know that global wealth is still very concentrated in the hands of a few, but middle classes are growing stronger almost everywhere.) The fact that globalization brings jobs to developing countries would tend to make people in those countries see globalization favorably; anti-globalization movements, on the other hand, mostly come from developed countries who are adjusting to job losses in some industries.”It’s the economy, stupid.”

To view the complete report, visit this web page.

Post from: EveryJoe

World Public Opinion Poll on Globalization

Ever wonder who decides disputes at huge sporting events like the Olympics? Lawyers, not surprisingly, some of whom actually have a specialty of sorts in sports arbitration. They may not get paid at events like the Olympics, but it’s still an international business for some attorneys and other dispute-resolution experts.

Law.com has an interesting two-part interview here and here with an attorney who is currently in Beijing, in case anyone there is spoiling for a fight.

image in the public domain, from Wikipedia

Post from: EveryJoe

And the Gold medal goes to …

Pallavi Aiyer moved from India to Beijing to be an English teacher in China (and to be with her boyfriend). Her memoir “Smoke and Mirrors: An Experience of China” thus includes many comparisons between her native country and her new country of residence. Combined, the two are refered to as “Chindia”.

Aiyer’s experiences as a teacher of English to Chinese journalism students and her travels to different parts of the country provide for fascinating insights into the modern Chinese culture. Almost all of the millions of students in China today are only-children who, compared with their parents, have obtained great material wealth. They define freedom as being able to dress how they want, date whom they want and buy a new car and apartment. When Aiyer pushes them on controversial subjects, the students glibly recite the government line as if it were their own free thoughts.

Aiyer is able to look at the shiny new China without being blinded by the smoke and mirrors.

Image from uscc.gov. Shanghai highways.

Post from: EveryJoe

Book Review: Smoke and Mirrors (An Experience of China)

In case the TV studios shy away from anything more “political” (meaning anything which might be seen as controversial), today I will look at two new books on China which have made my reading list.

“The Man Who Loved China: The Fantastic Story of the Eccentric Scientist Who Unlocked the Mysteries of the Middle Kingdom” by Simon Winchester portrays Joseph Needham (1900-1995) a British scientist and Sinologist who formulated the “Needham question:” Why did the country fail to industrialize when Europe did, despite its prior achievements. Needham pursued this question most of his life and predicted a grand future for China based on its past successes. The book is a good introduction into Chinese history as well as a portrait of an eccentric researcher.

Image from memory.loc.gov

Post from: EveryJoe

Book Review: The Man Who Loved China

Increasingly, services like PhillyCarShare and ZipCar have solved that problem, too, making cars available throughout the city on a per hour basis. A car-free lifestyle in the US is quite possible, as long as you live in one of the country’s older, more densely populated cities.

Post from: EveryJoe

Living car free

My wife found out today that Häagen Dazs is not in fact a foreign brand of ice cream. In fact, it was started in New York over 50 years ago and given a name intended “to convey an aura of the old-world traditions and craftsmanship” the owner hoped to emulate. Now, whatever the merits of that particular ice cream, foreign-sounding names are a popular strategy here in the US. In fact, it’s so popular that Wikipedia has an entire entry dedicated to it.

For anyone with a passing knowledge of languages in which the umlaut appears, the name seems unlikely to be genuine, but then again that’s not the point. These names are intended to appeal to non-native speakers, and to elicit a certain positive response. Indeed, as evidenced by the popular Japanese sport drink Pocari Sweat, the names can be good brands in their home country while eliciting a wholly undesirable response in native speakers.

Sometimes the names are completely made up, other times they are actually correct renditions of foreign names or terms, and sometimes they are “foreignized” versions or derivatives of names or brands. One of my favorite Pennsylvania beers is named Tröegs, after a nickname for the Trogner brothers who started the brewery.

What are your favorite foreign branding names?

GNU free documentation license, courtesy Wikipedia

Post from: EveryJoe

Prøduct Näems

Ok, it’s an old joke, but it works to make a point.

Many countries have national days to mark a special occasion in that country’s history, but very few (France is an exception) celebrate as much as Americans celebrate the Fourth of July.

The old German national day was June 17th. It commemorated a day in 1953 when over 400,000 people protested against the socialist government of East Germany. At least 55 people were killed when Soviet troops squashed the uprising. (Refer to wiki.)This is not exactly the kind of event which makes you want to plan a party 40 years later to celebrate. So when the German national day got moved to October 3rd, the official day of reunification, I was hoping that more barbeque parties would be in my future. So far, no luck. I have never been invited to an “October 3rd Party” nor have I ever heard about one. It just doesn’t happen. No flags, no parties, just a few politicians formally recognizing the day somewhere. The closest you get to a national celebration is when the Germans win an important soccer game.

With this type of background, it’s no wonder that Germans (and other nationalities) do not comprehend the American Fourth of July, if they have even heard of it. The concept of celebrating a national day is completly foreign.

For a long list of National Days around the World, see Wiki.

How do you celebrate your country’s national day?

Image from mediacen.navy.mil

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Does Europe Have a 4th of July?

But I digress.

The really amazing thing about installing the printer today (actually it is a multi-functional unit with printer, copier, scanner and fax) was that Canon added telephone plugs for all European countries to the box. (Refer to photo.) I am now the proud owner of plugs for Belgium, Netherlands/Spain/Portugal/Greece, Germany, France and Italy.

This is actually the second time I have owned a collection of telephone plugs like this. Ten years ago you needed this assortment when travelling on business to download emails. I can still hear the screaching sounds as the modem tries to connect.

It’s been years since I stayed at a hotel which didn’t either have WiFi, high-speed in-room connections or at least a “standard” telephone jack (known as “RJ 11″) to hook into. As a matter of fact, it was just a few months ago that I cleaned out my office and dumped my old collection. “Nobody needs these dinosaurs anymore,” I said to myself.

Well, maybe someone does. At least Canon thinks so. It turns out that some countries still use these dinosaurs, even in new buildings. Wiki has a complete list of which plug is used for which country.

Any business travellers out there still lugging around dinosaurs? Where do you need them most? Anybody want my new set?

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Around the World with Telephone Plugs

ShannonCherry over at Startup Spark noted that scientists have found a connection between novelty packaging/snappy logos and the area of the brain responsible for the “buy” impulse. That type of research is covering the biological/neurological aspects of spending money.

But are there cultural differences as to what and why people want to buy? Daniel Altman recently addressed this question and looked at buying behaviours in Seoul, Mumbai, Moscow and London. Not only the state of the local economy but also a diverse range of cultural influences affect how people save and spend money.

Korean nationalism plays a large role in Seoul, where citizens don’t want to keep up with the Joneses but rather with the Japanese.  In India, further education is a large priority. Over the last few years, Moscow has gained a reputation for ostentatious consumption; imported products are often preferred just because the import duties make them more expensive. While in the UK, inflation and a bursting housing bubble are slowing consumption down, as people worry about a downturn in the economy.

Economists like Marcel Fafchamps at Oxford University, however, dismiss the role that cultural differences play on fundamental economic models. “The core belief of economics is that all people make rational decisions in the interests of themselves and their loved ones.”

It makes sense to me that economic models need to be universal in order to be useful in the long-term. But in terms of short- or mid-term business strategies, I would focus on the cultural aspects of local markets and throw in a bit of biological background for effective marketing and packaging.

Which factors do you think are more important as to what and why people buy: biological/neurological, economic or cultural?

Reference: Daniel Altman at the IHT. 

Image from nlm.nih.gov 

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What Makes the WORLD Buy?