Tuesday 17 February 2015

4-hour delivery "appointments"

Logistics-slomistics...what is the nonsense about?

What sort of well-run business needs a 4-hour window for home delivery? And where is the financial gain in disruptive service? I don't get it....

Enjoy this spoof from College Humor about UPS.

Wednesday 11 February 2015

Walmart and the Koreans

Textbook cases present Walmart's unsuccessful international foray into Korea in a way that might actually be embarrassing for Walmart--if they themselves actually knew or admitted what their challenges truly were. The US perspective on the failure (amounting to some 800 million USD), is attributed by college textbook authors Mary Ellen Guffey and Dana Loewy (2014) to "cultural differences and fierce local competition" (p. 81).

But what were these "cultural differences" really? Take a look at this blog and one history student's perspective on what ailed Walmart in Korea.

Guffey, M.E. and Loewy, D. (2014) - Business Communication Process and Product - Mason, OH - SouthWestern 8th Edition.

Technology Trending

Dr. Hossein Eslambolchi, CEO of CyberFlow Analytics and a blogger on LinkedIn, has made some technology predictions that he (and probably others) feels will impact communications in significant ways. Here is his top 10 trend list:
Top 10 Technology Trends
1. IP networks must be ready for sextuple play, including sensory, gaming and IOT based devices.
2. Security requirements must move from a reactive, defensive 3P model (Proactive, Predictive, Preventative) onto the offensive – otherwise there will be problems of biblical proportions.
3. All future IP services will be designed for three screens – mobile, TV and PC.
4. Wireless internet access will be big – driving better modes of mobility with Wi-Fi and 4G+/5G, achieving explosive growth.
5. Sensor networks will proliferate – machine IP addresses will overtake host computers.
6. Video requirements especially around Ultra High Definition video signals will drive future IP network design and architecture, including use of SDN and NFV based services.
7. Broadband wireless will be common – locality is now important for presence and advertising – not routing.
8. Access speeds will no longer be bottlenecks and we will have access routers or switches at 10Gbps, and data will be symmetrical down and up link. New services will start generating billions for service providers worldwide.
9. Privacy becomes consumers’ biggest concern as technology gets closer to realizing services (think of the movie Minority Report).
10. Next generation speech recognition and natural language understanding will redefine the human machine interface.
Source: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/tech-perspectives-next-15-years-why-matter-urgently-eslambolchi  

Thoughts?