Thursday, March 27, 2008

Localization



Harmonious 3-Wheelmotion is back! I spotted this lil' bad boy in a small town outside of Beijing. They're apparently banned in Beijing because they tip over easily.

--
Been a bit busy with work and becoming quite acquainted with that favorite business buzzword: "localization." As in, when multinationals come over to do business in China, many fail in this market because they blindly pursue a cookie-cutter approach without duly taking into account cultural considerations.

So the smart(er) companies, such as McDonald's, will offer red bean pies instead of apple pies. Cause you know, beans are the musical fruit...I digress.

Another company that has done pretty well is that one super discount megastore from Arkansas. I was in Shenzhen (the boomtown across the border from HK) recently and happened to peep the local W-mart. I passed by the seafood section and saw...



That's right...crocodile snitches! Gotta give the people what they want. I don't think they had that in Illinois. This W-mart also allowed customers to commandeer nets to select fresh fish from the water tanks, like how they do at Chinese restaurants.

But then I noticed something on the floor.



Some customer apparently mishandled the fish and then once it fell out of the net and onto the floor, he/she was like, peace not my problem!

And while we're on the subject of animals. Was walking back home from the Vineyard, one of my favorite cafes in Beijing, and saw this lil' homie.



Sure why not?