Posted by DONG XI - January 3, 2009
全球化(Globalization)与本地化(Localization)作为两股强大的相对势力，为人们津津乐道，两方阵营都论据充分。日趋快捷的交通和便利的通讯把地球变成一个村，资源全球性调配，充分体现了世界贸易的由来，资源A地和资源B地相互提供产品和服务，扩大了市场，而且资源运用地更有效率。发展至今，离岸经济已经成为保证世界日常运转重要的一环。这不仅对于把呼叫中心放在印度的500强公司很重要，也是Tim Ferriss《每周工作四小时》的奥秘所在。
另一方面，本地化的号角也没有减弱。全球化使得资本化走向极端，压迫发展中国家的资源，挤兑无数发达地区的本地从业人员，带来巨大的危机感和潜在社会问题。Wal-Mart首当其冲，繁盛扩张之时，所到之处，总是引起很多投诉。
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Posted by DONG XI - December 29, 2008
《环球企业家》中国年度最佳产品设计奖
创新助企业成就基业常青。21世纪的工业创新，从上世纪90年代的“科技创新”一变而为“设计创新”，高品质工业产品不仅具有实用性能，而且体现“人性化”理念的卓越设计。立足中国、竞争全球的时代，“中国制造”向“中国创造”全面转型的时机逐步成熟，科技进步致力满足人性需求，外观设计越来越成为企业产品差异化和树立品牌的主要手段之一。
以推动中国商业国际化为依归，在“环球商业，中国创意”的主题下，环球企业家杂志社邀请青蛙设计担任这次“中国年度最佳产品设计奖”的顾问， 本次大奖主要推选以中国市场为服务对象的高水准设计产品和公司，为中国创意工业的崛起提供助力。
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Posted by DONG XI - December 4, 2008
When he filmed Crouch Tiger Hidden Dragon, Ang Lee once said that every Chinese man has a swordsman dream. That's probably true. Recently I become more and more confident to say that almost every company has a social network dream, meanwhile I'm still suspicious about what strategy they should adopt to really make 'social' an integral part of their offerings.
Three cases from this week make me pop out the question above.
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Posted by DONG XI - October 17, 2008
The US may be the initiator of this round of global economic recession but it may not be the final payer. China’s economy is about to suffer as well – and in more ways than one.
And yet, the people who have been around the longest know not to pay too much attention to one-direction comments. They know that the sufferers will always shout much louder than the beneficiaries. They also know that there are ways to take advantage of the economic downturn.
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Posted by DONG XI - October 14, 2008
In the China national holiday, I spent a week in Taipei and TaiChung. I saw the little frogs everywhere (not sure if the taiwanese love frogs ?!). Being a Hong Kongese, I am now living in Shanghai and get the chance to travel in Taiwan. I feel that there is a big cultural and language difference in Hong Kong, Mainland China and Taiwan. I hope there will be a United Greater China one day.
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Posted by DONG XI - September 24, 2008
It's interesting to hear that GE re-enters the TV set market by partnering with a Taiwan-based company Tatung. According to Wall Street Journal, GE and Tatung Co. of Taiwan said they had formed a joint venture, General Displays & Technologies LLC, that plans to make two million HDTV sets annually, or 1% of the 200 million units sold world-wide, when it begins production in 2009. The companies hope eventually to capture 5% to 10% of the roughly $200 billion global TV-set market.
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Posted by DONG XI - September 3, 2008
Just hours ago, it's reported that Coca-Cola offered HK$ 17.9 billion (about $ 2.3 billion) in cash to buy Huiyuan Juice Group (HKEx1886), China's biggest pure juice maker. In the statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Huiyuan Juice said, "The Coca-Cola Company is expecting to use its expertise as a global beverage company to further develop the Huiyuan Juice brand.
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Posted by DONG XI - June 13, 2008
One month after the devastating Sichuan earthquake, when people in the ravaged areas try to pull themselves together and countless medical taskforces, construction workers and volunteers keep working day and night to help recover the areas, more and more help of different kinds are offered from the broader China. At the still mourningful moment, let's take a look at what has happened and think about what can be done to help.
An online design workshop named Do Something was initiated to collect design works to help the quake-hit areas from all aspects like visual, product and architecture design.
A 3-day online mourning was conducted to allow people to give virtual flowers and write down their letters of condolence.
The home pages of many websites (including a few corporate sites like Coca-Cola China) turned into black and white during the national mourning days from May 19th to 21st.
Google set up the special channel under its China site to provide earthquake related information search and service. People can search for messages and information about their family and friends in the quake-hit areas. Google has collected 187,003 relevant pages and 101,033 entries from 80 hospitals and shelters. It also shares links with Tianya, a popular online forum, to update the material lists that urgently requested by the damaged areas, and lay out the material needs on the google map.
There are more similar activities initiated from the governmental, corporate, and personal sides. I was deeply touched by the 3-minute national mourning moment when I happened to be at a subway station where all the passengers (including myself) in the train stood up in silence. And I was also impressed by the fact that the google search flow monitored dropped to nearly zero at that three minutes.
As Times magazine put one of its cover story under the title of "China Stands Up - A nation confronts a tragedy and finds its better self", we'll see that China stays stronger in this special Mouse year.
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Posted by DONG XI - June 12, 2008
出差在韩国，最后一天到附近的邮局买邮票。这里是首尔的Youido的邮局，一楼大厅的三分之二面积是各种办理业务的邮政柜台，另外三分之一区域则分布着一些有趣的布置。
1、门口的流水立式钟：没有挂在墙上的恼人滴滴答答，在等待的时候也可以欣赏时间的流逝。
2、自助邮件称重售（邮）票寄信机：模样和界面类似银行的自助存取款机和地铁里的自助售票机。使用方法很简单，将信件放在一个称重台上，使用界面选择邮寄的地区，机器会根据重量和距离算出所需的邮费，投入相应的硬币或者钞票后，邮票会从出票口里送出，寄信人贴好邮票后再扔进机器里的收信口就可以了。如果用不惯新机器或者已经准备好邮票的话，还是可以依赖以前的习惯自己称重查询然后投寄的。
3、我最喜欢的角落是这个配置齐全的工作台了，整齐摆放着胶水的盒子，多种度数的眼镜（应该是老花眼镜吧），纸巾，计算器，各种表格和查询目录。虽然是公共的使用区域，但是考虑周到的设计不仅给使用人提供了诸多便利，节约了柜台的工作时间，而且也避免了公共区域常有的凌乱问题。比如使用胶水后，人们一般不是将胶水放回原来取用的地方就是随手一丢，因为谁也不知道这个胶水最初被放在哪里，而简单的胶水盒子则提示人们这里是胶水应该呆的地方，有了清晰的指示人们也愿意以举手之劳帮助维护环境的整洁。
有时，体贴的设计就是好设计，可以很简单，可以很高科技。
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Posted by DONG XI - May 19, 2008
As the massive earthquake that ripped through Sichuan, causing death and destruction in an area the size of South Korea, the whole China is witnessing an unprecedented level of media transparency. People in China reached for their mobiles and PCs to spread the news or contact friends and family through Twitter, Skype, blogs, QQ, MSN, indeed anything which can broadcast. While communication was cut off in the quake-hit region, Chinese elsewhere were also furiously reporting, debating, encouraging and even blaming the government on blogs for the scale of the destruction. The online negativity towards the Olympic torch relay eventually resulted in the scaling back of each stage of the celebration ceremonies. But most people understand the scale and difficulties facing the rescuers, preferring to provide support, encouragement or condolences (virtual flowers). And for 3 days from today, we mourn those who have lost their lives on a scale and way not seen elsewhere. As the nation mourns, all public celebrations (including the Olympic torch relay), activities (like dancing classes), advertisements (in public areas) are stopped. And everywhere the people can be seen wearing black and white clothes, and on the internet, website after website, including sina.com.cn, google.cn, youku.com, tudou.com, cn.yahoo.com, 163.com, QQ.com, Sohu.com, Taobao.com and Tom.com are all set in mourning colors for 3 days.
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