Human beings can be pretty ingenious if left to their own devices. However, with a little effort, they can be stopped. The exact recipe for turning a company into a champion innovator, like Tencent, the Chinese Internet giant, may be kind of mysterious, but innovation experts have some fairly clear ideas about how to ensure […]
Promoting Innovation in Society
How do you kickstart innovation? Here are some pointers Beyond the law of supply and demand, one of the few things that most economists and policymakers agree on is that innovation is a very good thing. Most authorities acknowledge that the tremendous gains in lifespan and living standards made over the past 300 years have […]
China’s E-commerce Consumers Wise-Up
Increasingly sophisticated online consumers are pushing China’s cyber retailers to the next level Just as clever marketers have whittled the meaning of Christmas down to the goods that are gifted on the 25th of December, festive days in China are quickly following suit. Singles Day—a celebration of bachelorhood on the 11th of November—seems to have […]
Invisible Hand Revealed: Mobile Apps that Move Cabs
In an earlier article I discussed how the regulation of Beijing’s taxi fares had taken taxis off the road. Recently there has been a spate of mobile applications (mobile apps) to address this problem: DiDiDaChe and YaoYaoZhaoChe in Beijing, KuaiDiDaChe in Hangzhou, and DiDi and KuaiDi in Shanghai and Guangzhou. Although varying slightly, these apps […]
Mobile Advertising: Tailor-Made in China
China is the world’s largest smartphone user market and, according to Techweb, by December 2012 the percentage of users in China accessing the internet from mobile platforms reached 74.9%. At 420 million users this is a huge opportunity for advertisers to access their customers constantly and more directly than ever before via mobile advertising. But […]
Bamboo Property Rights
Why enforcing the contentious issue of individual property rights might actually be a good thing for China. Moganshan Mountain near Hangzhou in China’s Zhejiang Province is famous not only for striking scenery and white tea, but also for bamboo. Bamboo is an extremely versatile plant and over the centuries, the Chinese have grown it to […]
Lost in Thailand: Revolutionizing China’s Movie Market
Lost in Thailand, a Chinese slapstick comedy, recently created a box office record of sorts. Released in China on December 12th, 2012, as a low-budget sequel to Lost on Journey, the film became an overnight success earning over $202.1 million in box office revenue. By January 1st, 2013, it earnt over RMB 1 billion, becoming […]
Download the March 2013 issue of CKGSB Magazine: Tapping homegrown innovation
You are invited to download the March issue of CKGSB Magazine. You’ll enjoy articles and interviews like: COVER STORY: Innovation: Incubators tap homegrown innovation in China. With close similarities to incubators in Silicon Valley and an arsenal of China-specific tactics for start-up success, Chinese incubators are moving beyond the traditional role of incubators. They are creating […]
‘Creating’ Creativity
A recent global IBM CEO survey says that the majority of CEOs who participated believe the key to navigating today’s uncertain economic climes is creativity. Creating an innovative workplace is an essential part of business today, but implementing practices that actually nurture creativity is much more difficult than supporting it in theory. Many in the […]
China’s Drive for Technological Innovation
What is fuelling China’s push towards homegrown tech innovation? It’s the early 8th century and the court of the Tang Dynasty is buzzing. Yi Xing, henceforth to be remembered as famous innovator (and also astronomer, mathematician, mechanical engineer, and Buddhist monk) has just revealed his big invention: the world’s first mechanical clock. He sets the […]
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