Бизнес-процесите в САЩ

Докато съм в САЩ ми е интересно да наблюдавам организираното протичане на всякакви процеси в ежедневието – от пазаруването в моловете до доставките по домовете; видимо всичко по системата е смазано до безумие и си личи по спокойствието, което лъха в иначе тази огромна ма?ина за търговия, забавления и работа.

Направих поръчка в Амазон, 2 дни по-късно ми бе доставена вкъщи!

February 2, 2007 12:22:00 PM GAINESVILLE VA US Delivered
February 2, 2007 05:36:00 AM CHANTILLY VA US Out for delivery
February 2, 2007 04:36:00 AM CHANTILLY VA US Arrival Scan
February 2, 2007 01:36:00 AM HARRISBURG PA US Departure Scan
February 1, 2007 07:07:00 PM HARRISBURG PA US Shipment picked up from seller’s facility
February 1, 2007 04:06:56 AM US Carrier notified to pick up package

Правят впечатление, че дори рано сутрин никой по веригата не спи, за да може крайният консуматор да бъде удовлетворен.

В България с колегите от Канапе студио се радвам, че успяхме да намерим механизъм, при който поръчка на тениска от Portokal.net достига за 24-36 часа до клиента в 70% от случаите, което от опита ми при пазаруването онлайн в България е рядко срещано явление. За разлика от САЩ в България все още се борим да изправяме не гънки, ами цунами-вълни, но вярвам че всичко си идва на мястото благодарение основно на засилващата се покупателна способност у нас, а оттам появата на конкуренция в дори най-тесните ни?и.

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Be a Mentor, Not a Taskmaster

Today’s demographic trend is impossible to ignore and has big implications for workplaces across America. Seventy million Americans who belong to Generation Y (born between 1977 to 2002) are entering the workforce in massive waves. Add Generation Xers, who are now in their 30s and early 40s, and you have millions of employees whose visions for their jobs differ from their parents’ and most of their bosses’ old command-and-control management theories.

According to research compiled by RainmakerThinking and quoted in USA Today, Gen Y—the millennium generation—has high expectations for itself and its employers, seeking highly engaged managers to help them grow and develop their professional skills.

This finding reinforces the insights I learned from a fascinating conversation with Adelson, who has given a lot of thought to motivating, inspiring, and engaging young colleagues.
Empower Them

Adelson argues that younger workers are transforming the workplace from the “get rich quick” attitude of the ’90s to a culture of empowerment and contribution. At the end of the day, he says, these employees want to feel as though they are part of something essential and that they have contributed to its achievement.

“Am I important, and am I offering value? Those are the questions young people are asking themselves,” says Adelson. A key to managing this generation is to create excitement about the company’s achievements, but more important, to help employees recognize their role in accomplishing that mission.

more@businessweek.com

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SqueezeBox Radio – върха на технологичното и модерно радио

Вероятно сте чували за Pandora.com и ако сте обърнали внимание на главната им страница се рекламира едно загадъчно устройство от Slimdevice.com – SqueezeBox. Ако сте се зачитали става макар и малко в мъглявина, че това е устройство позволяващо ви да слу?ате музика под каква да е форма от ва?ия компютър или ?нтернет директно на аудио-система – Mp3, wav, asf, straming radio и разбира се Pandora.com :-)

Устройството се свързва безжично или с лан-кабел към рутер или компютър и оттам представите ви за начин на слу?ане на музика ще се променят завинаги – може да изберете една от хилядите радио станции в shoutcast.com, да си търсите или слу?ате от вече създадените станции в pandora.com или да потърсите конкретно локално радио от всички точки на планетата – например попаднах на хит-радио от Кения! Сред другите ?а?кащи екстри са достъп до специална колекция музикални звуци, като например звуци от селска идилия – врабчета, дома?ни животинки, глъч, като да сте в центъра на с. Косово ранна пролет :-)

Всичко свързано с устройството от настройка на звука, избор на любими станции, контраст на дисплея и пр. могат да се извър?ват през Squeezenetwork.com, където след регистрация може да манипулирате дори Pandora.com станциите си. Засега е сравнително скъпа-радио джаджа ($300), но с времето подобен род устройства ще заменят изцяло радио-приемниците във всеки по-модерен дом. Факт е, че с едно такова малко устройство отваряте дома си за звуците и културата на целия свят!

Самото устройство не възпроизвежда звук, а трябва да се свърже към вън?ен аудио-хардуер – колонки, hi-fi система. То посредничи за управлението и достъпа до музика от ?нтернет директно на ва?ата аудио система.

Благодарности на Боги Павлов за препоръката с покупката на SqueezeBox

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Bankruptcy: The Opportunity to Fail

former mentor, and a very smart man, once told me that the greatest invention in this democracy and capitalist system we live in and know as the United States is, of all things, bankruptcy. Yep, bankruptcy… the opportunity to fail.

I mention this because I believe Jeremy Liew1, venture capitalist at Lightspeed and subsequently, James Hong2 of Hotornot.com, posted some “must-read” thoughts and observations on this topic. In fact, I would encourage every entrepreneur to read what Jeremy and James just blogged.

Simply put, we live in a country that encourages dreamers to take risks, and the laws protect those “entrepreneurs” from the potentially excessive consequences of failure. Bankruptcy laws enable risk-takers to protect themselves and start over. There is no other nation on this planet that by its very by-laws fosters such an economic environment. This spirit, the acceptance of failure, while counter-intuitive, is crucial to this country’s enormous success within the world economy.

more@gigaom

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Как да печели? в света на интернет

Дългата опа?ка Как да печели? в света на интернет

Сигурно поръчвате книги от Amazon.com или от knigi.dnevnik.bg, електронната книжарница на в. “Дневник” и “Хеликон”. ?ли ползвате Уикипедия вместо енциклопедия “Британика”. ?ли просто влизате в над пет сайта на ден, за да сте информирани, вместо да си купите един вестник. Между вас и Бен, макар че той е на 16 години и живее в САЩ, има много общо. Той е от електронно поколение, за което светът не е съществувал без интернет. Бен прекарва пред телевизора два часа седмично, пренебрежително малко в сравнение със средностатистическия му връстник от 80-те години на ХХ в. Тъй като за сърцето и ду?ата на Бен се борят хиляди (защо не и милиони) провайдъри на медийни продукти, възможностите какво да гледа, слу?а и чете практически клонят към безкрайност. За разлика от неговия връстник преди 20 години, който няма интернет. Ако изключим пиратството, не е чудно, че тиражите и продажбите на медийната и развлекателните индустрии, разпространяващи по традиционните канали, падат. За което невинаги е виновно качеството. Просто Бен има доста алтернативи. Continue reading

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В търсене на щастието извън материалното

Само преди седмица-две научихме, че в класацията на 10-те най-велики българи попада и Петър Дънов, основател на философско учение, което се самоопределя като “езотерично християнство”. Книжарниците изобилстват от книги на/за основателя на Бялото братство, които си правят компания с плътно подредените по рафтовете четива за самопомощ. (Дори разликата между “психиатър”, “психолог” и “психотерапевт” е вече масово ясна.)

?зглежда, сяка? България е открехнала вратата за енергията на ню ейдж. Все повече хора, които са направили кариера, в един етап от живота си ре?ават радикално да преобърнат пирамидата с ценностите. Трудно достъпното владение на духовното като че ли пробужда изследователски импулси у все повече млади българи.

“Хората от скоро започнаха да се интересуват от Дънов, който си е български духовен учител. Учението му е смесица от християнство и ведическа култура и е представено по един много достъпен начин, затова сега мнозина го преоткриват.” Така смята Лидия Василева, 30- годи?на. Нейната история е добър пример на гореспоменатата тенденция. Получава отлично образование, започва добре платена работа като консултант по корпоративните ре?ения в телекомуникационна компания, гради кариера, реализира проекти в IT сферата в продължение на близо 5 години. После избира друго.

още в Дневник.бг

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“Why startups condense in America”

Startups happen in clusters. There are a lot of them in Silicon Valley and Boston, and few in Chicago or Miami. A country that wants startups will probably also have to reproduce whatever makes these clusters form.

I’ve claimed that the recipe is a great university near a town smart people like. If you set up those conditions within the US, startups will form as inevitably as water droplets condense on a cold piece of metal. But when I consider what it would take to reproduce Silicon Valley in another country, it’s clear the US is a particularly humid environment. Startups condense more easily here.

It is by no means a lost cause to try to create a silicon valley in another country. There’s room not merely to equal Silicon Valley, but to surpass it. But if you want to do that, you have to understand the advantages startups get from being in America.

1. The US Allows Immigration.

For example, I doubt it would be possible to reproduce Silicon Valley in Japan, because one of Silicon Valley’s most distinctive features is immigration. Half the people there speak with accents. And the Japanese don’t like immigration. When they think about how to make a Japanese silicon valley, I suspect they unconsciously frame it as how to make one consisting only of Japanese people. This way of framing the question probably guarantees failure.

A silicon valley has to be a mecca for the smart and the ambitious, and you can’t have a mecca if you don’t let people into it.

Of course, it’s not saying much that America is more open to immigration than Japan. Immigration policy is one area where a competitor could do better.

2. The US Is a Rich Country.

I could see India one day producing a rival to Silicon Valley. Obviously they have the right people: you can tell that by the number of Indians in the current Silicon Valley. The problem with India itself is that it’s still so poor.

In poor countries, things we take for granted are missing. A friend of mine visiting India sprained her ankle falling down the steps in a railway station. When she turned to see what had happened, she found the steps were all different heights. In industrialized countries we walk down steps our whole lives and never think about this, because there’s an infrastructure that prevents such a staircase from being built.

The US has never been so poor as some countries are now. There have never been swarms of beggars in the streets of American cities. So we have no data about what it takes to get from the swarms-of-beggars stage to the silicon-valley stage. Could you have both at once, or does there have to be some baseline prosperity before you get a silicon valley?

I suspect there is some speed limit to the evolution of an economy. Economies are made out of people, and attitudes can only change a certain amount per generation. [1]

3. The US Is Not (Yet) a Police State.

Another country I could see wanting to have a silicon valley is China. But I doubt they could do it yet either. China still seems to be a police state, and although present rulers seem enlightened compared to the last, even enlightened despotism can probably only get you part way toward being a great economic power.

more from the author – Paul Graham (VC)

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Long Tail Business and the Age of participation

Internet has enabled very niche markets to gain exposure at a far greater speed than any of us would have believed prior to its arrival. It’s great for consumers who look for creative things, not the kind of blockbuster-hits we used to be bombarded with.
An example of a long-tail business is spreadshirt.com, cafepress.com, zazzle.com and the likes – something similiar we are trying to build in Bulgaria and so far so good, orders are skyrocketing lately (Christmass comming, “original” presents needed) and most of the t-shirts people order are self-made portraits, of their loved ones or just some funny logo representing over 85% of all orders being custom made instead of using readily-made for shopping. If things go well we should have our customizable and exportable shop-partner program by early May, 2007.

There is a presentaion about the Long tail business of participation and creation from the founder of spreadshirt, who have built a very successfull German appearel company selling customized t-shirts with over 300 employees – link to presentation

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Affiliate Marketing breaks through £2 billion barrier

The UK market for affiliate marketing will grow 60% in 2006, breaking through the £2 billion mark to an estimated value of £2.16 billion, according to research published in E-consultancy’s Affiliate Marketing Buyer’s Guide this week.

What is affiliate marketing?

A system whereby an advertiser shares revenue with other websites (known as affiliates) which feature ads and content designed to drive traffic to the advertiser’s site. Affiliates receive commission on sales (or leads, or sign-ups).

The UK Affiliate Marketing sector, which has more than tripled in size since 2004, has made huge strides since it was first used by marketers ten years ago.

Online businesses increasingly see this as an invaluable way of generating extra sales by using networks of websites as a virtual sales force to broaden their reach.

Origin of affiliate marketing

It was only 10 years ago since, according to internet legend, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos became the first to embrace affiliate marketing after chatting with a woman at a party about how she wanted to sell books about divorce on her website. The idea – which is central to how affiliate marketing works – was that she should link her site to Amazon.com and receive a commission on book sales as the affiliate.

Where is affiliate marketing now?

Now, just a decade later, affiliate marketing managers are commonplace within online businesses, with a number of well established networks acting as intermediaries and facilitating the relationship between retailers and thousands of publishers of all shapes and sizes.

E-consultancy analyst Linus Gregoriadis said: “Affiliate marketing has gone mainstream as companies with an online presence increasingly embrace this as a cost-efficient and low-risk channel to market. In the last few years this sector has gone from something very niche to something of strategic importance within businesses.”

more@e-consultancy

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