Last week I wrote about the almost-empty South China Mall. The developers had built a gorgeous, state of the art mall — the largest in the world. Only problem: it is built in a factory city, Dongguan, where there are few people able to afford what it has to offer.

To me it signified a stunning lack of advance market research and planning.

However, I inadvertently may have given the wrong impression about all of China — that the entire country can’t afford the upscale, Western, middle class lifestyle that such a mall presupposes. From what I understand, that’s not the case. It all depends on what part of China you are in. Some parts of China have a rapidly growing and thriving middle class.

Take, for instance, Shanghai. Shanghai is a rich city and the center of China’s financial industry. A friend of mine who grew up in Shanghai during the Cultural Revolution, says that even during that time citizens owned considerable property and ran businesses in Shanghai.

As one reader emailed me, “To compare Dongguan with Shanghai, is like comparing Altoona with Manhattan. It’s two different worlds economically.” (Apologies to anyone from Altoona — those were a reader’s words, not mine.)

But the point is a good one. As a fast expanding country, China does seem filled with economic opportunities, and not just opportunities to outsource factory jobs from the U.S. to China. There is also the opportunity for enterprising U.S. companies to find an outlet for their products in newly affluent parts of China. Read entire article.

Posted in Planning & Strategy, Sales & Marketing

The chemistry of a creative team is absolutely critical for making ideas happen. What goes unsaid can erupt into a great fiasco. When a problem is brewing, our tendency is to block it out. After all, who wants to be confrontational or take time out when stress and deadlines are looming? But an “infection” left untreated can become a full-blown disaster. The most effective creative teams are able to detect and address concerns before they evolve into problems.

If a team is like a living body, then person is part of an intricate immune system. Any member of the team should be able to notice and alert the team to a brewing problem, and the entire team should coordinate to address it. A single concern for one is a worthy concern for all. Read entire article.

Posted in Leadership

South China Mall is the world’s largest shopping mall, according to this article in The National.

At over 7 million square feet, it is double the size of the gargantuan Mall of America in the United States. It has an amusement park including a roller coaster; an indoor rain forest; and Las Vegas-style replicas of famous places, including a Venice canal and the Arc de Triomphe.

But it has one big problem: it’s nearly empty.

South China Mall is designed to have 1,500 stores. Unfortunately, only a handful are currently occupied.

The developers expected 100,000 visitors a day. Instead they get 10,000, if that.

Opened in 2005, it was once hailed in the New York Times for exemplifying China’s new consumer middle-class.

Then something went terribly wrong. Read entire article.

Posted in Planning & Strategy, Sales & Marketing

Earlier today I wrote a post about a new policy we’re implementing at my business. I thought readers here might enjoy the post, so here it is in its entirety:

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In the past few years, the weekend has taken on a new meaning for me. In short, it’s now defined by work. The weekend is when I catch up on work I can’t get done during the week, in particular work that requires long form thinking, the kind of thinking that powers drafting considered memos and strategy documents, even posting to this or other blogs. Read entire article.

Posted in Leadership, productivity