Category Archives: Etc.

Etc., Strategy

Chinese firms and price wars

Two important factors in understanding price war distinctions are first, the state of each area’s market and second, the price sensitivity of consumers in each area.

“Chinese companies do have a lot more experience with price wars, which are widely reported business events,” says Zhang. “They are good at it. In the past 10 years, what triggered (the price wars) is the fact that the markets in China are growing. This business environment provides many profitable opportunities for [companies] to engage in price wars and to hone their skills. In a growing market, there are all different companies competing — some good, some bad — and the industry finds a way to consolidate. The only way to do that is a price war, where you bring down the prices and squeeze out the inefficient [companies].”

But the Western market is a more mature market, offering what Zhang calls “oligopolistic competition among mostly equals.” In lieu of price wars, this so-called mature market “encourages more finesse in devising marketing strategies” which may help explain why price wars are so frowned upon.

More at KnowledgeWharton

1-By Laksh, Books, Etc.

Cat O’ Nine Tales

If there is any writer who could match the detail of a ‘Arthur Hailey’

and savagery of a ‘Frederick Forsyth’, it got to be Jeffery Archer.
And Mr.Archer brings more to the table. He spices up the procedings
with his unique style of humour (yes! spelt as h-u-m-o-u-r)

His style is quite evident in his epic novel ‘Kane and Abel’ or
the simple n’ sweet revenge tale ‘Not a penny more, Not a penny less’.
Cat o’ nine tales gives us the same old taste in a new bottle, packed
fresh from the prison.

As the name obviously suggests, Cat o’ nine tales, has nine
intruiging tales spanning a wide range of topics. While one story deals with
a husband’s murder attempt of his wife, the other deals with a
restauranter’s tax evasion.Once again the former reminds you of
Frederik Forsyth’s ‘No Comebacks’ and the later takes you back
to Arthur Hailey’s ‘Money Changers’.

Overall, Cat o’ nine tales is an interesting read. One could say Mr.Archer’s
time in prison was well spent and that his fellow inmates contributed to
another best seller:)

You will definitely enjoy the stories better if you’ve sampled the street
life of London alteast once.

Etc., Internet

Internet Domains: Tasting, Kiting, etc.

There are 25 to 30 firms that are the most active practitioners of domain tasting, experts say. Executives at these firms point out that what they’re doing is legal and, in some cases, they can even provide a service. For example, if a Web surfer mistypes a Web address and lands on one of their sites, they can have an ad that redirects the surfer to the proper site. T. Salonen, manager of Mountain View (Calif.)-based Maltuzi, says his company is a “bulk registrant” of domain names, but says there’s nothing wrong with that. “We are actively buying domain names based on a variety of criteria,” he writes in an e-mail interview. “We…purchase those domain names which have certain traffic levels or pay-per-click viability and return those which do not meet those and other criteria.”

More at BusinessweekOnline