Domain Holders Take Advantage of You and Me

Source: http://news.findlaw.com/ap/high_tech/1700//02-27-2008/20080227100502_25.html

As if it's not difficult enough to find a marketable and appealing domain name these days, some companies are now suspect of manipulating buyers by analyzing recent domain searches and using the data to inflate domain prices. This has been a growing issue as the number of domain purchases over years has skyrocketed and along with that so have the number of companies facilitating domain purchases.

To combat this issue a law suit was filed with a Los Angeles court Monday against Network Solutions, LLC, one of the many domain facilitation sites (networksolutions.com). The importance of this lawsuit is extremely prominent in protecting businesses and consumers involved in online business development. As someone who owns more than ten domains and has experienced the aforementioned problem, let me tell you, this is huge.

Here's how it works:

For the purpose of this argument, let's say I am a apparel designer in Florida who realizes the potential to grow my business through the outlet of e-commerce. I put together my online business strategy, hire a couple of designers, and begin to create what will soon be my online presence. Using a domain facilitator I search and scour through thirty possible domain names but decide to come back and purchase after I speak with a marketing consultant to get some ideas on which domains have the most marketability. During this gap of time the domain facilitator has accessed its search analytics and notices that I, as well as others, have been searching for possible domains. In turn they purchase the domains, making them unavailable to me upon my eager arrival to get up and running online. At this point I am either forced to search for another, likely less appealing domain, or purchase my first choice at a much higher price. The domain facilitator has just manipulated me to increase its profit margins.

Many companies who do this defend their actions by stating that they are helping the consumer by ensuring domains are available when their customers return to purchase. Don't be fooled. This is a cover for their blatant misuse of search data. I commend them for developing a strategy that allows for higher profits, but they've gone about it the wrong manner. There is a better solution, which I will outline below, to both increase company profits AND provide value and honest service to consumers. Now Network Solutions and others will likely deflate their profits in a vigorous class action law suit that in my opinion could have easily been avoided.

My Solution:

Surely it would be nice to have some more insurance that my domains would be available upon my return to purchase, but as the buyer I should have the option to obtain that insurance. What Network Solutions and other companies should do is develop an option to purchase domain insurance for a nominal fee that reserves the domain for a period of time. This both opens a new stream of revenue for Network Solutions and the like while also preserving the rights of the consumers.

As the competition for domains increases and more and more businesses establish themselves online it will be more and more important to have ethical standard for businesses and consumers to follow and understand. Especially when it comes to private data.

Tips for buying domains:

1. Use a reputable site - I use GoDaddy (godaddy.com) because they not only have a great reputation, but also offer a full suite of domain and hosting services.
2. Be alert of suspicious behavior - If you're domains keep disappearing before you can purchase them, consider investigation the company you're working with.
3. Report suspicious behavior - Visit RNS Domain Fraud and know how to handle potential misuse.
   

Chinese Inflation Affects You

Sources: http://www.forbes.com/markets/2008/02/19/china-inflation-food-markets-econ-cx_vk_0219markets04.html
http://www.china-embassy.org/eng/default.htm

Have all good things come to an end with China? Highly doubtful, but Chinese officials reported Tuesday of record high inflation rates. Their Consumer Price Index (CPI) was up 7.1% for January, making rates higher than they have been since 1997. The problem stems from the detrimental winter snowstorms which devastated crops and cattle. This, according to both Forbes and BBC News, was the main force behind rising inflation rates.

Unfortunately things are only expected to get worse. Goldman Sachs expects inflation to worsen in February as the severe winter storms took place only after January 21^st. “In our view, the inflation impact from the snow storm may have not been fully reflected in the January inflation data,” they said. They also made note that the suggested 7% CPI reading for February is likely to be closer to double-digits.

As a result of the inflation levels China’s central bank is expected to increase interest rates at least four times this year. Monetary policy is expected to continue to be very tight with higher reserve requirements, accelerated currency appreciation (yuan), and more “heavy-handed controls on bank lending.” Speculators note that China continues to constrain monetary policy despite the United States’ economic slowdown. The extremely fast growing money supply of China is another potential threat that could play a role in keeping rates higher. To be blunt, China needs to slow down, and they know it.

As China tightens policy we can expect the economy to slow down as it tries to stabilize itself. Record high Chinese interest rates will cause Foreign Direct Invest (FDI) to increase. With the United States at such low interest rates, a spike in investment from China could be just the thing we need to catalyze us back into motion.

On the opposite side, FDI to china should decrease, which could mean higher prices for durable goods. This would in turn decrease consumption for Americans and other countries who buy Chinese produced goods. Because of globalization, the interconnection between countries not only affects the stock markets, it also affects how monetary policy in one country could potentially effect consumption, prices, and growth in another. That’s globalization.

Trackback: http://grantdeken.blogspot.com/2008/02/chinese-inflation-affects-you.html

How Collaboration Can Enhance R&D

Source: http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5750.html

Alan MacCormarck, a professor in the Harvard School of Business, conducted research with a team on how collaboration is changing the way Research and Development takes place in today’s businesses. He explains to readers that while traditionally companies gained competitive advantages through internal research and patented intellectual property, global collaboration and partnered development is becoming a more effective means of gaining those oh-so desired competitive advantages.

MacCormack points out that one reason for collaboration is product complexity. Cars now send maintenance data to dealerships and sneakers have microchips in them. His point being that it’s just too hard for one firm to master all these technologies under one roof. From an economic perspective one can easily see that what’s going on here is specialization. Rather than trying to do everything, firms are now partnering and each focuses on what it does best. Brilliant!

While this seems like such a logical way to operate in a flattened world, businesses struggle to collaborate effectively. This stems primarily from an ideology that innovation collaboration is about lowering costs. MacCormack explains that many firms adopt what is called a “production outsourcing” mindset to collaboration. In other words, firms choose to focus on lowering costs and forgo other potential opportunities. “Production and innovation are different activities. While the former seeks to replicate an existing product at lower costs, the latter seeks to discover something entirely new and valuable.” However, if done properly, the cost benefits to innovation collaboration can be huge. Researchers were quick to note it is one of the main benefits.

There are other benefits that go beyond cost reduction. “Collaboration can help to shorten development lead times and increase capacity; it can facilitate access to skills, capabilities, and intellectual property that a firm does not possess internally; and it can allow a firm to acquire relationships and knowledge in a part of the world where it has no experience,” MacCormack says.

Innovation collaboration is a big transition for most businesses, but companies like Boeing and Microsoft are having great success at it. What you get out of innovation collaboration is efficiency and savings, but it’s important to note the irony that those most concerned with saving money often have a hard time actually doing it. Letting the cost savings come as an added benefit is the key to success at this method. It's interesting because we can see how the variables in the globalization equation are interacting. With the vast amounts of technology available, along with increasingly complicated business models and legal systems, it’s insanely difficult for a firm to develop every facet of a complex product and the world is adjusting to that by understanding we have to work together to continue to be successful.

Track Back: http://grantdeken.blogspot.com/2008/02/how-collaboration-can-enhance-r.html

Globalization does my work for me!

What if I could click a button and have someone else write this post for me? Believe it or not, some people are now given this luxury in the workplace. “OOF,” which stands for Office of the Future, is the result of years of flattening and globalization and companies like Pfizer and other major corporations are taking advantage of it. many other people are focusing on globalization and their wheels are turning too.

As the result of a major financial crisis in 2005, Pfizer had to create ways to work more effectively while also reducing costs. Senior director of Organizational Effectiveness Jordan Cohen, who at the time was reading Thomas Friedman’s “The World is Flat,” decided to take advantage of globalization and convergence. After some research he found that employees were spending 20% to 40% of their time on tasks that could be done by someone else. Who did he call? The companies Friedman mentions in Chapter two of his book (The World is Flat, 2005)!

This scenario is as real as it gets when we’re talking about outsourcing and globalization. What’s more fascinating are the initial results and the struggles that occurred. At first things went poorly. Assignments were often flawed with typos or incorrectly analyzed data. The problem stemmed from both sides of the world. Pfizer employees were communicating ineffectively and Indian firms found it difficult to tackle the multi-step projects and were unorganized. As a result the process had to be reorganized and tweaked to work effectively. Office Tiger, the Indian firm working with Pfizer, decided it would create teams that would tackle certain assignments, and the work would be passed around. Speculation by Cohen and others circled management meetings as people discussed the high number of “handoffs” for outsourced projects.

Fortunately after minor adjustments the pilot took off and the program grew to two-hundred Pfizer employees. The benefits for Pfizer are huge. The amount of time to complete projects is cut close to half, while savings are huge. “Pfizer pays $15 to $35 per worker hour, far less than they would pay the McKinseys of the world, whose rates typically start at $215 per hour.”

Globalization is an unbelievably significant opportunity for businesses. This article is significant in showing how globalization can be helpful to your operations and employee effectiveness. But information outsourcing isn’t without its own flaws. The convergence of technology and collaboration has been available for years, but even in 2008 it can still be a struggle to effectively integrate these tools and processes into your business. This was clearly seen as Pfizer struggled to identify an effective process for outsourcing menial tasks. However Cohen notes that after the kinks had been worked out things we’re significantly more efficient. “It’s kind of amazing,” he said. “I wonder what [our employees] used to do.”

Source from Fast Company February 2008 Issue.

Track Back: http://grantdeken.blogspot.com/2008/02/123do-my-work.html