Showing posts with label global. Show all posts
Showing posts with label global. Show all posts

The Crash Course: The Unsustainable Future Of Our Economy, Energy, And Environment Review

The Crash Course: The Unsustainable Future Of Our Economy, Energy, And Environment
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The Crash Course: The Unsustainable Future Of Our Economy, Energy, And Environment ReviewThere are a limited number of good books that cover this very important topic - the relationship between population size, resource scarcity, and the competition that ensues from this struggle. And when this "struggle for existence" is tied together with major advances in medicine and relative world peace; the effect has been low fertility rates in democratic countries, people living much longer lives, and an unprecedented world wide population surge. Without what had been the traditional population checks in place (war, disease, and famine) the consequences will be devastating. The first person to have achieved any understanding of, and notoriety for articulating, this reality was Rev. Thomas Malthus with his, An Essay on the Principle of Population (Oxford World's Classics). And that was first published in 1798! The complete and total lack of those in political power to develop mechanisms to deal with this problem is the single greatest tragedy to befall the civilized world. Now, I simply said that to say this: Chris Martenson's book, The Crash Course, is the best book pertaining to this dilemma I have ever (yes, ever) read - and the most important book published since Garrett Hardin's, Living within Limits: Ecology, Economics, and Population Taboos, or Jared Diamond's, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed: Revised Edition. I believe this for two primary reasons. First, everything I read in this book is factually accurate, sincerely delivered, and vitally important. Secondly, and what is honestly more important, the presentation is magnificent. Perhaps it is from Dr. Martenson's experience with developing the material, and making presentations over the years, but as Randy Olsen pointed out in, Don't Be Such a Scientist: Talking Substance in an Age of Style, presentation is (practically) everything. Here are some great quotes (from just the first twenty pages!):
- "In truth, our predicament goes far deeper than even these recent, disquieting economic events might suggest. It's time to face the facts: A dangerous convergence of unsustainable trends in the economy, energy, and the environment will make the "twenty-teens" one of the most challenging decades ever. The Crash Course explains this predicament and provides sufficient context to support the idea that it is well past time to begin preparing for a very different future."
- "The big story is this: The world has physical limits that we are already encountering, but our economy operates as if no physical limits exist. Our economy requires growth. I don't mean that growth is "required" as if it's written in a legal document somewhere, but it is "required" in the sense that our economy only functions well when it's growing. With growth, jobs are created and debts can be serviced. Without growth, jobs, opportunities, and the ability to repay past debts simply and mysteriously disappear, causing pain and confusion...It is only when we assemble the challenges we find in the economy, energy, and the environment - which I call "the three E's" - into one spot that we can fully appreciate the true dimensions of our predicament. The next 20 years are going to be shaped by fundamental resource scarcity in ways that we have never experienced in history. The developed world is entering this race economically handicapped, with no one to blame but itself."
- "The mission of this book is larger than helping people build more resilience into their lives and portfolios. At our current pace, we are on track to leave behind more than a few predicaments for our children, as part of a substantially degraded world with fewer opportunities than we ourselves were granted. If we make the right choices from this point forward, we have the opportunity to leave a very different legacy. This is what The Crash Course is about - helping us to individually and collectively understand that our choices matter significantly and that the time to make the right choices is running dangerously short."
- "We cannot beat around the bush on this "third-rail" topic any longer: We need to stabilize world population at a level that can be sustained. If we don't, then nature will do it for us, and not pleasantly, either. This means stabilizing world population in perpetuity, not only for a little while longer. We may not know what this stable level is just yet, and more study is certainly needed, especially in light of declining energy resources. But we should do everything we can to avoid badly overshooting the number of humans that can be sustainably supported on our planet while carelessly avoiding an examination of the role of petroleum in supporting those populations." (actually, this quote came from page 253)
- "To me, a world worth inheriting is one where the inhabitants are living within their economic and natural budgets. It is a stable world where people and businesses can plan for the future because they can trust what will be there when they arrive. It is a world in which the brittle architecture of our just-in-time food systems and businesses is replaced by robust, sustainable, locally focused operations. In this world worth inheriting, communities take on more responsibility for their destinies, and stronger and more fulfilling relationships develop among neighbors."
In sum, this book is a must-read for anyone who cares one iota about their own future. Everything everyone needs to know is in this one book. I really could go on-and-on extolling the benefits and advantages of this book - compared to others - but I won't. Some people just won't be convinced...and that's really their problem. I know that may sound harsh, but the fact is: it's time to get serious. Some further evidence can be found in: Nafeez Ahmed's, A User's Guide to the Crisis of Civilisation: And How to Save it, Ellen Brown's, Web of Debt, or John Greer's, The Long Descent: A User's Guide to the End of the Industrial Age.The Crash Course: The Unsustainable Future Of Our Economy, Energy, And Environment Overview

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Luxury China: Market Opportunities and Potential Review

Luxury China: Market Opportunities and Potential
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Luxury China: Market Opportunities and Potential ReviewBoth authors have maintained that China offers ample market opportunities and potential to luxury brand owners because of its phenomenal GDP growth and huge consumer demand for high-quality and brand products. In this book, both authors offer relevant market information and useful tips to readers how to start up and sustain their businesses in this double-digit growth competitive market landscape:-
1. Market characteristics - Market size for luxury products is huge but luxury brand owners cannot view China as a single market because different tiers of cities (Big Four, Climbers, Niche, Mainstream, Next Frontier, and Poor Cousins) (Chapter 5) can generate different luxury product potentials.
2. Consumer attitudes and behaviors towards luxury products - There are four major consumer groups in terms of attitudes and behaviors towards luxury products, namely luxury lover, luxury follower, luxury intellectual, and luxury laggard (Pp.54-63). Based on a quantitative survey of "Chinese elites" in 4 Chinese cities (n=312), there are more luxury intellectuals (42.2%) in Beijing than in Chengdu (16.6%) while Shanghai has less luxury lovers (13%) than luxury followers (26.1%) (P.69). Luxury brand owners should formulate different effective marketing strategies to fulfill customer wants of these four consumer groups.
3. Long-term vision - Luxury brand owners cannot solely rely on return on investments made from start-up operations to fund business expansion activities because they have to make huge investment in establishing sufficient market presence (i.e. new store opening, bulk brand building campaigns, new inventory investment, and hiring of capable personnel) (P.13) and being one of the leading brands in order to keep up with double-digit market growth.
4. Operations and communication strategies - Chapter 4 and 5 describe pros and cons of different operations strategies for luxury brand owners (Importer-distributors, subsidiaries, joint venture, licensing). They also include a comprehensive list of major distributors in Hong Kong, Singapore, and China. Chapter 6 focuses on different above-and-below-the-line communication tools available to luxury brand owners (press, TV, outdoor media, and internet, celebrities and events).
According to both authors, China is still a hard nut to crack for iconic and weak luxury brand owners because it is a vast and complex market. Thus luxury brand owners cannot view China as a "El Dorado" for short-term gain.
There are limitations of this book:-
1. This book was published in 2010 but some of the information contained in this book is inaccurate and out of date. For example, rental prices for ground level shops in Nanjing West Road in 2010 was 60-70% higher than 2007 (P.218). According to Boston Consulting Group (2011), China has a million millionaires which is more than what the book has stated (415,000 persons, P.28). The well-known department store, Shin Kong Place, is located in Beijing East CBD instead of Beijing West CBD (P.87). The Chinese luxury market is still male-dominated because of the customs of gift-giving to business partners and government officers (P.43) but according to Newsweek (2010), women will account for at least 55% of luxury product market in 2015.
2. The quantitative survey in Chapter 3 does not cover respondents from super-rich and vulgar-rich segments (they are regular consumers of luxury brand products). The survey solely covers middle-to-upper middle class in 4 key Chinese cities and representativeness of the survey respondents in the luxury market remains in question.
3. Social portals ("weibo") have generated huge online traffic and consumers can express their views on luxury lifestyle and products in China. Besides, an online shopping portal, "Taobao", has also demonstrated significant growth in luxury product transactions. This book contains no information on this available communication tools.
Despite its limitations, this book has served its purpose of convincing readers of market opportunities and potential of luxury brand products in China. This book is highly relevant to MBA students and luxury brand owners (plan to have start-up operations in China) who aspire to have broad understanding of the overall market landscape.
Luxury China: Market Opportunities and Potential Overview

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