Stratoserve LLC

Mature Global design Strategies improve profits

I was rather happy to read the Aberdeen report's summary which highlights that global product design and development leads to reduction in product development time and time to market while allowing the protection of intellectual property through Digital Rights Management.

This blog and my research has been investigating these issues for some time and I am glad that the data is now available. The question is how do you make it work in practice, particularly if you are not a gigantic organization that can afford to open offices worldwide and actually place your person to work with the supplier in another country. That is an interesting question .....

Google Street Map and privacy concerns

Google Street Maps has been received with mixed responses. On one hand folks are furious about privacy issues, while others  hold that this is not really a problem. I think the truth is probably, somewhere in the middle. Privacy as it existed before the Internet is literally non-existent today. For example, you'll be amazed by the number of "confidential- in company use only" presentations you would find on the web and the "for fee " services that will offer you all kinds of information. In fact, googling someone is standard practice before a business or even social meeting. Academics check out each other's scholarly standing by a quick search on Google Scholar and act appropriately because Google Scholar tells you the academic pecking order, in no uncertain terms! But then, I am somewhat biased about the possibilities of the Internet. I am, perhaps overly, optimistic that more good than harm will come out of products like Google Street Maps. Given that everything is public, one needs to be comfortable with one's behavior,actions and even intentions because all of these can be tracked and shared ,pretty easily. The other alternative is to appropriately change ones behavior,actions and intentions lest it show up on YouTube, complete with audio- which is worse that Google Street Maps!

Sony PlayStation 3 launches in two hours

I had tuned in the CBS evening news and was marveling at just how well Katie Couric is handling the job when I was blown away by the Sony PlayStation 3 launch story. Anthony Mason of CBS was interviewing a guy who has been standing in queue since Monday ( three nights and days) to grab an early chance at getting the PlayStation 3.  This person was actually making a list of people waiting and had taken on the volunteer role of regulating the crowd which has stretched several blocks in New York. I checked stories around the country and Canada and the frenzy is everywhere ! Apparently the detailed graphics is a major attraction and the sweat of the basketball player is synchronized with the extent of "virtual" effort the animated player makes. Sony executives are "sweating" because they have 60% of the 10 B $ market ( Just how big is 10B$ - i.e. almost equal to Lipitor the cholesterol drug!)  and things should go just right so soon after the battery problems. Sir Howard Stringer the first non-Japanese CEO of SONY has a tough job in his hands - to reclaim Akio Morita's SONY that invented the Walkman and a company that has been needlessly slipping. In two hours we'll know and going from the buzz PlayStation 3 should be a great hit in this holiday season.

Mario Andretti and Creative Content

Mario Andretti is a familiar name to racing car ethusiasts and to video gamers. My only exposure to car racing has been at the Australian Grand Prix about a decade ago when my client Southcorp Holdings kindly invited me to sit in their box at the Adelaide Grand Prix. Frankly, I was a little upset with a couple of crashing cars (luckily no major injuries) and have maintained only a mild interest in auto racing since. However, when I read that Andretti is a big name in video gaming and more importantly is now available in a cell phone version; my interest revived.

More interesting from this blog's point of view was that the entire game for the Verizon platform was developed overseas. According to this article creative content outsourcing is becoming big business. Apparently GWE (Global Wireless Entertainment) started by asking their vendor, Paradox  Studios to research Mario Andretti and took about six months to get the game developed. Development involved an alpha stage where more detailed specifications were drawn and then a beta stage when a playable racing car game became available.  Both launch time and cost for the new game in a new platform (mobile) was drastically reduced by getting the creative folks in Mumbai (Bombay) to work on the project.

Creative Content outsourcing has its own unique challenges, including the need to keep up good and regular communications with the developers and creative folks overseas, good natured experimentation and the ability to move with a team you really have not met. Also the question of good intellectual property management is  important. Nevertheless creative content outsourcing does seem to be the emerging as a frontier in global outsourcing ...

Lord Ganesha made in China

Today is Ganesha Chaturthi the festival to celebrate and glorify Lord Ganesha the Hindu God of beginnings, success and " the remover of obstacles." Lord Ganesha is one of the most familiar icons of Hinduism and Homer Simpson once dressed up like the beloved elephant God in "The Simpsons"  during Apu's wedding to chuckles from most  Indians.

One would expect that both India and China being low cost countries would at least manufacture what is culturally dear to them. So  when I heard that there are lots of decorations and Ganesha idols made in China being sold in India - I decided to research this. Apparently this is going on since at least 2002. Globalization is indeed funny you can actually order various replicas from this Made-in-China site online.

I for one had protested to a New Delhi shopkeeper, this summer  because he was selling me a Taj Mahal replica-Made in China. When I asked for a Taj Mahal replica Made in India, the Shopkeeper assured me that the Chinese quality/price combo was unbeatable and I had to reluctantly agree.

Best wishes to all global beings on Ganesh Chaturthi - may Lord Ganesha remove obstacles, bring success and a new beginning irrespective of His "Made in " label !

Japanese "Manga" made in Philippines

The huge Japanese "Manga" or cartoons and comics industry is just too busy. Inq7.net reports from Manila that Japan’s Toei Animation Co. Ltd., the Dragonball Z creator is going to ask their wholly owned subsidiary Toei Philippines to do the animation work. Toei Animation Company has expanded its distribution to LA and France and needs to speed up production to meet the expected increase in demand. While the Japanese animators will do the art direction and  key animation - the Philippines subsidiary will do background, coloring and Camera works. If Philipines runs short of capacity then the Japanese company will shift the work elsewhere. Even "art" work can be divided and globalized; I am thinking...