A Touching Story -- Jason Brown from NFL

(12/5/2014) At the era that most people pursuing material advances and many rich people get greedier, I am very moved by this story from Huffington Post. Jason Brown, an ex-NFL football player from St. Louis Ram, shared his life now as a farmer. Our society needs more dreamers like Jason Brown who are willing to help and share.

Jason Brown

Mile Long Security Check Line @ Midway Airport

(12/4/2014) Mile long of airport security check line? No kidding. It is hard to believe that Midway Airport made such a big mistake at the busiest day of air travel. But seeing is believing. What is the cause? The airport says they opened the security check too late and did not have enough staff working for security checking.

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Microsoft Surface Is Doing Well, Finally!

(11/30/2014) The new blockbuster stock might be Microsoft (MSFT) in next five years again because Microsoft is selling pretty good. It's a bad news for many PC brands since they may become the contract manufacturers for Microsoft Surface in the future. Is Surface a great product? It may not be that good, but Microsoft has a huge user base and the potential of 'upgrade' is sweet enough for Microsoft.

The Dark Side of Academic Research -- "Get me off your fucking mailing list"

(11/25/2014) Can you believe that an 'academic' research paper "Get me off your fucking mailing list" is accepted by International Journal of Advanced Computer Technology? It is not published yet, but it has been "accepted" and the review comments is "excellent." The reason this "excellent" article is not published because the authors have to pay $150 for publication. 

This is the dark side of the academic. Under the pressure of research publication, some professors who are not productive anymore have a different way to get their paper published. These journals are called "pay-for-publication" journals. The higher education academicians know the existence of pay-for-publication journals. Probably all college professors are continuously spammed by these pseudo journals as well as some pseudo academic conferences. That is the pest of our academic lives. 

A flow chart of "Get me off your fucking mailing list." In my perspective, it is terribly done and makes no sense at all.

I would say this is the residual plot of "Get me off your fucking mailing list"

(12/11/2014) It seems that some academicians enjoy teasing these pay-for-publication journals. Another scientist just have a paper written by "Margaret Simpson and her equally fictional friend Edna Krabappel, along with someone by the name of Kim Jong Fun," and have it accepted by Computational Intelligence and Electronic Systems and the Aperito Journal of NanoScience Technology.

Twitter Mistake by Twitter's CEO? That's Embarrassing!

(11/25/2014) Do you sometimes have a fat finger like Twitter's CFO? That is why I don't use social media that much. I wonder whether Twitter will design a "think twice" button before its users 'tweet' by accident?

Robot Kivas May Replace Warehouse Workers

(11/20/2014) Recent years, Amazon had several labor troubles in their fulfillment centers in the US and Germany. In the long run, robots are definitely more attractive for big retailers like Amazon or Walmart. This is a news about Robot Kivas working in the warehouse of Amazon. They are not doing the picking jobs. Instead, they move inventories around on racks to get closer to the pickers such that the pickers can save their time from walking all day long.

As technology progresses, one day maybe the picker's job will be replaced by Kiva too.



(12/1/2014) Amazon just announced that they will release 15,000 Kivas in the warehouses for their pickers.  One worker says that their picking productivity is two to three time more than before and it will save 20% of operating cost. Yes, it also says that it will not eliminate current jobs; but, in another words, it means they don't need to hire as many pickers as before.

High Tech Entrepreneurs and Common Sense

(11/18/2014) Another PR failure from a high-tech executive?

Cite from the source above: "BuzzFeed said, came from Emil Michael, Uber's senior vice president for business, during a private dinner in New York last week. He later said he believed the conversation was off the record, according to the social news and entertainment website."

Yes, he can spend $1 million on journalists. He forgot they have pens, tons of them and the internet share is free... So many high-tech entrepreneurs really need to take some "common sense" classes.

Here is another "No common sense" PR failure from this group of elite:

Microsoft CEO Nadella's comment about equal-pay and gender income gap:

Laundry Pod Need A New Look

(11/10/2014) When laundry pod was launched, I wondered why these detergent makers want to make cleaning stuff so visually appealing? To stimulate consumer's compulsive purchasing? If it appeal to adult shoppers, then its colorful outlook resembles beautiful and tasteful candies to children. According to the news, tens of thousands of toddlers were sent to hospital because mistaking laundry pods as candies. When will detergent manufacturers admit this product design eventually is a mistake and change its packaging?

If you were a toddler, can you tell which one is poisonous?

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German Publsiher Axel Speringer's Deal with Google

(11/7/2014) For many content publishers, google's dominance in the search engine market is too big to compete or even negotiate. Google's search engine and news site are known for indexing online contents without 'paying' the publisher. As German's court ruled that "publishers can prohibit search engines and similar services from using their news articles beyond headlines" and Axel Springer did just that. In the last several weeks, they did not allow google to run snippets to grasps their content and Google complied. Google stopped showing some contents from its search engine and news site. The result is a disaster to Axel Springer: "traffic flowing from clicks on Google search results had fallen by 40 percent and traffic delivered via Google News had plummeted by 80 percent in the past two weeks."

Springer caved in. They allow Google to index their content in snippet and show their content online when users search by keywords. However, Springer is not happy at all. They hope "lawmakers, courts and competition regulators would take action to curb its (Google's) powers."

Spain just passed a new copyright law saying "post links to news articles or excerpts from them will have to pay a fee to the Association of Editors of Spanish Dailies." If Germany cannot even fight with Google, do you think Spain will eventually win this battle?

Axel Springer's example reflects the dilemma many traditional publishers are facing. More and more access content through the Internet via a search engine like Google (or others if they can be competitive). The publishers pay the salaries for the journalist and have huge overhead running publishing business. Google have ad revenue from user's every search; the publisher's content has to compete with other contents on the display order of search result. Blocking Google or other search engine is just shooting one's own feet.

Axel Springer: "I have no choice. Shutting Google's snippet, we will be out of the market."

(12/11/2014) Who will win in the dispute of Spain's new copyright tax? Google or Spain? Google's reaction is shutting down its news website that use news sources coming from Spanish publishers. It will seriously decrease the website traffic for these publishers if they don't allow Google to list their articles 'free' on Google News. What is fairness in this dispute?

Who Still Buys and Owns Music?

(11/3/2014) Apple's iTune and Amazon's online music see biggest fall in sales of digital music download, while digital streaming services is going up . Well, most readers probably are not surprised? Who are still buying and own music in the digital streaming era? Limited to my flash memory size, I may not have all musics in one device. So, why do I have to remember to load my digital music download into devices to the places that I want to listen to (in the car, on the public transportation, work out, biking...)? For the convenience, consumer prefer to listen to music anywhere they want, so monthly subscription (or free membership) is foreseeably becoming the main stream in the future.

But I am surprised to see the differences of digital sales download in different countries (Japan vs. Sweden) and among different genres (country music fans still buy more music than the fan of other genres).

Not only in digital music, Amazon (and Apple) may have another problem: people don't buy books (especially the textbooks) anymore. They now just want to rent. Just today, country singer Taylor Swift announced that her new album will not be available on Spotify for streaming. Spotify posted a blog talking about this breakup.

Spotify begged in this blog "PS – Taylor, we were both young when we first saw you, but now there’s more than 40 million of us who want you to stay, stay, stay. It’s a love story, baby, just say, Yes." Spotify made two playlists as below.

Business of Sport -- TV Eyeballs

(10/30/2014) When I was a kid, I used to watch baseball in Taiwan. I had plenty of time and was never bothered by slow pace of baseball. Now, I am an adult living in the US. I now watch football on TV and never pay attention to baseball games. My friends say, "what is the whole point to watch so many baseball games during the regular season? Even during the World Series, you have at least four games to watch..."

San Francisco just won 2014 World Series in Game 7. But the TV rating of the World Series is getting worse and worse. The following analysis tells you how bad the baseball games on TV in the US. Do you have any solution to save MLB?

Apple Pay or CurrentC?

(10/29/2014) Recently, CVS and Rite Aid announced that they will not support Apple Pay. The reason of not-supporting Apple Pay was revealed by New York Time: several retailers (including Walmart, Best Buy, CVS...) are working on a mobile payment platform CurrentC. Supported by these retailers, CurrentC (based on MCX, Merchant Customer Exchange) can save those supporting retailers 2%~3% of commission, which the retailers pay to credit card companies.

Well, it turns out that CurrentC is not that safe at all. They have sent out email to users that "unauthorized third parties obtained the e-mail addresses of some of you." (Did Apple do that? just kidding.) In Chinese, we have a saying "三個臭皮匠，勝過一個諸葛亮," which means "Two heads are better than one." However, if most retail heads are incompetent in data security, no matter how many head they form an alliance, they will not be competent either.

What platform will you support? I don't think CurrentC will back off anytime soon because 2% saving is too good to let go.

West Coast Container Congestion Again in 2014

(10/27/2014) And this time the problem is not easy to solve. Unlike the past importing container congestion in the LA-LB ports were caused by labor strike, this year, the container congestion in the west coast is due to shortage in equipment (chassis) and carrier capacity. So, some of U.S. retailers that rely on holiday shopping to turn profit may get hurt this time. A freight consulting company, flegenheimer.com,  concludes several factors (and they look hard to solve):

• Import surge explains terminal congestion, capacity shortages in both rail and drayage trucking sectors. 
• Since most carriers no longer provide chassis, trucker has to make arrangements for their own chassis pick up and wait in line. 
• Raildroad delays in providing railcars and equipment; thus, containers that cannot leave as scheduled create further congestion. 
• ILWU goes on vacation and lesser experienced dock workers are assigned, it affects productivity. 
• Some terminals require appointment of 24 hours prior to pick up.

The equipment shortage will take a long time to solve. 

UPS and Fedex Seek Solutions for Holiday Shipping

(10/25/2014) Did your Christmas online shopping got screw in the last two years with delay?
This is a great article about demand management of Fedex and UPS dealing with holiday shopping. Look what UPS and Fedex ask for online retailers to commit some agreement earlier. The online retailers cannot promise you last minute shopping with on time delivery anymore without 'consulting' with UPS and Fedex. If you are last-minute shopper, you better know what retailers have 'agreement' with Fedex and UPS for last minute shipping.

(2015/10/26) FedEx says that this coming shopping season (from Black Friday to X'mas) will have 317 millions of packages shopping through them. As online become a major economic indicator, it shouldn't be too shocking to know it's another record year (up 12.4% over last year). One day after, UPS estimates that their holiday shipping will be 630 millions of packages. Other than expanding temporarily with more workers , I wonder how FedEx and UPS handle the shipping contract with the major retailers.

Driver Shortage Hits Critical Level

(10/22/2014) Truck driver shortage has been a long term issue for the US domestic logsitics. Long working hours, more strict regulations and drug tests, worsen congestion in metro areas, separation from family,... all attribute to shortage of truck drivers. This drive shortage might hit a critical level such that truck carriers has to say 'No' to shippers who need trucking. Due to shortage, the truck carriers will either have to increase transportation charges to shippers or drop shipments that have bad margins.

When the last-mile transportation is more difficult, we will see transportation cost increase in the long run.

(2015/10/27) The industry keeps warning us, but we only hear warnings. Here is another one. For an industry that needs 800K truck drivers, a 48,000 shortage is a serious problem. They say pay gap is one of the reasons. I think people really need to wait for self-driving trucks to solve this problem.

Apple's One SIM to rule them all

(10/21/2014) One thing inconvenient to cell phone users in the US now is that the cellular phone often works for only one or two wireless service provider. Your Verizon iPhone won't work on AT&T network. This limitation seriously damage the 'portability' of devices when users want to switch to another service provider for various reasons (fee, coverage, service quality...). Now Apple silently wants to remove this limitation and take back the control back to users (and Apple, of course).

Two month ago, if you buy an iPad and want to be always connected, you have to decide which wireless provider (AT&T, Verizon or Sprint...) you have. Now in Apple iPad Air 2 available in the US and UK, you don't have make this decision anymore since it has Apple SIM card embedded.

Apple says "you can choose the plan that works best for you — with no long-term commitments. And when you travel, you may also be able to choose a data plan from a local carrier for the duration of your trip"

Definitely the wireless service provider won't be happy about Apple's move since they will gradually lose grips on their users. It's a victory of Apple and Apple's users.

An Umbrella Shooting Air

(10/20/2014) It's creative, a new idea of umbrella. I think someone will give this new product a different application.

An umbrella like this for Florida downpour? I think we probably need to wait for a while.

Air Umbrella Demo(video)

Germany's Austerity Obsession Could Take Down The Global Economy?

(10/13/2014) This is a news about Germany's recent recession. Did Germany dig into this current problem by pushing austerity in other debt-laden countries in Europe?

Let me try to derive the causal relationship:
EU pushed austerity in countries with huge national debt to stabilize EURO and european's economy --> Countries like Greece, Spain, Italy, Portugal cut spendings --> Those debt-laden countries above don't buy equipments or other imports from Germany (since Germany is the behemoth of exporting) --> Germany economy fell into recession.

But will other options to cope with European debt issue work better?

Social media messages speak louder than CVs

(10/10/2014) As titles, you just have to click the following link (and answer three questions if you are not FT subscriber) to know what Financial Time's survey say.  Wait for several days, we may be able to get this survey from another website.

The conclusion is:
48% of employers use social media to check applicant's background information.
12% of employers plan to do so.
40% have not planned to do so.

What are most important parts that employers are looking? (sorted by ranking)
1. Posts about drugs and drinking
2. Negative comments about work
3. Improper photos and text
4. Lies about qualification (like the school of graduation, age...)
....

I bet quite a lot of young people will be shot down in top three.

Amazon Will Sell YOU to Advertizers.

(10/9/2014) What and how often do we shop in Amazon? The items we views, the reviews we read, the movies we watched... Next, our personal data of all information above might be up for sale by Amazon.  Don't be scared, it's not all your credit card information will be flying on the Internet. It will not be much different from the Ads, that google and other online advertisers know about us, you views in your browser. I am not surprised by this move at all. If Amazon cashes in our personal information, think about all other smaller websites or online retailers we have visited. No wonder now the bank hacking or data breaches are not news anymore because we (as consumers) are all "FOR SALE".

Bezos: Let me know more about you.

Redbox Instant Video Streaming To Shut Down

(10/5/2014) There is Netflix. There is Amazon Prime. There is Hulu. There is no room for others..... That is the rule of the Internet. The joint venture between Redbox and Verizon -- Redbox Instant Video -- will be shut down soon.  I tried their service once and the list of its content is just bad. No wonder it will be closed.

Two Container Ship Collided in Suez Canal (Caught on Video)

(10/3/2014) It is an amazing footage of two container ship collision in Suez Canal. Three containers fell into the water but there was no casualty from this accident.

URI Partners with Zip Car for Campus Transportation

(9/30/2014) Do you sometimes just need a vehicle for a short period and does not want to rent a car for whole day? For business owners, sometimes they need cars to pick up clients for a short period, traditional rental car is expensive and difficult. Zip car is an alternative.

Now the University of Rhode Island partners with ZipCar to offer car sharing to students and faculty. In that page, there is information telling students and faculty how to utilize Zipcar to solve their transportation around several campuses.

Data Breaches in the US

(9/29/2014) Here is a list of data breaches in recent years.

Company -- Time of news -- Impact -- Type of data breaches
Post Office (USPS) -- November 2014 -- 500K employees and some customers-- Employees email, SSN, telephone #'s
CurrentC (MCX) -- October 2014 -- Unknown -- emails hacked
Dairy Queen -- August to October 2014 -- 395 stores -- consumer credit cards
Home Depot -- September 2014 -- 56 millions -- consumer credit cards,
Target -- December 2013 -- 40 millions -- consumer credit cards,
TJ Max -- March 2007 -- 46 millions  -- Consumer credit cards (unsecured network)
Heartland Payment Systems -- January 2009 -- 100 millions cards & 650 financial companies -- Credit card data
Sony -- May 2011 -- More than 100 millions -- User personal data

US DOT on flight delay and in-flight phone call

(9/29/2014) On cntraveler.com, there is a report about the most recent DOT's perspective about flight delay, in-flight phone call and airline mergers.

Here is a page summarizing the passenger's Air Travel right. While FAA is standing up to protect passenger's right due to past serious delays. Airlines cancel flights when the delay may be caused by weather or other uncontrollable factor in order to avoid huge penalty (examples of American Airlines). In the last two years, there are way more flights canceled than before, which causes more travelers missed their flights, canceled their business trips and vacations, and found it more difficult to reach their destinations.

Frontier Pilot Orders Pizza for Passengers Stuck on Plane

(9/29/2014) When you are stuck in the airplane due to air control or whatever reason, you are hungry and thirsty. Imagine warmhearted pilots brings you some nice pizza? This is what happened to 160 Frontier Airlines passengers.

Nobody Loves Waiting, but Dancing? Maybe

(9/22/2014) Not many people will say they love waiting. But we wait all the time in the modern society. Here is an interesting design for people waiting for red light.

31 Wonderful Innovations That Can Change Our Lives

(9/20/2014) They might be crazy, but some are very useful.

I would love this one.

(11/10/2014) Is curry crust pizza great innovation of Pizza Hut? Well, it depends on how many new customer orders will choose curry crust pizza. My comments: if this new product just replace Pizza Hut's old order, or it significantly increase the preparation time, then it will turn out to be a failed "new product innovation."

iPhone 6 Exrpress

(9/16/2014) It's a chartered express cargo plane (Boeing 747) for iPhone 6. "God bless it," I hear 195000 iPhone 6 new users pray.

"Believe me, this is not the only airplane hauling them apples," he added. "I'm guessing about 20 - 30 heavy's a day coming out of China with just iphones for this launch."

A heavy, he added, is a "BIG airplane."

$500 for Bad Review Policy? Hotel Owner Apologize

(8/5/2014) Recently, a hotel in Hudson, New York that claim it will charge $500 for guest's bad review online causes a strong backfire. After online users inundated yelp.com with all 1-star reviews, the hotel owners first responded that announcement on their website was just a joke. With one day, after receiving 3000 bad reviews, the hotel owner finally "officially apologize" to its customers. Will this 'joke' costs the owner's business?

Whole Food: Victim of Its Success

(8/3/2014) This is a very good article from the Economist. Do you find more organic food now in Walmart or your local shops?

Modern Society and Privacy

(7/31/2014) You don't check in on your Facebook page. You don't take Selfie. You are not even a celebrity. But as long as you look different, the 21st century society can still keep track of you.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/mystery-roaming-woman-black-revealed/story?id=24774876

Microsoft Software's Inconsistency

(7/22/2014) Anyone who has taught Microsoft's Excel in class feels the same pain that I feel. Excel has so many different versions over the years, and the Windows version and Mac version also have different interfaces. Although I know Excel is very important to business students and I would really want to teach, but, as a teacher, I don't really know how to teaching in class. Why? Students have so many different versions of Excel on their computers. As Mac becomes more popular among college students, teaching Excel without a lab (in a uniform OS and Excel version) is mission impossible.

Here is an example that I just found today. I want to find the command that can help me to convert a "text" to a "number" in Excel. When I search online, this is the official instruction from Microsoft's website. Are the software developers in Microsoft so blind that they don't see the problem that we are experiencing everyday?

Below is copied and pasted from this page. The major problem is in "Method 3" below. Yes, we know there are many different ways of converting a "text" to a "number." But different versions of Excel should be consistent. I am technology savvy enough to find answers on my own when Excel's new version CHANGES the command again. But those inexperience students CANNOT. In a classroom that has 4 or 5 different versions of Excel among students, tell me, how am I going to teach students?

Wake up! Microsoft, you sleeping lion.

Restaurant Watches Old Surveillance And Shares Shocking Results On Craigslist

(7/14/2014) I found an interesting article about the back-office angle of waiting in the restaurant. I don't know how 'real' this article is, but it shows some interesting stories about waiting line management.  Are you shocked by the discovery too?

Snow Blower for Railroad?

(7/9/2014) I was watching "Railroad Alaska" on TV and just realized that how railroads clear the snow during the winter to keep traffic moving. I found several snow removal clips on youtube. Here they are.

This one shows you when snow is not too deep.


If the snow is really deep and hard, then it needs this monster to drill and blow snow away. Wow, based on its speed, how long will it take to clear 1 mile of railroad?

This is another industrial level of snow blower, so amazing.

A MOOC Course Suddenly Vanishes

(7/9/2014) Imagine that you take an online courses and start working on it. All of sudden the course site disappears. What is going on and who is responsible for those students? A course offered by a professor from the University of Zurich just disappeared like that on Coursera. Coursera has no control over the course and the strange tweets from the instructor afterwards just make things even weird. Who should be responsible for the course and how to protect the rights of online students?

Supermarket Without Bees?

(6/17/2014) This news has strong and impressive message telling readers how a supermarket looks like without bees. "Last year, Whole Foods Market removed all of the fruits and vegetables dependent on pollinators from its produce section to create a striking visual of what our supermarkets would look like without these important creatures as part of its Share The Buzz campaign." The following two pictures are copied and pasted from HuffingtonPost.com. To know the before and after, go to the news.

FedEx, UPS Will Charge By Size

(6/17/2014) Following Fedex's plan to charge ground delivery parcels by its size (not just by weight only) in May 2014, UPS now also announces that they will charge all ground shipping parcels by its size too. Both companies make this move to offset rising transportation cost and more grocery shipping now people buy online. The good news is that UPS' new pricing won't start before Dec 29, 2014. But buying toilet papers from Amazon may not be a good deal anymore.

Judge's Harsh Words on JC Penney

(6/16/2014) This judge is definitely very judgmental about JC Penney's ex-CEO, Ron Johnson. The judge said Johnson was a "casualty of his own hubris." If you know the falling of JC Penney, you may agree with this judge.

How Do Netlfix Users Choose Movies?

(5/21/2014) The result is not surprising. But I am surprised that "75 to 80 percent of what people watch on Netflix comes from the site's recommendations rather than from search" . That percentage is very high. 

Now,according to a Huffington Post's report, Netflix will revise its recommendation to its users. It says in the future they may only give users 3 to 4 more precise recommendation in stead of long grids of movie titles for users to browse. Is it related to Net Neutrality and the fee Netflix pays to the Internet service providers?

Five Four Club for No Fashion Sense Gentlemen

(5/20/2014) Guys, do you feel like shopping for your own clothes is a challenge and chore? If you are one of them, now there is a company do the chore for you. With $60 monthly prescription (news report), Five Four Club (Company website) will take care this part for you. You don't have to challenge your deficient fashion sense and still look good. The website not only sends you clothes, pants and accessaries, it also give you some suggestions how to dress them in a "proper combination."I have to say it is pretty smart business. How do you think?

Shame of Higher Education

(5/16/2014) We know for-profit colleges are very aggressive in their recruiting and misleading advertisement. But this practices is really a shame of higher eduction. Everest College intentionally faked some positions by paying contractors $2000 to hire its graduates with some temporary contract positions. After 2 months, these poor graduates are fired and denied for further assistance of finding jobs. Huffington Post obtained a document revealing the illegal and shameful practices. I think this school should be banned and the school administrators should be prosecuted.

The victim's family of the Everest College.

Branding of Bulk Retailers

(5/16/2014) Most people probably think the difference between Costco and Sam's Club (Walmart owns it) is tiny, just a different store name. But it seems it is more than that. In the last several quarters, the performances of these two bulk retailers show they are going to different directions: Costco is doing just fine, but Sam's Club is going south. Here is a very good analysis and comparison between them.

There is no Costco in Rhode Island and I shop in Sam's Club sometimes for several years. But, based on my experience in several Sam's Club, the Sam's club management is really bad. Many of Sam's employees are most not well trained, and cannot answer some basic questions about where is the stock. I think they probably receive very little training and get paid not much better than Walmart's associates. Sam's Club definitely has serious supply issue (maybe it's related to its relationship with suppliers) since they discontinue some good brand stocks for no reasons, which made me less incentivized to shop there.

South China Sea Turmoil May Disrupt Global Supply Chain

(5/14/2014) The tension between China and Vietnam spread to interrupt the production of some Chinese and Taiwanese business in Vietnam. It started from a Chinese state-owned oil company decided to drill in the disputed area in the South China Sea, which were followed by some water canon fights between Chinese's ships and Vietnam's vessels.

While two governments still cannot find a solution for these political disputes,  the boiling anti-China emotions in Vietnam have triggered groups of mobs in several cities encompassing several factories owned by Chinese and Taiwanese and damaged the facility. Vietnamese mob may not differentiate the difference between Taiwanese and Chinese, or they don't even care.  According to a report from Taiwan, thousands of Taiwanese workers, factory managers and business owners fled away from Vietnam or tried to find places to hide in Vietnam until the turmoils are over. A Taiwanese bicycle maker has more than 1 millions of finished or unfinished bicycles burned on site. The facility damage is estimated to be more than $300 millions USD and the disrupted production will cost another $1.3 millions USD to the firm. Vietnam is seen as another perfect destination for international business to find a cheaper off-shore production base as the production and labor cost in China keeps rising. Now the social turmoils and anti-Chinese emotions are brewing in Vietnam. The violent way that Vietnamese choose to demonstrate their anger will not only discourage Chinese and Taiwanese investors. Many foreign business will think twice before they pour in more money into this country.

Will the global supply chain be further disturbed by the conflict between China and Vietnam? Let's pray. Financial Times has an  analysis on Vietnam's riot and global supply chain (5/21/2014). Several suppliers of Apple, Nike and Adidas were forced to shut down for several days. If the Vietnam cannot restore the trust of foreign investors and buyers, the global supply chain will need some time to adjust and change its supply chain.

Here is an in-depth analysis (in Chinese 只有中文) about this riot in Vietnam. It says there are many investments from China and Taiwan in Vietnam in recent years. Though these investments provide job opportunities to Vietnamese, it also has a deep inequality reflecting the foreigners (Chinese or Taiwanese) are taking advantages of Vietnamese. For example, the executive level administrator in these factories are always Taiwanese or Chinese. To some level, this arrangement is more acceptable and understandable. However, for the mid-level skilled workers, these foreign investment almost only uses Chinese workers via special working VISA (not Taiwanese because the wage is higher than Chinese). So Vietnamese can only get low-pay jobs without opportunity of being promoted even though some of them might be qualified. Here is another example. In an electricity power plant, which is contracted to a Chinese contractor, the contractor 'imports' many Chinese 'experts or technicians' with specialized working VISA for the purpose of management and communications. These Chinese workers are not more qualified than the Vietnamese, but they have better pay checks by abusing the system. All these management styles and 'mis-practices' add more 'fuels' on the anti-Chinese emotions.

Source: http://udn.com/NEWS/NATIONAL/NATS6/8676937.shtml

Source: http://udn.com/NEWS/NATIONAL/NATS6/8676952.shtml