Mobile marketing

The Mobile Marketing Association is a great resource when you're looking for information or data on the mobile phone market -- consumer usage, advertising practices, mobile gaming, search trends, etc. While some information is for members only, there are reports available for free in full or abbreviated formats. For example, under "Resources", the "Mobile Advertising Overview" is a 20-page report that looks at best practices and opportunities in mobile advertising. News releases, case studies, and summary data from Nielsen and NPD Group are also available. MMA publishes the IJMM International Journal of Mobile Marketing, a peer-reviewed bi-annual journal.

The Olympics and sports marketing

With the upcoming Summer Olympics in China, sports marketing is a hot topic. Knowledge@SMU (Singapore Management University) interviews marketing professor John Davis on his forthcoming book, "The Olympic Games Effect" which looks at the Olympics, sports sponsorship and branding.

International business culture and etiquette....

An understanding of business culture and etiquette in other countries is a critical competency for survival in a global business environment. Most business programs now incorporate international business etiquette into the curriculum. Listed below are a few recommended web sites that might be useful for building your business etiquette knowledge and skills:

Kwintessential offers a great collection of free and fee-based resources on inter-cultural communication, cross cultural training, translation services.... SEE esp. the "country profiles" (scroll down on left) - for business etiquette, customs and protocol.

The Canadian Agri-Food Trade Service has published "The International Business Etiquette Internet Sourcebook" (March 2007) which provides a very useful list by country of web sites devoted to business culture and/or business etiquette.

Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions is the result of research on how values in the workplace are influenced by culture. The model measures countries on dimensions such as "power distance", "individualism," "masculinity," "uncertainty avoidance," and "long-term orientation." Select a country to see how it ranks on these dimensions.

A more complete list of recommended web sites can be found here: http://del.icio.us/marcylibrarian/business_etiquette.

You can also find additional resources listed in the USF library catalog. For example,"Kiss, bow, or shake hands : the bestselling guide to doing business in more than 60 countries" is a popular book available for reference use in the USFSP library. Electronic databases such as "Countries and their cultures" and "World factbook" are also very useful for a little more in-depth background on a country.

WTO 2008 World Trade Report

The WTO-World Trade Organization recently released the 2008 World Trade Report. This year's report, entitled "Trade in a Globalizing World", "is devoted to an examination of the gains from international trade and the challenges arising from higher levels of integration." From the press release, you can download a copy of the complete 204-page report and also link to reports from previous years.

McKinsey on capital markets

McKinsey & Company has a new (June 2008) report on capital markets entitled "The new power brokers: gaining clout in turbulent markets" that looks at the impact of four "power brokers" on global capital markets -- Asian sovereign investors, petrodollars, hedge funds, and private equity firms. (A one-time free registration is required to retrieve the 24-page PDF file).

The report is an update from their October 2007 report. There are also links to other McKinsey publications, including the McKinsey Quarterly.

Doing business internationally...

Every two years, KPMG publishes a report entitled, "Competitive Alternatives: KPMG's Guide to International Business Location":

"The 2008 study is the most thorough comparison of international business locations ever undertaken by KPMG, and contains valuable information for any company locating international business operations.

Competitive Alternatives 2008 is an expansion and update of previous KPMG publications, and measures the combined impact of 27 significant business cost components that are most likely to vary by location. The study also compares data on a variety of non-cost competiveness factors. The study examines 17 industry operations in 10 countries: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The basis for comparison is the after-tax cost of startup and operations, over 10 years."

The full report for 2008 is available for download in English or French. Past reports from 2002, 2004, and 2006 are also available here.

TV, Internet and Mobile Usage... and the ATUS...

"Nielsen Reports TV, Internet and Mobile Usage Among Americans" -- the subtitle of this Nielsen press release is nothing surprising: "Under 35’s Watch Video on Internet & Mobile Phones More Than Over 35’s; Traditional TV Viewing Continues to Grow". The press release leads to a more complete 4-page report and Nielsen plans to report updated figures on a quarterly basis.

With tv viewing reportedly on the rise, it might be interesting to see where time spent is on the decline - work, sleep, housework, other leisure activities?. The U.S. government (Dept of Labor, BLS and Census Bureau) conducts an annual survey to answer that question and more. The American Time Use Survey (ATUS) "measures the amount of time people spend doing various activities, such as paid work, childcare, volunteering, and socializing." Annual data is available for 2003-2007, with detail by gender, age, income, etc.

The ATUS is a great resource for business research. Unfortunately, rumor has it may be threatened by budget cuts in Washington.