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Chinese Goods Flood Dakar, Anger Competitors
At the Centenaire market in Dakar, Chinese wholesalers line the street on both sides, renting warehouses for $1,000 a month, selling everything in bulk from plastic toys to space-age looking DVD players. One buyer, Fatou Gueye, says Senegalese are poor and they love these new shops, because, she says finally she can afford something. Here she says, she can buy for children and adults, for her whole family, almost everything they need. One man who has just turned himself from chronically unemployed to retailer is also very pleased. He is buying bras, cameras, shoes, belt buckles, pots, pans, colorful pens and notebooks to resell in stores and on the streets of Dakar. He says it was very cheap to start his business. He started by selling a Chinese pair of shoes he had bought here for $1. There was no way of finding shoes for under $5 besides flip-flops before. For many people who live on several dollars a day, that's a big difference. The Senegalese manager of one of the warehouses says the Chinese have created Senegalese buying Chinese goods in Dakar (VOA Photo - E. Sillah) jobs. He says young kids who used to be pickpockets are now hired as messengers. Asked whether Senegalese are not afraid the quality of Chinese goods might not be so good, he says that's nonsense. Senegalese want quantity, he says, they want to be able to afford things. Generally, prices in the Chinese shops are three to five times cheaper than in Lebanese or Senegalese stores. The invasion started last year when Senegal's government signed a bilateral agreement with China, to encourage Chinese businessmen to set up shop in Dakar. So-called Senegalese investment packages which include visas have been made readily available in China. But Senegalese shopkeepers say many Chinese who bribe their way buy these business visas at lower than official prices, for about $1,000 a year, and that Chinese typically undervalue their incoming goods to pay lower customs fees as well. One shopkeeper told VOA he is furious. "Now I think that I have to change business or to change work because business is very hard because of the Chinese here in Senegal," he said. "We have to stop them here because they do not pay customs, they have bad, bad, bad products. Chinese are going to destroy our country. They have to go out. Chinese, they are going to kill our economy. Chinese merchants refused to be interviewed for this report, saying their command of French and English was not good enough for an interview, only for making deals. A social commentator, Aboubacar Oumar, tells VOA, Senegal might currently be the world's most open country to Chinese merchants. "Senegal has what they call an open door market policy which means that government don't interfere in private sector business initiatives," he said. "So whoever can come in and invest. What they do is they open the market for competition. So if the Chinese are selling at a cheaper price, what will happen, is if the Senegalese businessmen the way they are complaining, maybe the government will step in to regulate the market and probably put quotas on the Chinese," added Mr. Oumar. For now, the government has yet to interfere. Chinese wholesalers say they can make several thousand dollars a day being based in Dakar, compared to Senegalese merchants who say they usually struggle to make $100 in a month. The invasion is having an impact in the region as well, as trucks can be heard coming in and out of the Centenaire market, taking the cheap Chinese goods to Mauritania, Mali, the Gambia and even the continent's biggest market, Nigeria. The Millionaire Next Door
Dr. Bill's goal always was to become financially independent, but he never wanted to become an entrepreneur. Often, entrepreneurs become wealthy by taking substantial risks and by leveraging the labor and talent of dozens, even hundreds, of others. Dr. Bill was never cut out to be anything but a professor. He is not alone. Most people in this country are not the entrepreneurial type. But this does not mean that they can't become millionaires. People often confuse our message about the relationship between being wealthy and being an entrepreneur. We're not telling people to give up doing their own thing in medicine, law, accounting, and other occupations and join the ranks of the entrepreneurs in this country. Don't even consider such a change unless you really want to and are fully capable of succeeding. If you can generate a reasonably good income--say, twice the norm for households in America, or $65,000 to $70,000 then you may become wealthy one day if you follow the defensive strategy developed by millionaires who are used vehicle-prone shoppers. Jack Welch --- Straight From the Gut "New Guy" To keep him anonymous, "NG" is what we called him. It was our code for the "New Guy." Keeping the choice of my successor a secret was the easy part. But that was the only easy thing about it. Making the pick was not only the most important decision of my career, it was the most difficult and agonizing one I ever had to make. It damn near drove me crazy, causing many sleepless nights. For at least a year, it was often the first thing I thought about each morning and the last thing on my mind at night. What made it so hard was that we had three sensational final candidates: Jeff Immelt, who led our medical systems business; Bob Nardelli, who ran power systems; and Jim McNerney in air-craft engines. All three exceeded every expectation we set for them. Their performance was off the charts.
Any one of the three could have run GE. Not only were they great leaders, they were my good friends--and I knew I had to dis-appoint two of them Execution--The Discipline of Getting Things Done
LEADERS GET THE BEHAVIOR THEY EXHIBIT AND TOLERATE WHY THE RIGHT PEOPLE AREN'T IN THE RIGHT JOBS They Follow Through Leaders can either follow through one-on-one (for example, Dick Brown's "after-school" sessions, discussed in chapter 3) or in group settings as a feedback method. In the group, everybody learns something. The variety of viewpoints raised helps people see the criteria for the decisions, the judgments that are exercised, and the tradeoffs being made. This exposure calibrates people's judgments and aligns the team. Never finish a meeting without clarifying what the follow-through will be, who will do it, when and how they will do it, what resources they will use, and how and when the next review will take place and with whom. And never launch an initiative unless you're personally committed to it and prepared to see it through until it's embedded in the DNA of an organization. The Buffettology 巴菲特原则
NO. 7 FIGURING OUT WHETHER THE PRODUCT OR SERVICE CAN BE PRICED TO KEEP ABREAST OF INFLATION Inflation causes prices to rise. In a price-competitive business, when prices for labor and raw materials increase, overproduction may force the company to drop the prices of its products to stimulate demand. In that case, the cost of production sometimes exceeds the price the product will fetch in the marketplace, and that's no way to run a business. The company responds by cutting back production until the excess supply dries up. But that takes time. The laws of supply and demand work, but not overnight. In the meantime, the losses pile up and viability of the business diminishes. (Ranchers are constantly faced with this dilemma. The price of live cattle is dropping, but the costs of feed, fuel, labor, insurance, veterinarians, and grazing land continue to increase. Miscalculate next fall's cattle price and the family ranch may end up in foreclosure.) This situation occurs periodically in the airline business. Air-lines commit themselves to all kinds of heavy fixed costs. Air-planes, fuel, union contracts for pilots, ground crews, mechanics, and attendants all cost a lot of money and all increase in cost with inflation. Then along comes a price war or a catastrophic event that makes people afraid to fly and the airlines have to cut ticket prices to fill seats. Want to fly from New York to Los Angeles? A half dozen or more airlines will compete for your business. If one drops prices significantly, they all end up losing. In the 1960s a round-trip airplane ticket from Omaha to Paris cost $1,000 or more. Recently, you could get one on United for $439. Even though the cost of airplanes, fuel, pilots, ground crews, mechanics, and those terrible airline meals have more than quadrupled in the last thirty years, my ticket, thanks to price competition, got cheaper. The airline that sold me that bargain ticket sure didn't get any richer. Now you know why airlines sometime miss the run-way and land in bankruptcy court. Take on the street (较量华尔街)
And internalization means that a large chunk of orders is cordoned off from the rest of the market, possibly denying investors a more favorable execution in another location.In a short period of time, the wholesalers began to dominate the flow of orders. They had become money-making machines. This development worried me. I was concerned about fragmentation, which is what happens when markets are divvied up into smaller market centers. While ECNs and the wholesale market-makers had introduced much-needed competition and vitality to the business of trading stocks, they also made it tougher for buyers and sellers to meet in a central place. When that happens, it's hard to know what the "true" price of a stock is. Anatomy of greed (解剖贪婪--安然内幕)
Fallon, James $1,500,000
McMahon, Jeffrey $1,500,000
Bowen, Raymond Jr. $750,000
Haedicke, Mark $750,000
Hickerson, Gary $700,000
Colwell, Wesley $600,000
DiMichele, Richard $600,000
Hughes, James $500,000
Nowlan, John Jr. $500,000
Hayslett, Roderick $400,000
Maxey, R. Davis $400,000
McClellan, George $400,000
Muller, Mark $400,000
Piper, Gregory $400,000 Professional Assertiveness
(以下斜体字部分为测试题及答案)
Brandon is a senior trainer at a communication conglomerate’s national training center. He’s held the position for six years. Brandon was a manager in a regional headquarters before he transferred into training. He made the move because he believed it would allow him to contribute more to the company and his co-workers. Currently, Brandon is advising Kendra, another trainer. Kendra’s wondering if she should stay in training or transfer to a management track. She’s asking Brandon for advice based on his experience. Brandon’s giving Kendra specific feedback on how he’s seen her perform in training situations. He’s also giving her his views about life in the management arena. Together, they’re reviewing Kendra’s goals: One set for training and another set if she changes her career track. And Brandon’s noting the positive behaviors Kendra exhibits that he believes will help her succeed, whatever career decision she makes. He’s also encouraging her to continue those behaviors.
Now, answer the following questions in order.
Was Brandon successful at using the steps for providing positive feedback in the scenario you just encountered? Choose the best answer.
Yes, because he reinforced Kendra’s positive behavior after he talked about her performance and personal goals.
Yes, because he provided the information Kendra needed in order to decide to change from training to the management track.
No, because he didn’t help Kendra refine her goals in line with the strengths and weaknesses he thought she exhibited.
No, because he avoided answering Kendra’s request for his recommendation on whether or not she should change career tracks.
(key: 1 )
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