国际先驱导报
“汉堡检察院冠冕堂皇地利用所谓的‘新闻自由’等条文，笼统地否定华人的上诉理由，却对上诉书中详细列出的论点和论据视而不见”
国际先驱导报记者金晶发自柏林 经过两个多月的耐心等待，在德国的华人等来的却是一纸停止调查的结案通知。
“虽然《明镜》周刊的报道具有一定误导性，个别言词挑衅味道浓，但这是为了引起读者的注意，仍然属于言论自由的范畴，并不能看作是对在德华人的侮辱，不能构成对华人尊严的侵犯。”1月23日，汉堡检察院驳回了在德华人指控《明镜》周刊的多项罪名。
“这个通知并不让人意外……但这并没有结束。”检察院的通知引起了在德华人的不满，他们状告《明镜》的又一轮“角力”即将展开。
检察院单方面终止调查
在这份长达数页的通知书中，汉堡检察院一一驳回了在德华人的上诉。通知称，《明镜》有关负责人的行为不属于相关“罪行”，因此检察院终止对这一事件的刑事调查。
事情的起因，已在包括本报在内多家媒体的跟踪报道中异常清晰。去年8月26日，《明镜》第35期刊登了长达14页的封面报道，诬称所有在德中国留学生为间谍。该杂志不仅打出醒目的“黄色间谍”标题，还配有一张黄色面孔从百叶窗后向外窥探的照片，报道中露骨的辱华情绪、赤裸裸的攻击性语言，让在德华人拍案而起。
“检察院冠冕堂皇地利用所谓的‘新闻自由’等法律条文笼统地否定我们的上诉理由，却对华人上诉书中详细列出的论点和论据视而不见，令人失望。”周坚愤愤不平地告诉《国际先驱导报》。
作为此次上诉行动的负责人，周坚此前对《明镜》的辱华报道做了细心研究，并反复查阅了有关德国法律。在他们去年11月22日向汉堡检察院提交的刑事控告书中，指控《明镜》周刊的罪名包括：侮辱、谩骂与诽谤罪，谩骂信仰、宗教组织与世界观团体罪，煽动民众罪，以及损害外国国旗和主权标志罪。
起诉人被“剥夺”知情权
周坚称，德国法律规定，检察院有义务对此类严重案件提起公诉。因此，“如果不是《明镜》捏造事实，就是检察院公然渎职”。
值得关注的是，到目前为止，汉堡检察院仅仅给本次状告《明镜》的华人原告之一——“中国留德学者学生团体联合会”发送了结案通知，并在通知中声明，因为“状告理由相似”，不再给同时提起诉讼的个人发通知，而这部分“个人”中包括在报道插图中被侵犯肖像权的中国留学生，以及曾经在德研究所工作的华人专家等。
“这属于严重的程序违法，不仅剥夺了个人的知情权，更严重的是，这给个别华人的上诉制造了程序上的障碍。”周坚告诉《国际先驱导报》，根据德国法律，通过“个人”而不是“团体”的方式控告“侮辱罪”胜诉的机会更大。据了解，除了联合会，本次状告《明镜》还有40多位华人分别向汉堡检察院投递了30多份上诉状。
法兰克福的一名华人律师，在接受本报记者电话采访时明确指出，汉堡检察院的结案通知书“也并非无懈可击”。
带着疑问和各方的说法，《国际先驱导报》联系了汉堡检察院，但被告知负责撰写该结案通知的检察长“生病不在”。汉堡检察院还表示，不能接受记者的电话采访，而截至发稿时，记者也没有收到检察院给予书面采访问题的任何回复。
律师不敢接手“特殊案件”
“我们不会就此放弃上诉，中国留德学者学生团体联合会将向汉堡总检察院提起上诉，要求检察院重启调查。”周坚同时呼吁，所有提出刑事控告的华人立即向汉堡检察院写信，询问调查结果，以便各自获得书面的调查程序结果通知，作好进一步上诉的准备。
周坚解释，由于德国检察院受司法部管辖，上诉者有权向司法部提交“职务监督异议”，让司法部监督检察院是否公正执法。因此，联合会准备近期向汉堡市的州检察院提交“职务监督异议”。
至于目前德国华人维权面临最大的困难，恐怕还是没有专业的代理律师。周坚告诉《国际先驱导报》，他曾经与多位德国律师就本案交涉，但因为种种原因都吃了闭门羹，而在德的华人律师则更是顾虑重重。
据了解，在德国目前拥有律师证的华人一共不超过5人，并且专业方向主要是民法、商法或者经济法。而状告《明镜》的“侮辱罪”等罪名在德国属于“刑法”范畴。此外，根据法律规定，华人律师在取得律师证前，都必须加入德国籍，他们中的一些人还就职于德国律师行，因此，对接手这类具有特殊案件颇有顾虑。本报记者电话采访的那位华人律师，就不愿意公开自己的姓名，也不愿对此案发表太多意见。
2008年1月28日星期一
2008年1月21日星期一
TABLE TALK
By Tim Harford
Sunday, February 03, 2008
Feng shui is all very well, but the next time you decide to redesign the layout of your office space you might consider calling an economist. That's because an astonishing new set of data from Google – where else? – has allowed economists to track something that had been utterly ethereal: the flow of information around a physical office space.
The data come from Google's trials of something called an internal prediction market. Prediction markets are most famously used to forecast presidential elections. If Barack Obama is trading at 35 cents on the Democratic nomination market, that is what punters are willing to pay for a ticket that will pay a dollar if and only if he wins the nomination. In that case the market is giving Obama a 35 per cent chance.
Prediction markets aren't perfect, but they often beat alternative forecasting mechanisms. That is why some companies have started to experiment with them by asking their own employees to bet on sales and revenue figures – the alternative being to rely on the bureaucracy's own forecasts, which are often made by people with a vested interest in sitting on bad news.
Google is not the first to try: according to Bo Cowgill, of Google's economics group, and academic economists Eric Zitzewitz and Justin Wolfers, other pioneers include ArcelorMittal, Chrysler, Eli Lilly, General Electric and Hewlett Packard.
The markets seem to work quite well. But that is not the most interesting thing to emerge from the analysis by Cowgill and his co-authors. By looking at which Google employees trade in which markets (betting on, for instance, how many users Google's Gmail service will attract by the end of the quarter) and on which side of the trade, they have a good idea about who has what information. And by looking at who else makes similar trades, they can draw conclusions about who has similar information at similar times.
If this was an ordinary company, the researchers might try to correlate information with the organisation chart, and that would be about all there was to say. But this is Google. Cowgill, Zitzewitz and Wolfers had the precise GPS location of each desk (Google offices are open-plan). They had information about which employees were on the same e-mail listings, such as the poker group. From a survey, they had a list of each employee's friends. They knew which bosses they worked for, which projects they worked on, and where they went to college. All they lacked were the names of the employees, which were stripped out of the database.
The results were striking. Clear correlations existed between the trading behaviour of certain groups of employees. But they were not explained by shared interests or by social connections. Having the same immediate boss only explains a little about information flows.
No, it is the office layout that matters: people who sit near each other tend to know the same things, as evidenced by making similar trades on the prediction markets. Social and professional proximity matters very little for the flow of information: physical proximity is almost everything.
Specialists in organisational behaviour have known for a while that people tend to interact much more with those who sit nearby, but it has never been clear whether that was just social grooming. Now we know that real information is flowing.
We keep being told that because of cheap, ubiquitous communication technology, distance is dead. But if there was ever a company that we should expect to exemplify that idea, surely it was Google. This research suggests that it is as important as ever to be sitting in the right place.
Sunday, February 03, 2008
Feng shui is all very well, but the next time you decide to redesign the layout of your office space you might consider calling an economist. That's because an astonishing new set of data from Google – where else? – has allowed economists to track something that had been utterly ethereal: the flow of information around a physical office space.
The data come from Google's trials of something called an internal prediction market. Prediction markets are most famously used to forecast presidential elections. If Barack Obama is trading at 35 cents on the Democratic nomination market, that is what punters are willing to pay for a ticket that will pay a dollar if and only if he wins the nomination. In that case the market is giving Obama a 35 per cent chance.
Prediction markets aren't perfect, but they often beat alternative forecasting mechanisms. That is why some companies have started to experiment with them by asking their own employees to bet on sales and revenue figures – the alternative being to rely on the bureaucracy's own forecasts, which are often made by people with a vested interest in sitting on bad news.
Google is not the first to try: according to Bo Cowgill, of Google's economics group, and academic economists Eric Zitzewitz and Justin Wolfers, other pioneers include ArcelorMittal, Chrysler, Eli Lilly, General Electric and Hewlett Packard.
The markets seem to work quite well. But that is not the most interesting thing to emerge from the analysis by Cowgill and his co-authors. By looking at which Google employees trade in which markets (betting on, for instance, how many users Google's Gmail service will attract by the end of the quarter) and on which side of the trade, they have a good idea about who has what information. And by looking at who else makes similar trades, they can draw conclusions about who has similar information at similar times.
If this was an ordinary company, the researchers might try to correlate information with the organisation chart, and that would be about all there was to say. But this is Google. Cowgill, Zitzewitz and Wolfers had the precise GPS location of each desk (Google offices are open-plan). They had information about which employees were on the same e-mail listings, such as the poker group. From a survey, they had a list of each employee's friends. They knew which bosses they worked for, which projects they worked on, and where they went to college. All they lacked were the names of the employees, which were stripped out of the database.
The results were striking. Clear correlations existed between the trading behaviour of certain groups of employees. But they were not explained by shared interests or by social connections. Having the same immediate boss only explains a little about information flows.
No, it is the office layout that matters: people who sit near each other tend to know the same things, as evidenced by making similar trades on the prediction markets. Social and professional proximity matters very little for the flow of information: physical proximity is almost everything.
Specialists in organisational behaviour have known for a while that people tend to interact much more with those who sit nearby, but it has never been clear whether that was just social grooming. Now we know that real information is flowing.
We keep being told that because of cheap, ubiquitous communication technology, distance is dead. But if there was ever a company that we should expect to exemplify that idea, surely it was Google. This research suggests that it is as important as ever to be sitting in the right place.
年终总结要人命
作者：英国《金融时报》中文网特约撰稿人龙溪微微
2007年12月27日 星期四
眼看年底了，我的小脑瓜又开始一个变两个大——无他，写总结耳。
写年终总结不是个轻松活，首先得有良好的记忆力，回顾自己过去一年做出的丰功伟绩，千万别漏掉几笔重要贡献，更别犯糊涂把他人的伟绩记错安在自个头上。其次，文笔要好——以谦虚的态度表达骄傲，让自己的闪光点自然流露于字里行间，这可是一门艺术。然后么，速度要快，花一周时间吭哧吭哧写总结的人是最傻的，因为这种慢性折磨会剥夺你难得的节日喜悦。
怎样写好年终总结？我向同事虚心求教。同事A说，这还不好办，上网搜索一些模板，结合自身工作实际套进去嘛。同事B说，这还不简单，把你去年写过的总结找出来，“与时俱进”一下不就搞定了吗？
说得轻巧，像根灯草，去年做过的事和今年一样嘛？去年的我有今年这么努力嘛？总结是播种机，播种的就是新的希望嘛! 去年的播种机，种出来的粮食都被我吃到肚子里了。
写着写着，我写不下去了。因为就在11月份，我在工作上犯了两个不大不小、可轻可重的错误。这真叫人为难，是一笔带过呢？还是深刻反思呢？为什么迟不出错早不出错，偏偏在快到年底评估的节骨眼上掉链子呢？
所以说，在职场上，行百里者半九十。如果一个员工在一年的前三个季度忘我工作，结果却在最后一个季度开始颠三倒四，那么可以说，他前9个月的努力就基本上打了水漂了。随着时间的流逝，你之前的努力在老板的印象中已逐渐模糊，而最近的表现和新犯的错误却清晰如昨。
同理，对一个表现平平的惰性员工而言，最好的补救办法就是在年底这几个月拼命工作，主动加班。身边的领导和同事们会为你蓬勃的干劲和无私的付出，流下感动的泪水，从而忘记你以前的顽劣表现。不过，如果你在年终评估的前一周突然工作异常神勇，那估计大家会觉得你吃错药了……
其实，年终考核真有那么灵吗？英国BBC最近发表报告称，一半的英国职场人觉得上司对他们的年终评估不够公正，还有33%的人觉得年终评估是浪费时间。看来，欧美人民也和我们一样痛恨年底这一套程序啊！
不过像我们单位还好，年终总结只要按格式写满两页纸就可以了。前几天给一个供职于合资公司的同学打电话，他正在为他的“360度评估”奋笔疾书呢。据其称，不但要邀请同事给自己在线打分，还要填写几十道开放性问题，比如：你觉得你的特长在公司得到充分发挥了吗? 如何量化过去一年来你对公司的贡献？未来一年你的职业发展构想是什么？
该同学苦恼地对我说，我是做行政的，又不是做销售的，我对公司的贡献能量化么？哼！
我对他深表同情，并献计献策：不如把你去年的总结……
该同学打断我说，我是今年才跳到这家公司的，天天加班累得像狗一样，新人命苦啊！
我从该同学的语气里听出了抱怨，也听出了小小的骄傲——没有忙碌？哪有收获。
其实，每到年末，很多职场人都患上了年终焦虑症。比如，绩效考核能不能做到上下满意？来年的工作任务怎么定？是主动跳槽寻求更好发展还是安心卧槽？公司能不能给自己放探亲年假？谈了一阵的女朋友带回家去，父母会不会眉开眼笑？
眼看过节了，还要写一份长长的工作总结，确实挺累心的。听人说，现在的“枪手”连年终总结都能代劳了，花几百块钱就能给你来一份个性化通稿。我倒，这都什么人啊……
说来说去，我的工作总结还是得我来写，我的播种机还是要我来驾驶。到底是干得好重要，还是写得好重要？一转方向盘，谁写谁知道。
2007年12月27日 星期四
眼看年底了，我的小脑瓜又开始一个变两个大——无他，写总结耳。
写年终总结不是个轻松活，首先得有良好的记忆力，回顾自己过去一年做出的丰功伟绩，千万别漏掉几笔重要贡献，更别犯糊涂把他人的伟绩记错安在自个头上。其次，文笔要好——以谦虚的态度表达骄傲，让自己的闪光点自然流露于字里行间，这可是一门艺术。然后么，速度要快，花一周时间吭哧吭哧写总结的人是最傻的，因为这种慢性折磨会剥夺你难得的节日喜悦。
怎样写好年终总结？我向同事虚心求教。同事A说，这还不好办，上网搜索一些模板，结合自身工作实际套进去嘛。同事B说，这还不简单，把你去年写过的总结找出来，“与时俱进”一下不就搞定了吗？
说得轻巧，像根灯草，去年做过的事和今年一样嘛？去年的我有今年这么努力嘛？总结是播种机，播种的就是新的希望嘛! 去年的播种机，种出来的粮食都被我吃到肚子里了。
写着写着，我写不下去了。因为就在11月份，我在工作上犯了两个不大不小、可轻可重的错误。这真叫人为难，是一笔带过呢？还是深刻反思呢？为什么迟不出错早不出错，偏偏在快到年底评估的节骨眼上掉链子呢？
所以说，在职场上，行百里者半九十。如果一个员工在一年的前三个季度忘我工作，结果却在最后一个季度开始颠三倒四，那么可以说，他前9个月的努力就基本上打了水漂了。随着时间的流逝，你之前的努力在老板的印象中已逐渐模糊，而最近的表现和新犯的错误却清晰如昨。
同理，对一个表现平平的惰性员工而言，最好的补救办法就是在年底这几个月拼命工作，主动加班。身边的领导和同事们会为你蓬勃的干劲和无私的付出，流下感动的泪水，从而忘记你以前的顽劣表现。不过，如果你在年终评估的前一周突然工作异常神勇，那估计大家会觉得你吃错药了……
其实，年终考核真有那么灵吗？英国BBC最近发表报告称，一半的英国职场人觉得上司对他们的年终评估不够公正，还有33%的人觉得年终评估是浪费时间。看来，欧美人民也和我们一样痛恨年底这一套程序啊！
不过像我们单位还好，年终总结只要按格式写满两页纸就可以了。前几天给一个供职于合资公司的同学打电话，他正在为他的“360度评估”奋笔疾书呢。据其称，不但要邀请同事给自己在线打分，还要填写几十道开放性问题，比如：你觉得你的特长在公司得到充分发挥了吗? 如何量化过去一年来你对公司的贡献？未来一年你的职业发展构想是什么？
该同学苦恼地对我说，我是做行政的，又不是做销售的，我对公司的贡献能量化么？哼！
我对他深表同情，并献计献策：不如把你去年的总结……
该同学打断我说，我是今年才跳到这家公司的，天天加班累得像狗一样，新人命苦啊！
我从该同学的语气里听出了抱怨，也听出了小小的骄傲——没有忙碌？哪有收获。
其实，每到年末，很多职场人都患上了年终焦虑症。比如，绩效考核能不能做到上下满意？来年的工作任务怎么定？是主动跳槽寻求更好发展还是安心卧槽？公司能不能给自己放探亲年假？谈了一阵的女朋友带回家去，父母会不会眉开眼笑？
眼看过节了，还要写一份长长的工作总结，确实挺累心的。听人说，现在的“枪手”连年终总结都能代劳了，花几百块钱就能给你来一份个性化通稿。我倒，这都什么人啊……
说来说去，我的工作总结还是得我来写，我的播种机还是要我来驾驶。到底是干得好重要，还是写得好重要？一转方向盘，谁写谁知道。
年终总结要人命
作者：英国《金融时报》中文网特约撰稿人龙溪微微
2007年12月27日 星期四
眼看年底了，我的小脑瓜又开始一个变两个大——无他，写总结耳。
写年终总结不是个轻松活，首先得有良好的记忆力，回顾自己过去一年做出的丰功伟绩，千万别漏掉几笔重要贡献，更别犯糊涂把他人的伟绩记错安在自个头上。其次，文笔要好——以谦虚的态度表达骄傲，让自己的闪光点自然流露于字里行间，这可是一门艺术。然后么，速度要快，花一周时间吭哧吭哧写总结的人是最傻的，因为这种慢性折磨会剥夺你难得的节日喜悦。
怎样写好年终总结？我向同事虚心求教。同事A说，这还不好办，上网搜索一些模板，结合自身工作实际套进去嘛。同事B说，这还不简单，把你去年写过的总结找出来，“与时俱进”一下不就搞定了吗？
说得轻巧，像根灯草，去年做过的事和今年一样嘛？去年的我有今年这么努力嘛？总结是播种机，播种的就是新的希望嘛! 去年的播种机，种出来的粮食都被我吃到肚子里了。
写着写着，我写不下去了。因为就在11月份，我在工作上犯了两个不大不小、可轻可重的错误。这真叫人为难，是一笔带过呢？还是深刻反思呢？为什么迟不出错早不出错，偏偏在快到年底评估的节骨眼上掉链子呢？
所以说，在职场上，行百里者半九十。如果一个员工在一年的前三个季度忘我工作，结果却在最后一个季度开始颠三倒四，那么可以说，他前9个月的努力就基本上打了水漂了。随着时间的流逝，你之前的努力在老板的印象中已逐渐模糊，而最近的表现和新犯的错误却清晰如昨。
同理，对一个表现平平的惰性员工而言，最好的补救办法就是在年底这几个月拼命工作，主动加班。身边的领导和同事们会为你蓬勃的干劲和无私的付出，流下感动的泪水，从而忘记你以前的顽劣表现。不过，如果你在年终评估的前一周突然工作异常神勇，那估计大家会觉得你吃错药了……
其实，年终考核真有那么灵吗？英国BBC最近发表报告称，一半的英国职场人觉得上司对他们的年终评估不够公正，还有33%的人觉得年终评估是浪费时间。看来，欧美人民也和我们一样痛恨年底这一套程序啊！
不过像我们单位还好，年终总结只要按格式写满两页纸就可以了。前几天给一个供职于合资公司的同学打电话，他正在为他的“360度评估”奋笔疾书呢。据其称，不但要邀请同事给自己在线打分，还要填写几十道开放性问题，比如：你觉得你的特长在公司得到充分发挥了吗? 如何量化过去一年来你对公司的贡献？未来一年你的职业发展构想是什么？
该同学苦恼地对我说，我是做行政的，又不是做销售的，我对公司的贡献能量化么？哼！
我对他深表同情，并献计献策：不如把你去年的总结……
该同学打断我说，我是今年才跳到这家公司的，天天加班累得像狗一样，新人命苦啊！
我从该同学的语气里听出了抱怨，也听出了小小的骄傲——没有忙碌？哪有收获。
其实，每到年末，很多职场人都患上了年终焦虑症。比如，绩效考核能不能做到上下满意？来年的工作任务怎么定？是主动跳槽寻求更好发展还是安心卧槽？公司能不能给自己放探亲年假？谈了一阵的女朋友带回家去，父母会不会眉开眼笑？
眼看过节了，还要写一份长长的工作总结，确实挺累心的。听人说，现在的“枪手”连年终总结都能代劳了，花几百块钱就能给你来一份个性化通稿。我倒，这都什么人啊……
说来说去，我的工作总结还是得我来写，我的播种机还是要我来驾驶。到底是干得好重要，还是写得好重要？一转方向盘，谁写谁知道。
2007年12月27日 星期四
眼看年底了，我的小脑瓜又开始一个变两个大——无他，写总结耳。
写年终总结不是个轻松活，首先得有良好的记忆力，回顾自己过去一年做出的丰功伟绩，千万别漏掉几笔重要贡献，更别犯糊涂把他人的伟绩记错安在自个头上。其次，文笔要好——以谦虚的态度表达骄傲，让自己的闪光点自然流露于字里行间，这可是一门艺术。然后么，速度要快，花一周时间吭哧吭哧写总结的人是最傻的，因为这种慢性折磨会剥夺你难得的节日喜悦。
怎样写好年终总结？我向同事虚心求教。同事A说，这还不好办，上网搜索一些模板，结合自身工作实际套进去嘛。同事B说，这还不简单，把你去年写过的总结找出来，“与时俱进”一下不就搞定了吗？
说得轻巧，像根灯草，去年做过的事和今年一样嘛？去年的我有今年这么努力嘛？总结是播种机，播种的就是新的希望嘛! 去年的播种机，种出来的粮食都被我吃到肚子里了。
写着写着，我写不下去了。因为就在11月份，我在工作上犯了两个不大不小、可轻可重的错误。这真叫人为难，是一笔带过呢？还是深刻反思呢？为什么迟不出错早不出错，偏偏在快到年底评估的节骨眼上掉链子呢？
所以说，在职场上，行百里者半九十。如果一个员工在一年的前三个季度忘我工作，结果却在最后一个季度开始颠三倒四，那么可以说，他前9个月的努力就基本上打了水漂了。随着时间的流逝，你之前的努力在老板的印象中已逐渐模糊，而最近的表现和新犯的错误却清晰如昨。
同理，对一个表现平平的惰性员工而言，最好的补救办法就是在年底这几个月拼命工作，主动加班。身边的领导和同事们会为你蓬勃的干劲和无私的付出，流下感动的泪水，从而忘记你以前的顽劣表现。不过，如果你在年终评估的前一周突然工作异常神勇，那估计大家会觉得你吃错药了……
其实，年终考核真有那么灵吗？英国BBC最近发表报告称，一半的英国职场人觉得上司对他们的年终评估不够公正，还有33%的人觉得年终评估是浪费时间。看来，欧美人民也和我们一样痛恨年底这一套程序啊！
不过像我们单位还好，年终总结只要按格式写满两页纸就可以了。前几天给一个供职于合资公司的同学打电话，他正在为他的“360度评估”奋笔疾书呢。据其称，不但要邀请同事给自己在线打分，还要填写几十道开放性问题，比如：你觉得你的特长在公司得到充分发挥了吗? 如何量化过去一年来你对公司的贡献？未来一年你的职业发展构想是什么？
该同学苦恼地对我说，我是做行政的，又不是做销售的，我对公司的贡献能量化么？哼！
我对他深表同情，并献计献策：不如把你去年的总结……
该同学打断我说，我是今年才跳到这家公司的，天天加班累得像狗一样，新人命苦啊！
我从该同学的语气里听出了抱怨，也听出了小小的骄傲——没有忙碌？哪有收获。
其实，每到年末，很多职场人都患上了年终焦虑症。比如，绩效考核能不能做到上下满意？来年的工作任务怎么定？是主动跳槽寻求更好发展还是安心卧槽？公司能不能给自己放探亲年假？谈了一阵的女朋友带回家去，父母会不会眉开眼笑？
眼看过节了，还要写一份长长的工作总结，确实挺累心的。听人说，现在的“枪手”连年终总结都能代劳了，花几百块钱就能给你来一份个性化通稿。我倒，这都什么人啊……
说来说去，我的工作总结还是得我来写，我的播种机还是要我来驾驶。到底是干得好重要，还是写得好重要？一转方向盘，谁写谁知道。
HOW TO MAKE SURE YOUR GYM DOES NOT CLOSE
Michael Skapinker
Sunday, February 03, 2008
The northern winter still has a way to run, but already there are signs of hope. The days are lengthening, the daffodils have poked their heads above the ground and you can once again have a lane to yourself in the swimming pool.
The new year's resolution crowd has abandoned the health clubs. They arrive as the year begins and soon go. We will not see them until September, when they return filled with a post-holiday determination to slim down and tone up, before disappearing again a fortnight later.
If you are a regular health club user, it is easy to be irritated by the temporary hordes puzzling over the machines or swimming, heads up, in the middle of the lane. Easy, but short-sighted, because irregular members make gyms possible for everyone else.
The economics of health clubs are simple: you need thousands of members who never come. The
gym could never accommodate them all if they did.
By paying their dues and seldom appearing, inactive members ensure health club owners have enough money to invest in aerobics halls and squash courts, while keeping membership fees at reasonable levels for the regulars.
There are other businesses where the owners count on only a small proportion of the customers using the service. Insurance is one; those DVD rental clubs where you pay a fee and order films one at a time are another.
Gyms are different because they require expensive sites, cannot outsource beauty treatments to Asia and need constant investment if their premises are not to look shabby.
London's gentlemen's clubs work on the same principle, except that shabby premises appear to be mandatory and the members do not see each other naked (at least not at the ones I have been taken to).
Gerald Ratner, the British businessman who ran a successful health club after losing his jewellery empire when he described some of
its products as “crap”, says about
30 per cent of his members dropped out each year.
Some clubs attempt to limit the attrition rate by telephoning inactive members and asking whether there is anything the club can do for them. Mr Ratner never thought this was a good idea as it might remind them that they were wasting their money.
It is a constant battle to attract new members, he says, and some clubs resort to desperate measures. He recalls seeing a gym representative outside Cape Town airport tearing banknotes in half, giving one piece to passing strangers and promising them the other if they came to look around. They did not even need to join.
He preferred to rely on discounting the joining fee (but never the monthly membership) and showing prospective members the heated outdoor pool. People demand a pool, he says, but most do not use it. Many clubs waive the joining fee altogether.
Mr Ratner estimates that about 5 per cent of his members used the gym every day and 50 per cent at least twice a week. That left half in that essential group who sign up but rarely come.
Two Californian academics, Stefano DellaVigna and Ulrike Malmendier, studied three US health clubs and discovered that 80 per cent of members used the gym so infrequently that they would have been better off paying the $10 fee for each individual visit. Many also left substantial gaps between their last visit and cancelling their membership.
In their paper (you can find the web address at www.ft.com/skapinker), the academics concluded either that the gym members were making “time-inconsistent choices” or that they had “limited cognitive abilities”.
Of course, some people say the same about gym members. It is one thing to pay to use a swimming pool or a tennis court, but most of us know you could get half the benefit of the other facilities by walking up the stairs and all the benefit by running up them.
In his recent autobiography, Mr Ratner recalls taking his father to show off his club. Ratner Sr, who had never been to a gym before, looked at the members pounding away on a treadmill before asking: “What are they trying to achieve?”
No matter. Regular members go because they think it does them good, but they should not take their clubs for granted. Many gyms are having a difficult time. Most UK clubs are “in distress or struggling”, a banker told the Financial Times in November.
In the US, national chain Bally Total Fitness spent two months in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last year after its New York Stock Exchange listing was suspended.
Clubs need more help from the regulars to attract new members. My own club is offering a mountain bike to anyone who persuades two friends to sign up. This is silly. If we were happy riding mountain bikes around the city we would not need the gym.
Far better to offer anyone who introduces new members the free run of the place when it is closed to everyone else. The other members will not mind. They are never there.
Sunday, February 03, 2008
The northern winter still has a way to run, but already there are signs of hope. The days are lengthening, the daffodils have poked their heads above the ground and you can once again have a lane to yourself in the swimming pool.
The new year's resolution crowd has abandoned the health clubs. They arrive as the year begins and soon go. We will not see them until September, when they return filled with a post-holiday determination to slim down and tone up, before disappearing again a fortnight later.
If you are a regular health club user, it is easy to be irritated by the temporary hordes puzzling over the machines or swimming, heads up, in the middle of the lane. Easy, but short-sighted, because irregular members make gyms possible for everyone else.
The economics of health clubs are simple: you need thousands of members who never come. The
gym could never accommodate them all if they did.
By paying their dues and seldom appearing, inactive members ensure health club owners have enough money to invest in aerobics halls and squash courts, while keeping membership fees at reasonable levels for the regulars.
There are other businesses where the owners count on only a small proportion of the customers using the service. Insurance is one; those DVD rental clubs where you pay a fee and order films one at a time are another.
Gyms are different because they require expensive sites, cannot outsource beauty treatments to Asia and need constant investment if their premises are not to look shabby.
London's gentlemen's clubs work on the same principle, except that shabby premises appear to be mandatory and the members do not see each other naked (at least not at the ones I have been taken to).
Gerald Ratner, the British businessman who ran a successful health club after losing his jewellery empire when he described some of
its products as “crap”, says about
30 per cent of his members dropped out each year.
Some clubs attempt to limit the attrition rate by telephoning inactive members and asking whether there is anything the club can do for them. Mr Ratner never thought this was a good idea as it might remind them that they were wasting their money.
It is a constant battle to attract new members, he says, and some clubs resort to desperate measures. He recalls seeing a gym representative outside Cape Town airport tearing banknotes in half, giving one piece to passing strangers and promising them the other if they came to look around. They did not even need to join.
He preferred to rely on discounting the joining fee (but never the monthly membership) and showing prospective members the heated outdoor pool. People demand a pool, he says, but most do not use it. Many clubs waive the joining fee altogether.
Mr Ratner estimates that about 5 per cent of his members used the gym every day and 50 per cent at least twice a week. That left half in that essential group who sign up but rarely come.
Two Californian academics, Stefano DellaVigna and Ulrike Malmendier, studied three US health clubs and discovered that 80 per cent of members used the gym so infrequently that they would have been better off paying the $10 fee for each individual visit. Many also left substantial gaps between their last visit and cancelling their membership.
In their paper (you can find the web address at www.ft.com/skapinker), the academics concluded either that the gym members were making “time-inconsistent choices” or that they had “limited cognitive abilities”.
Of course, some people say the same about gym members. It is one thing to pay to use a swimming pool or a tennis court, but most of us know you could get half the benefit of the other facilities by walking up the stairs and all the benefit by running up them.
In his recent autobiography, Mr Ratner recalls taking his father to show off his club. Ratner Sr, who had never been to a gym before, looked at the members pounding away on a treadmill before asking: “What are they trying to achieve?”
No matter. Regular members go because they think it does them good, but they should not take their clubs for granted. Many gyms are having a difficult time. Most UK clubs are “in distress or struggling”, a banker told the Financial Times in November.
In the US, national chain Bally Total Fitness spent two months in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last year after its New York Stock Exchange listing was suspended.
Clubs need more help from the regulars to attract new members. My own club is offering a mountain bike to anyone who persuades two friends to sign up. This is silly. If we were happy riding mountain bikes around the city we would not need the gym.
Far better to offer anyone who introduces new members the free run of the place when it is closed to everyone else. The other members will not mind. They are never there.
Pat Metheny: Vier Takte Ewigkeit
Ein Musical, das ich schon fünfmal gesehen habe und auch immer wieder als CD auflege, ist „The Light in the Piazza“, geschrieben und komponiert von Adam Guettel. Seine Musik bricht mit der Soundtradition des Broadways, die oft aus leicht nachzusummenden Melodien besteht. Guettel übertritt die Grenzen des Genres, indem er zur Oper findet und zur neoromantischen Musik mit ihren zahlreichen unerwarteten harmonischen Verschiebungen und sehr langen Melodiebögen. Auch die Texte sind einzigartig, weil sie mit dem gebrochenen Englisch italienischer Einwanderer spielen und dem gebrochenen Italienisch einer amerikanischen Touristin. Aber die Show bietet vor allem eine so große Menge guter Noten, wie ich sie schon lange nicht mehr gehört habe. Seit Stevie Wonders Album „Songs in the Key of Life“ aus dem Jahre 1976 habe ich keine so originelle Popmusik-Bearbeitung gehört wie bei Guettel, der mit viel Piano, Harfe, Gitarre, Streichern und einer Handvoll von Blas- und Percussion-Instrumenten arrangiert.
Guettel hat außergewöhnliche harmonische Folgen gewählt – und damit genau die Art Musik, die meine Neugier auf Harmonien befriedigt. Diesen Umgang mit Harmonien finde ich sonst nur sehr selten in Musicals, dafür im Jazz und in der klassischen Musik des 20. Jahrhunderts. Komponisten wie Maurice Ravel oder Claude Debussy sind sehr empfehlenswert, sie haben die Musik vorangetrieben und damit das Feld für den Jazz bestellt.
Harmonien sind für mich ein Spiegel der Gesellschaft. Ich glaube, dass sich die jeweilige Harmonik in der Musik parallel zu der Entwicklung der Gesellschaft bewegt. Auch für mich sind Harmonien eine Möglichkeit, mich mit der Welt zu versöhnen. Es gibt starke Parallelen zur Kunst, auch in der Harmonik ist von Realismus bis zu großer Abstraktion alles möglich. Das abzubilden ist in einer post modernen Ära noch eine größere Herausforderung.
MusikUSA Einer, der das kann, ist Keith Jarrett. In seiner musikalischen Welt – sie kann einfach und sie kann komplex sein – scheinen alle zwölf Noten gleichzeitig zu sein. Am besten ist das bei „Mysteries“ und „The Impulse Years“ aus den Jahren 1973 bis 1976 zu hören. Komplexe Musik darf übrigens ruhig schön sein. Wirklich großartige Musik bietet für beide Perspektiven etwas, für die Betrachtung aus der Entfernung und für die unter dem Mikroskop. Die Beatles haben Musik geschaffen, die meine Kinder mögen, die aber auch für uns Erwachsene so viel bietet, dass sie nie langweilig wird.
Vielfalt und Reichtum prägen das Werk des größten Musikers, den die Welt je hatte, Johann Sebastian Bach. Nehmen Sie irgendwelche vier Takte. Sie können sich damit ein halbes Jahr beschäftigen; Sie hören die Ewigkeit in diesen vier Takten. Und anschließend können Sie mit Ihrer Großmutter ein Bach-Konzert besuchen, und es wird ihr gefallen.
Alles, was mir wichtig ist in der Musik, finde ich auch im Jazz, wenngleich heutzutage immer weniger. Ich bin etwas weniger enthusiastisch, wenn es um den Jazz von heute geht. Vieles wird heute nur noch in Bezug auf frühere Jazzmusiker gemacht. Zu den Musikern, die keine überflüssige Note geschrieben oder gespielt haben, gehören Miles Davis und Wes Montgomery. Der Bach der Jazzwelt ist wohl Thelonious Monk, dessen Musik eine Haltbarkeit haben wird, die mit den Kompositionen Bachs zu vergleichen ist.
Da ich in New York wohne – der Stadt, die wohl wie keine andere dem Jazz eine Heimat gegeben hat –, kann ich Ihnen noch einen Jazzclub empfehlen. „The Jazz Standard“ liegt inder 116 East 27th Street. Dort sehen Sie Künstler wie die Big-Band-Komponistin Maria Schneider oder Gitarrist Kurt Rosenwinkel – um nur zwei zu nennen, die den Jazz auch heute noch beleben.
Guettel hat außergewöhnliche harmonische Folgen gewählt – und damit genau die Art Musik, die meine Neugier auf Harmonien befriedigt. Diesen Umgang mit Harmonien finde ich sonst nur sehr selten in Musicals, dafür im Jazz und in der klassischen Musik des 20. Jahrhunderts. Komponisten wie Maurice Ravel oder Claude Debussy sind sehr empfehlenswert, sie haben die Musik vorangetrieben und damit das Feld für den Jazz bestellt.
Harmonien sind für mich ein Spiegel der Gesellschaft. Ich glaube, dass sich die jeweilige Harmonik in der Musik parallel zu der Entwicklung der Gesellschaft bewegt. Auch für mich sind Harmonien eine Möglichkeit, mich mit der Welt zu versöhnen. Es gibt starke Parallelen zur Kunst, auch in der Harmonik ist von Realismus bis zu großer Abstraktion alles möglich. Das abzubilden ist in einer post modernen Ära noch eine größere Herausforderung.
MusikUSA Einer, der das kann, ist Keith Jarrett. In seiner musikalischen Welt – sie kann einfach und sie kann komplex sein – scheinen alle zwölf Noten gleichzeitig zu sein. Am besten ist das bei „Mysteries“ und „The Impulse Years“ aus den Jahren 1973 bis 1976 zu hören. Komplexe Musik darf übrigens ruhig schön sein. Wirklich großartige Musik bietet für beide Perspektiven etwas, für die Betrachtung aus der Entfernung und für die unter dem Mikroskop. Die Beatles haben Musik geschaffen, die meine Kinder mögen, die aber auch für uns Erwachsene so viel bietet, dass sie nie langweilig wird.
Vielfalt und Reichtum prägen das Werk des größten Musikers, den die Welt je hatte, Johann Sebastian Bach. Nehmen Sie irgendwelche vier Takte. Sie können sich damit ein halbes Jahr beschäftigen; Sie hören die Ewigkeit in diesen vier Takten. Und anschließend können Sie mit Ihrer Großmutter ein Bach-Konzert besuchen, und es wird ihr gefallen.
Alles, was mir wichtig ist in der Musik, finde ich auch im Jazz, wenngleich heutzutage immer weniger. Ich bin etwas weniger enthusiastisch, wenn es um den Jazz von heute geht. Vieles wird heute nur noch in Bezug auf frühere Jazzmusiker gemacht. Zu den Musikern, die keine überflüssige Note geschrieben oder gespielt haben, gehören Miles Davis und Wes Montgomery. Der Bach der Jazzwelt ist wohl Thelonious Monk, dessen Musik eine Haltbarkeit haben wird, die mit den Kompositionen Bachs zu vergleichen ist.
Da ich in New York wohne – der Stadt, die wohl wie keine andere dem Jazz eine Heimat gegeben hat –, kann ich Ihnen noch einen Jazzclub empfehlen. „The Jazz Standard“ liegt inder 116 East 27th Street. Dort sehen Sie Künstler wie die Big-Band-Komponistin Maria Schneider oder Gitarrist Kurt Rosenwinkel – um nur zwei zu nennen, die den Jazz auch heute noch beleben.
America's election
Once again, the greatest show on earth
Jan 31st 2008
From The Economist print edition
Especially if you happen to be a Republican
APTHE first act of the extended drama that is this year's American election ended this week in Florida, with the last of the early primaries that have taken the presidential hopefuls from the plains of Iowa to the mountains of New Hampshire and from the Nevada desert to South Carolina's coast. These early states have served their purpose well, narrowing a field of almost 20 down to four serious contenders (two Democrats and two Republicans) and proving much about the character, intellect and staying power of the principal players.
Act II starts and finishes almost immediately. On February 5th more than 20 states will vote, and by the end of that day half the delegates to the late-summer conventions, where the nominees will be anointed, will have been chosen. Whether there is a third act—a long tense hunt for delegates from the remaining states, which could take months longer—will depend on how finely balanced a result “Super Tuesday” delivers. It is even possible that one or other nomination will be decided only at the conventions: a nail-biting Act IV. And only then, of course, will the actual election to replace George Bush in the White House begin.
The process of choosing the next leader of the world's most powerful country, in other words, is still at an early stage. But it has already delivered big surprises. The biggest has come on the Republican side. A few months ago the party looked set to tear itself apart, with no fewer than five front-runners, each representing a different strand of conservatism, vying for supremacy. But a brutal triage has taken place. Fred Thompson was speedily eliminated for being only a poor man's Ronald Reagan; Mike Huckabee stunned in Iowa, but has proved unable to spread his appeal beyond evangelical Christians and looks doomed too. And on January 29th Rudy Giuliani, an early favourite, was forced from the stage in Florida. He had staked everything on a big win in the Sunshine State, leaving the other early primaries to his rivals. In the end, he came a dismal third and quit the race a day later.
The Republican race thus boils down to a straight fight between a competent chameleon and a cantankerous crusader (see article). Mitt Romney is a smooth businessman-cum-politician. Unlike everybody else still in the race, he has actually run a lot of things—a state, a huge business and an Olympic games—and done it pretty well. If only he believed in something, he would be a powerful force; sadly, his political colours appear to change depending on his audience. By contrast, Senator John McCain lacks Mr Romney's managerial vim (and his youth); but he has never been afraid to speak his mind, bravely defying his party's line on immigration, torture, global warming and campaign finance—and he has considerable support among independent voters. This newspaper backed Mr McCain in the 2000 primaries; the case for him being the Republican candidate this time seems even stronger.
Nasty, brutish and long
The Democrats have been just as surprising. A race that once looked like a walkover for Hillary Clinton has proved to be anything but. Barack Obama has emerged as a charismatic political presence, running a tightly organised, exciting campaign. Mrs Clinton has fought an oddly poor one, hindered in unexpected measure by her husband. Far from adding star power, Bill Clinton has proved a source of rancour and controversy. His ranting attacks on Mr Obama, and his clumsy attempts to pigeonhole his wife's rival as a black candidate with limited appeal to whites, triggered this week's endorsement of Mr Obama by Senator Edward Kennedy and by Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of JFK, who says that Mr Obama reminds her of her father. Independent voters may now flinch about the nastiness of a Clinton White House.
It is still probably—just—Mrs Clinton's race to lose. She managed to “win” a non-competitive race in Florida this week; and some of the doubts her attack dogs have raised about Mr Obama's lack of experience and the young senator's preference for vague uplift over crisp detail are certainly to the point. John Edwards's withdrawal from the race on January 30th will probably benefit her too. But Mrs Clinton goes into Super Tuesday having so far failed to convince plenty of broadly sympathetic people, including this newspaper, that she should be the automatic Democratic choice.
And her struggle is indeed likely to continue. Unlike the Republicans, the Democrats award their primary delegates on a proportional basis. So it is likely that for Mr Obama and Mrs Clinton at least, there will be an Act III, and possibly more, after Super Tuesday. The play is far from over. But the Republicans should be surprisingly content with the show so far.
Jan 31st 2008
From The Economist print edition
Especially if you happen to be a Republican
APTHE first act of the extended drama that is this year's American election ended this week in Florida, with the last of the early primaries that have taken the presidential hopefuls from the plains of Iowa to the mountains of New Hampshire and from the Nevada desert to South Carolina's coast. These early states have served their purpose well, narrowing a field of almost 20 down to four serious contenders (two Democrats and two Republicans) and proving much about the character, intellect and staying power of the principal players.
Act II starts and finishes almost immediately. On February 5th more than 20 states will vote, and by the end of that day half the delegates to the late-summer conventions, where the nominees will be anointed, will have been chosen. Whether there is a third act—a long tense hunt for delegates from the remaining states, which could take months longer—will depend on how finely balanced a result “Super Tuesday” delivers. It is even possible that one or other nomination will be decided only at the conventions: a nail-biting Act IV. And only then, of course, will the actual election to replace George Bush in the White House begin.
The process of choosing the next leader of the world's most powerful country, in other words, is still at an early stage. But it has already delivered big surprises. The biggest has come on the Republican side. A few months ago the party looked set to tear itself apart, with no fewer than five front-runners, each representing a different strand of conservatism, vying for supremacy. But a brutal triage has taken place. Fred Thompson was speedily eliminated for being only a poor man's Ronald Reagan; Mike Huckabee stunned in Iowa, but has proved unable to spread his appeal beyond evangelical Christians and looks doomed too. And on January 29th Rudy Giuliani, an early favourite, was forced from the stage in Florida. He had staked everything on a big win in the Sunshine State, leaving the other early primaries to his rivals. In the end, he came a dismal third and quit the race a day later.
The Republican race thus boils down to a straight fight between a competent chameleon and a cantankerous crusader (see article). Mitt Romney is a smooth businessman-cum-politician. Unlike everybody else still in the race, he has actually run a lot of things—a state, a huge business and an Olympic games—and done it pretty well. If only he believed in something, he would be a powerful force; sadly, his political colours appear to change depending on his audience. By contrast, Senator John McCain lacks Mr Romney's managerial vim (and his youth); but he has never been afraid to speak his mind, bravely defying his party's line on immigration, torture, global warming and campaign finance—and he has considerable support among independent voters. This newspaper backed Mr McCain in the 2000 primaries; the case for him being the Republican candidate this time seems even stronger.
Nasty, brutish and long
The Democrats have been just as surprising. A race that once looked like a walkover for Hillary Clinton has proved to be anything but. Barack Obama has emerged as a charismatic political presence, running a tightly organised, exciting campaign. Mrs Clinton has fought an oddly poor one, hindered in unexpected measure by her husband. Far from adding star power, Bill Clinton has proved a source of rancour and controversy. His ranting attacks on Mr Obama, and his clumsy attempts to pigeonhole his wife's rival as a black candidate with limited appeal to whites, triggered this week's endorsement of Mr Obama by Senator Edward Kennedy and by Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of JFK, who says that Mr Obama reminds her of her father. Independent voters may now flinch about the nastiness of a Clinton White House.
It is still probably—just—Mrs Clinton's race to lose. She managed to “win” a non-competitive race in Florida this week; and some of the doubts her attack dogs have raised about Mr Obama's lack of experience and the young senator's preference for vague uplift over crisp detail are certainly to the point. John Edwards's withdrawal from the race on January 30th will probably benefit her too. But Mrs Clinton goes into Super Tuesday having so far failed to convince plenty of broadly sympathetic people, including this newspaper, that she should be the automatic Democratic choice.
And her struggle is indeed likely to continue. Unlike the Republicans, the Democrats award their primary delegates on a proportional basis. So it is likely that for Mr Obama and Mrs Clinton at least, there will be an Act III, and possibly more, after Super Tuesday. The play is far from over. But the Republicans should be surprisingly content with the show so far.
What European toys say about European views
Charlemagne
Toy story
Jan 31st 2008
From The Economist print edition
Illustration by Peter Schrank
LEADERS of the European project spend much time searching for icons of a single European identity. They name “Europeans of the Year” and give awards to books—and even to journalists. There is a Charlemagne prize, a German bauble for which this column takes no credit. Instead, it offers a humbler suggestion. In the hunt for a distinctive European identity, consider toy brands, such as Denmark's Lego or Germany's Playmobil.
These firms may be dwarfed in America by titans like Mattel, but in Europe they are cultural giants, vying for top spots in markets such as France and Germany. In their designs, business models and philosophies, they offer a striking snapshot of European aspirations, anxieties and foibles. (Tellingly, toy bosses see Britain as a case apart, closer to the American market in taste, and showing what they call an “Anglo-Saxon” fondness for heavily marketed novelties tied to films or television.)
This column offers as its European of the Year Playmobil man, a short, stiff-legged, eternally smiling, plastic figure first created three decades ago, and today churned out at a rate of 80m a year. Study these little people, and you learn much about European views of globalisation, violence, creativity, America, race, gender equality and what makes a good job. For example, says Playmobil's chief executive, Andrea Schauer, “the dream of every German mother” used to be to have an engineer for a son. Parents liked to see boys assembling elaborate structures in their bedrooms; Lego is the top toy brand in Germany. In contrast, the French shun construction toys, preferring the world of the imagination. Playmobil is their leading toy brand.
Visit Playmobil headquarters in Bavaria, and you will hear a surprisingly nuanced message about globalisation. Unlike the rest of the industry, Playmobil and Lego have largely avoided China as a place to manufacture. That helped last Christmas, when American press articles advised parents in a funk about Chinese safety standards to buy Playmobil, Lego and the like, because they were made in Europe. (Most Playmobil figures are made in Malta and their accessories made in Germany; most Lego bricks are made in Denmark.)
The head of the family that owns Playmobil, Horst Brandstätter, has been known to drift into Euro-populism when explaining the decision to invest in new German production lines during the past five years. “If everything is produced in China, who in Germany will be left to afford high-value toys?” he once asked. In fact, Playmobil plants are highly automated—its main factory in Bavaria is strikingly empty, with tiny dinosaur arms or car parts falling from unmanned injection moulds as a few blue-dungareed staff trundle about on large tricycles. Its young customers are fickle and unpredictable, meaning that production volumes often need swift tweaking. Like many “fast fashion” chains, Playmobil suspects the lead times demanded by factories in China are too long for it.
Mrs Schauer will say only that Playmobil has decided against China for the next five to ten years. She does not criticise rivals who make toys there. Chinese factories can make items of “any quality”, she says. But when the firm experimented with making toys in China four years ago, the costs of moulds and raw materials were no lower than in Europe. And it took too much time and effort to prod suppliers to set standards high and keep them up.
What of Europe's cultural identity? Examination of Playmobil figures reveals interesting things. Europeans are squeamish about warfare and armies. American shelves groan under tanks and muscle-bound action heroes; European parents are less keen. Playmobil tanks and warplanes “could certainly make big money,” says Mrs Schauer, since children write in demanding such things. But Playmobil will not make them. Europe's history, especially Germany's, rules it out. The firm also avoids links with violent licensed brands, such as Spiderman, saying it prefers older stories that leave children's imagination free to roam.
From Venus to Mars
On the other hand, Europeans are not as pacifist as they are sometimes portrayed, nor even as anti-gun. Playmobil policemen are armed to the teeth, and have big dogs for chasing Playmobil bank-robbers (who sport stubbly chins beneath their smiles). In the adult world, many Europeans are duly happy to send armed paramilitary police to be peacekeepers, but are fretful about sending their troops into combat.
Yet go farther back in history and violence triggers little concern. There are Playmobil knights and barbarians, pirates and Roman legionaries, all wielding lethal weapons. Europeans can even live with American military toys, if they are old enough: there are Playmobil cowboys from the Wild West, and soldiers from both sides in the American civil war.
The difference is philosophical, says Mrs Schauer. There are no more knights and pirates, so their combat is a “resolved story”. Modern war is “really horror”. That is echoed by Gabi Neubauer, a librarian buying toys in Nuremberg. She suggests that “it is more honourable to fight with a sword, somehow.” Not all explanations are as high-faluting. Asked why Playmobil makes any tiny toy guns at all, Mrs Schauer admits “otherwise, we probably wouldn't be accepted by boys.”
Girls are well catered for by Playmobil: women role models vary from pilots to policewomen. But when it comes to race, Playmobil figures are almost all white. European children have never asked for anything else, and Europe accounts for 90% of turnover (two ethnic families, the Costas and the Wongs, are on the way). American customers are different. Some have asked for black pilots, Playmobil bosses say, and the firm may yet produce them. The all-important American market is one that Playmobil yearns to break into in a big way—if it can do so without betraying its calm German vision of toyland. That is a tricky conflict to resolve: and a very European one.
Toy story
Jan 31st 2008
From The Economist print edition
Illustration by Peter Schrank
LEADERS of the European project spend much time searching for icons of a single European identity. They name “Europeans of the Year” and give awards to books—and even to journalists. There is a Charlemagne prize, a German bauble for which this column takes no credit. Instead, it offers a humbler suggestion. In the hunt for a distinctive European identity, consider toy brands, such as Denmark's Lego or Germany's Playmobil.
These firms may be dwarfed in America by titans like Mattel, but in Europe they are cultural giants, vying for top spots in markets such as France and Germany. In their designs, business models and philosophies, they offer a striking snapshot of European aspirations, anxieties and foibles. (Tellingly, toy bosses see Britain as a case apart, closer to the American market in taste, and showing what they call an “Anglo-Saxon” fondness for heavily marketed novelties tied to films or television.)
This column offers as its European of the Year Playmobil man, a short, stiff-legged, eternally smiling, plastic figure first created three decades ago, and today churned out at a rate of 80m a year. Study these little people, and you learn much about European views of globalisation, violence, creativity, America, race, gender equality and what makes a good job. For example, says Playmobil's chief executive, Andrea Schauer, “the dream of every German mother” used to be to have an engineer for a son. Parents liked to see boys assembling elaborate structures in their bedrooms; Lego is the top toy brand in Germany. In contrast, the French shun construction toys, preferring the world of the imagination. Playmobil is their leading toy brand.
Visit Playmobil headquarters in Bavaria, and you will hear a surprisingly nuanced message about globalisation. Unlike the rest of the industry, Playmobil and Lego have largely avoided China as a place to manufacture. That helped last Christmas, when American press articles advised parents in a funk about Chinese safety standards to buy Playmobil, Lego and the like, because they were made in Europe. (Most Playmobil figures are made in Malta and their accessories made in Germany; most Lego bricks are made in Denmark.)
The head of the family that owns Playmobil, Horst Brandstätter, has been known to drift into Euro-populism when explaining the decision to invest in new German production lines during the past five years. “If everything is produced in China, who in Germany will be left to afford high-value toys?” he once asked. In fact, Playmobil plants are highly automated—its main factory in Bavaria is strikingly empty, with tiny dinosaur arms or car parts falling from unmanned injection moulds as a few blue-dungareed staff trundle about on large tricycles. Its young customers are fickle and unpredictable, meaning that production volumes often need swift tweaking. Like many “fast fashion” chains, Playmobil suspects the lead times demanded by factories in China are too long for it.
Mrs Schauer will say only that Playmobil has decided against China for the next five to ten years. She does not criticise rivals who make toys there. Chinese factories can make items of “any quality”, she says. But when the firm experimented with making toys in China four years ago, the costs of moulds and raw materials were no lower than in Europe. And it took too much time and effort to prod suppliers to set standards high and keep them up.
What of Europe's cultural identity? Examination of Playmobil figures reveals interesting things. Europeans are squeamish about warfare and armies. American shelves groan under tanks and muscle-bound action heroes; European parents are less keen. Playmobil tanks and warplanes “could certainly make big money,” says Mrs Schauer, since children write in demanding such things. But Playmobil will not make them. Europe's history, especially Germany's, rules it out. The firm also avoids links with violent licensed brands, such as Spiderman, saying it prefers older stories that leave children's imagination free to roam.
From Venus to Mars
On the other hand, Europeans are not as pacifist as they are sometimes portrayed, nor even as anti-gun. Playmobil policemen are armed to the teeth, and have big dogs for chasing Playmobil bank-robbers (who sport stubbly chins beneath their smiles). In the adult world, many Europeans are duly happy to send armed paramilitary police to be peacekeepers, but are fretful about sending their troops into combat.
Yet go farther back in history and violence triggers little concern. There are Playmobil knights and barbarians, pirates and Roman legionaries, all wielding lethal weapons. Europeans can even live with American military toys, if they are old enough: there are Playmobil cowboys from the Wild West, and soldiers from both sides in the American civil war.
The difference is philosophical, says Mrs Schauer. There are no more knights and pirates, so their combat is a “resolved story”. Modern war is “really horror”. That is echoed by Gabi Neubauer, a librarian buying toys in Nuremberg. She suggests that “it is more honourable to fight with a sword, somehow.” Not all explanations are as high-faluting. Asked why Playmobil makes any tiny toy guns at all, Mrs Schauer admits “otherwise, we probably wouldn't be accepted by boys.”
Girls are well catered for by Playmobil: women role models vary from pilots to policewomen. But when it comes to race, Playmobil figures are almost all white. European children have never asked for anything else, and Europe accounts for 90% of turnover (two ethnic families, the Costas and the Wongs, are on the way). American customers are different. Some have asked for black pilots, Playmobil bosses say, and the firm may yet produce them. The all-important American market is one that Playmobil yearns to break into in a big way—if it can do so without betraying its calm German vision of toyland. That is a tricky conflict to resolve: and a very European one.
French capitalism
Biting the hand that feeds it
Jan 31st 2008 | PARIS
From The Economist print edition
France has a paradoxical attitude to financial risk
“THE Che Guevara of finance”; the “James Bond of SocGen”. It did not take long for French pundits to elevate the Société Générale trader to the status of anti-capitalist folk hero. By humiliating a leading bank, as Nouvel Observateur magazine put it, Jérôme Kerviel “has over the course of one weekend become a modern hero”. In many ways, the SocGen drama encapsulates the contradictions of France's attitude to capitalism: on the one hand, there is widespread suspicion of the markets; on the other, world-class financial skills.
The French seem peculiarly hostile to the forces of capitalism that have made their economy the world's sixth biggest and their companies global leaders. In a 2006 poll, only 36% agreed that the free market was the best system available, compared with 71% of Americans and 66% of the British. Suspicions about wealth creation have a long history. Honoré de Balzac once wrote: “Behind every great fortune lies a forgotten crime.”
Politicians have worked hard to sustain this sentiment. At last year's presidential election, five of the 12 candidates stood on explicitly anti-capitalist platforms. Even President Nicolas Sarkozy, who promised a “rupture” with out-dated economic attitudes, has repeatedly laid into financial speculators, as if their activity was some sort of optional bit of the capitalist system.
Yet France's financiers have helped develop the very markets the political elite professes to deplore. French financial innovation is considered world-class. In the 1980s, Société Générale was a pioneer in the development of sophisticated equity derivatives, based on the complex mathematics in which the elite French education system excels. It drew on a steady stream of brainy graduates of the grandes écoles, such as the École Polytechnique or the École des Mines, many of them trained as much in civil as in financial engineering.
It now looks as if SocGen was rather better at devising risk products than at managing them. All the same, the gap between French skill in financial engineering and popular contempt for financial markets remains wide. This week, Mr Sarkozy once again declared: “We want a capitalism of entrepreneurs, not a capitalism of speculators.”
Mr Sarkozy may simply be pandering to popular distaste but this does seem to reflect a limited sympathy for economic liberalism. Not only did he hint early on that the head of SocGen, a wholly private bank, should resign. His prime minister, François Fillon, also insisted that the bank remain French. With liberals like that, no wonder the French have trouble trusting the markets.
Jan 31st 2008 | PARIS
From The Economist print edition
France has a paradoxical attitude to financial risk
“THE Che Guevara of finance”; the “James Bond of SocGen”. It did not take long for French pundits to elevate the Société Générale trader to the status of anti-capitalist folk hero. By humiliating a leading bank, as Nouvel Observateur magazine put it, Jérôme Kerviel “has over the course of one weekend become a modern hero”. In many ways, the SocGen drama encapsulates the contradictions of France's attitude to capitalism: on the one hand, there is widespread suspicion of the markets; on the other, world-class financial skills.
The French seem peculiarly hostile to the forces of capitalism that have made their economy the world's sixth biggest and their companies global leaders. In a 2006 poll, only 36% agreed that the free market was the best system available, compared with 71% of Americans and 66% of the British. Suspicions about wealth creation have a long history. Honoré de Balzac once wrote: “Behind every great fortune lies a forgotten crime.”
Politicians have worked hard to sustain this sentiment. At last year's presidential election, five of the 12 candidates stood on explicitly anti-capitalist platforms. Even President Nicolas Sarkozy, who promised a “rupture” with out-dated economic attitudes, has repeatedly laid into financial speculators, as if their activity was some sort of optional bit of the capitalist system.
Yet France's financiers have helped develop the very markets the political elite professes to deplore. French financial innovation is considered world-class. In the 1980s, Société Générale was a pioneer in the development of sophisticated equity derivatives, based on the complex mathematics in which the elite French education system excels. It drew on a steady stream of brainy graduates of the grandes écoles, such as the École Polytechnique or the École des Mines, many of them trained as much in civil as in financial engineering.
It now looks as if SocGen was rather better at devising risk products than at managing them. All the same, the gap between French skill in financial engineering and popular contempt for financial markets remains wide. This week, Mr Sarkozy once again declared: “We want a capitalism of entrepreneurs, not a capitalism of speculators.”
Mr Sarkozy may simply be pandering to popular distaste but this does seem to reflect a limited sympathy for economic liberalism. Not only did he hint early on that the head of SocGen, a wholly private bank, should resign. His prime minister, François Fillon, also insisted that the bank remain French. With liberals like that, no wonder the French have trouble trusting the markets.
China's bleak mid-winter
A cold coming
Jan 31st 2008 | BEIJING
From The Economist print edition
Vicious weather disrupts one of the great annual migrations, as millions struggle to reach home for Chinese new year
AP
EVEN in the best of conditions, the period around China's lunar new year holiday poses immense logistical challenges. Tens of millions of people—students, white-collar city-dwellers and rural migrant workers—head home for family reunions. This year, sadly, conditions could hardly be worse. Severe weather in much of the country has disrupted air, road and rail transport, causing dozens of deaths and leaving millions of travellers stranded.
Worst affected are travellers in the south, especially in the city of Guangzhou, in Guangdong province, where 23m migrants work for most of the year. The massive crowd waiting for trains at Guangzhou's station, forced to make do for days in makeshift camps, was estimated by the government at more than 500,000-strong. Many more have been stuck elsewhere in Guangdong, and in Hunan and Hubei provinces, along the trunk line to northern China. By mid-week tempers had frayed and the government had started taking more aggressive crowd-control measures.
Officials have tried to show that the government is doing its best. At an emergency meeting on January 29th, the Politburo ordered “all-out efforts” to alleviate the crisis. One million police officers were stationed on the roads, and nearly half a million soldiers dispatched to assist local governments, partly by delivering food, drinking water and other supplies to areas cut off by the storms.
Unusually for a Chinese leader, Wen Jiabao, the prime minister, has visited railway stations in Changsha and Guangzhou. Megaphone in hand, he offered “profound apologies” to stranded travellers and promised that the government was doing all it could.
To prepare for this year's rush, the Ministry of Railways arranged 622 extra trains to handle some of the 178m passengers it expected during the 40-day period around the holiday on February 7th. Similar provisions were made to cater for the soaring numbers of bus and air passengers. Even China's waterways made plans to handle an expected 30m holiday passengers.
But none of these preparations was enough to cope with what officials describe as China's worst winter weather in 50 years. Harsh cold, heavy snow and freezing rain afflicted not only China's eastern and central regions, but also its south, which is usually spared winter's worst. The weather has also ravaged the electricity grid. Delayed coal shipments, the normal winter decline in hydropower capacity, and ice damage to transmission systems have all contributed to cuts in power output, just as the cold weather has driven up demand. Power cuts, in turn, have further disrupted the railways.
Another reason for power shortages is the steadily rising cost of coal, which China's power producers cannot pass on to consumers. Already concerned about the climbing inflation rates recorded over much of 2007, the government has refused to let electricity prices rise. But the winter weather is likely to add to the inflationary pressures as damaged crops and hampered distribution push up food prices. The government has already reported 32.7 billion yuan ($4.5 billion) in losses from damage to crops and homes.
According to Jun Ma, chief economist at Deutsche Bank in Hong Kong, the storms' overall economic impact is likely to be short-lived, and not felt too keenly beyond hotels, airlines and other travel-related businesses. Pressure eased slightly as the weather improved toward the middle of the week, but the forecast is bad, and officials expect the difficulties to persist. They have urged people to consider giving up their home visits for this year. For many of those freezing at stations, that would add heartbreak to acute physical discomfort.
Jan 31st 2008 | BEIJING
From The Economist print edition
Vicious weather disrupts one of the great annual migrations, as millions struggle to reach home for Chinese new year
AP
EVEN in the best of conditions, the period around China's lunar new year holiday poses immense logistical challenges. Tens of millions of people—students, white-collar city-dwellers and rural migrant workers—head home for family reunions. This year, sadly, conditions could hardly be worse. Severe weather in much of the country has disrupted air, road and rail transport, causing dozens of deaths and leaving millions of travellers stranded.
Worst affected are travellers in the south, especially in the city of Guangzhou, in Guangdong province, where 23m migrants work for most of the year. The massive crowd waiting for trains at Guangzhou's station, forced to make do for days in makeshift camps, was estimated by the government at more than 500,000-strong. Many more have been stuck elsewhere in Guangdong, and in Hunan and Hubei provinces, along the trunk line to northern China. By mid-week tempers had frayed and the government had started taking more aggressive crowd-control measures.
Officials have tried to show that the government is doing its best. At an emergency meeting on January 29th, the Politburo ordered “all-out efforts” to alleviate the crisis. One million police officers were stationed on the roads, and nearly half a million soldiers dispatched to assist local governments, partly by delivering food, drinking water and other supplies to areas cut off by the storms.
Unusually for a Chinese leader, Wen Jiabao, the prime minister, has visited railway stations in Changsha and Guangzhou. Megaphone in hand, he offered “profound apologies” to stranded travellers and promised that the government was doing all it could.
To prepare for this year's rush, the Ministry of Railways arranged 622 extra trains to handle some of the 178m passengers it expected during the 40-day period around the holiday on February 7th. Similar provisions were made to cater for the soaring numbers of bus and air passengers. Even China's waterways made plans to handle an expected 30m holiday passengers.
But none of these preparations was enough to cope with what officials describe as China's worst winter weather in 50 years. Harsh cold, heavy snow and freezing rain afflicted not only China's eastern and central regions, but also its south, which is usually spared winter's worst. The weather has also ravaged the electricity grid. Delayed coal shipments, the normal winter decline in hydropower capacity, and ice damage to transmission systems have all contributed to cuts in power output, just as the cold weather has driven up demand. Power cuts, in turn, have further disrupted the railways.
Another reason for power shortages is the steadily rising cost of coal, which China's power producers cannot pass on to consumers. Already concerned about the climbing inflation rates recorded over much of 2007, the government has refused to let electricity prices rise. But the winter weather is likely to add to the inflationary pressures as damaged crops and hampered distribution push up food prices. The government has already reported 32.7 billion yuan ($4.5 billion) in losses from damage to crops and homes.
According to Jun Ma, chief economist at Deutsche Bank in Hong Kong, the storms' overall economic impact is likely to be short-lived, and not felt too keenly beyond hotels, airlines and other travel-related businesses. Pressure eased slightly as the weather improved toward the middle of the week, but the forecast is bad, and officials expect the difficulties to persist. They have urged people to consider giving up their home visits for this year. For many of those freezing at stations, that would add heartbreak to acute physical discomfort.
The internet in China
Alternative reality
Jan 31st 2008 | HONG KONG
From The Economist print edition
China will soon boast more internet users than any other country. But usage patterns inside China are different from those elsewhere
AP
ONE of the more striking end-of-year statistics pumped out recently by the Chinese government was an update on the number of internet users in the country, which had reached 210m. It is a staggering figure, up by more than 50% on the previous year and more than three times the number for India, the emerging Asian giant with which China is most often compared. Within a few months, according to Morgan Stanley, an investment bank, China will have more internet users than America, the current leader. And because the proportion of the population using the internet is so low, at just 16%, rapid growth is likely to continue for some time.
That such a big, increasingly wealthy and technologically adept country has embraced the internet is no surprise, but it has done so in a very different way from other countries. That is in large part the result of the government's historically repressive approach towards information and entertainment. News is censored, television is controlled by the state, and bookshops and cinemas, shuttered during the Cultural Revolution, are still scarce.
The internet itself is also tightly controlled. Access to many foreign websites (such as Wikipedia) is restricted, and Google's Chinese site filters its results to exclude politically sensitive material. New rules governing online video came into force this week. Electronic retailing is in its infancy, thanks to an unwieldy government-controlled payment system, so most shopping is still done in person. The attempt by eBay, the world's leading online auction site, to enter the Chinese market was a flop. Alibaba, a site often described as the eBay of China, is in fact more an electronic yellow pages, helping buyers find sellers, than an online auction room.
The Chinese way
Yet it is all these limitations, paradoxically, that make the internet so popular in China. In the West online activities have transformed existing businesses and created new ones; in China, by contrast, the internet fills gaps and provides what is unavailable elsewhere, particularly for young people. More than 70% of Chinese internet users are under 30, precisely the opposite of America, and there is enormous pent-up demand for entertainment, amusement and social interaction, says Richard Ji, an analyst at Morgan Stanley. Rich rewards await those entrepreneurial internet companies able to meet that demand and establish themselves in the market: operating margins for leading internet firms are 28% in China, compared with 15% in America. And internet companies' share prices have shot up, with their collective market capitalisation nearly doubling every year since 2003 to reach over $50 billion today.
So what is the internet used for in China? Its most obvious use is to distribute free pirated films, television shows and music. Even though China's censors do an excellent job of restricting access to content that might cause political problems, they are strangely unable to stem the flow of pirated foreign media. On December 30th an appeals court in Beijing ruled in favour of Baidu, China's leading search engine, which had been accused by the world's big record companies of copyright violation by providing links to pirated music files. Even so, piracy is starting to worry the government, not least because the availability of free foreign content is holding back the development of the domestic media industry. But for the time being, the free-for-all continues.
When it comes to making money online, the biggest market involves the delivery of mobile-internet content to mobile phones. With over half a billion mobile-phone users, China has more subscribers than America, Japan, Germany and Britain combined, and more than half of them use their phones to buy ringtones, jokes and pictures from mobile-internet portals such as KongZhong and Tom Online. Each download costs a few cents, most of which goes to the portal, but the mobile operators then make money as subscribers send jokes and pictures to each other. It all sounds trivial, but a few cents here and there multiplied by hundreds of millions of users soon add up. The ringtone from a hit song, “Mice Love Rice”, generated over $10m in sales in 2005, for example.
Another big field is online multiplayer games, which have become so popular that the government has started to worry about their impact on adults' productivity and children's education. Import restrictions and fear of piracy mean that the big foreign console-makers—Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft—have not made much headway in China. Instead, a different model has emerged, based around PC games played online. Generally the game itself is given away, so piracy is not a problem, but players pay a subscription to play, and may also buy in-game add-ons such as accessories for their characters. Big providers such as NetEase and Shanda have millions of customers for games such as “Fantasy Westward Journey”, a cartoon game for children, and “World of Legend”, for teenagers and adults.
Although there are tight constraints on the provision of hard news, internet sites such as Sina and Sohu provide a steady supply of gossip, features, dabs of propaganda and slightly salacious stories and photos, and are constantly testing the boundaries of what is permissible. Video of America's professional basketball league and English football games is also popular, and can be packaged with streaming advertisements, another emerging business in China.
The most dynamic area, and the hardest for outsiders to understand, is that of online communities, many of which are run by a company named Tencent. Its site offers an instant-messaging service and a MySpace-like social networking site, among other things. In each case the basic services are free, but users pay for add-ons (such as new backgrounds for their home-pages or more storage space). Often, says Mr Ji, the members of these communities are people who, because of the single-child policy, have no siblings and are searching for virtual friendships. For them and for many users in China, the internet is not truly a worldwide web: it is only as wide as China. But China's internet community is evidently a world unto itself.
Jan 31st 2008 | HONG KONG
From The Economist print edition
China will soon boast more internet users than any other country. But usage patterns inside China are different from those elsewhere
AP
ONE of the more striking end-of-year statistics pumped out recently by the Chinese government was an update on the number of internet users in the country, which had reached 210m. It is a staggering figure, up by more than 50% on the previous year and more than three times the number for India, the emerging Asian giant with which China is most often compared. Within a few months, according to Morgan Stanley, an investment bank, China will have more internet users than America, the current leader. And because the proportion of the population using the internet is so low, at just 16%, rapid growth is likely to continue for some time.
That such a big, increasingly wealthy and technologically adept country has embraced the internet is no surprise, but it has done so in a very different way from other countries. That is in large part the result of the government's historically repressive approach towards information and entertainment. News is censored, television is controlled by the state, and bookshops and cinemas, shuttered during the Cultural Revolution, are still scarce.
The internet itself is also tightly controlled. Access to many foreign websites (such as Wikipedia) is restricted, and Google's Chinese site filters its results to exclude politically sensitive material. New rules governing online video came into force this week. Electronic retailing is in its infancy, thanks to an unwieldy government-controlled payment system, so most shopping is still done in person. The attempt by eBay, the world's leading online auction site, to enter the Chinese market was a flop. Alibaba, a site often described as the eBay of China, is in fact more an electronic yellow pages, helping buyers find sellers, than an online auction room.
The Chinese way
Yet it is all these limitations, paradoxically, that make the internet so popular in China. In the West online activities have transformed existing businesses and created new ones; in China, by contrast, the internet fills gaps and provides what is unavailable elsewhere, particularly for young people. More than 70% of Chinese internet users are under 30, precisely the opposite of America, and there is enormous pent-up demand for entertainment, amusement and social interaction, says Richard Ji, an analyst at Morgan Stanley. Rich rewards await those entrepreneurial internet companies able to meet that demand and establish themselves in the market: operating margins for leading internet firms are 28% in China, compared with 15% in America. And internet companies' share prices have shot up, with their collective market capitalisation nearly doubling every year since 2003 to reach over $50 billion today.
So what is the internet used for in China? Its most obvious use is to distribute free pirated films, television shows and music. Even though China's censors do an excellent job of restricting access to content that might cause political problems, they are strangely unable to stem the flow of pirated foreign media. On December 30th an appeals court in Beijing ruled in favour of Baidu, China's leading search engine, which had been accused by the world's big record companies of copyright violation by providing links to pirated music files. Even so, piracy is starting to worry the government, not least because the availability of free foreign content is holding back the development of the domestic media industry. But for the time being, the free-for-all continues.
When it comes to making money online, the biggest market involves the delivery of mobile-internet content to mobile phones. With over half a billion mobile-phone users, China has more subscribers than America, Japan, Germany and Britain combined, and more than half of them use their phones to buy ringtones, jokes and pictures from mobile-internet portals such as KongZhong and Tom Online. Each download costs a few cents, most of which goes to the portal, but the mobile operators then make money as subscribers send jokes and pictures to each other. It all sounds trivial, but a few cents here and there multiplied by hundreds of millions of users soon add up. The ringtone from a hit song, “Mice Love Rice”, generated over $10m in sales in 2005, for example.
Another big field is online multiplayer games, which have become so popular that the government has started to worry about their impact on adults' productivity and children's education. Import restrictions and fear of piracy mean that the big foreign console-makers—Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft—have not made much headway in China. Instead, a different model has emerged, based around PC games played online. Generally the game itself is given away, so piracy is not a problem, but players pay a subscription to play, and may also buy in-game add-ons such as accessories for their characters. Big providers such as NetEase and Shanda have millions of customers for games such as “Fantasy Westward Journey”, a cartoon game for children, and “World of Legend”, for teenagers and adults.
Although there are tight constraints on the provision of hard news, internet sites such as Sina and Sohu provide a steady supply of gossip, features, dabs of propaganda and slightly salacious stories and photos, and are constantly testing the boundaries of what is permissible. Video of America's professional basketball league and English football games is also popular, and can be packaged with streaming advertisements, another emerging business in China.
The most dynamic area, and the hardest for outsiders to understand, is that of online communities, many of which are run by a company named Tencent. Its site offers an instant-messaging service and a MySpace-like social networking site, among other things. In each case the basic services are free, but users pay for add-ons (such as new backgrounds for their home-pages or more storage space). Often, says Mr Ji, the members of these communities are people who, because of the single-child policy, have no siblings and are searching for virtual friendships. For them and for many users in China, the internet is not truly a worldwide web: it is only as wide as China. But China's internet community is evidently a world unto itself.
ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING TOKYO IS NOT
By David Pilling
Friday, February 01, 2008
One
of the first things to know about Osaka is that people stand on the right of escalators and stride up on the left. This distinguishes the rough-and-ready western city from Tokyo, the eastern capital, where people do precisely the reverse. In Japan, where conventions carry the weight of law, it is an act of rebellion, even a declaration of independence. Whenever I pull into Shin-Osaka station, two hours and thirty-six high-speed minutes from Tokyo, I never fail to picture an escalator, somewhere on the border of eastern and western Japan, where the rules are in dispute and mayhem has broken out.
Osaka, by day Japan's second-biggest city, is everything Tokyo is not. I love Tokyo. But I love Osaka precisely because it is not Tokyo – and decidedly so. It is brash and unkempt where Tokyo is refined and prissy. Its cuisine is hot, spicy and fried, not raw, delicate and thigh-thinningly-healthy. Its people are charming and pushy and always ready with a scowl or the brashest of smiles. In Tokyo, you can be bludgeoned to death by politeness
Even Osaka's dialect is distinct. Osaka-ben, as it is known, has a rough hew beloved of comedians and off-colour storytellers.
In several aspects, Osaka outdoes Tokyo. One is in the pure, majestic ugliness of its cityscape. The city is a melting pot of concrete and a swirl of overhead flyovers that loop improbably, like fat udon noodles, past high-rises and giant billboards, some nearly as tall as the buildings on whose rooftops they are erected. Osakans prepared to acknowledge that Tokyo has any merits at all, often speak admiringly of the “green city”, roughly akin to someone in Death Valley envying the precipitation of the Gobi Desert.
Parts of Osaka are arranged as if someone had taken a normal city and squished it together. In one street there is a giant, garishly painted Ferris wheel, wedged improbably between tall buildings as though the London Eye were somehow to have been set spinning on the side of the Lloyd's Building. A well-known display above a restaurant features a 20ft mechanical crab. Osaka is big, brash and rarely subtle.
Tokyo is a hidden city. Its restaurants, clubs, lounges, bars, live-houses, theatres and other diverse places of amusement are secret, tucked away behind uninviting doors. In Osaka, everything is in the open, like Tokyo with its guts spilt out on the pavement.
Osaka has been working on its character for a while. It was already an important city in the 7th century, and the centre of Japanese commerce for hundreds of years when nearby Nara and Kyoto were the capital. Today, it is the centre of Kinki, a region whose output outstrips that of both Canada and India.
Goods historically passed through Osaka before being redistributed to the rest of Japan, a medieval hub-and-spoke system that provided the merchant city with abundant tax revenue. Always innovative, the city invented futures trading, conducted in the Dojima Rice Market from 1730, long before derivatives and the rebundling of dud mortgages became fashionable. According to Osaka's Entrepreneurial Museum, Osaka invented suburbs, khaki, cinemas, electric washing machines, insurance and, most important, pot noodles.
On a recent visit to Osaka, I stood in the famous Dotonbori street, a little way down from the Shochiku-za kabuki theatre. From the country that brought you the silence of Zen, Dotonbori is a living monument to cacophony. Several layers of sounds competed for available airwaves: the high-pitched warble of the latest J-Pop anthems; a distorted entreaty, relayed by megaphone, to partake of an unmissable discount on panty-hose; competing storefront jingles advertising cakes, CDs, and takoyaki fried octopus balls; and, wafting from Shochiku-za, the accelerating clatter of wooden blocks that is the trademark sound of kabuki.
Many people were gathering near Glico Man, a building-high neon figure of an athlete that has been the symbol of Glico candy since the 1920s and is now an Osaka landmark. The nearby Ebisubashi bridge was under reconstruction following a recent drowning when several thousand people jumped into the canal's black waters to celebrate a victory by the Hanshin Tigers, Osaka's beloved baseball team.
That victory notwithstanding, the Tigers have suffered the so-called “Curse of the Colonel” since 1985 when rapturous fans flung a statue from a nearby Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet into the canal's depths. It is a tribute to their murkiness that, despite frequent dredging, the Colonel has never been found.
Before I took the train back to Tokyo, I stopped at a ramen shop, an open-air stand with a few tiny tables set on raised tatami mats. I bought a ticket for pork ramen from a vending machine for 650 yen and handed it to one of the assistants who ladled thick stock into a plastic bowl. After helping myself to drinking water and kimchi pickled cabbage – Osaka has a strong Korean influence – I removed my shoes and kneeled on the tatami by one of the low tables to eat. Presently, someone from a neighbouring table offered me a can of beer, an act of spontaneous generosity with which Osaka spills over.
But my truly Osakan moment came shortly after when a little mouse appeared and began to scurry up and down the gully between the tatami platform and the kitchen counter. I have never seen a mouse in a Tokyo restaurant and can only imagine the panic that such a rodent visitation would set off.
Here, people looked on quizzically as they might at a cute dog. Then they proceeded with the important business of eating. Since my ramen broth was brimming with flavour, I did the same. When I left, I checked my shoes, just in case, but the mouse had gone.
David Pilling is the FT's Tokyo bureau chief
Friday, February 01, 2008
One
of the first things to know about Osaka is that people stand on the right of escalators and stride up on the left. This distinguishes the rough-and-ready western city from Tokyo, the eastern capital, where people do precisely the reverse. In Japan, where conventions carry the weight of law, it is an act of rebellion, even a declaration of independence. Whenever I pull into Shin-Osaka station, two hours and thirty-six high-speed minutes from Tokyo, I never fail to picture an escalator, somewhere on the border of eastern and western Japan, where the rules are in dispute and mayhem has broken out.
Osaka, by day Japan's second-biggest city, is everything Tokyo is not. I love Tokyo. But I love Osaka precisely because it is not Tokyo – and decidedly so. It is brash and unkempt where Tokyo is refined and prissy. Its cuisine is hot, spicy and fried, not raw, delicate and thigh-thinningly-healthy. Its people are charming and pushy and always ready with a scowl or the brashest of smiles. In Tokyo, you can be bludgeoned to death by politeness
Even Osaka's dialect is distinct. Osaka-ben, as it is known, has a rough hew beloved of comedians and off-colour storytellers.
In several aspects, Osaka outdoes Tokyo. One is in the pure, majestic ugliness of its cityscape. The city is a melting pot of concrete and a swirl of overhead flyovers that loop improbably, like fat udon noodles, past high-rises and giant billboards, some nearly as tall as the buildings on whose rooftops they are erected. Osakans prepared to acknowledge that Tokyo has any merits at all, often speak admiringly of the “green city”, roughly akin to someone in Death Valley envying the precipitation of the Gobi Desert.
Parts of Osaka are arranged as if someone had taken a normal city and squished it together. In one street there is a giant, garishly painted Ferris wheel, wedged improbably between tall buildings as though the London Eye were somehow to have been set spinning on the side of the Lloyd's Building. A well-known display above a restaurant features a 20ft mechanical crab. Osaka is big, brash and rarely subtle.
Tokyo is a hidden city. Its restaurants, clubs, lounges, bars, live-houses, theatres and other diverse places of amusement are secret, tucked away behind uninviting doors. In Osaka, everything is in the open, like Tokyo with its guts spilt out on the pavement.
Osaka has been working on its character for a while. It was already an important city in the 7th century, and the centre of Japanese commerce for hundreds of years when nearby Nara and Kyoto were the capital. Today, it is the centre of Kinki, a region whose output outstrips that of both Canada and India.
Goods historically passed through Osaka before being redistributed to the rest of Japan, a medieval hub-and-spoke system that provided the merchant city with abundant tax revenue. Always innovative, the city invented futures trading, conducted in the Dojima Rice Market from 1730, long before derivatives and the rebundling of dud mortgages became fashionable. According to Osaka's Entrepreneurial Museum, Osaka invented suburbs, khaki, cinemas, electric washing machines, insurance and, most important, pot noodles.
On a recent visit to Osaka, I stood in the famous Dotonbori street, a little way down from the Shochiku-za kabuki theatre. From the country that brought you the silence of Zen, Dotonbori is a living monument to cacophony. Several layers of sounds competed for available airwaves: the high-pitched warble of the latest J-Pop anthems; a distorted entreaty, relayed by megaphone, to partake of an unmissable discount on panty-hose; competing storefront jingles advertising cakes, CDs, and takoyaki fried octopus balls; and, wafting from Shochiku-za, the accelerating clatter of wooden blocks that is the trademark sound of kabuki.
Many people were gathering near Glico Man, a building-high neon figure of an athlete that has been the symbol of Glico candy since the 1920s and is now an Osaka landmark. The nearby Ebisubashi bridge was under reconstruction following a recent drowning when several thousand people jumped into the canal's black waters to celebrate a victory by the Hanshin Tigers, Osaka's beloved baseball team.
That victory notwithstanding, the Tigers have suffered the so-called “Curse of the Colonel” since 1985 when rapturous fans flung a statue from a nearby Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet into the canal's depths. It is a tribute to their murkiness that, despite frequent dredging, the Colonel has never been found.
Before I took the train back to Tokyo, I stopped at a ramen shop, an open-air stand with a few tiny tables set on raised tatami mats. I bought a ticket for pork ramen from a vending machine for 650 yen and handed it to one of the assistants who ladled thick stock into a plastic bowl. After helping myself to drinking water and kimchi pickled cabbage – Osaka has a strong Korean influence – I removed my shoes and kneeled on the tatami by one of the low tables to eat. Presently, someone from a neighbouring table offered me a can of beer, an act of spontaneous generosity with which Osaka spills over.
But my truly Osakan moment came shortly after when a little mouse appeared and began to scurry up and down the gully between the tatami platform and the kitchen counter. I have never seen a mouse in a Tokyo restaurant and can only imagine the panic that such a rodent visitation would set off.
Here, people looked on quizzically as they might at a cute dog. Then they proceeded with the important business of eating. Since my ramen broth was brimming with flavour, I did the same. When I left, I checked my shoes, just in case, but the mouse had gone.
David Pilling is the FT's Tokyo bureau chief
恨铁不成钢
读者：Cui Mengmeng
2008年1月25日 星期五
FT中文网编辑：
读了《模糊的愤怒》一文，我认为，我们恨日本人是有原因的，这种苦大仇深的心理从1937年开始一代代传下来，更因为日本二战后的崛起给中国人带来的不平衡而激化，这些都是情感上的。
我去广西涠洲岛度假，晚上院子里来了一群找酒喝的石油钻井平台工人。一个人喝多了，席间抓起酒瓶在桌上砸个粉碎，大喊：我就是他妈的恨死日本人了！他变得很暴力，很恐怖，好像如果眼前有个日本人，不管是谁，他都一定会把这个人撕碎。我坐在那里，有点震惊，震惊之余，庆幸没有人告诉他我在日本念过四年书，否则他醉成那个样子一定要迁怒于我。
有怨恨是可以理解的。日本人确实犯下了滔天大罪。但是中国人的这种怨恨其实并不是对着日本人的，更多是对自己国家的恨铁不成钢，还有就是被一个小小岛国打了个落花流水的大国面子危机。我们不能面对的，其实是我们自己。
现在的年轻人虽然表面爱国，其实骨子里都有一种盖不住的崇洋媚外。这种对国外优质产品和新鲜事物的好奇心掺杂了狭隘的民族主义后显得那么不伦不类。就像许知远描写的砸烂了日本车，还兴奋的用日本照相机拍下自己的作品。
平心来讲，我不喜欢日本人。这也是为什么我回了国，又去了欧洲。但是在全世界绕了大半圈之后发现，日本的经济和管理奇迹是很少有国家能比的。日本人做事之精细，大概只有瑞士手表业可以与之媲美；日本人把茶道更是提升到了无人能及的高度；而日本城市管理之好，是没有别的国家可以比的。更不要说日本的环保和回收了，也只有德国和北欧可以与之一拼上下。日本的各种高新科技更是全球领先。
然而，我们的民族主义遮蔽了视线，让我们看不到日本的优点，更不会虚心向日本人学习。仿佛向日本人学习是犯了滔天大罪。
我经常被问，日本人对中国人到底怎么样？你们在日本的时候觉不觉得他们很仇视中国？怎么说呢，大城市里什么人都有，就像北京上海看不起黑人的比比皆是。其实如果用中国人歧视黑人的比率来讲，日本人歧视中国人的比率可以说是低的不能再低了。
我在日本农村住了四年，很小的城市，很安全，人也都很好。第一次上街买东西走丢了，不会说日语。一家人执意送我回学校，我还怕遇到坏人，怎么也没有让人家送。在日本的几年，遇到困难都是日本人伸手相助。有的时候不是中国人不愿相助，也确实是力不能及。
其实，日本人对中国很好奇。他们对中国的感情更是复杂。日本是一个崇拜强国的民族，谁强就向谁低头，典型的吃硬不吃软。当中国的帝国没落了，日本人是有失落的，因为他们的文化和中国一脉相承，千年来他们对中国顶礼膜拜，然后，瞬间发现中国不行了，巨人原来是病弱的。这种失落演变为矛盾演变为对中国的虐待。
现在，很多日本人又有了这种矛盾心理，一方面觉得中国又强大了，一方面还停留在对20世纪初期中国的印象里。大多数日本人对中国是友好的，至少我四年里碰到的所有人都很友好。其中很多人对中国很无知，就像大多数中国人对近在咫尺的日本一无所知一样。
但是，很少有日本人会用民族主义的口吻来评价中国，事实上，很少有国家的人像中国人这样把民族主义当成好事在外招摇的。这种做法很孩子气，而中国，也确实像一个没有长大的孩子，或者说，更像一个儿皇帝吧。
读者：Cui Mengmeng
2008年1月25日 星期五
FT中文网编辑：
读了《模糊的愤怒》一文，我认为，我们恨日本人是有原因的，这种苦大仇深的心理从1937年开始一代代传下来，更因为日本二战后的崛起给中国人带来的不平衡而激化，这些都是情感上的。
我去广西涠洲岛度假，晚上院子里来了一群找酒喝的石油钻井平台工人。一个人喝多了，席间抓起酒瓶在桌上砸个粉碎，大喊：我就是他妈的恨死日本人了！他变得很暴力，很恐怖，好像如果眼前有个日本人，不管是谁，他都一定会把这个人撕碎。我坐在那里，有点震惊，震惊之余，庆幸没有人告诉他我在日本念过四年书，否则他醉成那个样子一定要迁怒于我。
有怨恨是可以理解的。日本人确实犯下了滔天大罪。但是中国人的这种怨恨其实并不是对着日本人的，更多是对自己国家的恨铁不成钢，还有就是被一个小小岛国打了个落花流水的大国面子危机。我们不能面对的，其实是我们自己。
现在的年轻人虽然表面爱国，其实骨子里都有一种盖不住的崇洋媚外。这种对国外优质产品和新鲜事物的好奇心掺杂了狭隘的民族主义后显得那么不伦不类。就像许知远描写的砸烂了日本车，还兴奋的用日本照相机拍下自己的作品。
平心来讲，我不喜欢日本人。这也是为什么我回了国，又去了欧洲。但是在全世界绕了大半圈之后发现，日本的经济和管理奇迹是很少有国家能比的。日本人做事之精细，大概只有瑞士手表业可以与之媲美；日本人把茶道更是提升到了无人能及的高度；而日本城市管理之好，是没有别的国家可以比的。更不要说日本的环保和回收了，也只有德国和北欧可以与之一拼上下。日本的各种高新科技更是全球领先。
然而，我们的民族主义遮蔽了视线，让我们看不到日本的优点，更不会虚心向日本人学习。仿佛向日本人学习是犯了滔天大罪。
我经常被问，日本人对中国人到底怎么样？你们在日本的时候觉不觉得他们很仇视中国？怎么说呢，大城市里什么人都有，就像北京上海看不起黑人的比比皆是。其实如果用中国人歧视黑人的比率来讲，日本人歧视中国人的比率可以说是低的不能再低了。
我在日本农村住了四年，很小的城市，很安全，人也都很好。第一次上街买东西走丢了，不会说日语。一家人执意送我回学校，我还怕遇到坏人，怎么也没有让人家送。在日本的几年，遇到困难都是日本人伸手相助。有的时候不是中国人不愿相助，也确实是力不能及。
其实，日本人对中国很好奇。他们对中国的感情更是复杂。日本是一个崇拜强国的民族，谁强就向谁低头，典型的吃硬不吃软。当中国的帝国没落了，日本人是有失落的，因为他们的文化和中国一脉相承，千年来他们对中国顶礼膜拜，然后，瞬间发现中国不行了，巨人原来是病弱的。这种失落演变为矛盾演变为对中国的虐待。
现在，很多日本人又有了这种矛盾心理，一方面觉得中国又强大了，一方面还停留在对20世纪初期中国的印象里。大多数日本人对中国是友好的，至少我四年里碰到的所有人都很友好。其中很多人对中国很无知，就像大多数中国人对近在咫尺的日本一无所知一样。
但是，很少有日本人会用民族主义的口吻来评价中国，事实上，很少有国家的人像中国人这样把民族主义当成好事在外招摇的。这种做法很孩子气，而中国，也确实像一个没有长大的孩子，或者说，更像一个儿皇帝吧。
读者：Cui Mengmeng
Korea opportunities
By Tatiana Boncompagni
Monday, January 28, 2008
Is the future face of American fashion ... Korean? Consider the following: four out of eight designers chosen by Gen Art, a New York-based fashion incubator, to show their designs in the recent Gen Art Fresh Faces catwalk show were Korean or Korean American. At Parsons The New School for Design, nearly half of the students enrolled in their bachelor of fine arts fashion design programme last year were either Asian or Asian American (with fully 29 per cent of the student population from Korea). And the number of Korean and Korean American students earning a bachelor of fine arts degree from the Fashion Institute of Technology rose from 57 to 152 students between autumn 2003 and autumn 2006.
“The number of Korean students has been escalating since the early 1980s,” says Tim Gunn, the former president of Parsons, who is chief creative officer for Liz Claiborne Inc and star of the Bravo network television programme Tim Gunn's Guide to Style.
It was in the 1980s that the Korean middle class emerged, thanks to a strong economy, creating a demand for both higher education and high-end fashion. “With the rise of the middle class, there were more people travelling and more exposure to western culture,” explains Susan Shin, a New York fashion consultant of Korean descent. “It nurtured a greater interest in fashion and the creative spirit.”
Elle Korea and Vogue Korea launched in 1992 and 1996 respectively, marking a turning point in the development of Korea's demand for designer clothes, say Gene Kang and Hanii Yoon, the Korean duo behind Y & Kei, a line of clothing inspired by Buddhist principles. The magazines also fostered an interest in studying fashion, especially among the children of the new middle class who, “wanting to do the best for their children”, were willing to send them overseas to study, say Kang and Yoon.
Faced with mounting applications from Korean students, New York's Parsons became involved in the establishment of the Samsung Art and Design Institute, a university endowed by the electronics giant. In 2003 Samsung launched Derercuny, a highly sophisticated line of women's wear helmed by Korean designer Mina Lee and shown in Milan.
“What we said to the students was, ‘If you want to go to Parsons, you have to go through here first,'” says Gunn, adding that while the artistic ability of the applicants was high, their English wasn't proficient. “This programme helps prepare them enter at a more advanced level.”
So far the biggest success stories are those of two Korean American designers. Richard Chai, an alumnus of Marc Jacobs and TSE cashmere, has his own line of architectural, 1980s-inspired clothing, while Doo-Ri Chung's sophisticated use of draping and texture won her the top prize at the 2006 Council of Fashion Designers of America/Vogue Fashion Fund Awards, as well as the 2006 Swarovski Perry Ellis Award for emerging women's wear designer.
“They both have their own sense of style – that's what makes them so unique,” says Roopal Patel, women's fashion director of Bergdorf Goodman, the Fifth Avenue department store. “The one common thread is their meticulousness; they understand what it takes to become an expert in their craft. To them, it's not just designing a garment. They really think about everything from the aesthetic to the fabric to the type of stitch.”
Chung, a Parsons graduate who moved with her family from Korea to New Jersey when she was four years old, credits the upswell of Korean Americans studying fashion to an increasing acceptance of pursuing it as a career in the Korean community. Chung worked for Banana Republic and Geoffrey Beene before striking out on her own. “Only now is it the case that you don't have to be a doctor or a lawyer or an investment banker. There used to be this stigma; oh you want to go into fashion, are you going to be poor for the rest of your life?”
Korean American designer Grace Sun worked for a decade designing movie posters and helping to build an internet company before she gathered the nerve to pursue her true passion. After stints at retailers Rachel Roy and 3.1 Phillip Lim, Sun launched her line of highly wearable dresses and separates almost two years ago. “There are a lot of us drawn to the business,” says Sun, whose spring collection is based on the idea of tropics in the city and features a selection of silk dresses in colours like bougainvillea and misty blue. “I was born in Korea but I conduct business in China a lot and I've realised that Chinese culture is very much focused on food and culinary experiences. Koreans focus more on appearances and therefore fashion is a bigger part of the culture.”
Likewise, Sonia Yoon – one of the designers at Bensoni, a young line of hipster-cool smocked dresses and elegantly tiered tops sold in 130 stores across the US – sees her heritage as a big factor in her work. “Koreans have this inherent history in great craftsmanship and technical skills,” says Yoon, who was born in Korea and raised in London and New Jersey.
Of course, not every Korean or Korean American student enrolled in a prestigious design school is destined for New York's Bryant Park. Gunn recalls receiving a phone call from the parent of a Korean student at Parsons who had received a huge credit card bill from his daughter. “He said, ‘I wish I'd known in advance what the shopping budget was',” says Gunn. “There were all these charges from Louis Vuitton and Chanel.” The school had given the student's class an assignment to review a handful of stores but, instead of just writing a review, the student had gone on a shopping spree.
Gunn adds that for some Korean students Parsons is “like a finishing school. In a way, they are learning how to shop.” Still, there will be those with the ambition and talent to go the distance. After all, the fashion industry has always embraced foreign or ethnic talent. Two pillars of US fashion, Carolina Herrera and Oscar de la Renta, are from Venezuela and the Dominican Republic respectively. “This is what makes American fashion so brilliant,” says Bergdorf's Patel. “It's very representative of our country, actually.”
Monday, January 28, 2008
Is the future face of American fashion ... Korean? Consider the following: four out of eight designers chosen by Gen Art, a New York-based fashion incubator, to show their designs in the recent Gen Art Fresh Faces catwalk show were Korean or Korean American. At Parsons The New School for Design, nearly half of the students enrolled in their bachelor of fine arts fashion design programme last year were either Asian or Asian American (with fully 29 per cent of the student population from Korea). And the number of Korean and Korean American students earning a bachelor of fine arts degree from the Fashion Institute of Technology rose from 57 to 152 students between autumn 2003 and autumn 2006.
“The number of Korean students has been escalating since the early 1980s,” says Tim Gunn, the former president of Parsons, who is chief creative officer for Liz Claiborne Inc and star of the Bravo network television programme Tim Gunn's Guide to Style.
It was in the 1980s that the Korean middle class emerged, thanks to a strong economy, creating a demand for both higher education and high-end fashion. “With the rise of the middle class, there were more people travelling and more exposure to western culture,” explains Susan Shin, a New York fashion consultant of Korean descent. “It nurtured a greater interest in fashion and the creative spirit.”
Elle Korea and Vogue Korea launched in 1992 and 1996 respectively, marking a turning point in the development of Korea's demand for designer clothes, say Gene Kang and Hanii Yoon, the Korean duo behind Y & Kei, a line of clothing inspired by Buddhist principles. The magazines also fostered an interest in studying fashion, especially among the children of the new middle class who, “wanting to do the best for their children”, were willing to send them overseas to study, say Kang and Yoon.
Faced with mounting applications from Korean students, New York's Parsons became involved in the establishment of the Samsung Art and Design Institute, a university endowed by the electronics giant. In 2003 Samsung launched Derercuny, a highly sophisticated line of women's wear helmed by Korean designer Mina Lee and shown in Milan.
“What we said to the students was, ‘If you want to go to Parsons, you have to go through here first,'” says Gunn, adding that while the artistic ability of the applicants was high, their English wasn't proficient. “This programme helps prepare them enter at a more advanced level.”
So far the biggest success stories are those of two Korean American designers. Richard Chai, an alumnus of Marc Jacobs and TSE cashmere, has his own line of architectural, 1980s-inspired clothing, while Doo-Ri Chung's sophisticated use of draping and texture won her the top prize at the 2006 Council of Fashion Designers of America/Vogue Fashion Fund Awards, as well as the 2006 Swarovski Perry Ellis Award for emerging women's wear designer.
“They both have their own sense of style – that's what makes them so unique,” says Roopal Patel, women's fashion director of Bergdorf Goodman, the Fifth Avenue department store. “The one common thread is their meticulousness; they understand what it takes to become an expert in their craft. To them, it's not just designing a garment. They really think about everything from the aesthetic to the fabric to the type of stitch.”
Chung, a Parsons graduate who moved with her family from Korea to New Jersey when she was four years old, credits the upswell of Korean Americans studying fashion to an increasing acceptance of pursuing it as a career in the Korean community. Chung worked for Banana Republic and Geoffrey Beene before striking out on her own. “Only now is it the case that you don't have to be a doctor or a lawyer or an investment banker. There used to be this stigma; oh you want to go into fashion, are you going to be poor for the rest of your life?”
Korean American designer Grace Sun worked for a decade designing movie posters and helping to build an internet company before she gathered the nerve to pursue her true passion. After stints at retailers Rachel Roy and 3.1 Phillip Lim, Sun launched her line of highly wearable dresses and separates almost two years ago. “There are a lot of us drawn to the business,” says Sun, whose spring collection is based on the idea of tropics in the city and features a selection of silk dresses in colours like bougainvillea and misty blue. “I was born in Korea but I conduct business in China a lot and I've realised that Chinese culture is very much focused on food and culinary experiences. Koreans focus more on appearances and therefore fashion is a bigger part of the culture.”
Likewise, Sonia Yoon – one of the designers at Bensoni, a young line of hipster-cool smocked dresses and elegantly tiered tops sold in 130 stores across the US – sees her heritage as a big factor in her work. “Koreans have this inherent history in great craftsmanship and technical skills,” says Yoon, who was born in Korea and raised in London and New Jersey.
Of course, not every Korean or Korean American student enrolled in a prestigious design school is destined for New York's Bryant Park. Gunn recalls receiving a phone call from the parent of a Korean student at Parsons who had received a huge credit card bill from his daughter. “He said, ‘I wish I'd known in advance what the shopping budget was',” says Gunn. “There were all these charges from Louis Vuitton and Chanel.” The school had given the student's class an assignment to review a handful of stores but, instead of just writing a review, the student had gone on a shopping spree.
Gunn adds that for some Korean students Parsons is “like a finishing school. In a way, they are learning how to shop.” Still, there will be those with the ambition and talent to go the distance. After all, the fashion industry has always embraced foreign or ethnic talent. Two pillars of US fashion, Carolina Herrera and Oscar de la Renta, are from Venezuela and the Dominican Republic respectively. “This is what makes American fashion so brilliant,” says Bergdorf's Patel. “It's very representative of our country, actually.”
The global summit in the Alps
By John Gapper
Thursday, January 24, 2008
It is that time of year again. Some 2,500 business people, politicians, artists and newly dubbed “global leaders”, together with another 10,000 or so support staff, journalists and hangers-on, are set to make their way up a Swiss mountain.
Going to Davos sounds like going on retreat – but in practice it is hardly akin to visiting a spa. Participants have to rise early to catch breakfast discussions and then spend the day trudging around in the snow to their next appointments. At times, the retreat it most feels like is Napoleon's from Moscow.
Why does everyone bother?
That is a hard question to answer because the annual World Economic Forum, which has been going since 1971, is an improbable event. Partly a talking shop, partly a global policy forum, partly a venue for a bout of parties and dinners, partly an excuse to escape the office, Davos has become a fixture on the political and business calendar.
If it did not exist, nobody would feel an urgent need to invent it. Yet since it was invented by Klaus Schwab, himself an improbable figure, it has steadily gained in reputation and influence to the point where, a few years ago, it was notorious enough to be reviled by anti-globalisation protesters as a forum for the global elite.
Since then, aided by Mr Schwab's wily invitation to some of his critics to join the party and the emergence of China and India as clear beneficiaries of global trade, the controversy has died down. The WEF has carried on expanding into a year-round think-tank and organiser of regional economic summits.
On the face of it, there is no reason why Mr Schwab, an economist and former business professor, should be able to get figures such as Tony Blair, the former British prime minister, Al Gore, the former US vice-president and Nobel Prize-winner, and Bono, the Irish rock star and campaigner, all of whom will attend this year, to come to Davos.
Mr Schwab has less political star-power or financial influence than other figures who have formed their own Davos-like events. One is Bill Clinton, whose Clinton Global Initiative takes place each autumn in New York. Another is Michael Milken, the financier and philanthropist, who offers his Milken Institute conference in Los Angeles in the spring.
Yet Mr Schwab, who is 70 this year, remains the one to beat. He carries it off with a style that combines intellectual heft with some deft glad-handing and showmanship. He understands well the need to keep producing events that are newsworthy as well as worthy, and shuffles his invitation list to achieve that effect.
Even Mr Schwab does not work miracles, however. Attendance at Davos can be patchy: the heads of technology companies, including Sergey Brin, Larry Page and Eric Schmidt of Google, can be found there, for instance, but fewer leaders of big media groups attend. Pharmaceutical bosses appear but not those from some other industries.
There is also the “Davos curse” – the problem that a chief executive whose company is not doing well can appear to be gallivanting when he or she should be minding the shop. That was the fate of Carly Fiorina, former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, who lost her job shortly after a Davos appearance in 2005.
But there are enough business leaders who enjoy the exposure and the chance to talk about broader issues than their latest results. Bill Gates, who occupies the roles both of business entrepreneur and philanthropist at Davos, is this year giving a talk on “a new approach to capitalism in the 21st century”.
So Davos remains the place to be in January for a surprising number of busy people. They are not required to be there. Despite the fears of some outsiders and the aspirations of Mr Schwab to achieve results, not many decisions get made during the formal debates on economic and political topics.
Instead, there is a lot of talking and, more to the point, listening. “If you look at most big political gatherings, how often do they listen and discuss?” says Lee Howell, head of the agenda for this year's Davos meeting. “Mostly they are pronouncing. There is no shame in having people listening for once.”
Thus, the value of Davos is deceptively simple. It is that Mr Schwab has, over the years, persuaded enough politicians, business people and specialists in sciences and the arts to turn up together and share their knowledge and opinions with others. Once he got enough of them to come, the event gained its own momentum.
This means that, even if there were not a tightly organised set of formal discussions, a lot of people would find value in simply bumping into others on the Davos shuttle buses or in hotels and having spontaneous conversations. Everybody who comes to Davos has at least one serendipitous encounter while out and about.
Indeed, a lot of organisations – particularly the investment banks and consultancy firms that provide a lot of financial support for the WEF – use the event to talk to clients. Bankers can fix meetings not only with chief executives but also with government officials and those in charge of hedge funds and sovereign wealth funds.
Mr Schwab is also artful enough to make the agenda sufficiently vague and diverse that everyone can find something worth talking about. This year the overall theme is “the power of collaborative innovation”, which is typical of Davos in being so broadly phrased that it can be interpreted to mean almost anything.
Some of the 235 sessions on the formal agenda will examine climate change, water scarcity and US financial problems; others will address the growing importance of sovereign wealth funds, alternative energy and the proliferation of nuclear weapons. The WEF prefers the agenda to be somewhat freewheeling.
That can lead to some of the big set-piece discussions in the Congress centre being well-meaning and full of waffle. But there are usually enough smaller forums – particularly those held over dinner in the evening, or late at night in the conference hotels – that offer both access to interesting people and food for thought.
In fact, the discussions and talks that often attract most interest – particularly from spouses who are invited along – are the off-beat ones. Last year, a talk about depression by a panel of psychiatrists was packed out and some forum-goers took the chance to play chess against Anatoly Karpov, the former world champion. Others trooped into a blacked-out tent to participate in a “dialogue in the dark”.
This year, the tent discussions will be visible but people will have to communicate in sign language and the debate will be led by deaf and dumb guides. Meanwhile, Alice Waters, the well-known chef who runs Chez Panisse in San Francisco, will be preparing an organic meal from local ingredients that will be both eaten and discussed.
Thus, despite all the people thronging round town, the packed schedules and the formal dinners, Davos still retains an element of fun and spontaneity. In the end, that is probably what keeps the regulars devoted. Politicians and business leaders are hardly off-duty but the formality breaks down a little at high altitude.
This makes it a bit easier to break through the frenetic schedules of everyday working life and have a fruitful chat with people who are usually guarded closely by personal assistants, PRs and diary schedulers. For that alone, it is worth the annual hassle of wending one's way up a mountain in Switzerland.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
It is that time of year again. Some 2,500 business people, politicians, artists and newly dubbed “global leaders”, together with another 10,000 or so support staff, journalists and hangers-on, are set to make their way up a Swiss mountain.
Going to Davos sounds like going on retreat – but in practice it is hardly akin to visiting a spa. Participants have to rise early to catch breakfast discussions and then spend the day trudging around in the snow to their next appointments. At times, the retreat it most feels like is Napoleon's from Moscow.
Why does everyone bother?
That is a hard question to answer because the annual World Economic Forum, which has been going since 1971, is an improbable event. Partly a talking shop, partly a global policy forum, partly a venue for a bout of parties and dinners, partly an excuse to escape the office, Davos has become a fixture on the political and business calendar.
If it did not exist, nobody would feel an urgent need to invent it. Yet since it was invented by Klaus Schwab, himself an improbable figure, it has steadily gained in reputation and influence to the point where, a few years ago, it was notorious enough to be reviled by anti-globalisation protesters as a forum for the global elite.
Since then, aided by Mr Schwab's wily invitation to some of his critics to join the party and the emergence of China and India as clear beneficiaries of global trade, the controversy has died down. The WEF has carried on expanding into a year-round think-tank and organiser of regional economic summits.
On the face of it, there is no reason why Mr Schwab, an economist and former business professor, should be able to get figures such as Tony Blair, the former British prime minister, Al Gore, the former US vice-president and Nobel Prize-winner, and Bono, the Irish rock star and campaigner, all of whom will attend this year, to come to Davos.
Mr Schwab has less political star-power or financial influence than other figures who have formed their own Davos-like events. One is Bill Clinton, whose Clinton Global Initiative takes place each autumn in New York. Another is Michael Milken, the financier and philanthropist, who offers his Milken Institute conference in Los Angeles in the spring.
Yet Mr Schwab, who is 70 this year, remains the one to beat. He carries it off with a style that combines intellectual heft with some deft glad-handing and showmanship. He understands well the need to keep producing events that are newsworthy as well as worthy, and shuffles his invitation list to achieve that effect.
Even Mr Schwab does not work miracles, however. Attendance at Davos can be patchy: the heads of technology companies, including Sergey Brin, Larry Page and Eric Schmidt of Google, can be found there, for instance, but fewer leaders of big media groups attend. Pharmaceutical bosses appear but not those from some other industries.
There is also the “Davos curse” – the problem that a chief executive whose company is not doing well can appear to be gallivanting when he or she should be minding the shop. That was the fate of Carly Fiorina, former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, who lost her job shortly after a Davos appearance in 2005.
But there are enough business leaders who enjoy the exposure and the chance to talk about broader issues than their latest results. Bill Gates, who occupies the roles both of business entrepreneur and philanthropist at Davos, is this year giving a talk on “a new approach to capitalism in the 21st century”.
So Davos remains the place to be in January for a surprising number of busy people. They are not required to be there. Despite the fears of some outsiders and the aspirations of Mr Schwab to achieve results, not many decisions get made during the formal debates on economic and political topics.
Instead, there is a lot of talking and, more to the point, listening. “If you look at most big political gatherings, how often do they listen and discuss?” says Lee Howell, head of the agenda for this year's Davos meeting. “Mostly they are pronouncing. There is no shame in having people listening for once.”
Thus, the value of Davos is deceptively simple. It is that Mr Schwab has, over the years, persuaded enough politicians, business people and specialists in sciences and the arts to turn up together and share their knowledge and opinions with others. Once he got enough of them to come, the event gained its own momentum.
This means that, even if there were not a tightly organised set of formal discussions, a lot of people would find value in simply bumping into others on the Davos shuttle buses or in hotels and having spontaneous conversations. Everybody who comes to Davos has at least one serendipitous encounter while out and about.
Indeed, a lot of organisations – particularly the investment banks and consultancy firms that provide a lot of financial support for the WEF – use the event to talk to clients. Bankers can fix meetings not only with chief executives but also with government officials and those in charge of hedge funds and sovereign wealth funds.
Mr Schwab is also artful enough to make the agenda sufficiently vague and diverse that everyone can find something worth talking about. This year the overall theme is “the power of collaborative innovation”, which is typical of Davos in being so broadly phrased that it can be interpreted to mean almost anything.
Some of the 235 sessions on the formal agenda will examine climate change, water scarcity and US financial problems; others will address the growing importance of sovereign wealth funds, alternative energy and the proliferation of nuclear weapons. The WEF prefers the agenda to be somewhat freewheeling.
That can lead to some of the big set-piece discussions in the Congress centre being well-meaning and full of waffle. But there are usually enough smaller forums – particularly those held over dinner in the evening, or late at night in the conference hotels – that offer both access to interesting people and food for thought.
In fact, the discussions and talks that often attract most interest – particularly from spouses who are invited along – are the off-beat ones. Last year, a talk about depression by a panel of psychiatrists was packed out and some forum-goers took the chance to play chess against Anatoly Karpov, the former world champion. Others trooped into a blacked-out tent to participate in a “dialogue in the dark”.
This year, the tent discussions will be visible but people will have to communicate in sign language and the debate will be led by deaf and dumb guides. Meanwhile, Alice Waters, the well-known chef who runs Chez Panisse in San Francisco, will be preparing an organic meal from local ingredients that will be both eaten and discussed.
Thus, despite all the people thronging round town, the packed schedules and the formal dinners, Davos still retains an element of fun and spontaneity. In the end, that is probably what keeps the regulars devoted. Politicians and business leaders are hardly off-duty but the formality breaks down a little at high altitude.
This makes it a bit easier to break through the frenetic schedules of everyday working life and have a fruitful chat with people who are usually guarded closely by personal assistants, PRs and diary schedulers. For that alone, it is worth the annual hassle of wending one's way up a mountain in Switzerland.
星巴克式的浪漫
作者：英国《金融时报》乔纳森•伯查尔(Jonathan Birchall)、珍妮•威金斯(Jenny Wiggins)
2008年1月24日 星期四
霍华德•舒尔茨(Howard Schultz)戏称，在全球最大的咖啡零售店星巴克(Starbucks)工作26年之后，现在连自己的血液都变成咖啡色的了。他每天要喝下五杯咖啡，而四分之三满的双份无脂拿铁(Latte)是他的最爱。
舒尔茨的咖啡之恋源于1981年：那时，他住在纽约，销售瑞典生产的家用塑料器皿。当时他注意到，西雅图一家只卖全豆咖啡的小型零售商购置了数量超常的塑料咖啡过滤器。于是，舒尔茨进行了一番调查，从此他迷上了咖啡，也迷上了这家公司。他完全忘了妈妈曾给予的忠告：一定要保住手头这份薪水不错的工作。
13年的董事长职务让他一度脱离了星巴克的日常管理，而现在，他又重新回到了以前担任过的首席执行官的位置。目前，他还有一项充满激情的使命：重新找回咖啡制作流程中被自己称为“浪漫与现场感”的元素。他说，在这家咖啡零售商快速全球扩张的过程中，这种传统已经遭到了破坏。
星巴克的财务状况很健康。2007年，它的收入达到了94亿美元，收益增长率达到两位数，并有2500多家新店开张。
但在2007年，它的股价却几乎下滑了一半，华尔街担心它在美国继续扩张的空间已经所剩无几。去年11月，它在公告中声称，其美国店铺的客流量首次出现下滑。这让人们愈发担心，更为广泛的经济低迷将会降低大家对cinnamon dolce星冰乐（注：一种肉桂口味的饮品）的需求。
10年前，星巴克在美国大约有1000家铺面，到今天，已经扩张到1万多家店，在其它42个国家还有5000多家店面。舒尔茨辩称，对于这样一个连锁经营商，有一些基本问题需要解决。
“闲话星巴克”(Starbucks Gossip)是一个面向星巴克公司、雇员以及其顾客的论坛。围绕这些议题，论坛上出现了一些帖子。那些咖啡纯正派的人士至少在某些方面与舒尔茨观点一致：对于遍及全美咖啡店的汽车售卖窗口，还有随咖啡配售的高价冻酥饼以及其它食物，这些人表示非常不满。
他们怀念那些老式的意大利产La Marzocco浓缩咖啡机。这种带压杆装置的机器，现在已被自动的Verismo 801型所代替。新机器只要一摁按钮，热咖啡就会源源流出。
去年2月，舒尔茨对公司内部的异议声音作出了回应。坊间广泛流传着一份舒尔茨致星巴克其他高管的备忘录。他在这份备忘录中叹息道，“浪漫与现场感”已不复存在。801型咖啡机架得这么高，顾客自然无法看到咖啡是怎样制作出来的。新型的锁味袋(FlavorLock)为了有效保鲜而将咖啡密封在袋内，这意味着，店铺中不复飘浮着咖啡的芳香，而这本应是咖啡店的特殊魅力所在。
舒尔茨在备忘录中写道：“我不确定今天的人们是否知道，我们的咖啡是烘制出来的。今天，你在我们店里肯定了解不到这一点。”
细说从头，舒尔茨对于浪漫咖啡的热情源自1983年的一次意大利发现之旅。那次，他发现了一种名叫拿铁的咖啡，而美国人当时对拿铁还一无所知。那些似乎能叫得上每位顾客姓名的商家以独特的感觉和风格配售这种饮料。舒尔茨当时就看到了引进这种咖啡馆的潜力。
在他1997年出版的自传《将心注入》当中，舒尔茨将自己描述成一位成长于布鲁克林卡纳西(Canarsie)公共住宅区、强烈渴望成功的男孩子。他后来成为了学校橄榄球队的四分卫，获得了北密歇根大学(Northern Michigan University)的奖学金，并开始从事销售职业，最后做起了瑞典产咖啡过滤机的销售工作。他在书中谈到了bashert，这是一个意第绪语的词汇，意指一个人命中的定数。
三位具有文学头脑的创始人给公司起了“星巴克”这个名字——来自赫曼•麦尔维尔小说《白鲸》(Moby-Dick)中大副的名字。舒尔茨在1982年加入该公司，担任零售部经理，但他三年后离职成立了另一家浓咖啡连锁店。1987年，他以380万美元收购了星巴克。该公司在1994年上市。
同样的激情造就了极为忠诚的雇员。一位在上世纪90年代星巴克快速增长的岁月里曾在星巴克工作过的前任高管表示：“他有那种与手下共瞻前景的能力，他的方式非常个性化。”
塔克商学院(Tuck School of Business)的教授保尔•阿根提(Paul Argenti)曾研究过星巴克与公平贸易积极分子之间时而发生的麻烦遭遇。他认为：“这个公司里发生的所有事情，没有一件不是以某种方式受他的影响。”
在他担任首席执行官的消息发布之前，舒尔茨在接受英国《金融时报》采访时声称：“我对星巴克非常私人化。”当他还是个孩子时，他记得亲眼看到担任卡车送货司机的父亲由于膝盖骨折而被开除工作——没有医疗保险，没有工伤补助。这种经历一直支持着星巴克的承诺：公司要确保兼职员工能享有公司的医疗保险。这也让舒尔茨成为美国医疗保险改革最为积极的倡导者。
近来，随着麦当劳(McDonald's)和邓肯甜甜圈(Dunkin' Donuts)等快餐连锁店也逐步加大了本店特制咖啡的推广，舒尔茨担心星巴克在更为激烈的竞争中不能形成有力的防御。
舒尔茨决定放慢星巴克在美国的增长速度，并专注于顾客体验的调整，这一决定类似于麦当劳2003年以来所施行的战略——这家连锁餐馆决定“不只盯着油炸食品”，围绕着“我就喜欢”(I'm lovin' it)的口号，强调食品的质量，在美国发动起再树品牌的战略。
在啜饮咖啡之余，55岁的舒尔茨还喜欢阅读和骑自行车。他有两个孩子，一男一女，现在他们都已经进入大学了（“一次大调整”）。在迁入西雅图之后，他的妻子雪莉(Sheri)就将自已的设计师职业放在了一边。她经常陪舒尔茨外出旅行。舒尔茨还常常去看望朋友。“过去30年的朋友关系，就算没有全部保留下来，大多数朋友关系都还在。”
华尔街对他表示出了信任，当他复出的消息宣布后，星巴克的股票当天上涨了大约10%。在“闲话星巴克”论坛上，店员“维姬•维罗纳”(Vicky Verona)对于这种变化表示欢迎，希望能因此回归过去那种对咖啡的关注上。
“没错，我已经变成了一只专门摁咖啡机按纽的猴子了。不行，这样我一点也不开心。是的，我为制作每一份饮料所付出的细致努力而自豪。是的，用La Marzoccos会有点儿慢，但我又可以为自己制作好的产品而感到自豪了。”
译者/李晖
2008年1月24日 星期四
霍华德•舒尔茨(Howard Schultz)戏称，在全球最大的咖啡零售店星巴克(Starbucks)工作26年之后，现在连自己的血液都变成咖啡色的了。他每天要喝下五杯咖啡，而四分之三满的双份无脂拿铁(Latte)是他的最爱。
舒尔茨的咖啡之恋源于1981年：那时，他住在纽约，销售瑞典生产的家用塑料器皿。当时他注意到，西雅图一家只卖全豆咖啡的小型零售商购置了数量超常的塑料咖啡过滤器。于是，舒尔茨进行了一番调查，从此他迷上了咖啡，也迷上了这家公司。他完全忘了妈妈曾给予的忠告：一定要保住手头这份薪水不错的工作。
13年的董事长职务让他一度脱离了星巴克的日常管理，而现在，他又重新回到了以前担任过的首席执行官的位置。目前，他还有一项充满激情的使命：重新找回咖啡制作流程中被自己称为“浪漫与现场感”的元素。他说，在这家咖啡零售商快速全球扩张的过程中，这种传统已经遭到了破坏。
星巴克的财务状况很健康。2007年，它的收入达到了94亿美元，收益增长率达到两位数，并有2500多家新店开张。
但在2007年，它的股价却几乎下滑了一半，华尔街担心它在美国继续扩张的空间已经所剩无几。去年11月，它在公告中声称，其美国店铺的客流量首次出现下滑。这让人们愈发担心，更为广泛的经济低迷将会降低大家对cinnamon dolce星冰乐（注：一种肉桂口味的饮品）的需求。
10年前，星巴克在美国大约有1000家铺面，到今天，已经扩张到1万多家店，在其它42个国家还有5000多家店面。舒尔茨辩称，对于这样一个连锁经营商，有一些基本问题需要解决。
“闲话星巴克”(Starbucks Gossip)是一个面向星巴克公司、雇员以及其顾客的论坛。围绕这些议题，论坛上出现了一些帖子。那些咖啡纯正派的人士至少在某些方面与舒尔茨观点一致：对于遍及全美咖啡店的汽车售卖窗口，还有随咖啡配售的高价冻酥饼以及其它食物，这些人表示非常不满。
他们怀念那些老式的意大利产La Marzocco浓缩咖啡机。这种带压杆装置的机器，现在已被自动的Verismo 801型所代替。新机器只要一摁按钮，热咖啡就会源源流出。
去年2月，舒尔茨对公司内部的异议声音作出了回应。坊间广泛流传着一份舒尔茨致星巴克其他高管的备忘录。他在这份备忘录中叹息道，“浪漫与现场感”已不复存在。801型咖啡机架得这么高，顾客自然无法看到咖啡是怎样制作出来的。新型的锁味袋(FlavorLock)为了有效保鲜而将咖啡密封在袋内，这意味着，店铺中不复飘浮着咖啡的芳香，而这本应是咖啡店的特殊魅力所在。
舒尔茨在备忘录中写道：“我不确定今天的人们是否知道，我们的咖啡是烘制出来的。今天，你在我们店里肯定了解不到这一点。”
细说从头，舒尔茨对于浪漫咖啡的热情源自1983年的一次意大利发现之旅。那次，他发现了一种名叫拿铁的咖啡，而美国人当时对拿铁还一无所知。那些似乎能叫得上每位顾客姓名的商家以独特的感觉和风格配售这种饮料。舒尔茨当时就看到了引进这种咖啡馆的潜力。
在他1997年出版的自传《将心注入》当中，舒尔茨将自己描述成一位成长于布鲁克林卡纳西(Canarsie)公共住宅区、强烈渴望成功的男孩子。他后来成为了学校橄榄球队的四分卫，获得了北密歇根大学(Northern Michigan University)的奖学金，并开始从事销售职业，最后做起了瑞典产咖啡过滤机的销售工作。他在书中谈到了bashert，这是一个意第绪语的词汇，意指一个人命中的定数。
三位具有文学头脑的创始人给公司起了“星巴克”这个名字——来自赫曼•麦尔维尔小说《白鲸》(Moby-Dick)中大副的名字。舒尔茨在1982年加入该公司，担任零售部经理，但他三年后离职成立了另一家浓咖啡连锁店。1987年，他以380万美元收购了星巴克。该公司在1994年上市。
同样的激情造就了极为忠诚的雇员。一位在上世纪90年代星巴克快速增长的岁月里曾在星巴克工作过的前任高管表示：“他有那种与手下共瞻前景的能力，他的方式非常个性化。”
塔克商学院(Tuck School of Business)的教授保尔•阿根提(Paul Argenti)曾研究过星巴克与公平贸易积极分子之间时而发生的麻烦遭遇。他认为：“这个公司里发生的所有事情，没有一件不是以某种方式受他的影响。”
在他担任首席执行官的消息发布之前，舒尔茨在接受英国《金融时报》采访时声称：“我对星巴克非常私人化。”当他还是个孩子时，他记得亲眼看到担任卡车送货司机的父亲由于膝盖骨折而被开除工作——没有医疗保险，没有工伤补助。这种经历一直支持着星巴克的承诺：公司要确保兼职员工能享有公司的医疗保险。这也让舒尔茨成为美国医疗保险改革最为积极的倡导者。
近来，随着麦当劳(McDonald's)和邓肯甜甜圈(Dunkin' Donuts)等快餐连锁店也逐步加大了本店特制咖啡的推广，舒尔茨担心星巴克在更为激烈的竞争中不能形成有力的防御。
舒尔茨决定放慢星巴克在美国的增长速度，并专注于顾客体验的调整，这一决定类似于麦当劳2003年以来所施行的战略——这家连锁餐馆决定“不只盯着油炸食品”，围绕着“我就喜欢”(I'm lovin' it)的口号，强调食品的质量，在美国发动起再树品牌的战略。
在啜饮咖啡之余，55岁的舒尔茨还喜欢阅读和骑自行车。他有两个孩子，一男一女，现在他们都已经进入大学了（“一次大调整”）。在迁入西雅图之后，他的妻子雪莉(Sheri)就将自已的设计师职业放在了一边。她经常陪舒尔茨外出旅行。舒尔茨还常常去看望朋友。“过去30年的朋友关系，就算没有全部保留下来，大多数朋友关系都还在。”
华尔街对他表示出了信任，当他复出的消息宣布后，星巴克的股票当天上涨了大约10%。在“闲话星巴克”论坛上，店员“维姬•维罗纳”(Vicky Verona)对于这种变化表示欢迎，希望能因此回归过去那种对咖啡的关注上。
“没错，我已经变成了一只专门摁咖啡机按纽的猴子了。不行，这样我一点也不开心。是的，我为制作每一份饮料所付出的细致努力而自豪。是的，用La Marzoccos会有点儿慢，但我又可以为自己制作好的产品而感到自豪了。”
译者/李晖
大学毕业十年后
英国《金融时报》中文网专栏作家谁谁谁
2008年1月23日 星期三
在大学毕业十周年聚会上，我的同学这样总结：十周年聚会时，感慨最多的是婚恋变化，关键词是谁“结了”或“离了”；二十周年聚会时，大概要感慨事业变化，关键词变成谁“上市了”或“进去了”；三十周年聚会时，就轮到感慨身体的变化了，谁“病了”甚至“走了”。
以十年为时间单位来看问题，人生不过就是这点事儿，结结离离，升升降降，输输赢赢，赚赚赔赔，以百年为单位来看问题，就只剩下生与死两件事了，让人觉得眼前的营营役役很没意思。当然，这种怅然若失的“没意思”感很快会过去，尤其是当你发现自己打中了新股或者盯了很久的一个单子终于签掉的时候，甚至，把人挤得变形的地铁里终于空出来的一个座位也会让“很没意思”顿时变成“真有意思”。
尽管瞬息万变的眼前利益纠缠住人的大部分精力，偶尔抽空以“十年”为时间单位俯瞰一下自己的发展，还是大有裨益的。
可以不必钻牛角尖。比如工作上严重受挫，同时又获悉老公有了外遇，事业爱情双重打击，但是考虑到两年后很可能又会安顿于一个新的爱人和新的工作，就不必采取极端手段暴闯新闻发布会现场，给世界留下一个此人关键时候容易情绪失控的不良印象。有位朋友七年前在工作中犯了重大失误，不仅公司倒毙，自己也被迫背井离乡，远走他国。但他的故事并没有就此划上句号。如今他带着海外镀金学历和工作经历回来，起点比原来高多了。所谓天无绝人之路，尤其是在现在这样见怪不怪的精彩世界。
可以发现坚持的重要性。当年一起从事文字创作的文艺青年们早就树倒猢狲散，做生意的做生意，被大公司招安的招安了，剩下来的一小撮在熬过几年赤贫的日子后，已有金牌编剧出现，一年也能轻松挣个几十万，也有金牌自由撰稿人，不用上班，靠着专栏一个月挣得比中层经理还多，而且时间够自由，外加成了名人，还是文化名人。这会让那些过早退出队伍，如今过着衣食无忧却没什么意思的日子的人有种早知今日，悔不当初的醋意。
可以发现挫折总是暂时的。最近接到一封读者的苦恼来信，因为给领导提了一个冒昧的意见，而被领导蓄意报复，去年年终破天荒头一遭没被评上“先进个人”，为十年之所未有。考虑到自己年届三十五，从这个服务了十多年的机构跳槽好像又嫌晚了……说不定，再过一两年，这位心胸狭隘的领导被调走了？或者，因为另一个事情，领导对刺头下属的态度改变了？这个在“利”字当头的职场里，没有什么恩怨能够跟利益过不去。保有并增加自己的“利用价值”，让这种苦恼成为庸人自扰吧。
“十年期”的视角可以开阔人的视野，甚至可以让脸上的皱纹也变得舒缓。这种效果也许目前会被忽视，但在二十年后的同学聚会中，很可能成为成功与否最重要的指标。那时，“你看上去比我年轻十岁”将成为对一个人最高级别的赞美。
（作者电子邮箱：from9to5@163.com）
2008年1月23日 星期三
在大学毕业十周年聚会上，我的同学这样总结：十周年聚会时，感慨最多的是婚恋变化，关键词是谁“结了”或“离了”；二十周年聚会时，大概要感慨事业变化，关键词变成谁“上市了”或“进去了”；三十周年聚会时，就轮到感慨身体的变化了，谁“病了”甚至“走了”。
以十年为时间单位来看问题，人生不过就是这点事儿，结结离离，升升降降，输输赢赢，赚赚赔赔，以百年为单位来看问题，就只剩下生与死两件事了，让人觉得眼前的营营役役很没意思。当然，这种怅然若失的“没意思”感很快会过去，尤其是当你发现自己打中了新股或者盯了很久的一个单子终于签掉的时候，甚至，把人挤得变形的地铁里终于空出来的一个座位也会让“很没意思”顿时变成“真有意思”。
尽管瞬息万变的眼前利益纠缠住人的大部分精力，偶尔抽空以“十年”为时间单位俯瞰一下自己的发展，还是大有裨益的。
可以不必钻牛角尖。比如工作上严重受挫，同时又获悉老公有了外遇，事业爱情双重打击，但是考虑到两年后很可能又会安顿于一个新的爱人和新的工作，就不必采取极端手段暴闯新闻发布会现场，给世界留下一个此人关键时候容易情绪失控的不良印象。有位朋友七年前在工作中犯了重大失误，不仅公司倒毙，自己也被迫背井离乡，远走他国。但他的故事并没有就此划上句号。如今他带着海外镀金学历和工作经历回来，起点比原来高多了。所谓天无绝人之路，尤其是在现在这样见怪不怪的精彩世界。
可以发现坚持的重要性。当年一起从事文字创作的文艺青年们早就树倒猢狲散，做生意的做生意，被大公司招安的招安了，剩下来的一小撮在熬过几年赤贫的日子后，已有金牌编剧出现，一年也能轻松挣个几十万，也有金牌自由撰稿人，不用上班，靠着专栏一个月挣得比中层经理还多，而且时间够自由，外加成了名人，还是文化名人。这会让那些过早退出队伍，如今过着衣食无忧却没什么意思的日子的人有种早知今日，悔不当初的醋意。
可以发现挫折总是暂时的。最近接到一封读者的苦恼来信，因为给领导提了一个冒昧的意见，而被领导蓄意报复，去年年终破天荒头一遭没被评上“先进个人”，为十年之所未有。考虑到自己年届三十五，从这个服务了十多年的机构跳槽好像又嫌晚了……说不定，再过一两年，这位心胸狭隘的领导被调走了？或者，因为另一个事情，领导对刺头下属的态度改变了？这个在“利”字当头的职场里，没有什么恩怨能够跟利益过不去。保有并增加自己的“利用价值”，让这种苦恼成为庸人自扰吧。
“十年期”的视角可以开阔人的视野，甚至可以让脸上的皱纹也变得舒缓。这种效果也许目前会被忽视，但在二十年后的同学聚会中，很可能成为成功与否最重要的指标。那时，“你看上去比我年轻十岁”将成为对一个人最高级别的赞美。
（作者电子邮箱：from9to5@163.com）
WHY REGULATORS SHOULD INTERVENE IN BANKERS' PAY
By Martin Wolf
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
You really don't like bankers, do you?” The question, asked by a former banker I met last week, set me back. “Not at all,” I replied. “Some of my best friends are bankers.” While true, it was not the whole truth. I may like many bankers, but I rather dislike banks. I recognise their necessity, but fear their irresponsibility. Worse, they are irresponsible partly because they know they are necessary.
My attitude to the banking industry is not a prejudice. It is a “postjudice”. My first experience with out-of-control banking was when I watched the irresponsible lending that led to the devastating developing-country debt crises of the 1980s.
The world has witnessed well over 100 significant banking crises over the past three decades. The authorities have even had to rescue important parts of the US financial system – on most counts, the world's most sophisticated – four times during the same period: from the developing country debt and “savings and loan” crises of the 1980s to the commercial property crisis of the early 1990s and now the subprime and securitised-credit crisis of 2007-08.
No industry has a comparable talent for privatising gains and socialising losses. Participants in no other industry get as self-righteously angry when public officials – particularly, central bankers – fail to come at once to their rescue when they get into (well-deserved) trouble.
Yet they are right to expect rescue. They know that as long as they make the same mistakes together – as “sound bankers” do – the official sector must ride to the rescue. Bankers are able to take the economy and so the voting public hostage. Governments have no choice but to respond.
Nor is it all that difficult to understand the incentives at work. I gave the broad answer in my column, “Why banking is an accident waiting to happen” (Financial Times, November 27 2007).
It is the nature of limited liability businesses to create conflicts of interest – between management and shareholders, between management and other employees, between the business and customers and between the business and regulators. Yet the conflicts of interest created by large financial institutions are far harder to manage than in any other industry.
That is so for three fundamental reasons: first, these are virtually the only businesses able to devastate entire economies; second, in no other industry is uncertainty so pervasive; and, finally, in no other industry is it as hard for outsiders to judge the quality of decision-making, at least in the short run. This industry is, in consequence, exceptional in the extent of both regulation and subsidisation. Yet this combination can hardly be deemed a success. The present crisis in the world's most sophisticated financial system demonstrates that.
I now fear that the combination of the fragility of the financial system with the huge rewards it generates for insiders will destroy something even more important – the political legitimacy of the market economy itself – across the globe. So it is time to start thinking radical thoughts about how to fix the problems.
Up to now the main official effort has been to combine support with regulation: capital ratios, risk-management systems and so forth. I myself argued for higher capital requirements. Yet there are obvious difficulties with all these efforts: it is child's play for brilliant and motivated insiders to game such regulation for their benefit.
So what are the alternatives? Many market liberals would prefer to leave the financial sector to the rigours of the free market. Alas, the evidence of history is clear: we, the public, are unable to live with the consequences.
An alternative suggestion is “narrow banking” combined with an unregulated (and unprotected) financial system. Narrow banks would invest in government securities, run the payment system and offer safe deposits to the public. The drawback of this ostensibly attractive idea is obvious: what is unregulated is likely to turn out to be dangerous, whereupon governments would be dragged back into the mess.
No, the only way to deal with this challenge is to address the incentives head on and, as Raghuram Rajan, former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, argued in a brilliant article last week (“Bankers' pay is deeply flawed”, FT, January 9 2008), the central conflict is between the employees (above all, management) and everybody else. By paying huge bonuses on the basis of short-term performance in a system in which negative bonuses are impossible, banks create gigantic incentives to disguise risk-taking as value-creation.
We would be better off with Jupiter's 12-year “year”, since it takes about that long to know how profitable strategies have been. The point is that a year is an astronomical, not an economic, phenomenon (as it once was, when harvests were decisive). So we must ensure that a substantial part of pay is better aligned to the realities of the business: that is, is made in restricted stock redeemable over a run of years (ideally, as many as 10).
Yet individual institutions cannot change their systems of remuneration on their own, without losing talented staff to the competition. So regulators may have to step in. The idea of such official intervention is horrible, but the alternative of endlessly repeated crises is even worse.
The big points here are, first, we cannot pretend that the way the financial system behaves is not a matter of public interest – just look at what is happening in the US and UK today; and, second, if the problem is to be fixed, incentives for decision-makers have to be better aligned with the outcomes.
The further question is how far that regulatory net should stretch. I believe it should cover all systemically important financial institutions. Drawing the line
will not be simple, but that is a problem with all regulation. It is
not insoluble. The question the authorities need to ask themselves is simple: if a specific institution fell into substantial difficulty would they have to intervene?
If the conflict of interest that dominates all others is between employees and everybody else, then it must be fixed. All bonuses and a portion of salary for top managers should be paid in restricted stock, redeemable in instalments over, say, 10 years or, if regulators are feeling generous, five. I understand that the bankers will not like this. Yet one thing is surely now quite clear: just as war is too important to be left to generals, banking is too important to be left to bankers, however much one may like them.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
You really don't like bankers, do you?” The question, asked by a former banker I met last week, set me back. “Not at all,” I replied. “Some of my best friends are bankers.” While true, it was not the whole truth. I may like many bankers, but I rather dislike banks. I recognise their necessity, but fear their irresponsibility. Worse, they are irresponsible partly because they know they are necessary.
My attitude to the banking industry is not a prejudice. It is a “postjudice”. My first experience with out-of-control banking was when I watched the irresponsible lending that led to the devastating developing-country debt crises of the 1980s.
The world has witnessed well over 100 significant banking crises over the past three decades. The authorities have even had to rescue important parts of the US financial system – on most counts, the world's most sophisticated – four times during the same period: from the developing country debt and “savings and loan” crises of the 1980s to the commercial property crisis of the early 1990s and now the subprime and securitised-credit crisis of 2007-08.
No industry has a comparable talent for privatising gains and socialising losses. Participants in no other industry get as self-righteously angry when public officials – particularly, central bankers – fail to come at once to their rescue when they get into (well-deserved) trouble.
Yet they are right to expect rescue. They know that as long as they make the same mistakes together – as “sound bankers” do – the official sector must ride to the rescue. Bankers are able to take the economy and so the voting public hostage. Governments have no choice but to respond.
Nor is it all that difficult to understand the incentives at work. I gave the broad answer in my column, “Why banking is an accident waiting to happen” (Financial Times, November 27 2007).
It is the nature of limited liability businesses to create conflicts of interest – between management and shareholders, between management and other employees, between the business and customers and between the business and regulators. Yet the conflicts of interest created by large financial institutions are far harder to manage than in any other industry.
That is so for three fundamental reasons: first, these are virtually the only businesses able to devastate entire economies; second, in no other industry is uncertainty so pervasive; and, finally, in no other industry is it as hard for outsiders to judge the quality of decision-making, at least in the short run. This industry is, in consequence, exceptional in the extent of both regulation and subsidisation. Yet this combination can hardly be deemed a success. The present crisis in the world's most sophisticated financial system demonstrates that.
I now fear that the combination of the fragility of the financial system with the huge rewards it generates for insiders will destroy something even more important – the political legitimacy of the market economy itself – across the globe. So it is time to start thinking radical thoughts about how to fix the problems.
Up to now the main official effort has been to combine support with regulation: capital ratios, risk-management systems and so forth. I myself argued for higher capital requirements. Yet there are obvious difficulties with all these efforts: it is child's play for brilliant and motivated insiders to game such regulation for their benefit.
So what are the alternatives? Many market liberals would prefer to leave the financial sector to the rigours of the free market. Alas, the evidence of history is clear: we, the public, are unable to live with the consequences.
An alternative suggestion is “narrow banking” combined with an unregulated (and unprotected) financial system. Narrow banks would invest in government securities, run the payment system and offer safe deposits to the public. The drawback of this ostensibly attractive idea is obvious: what is unregulated is likely to turn out to be dangerous, whereupon governments would be dragged back into the mess.
No, the only way to deal with this challenge is to address the incentives head on and, as Raghuram Rajan, former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, argued in a brilliant article last week (“Bankers' pay is deeply flawed”, FT, January 9 2008), the central conflict is between the employees (above all, management) and everybody else. By paying huge bonuses on the basis of short-term performance in a system in which negative bonuses are impossible, banks create gigantic incentives to disguise risk-taking as value-creation.
We would be better off with Jupiter's 12-year “year”, since it takes about that long to know how profitable strategies have been. The point is that a year is an astronomical, not an economic, phenomenon (as it once was, when harvests were decisive). So we must ensure that a substantial part of pay is better aligned to the realities of the business: that is, is made in restricted stock redeemable over a run of years (ideally, as many as 10).
Yet individual institutions cannot change their systems of remuneration on their own, without losing talented staff to the competition. So regulators may have to step in. The idea of such official intervention is horrible, but the alternative of endlessly repeated crises is even worse.
The big points here are, first, we cannot pretend that the way the financial system behaves is not a matter of public interest – just look at what is happening in the US and UK today; and, second, if the problem is to be fixed, incentives for decision-makers have to be better aligned with the outcomes.
The further question is how far that regulatory net should stretch. I believe it should cover all systemically important financial institutions. Drawing the line
will not be simple, but that is a problem with all regulation. It is
not insoluble. The question the authorities need to ask themselves is simple: if a specific institution fell into substantial difficulty would they have to intervene?
If the conflict of interest that dominates all others is between employees and everybody else, then it must be fixed. All bonuses and a portion of salary for top managers should be paid in restricted stock, redeemable in instalments over, say, 10 years or, if regulators are feeling generous, five. I understand that the bankers will not like this. Yet one thing is surely now quite clear: just as war is too important to be left to generals, banking is too important to be left to bankers, however much one may like them.
首尔奢华两日游
英国《金融时报》中文网实习生姜蓓蓓
2008年1月22日 星期二
在韩国首尔这个灯火通明、极富个性的大都市，必须足够精明才能应付得了时常陷入全面堵塞的市内交通。不过你有一个令人兴奋的选择——滑雪电缆车，缆车在空中起伏，掠过湖泊、森林、山丘和现代艺术区。对于一个奢侈、漫长、充满惊喜的周末，滑雪缆车是个完美的开始。
“三星共和国”
初到首尔，出租车司机会对你说“欢迎来到三星（Samsung）共和国”。这个韩国电子巨头创造着整个国家国民生产总值的16%，其产品和标识无处不在。但其实真正遍布整个城市的是新技术。比如实时连接电视节目的手机技术，可听可视，甚至胜过了BlackBurry和iPod。
同时，新与旧在首尔又是平衡的。仁寺洞（Insadong）被称为“传统文化的街道”，要寻找韩国文化代表性商品，如韩服、陶瓷、手工艺品，仁寺洞不可错过。这里还聚集着韩国大半的艺术馆，展示精美的古董和绣花地毯以及充满创意的畅销展品。仁寺艺术中心就是这些艺术馆的聚集地之一。主街两侧的小巷内还藏着众多传统茶馆和手工艺商店。逛累了不妨在茶馆里小憩一下，喝上一杯五味子茶。在一家叫“老茶馆”的店里，你还可以边喝茶边看着各种颜色的鸟儿在头顶轻拍翅膀。
全亚洲最好的烧烤店
结束一天的游览，有一个看日落最好的地方——钟路大厦（Jongno）顶层的Top Cloud Bar&Grill餐厅。大厦从22层至顶层（33层）间是空阁，仅用3根钢柱支撑，因此置身顶层有如置身云端。在这里，你可以听着每晚7点30分响起的现场演奏，品尝五星级饭店水准的西式自助餐和鸡尾酒，看着太阳缓缓沉入闪烁着巨大广告牌的大厦。欣赏夜景则要提前预订。
要找回些平衡感，可以回到地面上来，沿着静静流淌在摩天大楼之间的Cheonggye河岸往回走。此时交通高峰期已过，夫妇在水边小憩或交谈，孩子沿着石头台阶蹦跳玩耍。
或者你可以去全亚洲最好的烧烤店Byek Je Gal用晚餐，这里是韩国富裕的最好体现。人们通常只有在特殊时刻才到这里消费，品尝木炭烤牛排。烤好的牛排要先在海盐里蘸一下，再和烤大蒜、热酱汁一起用芝麻叶包起来享用。然后来一碗荞麦粉朝鲜冷面，面条盛在装饰精美的铜碗里，冷却的肉汤能让人的大脑也瞬间平静下来。
韩国人吃饭很早，所以你一不小心就会成了最后一个离开的，不过此时夜生活才刚刚开始。Byek Je Gal的服务员会告诉你的出租车司机去一个叫Once in a Blue Moon的酒吧，它位于首尔号称“明星街”的名牌精品区清潭洞。这个奢华的爵士乐酒吧昏暗得恰到好处，在楼上品尝彩色鸡尾酒时还可以看到乐师在楼下舞台上用萨克斯演奏John Coltrane的爵士乐。
结束一天的游览前别忘了从酒店高层房间的窗子向外眺望一下，汉江和车流的灯光闪烁成一片，蔚为壮观。
三星艺术博物馆
新的一天可以从高丽参面部按摩开始，这是君悦酒店（Grand Hyatt）里新开的一家Spa馆。酒店里还拥有全市最棒的室外游泳池，可以俯瞰市区。冬天，泳池则会变成皎洁耀眼的天然滑冰场。
酒店附近就是三星家族最为精心的作品——Leeum艺术博物馆，酒店的门僮知道去那里的近路。这里有瑞士建筑师Mario Botta汲取韩国传统陶瓷灵感设计的传统美术馆，珍藏着有1000年历史的佛教珍宝；有法国建筑师Jean Nouvel运用不锈钢和玻璃设计的现代常设展馆；还有荷兰建筑师Rem Koolhaas设计、黑泥塑造的三星儿童教育文化中心。三个对比强烈的展馆构成了Leeum令人不可思议的独特风格。
购物不分昼夜
购物在韩国很受重视。年轻人可以在东大门（Dongdaemun）夜市附近的商场里不分昼夜的购物——典型的亚洲浓香水、异国风味的小吃以及最新流行款的假香奈儿。这里云集了约30个商场、3万多个商店以及5万多个制作厂商，是亚洲最大规模的批发市场之一。推荐失眠者来这里感受下气氛，但真正想购物的人还是白天去狎鸥亭（Apgujeong）更好。这是Galleria名牌店对面一带的街区，一排巴黎和米兰设计的时装店。在首尔，对大牌专卖的狂热远胜过声名狼藉的统一教文鲜明牧师（Reverend Moon）的号召力。Galleria名牌店里有Lebois法式蛋糕，本土设计师设计的服装以及LV箱包。Wooyoungmi的服装有些怪异，但是一个非凡的男装品牌；Son Jung-wan则出售东方赫本风格的燕尾服。
南边是本土品牌专卖店，其中有Choi Jung In's鞋店，店里点着黑色蜡烛，照亮那些最精美艳丽的高跟鞋——出挑的黄色蕾丝装饰的皮面，相互撞色的条纹，长长的脚踝绑带，独特而性感。继续向南走是灯火通明、价格昂贵的爱马仕（Hermes）专卖店，如果有人想拍照保安会立刻走上来阻止。
健康时尚餐厅与国宝泡菜
午饭可以选择对面Galleria名牌店里的轰动一时白色餐厅，餐厅的主人是韩国人气男演员裴勇俊（Bea Yong Jong）。不过不要被它时尚的外表迷惑，这是一家提供健康食品的餐厅。餐厅里显眼处写着“拒绝奶油、拒绝黄油、拒绝油炸、拒绝焦虑”，菜单上注明了每份鸡肉沙拉所含的卡路里以及白葡萄酒的含糖量。
晚餐则可以返回狎鸥亭用——就是街对面的传统韩国菜餐厅Gaon。客饭菜单是最省心的选择，接下来只需要看着一道道口味新鲜的韩国料理端上来：平底锅煎南瓜、橡果果冻、清蒸鲍鱼、辣烤猪肉等等。当然还有朝鲜泡菜——虽然不是国菜，却称得上是国宝。这种腌制蔬菜几个世纪来陪伴韩国人渡过严寒的冬季，它的两百多个品种出现在韩国任何地方的任何一张菜单上。
不能不提的还有柏悦酒店（Park Hyatt），在首尔它无可匹敌。这里有24小时的接待服务，有最安静的天堂，也有最喧闹的爵士乐，是离开首尔前最后一夜观赏首尔夜景的绝佳地点。乘坐玻璃电梯到酒店顶层，置身幽暗静谧的气氛中看着地面上不停闪烁的景色，放松再放松，喝一杯苹果味马丁尼酒，或者干脆畅饮三杯。明天你就要离开首尔了，但这个城市向你展示的一幅未来的消费图景将盘旋在你脑中，吸引着你下一次的造访。
2008年1月22日 星期二
在韩国首尔这个灯火通明、极富个性的大都市，必须足够精明才能应付得了时常陷入全面堵塞的市内交通。不过你有一个令人兴奋的选择——滑雪电缆车，缆车在空中起伏，掠过湖泊、森林、山丘和现代艺术区。对于一个奢侈、漫长、充满惊喜的周末，滑雪缆车是个完美的开始。
“三星共和国”
初到首尔，出租车司机会对你说“欢迎来到三星（Samsung）共和国”。这个韩国电子巨头创造着整个国家国民生产总值的16%，其产品和标识无处不在。但其实真正遍布整个城市的是新技术。比如实时连接电视节目的手机技术，可听可视，甚至胜过了BlackBurry和iPod。
同时，新与旧在首尔又是平衡的。仁寺洞（Insadong）被称为“传统文化的街道”，要寻找韩国文化代表性商品，如韩服、陶瓷、手工艺品，仁寺洞不可错过。这里还聚集着韩国大半的艺术馆，展示精美的古董和绣花地毯以及充满创意的畅销展品。仁寺艺术中心就是这些艺术馆的聚集地之一。主街两侧的小巷内还藏着众多传统茶馆和手工艺商店。逛累了不妨在茶馆里小憩一下，喝上一杯五味子茶。在一家叫“老茶馆”的店里，你还可以边喝茶边看着各种颜色的鸟儿在头顶轻拍翅膀。
全亚洲最好的烧烤店
结束一天的游览，有一个看日落最好的地方——钟路大厦（Jongno）顶层的Top Cloud Bar&Grill餐厅。大厦从22层至顶层（33层）间是空阁，仅用3根钢柱支撑，因此置身顶层有如置身云端。在这里，你可以听着每晚7点30分响起的现场演奏，品尝五星级饭店水准的西式自助餐和鸡尾酒，看着太阳缓缓沉入闪烁着巨大广告牌的大厦。欣赏夜景则要提前预订。
要找回些平衡感，可以回到地面上来，沿着静静流淌在摩天大楼之间的Cheonggye河岸往回走。此时交通高峰期已过，夫妇在水边小憩或交谈，孩子沿着石头台阶蹦跳玩耍。
或者你可以去全亚洲最好的烧烤店Byek Je Gal用晚餐，这里是韩国富裕的最好体现。人们通常只有在特殊时刻才到这里消费，品尝木炭烤牛排。烤好的牛排要先在海盐里蘸一下，再和烤大蒜、热酱汁一起用芝麻叶包起来享用。然后来一碗荞麦粉朝鲜冷面，面条盛在装饰精美的铜碗里，冷却的肉汤能让人的大脑也瞬间平静下来。
韩国人吃饭很早，所以你一不小心就会成了最后一个离开的，不过此时夜生活才刚刚开始。Byek Je Gal的服务员会告诉你的出租车司机去一个叫Once in a Blue Moon的酒吧，它位于首尔号称“明星街”的名牌精品区清潭洞。这个奢华的爵士乐酒吧昏暗得恰到好处，在楼上品尝彩色鸡尾酒时还可以看到乐师在楼下舞台上用萨克斯演奏John Coltrane的爵士乐。
结束一天的游览前别忘了从酒店高层房间的窗子向外眺望一下，汉江和车流的灯光闪烁成一片，蔚为壮观。
三星艺术博物馆
新的一天可以从高丽参面部按摩开始，这是君悦酒店（Grand Hyatt）里新开的一家Spa馆。酒店里还拥有全市最棒的室外游泳池，可以俯瞰市区。冬天，泳池则会变成皎洁耀眼的天然滑冰场。
酒店附近就是三星家族最为精心的作品——Leeum艺术博物馆，酒店的门僮知道去那里的近路。这里有瑞士建筑师Mario Botta汲取韩国传统陶瓷灵感设计的传统美术馆，珍藏着有1000年历史的佛教珍宝；有法国建筑师Jean Nouvel运用不锈钢和玻璃设计的现代常设展馆；还有荷兰建筑师Rem Koolhaas设计、黑泥塑造的三星儿童教育文化中心。三个对比强烈的展馆构成了Leeum令人不可思议的独特风格。
购物不分昼夜
购物在韩国很受重视。年轻人可以在东大门（Dongdaemun）夜市附近的商场里不分昼夜的购物——典型的亚洲浓香水、异国风味的小吃以及最新流行款的假香奈儿。这里云集了约30个商场、3万多个商店以及5万多个制作厂商，是亚洲最大规模的批发市场之一。推荐失眠者来这里感受下气氛，但真正想购物的人还是白天去狎鸥亭（Apgujeong）更好。这是Galleria名牌店对面一带的街区，一排巴黎和米兰设计的时装店。在首尔，对大牌专卖的狂热远胜过声名狼藉的统一教文鲜明牧师（Reverend Moon）的号召力。Galleria名牌店里有Lebois法式蛋糕，本土设计师设计的服装以及LV箱包。Wooyoungmi的服装有些怪异，但是一个非凡的男装品牌；Son Jung-wan则出售东方赫本风格的燕尾服。
南边是本土品牌专卖店，其中有Choi Jung In's鞋店，店里点着黑色蜡烛，照亮那些最精美艳丽的高跟鞋——出挑的黄色蕾丝装饰的皮面，相互撞色的条纹，长长的脚踝绑带，独特而性感。继续向南走是灯火通明、价格昂贵的爱马仕（Hermes）专卖店，如果有人想拍照保安会立刻走上来阻止。
健康时尚餐厅与国宝泡菜
午饭可以选择对面Galleria名牌店里的轰动一时白色餐厅，餐厅的主人是韩国人气男演员裴勇俊（Bea Yong Jong）。不过不要被它时尚的外表迷惑，这是一家提供健康食品的餐厅。餐厅里显眼处写着“拒绝奶油、拒绝黄油、拒绝油炸、拒绝焦虑”，菜单上注明了每份鸡肉沙拉所含的卡路里以及白葡萄酒的含糖量。
晚餐则可以返回狎鸥亭用——就是街对面的传统韩国菜餐厅Gaon。客饭菜单是最省心的选择，接下来只需要看着一道道口味新鲜的韩国料理端上来：平底锅煎南瓜、橡果果冻、清蒸鲍鱼、辣烤猪肉等等。当然还有朝鲜泡菜——虽然不是国菜，却称得上是国宝。这种腌制蔬菜几个世纪来陪伴韩国人渡过严寒的冬季，它的两百多个品种出现在韩国任何地方的任何一张菜单上。
不能不提的还有柏悦酒店（Park Hyatt），在首尔它无可匹敌。这里有24小时的接待服务，有最安静的天堂，也有最喧闹的爵士乐，是离开首尔前最后一夜观赏首尔夜景的绝佳地点。乘坐玻璃电梯到酒店顶层，置身幽暗静谧的气氛中看着地面上不停闪烁的景色，放松再放松，喝一杯苹果味马丁尼酒，或者干脆畅饮三杯。明天你就要离开首尔了，但这个城市向你展示的一幅未来的消费图景将盘旋在你脑中，吸引着你下一次的造访。
2008年1月12日星期六
在京沪两地看演唱会
英国《金融时报》中文网专栏作家小子
2008年1月9日 星期三
岁末迎新，除了胡吃海喝，看演唱会也成了越来越时髦的自娱自乐。年前年后，承上启下，最夺人眼球的演唱会莫过于去年圣诞夜在上海大舞台的黄耀明演唱会，以及1月5日在北京工人体育馆的崔健演唱会。
自掏腰包亲历了这一南一北的两场演唱会，两个场馆的座位都是12000个左右，八成的上座率，对歌星，大家自有偏爱，就像崔健的现场不可能像明哥那般汇聚成荧光棒的海洋艳光四射，在明哥的现场也不能听到歌迷集体大吼“XX，牛B ”如此掏心掏肺直抒胸臆，除了音乐本身，还有不少看演唱会过程中的细节相映成趣。
先说交通，我是打车去工体的，最后的800多米，只能弃车移步，换成了“新摇滚演唱会上的长征”。北京的马路确实宽，宽到可以把马路都变成了停车场，来回的辅路上停满了车，上街沿上能停车的地方也都利用了，本来四车道的主路，临时为了增加停车区域，也硬生生占去旁边的两道，只留下中间缓慢移动的两队车流和互相干瞪眼的司机。我这才想起演唱会票上的友情提醒：“演出前一个半小时即可进场”，为了停车位，赶早不赶晚，北京歌迷的此番“勤劳”倒是上海歌迷无需效仿的。
上海的地铁1号线，专门就有一站叫“上海体育馆”站（上海大舞台的前身就是上海体育馆），从地铁口出来，走2-3分钟就能到检票口。哪怕是在八万人体育场举行演唱会，哪怕自己有自驾车，大家还是潜意识里觉得看演唱会，坐地铁是最方便准时的。
北京的工体旁边也有地铁站，只是还需要走比较长的路，北京的有车阶层多，自然不会觉得坐地铁是“最优选择”。其实，最大的交通考验不是进场，而是散场，因为进场可以提前一个半小时，散场时总不见得把大家硬留在场馆里分批退场，尽管最后实际的情况也是在工体外的马路上，在接近“瘫痪”的交通状态下度过漫长的散场时间。
上海演唱会散场时的地铁疏散，给我留下了很好的印象，本来想和大家紧巴巴去挤最后一班地铁，没想到福从天降，在末班车之前，又增开了从“上海体育馆”站首发的一列空车，本来拥挤的地铁站台一下子就“整个世界清静了”。地面上，车流虽然会增多，打车很难，但很少会出现崔健演唱会散场时车辆“死堵不通”的情况。
再说检票，到底是在首都参加大型活动，而工体到底是08年奥运会的拳击场馆，进场的环节显得“团结、紧张、严肃”，倒少了几分参加娱乐活动的“活泼”。和上海进场时扫描条形码不同，进入工体大铁门的时候，两边各五个穿着军大衣的小伙子，站得很挤，前胸贴后背，犹如十块麻将牌，中间只留出供一人通过的走道，听他们高喊着“人手一票，人手一票！”，在这二十个眼睛的审视下，不免让人有点战战兢兢。
第二道检查是查防伪标志，也在意料之中，只是没想到在进入室内玻璃门后，还要过一道安检，那阵势和坐飞机一样，瓶装水一律被“安检”出来。可能是怕看崔健的观众比较容易激动，情真意切之时，会把瓶装水“像一把刀子”那样在空中划出抛物线。室内暖气开足，又干又热，这就立马催生另一道景致：大家蜂拥到小卖部抢购纸装的可乐，队伍不是长长的，而是厚厚的。在我印象中，上海大舞台无需安检，小卖部也总是冷冷清清，若是看到此情此景，恐怕上海的营业员也会眼红北京同仁的生意火爆。
最让我感觉惊喜的切身体会是在工体上厕所非常顺利，让人感觉这个场馆真的为奥运做好了准备。无论男厕或女厕，推门而入，里面有将近20多个蹲位，哪怕是在开场前15分钟上厕所，几乎只需要等一个人，就能轮到，运气好的话，压根就不用等。这样的速度令经历过“上海大舞台如厕难”的我非常佩服，幸好工体在厕所的安排设计上非常人性化，要不然在外面马路上堵车已经够让人火冒三丈，如果连厕所都不能让人上利落，在北京看演唱会的心理和生理负担就实在太大了！
注：本文不代表FT中文网观点。
《双城记》
2008年1月9日 星期三
岁末迎新，除了胡吃海喝，看演唱会也成了越来越时髦的自娱自乐。年前年后，承上启下，最夺人眼球的演唱会莫过于去年圣诞夜在上海大舞台的黄耀明演唱会，以及1月5日在北京工人体育馆的崔健演唱会。
自掏腰包亲历了这一南一北的两场演唱会，两个场馆的座位都是12000个左右，八成的上座率，对歌星，大家自有偏爱，就像崔健的现场不可能像明哥那般汇聚成荧光棒的海洋艳光四射，在明哥的现场也不能听到歌迷集体大吼“XX，牛B ”如此掏心掏肺直抒胸臆，除了音乐本身，还有不少看演唱会过程中的细节相映成趣。
先说交通，我是打车去工体的，最后的800多米，只能弃车移步，换成了“新摇滚演唱会上的长征”。北京的马路确实宽，宽到可以把马路都变成了停车场，来回的辅路上停满了车，上街沿上能停车的地方也都利用了，本来四车道的主路，临时为了增加停车区域，也硬生生占去旁边的两道，只留下中间缓慢移动的两队车流和互相干瞪眼的司机。我这才想起演唱会票上的友情提醒：“演出前一个半小时即可进场”，为了停车位，赶早不赶晚，北京歌迷的此番“勤劳”倒是上海歌迷无需效仿的。
上海的地铁1号线，专门就有一站叫“上海体育馆”站（上海大舞台的前身就是上海体育馆），从地铁口出来，走2-3分钟就能到检票口。哪怕是在八万人体育场举行演唱会，哪怕自己有自驾车，大家还是潜意识里觉得看演唱会，坐地铁是最方便准时的。
北京的工体旁边也有地铁站，只是还需要走比较长的路，北京的有车阶层多，自然不会觉得坐地铁是“最优选择”。其实，最大的交通考验不是进场，而是散场，因为进场可以提前一个半小时，散场时总不见得把大家硬留在场馆里分批退场，尽管最后实际的情况也是在工体外的马路上，在接近“瘫痪”的交通状态下度过漫长的散场时间。
上海演唱会散场时的地铁疏散，给我留下了很好的印象，本来想和大家紧巴巴去挤最后一班地铁，没想到福从天降，在末班车之前，又增开了从“上海体育馆”站首发的一列空车，本来拥挤的地铁站台一下子就“整个世界清静了”。地面上，车流虽然会增多，打车很难，但很少会出现崔健演唱会散场时车辆“死堵不通”的情况。
再说检票，到底是在首都参加大型活动，而工体到底是08年奥运会的拳击场馆，进场的环节显得“团结、紧张、严肃”，倒少了几分参加娱乐活动的“活泼”。和上海进场时扫描条形码不同，进入工体大铁门的时候，两边各五个穿着军大衣的小伙子，站得很挤，前胸贴后背，犹如十块麻将牌，中间只留出供一人通过的走道，听他们高喊着“人手一票，人手一票！”，在这二十个眼睛的审视下，不免让人有点战战兢兢。
第二道检查是查防伪标志，也在意料之中，只是没想到在进入室内玻璃门后，还要过一道安检，那阵势和坐飞机一样，瓶装水一律被“安检”出来。可能是怕看崔健的观众比较容易激动，情真意切之时，会把瓶装水“像一把刀子”那样在空中划出抛物线。室内暖气开足，又干又热，这就立马催生另一道景致：大家蜂拥到小卖部抢购纸装的可乐，队伍不是长长的，而是厚厚的。在我印象中，上海大舞台无需安检，小卖部也总是冷冷清清，若是看到此情此景，恐怕上海的营业员也会眼红北京同仁的生意火爆。
最让我感觉惊喜的切身体会是在工体上厕所非常顺利，让人感觉这个场馆真的为奥运做好了准备。无论男厕或女厕，推门而入，里面有将近20多个蹲位，哪怕是在开场前15分钟上厕所，几乎只需要等一个人，就能轮到，运气好的话，压根就不用等。这样的速度令经历过“上海大舞台如厕难”的我非常佩服，幸好工体在厕所的安排设计上非常人性化，要不然在外面马路上堵车已经够让人火冒三丈，如果连厕所都不能让人上利落，在北京看演唱会的心理和生理负担就实在太大了！
注：本文不代表FT中文网观点。
《双城记》
欧洲为何落后于美国？
作者：英国《金融时报》拉尔夫•阿特金斯(Ralph Atkins)
2008年1月10日 星期四
埃德蒙•菲尔普斯(Edmund Phelps)是一位生性好斗、年过七旬的美国经济学教授，以其对欧洲发展前景犀利的嘲讽而闻名。作为这样一位人物，他选择在一家纽约餐厅用午餐显得较为保守。Isabella's餐厅地处上西区一座七层高、带有金属火灾逃生口的红砖建筑底层，餐厅里满是享用着美式食品的父母和孩子。明亮的餐厅可以俯瞰对面的学校。
这位2006年诺贝尔(Nobel)经济学奖得主来得非常准时。菲尔普斯生于1933年，又高又瘦，笑得很灿烂。他穿着一件浅绿色格子图案的夏装夹克，打了一条棕色领带；一头银发梳理得整整齐齐。他最近在世界各地跑了很多地方，刚从圣保罗回来。他看着菜单说：“重新和我的祖国建立联系挺不错。”
随着他愉快地接受了女服务生的建议，先来一杯加利福尼亚白葡萄酒，我的希望油然而生：这将是一顿快乐的午餐，而不是一场智力方面的挑战（我曾为此担心：他20页网上自传笔记的前5页全都是数学公式）。菲尔普斯住在纽约上东区，“在我变得非常忙之前”（获得诺贝尔奖之前）会乘坐M4公车穿过第110街，然后向北到达哥伦比亚大学(Columbia University)。所以，实际上，位于哥伦比亚大学以南30个街区的Isabella's完全偏离了这条路线。“这不在我公车路线之上，”他笑道，“但我是个爱冒险的人。我经常到公车路线以外的地方。”
从传统上讲，诺贝尔经济学奖所认可的是几十年前完成的、但今天仍适用的成果。菲尔普斯获奖，是由于上世纪60年代末取得的成果，它颠覆了当时认为通胀与失业之间存在稳定关系的传统观念——从而挑战了这样一种想法：政治家们可以接受一定程度的失业和物价上涨。但菲尔普斯还因其对欧洲大陆“社团主义”(corporatism)的批判而著名，他认为这种“社团主义”妨碍了创业者和金融家之间的互动，导致欧洲依赖从美国进口的观念和技术。这就是他对欧洲大陆过去10年增长不尽人意的解释。
自2001年起，菲尔普斯开始担任资本主义和社会中心(Center on Capitalism and Society)主任，总部设在哥伦比亚大学。这是个经济论坛，探讨是什么促使商业想法可以在一个国家的经济成功中开花结果。
女服务员回来给我们点菜。我们俩都选了玉米浓汤作为头菜。然后，他选了自己经常点的马里兰蟹饼三明治。我则听从他的建议，选了一款科布沙拉，这是一款混合了鸡肉和羊乳干酪的菜品。女服务员称：“科布沙拉里有很多东西。”菲尔普斯告诉我，这种东西是在曼哈顿发明的，不过后来的研究显示它源自于加利福尼亚。
菲尔普斯觉得，他目前所处的事业阶段“让我可以想怎么激进，就怎么激进。因此我现在有很多关于资本主义的有趣想法，而且在尝试设想怎样重写经济学，才能抓住这个体系的核心。”他解释道，传统经济学将世界视为一个管道系统。“它根本上植根于均衡思想——事情按照人们期望的那样运作。”然而，资本主义现实“却是一个无序体系。创业者只拥有关于未来最模糊的图景，他们对此下注；同时还存在模棱两可的情况，他们不知道当他们撬动这根或那根杠杆时，会出现他们想象中的结果——这就是结果不可预知的法则。这不会出现在经济学教科书中，而我职业生涯后期的任务，就是将它们写入教科书。”
那款奶白色的汤上桌了，我将话题转向了欧洲，菲尔普斯认为欧洲注定总是跟在美国后面；再者，缺乏创新使工作索然无味，难以令人满足。“我不羡慕欧洲等着看在美国发生了什么，然后再花费资源去采纳这种或那种新型商品或技术，”他表示，“我只是认为，欧洲人坚持着一种我称之为社团主义的无效僵化体系，从而剥夺了自己成为高就业经济体的机会，丧失了在工作场所激励智力创新的机会，同时也制约了个人发展。”
菲尔普斯表示，一些意大利朋友告诉他，这种情况已有所改变，“我们现在确实很像美国”。但尽管欧洲近来重新出现了令人印象深刻的增长，但他还是看到了太多的倒退。“例如，在德国许多公司邀请工会代表就职于监事会，并就投资决策提供建议——这很难说是纯粹的资本主义。”
“当然，德国公司找到了一条出路。你知道他们是怎么干的吗？他们开始贿赂工会领袖，使其与他们站在一起——（看看）大众汽车(Volkswagen)丑闻……他们必须行贿的事实，为某些人提供了隐蔽的机会，这些人说，‘噢，这没关系，这些工会没什么力量，这只不过是在做秀'。好吧，如果这都是在做秀，那工会领袖怎么会得到如此高额的薪金呢？”
他承认，与美国进行比较，必须将欧洲人口老龄化问题考虑在内，资本市场、对冲基金和私人股本市场的兴起可能在迫使欧洲大陆发生改变。但他指出，德国重要的风险资本家都是美国人。“或许这有助于说明，在老套的州地方银行（Landesbanken，该国的公共银行）和所有那些老化、庞大的投资银行体系下，运营德国业务是多么吃力。现在德国人正从全球化的某些良好特征中受益。”
我们开始吃主菜了——我的沙拉装了满满一大盘，他则试图在一块蟹饼和圆面包上建一座塔。我想知道，欧洲有没有一点儿让他欣赏的地方呢？他又一次大笑起来。他说，还有一个人问过他这个问题，那就是美国前任财长、后来的前哈佛大学(Harvard)校长拉里•萨莫斯(Larry Summers)。“我觉得这很奇怪。这暗示着我不喜欢欧洲的任何东西……（实际上）欧洲的许多东西我都喜欢。我经常去欧洲，我必须喜欢那里。”他举了一个例子，欧洲“对哲学的兴趣比美国浓厚得多，我对此非常欣赏”。
菲尔普斯急于表明，他“不是”说欧洲人反对创造财富的“美国经济学家之一”。“我的天，我想再没有人比欧洲人更喜欢积累财富了。我曾经和妻子住在（罗马）法尼榭宫(Palazzo Farnese)附近。在杜维嘉大学(University Tor Vergata)上了一整天班后，开着我的宝马(BMW)回家，花30分钟找个停车的地方，一直到晚上6点50左右，搞得筋疲力尽。有一些意大利工匠从早上8点就开始工作个不停。欧洲人在许多方面跟美国人很像。他们喜欢工作，他们喜欢富裕。但他们的其它态度妨碍了一个有效的经济体系。”
在吃完主菜后，我们俩都停顿了下来。这些蟹饼怎么样，我问道？“哦，非常好，”他说，“一点也没变，一直都是这个味儿。”
他在资本主义和推行变革的必要性方面迥异的观点是不是有可能与他出生在大萧条(Great Depression)时期有关？——在此期间他的父母都失业了（他的父亲从事广告工作，他的母亲是一位营养学家）。菲尔普斯加强了语气。“当时我还是个小孩子。我的思想根本没有成型。”他跟我谈起获得诺贝尔奖后，有一次在瑞典电视台接受采访的经历：“采访者非常希望我说，我之所以进入经济学领域，原因是受到了大萧条时期失业的严重影响。我很难让他明白，我当时只是个小孩子。”
菲尔普斯解释说，对他更重要的是上世纪50年代早期在阿默斯特学院的时光，当时他阅读希腊英雄史诗、塞万提斯的《唐•吉柯德》(Don Quixote)和拉尔夫•沃尔多•爱默生(Ralph Waldo Emerson)关于自强的书。“我想不知不觉中，我就被灌输了生机论的思想（关于什么使生命有意义的思想）。美好生活是由接受挑战、解决问题、发现、个人发展和个人变化组成的。”他读过哲学家戴维•休姆(David Hume)的书，这使他明白了“想象力在理解事物方面的重要性”，而亨利•柏格森(Henri Bergson)的《创造进化论》(Creative Evolution)则提倡自由意志，反对决定主义。
相比之下，Isabella's的甜点单令菲尔普斯感到困惑。这“很奇怪，”他承认。不过，尽管他说欧洲人抵制创新，但并未挑剔酪饼冰激凌或者草莓奶油冰激凌背后的思想。“我保守一点吧，来个卡布奇诺奶油布蕾，”他说道（我不知道法国大厨是否会认为这是道保守的菜）。我选的是“黑巧克力袋”——一个大巧克力架，里面填充了奶油、覆盆子慕斯和夏季水果。
菲尔普斯回忆说，他在学术生涯中相对较晚的时期才开始从事基本工作——35岁左右。他的哥伦比亚大学同事罗伯特•蒙代尔(Robert Mundell)由于10年前发表的作品获得了诺贝尔奖。“早年的时候，我花了大量时间撰写发展经济学论文，我现在真希望当初没花那么多功夫写那些东西。我花了很长时间才成熟起来，说出一些有创意的东西。”
我付了餐费，但当我们离开餐馆时，费尔普斯想散一会儿步。犹豫了一下，他问我是否愿意向北走一段，走到美国自然历史博物馆。博物馆坐落在中央公园外，前面立着一个粉红色的纪念石碑，上面刻着自1906年西奥多•罗斯福(Theodore Roosevelt)获诺贝尔和平奖以来，所有获得诺贝尔奖的美国人姓名。纪念碑的第二面底部刻着费尔普斯的名字，是几天前新加上去的。费尔普斯短暂地沉默了一会儿，然后指着一些同样列在纪念碑上的同代人。他显然非常自豪。
拉尔夫•阿特金斯是英国《金融时报》法兰克福分社社长
Isabella's餐厅，纽约哥伦布大道
玉米浓汤2份
蟹饼三明治 1份
科布沙拉 1份
焦糖卡布奇诺 1份
黑巧克力袋 1份
加州白葡萄酒 2杯
双倍意式浓缩咖啡 2杯
水 1瓶
总价：100.25美元
译者/何黎
2008年1月10日 星期四
埃德蒙•菲尔普斯(Edmund Phelps)是一位生性好斗、年过七旬的美国经济学教授，以其对欧洲发展前景犀利的嘲讽而闻名。作为这样一位人物，他选择在一家纽约餐厅用午餐显得较为保守。Isabella's餐厅地处上西区一座七层高、带有金属火灾逃生口的红砖建筑底层，餐厅里满是享用着美式食品的父母和孩子。明亮的餐厅可以俯瞰对面的学校。
这位2006年诺贝尔(Nobel)经济学奖得主来得非常准时。菲尔普斯生于1933年，又高又瘦，笑得很灿烂。他穿着一件浅绿色格子图案的夏装夹克，打了一条棕色领带；一头银发梳理得整整齐齐。他最近在世界各地跑了很多地方，刚从圣保罗回来。他看着菜单说：“重新和我的祖国建立联系挺不错。”
随着他愉快地接受了女服务生的建议，先来一杯加利福尼亚白葡萄酒，我的希望油然而生：这将是一顿快乐的午餐，而不是一场智力方面的挑战（我曾为此担心：他20页网上自传笔记的前5页全都是数学公式）。菲尔普斯住在纽约上东区，“在我变得非常忙之前”（获得诺贝尔奖之前）会乘坐M4公车穿过第110街，然后向北到达哥伦比亚大学(Columbia University)。所以，实际上，位于哥伦比亚大学以南30个街区的Isabella's完全偏离了这条路线。“这不在我公车路线之上，”他笑道，“但我是个爱冒险的人。我经常到公车路线以外的地方。”
从传统上讲，诺贝尔经济学奖所认可的是几十年前完成的、但今天仍适用的成果。菲尔普斯获奖，是由于上世纪60年代末取得的成果，它颠覆了当时认为通胀与失业之间存在稳定关系的传统观念——从而挑战了这样一种想法：政治家们可以接受一定程度的失业和物价上涨。但菲尔普斯还因其对欧洲大陆“社团主义”(corporatism)的批判而著名，他认为这种“社团主义”妨碍了创业者和金融家之间的互动，导致欧洲依赖从美国进口的观念和技术。这就是他对欧洲大陆过去10年增长不尽人意的解释。
自2001年起，菲尔普斯开始担任资本主义和社会中心(Center on Capitalism and Society)主任，总部设在哥伦比亚大学。这是个经济论坛，探讨是什么促使商业想法可以在一个国家的经济成功中开花结果。
女服务员回来给我们点菜。我们俩都选了玉米浓汤作为头菜。然后，他选了自己经常点的马里兰蟹饼三明治。我则听从他的建议，选了一款科布沙拉，这是一款混合了鸡肉和羊乳干酪的菜品。女服务员称：“科布沙拉里有很多东西。”菲尔普斯告诉我，这种东西是在曼哈顿发明的，不过后来的研究显示它源自于加利福尼亚。
菲尔普斯觉得，他目前所处的事业阶段“让我可以想怎么激进，就怎么激进。因此我现在有很多关于资本主义的有趣想法，而且在尝试设想怎样重写经济学，才能抓住这个体系的核心。”他解释道，传统经济学将世界视为一个管道系统。“它根本上植根于均衡思想——事情按照人们期望的那样运作。”然而，资本主义现实“却是一个无序体系。创业者只拥有关于未来最模糊的图景，他们对此下注；同时还存在模棱两可的情况，他们不知道当他们撬动这根或那根杠杆时，会出现他们想象中的结果——这就是结果不可预知的法则。这不会出现在经济学教科书中，而我职业生涯后期的任务，就是将它们写入教科书。”
那款奶白色的汤上桌了，我将话题转向了欧洲，菲尔普斯认为欧洲注定总是跟在美国后面；再者，缺乏创新使工作索然无味，难以令人满足。“我不羡慕欧洲等着看在美国发生了什么，然后再花费资源去采纳这种或那种新型商品或技术，”他表示，“我只是认为，欧洲人坚持着一种我称之为社团主义的无效僵化体系，从而剥夺了自己成为高就业经济体的机会，丧失了在工作场所激励智力创新的机会，同时也制约了个人发展。”
菲尔普斯表示，一些意大利朋友告诉他，这种情况已有所改变，“我们现在确实很像美国”。但尽管欧洲近来重新出现了令人印象深刻的增长，但他还是看到了太多的倒退。“例如，在德国许多公司邀请工会代表就职于监事会，并就投资决策提供建议——这很难说是纯粹的资本主义。”
“当然，德国公司找到了一条出路。你知道他们是怎么干的吗？他们开始贿赂工会领袖，使其与他们站在一起——（看看）大众汽车(Volkswagen)丑闻……他们必须行贿的事实，为某些人提供了隐蔽的机会，这些人说，‘噢，这没关系，这些工会没什么力量，这只不过是在做秀'。好吧，如果这都是在做秀，那工会领袖怎么会得到如此高额的薪金呢？”
他承认，与美国进行比较，必须将欧洲人口老龄化问题考虑在内，资本市场、对冲基金和私人股本市场的兴起可能在迫使欧洲大陆发生改变。但他指出，德国重要的风险资本家都是美国人。“或许这有助于说明，在老套的州地方银行（Landesbanken，该国的公共银行）和所有那些老化、庞大的投资银行体系下，运营德国业务是多么吃力。现在德国人正从全球化的某些良好特征中受益。”
我们开始吃主菜了——我的沙拉装了满满一大盘，他则试图在一块蟹饼和圆面包上建一座塔。我想知道，欧洲有没有一点儿让他欣赏的地方呢？他又一次大笑起来。他说，还有一个人问过他这个问题，那就是美国前任财长、后来的前哈佛大学(Harvard)校长拉里•萨莫斯(Larry Summers)。“我觉得这很奇怪。这暗示着我不喜欢欧洲的任何东西……（实际上）欧洲的许多东西我都喜欢。我经常去欧洲，我必须喜欢那里。”他举了一个例子，欧洲“对哲学的兴趣比美国浓厚得多，我对此非常欣赏”。
菲尔普斯急于表明，他“不是”说欧洲人反对创造财富的“美国经济学家之一”。“我的天，我想再没有人比欧洲人更喜欢积累财富了。我曾经和妻子住在（罗马）法尼榭宫(Palazzo Farnese)附近。在杜维嘉大学(University Tor Vergata)上了一整天班后，开着我的宝马(BMW)回家，花30分钟找个停车的地方，一直到晚上6点50左右，搞得筋疲力尽。有一些意大利工匠从早上8点就开始工作个不停。欧洲人在许多方面跟美国人很像。他们喜欢工作，他们喜欢富裕。但他们的其它态度妨碍了一个有效的经济体系。”
在吃完主菜后，我们俩都停顿了下来。这些蟹饼怎么样，我问道？“哦，非常好，”他说，“一点也没变，一直都是这个味儿。”
他在资本主义和推行变革的必要性方面迥异的观点是不是有可能与他出生在大萧条(Great Depression)时期有关？——在此期间他的父母都失业了（他的父亲从事广告工作，他的母亲是一位营养学家）。菲尔普斯加强了语气。“当时我还是个小孩子。我的思想根本没有成型。”他跟我谈起获得诺贝尔奖后，有一次在瑞典电视台接受采访的经历：“采访者非常希望我说，我之所以进入经济学领域，原因是受到了大萧条时期失业的严重影响。我很难让他明白，我当时只是个小孩子。”
菲尔普斯解释说，对他更重要的是上世纪50年代早期在阿默斯特学院的时光，当时他阅读希腊英雄史诗、塞万提斯的《唐•吉柯德》(Don Quixote)和拉尔夫•沃尔多•爱默生(Ralph Waldo Emerson)关于自强的书。“我想不知不觉中，我就被灌输了生机论的思想（关于什么使生命有意义的思想）。美好生活是由接受挑战、解决问题、发现、个人发展和个人变化组成的。”他读过哲学家戴维•休姆(David Hume)的书，这使他明白了“想象力在理解事物方面的重要性”，而亨利•柏格森(Henri Bergson)的《创造进化论》(Creative Evolution)则提倡自由意志，反对决定主义。
相比之下，Isabella's的甜点单令菲尔普斯感到困惑。这“很奇怪，”他承认。不过，尽管他说欧洲人抵制创新，但并未挑剔酪饼冰激凌或者草莓奶油冰激凌背后的思想。“我保守一点吧，来个卡布奇诺奶油布蕾，”他说道（我不知道法国大厨是否会认为这是道保守的菜）。我选的是“黑巧克力袋”——一个大巧克力架，里面填充了奶油、覆盆子慕斯和夏季水果。
菲尔普斯回忆说，他在学术生涯中相对较晚的时期才开始从事基本工作——35岁左右。他的哥伦比亚大学同事罗伯特•蒙代尔(Robert Mundell)由于10年前发表的作品获得了诺贝尔奖。“早年的时候，我花了大量时间撰写发展经济学论文，我现在真希望当初没花那么多功夫写那些东西。我花了很长时间才成熟起来，说出一些有创意的东西。”
我付了餐费，但当我们离开餐馆时，费尔普斯想散一会儿步。犹豫了一下，他问我是否愿意向北走一段，走到美国自然历史博物馆。博物馆坐落在中央公园外，前面立着一个粉红色的纪念石碑，上面刻着自1906年西奥多•罗斯福(Theodore Roosevelt)获诺贝尔和平奖以来，所有获得诺贝尔奖的美国人姓名。纪念碑的第二面底部刻着费尔普斯的名字，是几天前新加上去的。费尔普斯短暂地沉默了一会儿，然后指着一些同样列在纪念碑上的同代人。他显然非常自豪。
拉尔夫•阿特金斯是英国《金融时报》法兰克福分社社长
Isabella's餐厅，纽约哥伦布大道
玉米浓汤2份
蟹饼三明治 1份
科布沙拉 1份
焦糖卡布奇诺 1份
黑巧克力袋 1份
加州白葡萄酒 2杯
双倍意式浓缩咖啡 2杯
水 1瓶
总价：100.25美元
译者/何黎
Clarity and the question of how the cookie crumbles
By Michael Skapinker
Friday, January 11, 2008
If native speakers of English are not to become international corporate pariahs, they will need to learn how to speak global English – in other words, to communicate with non-native speakers.
Resentment at the complexity of native speakers' English is widespread in international business. During a study carried out at Kone Elevators of Finland, reported in Business Communication Quarterly in 2002, one Finnish manager blurted out: “The British are the worst . . . It is much more difficult to understand their English than that of other nationalities. When we non-native speakers of English talk, it is much easier to understand. We have the same limited vocabulary.”
How can native speakers of English make themselves more comprehensible and more likeable? The most obvious way is to learn someone else's language. This is not necessarily so that you can speak to your non-English speaking colleagues, although that would help. The problem is that most business meetings these days contain people speaking several languages, so that speaking French, or Finnish, would be ruder than speaking incomprehensible English.
The great benefit of learning other languages is that you have some idea of what non-native speakers are up against. However, news this week that fewer than half of English schoolchildren are learning a foreign language suggests that this is not going to be a profitable route for many.
So what should native English-speakers do to make themselves better understood? First, slow down, but not to the point where members of your audience think you are patronising them. Second, avoid idiomatic and metaphorical expressions: that's the way the cookie crumbles, people in glass houses, and the like.
Jokes are a difficult area. You will not forget the silence that follows one that is found baffling. On the other hand, when jokes work, they can be a huge success with a non-native speaking audience. If you have learnt other languages, you will know that very few achievements are as satisfying as understanding your first foreign joke. Try a few out with your non-native speaking audience; you will soon learn which ones are worth repeating.
It is often unnecessary to avoid longer words such as “association” and “nationality”, which are common to the Romance languages and will be widely understood in Europe and Latin America.
Listen to verbal responses for signs of whether you have been understood or not. Make sure your non-native speaking colleagues have the chance to talk; they will often be paraphrasing your words in an attempt to satisfy themselves that they have grasped what you said.
Always remember that the greatest friend of the non-native speaker is repetition. Find more than one way of getting your point across and summarise frequently.
Friday, January 11, 2008
If native speakers of English are not to become international corporate pariahs, they will need to learn how to speak global English – in other words, to communicate with non-native speakers.
Resentment at the complexity of native speakers' English is widespread in international business. During a study carried out at Kone Elevators of Finland, reported in Business Communication Quarterly in 2002, one Finnish manager blurted out: “The British are the worst . . . It is much more difficult to understand their English than that of other nationalities. When we non-native speakers of English talk, it is much easier to understand. We have the same limited vocabulary.”
How can native speakers of English make themselves more comprehensible and more likeable? The most obvious way is to learn someone else's language. This is not necessarily so that you can speak to your non-English speaking colleagues, although that would help. The problem is that most business meetings these days contain people speaking several languages, so that speaking French, or Finnish, would be ruder than speaking incomprehensible English.
The great benefit of learning other languages is that you have some idea of what non-native speakers are up against. However, news this week that fewer than half of English schoolchildren are learning a foreign language suggests that this is not going to be a profitable route for many.
So what should native English-speakers do to make themselves better understood? First, slow down, but not to the point where members of your audience think you are patronising them. Second, avoid idiomatic and metaphorical expressions: that's the way the cookie crumbles, people in glass houses, and the like.
Jokes are a difficult area. You will not forget the silence that follows one that is found baffling. On the other hand, when jokes work, they can be a huge success with a non-native speaking audience. If you have learnt other languages, you will know that very few achievements are as satisfying as understanding your first foreign joke. Try a few out with your non-native speaking audience; you will soon learn which ones are worth repeating.
It is often unnecessary to avoid longer words such as “association” and “nationality”, which are common to the Romance languages and will be widely understood in Europe and Latin America.
Listen to verbal responses for signs of whether you have been understood or not. Make sure your non-native speaking colleagues have the chance to talk; they will often be paraphrasing your words in an attempt to satisfy themselves that they have grasped what you said.
Always remember that the greatest friend of the non-native speaker is repetition. Find more than one way of getting your point across and summarise frequently.
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