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The Back to Society: Noblesse Oblige in Present Day America
- Warren Buffett's recent donation of $44 billion to The Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation is a prime example of a Western principle
called noblesse oblige where those who are more fortunate have an
obligation to give back to the community. (July, '06) |
|
Generation Y: Helicopter parents at the work place. - Children
of Generation Y are growing up and making their way into the work
force. And just like they had their parents beside them when they
were moving into their dorms Freshman year, it appears their Baby
Boomer parents are still standing by as they begin their walk into
the work force. (April, '06) |
|
The Google Way: Can Google Keep the HP Spirit Alive? - There
isn't a day that goes by in the Bay Area where Google isn't making
news. From the release of new programs developed by Googlers, their
employees, to organic cafeterias. A closer look on business of the
21st century, the Google Way. (March, '06) |
| iPod
Phenomenon: What is Podcasting? (Jan. 06) - iPods hit the chart
this holiday season as the most popular item on Amazon.com.
Hisami takes a look at how iPods are changing social and communication
patterns in the US. |
| Female
Consumer Power(Dec. 05)- A week has passed since "Black
Friday" and Hisami has the latest on America's recent shopping
habits. More and more data shows that there are behavior differences
between female and male shoppers and marketers should be aware of
who their CPOs (Chief Purchasing Officer). |
| Google's
Evolution (Oct.05) - Google seems to be making headline news
on a daily basis. Hisami Ohshiba takes a look at the Google's next
evolutionary step, telecommunication, and the secret of Google's
success. |
| CEO
Requirement - Height 6'2" (Sept.05) - If you are less than 6feet
2 inches in the U.S., it might be keeping you from achieving your
dream of one day becoming the CEO of your company. Results of a
recent study and what it's implications. |
| Politically
Correct? (Aug.05)- In this country refered to as the "melting
pot", where people come from all over the globe, politically
incorrect comments are a scandalous matter with serious consequences.
Join me in thinking about discrimination and the changing demographics
of the U.S. |
| Oil
Free Life? - gBiodieselh(Jul.05)- As Americans celebrated
their Independence Day this July, I thought of their dependence
on the Arab nations for oil. How can the U.S. break free from their
dependence on foreign oil? |
| Sailing Voyage - Halfway Across the Pacific (June. 05) - The
first 14 of 15 days' sail from San Francisco to Maui went fairly
without incident. But in the middle of the final night, we were
caught in 35 knot winds, and disaster struck. |
| Alternative Marketing - Influencers (May. 05) - As Opera Software
CEO's public proclamation turned into reality, it seems to illustrate
how people are interested in word of mouth and buzz, and are wanting
to participate personally. |
| Super - Customization (Apr. 05) - Frustrations over PC problems
causing "computer rage" plagues many Americans. |
| Starbucks - An alternative music distribution for Boomers (Mar.
05) - With 3,000 of Starbucks' 9,000 outlets in 30 countries
providing wireless Internet access, it seems they have shifted from
being merely a coffee shop to a symbol of promoting Internet ubiquity. |
| Generation
X: New Dad (Jan. 05) - Previously known as the Lost Generation,
Gen X now has families of their own, and is now playing a vital
role in the U.S. workplace and society. |
| Yellow
Bracelet Phenomenon - Stealth Marketing (Dec. 04) – Nike
has seized Lance Armstrong's cause and began the Yellow Bracelet
(WearYELLOW LiveSTRONG) campaign from May this year, that has since
exploded into a national sensation. |
| Boomerang
(Nov. 04) – Lack of funds due to layoffs and job searches,
saving for a mortgage, or for other reasons, kids returning to parents'
homes like boomerangs are a growing phenomenon in the U.S. |
| Mars
vs. Venus (Oct. 04) – In doing consulting as a US-Japan
business facilitator, I constantly see the gap in communication
and ways of thought as different as Venus and Mars. |
| Athens
Olympic 2004 (Sept. 04) – Olympics women's marathon winner
Noguchi of Japan was often seen passing hersponges at water stations
to fellow teammates Tosa and Sakamoto. When I saw her show this
kind of mental composure and ease, I believed early on that she
would win the race. |
| X
Games Summer 2004 (Aug. 04) – On Aug 7th, I got up at 4am
to travel from San Francisco to LA to root for my good friends,
the Yasutoko family's Eito and Takeshi at the 10th annual X-Games
held Aug. 5-8th. |
| Money
& Happiness (Jul. 04) – In Business 2.0's June issue, an
article made me reflect on the "meaning of life." People from 68
countries were ranked in the World Database of Happiness, and it
showed that there was not necessarily a correlation between happiness
and income. |
| E3
Report (May. 04) – At Electronic
Entertainment Expo (E3) Show in LA, the major game players -- Microsoft,
Sony, Nintendo -- all expressed their intention to sell games as
"social entertainment." My impression was that interactive, physical
game interface devices will gain more popularity. |
| The
Blues - A Musical Journey (Apr. 04) – For
my birthday last year, my husband gave me a book and DVDs of Martin
Scorcese's PBS series, "The Blues." |
| New
American Issue - Gay Marriage (Mar. 04) – Upon
returning to San Francisco after a two-week business trip to Japan,
the newspapers were filled with articles about gay marriage, a topic
that had been widely debated nationally since before I had left. |
| The
LLC Corporate Structure - A New Trend (Feb. 04) – As a
person who left the corporate world in Japan and came to the U.S.
in 1995, I thought about whether I would have started my own business
had I stayed in Japan. The reality was, I probably couldn't even
if I wanted to. At that time, a "company" to me meant "kabushiki
gaisha" (corporation). |
| Shopping
Frenzy (Jan. 04) – Americans' consumer behavior: The environment
of moral decay within American corporate culture contributed to
white collar crime such as that of Tyco's former CEO Dennis Kozlowski. |
| New
Year's Sailing (Jan. 04) – Hisami Ohshiba and her husband's
New Year's sailing adventure in San Francisco Bay. |
| A
Paradigm Shift - Apple Computers (Oct. 03) – CEO Steve
Jobs introduced Apple's iTunes for Windows with the statement, "Hell
Froze Over." |
| The
Digitalization of People (Sept. 03) – In the land of individual
rights and freedom, government and corporations' acquiring personal
information has increased with the rapid technological changes in
Americans' everyday lives. |
| Silicon
Valley's Entrepreneurs (Aug. 03) – Steve Wozniak of Apple
legend, has returned to the scene along with the new buzz word,
"Wi-Fi." |
| Broadband
Lifestyle (Jul. 03) – According to AOL Teen-Wired, 81%
of kids between the ages 12 and 17 use email, 70% use Instant Messaging
(IM) and by 2005, IM is forecasted to outgrow email usage by both
adults and children. |
| Marketing
to Generation Y (Jun. 03) – Generation Y - the next largest
consumer demographic in the U.S., is characterized by their individuality
rather than a group identity, and having a community of people with
common values is very important. |
| America
- A Lawsuit Society (May. 03) – The U.S. has double the
population of Japan, but has over 900,000 lawyers, or 45 times the
number of lawyers compared to 18,856 in Japan. |
| War
Time in America (Apr. 03) – It is the priviledge of 21st
century citizens to be able to take individual responsibility for
evaluating information. |
| Peace
& War - Perspectives on the pro- and anti-war movements in the
U.S. (Mar. 03) – I was struck by a email from Japan asking,
"The Japanese media reported that anti-war movements are considered
taboo in the U.S. Is that true?" I responded by describing the actual
situation in the U.S. |
| What
is mentoring? (Feb. 03) – How
trusted mentors serve as role models and help encourage people as
well as reduce their worries and anxieties. |
| IM
(Instant Message) of America (Jan. 03) –
Instant Messaging (IM) is gaining rapid
popularity as spam and viruses plague emails. |
| America's
SUVs (Dec. 02) – At
24 miles a gallon, America's popular SUVs' fuel efficiency has dropped
to 1980 levels and wasting gas has become a nationwide practice.
|
| Major
Entertainment Companies' Counterattack (Dec. 02) –
What the music and film industries have
in common is that these traditional major companies have created
a substantial online business for the first time by providing online
sales directly to customers using the Internet. |
| Resume
(Nov. 02) – Japanese
style resumes with photos differ greatly from global business sensibilities. |
| English
Test (Oct. 02) – Japanese people's
tendency to want to speak English perfectly becomes a crutch and
causes discouragement. |
| Men
vs. Women - The Way They Think (Sept. 02) –
In business, individual differences have a greater impact than gender.
Building trust with male superiors and colleagues is the first step. |
| Salute
to Elvis - 25th Anniversary Memorial (Aug. 02) –
The U.S. in the midst of "Elvis Week," commemorating the 25th anniversary
of his death. |
| Whistle
Blowers (Jul. 02) – Women's roles
as outsiders in light of recent scandals. |
| The
Loss of Corporate Ethics (Jun. 02) –
Corporate America's declining ethics has become a national crisis.
How did it happen, and what can be done? |
| Catholic
Crisis (May 02) – Sexual abuse of
children by priests and mounting lawsuits may bankrupt the Catholic
Church, the largest nonprofit in the U.S. |
| Major
League Baseball - A Community Business (Apr. 02) –
Marketing strategy of San Francisco Giants -- how they successfully
maintain high profits without media-related corporate owners. |
| The
Global Woman (Apr. 02) – Political leadership and using
women's positive traits to our advantage. |
| The
Fall of Enron (Mar. 02) – Corporate America in crisis and
women's roles. |
| Tears
are Neither a Woman or Man Thing (Feb. 02) – Japanese's
female foreign minister's tears at a press conference. |
| Camouflage
Makeup--Enron (Jan. 02) – Enron's
troubles have escalated into allegations of stock market and economic
woes, political scandals involving the Bush administration, and
the suicide of former Enron vice chairman J. Clifford Baxter. |
| The
Roles of Watchdogs and Fools (Dec. 01) –
Energy giant Enron's spectacular collapse and how Wall Street and
auditors failed to account for the biggest corporate failure in
U.S. history. |
| Spirit
of Silicon Valley -- The HP Way (Nov. 01) –
Silicon Valley's entrepreneurial spirit founded upon its pioneer,
Hewlett Packard |
| Take
to the Sky -- Southwest Airlines (Oct. 01) –
How Southwest is succeeding during the current troubles in the airline
industry |
| Beyond
Sports - X Games (Aug. 01) – About
Extreme Sports |
| Welcome
to Interactive TV World (Jul. 01) –
About the interactive TV industry |
| Online
Music – from Revolution to Evolution (Jun. 01) –
about the online music industry |
| Bay
Area Light & Shadow (May 01) –
The future of Internet and technology development |
| No
More Majority (Apr. 01) – Percentage
of minority populations surpass whites in California |
| Back
to Basics II (Apr. 01) – A newspaper
editor’s crusade against his company |
| Back
to Basics I (Mar. 01) – "Great
Expectations" of investors vs the realities of the dot.com
bubble |
| Dot.com
Blues (Mar. 01) – A look a the dot.com
business one year after the Nasdaq’s crash |
