*Ready, Aim, Fire: A recent Inc.com reader survey demonstrated "who gets shown the door and why" when it comes time to hand out pink slips. Among the results:
- 20% of respondents had fired a full-time employee in the past three months;
- 12% fired their secretary or assistant;
- The most-fired department was sales and marketing: field sales reps (12%), client services/internal sales reps (6%), heads of sales (6%), marketing staff members (6%) and
frontline customer service reps (6%); and,
- Other endangered staff members included IT specialists (8%), project managers (8%) and heads of HR (6%).
Source: Inc.com
*Virtual Branding: Trilogy Studios, producer of such video games as Daybreaker, has created an online virtual world around the popular MTV show "Pimp My Ride." Virtual Pimp My
Ride, a free downloadable game, allows fans to interact online, build cars, and compete in drag races and other events in a virtual Van Nuys, California.
Trilogy is at present the only game developer creating virtual worlds around brands, and is working with several partners on such projects. According to chairman and CEO
Michael Pole, revenue from virtual worlds can be generated via transactions within the game, in-game advertising, subscriptions, and purchases of real items in the online world.
Popular networks like MySpace and Facebook are evidence of the audience for online communities, and advances in online games like World of Warcraft have shown that many
consumers will actually pay subscriptions to interact online. Virtual Pimp My Ride is only the first of many products that will allow gaming and social networking in a world
centered around a specific brand.
Source: BusinessWeek.com
*MySpace China Slow to Catch On: Essentially a literal translation of the American product, MySpace China's (launched on April 27, 2007) performance has thus far been
lackluster, the biggest problem, according to a Shanghai-based research firm, being a failure to localize the service and adapt to Chinese culture. Already-established competitors
also pose problems. Local rivals Mop.com and Tianya.cn claimed 48.8% of all user visits to networking sites in April, and Xiaonei.com, the self-proclaimed Chinese Facebook, leads
university networking sites.
With the financial backing of News Corp. behind them, MySpace representatives expressed a lack of concern for revenue just yet, saying they would concentrate on improving the
product over the next year.
Source: BusinessWeek.com
*Monitoring Memes: Fortune and Daylife have created an online device called the Meme-o-meter, which measures how much a number of different technology memes - ideas that
circulate and mutate throughout the culture like genes - are being discussed online in news stories and blogs each week. Get the latest stories by clicking on the topic.
Source: Fortune.com
*IT Risks are CEOs' Worst Fear: According to a report by the Economist Intelligence Unit, nearly a third of the 145 international senior executives surveyed listed IT systems
collapse as their company's greatest risk, ranked above natural disasters and terrorism. Only 1 in 10, however, said their businesses had ample IT risk management. Complex IT
systems keep companies competitive, but can leave them vulnerable. According to the report's editor, Rama Ramaswami, IT risks include:
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Interruption of business continuity;
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The impact of delayed IT projects; and,
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An effect on customer service revenue and productivity.
*Selling the Media: Barbara Corcoran, President and founder of real estate company Corcoran Group, offers these tips for attracting the media attention you want:
1. Treat the reporter as a customer.
2. Become an expert in your field by being quoted early and often.
3. If applicable to your business, publish some kind of statistical report that serves the industry - stats are the backbone of many stories.
4. Return reporters' calls immediately.
5. Don't be self-promotional.
6. Give short, blunt quotes.
7. Call reporters with your pitch and follow it by saying, "Is there a story here?"
Source: Inc.com