The Musings Of An Opinionated Sod [Help Me Grow!]

Asia Develops In Dog Years …

One of my favourite online stores, Brando, have just started selling the World’s most pointlessly brilliant gadget ever – a USB heated blanket.

No longer will you have to freeze as your scrooge of a boss turns off the heating in winter to make a few dollars more profit because for just US$25 you can be all toasty-warm while you do your spreadsheets or whatever it is you do to earn your crust.

Sure the blanket is not as good as Brando’s USB Microscope or USB MSN Missile Launcher [both winging their way to me as I type] but they won’t keep you warm in winter will they?

A lot of people in the West still associate Asia as producers of the sort-of plastic tat you’d find in your Kellogg’s Cornflakes back in the 70’s/80’s – and while you may think the items I’ve highlighted don’t exactly take away from that image – what it does shows is how when Asia sees an opportunity, they don’t wait till they have quantifiable proof of it’s potential, they get off their arses and go for it and adapt the product ‘on the fly’.

Sure this leaves them open to making masses of costly mistakes – but as many people live a life where there attitude towards brands/products is disposable – any failure can quickly be counteracted by utilizing the power of speed and exploiting the next upcoming trend/product opportunity.

 Flexibility Leads To Profitability

To be honest, this attitude is much more prevalent in China/HK than other parts of the region [many countries in Asia tend to follow the philosophy of perfection rather than invention – with Japan being the most extreme example of this belief] however when a company like BRANDO can identify, build and sell a Nokia N95 Desktop Charger before Nokia has even realised the need for one, you start to realise why China could soon become the dominant player in products/brands over the next few years.

Sure they have a hell of a lot to learn about brand building, quality control and customer service – plus there’s an inherent negative perception they need to counter – however the people are smart, driven, pragmatic and not nearly as far behind in the issues I’ve mentioned as some seem to think – so if you’re up for one of the most challenging, exciting, rewarding, interesting and frustrating [ 🙂 ] times of your life, get out of the fear-ruled West and come to this side of the planet – it’s where it’s all happening and where it’s all going to happen.

PS 1: Oh and for Charles and Connie, have a look at another Nokia phone invention from Brando – mental!

PS 2: I know this post flies in the face of something I wrote last week – but lets face it – you don’t come here for consistency of thought do you? Ha!

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