Hometown at CeBIT 06 ~ The World Is Flat
2007-01-01
Hometown at CeBIT 06 ~ The World Is Flat
- http://www.hwswworld.com/wp/?p=49
Sometime last year, I wrote an Editorial titled Global Localization and Local Globalization, and did not realized that Glocalization had been invented already by Thomas L. Friedman, who wrote the best seller titled The World Is Flat. I was impressed by the book titled Blue Sea Strategy, published in Chinese as well, so I went to a local bookstore to try to locate the Chinese version The World Is Flat, but failed to get it. Instead I had to order it online at amazon.com, and was persuaded by amazon.com to purchase their recommended book from the same author titled The Lexus and the Olive Tree, you have believe the power of online marketing, and that’s all done by software, no manual cold calling, drop-by visit etc. Since this was the second time we visited Germany, it turned out quite straight for us, just the same as the first time, we booked hotel accommodation, rental car online, and even two-way connecting railway tickets between Frankfurt and Munich. We were very nervous at the plane with a Munich map full of German going to Munich one year ago, and I had to ask two German gentlemen many times on how to get the downtown Munich from the airport by driving, no place is easier than in North America by driving with just a few clicks at map.yahoo.com. However, despite we had few glitches this time, we still made a big mistake, since we stayed at a hotel (again Best Western) 120 kilometers (one way, not two-way) away from Messe Hannover, which was a big headache for me since I had to drive my colleagues back and forth for one week on the highway without a speed limit, and that was still in winter with frequent bad weather at Hannover. I forgot exactly in which edition of our publication, in the editorial, I described my DATE 05 experience at Munich, and I mentioned there, that after the completion of DATE exhibition, I took a night train going to CeBIT 05 to have a look there. I was impressed by the scale of the exhibition, and that led us to skip DATE 06, and to participate CeBIT 06 instead, since there are some time frame conflicts there. BTW next year DATE 07 is scheduled in France sometime in mid-April, so there will be no time conflicts any more
At CeBIT, in the Outsourcing Hall (Hall #8), we are one of the three outsourcing companies from Mainland China; there are a lot of Indian companies, followed by Russian companies. According to official statistics by CeBIT, the number of exhibitors from Mainland China rose from three-hundred or so to more than four-hundred, second to the number of exhibitors from Taiwan, and soon gonna be No. 1 I regretted we did not have the vision to set up this blog earlier, so I have to wait till now to record our CeBIT experience due to the overwhelming tightness of Editorial/Guest Editorial schedule. For the upcoming DAC, you gonna have the chance to watch our blog’s DAC Special Edition updated at least once a day.
We did a great job at CeBIT 06, quite a few visitors went to our booth, and even there were a few competitors or potential competitors. Our freely distributed publication went out amazingly quickly, just like the way it did at DesignCon 06, and we regretted to ship too few hard copies to CeBIT, next year definitely we gonna ship much more there. There was a reporter from ComputerWorld magazine who is located in Norway also visited us, and interviewed me. We also showcased German-Chinese ICT Forum at CeBIT, I made two presentations, one for our company, and the other for Chinese Software Industry Association, since the President and the Sectary General could not make it due it their tight schedule My colleagues and me went to Hannover City Hall to attend Grand Opening Ceremony of CeBIT 06, I was expecting a great dinner there as we got at CEATEC 05 and DATE 05 among other trade show, actually nothing, instead what impressed me a lot was the opening speech delivered by German Chancellor, she said that, the globalization should be an opportunity instead of challenge for Germany, as as well Europe, instead of challenges. To be honest, she is an open-minded, smart leader with global vision, it is quite beneficial for the Germany’s sake in today’s highly competitive world The World Is Flat, that’s all I can say after our trip back from Hannover for CeBIT 06, even I haven’t got a chance to finish the book just delivered