Imagine being inside a snow globe surrounded by tall pine trees, fresh powdery snow at your feet and falling from the sky. This is my attempt to describe the scenery on a mountain at South Lake Tahoe in December of last year. My husband and I, along with 3 of our friends, went to Tahoe to snowboard for a few days. Not having been skiing or snowboarding before, my experience was both exhilarating and painful! Since my husband grew up near the mountains in Colorado, he was very familiar with skiing and longed for it ever since he moved to Texas. But like many skiers, he flipped his nose up to snowboarding, so this was a relatively new experience for him as well.
Tahoe is mojo for the outdoor junky. There is something outdoorsy to do in Tahoe at almost any time of the year. During the summer, vacationers flock there to enjoy the immense lake (72 miles around) and partake in water sports, camping, fishing, hiking, etc. While in the winter, people like myself visit to enjoy skiing and snowboarding on the mountains. Vacationers not interested in the outdoor physical activities can relax at a restaurant, bar, or even casino (depending on which side of the California-Nevada border you're in) in the cute little town. As the city is known for attracting tourists, the locals are very friendly and helpful. There are also many restaurants, hotels, and shops nearby. I especially enjoyed the shops right at the foot of Heavenly Mountain.
On the first full day, we went to the Sierra at Tahoe. We had heard that the slopes were beginner friendly as compared to the other mountains in Tahoe. Once we arrived, we went to get our tickets to the slopes, our training passes, and our gear. While I was told that snowboarding was less expensive as compared to skiing, it was by no means cheap! The gear, especially the boots worn on top of several pairs of socks, was heavy and uncomfortable but definitely blocked the wind and snow. It took me almost 30 minutes to get everything on and tightened!
I was a little nervous about the upcoming experience. As I walked outside bundled up with my step-in snowboard in hand, I tried to take in the beautiful scenery and the crisp air. While the rest of my crew immediately attached themselves to their step-ins, I tested the ground to gauge its softness and looked anxiously at the "green" slopes scattered with dozens of snowboarders.
We had snowboarding instruction for about 2 hours where we learned how to start, stop, steer, and "fall properly". While I didn't have any problems falling, I never did master getting back up correctly. It was a little embarrassing as the instructor always had to give me a hand.
After snowboarding for about 6 hours that day our bodies felt like jelly. I could hardly sit or walk as my thighs felt torn. Surprisingly, we had sweat a lot on the mountain even though the actual temperature was probably around 10-15 degrees Fahrenheit with an even lower wind chill.
The next day, we went to Heavenly Mountain, which was right near our hotel. The gondola ride up the mountain was beautiful as we were able to see the lake from a distance. Heavenly, while much bigger than Sierra, also had fresher and softer snow (better for the bum). It also had higher slopes for the more experienced skiers and snowboarders. In general, this was the mountain that attracted most of the winter tourists.
That night, after another fun and exhausting day in the snow, we went to a cozy little Thai restaurant called Thai One On. While I've tried many different Thai restaurants, this family-owned business was out of the ordinary. The service and food were exceptional. The owner even came out and talked to us and our food was prepared exactly the way we had requested.
I am sure that after that trip my husband is no longer as much of a ski snob and we will make it a point to do that again. Maybe next time, I'll try skiing. While we were exhausted, we couldn't believe how fast 3 days went by and weren’t looking forward to getting back to a somewhat “less than scenic” Dallas.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
The "Education" of Outsourcing
By now, most people have heard of or have had first hand experience with outsourcing. Companies participate in outsourcing mainly to reduce internal costs but also to focus on their core competencies. They most often outsource routine work efforts but have also been outsourcing large development projects as well. I do wonder, however, if the diminishing level of education in our country is connected to this in any way. Is it facilitating outsourcing?
While the US is home to some of the world's most renowned schools and colleges, only 33% of our workforce pursues higher education past high school. This is lower than the mean for most developed countries. While lacking in developed physical infrastructure and many basic amenities, countries like India and China have been aggressive about providing college education to their growing workforce. Though these schools do not necessarily have the most leading edge equipment, they do offer rigorous career development programs. Graduates often get jobs in call centers or IT companies and have contributed to the development of these countries. This developing workforce is leveraged for its knowledge and its affordability by US companies. US Companies can employ more people from places like China or India at considerably lower costs than possible in the US. But, there are so many people who are paid minimum wage in our country. Why doesn't our government take a more active approach in supporting them through vocational or industry-specific programs that will give them long term skills - such as for Network Operations Centers or even for application testing? It is true that if more people in the US were to get higher education, their pay rate would likely increase - that is just the way our economy works. But, more graduates competing for the same job would possibly balance out wages as well.
I also wonder if we are losing many of our college graduates to other countries. There were over 565,000 foreign students in US schools between 2004-2005, a large number from both India and China. While I don't have exact numbers, I am sure a huge percentage have gone back to their countries of origin and thus have contributed to the lower education levels of the US. In addition, the knowledge they have acquired from US based programs has not directly helped our economy. I am sure though that this is something that the US has not changed due to trade policies that it has established with other countries. None the less, it is a topic of concern.
While the US is home to some of the world's most renowned schools and colleges, only 33% of our workforce pursues higher education past high school. This is lower than the mean for most developed countries. While lacking in developed physical infrastructure and many basic amenities, countries like India and China have been aggressive about providing college education to their growing workforce. Though these schools do not necessarily have the most leading edge equipment, they do offer rigorous career development programs. Graduates often get jobs in call centers or IT companies and have contributed to the development of these countries. This developing workforce is leveraged for its knowledge and its affordability by US companies. US Companies can employ more people from places like China or India at considerably lower costs than possible in the US. But, there are so many people who are paid minimum wage in our country. Why doesn't our government take a more active approach in supporting them through vocational or industry-specific programs that will give them long term skills - such as for Network Operations Centers or even for application testing? It is true that if more people in the US were to get higher education, their pay rate would likely increase - that is just the way our economy works. But, more graduates competing for the same job would possibly balance out wages as well.
I also wonder if we are losing many of our college graduates to other countries. There were over 565,000 foreign students in US schools between 2004-2005, a large number from both India and China. While I don't have exact numbers, I am sure a huge percentage have gone back to their countries of origin and thus have contributed to the lower education levels of the US. In addition, the knowledge they have acquired from US based programs has not directly helped our economy. I am sure though that this is something that the US has not changed due to trade policies that it has established with other countries. None the less, it is a topic of concern.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Can I Be of Some Service?
I had a great idea for a new product recently. As making this product myself would require more effort than I am willing to invest and because an already established company would be able to produce and mass market the product easily, I decided to check the company's website for their "Suggestions Box". To my surprise, I found that the company didn't have an online blog where suggestions could be made!
With online social networking on the rise and the average American spending approximately 32 hours per month online, it is surprising that more companies do not leverage this opportunity to perform market research. After all, isn't it the customer that drives innovation? Additionally, the cost savings realized through reducing traditional methods for doing market reasearch such as through paper or phone surveys would likely contribute to their bottom line. Since most companies today have websites, it would be easy to solicit new ideas and comments from their customers by implementing web logs. Companies such as Telligent, through its Community Server platform, can help organizations integrate forums and blogs into their existing sites and further facilitate communication with their customers.
While there are companies such as Dell, with its Idea Storm forum, that have implemented online communities to discuss and vote on new product ideas, there are still too many companies that have not caught the wave and are likely missing out on the great ideas for future products from customers like myself.
With online social networking on the rise and the average American spending approximately 32 hours per month online, it is surprising that more companies do not leverage this opportunity to perform market research. After all, isn't it the customer that drives innovation? Additionally, the cost savings realized through reducing traditional methods for doing market reasearch such as through paper or phone surveys would likely contribute to their bottom line. Since most companies today have websites, it would be easy to solicit new ideas and comments from their customers by implementing web logs. Companies such as Telligent, through its Community Server platform, can help organizations integrate forums and blogs into their existing sites and further facilitate communication with their customers.
While there are companies such as Dell, with its Idea Storm forum, that have implemented online communities to discuss and vote on new product ideas, there are still too many companies that have not caught the wave and are likely missing out on the great ideas for future products from customers like myself.
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Radio Shack Going the Tweeter Route
For a while now we have been hearing about the slow demise of Radio Shack. A couple of weeks ago, I interviewed a guy for my team who was part of the group of people recently laid off from Radio Shack. I wonder if they are going the route of Tweeter.
With competition from low cost retailers like Fry's and Best Buy, Tweeter was not able to survive in the the electronics industry. Though they had a customer base for the high-end brands they carried, the majority of electronic consumers are clustered within the mid-priced products range. Retailers like Best Buy and Fry's also display more versatility than niche players like Tweeter. Best Buy offers a wider range of items such as appliances while Tweeter offered mainly high-end home audio and video equipment.
Radio Shack is definitely feeling this competition as well. While having been around for over eighty years, RadioShack has had many shifts and downturns in the recent past. Their growth has been stagnating for the past 5 years due to their inability to successfully compete and control their operating costs. Additionally, Radio Shack has also had trouble defining their marketing strategy and finding a niche consumer base.
For many years, Radio Shack was the sole provider of high quality home electronic products. Today they carry an assortment of medium grade products including mobile technology, home theater, and home audio devices. They established themselves as a quality leader with a reputation of employing well trained individuals and delivering exemplary customer service. The market downturn for Radio Shack occurred after low cost competitors such as Best Buy and Fry’s came into the market. These companies had larger stores with wider selection. Radio Shack, on the other hand, focused on increasing the number of smaller locations nationwide. They carried their own brand of products such as Optimus along with generally known brands like Energizer, Panasonic, and Sony.
I think by having unknown in-house brands, Radio Shack is wasting shelf space and advertising money. While these brands appeal to the cost-sensitive buyer, they do not necessarily help to build or maintain a consumer base for Radio Shack. Additionally, Radio Shack can use the opened shelf space to appeal to the higher end clientele previously being serviced by Tweeter. Thus, they can broaden their selection and fill a gap in the customer base that is not recognized by any of their major competitors.
Without proactively making some vital changes, the company will continue to see fluctuating or declining sales and be forced to close more stores and lay off more employees, merely reacting to their crisis and thus going the way of Tweeter.
With competition from low cost retailers like Fry's and Best Buy, Tweeter was not able to survive in the the electronics industry. Though they had a customer base for the high-end brands they carried, the majority of electronic consumers are clustered within the mid-priced products range. Retailers like Best Buy and Fry's also display more versatility than niche players like Tweeter. Best Buy offers a wider range of items such as appliances while Tweeter offered mainly high-end home audio and video equipment.
Radio Shack is definitely feeling this competition as well. While having been around for over eighty years, RadioShack has had many shifts and downturns in the recent past. Their growth has been stagnating for the past 5 years due to their inability to successfully compete and control their operating costs. Additionally, Radio Shack has also had trouble defining their marketing strategy and finding a niche consumer base.
For many years, Radio Shack was the sole provider of high quality home electronic products. Today they carry an assortment of medium grade products including mobile technology, home theater, and home audio devices. They established themselves as a quality leader with a reputation of employing well trained individuals and delivering exemplary customer service. The market downturn for Radio Shack occurred after low cost competitors such as Best Buy and Fry’s came into the market. These companies had larger stores with wider selection. Radio Shack, on the other hand, focused on increasing the number of smaller locations nationwide. They carried their own brand of products such as Optimus along with generally known brands like Energizer, Panasonic, and Sony.
I think by having unknown in-house brands, Radio Shack is wasting shelf space and advertising money. While these brands appeal to the cost-sensitive buyer, they do not necessarily help to build or maintain a consumer base for Radio Shack. Additionally, Radio Shack can use the opened shelf space to appeal to the higher end clientele previously being serviced by Tweeter. Thus, they can broaden their selection and fill a gap in the customer base that is not recognized by any of their major competitors.
Without proactively making some vital changes, the company will continue to see fluctuating or declining sales and be forced to close more stores and lay off more employees, merely reacting to their crisis and thus going the way of Tweeter.
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