Technology As Innovator

The Request that invoke excitement

Vietnamese citizens, especially Hanoians and people in the construction industry, are excited by a recent request for fulfillment of commitment sent to Keangnam - Vina (K) by a group of war veterans and construction experts (R).

The request, as reported on many newspapers, can be summarized as:

• The 1000th Anniversary of Thang Long - Ha Noi, the one millennium year-old capital of Vietnam, will take place in 2010.
• Keangnam Hanoi Landmark Towe, constructed by Keangnam Vina has been appointed as a tribute to the great event.
• (R) believes that (K) will not be able to meet the deadline for the event.
• (R) challenges (K) to an agreement:
  • If (K) can meet the deadline, (R) will reward (K) with VND 100 billion (approximately USD 6.25 million)
  • If (K) cannot meet the deadline, (K) will then apologize Hanoi citizens and compensate VND 100 billion to (R)
• Both sides propose to donate the money to charitable organizations.

Media and observers’ reactions

Almost immediately, the buzz rose throughout Vietnam on this agreement. Two topics are usually exchanged in conversations:

The technical aspect of the agreement “can they (K) make it?”

and who would win the what-they-call wager.

The business lessons

What I am intrigued is I have learned various business lessons from Keangnam Vina’s response to the challenge.

Asset Management

(K)’s offer for the deal includes 11 apartments on the sixth floor and one penthouse whose total value is estimated to VND 1 billion.

It is important to note that during this economic recession, the real estate market is going slower. There has been evidence of downturn on luxury apartments’ price. While it is difficult to predict the price of these assets in 2010, experts agree that the chance these assets will increase in value in the next two years is slim.

Keangnam Vina’s offer can be considered smart in terms of financial values.

Reputation Management

(K) has been very responsive to inquiries regarding the agreement. This has boosted their visibility on the news and the company is now more well-known by Vietnamese people than ever.

(K) also promised to donate the money if they win to charitable organizations, makes it a diplomatic move.

They have done a very good PR pitch on the field.

Project Management and Resource Management

Though this is usually not easy to observe from outside, we can expect more advanced Project Management and Resource Management techniques by (K) to reach the committed deadline.

Quality Control

Quality Control is also an interesting area we can watch.

What do you think of this incident?

Tai Tran's Lab: Technology As Innovator

Assignment 1: promotion and expectation management using social media

Requirements

Chan Than San is a Vietnamese model working in East & South East Asia region. He has a Xanga site, a Yahoo! 360 site, a MySpace account and at least 2 Facebook accounts which he maintains manually himself. In 2010, his modeling career is rocketing it consumes most of his time and his manager wants him to fully focus on his main task as a model.

Suppose you are hired to be the Social Media Manager for Chan Than San.

1. How will you get to know him both professionally and personally? Detail all assumptions made.
2. How do you plan for the transition from he to you on the current accounts? Also clarify the legal and ethics issues relating to account management.
3. How do you manage expectation in communities in which the language used is not comprehensible to you? For example, you speak English and Vietnamese and want to see what Indonesian fans say about him - of course they use Indonesian.
4. Which media will you use to promote him? Why?
5. How do you manage the community? Detail all assumptions made.
6. How do you deal with criticism, negative responses, flaming, spamming, trolling from the communities both within and out of your management? Detail all assumptions made.
7. How do you collaborate with his manager, stylists, event manager, photographers and fan club coordinator?
8. How will you do SEO on his fansite (if any)?
9. Who do you expect to report to? Detail all assumptions made.
10. Think of a case when conflict of interest arise. Detail that case. Propose solutions you want to take in order to tackle the conflict.
11. Where do you see yourself in the next 3 years in your career?

What the…?

What is this joke about?

No this is not a joke. I’m serious.

This is a piece of career orientation I’m giving for the enthusiasts in the social media industry - if you care enough.

Social Media gives a platform on which new business opportunities are built. What businesses? Every single kind of business you can name.

In social media, there are not only the product implementers (creators), the advertisers (trader), the analysts (observers), the investors (angels), the users (clients). There is also the role of the consultant.

Consultants are ones who utilize knowledge and reputation influence to assist the business growth. Financially, this role helps generate revenues, and adds another link in the cashflow of this industry. These are also people who spread the words, standardize the concepts, educate users and businesses.

Where are these people in Vietnam? I can see Nguyen Viet Hai from i360 and Do Quang Tu. I know some others who are doing jobs very close to this role.

Are you interested? Think about it. And I hope you have been inspired.

Trivia

Do you wonder why I chose this particular person to write about, not another more well-known Vietnamese celeb? The reason is that he is not known only within Vietnam, but in other adjacent countries as well. The regional opportunities and challenges if working with this person are interesting to raise. The second thing is that he is using some social media properties including Xanga & Slides, apart from the default-in-Vietnamese Yahoo! 360 + Flickr, which should intrigue/interest the social media experts. This is similar to the buzz in the social media world about Britney Spears on Twitter.

I’ve heard about a fansite for Hoang Thuy Linh being developed by several young social media initiators. This could be a great opportunity for experiment with new media interactions. It will be interesting to see how a fansite built by the 2.0 people will differentiate itself from other sites.

What do you think?