By Nicolai Pogrebnyakov
IESE Post-doctoral Researcher
The current economic situation is forcing companies to be more competitive and obligating them to adopt Business Process Management applications.

Read

Title: The World Economic Forum's Global Enabling Trade Report
Source: World Economic Forum
Date: July 2009
Summary: The Global Enabling Trade Report is an annual study by the World Economic Forum that analyzes the behavior of the mechanisms tied to free trade in each of the 122 countries covered. In the 2009 rankings, Singapore leads the pack, followed by Hong Kong, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, Canada, Norway, Finland, Austria and the Netherlands, in that order. Spain ranks 22nd, slipping five places from the previous edition. The countries immediately preceding Spain are: France, Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland and the United Kingdom. Spain's strengths include its transport infrastructure while its primary weakness is physical security, which has dropped significantly compared to the previous year. The index is prepared in cooperation with organizations from each country (IESE in the case of Spain), and examines the behavior of each State's institutions and regulations in terms of the free flow of goods and services over borders, as well as the costs related to security; tariffs and other trade barriers; border administration; transport and communications infrastructure.

Read more 

Source: The Economist Intelligence Unit
Date: June 2009
Abstract: Since the year 2000, The Economist Intelligence Unit has worked in cooperation with the IBM Institute for Business Value and its Center for Economic Development the produce the annual study on e-readiness. The report, which has been discussed in previous editions of this newsletter, looks at 70 countries in terms of their usage and ability to benefit economically and socially from ICT. To do so, it evaluates over 100 separate criteria related to their presence in each country's economy and ranks these according to their technological, economic, political and social models. This ranking will allow governments to measure the success of their technological programs, compare them with those of other countries and provide business information to companies. In this year's edition, Denmark sits atop the rankings, followed by Sweden, the Netherlands, Norway, the United States, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Canada and Finland. At 25th, Spain moves up a spot relative to last year's ranking. It is neither a surprise nor happenstance, but rather the result of a decisive governmental policy, that certain countries remain at the forefront of the World Economic Forum's ranking, which is also reviewed in this issue of the newsletter.

Read more 

On July 1, 1979, Sony launched the device that "changed everything and instantly made us happy, miserable, isolated individuals, ready to be run over in the street,” recalls Néstor Fenoglio, in the Argentine newspaper El Litoral. It was, according to Fenoglio, "the first device that threw us 30 years back and we've yet to return. To date, none of the things that followed—networks, the Internet, the communications boom—have the tremendous power of the image of a youngster going around with headphones on, listening to who knows what.”

Walking down the street listening music on a device in your pocket is commonplace these days but that wasn't the case 30 years ago, explains Marcelo Bernárdez in El Periódico. Sony would eventually sell 380 million of its audio cassette players despite many claims that the Japanese multinational was not the device's inventor. That distinction, as recognized by the courts, is in fact attributed to the German-Brazilian Andreas Pavel. The Walkman, adds Bernárdez, spurred on the race for the miniaturization of components, and changed the habits of many young people, creating an veritable army of kids deafened by their damagingly high listening volumes, as well as paving the way for MP3s, the iPod and a plethora of portable music devices now carried by people everywhere. "In the dynasty's family tree, the Walkman is the grandfather, the venerable patriarch, and deserves respect as such,” he concludes. But 13-year-old Scott Campbell, whom the BBC asked to test drive the Walkman and compare it to the iPod, sees things differently: "I'm relieved that the majority of technological advancement happened before I was born, as I can't imagine having to use such basic equipment every day,” he explains.

Nevertheless, despite the current landscape being dominated by the iPod, Sony is not throwing in the towel. In late June, it launched the X1000 Series, the first Walkman model to feature a 3" OLED screen. It also has added an Internet connection.

Articles in El Periódico (spanish), El Litoral (spanish), CNet.Uk, and BBC News

As digital television becomes standardized around Spain, analog television is exiting homes and entering the annals of technology history. As of June, DTT was already reaching 15.2 million daily viewers, in July 10.4 million households have coverage (62.7% of the total), and the service already covers more than one third of the country. By the end of this summer, according to data from the latest report by Observatorio de Impulsa TDT, digital television coverage will have surpassed that of analog TV. With regard to its immediate impact on the economy, sales on new TV devices has helped stores soften the blow of the crisis, given that 19 million DTT units have been sold since the start of the transition process. Another sector particularly benefiting is that of antenna installations, which cannot keep pace with the demand. DTT "is also benefiting the software brands specializing in application design, which have entered this segment with products that tremendously expand the possibilities of interaction with media players," according to an article published in Cinco Días.

However, expectations in terms of the business to come from participating in the channels themselves are not as clear. Julio Villanueva explains that "most of the new entrants will lose money, since there are too many channels to be financially sustainable, which in turn could have a negative impact on their quality.” Villanueva, author of the book La TDT: un negocio imposible[DTT: An Impossible Venture], feels that one positive aspect is that new formats and niche channels will be tested out and some may even be successful. The IESE professor adds that it will be some time before DTT capitalizes on its interactive possibilities but that nevertheless this will not match the revenues of traditional advertising. Joan Rosé, president of the Spanish Association of Interactive Television (AEDETI), shares this opinion. "These days, operators are not as interested in interactivity. Furthermore, bandwidth is limited and extremely expensive, and there is very little interest on the part of the viewers.” Nevertheless, says Rosé in the newspaper Público, "the collapse of TV advertising coupled with audience fragmentation, as well as the emerging television connectivity options with new strategies from Internet players such as Yahoo! and Google, will spur on interactive services.”

Articles in spanish El País, Público, and Cinco Días