June 29, 2012
Weekly Roundup: The rise of Chinese women, the evolution of cities and smartphones everywhere
Posted by: Jessica Vaughn - New York in North America
-The McKinsey Global Institute considers the evolution of cities and “the rise of the consuming class” as urban areas expand at an unprecedented speed and scale.
-The Economist looks at the central role that educated and ambitious young women are playing in China’s economic and social development.
-China’s “promiscuous” consumers are not inclined toward brand loyalty, according to a study from Bain & Company and Kantar Worldpanel, reports The Wall Street Journal.
-A new McKinsey report, The World at Work, outlines challenges the global labor market will face in the next two decades.
-The Economist examines “a revolution in the workplace” for Brazilian women.
-McKinsey’s Sustainability & Resource Productivity issue includes a look at the business of sustainability, how India is tackling green growth, how countries can transform water economies and new models for sustainable urban growth.
-A new poll finds that America’s values are in “upheaval,” according to The Atlantic.
-China is going beyond emerging markets to fund infrastructure and resource projects in the U.S. and other developed regions, reports The Wall Street Journal.
-The Economist spotlights more bad news for Europe: Fertility rates are declining again, likely due to the recession.
-Time considers why American women are still burdened with the majority of housework, according to the latest American Time Use Survey.
-Thanks to the rise of online social networks, mixed-gender workplaces and urbanization, Indian families are hiring private eyes for premarital snooping, reports the Los Angeles Times.
-An excerpt from Richard Florida’s The Rise of the Creative Class, Revisited spotlights race and gender differences among America’s creative, service and working classes, via The Atlantic.
-The Economist takes a look at the tug-of-war between P&G and Unilever for dominance in the developing world.
-Google’s new made-in-America Nexus Q player is an early indication of what looks to be a shift away from Chinese manufacturing among American electronics companies, reports The New York Times.
-An Adweek issue on tweens examines how marketers are targeting this increasingly important demographic and reports on the rise of “advergames” and pre-game video ads.
-A new study from Common Sense Media looks at how teens view their digital lives.
-A Pew Internet study finds that a significant portion of Americans access the Web only through their cell phones.
-E-books have made reading a “measurable and quasi-public” activity, reports The Wall Street Journal, and now retailers and publishers are starting to analyze all the data.
-“Think smartphones are ubiquitous now? Just wait a few years,” says The Guardian, as analysts predict that 90% of mobile users will have no choice but a smartphone in two years.
-New research from Deloitte finds that smartphones are helping more than hurting brick-and-mortar retailers, reports MediaPost.
-An explosion in digital loyalty cards is challenging the Groupon model, reports Bloomberg Businessweek.
-Ad Age reports that butter is becoming more popular, and brands are responding with novel variations on the grocery staple.
-Gaining inspiration from food trucks, a growing number of entrepreneurs are opening stores on wheels instead of paying for retail spaces, USA Today reports.
-In a look at the luxury retail sector, The Guardian reports that “the business of catering to the super-rich is still booming.”
-The Next Web takes a look at how crowdsourcing is developing in Latin America, where the trend is flourishing.
-Publishers are giving classic books cutting-edge covers in a bid to draw more teens, reports The New York Times.
-Are robot workers getting good enough to replace humans? Bloomberg Businessweek investigates.
-Traditional outdoor activities such as hunting and fishing are becoming less popular among Americans, in favor of other forms of nature viewing, such as photography, according to Wired.
-Driven by the EU crisis and aided by the Internet, a black market for organ trafficking is booming in Europe, according to The New York Times.
-What happens when 1,000 connected computers are set loose for “unsupervised learning” on the Internet? They learn to identify cat faces, reports Slate.
