Monday, April 30, 2007

Le débat Sarkozy Royal sur NRJ 12


NRJ 12 a décidé de diffuser le débat du 2 mai entre les deux présidentiables. Ceci pour affirmer le caractère généraliste de la chaine de télé qui pour l'instant ne diffuse que des clips et des séries américains du début des 90's. Très beau geste de la part de NRJ12...

Monday, April 23, 2007

Which future for market research companies?

This is an interesting question. I wanted to give you leads about a conference I attended with my master at Dauphine about a market research institue that was introducing its new way to evaluate a communication campaign. The institute reckons advertising efficiency has been diluted with the multi channels campaign. It is hard to know what created good brand image for a company, wheter it is the TV or radio ad, the Internet campaign or the public relation's one. Thus, they try to develop some new ways to estimate the value. Thus, they propose to a tester to sit in front of a computer equiped with a media center. Thanks to this process, the tester will see a TV show with ads, then will listen to radio, and read some news online. This procedure has been thought to estimate which media brought what results.

In my opinion, this is not the good solution. Indeed, it is very hard to evaluate a TV campaign impact, it will always be hard to. I don't think however to use the media center, because it is not the same thing to listen to the radio in the morning, then read the news paper at lunch and watch TV in a bed than to have all of that at the same time in front of a computer.

Therefore, this person has not convince me in any way. I still consider important to test campaigns, and also admit it will never be very sharp. That remain one of the main difference between Internet and media campaigns : results control.

Sunday, April 22, 2007

France votes today

Today is in my country the presidential election. After having Jacques Chirac as a president for 12 years, a new group of politicians will have the power. These presidential elections are thrilling this year, because three candidates can pretend to the presidency. That means the race has never been that open. I can't wait to see the results tonight...

Friday, April 20, 2007

What about a google phone?

A rumor is talking about a Google phone. The google phone will allow the consumer to use all the google tools and services such as checking emails, using google map or finding information online. After the Iphone, I am axpecting a lot of the possible google phone, which might be one of the first smart phone to allow people to use decently internet on it.

Indeed, we have seen this year in class how hard it can be to create webpages for portable devices. The screen size causes problem and force webmaster to create specific pages for those gears. Google however has developped smart pages that adpat themselves to the screen size. I think it can be interesting to see thus Google expanding its knowledge in the mobile market.

Why I should stop blogging

This is a title of a very good article I saw on Internet today.
Peter Blackshaw has posted it on his blog, and details ten reason to stop blogging. Indeed, people might not see it that way but blogging require time and reflexion especially to be interresting and visited. You have to get good news, relevant information and constantly new articles to interest visitors. This is thus a good thing to get an opinion of a blogger about his work to get a good blog.

Médicaments sur Internet

Je voulais revenir sur un article que j'ai trouvé sur le net la semaine dernière.
Cet article discute du projet de l'ordre des pharmaciens d'étudier l'ouverture d'une cyberpharmacie. Ceci serait une révolution en France, alors que la commission européenne vient de mettre en demeure l'état français pour qu'il libéralise le marché de la pharmacie. En effet, la France doit mettre fin au numerus closus qui régule l'ouverture des magasins. De même, l'union européenne est pour la distribution de médicaments en grande surface, chose qui se fait aux Etats Unis, mais aussi en Grande Bretagne ou en Hollande.

Mais le sujet n'est pas là. Les médicaments sont des produits sensibles, qui peuvent être dangereux et dont le choix doit être prescris par un médecin pour une bonne utilisation de ceux-ci. Je trouve très bien le fait que l'ordre des pharmaciens aient eu cette idée, car elle permet d'apréhender l'avenir sereinement. J'ai hâte de voir le résultat. En tout cas, le projet devrait se terminer dans huit mois.

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Ezra

I had the opportunity to attend the french premiere of Ezra, a Nigerian movie about the Sierra Leone's civil war that devastes the country for too long. This movie has won a price as the best African movie of the year. I found this movie very interesting. It shows the story of Ezra, a Sierra Leone child who is kidnapped to be enrolled in a rebel army to fight against its government. The young person is forced to kill and to adopt the ideology of the extremists of this country.

It shows well the disaster of civil war, especially in Africa, a continent deeply touch by these problems.

Dell and Lynux

Dell will propose soon computers equiped with Lynux. They have already tried it, but it did not really interest customers of the brand. However, I think it is a very good idea, and shows how Lynux has improved its attractivity, and it might become a real alternative to windows. I might buy my next computer with Lynux, and maybe a Dell too. So we'll see...

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Hofstede's cultural dimension

I wanted to write a brief article about Geert Hofstede. This professor has dedicated its studies to defining cultural dimension and evaluating them in a business environment. It is obvious there are cultural differences between an American and a Saudi Arabian partner. For example, in our French culture, when we shake hands with someone, that means we have agreed on something, and shows the end of a negociation process. However, in Saudi Arabia, people shake hand to start the negociation. While our European/American cultures would push us to negociate a contract by dividing it in different pieces (price, logistics, and amount for example), Chinese people would consider a bid as a whole, and won't understand you will try to negociate a small part of it.

Hofstede has thus compiled information to sum cultural differences into 5 dimensions : Power distance, individualism, masculanity, uncertainty avoidance and long term orientation.

It is important to have a knowledge about those dimensions because it can change the way you would negociate with someone depending on its background. Thus, I think you should visit http://www.geert-hofstede.com.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Internet is back

I wanted to let you know I have back Internet at home. That is a great news because it will be easier now for me to work at home. Moreover, I bought a new wi fi card that allow me to get wifi connection in places such as Mc Donalds, the University, or others. Indeed, Mountain View is known to be the first place to have free wifi access! It might be useful though.

I have also went those past days to my parents' house in Pauillac, South West of France, Close to Bordeaux, where I have been able to rest for a little bit. It is a nice place, surrendered by wine plants (Pauillac is known worldwide for its famous wines, especially Mouton Rothschild). I am looking foward to going back there. Hopefully I will be able before my trip to the US.

Anyway, I hope to give you news soon.

Retour d'Internet

J'ai enfin réussi à avoir Internet de nouveaux! Cela va certainement me permettre de travailler plus facilement, et donc de pouvoir alimenter de nouveau mon blog. J'ai passer 4 jours à Pauillac, dans le sud ouest de la France, dans la nouvelle maison de mes parents. Cela fait du bien de sortir des problèmes parisiens! Je reviens donc à vous bientôt.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Sevrage numérique

Je suis en train de vivre en effet un sevrage numérique depuis plusieurs semaines. Déjà d'une part, mon adaptateur wifi est cassé, et je me retrouve donc obligé à utiliser des connexions filaires. Mais aussi, je n'ai plus Internet à la maison pour cause de déménagement! Me voila donc durement touché par le destin. D'autant plus que le réseau de l'université est en réparation et que sur les ordinateurs mis à disposition je ne suis pas capable d'ouvrir ma boite gmail... Enfin ce sevrage m'a permis de faire un petit break avec Internet (il est vrai que je passe plusieurs heures par jour entre le travail, le loisir et les achats...). Il est cependant vrai que dans une optique professionnelle, c'est très handicapant. Je ne peux pas consulter des mails, faire des recherches.. Me voilà donc très handicapé...
Cependant, une lueur d'espoir arrive. Je viens de recevoir mon modem Tele2 et je devrais retrouver Internet chez moi très rapidement.

Thursday, April 05, 2007

Salon MD expo

Je me suis rendu hier au MD expo, qui se tenait à la porte de Versailles. Cette année fut aussi l'occasion de visité son cousin, le SECA, salon de la relation client et du centre d'appel. Ce fut très intéressant de voir toutes les entreprises et les pratiques du secteur. J'y ai par exemple vu de nombreux nouveaux acteurs, qui récoltent des addresses email par le biais de jeux concours. Cependant, je trouve qu'il n'y avait que très peu de présentation de produits novateurs, ou de concepts forts. Je n'ai malheureusement pas pu rester très longtemps, et je n'ai pas participé à des conférences. Je trouve cependant que ce salon est une réussite, et permet d'avoir une vue large des différents acteurs du marché.

Last day of class

Today was our last day of class with the retailing and customer relationship master in Dauphine. That is a strange feeling to know that my life as a student is over. I had great time this year, even though it was a very busy year. Between the classes, group projects, the mission for Sanofi Adventis, the website and my internship research, I did not really had much spare time. Therefore i have not posted a lot of messages. Most of my classmates found some interresting interships, and I hope to see them again soon, even if I am going to the US soon.

Monday, April 02, 2007

To benchmark websites

I just wanted to show you a good website, that offers to compare two to three websites traffics. It is very interresting to see the difference, especially between google and other websites. The gap is hudge!
http://snapshot.compete.com

Cérémonie de remise des diplômes de l'Ipag

Je reviens très content de la cérémonie de remise des diplômes de l'Ipag. Cela m'a permis de revoir mes anciens amis et camarades de promotions, et faire la fête une dernière fois avec eux.
Je suis aussi très content de voir l'implication de la direction et sa créativité. J'estime que de développer des masters avec des universités étrangères est un réel plus pour l'école et montre bien sa capacité à se démarquer de la concurrence. En tout cas, cette soirée été très réussie.