Study Group: Council Members who are Knowledgeable on Online Social Networking

GLG News^SM Analyses by this Study Group's Leading Experts(?)

Baidu - Tough times ahead? Probably NOT.

August 28, 2009

Analysis by:Michael Bonfils, President and Worldwide Director,

Analysis of:Baidu -- A Sleeping Giant Awakens | searchenginewatch.com

The article  emphasizes the issue's advertisers are having as they change from an old legacy system of Baidu  to a new interface that almost mirrors Google. Will this ultimately be a positive or a negative for the Chinese Search engine? How will it affect Google's position in China?  In my analysis, I explore some more details left out of the original article.

California's Public K-12 Education System Is Worsening

August 12, 2008

Analysis by:Jason Ma, Co-Founder,

Analysis of:California at the Front of Education Trends | www.usnews.com

1) The Calfornia public K-12 education system has been suffering from budget cuts for decades, is not at the forefront, and is these days among the bottom 10% of the states in terms of standards and results. 2) It used to produce higher-quality student results two decades ago but since then it's been deteriorating as compared to some of the higher-standard systems in the East Coast and Midwest. 3) It is ironic that about 20 of the top 100 "Gold Medal" public high schools are in California, though these 20 are indeed very good schools, as I know the ones in the Bay Area. See: http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/high-schools/2007/11/29/gold-medal-schools.html.

New Oriental and China's For-Profit Education Space

August 12, 2008

Analysis by:Jason Ma, Co-Founder,

Analysis of:China's Little Dragons | www.forbes.com

1) Chinese parents in China spend a much higher amount of their annual income on their one child's education, as compared to parents in the U.S., and do almost anything to help their (sometimes spoiled) kids. 2) More and more yuppies in China are increasing their wealth and spend to get ahead in life (and to show off status symbols), including acquiring better English for better career opportunities. 3) New Oriental will continue to lead China's growing, for-profit education space. 4) As an aside, the unstoppable China train will surpass the U.S. in GDP sooner than 2030, not 2040!  It's only going back to the old long-term trend line two centuries ago, if you will.  When the U.S. was a baby, China and India were over 40% of the worldwide GDP.

Observe mobile & online payment in S. Korea, Japan, China

April 25, 2007

Analysis by:Jason Ma, Co-Founder,

Analysis of:Mobile Payments Gain Energy | www.wirelessweek.com

1. Timely article.
2. Highlights the U.S. while Japan, S. Korea, HK, Singapore, other parts of Asia Pacific, and W. Europe are already a few years ahead in implementation and consumer attitude.

Google: A Really Smart Team But Can It Execute Perfectly All the Time?

April 24, 2007

Analysis by:Jason Ma, Co-Founder,

Analysis of:Google's Only Foe: High Expectations | www.forbes.com

1. As the emerging major ruler and "landlord" of the Internet, a guess is Google's market cap will come down a lot due to future execution imperfection vs. Wall Street persistently skyhigh expectations but will overtake Microsoft's in the long term.  (This assumes market conditions won't tank due to force majeure.)
2. Google will see more and more time in Washington, DC, for monopoly issues.
3. The Microsoft vs. Google business war will get increasingly delicious.

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