Leaders At Alibaba, Youku, And Baidu Are Slowly Shaking Up China's Corporate ...
What is the sound of three hands clapping? I found out at noon on a Thursday in September, while walking through the headquarters of the e-commerce titan Alibaba in Hangzhou, China. On the fourth floor, a massive work space is filled with hundreds of headset-equipped salespeople sitting under yard after yard of fluorescent lighting. This is Alibaba's army of cold callers. They telephone clients who have storefronts on the website, urging them to buy keyword advertising or to pay to boost their online rankings. Each salesperson inhabits a cubicle furnished with a desk, a plastic sunflower, and a mirror--the last a reminder to smile, because it's an article of faith at Alibaba that a customer can hear a smile over the phone.
" Liuqian !" yells one girl, popping up from her cubicle. "Six thousand!" She has just persuaded a client to buy 6,000 yuan of keyword advertising. On cue, each of her colleagues raises their assigned celebratory device: a long plastic stick with three plastic hands at the end of it. The sound of three hands clapping--which to you may seem like a misremembered koan--is clickclickclickclickclickclickclick , nonstop on a good day. It is also the odd noise of corporate culture in China slowly changing. As Alibaba founder and CEO Jack Ma told attendees of a company meeting, there is no place left that you can build a new country, but you can start a new business culture.
Since corporations began popping up here during the economic liberalization of the 1980s, workplace culture has been defined by what one might call the Great Wall of corporate China--a divide between the haves (the executives) and the have-nots (the workers). Consider the state-run drug company Harbin Pharmaceutical Group, whose particularly opulent Sixth Factory in Harbin, in China's far northeast, drew the attention of state broadcaster CCTV in September. The corridors boast walls inlaid with gold leaf. Crystal chandeliers descend from the ceilings. The furniture looks straight out of Versailles (though it would insult the dead to imply workmanship worthy of the name Louis XIV). From these luxe digs, the fat cats, Communist Party members all, supervise their charges--without seeing them, if possible.
Satire On Corporate Culture The Office - News
They must be modified because the culture "is just different." Hip Hop Office Quartet, which is produced by Youku, draws 4 million viewers per episode with its satire of the prevailing Chinese corporate culture, its hierarchy, discipline, paranoia,
Even the satirical magazine Frank collected $57517 from the taxpayers, surely one of its best pranks. Hundreds of weekly newspapers across the country also receive grants, including those owned by major media corporations. One could argue that there is
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Classical satire usually is. DeWitt has a great talent for recreating inner monologues with eerie precision. She recreates all the double-speak and the verbal flotsam of a hyperactive culture of motivation and self-improvement with painful exactness
The only numbers that are on the rise is the dreadful suicide rate. Harping on this note, the book comes as a sweltering satire, promising to arrest the exact pulse of a corporate India. Today's readers are already lapping up the corporate culture.
Cicularity Thinking - | hOOpalOOza
A six minute satire on corporate culture, Circularity Thinking brings hula hooping to the boardroom. Directed and produced by Lucia Zoro and Roses Urquhart. Economic times are tough, but Scottish business visionary Shona Campbell has an answer, and it’s hoop-shaped. From her glossy executive office, Shona candidly relates the meteoric rise of her company, Circularity Thinking, and their new business model, TITC. Extraordinary hula-hooping, glamorous corporate locations and a pulsing soundtrack combine in a truly revolutionary business manifesto that will delight anyone who has spent time in an office. Featuring Sharna Rose Bevan, Anna Drury and Craig Reid. Directed and produced by Lucia Zoro and Roses Urquhart.