Conspicuous (Coffee) Consumption
How can you show your friends that you have ascended to your country’s middle class? Starbucks. A recent BusinessWeek article on the world’s most caffeinated countries cited a connection between an...
View ArticleMore Conspicuous (Coffee) Consumption
The same story. But now it is about coffee. Increasingly affluent, the Chinese have begun to drink more coffee (in addition to using more oil, eating more meat and buying more handbags). When talking...
View ArticleHelpful Acronyms
Reading about the potential contagion of Greece’s debt problems, I discovered STUPID in Schott’s Vocab, a NY Times blog about words and phrases. Schott quoted Reuters Breakingviews, “The new acronym on...
View ArticleCars and the Middle Class in Developing Nations
What does it mean to be middle class? For a developing nation like China, income might be the key. If someone earns between $10 and $50 a day, then that person is middle class. Or perhaps you just need...
View ArticleOne Reason To Drink Coffee in China
How can you show your friends (in China) that you have ascended to your country’s middle class? Starbucks. First, some background… A 2010 BusinessWeek article on the world’s most caffeinated countries...
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