The Next Organization

Social Networking Use is a Function of Culture and Internet Access

Analysis of the results from Ipsos Insight’s "The Face of the Web 2006" shows a high negative correlation between frequency of visit to Social Networking site of a number of countries and Hofstede's Individualism Index of these countries. However, outliers suggest that Internet access is another factor that influence Social Networking site access. For Vietnam, this means the country is a good prospect for Social Networking services, but will only realize its potential if Internet access situation is improved.

The Face of the Web, Ipsos Insight’s annual study of Internet and Technology trends, was based on a survey conducted in November and December 2006 in urban Brazil, Canada, urban China, France, Germany, urban India, Japan, urban Mexico, urban Russia, South Korea, the UK and the US. Among the results is the frequency of visitation to Social Networking Websites like show above.

Popular analyzes focused mainly on the "South Korean" and Cyworld phenomena. However, from my observation and a conversation with a friend, Minh Do, the most notable result was a high visitation by South Koreans, urban Brazilians, urban Chinese and urban Mexicans than by the Brits, Americans and Canadian. Intuitively, I immediately thought of culture as an underlying factor.

Trends in service offshoring and implications to Vietnam

Two recent studies indicated new trends in rationale and direction of service offshoring that differ from the conventional thinking. Vietnamese government, organizations and companies need to be aware of these changes to improve the country's competitiveness in the global market.

Duke University's Duke/Booz Allen Offshoring Network Survey 2006 showed an interesting trend, i.e. offshoring is no longer "moving jobs elseswhere", but rather "sourcing talent everywhere", which will be dominant in the long run.