Yeah, you’ve heard the phrase: When life hands you lemons…

But it’s true that all of us have to do it at one time or another: make lemonade.

Whether we’re big into China business or small, lemons hit us all.

They recently hit China Mobile – the world’s largest mobile phone operator – very hard.

China adopted 3G (third generation) standards for mobile phones on January 7 – a standard which may leave China Mobile reeling for new customers that won’t be taking its bait.

“To foster competition, decision-makers chose to award a license for the strongest 3G technology to the weakest telecom, and vice-versa,” according to Caijing.

In other words, the most mature technology – a Japanese one called WCDMA was gifted to China Unicom, the smallest of China’s three operators.

And China Mobile got the stinky pooh end of the stick: the domestic TD-SCDMA standard that still is undergoing tests.

“The telecom giant is stuck gripping a pistol, the argument goes, while its competitors are armed with rifles,” Caijing noted.

So, if you’re China Mobile, what do you do?

For the moment, the company is putting that pistol down, believing it’s firmly established 2G matrix still is the chosen one and can kick competitor ass.

“China Mobile is now promoting its own cell phones and prepaid service plans among existing 2G customers,” Caijing reports. “The strategy is aimed at binding current customers and minimizing client churn tied to the 3G introduction.”

Further, the company is looking to leapfrog right over 3G into 4G.

“3G cannot achieve much success in China,” a source from China Mobile’s marketing sector told Caijing. “Given a lack of revolutionary advancements in 3G’s network speed, bandwidth and efficiency, many believe 3G is only a transitional technology leading to 4G.”

Whether China Mobile’s lemonade comes out tasting sweet or sour is anyone’s guess, but at the company at least has its lemon squeezing down right.

On a smaller scale, making lemonade is one of the essential tasks that face every China entrepreneur. Often, you have to do it after lightning strikes a lemon tree that you happened to be sitting under.

Vivek Wadhwa, a successful technology entrepreneur, suggests a few essential tips for “when life hands you lemons” in BusinessWeek.

Here are ten lemonade commandments, based on his experience:

1. Bigger lemon = better lemonade (metaphorically speaking only). The bigger the failure, the bigger the success that may follow.

2. Those who can write books about their lemonade can write bigger books on their lemons. Only those with lots of failures have big successes.

3. Arrogance is a telltale sign of lemon virgins. Mistakes will make you wiser.

4. Humility is a telltale sign of he who has done a lot of lemons, and made a lot of lemonade. Experience is a great equalizer among men.

5. Empty promises hides sour lemonade…which is nothing compared to what will be your customer’s sour face.

6. Being committed to a good product takes lots of time and effort, but makes an excellent lemonade. There is no get-rich-quick lemonade.

7. After you’ve made some excellent lemonade, get ready to squeeze more lemons. Failure is bound to hit again and again.

8. Lemons can yield pleasant surprises. Everyone wants to know who their real friends are, and conditions for this are ripe when the lemons are.

9. When the lemons are abundant, sour grapes don’t have to be. Pop a stick of Juicy Fruit and wait for the tide to turn.

10. The best reward isn’t the lemonade. It’s trying to make it.

We’ll add an 11th commandment: When you encounter a lemon, don’t pee your pants. No one wants to smell urine when they’re buying lemonade.

    Channel: Local Wisdom     |