A market Tesla can’t crack

Chinese factory worker Weng Changqing knew he wanted an electric car before he even had his driver’s license. Living in a small town in eastern China and looking to start a family, he figured the savings on gas and maintenance would allow him to afford to buy his first ride. He wasn’t in the market for a Tesla Model 3, which starts at about $38,000 in China. Instead, the 37-year-old bought a $10,000 crossover from local electric-vehicle maker Hozon Auto. It’s one of a growing number of vehicles that run on batteries and electric motors gaining popularity in lower-income parts of the country because of their modest prices and lower running costs. Cheap, reliable EVs like Changqing’s have the potential to open car ownership to a whole class of people who previously couldn’t afford to have their own wheels. Changqing estimates the cost of electricity to charge his car for an entire year to be less than $400, which would buy only 377 litres of gasoline in China.

(Adapted from “China’s $4,230 Electric Cars Tap Huge Market Tesla Can’t Reach,” by River Davis, published on March 11, 2021, by Bloomberg Businessweek)

Tackling a boss who ignores you

What should you do if your boss is consistently ignoring you and your ideas? Sometimes the best way forward is to get together and talk about it. If you’re working from home, send your boss an email to initiate a conversation. You might say, “I was wondering if you have 30 minutes to spare this week. I want to bring my best to work every day, do more, and be as effective as I can. I’d like to share my plan with you, and I’d like your support.” A good leader isn’t likely to decline your request. During the meeting itself, talk about how you value your boss and their leadership, and how you’re looking for ways you can pitch in more. Most likely, your boss will share constructive feedback. But if they are not willing to entertain a conversation with you at any time, at least you now have a clear picture of the type of boss they are and whether you’d like to continue working for them.

(Adapted from “What to Do When Your Boss Is Ignoring You,” by Michelle Gibbings, published on June 16, 2021 by Harvard Business Review Ascend)

The global centre for illegal filming

South Korea is the global centre for illegal filming and sharing of explicit images and videos, according to victims, researchers and advocacy groups. The country boasts the world’s highest rate of adult smartphone ownership and among its fastest internet speeds, with 99.5pc of households having access to the internet. Cutting-edge technology has abetted a wave of digital sex crimes targeting young women and girls, as high-speed streaming and encrypted chat rooms have provided new vehicles for propagating deeply embedded gender discrimination and disseminating material depicting sexual violence against women. A new Human Rights Watch report highlights that the crimes commonly involve intimate images captured and disseminated both by strangers and women’s acquaintances.

(Adapted from “It’s Going To Always Be On Someone’s Computer: Digital Sex Crimes Haunt South Korean Women,” by Song Jung-a and Edward White, published on June 16, 2021, by The Financial Times)

The not-nice billionaire

What happened in New York City’s only Amazon fulfilment centre during the pandemic shows how Jeff Bezos pulled off the impossible, achieving record growth and spectacular profits — and also reveals relentless turnover, inadvertent firings, racial inequities and an employment model under strain. Some of the practices that most frustrate employees — the short-term-employment model, with little opportunity for advancement, and the use of technology to hire, monitor and manage workers — come from Bezos. Bezos, Amazon’s founder and chief executive, believed that the company should avoid a long-serving, entrenched workforce, calling it “a march to mediocrity.” He said that people were inherently lazy, a former HR vice president recalled: “What he would say is that our nature as humans is to expend as little energy as possible to get what we want or need.” So instead of focusing on retaining employees, Bezos created incentives for them to leave.

(Adapted from “The Amazon That Customers Don’t See,” published on June 17, 2021, by The New York Times)

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, June 21st, 2021