Congratulations to  Gary Bourgeault (first place), Colbert Low  and Rhazib Ahmed (runners-up) the winners of the comments contest. Quality interaction with other members of the blogosphere contribute strongly to readership of Know More Media blogs. More importantly congratulations to everyone at Know More Media (authors and staff alike) for making the month of August so successful! I am so honored to be part of this growing network; keep up the good work.

I have been following the controversy with Wal-Mart for a while now...since that first catchy cover from Fast Company a few years ago. This week Business Overview reflected on this controversy from a political perspective, begging the question “Why are Democrats bashing Wal-Mart?”. I also found it interesting to read about Wal-Mart going upscale. I have always found Wal-Mart’s products – particularly clothing and accessories – to be of substandard quality and hardly worth the value of saving a few bucks. I certainly hope they improve the quality of workman ship on the clothing or people looking for more than “just rock bottom prices” will continue shopping elsewhere.

If you want tips on how to do business with the Japanese, you might want to check out this article by Rising Sun of Nihon; one of the most honest and simple answers to the possible – inevitable rather – cultural barriers that can arise when doing business internationally. Another good twist was the post from Pan Asian Biz about bribery being the social lubricant in China.

Hats off to South Asia Biz for writing a compelling post on an important economic question. With economies growing in many Asian nations, including India and China, it would make sense that the standard of living begin to increase as well. Looking for follow-up posts on this topic.

Picture retrieved from: Google Images