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Flooded WD Plant near Bangkok. WD has 60% of its total capacity in Thailand.

Another example of how the world is flat and all of our lives are interdependent on each other and the environment.

The flooding in Thailand inundated major hard drive factories near Bangkok. Globally 25% of of all hard drives are made there. WD, one of the 2 largest makers, produces 60% of its total output in that country.

The flood is now at 2 meters high, and the entire Bang Pa-in Industrial Park is now covered in water. This puts at least 37,000 workers without jobs and its effects impact almost everyone globally.

How? Computer makers like HP, Dell and Apple will not have enough hard drives for making new computers for the next few months… likely all through Christmas. Even when drives are available, new computers will cost more at the till. Thailand is also a hub for hard drive parts such as motors and disk media; with the supplies cut, other plants in China and Malaysia will decrease output as well.

Prices has already risen 30% to 50% in Canada. All computer stores and distributors are scrambling for supplies. In fact, those that has quantity in stock are not releasing them to their peers or customers.

This is a very interesting case study material on the behavior of the market. Although no actual shortage is reached yet (it takes weeks for the drives to ship to Canada), the perception of an imminent shortage is enough to cause panic. Elementary economics’ supply and demand rules also apply here. Prices shot up almost as soon as the news reached stores, before the actual supply decreases.

A deeper implication is that of equality in business. Now with limited supplies, all computer makers are fighting to secure the supply life-line. Guess who will get them first? Right, the big companies like Apple. Small businesses are hung out to dry – they are the last ones to get any allocation. In the current state of business – economic uncertainty and already short memory supply from Japan’s quake – many local small businesses are at major risk of losing lots of money. Big companies with more cushion on cash flow and stronger bargaining power will survive while their smaller siblings will not. The world is flat… but it doesn’t mean it is a fair trading ground…

Vancouver is a coffee pot. As it seems there is never enough coffee shop to go around. You find it at every corner. Literally… the two Starbucks across from each other at Robson and Thurlow has been classic textbook material.

Yet if you dig deeper – even for a non-caffeine-addicted guy like me – the truth is they simply lack character. Starbucks, Waves, Blenz and Timmies are cookie-cut products from large impersonal corporations. Baristas appear friendly at first but most are minimum-wage earners trained to smile and greet. Not genuine. The tenure is too short, turn-over too high for them to genuinely care.

This industry – and its market – really needs a purple cow. Vancouver is too big and too diverse for a group of cookie-cut coffee houses. I miss the small but full of character coffee houses in Victoria, but even those are not purple cows. Such coffee shop has to be extraordinary. How about an appointment-only / invitation-only place serving personalized Kopi Luwak? How about a coffee house whose owner actually traveled to African and Indonesia, sample the beans near a farm before bringing them back and roasting them in house? Perhaps a coffee drinking co-op that donates all proceed to good social cause?

I have not yet noticed any such cow. If someone spotted one, let me know please.

Regular email newsletter that provide relevant and timely information will help small business build a community of followers. However many businesses do not do it correctly. Here is a quick list of tips for building a successful one.

• Don’t frequently sell products and services. If you are always trying to sell, readers will unsubscribe. Offer truly valuable information then they’ll come back to check out your offers.
• Don’t add people to the list who have not asked to receive your newsletter.
• Make your special announcement upfront, right at the center.
• Include a “learn more” link to your website. Your sales pitch should be on your site, not in the email.
• Always include the option to unsubscribe. Don’t get marked as spam.
• Measure its performance with Google Analytics. This will help you improve your content.
• Ensure regular delivery, otherwise your readers will forget about you.

If this sounds like lots of work, check out the following providers that will make it easier. They handle the logistics of managing list and the actual delivery, you can worry about content.

1. MailChimp - my favorite, it’s free under 500 subscribers and integrates with twitter.
2. AWeber - I’ve heard many good things about them and it has great deliverability and works well with affiliate marketing.

With these tools, there is no excuse for any small business not to communicate to their loyal customers through contact emails. Doing it will help build community and your company.