Material for thought

I visited Hong Kong Disneyland the other day. It was not without any resistance as the park has not the reputation of being the best of its kind. But it was only 20 minutes away by public transport and I’m a specialist in theme parks after all, so I could not resist and did my duty.

The park was definitely lacking a level of details in the execution of the themed areas. The budget was too tight it seems. It was nowhere more apparent than on Main Street USA and the Disney castle. The buildings were smaller than in other Disney parks and didn’t have enough details; some looked as cheap as in second class parks.

In this second post of a series about my visit to the Shanghai World Expo, I’m going to describe some of the stories presented in the national pavilions. The goal is to sell industrial services and manufactured goods, not to really imagine a better city, better life. But because it is the official theme of the Expo, each country tries to argument a connection between its own interests and the noble cause. The result is in many cases pathetic. It didn’t stop me enjoying the pavilions and the great architectures and multi-media installations; it was just not making any sense.

The socio-economist Yann Moulier Boutang and the business strategist Antoine Rebiscoul gave a speech at La ligue des Optimistes (see video in French) and at the Philosophie et Management seminar about possible evolutions of capitalism as we know it today. Here are two interesting points they made among many others.

• An economy of contribution is an economy where actors contribute without having necessary a measurable counterpart (e.g. money, product). This model is radically different from an economy of exchange and must be taken into account when the externalities underlying an industry become central to its process. In this context, the function of companies is to capture positive externalities.

Napoleon Bonaparte

France is the most popular tourist destination of the world, thanks to its massive cultural patrimony, more than 3,000 heritage sites open to the public. Its position is however challenged in a constantly evolving tourism industry. This is why ODIT France has been created, its mission is to analyze the tourism market and help French institutions and corporations to better fulfill its demands. Here is a summary of the presentation ‘How to make culture and leisure work together?’ that ODIT France presented at the International Heritage show held in the Carrousel du Louvre, Paris. I found the subject fascinating because it mixes the most commercial marketing methodologies with very important cultural considerations.