Will crisis finally kill short term illness?

It seems like global business is suffering major short term illness. The internet hype in the late nighties was a great example of companies conducting ’sky is the limit’ strategies. After 9/11 and the Asia crisis we just went on-and-on possibly leading to the current global crisis.

That we are in a crisis, is no doubt. US just last week published BBP figures of -3.8%, unemployment increases to levels where the old adagio ‘the sky is the limit’ appeals to and Europe (especially the UK_ is suffering badly as well. And we are still in the middle of it.

Still, I recognize some overreaction with companies in their way to cope with the crisis. It now seems that companies are taking the chance to cut labour places like they are dealing with tropical rain forests. Complete departments are being laid off, although business in most of the cases has maybe declined for (only) 20-30%, which is bad, but not coherent with the numbers being laid off.

I predict that part of people fired will come back within a few months. Not all of them of course, since the crisis might and will deepen further, but at least part of them. Because what happens now, is more than cutting of the fat on the bones. We are also cutting the bones.

As Willem Buijter said at the FD Summit 2008: “it might be good that the crisis deepens further, to really bring some change to the world”. I think that is a very wise thing to say and that it will change the companies’ policies to a bit more longer term, consistent focus.

Selling to expats

Last week I entered clothing shop Jukebox in shopping mall Central in Singapore, looking for pants to wear for informal business meetings. I knew exactly what I was looking: kaki pants, cotton. No jeans. Although I actually saw imediately that this was not the shop to be in, I decided to have a quick look: after all, you never know. The moment I entered the shop, the three sales people who were obviously not too busy at that moment, remembered everything they learned at their sales training and sang “Hello Sir, welcome, can we help you?”. Although I remembered I clearly answered their question with “No, thank you, just looking around”, one of the sales ladies repeated the question another time after 30 seconds and one minute later her male colleague had a blue jeans hanging in front of me. He had apparantly been taught to be proactive, and he was. I made clear that I was not looking for jeans, threw a quick glance at another rack and left the shop slighly irritated because the sales people didn’t ask for my needs and tried to push sales.

Intercultural business does not go without speaking. Thousands of handbooks have been written about how to negotiate with the Chinese, what diner etiquettes to remember in Japan and how to shake hands in Brazil. And this case was a typical example of intercultural business on the floor.

Although a Westernized society, here in Singapore, I can see on a daily basis that differences are big. The original cultures come to the surface in shops and restaurants. And although quite often annoying or even irritating (nobody can help; that’s what cultural differences sometimes cause), you can only respect it. I hope I don’t sound arrogant, but I even feel kind of sorry for them sometimes. They are trying so hard, but it doesn’t work. At least not for me and a lot of other foreigners I know.   

In addition, this is not only a matter of culture, it’s also the stage of development of service. Singapore is doing very well and developing really fast. But there is still a way to go. Service is not yet at  the level we are used to in the US or Europe. But Singapore, and Asia, are catching up very quickly.

However you look at it, it shows once again; one can change the environment in a year, but you can’t change a generation in the same time. Selling to the Chinese in Singapore is something completely different than selling to a foreigner, especially when he or she lives here. Maybe the National University of Singapore (NUS) should start a training program ‘Selling to expats’. They can call me to do some teaching:-) Time will do the rest.

Asians don’t market

When I came to Singapore one year ago, I thought I would be doing interim marketing jobs for international companies. This is what I did in Holland for the last few years (Leaseplan, Delta Lloyd and Fortis) and it suited me well seeing a lot of different ‘kitchens’ and cultures, not being bound to one company and meet a lot of interesting people.

But Asia is different. First of all, they don’t know an interim market like we do in Europe. The labour market in Asia is very flexible, so probably there has never been a big need to work with temporary employees. I think that’s one of the reasons this market developed so fast in the Netherlands where it can take lots of time and money to fire somebody -if possible at all-. Consequently, if a company has the choice, it doesn’t want to go and hire a permanent one. Whcih makes interim the perfect solution. Several friends of mine own interim agencies and they make good money transferring managers from to company to company for several months. But not in Asia.

 

Next to a lack of interim opportunities, Asia does not market the way we do it in Europe. Asians sell, they do not market. Branding, advertising, creative concepts; they were not invented by the Asians. Business development, conferences, discounts: that’s what counts here. And that’s what works. And the explanation is not hard: the Chinese, who dominate the Asian market (also  in Singapore, Indonesia), focus on one thing; money. In other words: trade, selling.

Of course the multinationals (MNC’s) plan branding campaigns. Singapore Airlines choose their new advertising agency last year (TBWA was the lucky one) and there has a lot of creative work to be done. And of course, a lot of other big companies spend their dollars on branding. But still, it’s not a lot compared to the US and even Europe if you think that 3.3 bilion people are living in Asia and figures are even below those of Europe. And the amount for Asia also include Australia and New Zealand.

So, what does Diederik do now? I’m working with financial services company Amicorp as marketing & sales manager for Asia. That’s right, marketing AND sales and it’s a great experience:-) Amicorp is in the booming hedge fund business and services banks, law firms and other financial services providers with international tax and estate planning solutions.

Update Bizzies

I think it’s good to update those who are curious on the developments of Bizzies, my online business network. As you might have seen, not a lot has happened for a while. Just like my blog:-)

Well, that’s right. For the same reasons I didn’t write for my weblog. But, good news: I picked up the development of Bizzies again. Bizzies.nl will not be developed further, but I will go on with an international version. That means, for the Asian region, since I still believe in networking in separate regions (rahter than global). Like I said, in the end I might link the several regions, but I will not develop one global website.

I will keep you updated via this blog on Bizzies.

Sorry

My apologies to the millions of loyal readers of my blog. I’ve been offline for quite some months, but I’m back. Hurray!

My first year in Asia took a lot of time and attention, but I promise to publish more regularly this year. The same goes for my publications on Molblog. So Dutchies, go and read my first posting of 2008 for the weblog of the Dutch Magazine for Marketing if you’re feeling bored today.

For the English speaking visitors of this humble blog, the article on Molblog is about the shifting power from West to East. Of course, I’m talking about a business/marketing point of view, politics is not my job.

For the people who have been sleeping the last few years, this shift will become more and more clear in 2008. We will have the Olympics in Beijing, the F1 in Singapore and the Volvo Ocean Race (thanks Bas).

More important, on a structural level we will see more Asian (and Middle-Eastern) banks and investment companies take stakes in Western companies (like they did with UBS, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley recently) and Asian companies becoming market leaders (Toyota who beats GM).

And this is just the beginning. Asia has a lot of cash and the Chinese are born deal makers. And they’re sooo focused on growth. And then the Asians are with 3.3 billion. So where do you think this will end???

Online business network Bizzies taken one step further

By adding the feature of an extended profile, Bizzies has made an important step in its development towards a serious online business network.

There are a lot more features and functionalities to be added, but this one gives members the opportunity to present themselves more effectively to other members or visitors. Members or ‘Bizzies’ can now fill in their last three employers, their education and a bio, stating their character or other important facts about their background and personality. All important things to know when dealing with someone businesswise.

PrimeTime b-t-b marketing session

I had been asked to tell about my vision on b-t-b marketing for the Singapore business women’s association PrimeTime at the American Club last week. Together with Melissa Freudenstein, manager Institutional Investment Services Asia of Russell Investment Group, I spoke about what the major characteristics and developments of b-t-b marketing are, especially in the services industry.

Core message of my story was that b-t-b services marketing is all about one letter: the P from People. Therefore, I gave my view on the importance of 1-to-1 marketing in this business and that this way of marketing still needs a lot of development with a lot of b-t-b companies. Especially internet and other e-tools are yet at the beginning and can be very effective in b-t-b markets. I gave the example of the website of Akzo, that did a very good job (won several awards I think) and looks very b-t-c like, much more usable and ’sexy’ (’cause -believe it or not- b-t-b people also are just ordinary people). In my opinion b-t-b will move slowly towards b-t-c, creating global branding strategies and use other b-t-c techniques. The difference between the two, though, will always be there, with b-t-c having to deal with much more diverse and bigger target groups and more often buying processes based on emotion. 

Melissa gave a perfect view on the Asian all day practive, with her 6 years experience on this continent.

This was my first presentation in Asia and a very nice experience!

The social face of Unilever Asia

An interview for the Association of Dutch Businessmen (ADB) was a great opportunity for me and editor Maaike Peerenboom to talk to Bhaskar Sharma, VP Marketing Operations Asia (, Africa, Middle East & Turkey) of Unilever. It was an interesting conversation about the differences in marketing and branding between Europe and Asia, theme of the next issue of the ADB magazine.

Bhaskar Sharma told us more about the social aspects of marketing which are necessary in the sometimes underdeveloped economies in Asia, especially India. The whole marketing strategy in Asia has been based on changing habits, trying to move people from non-consumption to consumption. Contrary to the West, where it’s all about consuming more.

Next to that, Unilever introduced a Social Change program with which they market their products in a social way. Part of this program is a project where inhabitants of smaller villages, mostly female, are given the opportunity to cook and sell their own food (of course, with Unilever ingredients) and make a profit by that. If they do, they pay Unilever for the products they’ve been using and keep the margin. It’s a great way of giving these people a perspective for better life, both financially as mentally, by giving them a lot of self-esteem building their own little business. At the same time Unilever can market their products in a country where it’s hard to penetrate.

The first 3 days of Bizzies

This has been a Bizzie week so far. Since the launch of Bizzies last Tuesday 110 members registered already. I’m quite happy with that after three days, because I didn’t do any proactive PR, e-mailings or advertising so far. They are planned for later.

Critics on weblogs like Marketingfacts have been quite tough with some people asking themselves (and me probably) if Bizzies has gone live to early. In a way, that the website had not yet been developed far enough. Others thought that the Netherlands don’t need another online network or that the design “looks crap”. Hmmm.

Of course these are the critics from just one weblog, but I take them seriously and they are quite big in the Netherlands. On the other hand, readers of weblogs in general are quite innovative and might have a slight preference for weblogs, websites or online networks that use modern features. And Bizzies has not primarily been set up that way.

The critics also have to do with the introduction I choose for. You can either choose to develop offline until you have a perfect product to launch with the risk of developing something that does not quite fit the target group needs. Or you can launch a basic website with all the core functionalities and let the public decide what is good on the website and what is not and what is missing.

This scenario requires a thick skin:-), but will in the end deliver an online network tailor made for your target group. At least, that’s how I see it.

As we speak, we are developing an extended profile. That means that users will be able to publish more details about themselves like education, former employers, character and also publish a photo with their profile.

Also, in the meantime, we have been improving some functionalities to make the website more usable and we added more search criteria already. This will be a ungoing process of course.

Not registered yet? Do not hesitate: Get Bizzie!

Bizzies.nl LIVE!!!

I’m proud to announce that the first online business network for the Netherlands Bizzies has been launched this morning at 11am (CET)! I have to thank Michael for a great programming and designing job and Lode, Bas and Marc for their help with professionally testing the website. Thanks again guys!

Goal is to create the biggest business community of the Netherlands. We have planned to launch in other countries as well, but will first see how the Dutch version develops.

Bizzies differs from other communities like LinkedIn, because of its focus on local networks (Netherlands), its goal to add a ’soft’ aspect to business networking and because Bizzies has a very direct, down-to-earth model to get in contact with other business people.

Don’t forget to go to www.bizzies.nl and register yourselves!