We need more African and emerging market brands!

By Malko Ebers, CEO New York Business Consultants

Sept 02nd 2014, New York City

Isn't it amazing you can spend your entire lifetime in America or in Germany or another 'Western' country and you will probably never encounter an African brand. Yes, globalization is real, the information economy is real and we are all connected but brands from emerging markets? How many do you know, which ones matter to you?

Yes, your t-shirt might have been made in Vietnam, your car is German, your smartphone from Japan, your wine from Spain and you own hundreds of products from all over the world. We depend on each other, global supply chains and connections are incredible they are part of our economies and daily choices as consumers - we probably wear items from a dozen countries when we leave the house. But are we just 5% aware of where our products are from, of the complexity of what makes this wonder of supply possible? Of course not.

We are however aware of brands. Look at the above image. It shows mostly US brands and I am sure you know plenty of them, a five year old kid pretty much anywhere on the world could recognize thge McDonalds sign and would know what it means, which products and services to get there.

Companies spend hundreds of billions of dollars a year on advertisement, it is like a tv-industrial complex and you can't escape. From online pop up windows to the daily mails offering you another credit card, to mails offering you to switch to the fastest internet to...an endless stream of communication, brands screaming at you 24/7...all while we have more choices than ever and less time.

In this multibillion dollar battle for attention any less wealthy companies have a tough time engaging their customers - but the internet makes it possible, it makes it possible to target customers for a low budget and for particular business, let's say a local coffee place.

What we should see is that commodity producers start developing their own brands which will allow them to sell directly to customers via ecommerce and to directly approach retailers and distributors. If you for example produce coffee or cocoa it is a very tough business to be in because your product doesn't differentiate from any other producer. Your business depends on world market prices and that makes you vulnerable and your business risky. If you sell coffee beans then you get 20 cents for the cup that Starbucks sells for $7dollars! You can do the exercise for any commodity. So where is the money? The answer: in brands and processed commodities, this is where the added value is. You won't get much for your coffee beans or your oranges doesn't matter how good your business is but for a branded coffee or juice it looks extremely different.

With our partners in Africa, India and other emerging marketplaces we observe that these economies rely far to heavily on commodities. Many of the producers should ddevelop their own brands and should proactively do business development in other countries to 'fight for shelve space' to open flagship stores and to find their way to the hearts and minds of consumers.

I want to see more African and other brands from around the world, it would create a fairer world and richer consumer experience. If we just have a handful of Western brands everywhere, if we only see H&Ms and McDonalds from new York to Shanghai and Lagos it would be boring and very few people would benefit. The internet and ecommerce, the opportunity to engage consumers globally give us unique opportunities to change this structure and to develop a more rich and pluralized brand landscape for the benefit of all.

& If we can give you a helping hand how to develop and market your service or product, how to create a brand that sells in the Us or Germany, get in touch at info@newyorkbusinessconsultants.com or toll free 1-800-481-2707

Danke Sehr and Thank You

A gesture makes a big difference in intercultural organizations (and in life)

By Malko Ebers, Sept 02nd 2014, New York

I recently spoke to a German manager who had been transferred from Germany to the US subsidiary of her company. Everything seemed to work out smoothly but after some time more and more of her team members started leaving the company. This raised suspicion and became a real problem for the business unit. Identifying and attracting talent and filling vacant positions is a costly process and can significantly disturb work processes. What was the problem?

A consultant is often called to action when a symptom becomes so clear that is causes problems and affects the bottom line, meaning it is felt financially. However, a symptom is not the problem as any doctor would be able to confirm. Employee motivation and retention can be a complex problem that has to be analyzed holistically involving supervision, leadership, incentive structures but also the individual situation of each employee. What turned out to be the main reason for loss of employee motivation and high turnover was rather surprisingly: Danke and thank you!

In Germany a rather collective culture with high so called uncertainty avoidance (according to researcher Hofstede) rules and regulation, clear processes and directions are commonly well established in the corporate governance and cultural structure. In other words, employees are given clear roles and responsibilities in a job description and it is taken for granted that they carry out their duties and report to their supervisors. In America however, one of the most individualistic cultures individual recognition is extremely important for corporate culture and employee motivation.

Our German manager had expected that US employees would behave the way German employees would, she would just not consider it necessary to say thank you, to give more individual recognition and reward. We do see this very often that one can not take for granted what works in one culture does so in another. There is not the one right way but organizational effectiveness and leadership styles are strongly embedded in our national and organizational cultures.

As consultants it is our responsibility to treat a problem as an analytically case, we need to find the 'theory in use' of what truly motivates behavior and impacts outcomes.

Often large impact such as high employee turnover is caused by something small such as taking a thank you for granted. It is not, expressing gratitude and giving individual reward and recognition is a powerful tool. In our organizations we don't want to take effort and contribution for granted but should recognize and reward it which builds a community and stronger team spirit and corporate culture.