Akwaba

2009-09-01T02:31:00.000-07:00

This has been an interesting summer.

For purely commercial purposes I have been trying to get information on consumers of Black and North African origin in Europe. Why? I have a U.S. client ( a Black owned company) which sells hair products predominantly for Black people. The texture of our hair being different, we require different products than people of European origin. Clear and simple.

I contacted over a dozen major market research firms in Europe to do a multi-country survey and was surprised to discover that initially none would accept the mandate. In most of Europe, it is illegal to collect and collate data with respect to ethnic background and income. The idea is that the governments do not want to discriminate or encourage such discrimination and therefore there is no need for such differentiation. Data that is freely available in the U.S.A. or Canada, often as part of the national census, is illegal in most of Europe!

In other words, they don't really know how many of us there are!

Furthermore, current ethnic and religious tensions in Europe means that any such research would have to be done with a degree of delicacy that the mainstream firms just don't seem to have. One quote I did finally receive, for a million dollars, was submitted by a German group of a dozen Blonde haired, blue eyed females who did not even have any Black or Arab/Turkish employees or associate companies. While probably technically competent, I can just imagine these young MBA's trotting around the "banlieues" of Marseille or parts of London. Who is going to confide in them?

The one company that did come forward with a credible quotation, refused categorically to conduct the research in the Netherlands and I am being forced to conduct the research there myself. Holland is apparently a racial tinderbox.

Discrimination against Blacks and Arabs, particularly economic discrimination, is rampant in most of Europe. The situation ranges from avoidance in Western Europe to outright violence in parts of Russia and Italy. Indeed, one of the problems that the research firms faced in trying to quote me, was establishing credible outreach into the "ethnic" or "immigrant" communities. They just did not have the right profile of employee.

As there is no publicly available data on these communities, it becomes difficult for companies and marketers to estimate purchasing power, design products and support them as they do elsewhere in the world. This also means a lack of economic and political clout for the concerned group, who never realize how powerful they just might be. Some 25 million Black people who are European citizens are a force to be reckoned with. And don't assume we are all poor! The same applies to North Africans in France or the newly arrived Moroccans in the Netherlands.

The lack of research capability is another example of the commercial and political marginalization of Blacks and Arabs in Europe, and while perhaps laudable in its original intent, is actually an insult to a large group of consumers. The French government recently appointed a Minister for Diversity, who soon after realized that there were no official statistics upon which to base policy decisions. How are decisions made then?

In 2009, this situation is ludicrous and insulting.

Hey Mr. Sarkozy, Ms. Merkel et. al: how can we dance when you're standing on our feet?

W.L. Carney
September 2009

Newsletter No. 1

2008-12-09T04:41:00.000-08:00

News from the frontline.....bill@billcarney.org

Market Meltdown : consumers all over the old developed world are tightening their purse strings as they weather the downturn. Housing markets are on the decline in the U.S.A., U.K., Spain, France….the list goes on. With oil prices still high, consumers are feeling squeezed. There is a general spending slowdown and many companies are wondering about the impact on their current marketing strategies. Maximizing efficiency is key.

You cannot fight the wave. But in the same way surfers can work a small wave as well as a large one (admittedly, perhaps with less reward), there are some things you can do to adjust and take advantage of the slowdown.

Developing new business is a no-brainer. Remember that times are tough for most, so it could be a good time to explore additional partnerships and networks. Everyone is looking to grow revenues, so some will be much more amenable to discussion.

Be careful about cutting prices. This is perhaps obvious, but it is always tempting during hard times. Lowering prices sets a new floor which others will react to and perhaps worse, sets a new psychological level for customers. Line of last resort.

Many of us put off things we know we should do when times are fat. Use this opportunity to think about issues like updating your customer databases if you do not automatically; maybe think about a website graphics overhaul. Get a little more religious with your business cards and new potential business opportunities.

If you have underutilized people power, put it to work on developing new ideas and experimenting with new processes. Necessity can also be one of the drivers of innnovation.
Think again about training and people development. I know cash flow is tight, but in terms of opportunity cost, there may be no better time than the present.

Remember those books you have been meaning to get to ? Use some of the time to invest in your own development and expansion. Ever made a better investment than the grey matter between your ears ?

Some more tips next month ….. ;-)
www.billcarney.org ;-)

Newsletter No. 2

2008-12-09T04:31:00.000-08:00

Hey…has anybody noticed ?

The markets are crashing, we have a credit crunch, yet a fair number of folks are sitting on huge amounts of cash »waiting to see what happens ».
Everyone has a view on why this is occurring, but I think too many of these opinions are anchored on past models which we know now to be fallacious .

The question of the coming year for all of us is how to get money back into the markets and get people to swallow some risk again. And how do we stimulate growth ?

Traditional wisdom says that the major problem now is one of market confidence, and that we need to shore up existing institutions and weather the storm. We have been here before in some respect, and we therefore almost know what to do.

I am not convinced.

The problem is that the « market », you and me, as well as a lot of large individual and institutional investors, is not listening. We now know that the emperor has no clothes.

Is it possible there has been a fundamental shift in investor / investment thinking ?

Do we really want to bail out a company like GM or Ford ? Lock people into a dying framework for another few years ? Anybody remember the last Chrysler bail-out ? Is the company now any better ? The industry has had more than a decade to re-make itself and has failed miserably. Why not let the market do its work ? Instead of trying to fix the past, let’s create the future. It’s cheaper in the long run.

The growth and wealth of many of the countries in the NAWMW (north atlantic white man’s world, thanks to Tibor Mende ;)) was built on leveraging technology, (whether it was steam, electricity, the internal combustion engine or petroleum) and risk. Major innovation created wealth, both directly and indirectly.

Maybe part of the answer to our current predicament, oddly enough, may come from looking behind us.

There are technologies now available, whether clean-tech or others that can fundamentally change the way we do a large range of human activities ; from new energy sources, self generation of domestic power, self processing of water, to new forms of social connectivity. Mag-lev trains. Maybe its finally time to give innovation a serious policy and investment boost.
The national infrastructures of the USA and other developed countries, (i.e. the UK, by way of example) could use a serious dose of innovation and renewal. Incentives for investment in alternative energy sources could provide additional stimulus for development in new tech and new jobs. The mind boggles at the possibilities and opportunities.

While many of us are a little shy to invest in the past, maybe investing in the future makes more sense.

Hey…..has anybody noticed ?

HAPPY HOLIDAYS !!!!!!
WLC 2008-12