When in China, do as the Chinese do.

In recent weeks Apple has been reacting to some of the serious and inevitable challenges facing not only its sales, but also the company itself in China.

Apple’s total sales for all products in Greater China, which includes Hong Kong and Taiwan, slid a whopping 26% in the first three months of this year.

Additionally, Chinese regulators recently shut down Apple’s online book and film services and earlier in May Apple also lost its trademark fight over 'iPhone' name in China.

Apple’s $1 billion investment in Chinese ride-hailing service, Didi Chuxing is a sign that Apple has at last initiated the process of developing a deep understanding of the Chinese business environment and the sort of strategy required to navigate it.

Our observations clearly indicate that as far as the Chinese market is concerned Uber will most definitely lose out to Didi Chuxing.

Leadership lessons from Sir Alec Ferguson & Sir Michael Moritz

Recently I had the great pleasure to spend time with and benefit from the refreshing no-frills business wisdom of Sir Michael Moritz of Sequoia Capital.

With a net worth of $2.8 billion, Sir Michael, as an early investor in companies such as Apple, Google, YouTube, Airbnb, Dropbox and WhatsApp has a clear view of the essential ingredients for making a billion-dollar company.

Full of fascinating insights, Sir Michael’s new book “Leading” penned together with Sir Alex Ferguson is a must for anyone in the management or leadership role wanting to know what it takes to lead a team to unparalleled success over a sustained period of time.

Sepe Sehati

The Secret Of Innovation

"The secret of innovation?
Learn how to drop pebbles of wisdom into the ocean of thought, creating ripples of imagination which will lead into waves of innovation."

~ Sepe Sehati

The Chief Thought Officer: The Missing Chief

“I insist on a lot of time being spent, almost every day, to just sit and think. That is very uncommon in American business. I read and think. So I do more reading and thinking, and make less impulse decisions than most people in business.” 

~ Warren Buffett

So here is the most successful investor of the 20^th century; a “sage” who has consistently ranked amongst the world’s wealthiest people (he was ranked as the world’s wealthiest person in 2008) insisting on the uncommon exercise of thinking.

“Thinking is the hardest work there is"

At ClickTell Consulting, through our work with companies large or small, in the West or the East, we have identified the root cause of most problems facing corporations of today to be a lack of critical and timely thinking. Lack of thinking and the ensuing uninformed decision making is ultimately a major contributor to corporation funerals or near death incidents.

Indeed as Henry Ford put it; “Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason so few engage in it.” However, our observations show that, even in the case of CEOs and senior managers fully conversant with the practice of thinking there is another problem. They often find it simply impossible to be dealing with the day to day issues of running a corporation at the same time as finding the time to think. What they need is a “thinking buddy” in the form of a Chief Thought Officer (CTO).

Business is all about continuously developing strategies that have a greater chance of success. Since identifying the need for CTOs and coining the term Chief Thought Officer, we have seen a vibrant demand for our insight in this field. Acting as our clients’ CTO we support them to out-think, out-plan and out-manoeuvre competitors and other forces.

What do you think?

Dr Sepe Sehati, Co-founder, ClickTell Consulting

Creative “Need Marketing”: The Missing Link In The New Age Of Marketing

How best does an empire extend and retain its sphere of influence? Apart from the use of brute force are there any other means to “conquer” and do so through “friendship” and “attraction” rather than hostility?

An important factor in the Roman Empire’s successful expansion was their principle of inclusion for conquered peoples. Another strategy was to allow quasi-autonomy for the conquered without crushing them with taxes and tribute demands. The Romans therefore not only led through military and economic means but also had the ability to use strategy, diplomacy, culture and history in a way to shape the preferences of others – ironically, at times even those being conquered.

Long after the Romans had exploited their ability to achieve desired outcomes in international affairs through attraction rather than coercion, scholars branded such policy “soft power” and highlighted its importance in world affairs.

"Lecturing the Chinese on the merits of soft power

is not dissimilar to that of informing the Pope of the merits of Catholicism"

The phrase soft power - coined by Harvard’s Joseph S Nye  - refers to the ability to receive favourable treatments (based upon the general attractiveness of a country’s culture, ideals and policies) through attraction rather than coercion or payments. Having gained widespread currency soft power is now regarded as an important and comprehensive indicator of national strength.  Simply put, soft power is essential in raising and reinforcing a nation’s brand.

If the soft power approach can have such a huge impact on a nation’s brand then why not apply the same principles to benefit an organisation’s marketing and branding initiatives? In recent years some of the world’s largest marketing communications corporations have been discussing this very issue and exploring how soft power can shelter and grow brands and businesses.

In early 2011, Ogilvy & Mather chose Beijing as the venue to host the inaugural OgilvyForum, themed “Hard Talk on Soft Power”.  The main conclusion of the gathering was that, “The soft power opportunity is there to be taken, for Chinese brands and for China as a brand…”.

"Why aren’t the multinational corporations of this world 

such as Coca-Cola or McDonald’s properly exploiting the ginormous opportunities that need marketing offers?"

It is tempting to submit that lecturing the Chinese on the merits of soft power is not dissimilar to that of informing the Pope of the merits of Catholicism. What the creative brains at Ogilvy may have overlooked is China’s activity in this very field for more than half a century. During this period China has identified and set out to implement a set of highly creative and targeted nation branding foreign policy strategies capable of winning the hearts and minds of strategically selected nations, governments and their citizens collectively.

At the heart of this sustainable strategy lies the simple definition of marketing – that of “getting someone who has a need, to know, like and trust you”. What China has done is to take this one significant step further by actually providing real tangible solutions addressing critical “needs” and doing so without direct payment.

Take for example the so called “health diplomacy”, where China has been providing much needed medical aid to African countries. The level of this commitment and the way it has been carried out is quite different to that of, say sponsoring a cause (such as malaria) and paying third parties such as a charities for the work they carry out in Africa.

"Poor African families in desperate need of 

healthcare could be forgiven for thinking 

angels originate from China"

As a part of this strategy, having paid for and built hospitals in Africa, China then ingeniously sends government-paid Chinese medical workers to work and stay in Africa for extended periods of time.

Poor African families in desperate need of healthcare could be forgiven for thinking angels originate from China. After all, they have Chinese designed and built hospitals, manned by Chinese staff and paid for by China. If that does not pull all the right heart strings then most likely no other form of marketing or branding is likely to win your heart and mind as far as Brand China is concerned.

Apart from winning the hearts and minds of the citizens this “gift” is often also of critical importance to the stability and survival of the receiving governments. According to China’s Ministry of health, by the end of 2010, China had sent 17,000 medical workers to 48 African countries, treating 200 million patients.

"The answer we believe lies in the inadequate structure and working of today’s marketing agencies who insist upon continuing to address problems that are no longer 

amenable to single subject focus"

Although this type of marketing may fall within the realm of soft power marketing it is far too powerful a tool not to have its own identity. At ClickTell Consulting we have coined the term “Need Marketing” to describe such a strategy.

Apart from being hugely beneficial to nations, need marketing (the process of identifying a critical need in a population and providing hands-on tangible solutions for that need at no cost to the recipients) offers corporations a smart way to connect at a deep emotional level with consumers and societies.

You may rightly ask the question; why aren’t the multinational corporations of this world such as Coca-Cola* or McDonald’s properly exploiting the ginormous opportunities that need marketing offers? Surely, should not such an opportunity appear as a huge red blinking dot on the radar screen of large marketing and communication agencies in charge of promoting such corporations? And if it doesn’t, why?

"Having identified and defined the term “need marketing”

we believe it offers enviable opportunities to some of the largest global brands in existence today"

The answer we believe lies in the inadequate structure and working of today’s marketing agencies who insist upon continuing to address problems that are no longer amenable to single subject focus.

We are beginning to see more awareness and support for the notion that marketing agencies must evolve to survive. A recent Harvard Business Review (HBR) article supports this by identifying five missing attributes critical to the survival of marketing agencies and their clients.

Having identified and defined the term “need marketing” we believe it offers enviable opportunities to some of the largest global brands in existence today. However, as we have pointed out in response to the above HBR article, before this can happen “marketing agencies must, as a matter of urgency, restructure and re-engineer their culture and affairs so as to deliver solutions – real tangible solutions -  at a level to truly win the hearts and minds of their clients’ customers.”

* Although a step in the right direction Coca-Cola’s creative 2012 “Happiness Refill” project can at best be described as Utilitarianism Marketing.

Sepe Sehati,

Co-founder, ClickTell Consulting

Global Wine Industry: Climate induced Challenges and Opportunities

In 2008 ClickTellConsulting was commissioned to carry out a preliminary study identifying climate induced challenges faced by the wine industry and, perhaps ironically, the consequential business opportunities that these challenges offered. We are now in a position to share with you some edited excerpts of the report.

Introduction:

“….Climate change is global in its causes and consequences. Although it is currently difficult to predict the consequences of climate change with complete certainty – we now know enough to understand the risks…”

“…This report begins by highlighting the main national and international initiatives to reduce carbon emissions and mitigate climate change, prior to discussing and analysing some of the implications for the wine industry. The research demonstrates that as far as Scope 2 emissions are concerned, on a like for like basis, there are significant country specific differences in the CO2 emissions resulting from the wine making process…”

The Impact Of Global Warming On Wine Making:

“…On the one hand the increase in temperatures have made it possible for a country like England to produce wine that the critic Jancis Robinson calls “ Far from a joke now”. On the other hand in the currently hot regions such as California and Australia climate change has not only made irrigation a taxing issue, but has also led to rising alcohol levels in wines. The 2007 drought in Australia resulted in a complete loss of the grape harvest in some areas…”

The Response Of The Wine Industry:

“…Over the past few years several national agencies including; The Wine Institute of California, New Zealand Winegrowers, Integrated Production of Wine South Africa and the Winemakers Federation of Australia have been working towards Greenhouse Gas Accounting…”

Country Specific Scope 2 Emissions:

“…In other words, in wine making on a like for like basis, as far as Scope 2 emissions are concerned; 1 bottle of wine produced in country X [name deliberately not shown] is likely to emit the same amount of CO2 as 9.6 bottles of wine produced in country Y [name deliberately not shown]….”

~ ClickTell Consulting ~

Facebook: The Global Power Buster?

The Facebook statistics look impressive to some and perhaps worrying to others.  How could 500 million people spend 23 hours of every month browsing the Facebook website? That is a whopping 700 billion minutes per month. 

At ClickTell, as part of a large research and Business Analytics project we have been studying the business model driven sustainability of social networking sites and the short and long term Return On Investment prospects for investors. Faced with the Facebook data, we reframed the above statistics and asked a number of different questions, one of which simply was: What are the implications of these statistics on, of all things, the global power consumption?

Our calculations estimate* the annual consequential user specific power consumption to be 28000 billion watt hours. Put another way, the global Facebook users’ power consumption over a twelve month period is equivalent to powering one million working 50-watt light bulbs constantly for a period of 64 years. 

And how does this level of power consumption compare to the annual electric power consumption of, for example a country? Using the latest available figures (2008), the combined power consumption** of Jamaica, Kenya, Haiti, Latvia, Nepal, Malta and Brunei was less than our estimate for the annual global Facbook users’ power consumption.

These jaw dropping figures are not necessarily unique to Facebook. We believe other organizations whether social networking or not will benefit from reframing the “picture” they hold of their organization. 

At ClickTell, we believe that in the not too distant future and before the time when energy rationing may become the norm, Governments of the world will inevitably have to perform a “true” cost/benefit analysis of such services.  On the basis of this, difficult decisions would have to be made; decisions that would by today’s standards sound most undemocratic.

Please contact ClickTell to find out how we can help reframe your data and re-engineer your business model.

* For a "near-worst-case" scenario where all users use a desktop PC. Total power consumption for PC, Monitor, Router and Speaker(s) assumed to be 200 W. Note: In these calculations we have not accounted for the power consumption resulting from the running of the Facebook’s own operations and the Internet Access Network. 

** Electric power consumption measures the production of power plants and combined heat and power plants less transmission, distribution, and transformation losses and own use by heat and power plants.

Twitter: The psychology of why criticising it creates a defensive reaction

Questioner:

Why do you think people get so defensive when Twitter is criticised?

Malcolm Gladwell:

Weird, isn’t it? Do you think it would make matters worse if I admitted that I also hate the iPhone?

The above exchange took place during a New Yorker “Ask The Author Live” session where Gladwell was answering readers questions related to New Yorker article, “SMALL CHANGE, Why the revolution will not be tweeted”.

At ClickTell, we don’t think it is weird at all for the Twitterati of this world to get defensive when Twitter is criticised. Our Behavioural and Social Psychology Unit offers a logical and scientific explanation for such defensive forms of behaviour once a “commitment” (such as opening a Twitter or a Facebook account) has been made.

Close inspection of relevant research publications in peer-reviewed journals of psychology, reveal a wealth of proven techniques for gaining compliance from unsuspecting targets. Historically these powerful insidious tools of persuasion have been used by “highly successful” salesmen and the advertising world. However of late, the operating models of many social networking sites appear to be leveraging such techniques for the purpose of attracting and retaining users. This may or may not be a conscious decision made by these companies.

Commitment decisions (such as opening a Twitter or a Facebook account), even when found to be erroneous, have a tendency to be self perpetuating. That is, the person involved will often make up new reasons and justifications to support the wisdom of the initial decision – there is simply an inbuilt desire to be consistent.  We see this as one of the main reasons why, for example tweeters can get so defensive when Twitter is criticised.

There are a number of techniques available for strengthening the initial commitment level and the ensuing desire for consistency.  And yes, just as there are psychological techniques for gaining compliance there are also “weapons” for reversing the situation. Will you please contact ClickTell to  find out more?

The Apprentice: Too much pretence and not enough business?

With the help of new technologies and the spread of Business Analytics, the business world is rapidly moving towards making real-time data and information driven decisions virtually on the go.

Against such a backdrop, the reality TV show The Apprentice (UK) appears to be denying its candidates the use of even the humble Internet to do basic research and gain insight.  Unless clearly communicated and justified by the producers, such glaring omissions can somewhat devalue an otherwise entertaining and valuable programme.

In addition to entertaining, The Apprentice undoubtedly has the power to enthuse would be entrepreneurs. Perhaps this should be its main stated goal or perhaps the producers may find room to sway the balance slightly more towards current business practices and less towards a kind of sensationalism with the sole aim of boosting viewer numbers.

The irony in all of this is that as a “business” The Apprentice is more than achieving its goal of attracting “customers” (the new May 2011 series attracted 8 million viewers). Whether this translates to a sustained long term profit for the nation remains to be seen. What is certain is that although The Apprentice is not a replacement MBA programme there is a great deal more entertainment on the way.

Blending Business Analytics with Sustainability

Organisations are beginning to adopt Business Analytics (BA) as one of the effective tools for staying competitive and profitable.

SAP, the world’s largest maker of business management software and one of the major players in the area of BA has correctly read the near future market needs by complementing BA with solutions for sustainability. This was certainly evident at its annual Sapphire conference last week in Orlando, Florida.

Companies are beginning to appreciate the need for paying more attention to sustainability issues. This is mainly driven by factors such as regulations, brand reputation, the growing importance of energy, environmental issues and natural resource scarcity.

To discover how your organisation may benefit from such solutions, contact ClickTell www.clicktell.com