In South Africa, a business entrepreneur invents and installs a merry-go-round that, when spun by children, pumps enough water for a village of 2,500.
In Uganda, two young entrepreneurs from San Francisco develop a revolutionary model for microlending, using the Internet to connect borrowers with lenders, person to person – a venture that has grown from one small village in Africa to eleven countries around the world.
In Peru, two CSU students launch their own social enterprise, PowerMundo, to deliver multiple renewable energy products, such as solar lights and hand-crank radios, to people living at the base of the pyramid, between $2-4 dollars per day.
In Fort Collins, a group of entrepreneurs at Envirfit develop and disseminate products and services that address major environmental problems in the developing world, and end up on the cover of this month’s Popular Science.
Entrepreneurs change the face of business; social entrepreneurs change society. Social entrepreneurs create solutions to social problems that leap beyond charity, and encourage the development of systematic solutions that help eradicate poverty, enhance educational opportunities, provide better health care and champion social justice. David Brooks calls them the new do-gooder: “They dress like venture capitalists. They talk like them. They even think like them…they are data driven and accountability-oriented…the highest status symbol in their circle is a Rand study showing their program yields statistically significant results.”
In its simplest terms, social entrepreneurs use business methods and entrepreneurial innovation to solve social problems. According to the Small Business Administration’s 2007 Report to the President, social entrepreneurship is the practice of responding to market failures with transformative, financially sustainable innovations aimed at solving social problems.
ITNAmerica created a new option for seniors: providing rides in private cars available 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, with “door-through-door” service, using a combination of paid and volunteer drivers. Payments must be made for every ride, but no money exchanges hands in the vehicle. Seniors fund their personal transportation accounts in advance and receive a monthly statement in the mail. Volunteer drivers make up about 40-60 % of the driving team. Costs are manageable; many volunteers over 60 years of age contribute their own volunteer driving time, building up credits for their own future use of the services. Family members volunteer time and make in-kind contributions to their relatives who are using the service. Seniors may trade their personal vehicles when they are no longer able to use them and apply the liquidated equity to fund their personal transportation account. ITNAmerica created its own software to plan and track membership accounts, rides and distances, maximizing efficiency of routes. This social entrepreneurial program is an efficient model that ultimately funds itself through nominal fees and leveraged private resources.
Other social entrepreneurial programs in the U.S. include--City Year a multi-city organization that unites young people of all backgrounds for a year of full-time service, giving them skills and opportunities to change the world; New Leaders for New Schools provides a pathway for current and former educators to become outstanding principals of urban public schools; Benetech, an innovative technology firm, has moved from its own technology innovation for scanning documents to funding other technological social enterprises. Louisiana has a new Office of Social Entrepreneurship. North Carolina recently established a Low-Profit, Limited Liability Partnership Company legal business entity (L3C) where a private enterprise can function for social or educational purposes.
Kevin Jones and his partners at Good Capital, a San Francisco venture capital firm, say if you're looking for investment money during these tough economic times, then the way to go is with a business venture that's socially responsible. “There is a wave of new investing where people are not wanting it just to be about their money, but also to be about their impact in the world…From healthcare to consumer products, fair trade kinds of things, financial services - a whole lot of things, and there's ways to make money and do good."
Recently, the Fort Collins Regional Library District, CSU Libraries teamed up with Skoll Foundation, PBS/FRONTLINE and the American Library Association to engage the Northern Colorado general public, students, academics and professionals in a discussion with leaders in business, humanitarian aid, academia and social activism on the concept of social entrepreneurship as a way to create meaningful solutions to our local social problems. Fort Collins Regional Library District and CSU Libraries have been and will continue to offer programs to introduce groups and organizations to the basic concepts, ideas and themes of social entrepreneurship. We have also put together public library and academic library online guides about social entrepreneurship (http://library.fcgov.com/adult/business.) PBS/FRONTLINE ‘s video, Social Entrepreneur Series and Community Engagement, is available for check out at the Fort Collins Regional Library.
The local public library is the perfect location as a center for social entrepreneurs to learn about case studies, projects around the world, possible capital infusion, grants, foundations and more. I'll keep you informed on the social network we're setting up.
Take care and have a nice Thanksgiving!
Monday, November 24, 2008
Friday, October 10, 2008
Finanical Crisis
The financial crisis is the top of everyone's agenda today. Here are a couple of ways the Library is working with you: Go to http://library.fcgov.com/adult/business for a link to the CSU Libraries Resource Guide to the Financial Crisis. The Guide is well-organized and up-to-date. Find it under Hot Web Sites!
The Library is also offering a 4-part series on the Financial/Economic Crisis (Final Time and Dates TBA):
The Economic Crisis -- How did We Get Here? presented by Dr. Deepanker Basu, CSU Department of Economics. (Tentative: October 25, 2008)
The Bailout -- What is This? What is Happening to the Financial Community? presented by Dr. Ramaa Vasudevan, CSU Department of Economics. (Tentative: November 1, 2008)
How to Protect Your Family in Economic Tough Times presenting by Consumer Credit Counseling Service. (Tentative: November 8, 2008)
The Emotional Price We Are Paying. How to Cope presented by Dr. Carolyn Bartlett, Psychologist. (Tentative: November 15, 2008)
Also, read, read, read--Financial Times; Wall Street Journal, New York Times.
Check out your favorite investment websites. for up to the minute information: http://www.finance.yahoo.com/; http://www.moneycentral.msn.com/; http://www.clearstation.com/; http://www.fundalarm.com/; http://www.marektwatch.com/; http://www.fool.com/; www.economy.com/dismal. For a description of these, go to http://library.fcgov.com/adult/business -- go to "quick guides."
Here's the best advice I've heard: If you have a home, keep it. If you have a job, keep it. Cut down on your spending. Clear up your credit cards.
Try to have a good weekend!
The Library is also offering a 4-part series on the Financial/Economic Crisis (Final Time and Dates TBA):
The Economic Crisis -- How did We Get Here? presented by Dr. Deepanker Basu, CSU Department of Economics. (Tentative: October 25, 2008)
The Bailout -- What is This? What is Happening to the Financial Community? presented by Dr. Ramaa Vasudevan, CSU Department of Economics. (Tentative: November 1, 2008)
How to Protect Your Family in Economic Tough Times presenting by Consumer Credit Counseling Service. (Tentative: November 8, 2008)
The Emotional Price We Are Paying. How to Cope presented by Dr. Carolyn Bartlett, Psychologist. (Tentative: November 15, 2008)
Also, read, read, read--Financial Times; Wall Street Journal, New York Times.
Check out your favorite investment websites. for up to the minute information: http://www.finance.yahoo.com/; http://www.moneycentral.msn.com/; http://www.clearstation.com/; http://www.fundalarm.com/; http://www.marektwatch.com/; http://www.fool.com/; www.economy.com/dismal. For a description of these, go to http://library.fcgov.com/adult/business -- go to "quick guides."
Here's the best advice I've heard: If you have a home, keep it. If you have a job, keep it. Cut down on your spending. Clear up your credit cards.
Try to have a good weekend!
Friday, September 12, 2008
Measuring the Effect of Nonprofits
A looming question in the nonprofit world is how to measure the efforts of the mission-driven organization. Has the world become better since the organization was formed? Has the organization created value in other ways? Lately, nonprofits and NGSs have been challenged to measure their efforts.
Recently, MBA students at Harvard Business School were challenged to measure the efforts of two environmental organizations—Greenpeace and The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF--formerly, the World Wildlife Fund) http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5797.html. Since Greenpeace and WWF’s goals are not linked to a profit-objective, the MBA class looked at how the organizations create value. In the very general sense of the word, the students concluded that both organizations call people’s attention to environmental issues, lobby business to change policies, and influence governments to put laws in place to improve environmental issues.
Looking at value from an economic point, the class compared willingness-to-pay (WTP) to cost as a measurement of the economic value of the organizations’ efforts. The students were asked, hypothetically, how much each of them was willing to contribute each year to protect the earth against degradation. If each student is willing to put $1 toward the protection of the earth, that equates to approximately $6 billion per year. If the top 5,000 global corporations were willing to pay $200,000 per company per year, there would be another $1 billion. In addition to these, governments might be willing to add another $1 billion. These amounts would add up to $8 billion. On the cost side, if Greenpeace and WWF have campaign costs of $677 million, there is a $7.2 million gap between WTP and cost. This might be one way to measure economic impact.
However, according to Professor Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, the case study showed that nearly all of the captured value of the two organizations is for the public good. This leads to the problem of free-riding, whereby people are able to enjoy the public good such as cleaner air and uncontaminated water without doing anything themselves. “The major challenge for both organizations is that they are dealing with a public good. Considering that a public good is non-excludable and non-rival, it is difficult to make people pay for it. People will free-ride since they can access the improved environment without paying.”
This cuts across governments, countries and societies, as well as individuals. If one country moves to stringent environmental policies, the other is better off by staying with lax policies because it will incur less cost and accrue more benefit. The class discussed some generic strategies to change this equilibrium, based on an example of improving the air quality by reducing CO2 emissions, i.e., the structure of the Kyoto Protocols: 1) Increase the cost of current policies. 2) Increase the benefit of a stringent policy. 3) Encourage governments and companies to move away from maximizing their own benefit and make them look at the greater good.
In the end, can any economic value be captured by studying the nonprofits’ efforts toward the public good? According to Casadesus-Masanell, Greenpeace and other similar NGOs have been formed to make sure that the public good is supplied by changing the payoffs of those who can supply it, but the value creation and the capture angle is but one perspective; most environmentalist (and social resource workers) would be quick to point out that the debate extends far beyond economics.
You can read the interview with Professor Casadesus-Masanell at: http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5797.html.
Recently, MBA students at Harvard Business School were challenged to measure the efforts of two environmental organizations—Greenpeace and The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF--formerly, the World Wildlife Fund) http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5797.html. Since Greenpeace and WWF’s goals are not linked to a profit-objective, the MBA class looked at how the organizations create value. In the very general sense of the word, the students concluded that both organizations call people’s attention to environmental issues, lobby business to change policies, and influence governments to put laws in place to improve environmental issues.
Looking at value from an economic point, the class compared willingness-to-pay (WTP) to cost as a measurement of the economic value of the organizations’ efforts. The students were asked, hypothetically, how much each of them was willing to contribute each year to protect the earth against degradation. If each student is willing to put $1 toward the protection of the earth, that equates to approximately $6 billion per year. If the top 5,000 global corporations were willing to pay $200,000 per company per year, there would be another $1 billion. In addition to these, governments might be willing to add another $1 billion. These amounts would add up to $8 billion. On the cost side, if Greenpeace and WWF have campaign costs of $677 million, there is a $7.2 million gap between WTP and cost. This might be one way to measure economic impact.
However, according to Professor Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, the case study showed that nearly all of the captured value of the two organizations is for the public good. This leads to the problem of free-riding, whereby people are able to enjoy the public good such as cleaner air and uncontaminated water without doing anything themselves. “The major challenge for both organizations is that they are dealing with a public good. Considering that a public good is non-excludable and non-rival, it is difficult to make people pay for it. People will free-ride since they can access the improved environment without paying.”
This cuts across governments, countries and societies, as well as individuals. If one country moves to stringent environmental policies, the other is better off by staying with lax policies because it will incur less cost and accrue more benefit. The class discussed some generic strategies to change this equilibrium, based on an example of improving the air quality by reducing CO2 emissions, i.e., the structure of the Kyoto Protocols: 1) Increase the cost of current policies. 2) Increase the benefit of a stringent policy. 3) Encourage governments and companies to move away from maximizing their own benefit and make them look at the greater good.
In the end, can any economic value be captured by studying the nonprofits’ efforts toward the public good? According to Casadesus-Masanell, Greenpeace and other similar NGOs have been formed to make sure that the public good is supplied by changing the payoffs of those who can supply it, but the value creation and the capture angle is but one perspective; most environmentalist (and social resource workers) would be quick to point out that the debate extends far beyond economics.
You can read the interview with Professor Casadesus-Masanell at: http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5797.html.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Digital Marketing
Digital Marketing Facts
On a typical day, Americans spend an average of 24 minutes purchasing good and services. This doesn’t include travel time. These 24 minutes are more than people spend relaxing and thinking (19 minutes on average) and about half the time people spend socializing and communicating with other people (46 minutes).
How much of that shopping time is spent online? Pew Internet & American Life Project released an online shopping study that tells us that American internet users have embraced online shopping – it’s convenient and a time-saver. However, the study also shows that online Americans also have high levels of concern about sending personal or credit card information over the Internet. Two-thirds (66%) of online Americans have purchased a product online, such as a book, toy, music or clothing. For those online Americans with household incomes greater than $100K, 32% say that the internet is the best place to buy items that are hard to find; 26% of those with household incomes less that $25K agree.
Several fact-packs and fact-books have recently been released online. The Pew study of online shopping is available at: http://www.pewinternet.org
The ninth edition of the Digital Economy Fact Book, recently released by The Progress & Freedom Foundation is available at:
http://www.pff.org/issues-pubs/books/factbook_2007.pdf This fact book provides a factual basis from which to analyze the digital economy. The fact book includes best available information on the growth of the internet, the hardware sector, the communications sector, digital media, electronic commerce, threats to the digital economy, and the worldwide digital economy.
In addition to these fact books, Advertising Age carries it supplement, Search Marketing Fact Pack 2007, online (download at: http://adage.com/images/random/datacenter/2007/searchfactpack2007.pdf). Contents include interactive channels that marketers use, the top search engines, top terms and the leading sites by category, and things to watch in 2008.
Advertising Age’s other important fact book is the Digital Marketing and Media Fact Pack (download at: http://adage.com/images/random/digitalfactpack2007.pdf). Like the Search Marketing fact book, Digital Marketing and Media serves as a guide to marketing in this space. One fact: After breaking onto the scene a few years ago, social marketing is booming. MySpace and Facebook continue to defy gravity, growing 72.5% and 59.2% respectively, and depending on what surveys you use, advertisers are set to spend between 4.7% and 7.7% of their online ad budgets on the space (2007 numbers).
For more studies, contact your business librarian – these are all available online. For Fort Collins library users, go to http://library.fcgov.com/adult/business/ and check out other business resources online and in the library.
On a typical day, Americans spend an average of 24 minutes purchasing good and services. This doesn’t include travel time. These 24 minutes are more than people spend relaxing and thinking (19 minutes on average) and about half the time people spend socializing and communicating with other people (46 minutes).
How much of that shopping time is spent online? Pew Internet & American Life Project released an online shopping study that tells us that American internet users have embraced online shopping – it’s convenient and a time-saver. However, the study also shows that online Americans also have high levels of concern about sending personal or credit card information over the Internet. Two-thirds (66%) of online Americans have purchased a product online, such as a book, toy, music or clothing. For those online Americans with household incomes greater than $100K, 32% say that the internet is the best place to buy items that are hard to find; 26% of those with household incomes less that $25K agree.
Several fact-packs and fact-books have recently been released online. The Pew study of online shopping is available at: http://www.pewinternet.org
The ninth edition of the Digital Economy Fact Book, recently released by The Progress & Freedom Foundation is available at:
http://www.pff.org/issues-pubs/books/factbook_2007.pdf This fact book provides a factual basis from which to analyze the digital economy. The fact book includes best available information on the growth of the internet, the hardware sector, the communications sector, digital media, electronic commerce, threats to the digital economy, and the worldwide digital economy.
In addition to these fact books, Advertising Age carries it supplement, Search Marketing Fact Pack 2007, online (download at: http://adage.com/images/random/datacenter/2007/searchfactpack2007.pdf). Contents include interactive channels that marketers use, the top search engines, top terms and the leading sites by category, and things to watch in 2008.
Advertising Age’s other important fact book is the Digital Marketing and Media Fact Pack (download at: http://adage.com/images/random/digitalfactpack2007.pdf). Like the Search Marketing fact book, Digital Marketing and Media serves as a guide to marketing in this space. One fact: After breaking onto the scene a few years ago, social marketing is booming. MySpace and Facebook continue to defy gravity, growing 72.5% and 59.2% respectively, and depending on what surveys you use, advertisers are set to spend between 4.7% and 7.7% of their online ad budgets on the space (2007 numbers).
For more studies, contact your business librarian – these are all available online. For Fort Collins library users, go to http://library.fcgov.com/adult/business/ and check out other business resources online and in the library.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
SBA Office of Advocacy New Research Publications
Each year the Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy documents the importance of entrepreneurship to the American economy, and highlights policy issues of significance to small firms.
The Library just received the Office of Advocacy’s Research Publications 2007 (published January 2008). This is a list of 34 reports on small business topics including banking, general small business and entrepreneurship, human capital and employment benefits, innovation and technology, owner demographics, procurement, regional economic development, and regulations and taxes.
Included in the list of publications is a report entitled, Small Business and State Growth: An Econometric Investigation (http://www.sba.gov/advo/research/rs292tot.pdf). This report found that small business start-up is one of the most important factors in determining gross state product, state personal income, and total state employment: “…our results indicate that the most fruitful policy option available to state governments is to establish and maintain a fertile environment for new establishment formation.”
Several other studies examine regional economic development issues. Friends or Foes: The Spatial Dynamic between Established Firms and Entrants (http://www.sba.gov/advo/research/rs293tot.pdf) shows that state and municipal economic development agencies are increasingly designing policies to nurture and support home-grown businesses to achieve their growth objectives. This study explores the impact on established firms of new local entrants. Conclusion? By the third year after entry, the effect on the financial performance of existing firms is positive. In the short term, entrants are foes and in the long term, entrants are friends.
In the SBA Office of Advocacy’s annual report, The Small Business Economy: A Report to the President for Data Year 2006 (2007 edition) (http://www.sba.gov/advo/research/sb_econ2007.pdf), there is a chapter on social entrepreneurship focusing on a new breed of entrepreneurs developing solutions to social problems, and a chapter on characteristics of veteran business owners and veteran-owned businesses. Both of these chapters are worth reading if you’re a policy-maker; in the Library, I’m getting more questions from veterans opening businesses and entrepreneurs wanting to start nonprofits to solve various local social issues.
Frequently Asked Questions is a 2-page summary of other research material and provides a series of quick, easy-to-recite facts for an external audience to recognize the importance of small business to the economy. You can find this at http://www.sba.gov/advo/stats/sbfaq.pdf.
I keep a copy at my desk and at the Reference Desk.
SBA Office of Advocacy Research Publications 2007 is available in the Library’s Business Reference section at Main. You can also access the reports online at www.sba.gov/advo.
The Library just received the Office of Advocacy’s Research Publications 2007 (published January 2008). This is a list of 34 reports on small business topics including banking, general small business and entrepreneurship, human capital and employment benefits, innovation and technology, owner demographics, procurement, regional economic development, and regulations and taxes.
Included in the list of publications is a report entitled, Small Business and State Growth: An Econometric Investigation (http://www.sba.gov/advo/research/rs292tot.pdf). This report found that small business start-up is one of the most important factors in determining gross state product, state personal income, and total state employment: “…our results indicate that the most fruitful policy option available to state governments is to establish and maintain a fertile environment for new establishment formation.”
Several other studies examine regional economic development issues. Friends or Foes: The Spatial Dynamic between Established Firms and Entrants (http://www.sba.gov/advo/research/rs293tot.pdf) shows that state and municipal economic development agencies are increasingly designing policies to nurture and support home-grown businesses to achieve their growth objectives. This study explores the impact on established firms of new local entrants. Conclusion? By the third year after entry, the effect on the financial performance of existing firms is positive. In the short term, entrants are foes and in the long term, entrants are friends.
In the SBA Office of Advocacy’s annual report, The Small Business Economy: A Report to the President for Data Year 2006 (2007 edition) (http://www.sba.gov/advo/research/sb_econ2007.pdf), there is a chapter on social entrepreneurship focusing on a new breed of entrepreneurs developing solutions to social problems, and a chapter on characteristics of veteran business owners and veteran-owned businesses. Both of these chapters are worth reading if you’re a policy-maker; in the Library, I’m getting more questions from veterans opening businesses and entrepreneurs wanting to start nonprofits to solve various local social issues.
Frequently Asked Questions is a 2-page summary of other research material and provides a series of quick, easy-to-recite facts for an external audience to recognize the importance of small business to the economy. You can find this at http://www.sba.gov/advo/stats/sbfaq.pdf.
I keep a copy at my desk and at the Reference Desk.
SBA Office of Advocacy Research Publications 2007 is available in the Library’s Business Reference section at Main. You can also access the reports online at www.sba.gov/advo.
Friday, May 2, 2008
Authenticity and Consumers
We have two new books in the library on authenticity in advertising. The first, Authenticity: What Consumers Really Want by James H. Gilmore and B. Joseph Pine II (Harvard Business School Press, 2007), shows how successful enterprises identify themselves with their customers' self-images and desires. The book provides practical management tools to help businesses assess their perceived authenticity, develop new approaches for appealing to the "real," and implement specific strategies to render authenticity. A second new book on authenticity is by social media specialist, Rohit Bhargava. *Personality Not Included: Why Companies Lose their Authenticity and How Great Brands Get it Back (McGraw Hill, 2007) is also based on the premise that the age of the faceless corporation is over. The new business era is one where great brands and products must evoke a dynamic personality in order to attract passionate customers. To be successful today, businesses must redefine themselves in the customers' universe.
This week, I also received an Harvard Business School Working Knowledge email, "Authenticity Over Exaggeration: The New Rule in Advertising." According to John Deighton, consumers are using the Internet to blunt traditional commercial messages, and it's time for companies to rethink their marketing strategy. For example, successful advertising campaigns today are self-parodying , and spark discussions rather than blatantly sell products. Deighton cites Dove's "Real Beauty" campaign, a multiphase effort with an underlying theme that subverts traditional beauty product messages of aspiration and perfection. In one ad, full-sized regular-looking women are used. In another, young girls reveal insecurities about their looks, showing the harm done by unrealistic standards set by the industry. In these cases, the ideas belonged to the consumer you're trying to engage; get them talking by presenting a topic they want to discuss. Deighton notes, "When a brand adopts a point of view, rather than simply making a claim for softer skin, for instance, it can become a lightning rod for discourse." However, you do have to be confident that your message can withstand Internet threads of re-interpretation. John Deighton is the Harold M. Brierley Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. His working paper, "Digital Interactivity: Unanticipated Consequences for Markets, Marketing, and Consumers," will be published in the Journal of Interactive Marketing.
In a nutshell, authenticity has to do with the consumer using technology to learn about the marketers, rather than the other way around. Consumers today use sites such as eBay, YouTube and Facebook to gather information and share opinions on how they spend their money. The marketer no longer controls the message.
This week, I also received an Harvard Business School Working Knowledge email, "Authenticity Over Exaggeration: The New Rule in Advertising." According to John Deighton, consumers are using the Internet to blunt traditional commercial messages, and it's time for companies to rethink their marketing strategy. For example, successful advertising campaigns today are self-parodying , and spark discussions rather than blatantly sell products. Deighton cites Dove's "Real Beauty" campaign, a multiphase effort with an underlying theme that subverts traditional beauty product messages of aspiration and perfection. In one ad, full-sized regular-looking women are used. In another, young girls reveal insecurities about their looks, showing the harm done by unrealistic standards set by the industry. In these cases, the ideas belonged to the consumer you're trying to engage; get them talking by presenting a topic they want to discuss. Deighton notes, "When a brand adopts a point of view, rather than simply making a claim for softer skin, for instance, it can become a lightning rod for discourse." However, you do have to be confident that your message can withstand Internet threads of re-interpretation. John Deighton is the Harold M. Brierley Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. His working paper, "Digital Interactivity: Unanticipated Consequences for Markets, Marketing, and Consumers," will be published in the Journal of Interactive Marketing.
In a nutshell, authenticity has to do with the consumer using technology to learn about the marketers, rather than the other way around. Consumers today use sites such as eBay, YouTube and Facebook to gather information and share opinions on how they spend their money. The marketer no longer controls the message.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Adapt Your Marketing Strategy
I just finished reading Harvard Business School's online publication, Working Knowledge http://hbswk.hbs.edu , "Marketing Your Way Through a Recession," by Professor John Quelch.
According to Quelch, during an economic downturn, companies should keep several factors in mind when making marketing plans for 2008-2009. Among the factors are, supporting distributors, adjusting price tactics, and stressing market share.
More interesting, however, is Quelch's insight into consumer spending patterns and cultural tendencies during a recession. Quelch contends that instead of cutting the marketing budget, get to know how consumers are redefining value and how they are responding to the recession. For example, consumers take more time searching for durable goods, are more willing to postpone purchases, and they buy less in economic hard times. They learn to live without what was just yesterday a "must-have."
In a recession, the consumer retreats to home, hearth and village. Cozy family scenes tend to replace images of extreme sports, adventure and rugged individualism. Zany humor and appeals on the basis of fear are out. Greeting card sales, telephone use, discretionary spending on home furnishings and home entertainment will hold up.
According to Quelch, economic downturns are not a time to cut advertising. It is shown that brands that increase advertising during a recession when competition is cutting back, can improve market share and return on investment at a lower cost. Uncertainty leads consumers toward known brands, and more consumers staying home watching television can deliver higher than expected audiences at lower cost-per-thousand impressions.
Customers will be shopping around for the best deals in tough times. Price cuts attract more consumer support than promotions such as sweepstakes and mail-in offers.
Finally, Quelch urges companies to emphasize their core values; maintain quality rather than cutting corners, serving existing customers rather than trying to be all things to all people.
Check out this article! These are only a few of the many strategies he discusses. John Quelch is the Lincoln Filene Professor of Business at the Harvard Business School.
According to Quelch, during an economic downturn, companies should keep several factors in mind when making marketing plans for 2008-2009. Among the factors are, supporting distributors, adjusting price tactics, and stressing market share.
More interesting, however, is Quelch's insight into consumer spending patterns and cultural tendencies during a recession. Quelch contends that instead of cutting the marketing budget, get to know how consumers are redefining value and how they are responding to the recession. For example, consumers take more time searching for durable goods, are more willing to postpone purchases, and they buy less in economic hard times. They learn to live without what was just yesterday a "must-have."
In a recession, the consumer retreats to home, hearth and village. Cozy family scenes tend to replace images of extreme sports, adventure and rugged individualism. Zany humor and appeals on the basis of fear are out. Greeting card sales, telephone use, discretionary spending on home furnishings and home entertainment will hold up.
According to Quelch, economic downturns are not a time to cut advertising. It is shown that brands that increase advertising during a recession when competition is cutting back, can improve market share and return on investment at a lower cost. Uncertainty leads consumers toward known brands, and more consumers staying home watching television can deliver higher than expected audiences at lower cost-per-thousand impressions.
Customers will be shopping around for the best deals in tough times. Price cuts attract more consumer support than promotions such as sweepstakes and mail-in offers.
Finally, Quelch urges companies to emphasize their core values; maintain quality rather than cutting corners, serving existing customers rather than trying to be all things to all people.
Check out this article! These are only a few of the many strategies he discusses. John Quelch is the Lincoln Filene Professor of Business at the Harvard Business School.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Nonprofit Networking
One of my goals as the new business librarian is to expand the collection and the resources for nonprofit organizational administration, and emphasize social entrepreneurship. Recently, I've been researching nonprofits, their missions, and how the sector has changed, grown and consolidated. Overall, has the sector achieved significant social impact?
Jane Wei-Skillern, assistant professor in the General Management Unit at Harvard Business School, studies entrepreneurship in the social sector. I've ordered her book, Entrepreneurship in the Social Sector (Sage Publications, Inc., 2007, 424 pp. $69.95) for the library's nonprofit collection. One focus of her study is nonprofit networking. Nonprofit networking is a new way to achieve significant social impact of a nonprofit. Wei-Skillern and her research colleagues found that growing an organization did not always lead to the benefits the organization had thought. For example, many nonprofits anticipate that fundraising would be easier with organizational growth. However, significant new costs are created; the nonprofit needs to now manage and coordinate operations across multiple locations.
For example, instead of "growth" as an organizational strategy, Wei-skillern's research shows that a more powerful lever to increase a nonprofit's social impact might be to focus on building network relationships among like-minded groups, even competitors. "Often times an organization might be engaged in a partnership at one point or another, or be a member of an umbrella organization...but it's not really a network approach" to the day-to-day operations. A key to successfully fulfilling a nonprofit's mission might be to understand the nuts and bolts of how to create, build, and sustain effective relationships (networks) with like-minded organziations to better accomplish a social goal.
This is especially pertinent to my present work with Arts Alive Fort Collins, a local arts service organization, the mission of which is to bring the arts to the community and the community to the arts. There are several arts organizations in the community, a City Cultural Resources Board (for granting); Beet Street, a new presenting organization; Arts and Cultures Committee for the UniverCity Connections group (a discussion group), and Arts Alive. These organizations are like-minded in their mission to grow the arts in the community, and would be perfect networking organizations. We just need to figure out how to solidify and professsionalize such a structure.
Benefits of networks that have been documented by researchers include mutual learning; enhanced legitimacy and status for the members; economic power; and an enhanced ability to manage uncertainty. These are very conducive to the work of nonprofits, in that nonprofits are trying to solve large, complex problems that really cannot be addressed by any single entity. According the Wei-Skillern, "trust" forms the core of such a network.
By creating a network, you can see and work toward the bigger picture, you can invest in affiliates and associates; build a culture around quality and accountability; and get more services out to your targeted populations. This change can serve the nonprofit managers who are trying to create social value, as well as the funders who drive the dynamics within the nonprofit sector.
Think about creating and managing networks to help focus on your social cause. Think in new entrepreneurial ways. Instead of concentrating on the overwhelming management challenges, think about how to mobilize resources within and outside your organizational boundaries to achieve your social aims.
Jane Wei-Skillern, assistant professor in the General Management Unit at Harvard Business School, studies entrepreneurship in the social sector. I've ordered her book, Entrepreneurship in the Social Sector (Sage Publications, Inc., 2007, 424 pp. $69.95) for the library's nonprofit collection. One focus of her study is nonprofit networking. Nonprofit networking is a new way to achieve significant social impact of a nonprofit. Wei-Skillern and her research colleagues found that growing an organization did not always lead to the benefits the organization had thought. For example, many nonprofits anticipate that fundraising would be easier with organizational growth. However, significant new costs are created; the nonprofit needs to now manage and coordinate operations across multiple locations.
Too, recent studies from the Rand Corporation, including, "Arts and Culture in the Metropolis: Strategies for Sustainability," (Santa Monica, CA: Rand Corporation, 2006, $25.00), show that the nonprofit sector, most importantly the arts nonprofits, will need to soon transform the traditional nonprofit model into a more business model, focusing on cost over revenue, collaboration over single-use, and networking. This will require conscious change in how nonprofits manage themselves.
For example, instead of "growth" as an organizational strategy, Wei-skillern's research shows that a more powerful lever to increase a nonprofit's social impact might be to focus on building network relationships among like-minded groups, even competitors. "Often times an organization might be engaged in a partnership at one point or another, or be a member of an umbrella organization...but it's not really a network approach" to the day-to-day operations. A key to successfully fulfilling a nonprofit's mission might be to understand the nuts and bolts of how to create, build, and sustain effective relationships (networks) with like-minded organziations to better accomplish a social goal.
This is especially pertinent to my present work with Arts Alive Fort Collins, a local arts service organization, the mission of which is to bring the arts to the community and the community to the arts. There are several arts organizations in the community, a City Cultural Resources Board (for granting); Beet Street, a new presenting organization; Arts and Cultures Committee for the UniverCity Connections group (a discussion group), and Arts Alive. These organizations are like-minded in their mission to grow the arts in the community, and would be perfect networking organizations. We just need to figure out how to solidify and professsionalize such a structure.
Benefits of networks that have been documented by researchers include mutual learning; enhanced legitimacy and status for the members; economic power; and an enhanced ability to manage uncertainty. These are very conducive to the work of nonprofits, in that nonprofits are trying to solve large, complex problems that really cannot be addressed by any single entity. According the Wei-Skillern, "trust" forms the core of such a network.
By creating a network, you can see and work toward the bigger picture, you can invest in affiliates and associates; build a culture around quality and accountability; and get more services out to your targeted populations. This change can serve the nonprofit managers who are trying to create social value, as well as the funders who drive the dynamics within the nonprofit sector.
Think about creating and managing networks to help focus on your social cause. Think in new entrepreneurial ways. Instead of concentrating on the overwhelming management challenges, think about how to mobilize resources within and outside your organizational boundaries to achieve your social aims.
Monday, January 7, 2008
Small Business Resource Center
The Library District recently began an online subscription to the Thomson/Gale Small Business Resource Center. This database contains a wealth of information and resources for the new, growing or maturing small business or the budding entrepreneur. The resource center includes hundreds of sample business plans created by real-life entrepreneurs, as well as business plan "templates" that students and entrepreneurs can develop on their own. I'm especially excited about access to the Encyclopedia of Major Marketing Campaigns, which showcases advertising campaigns and marketing initiatives from some of the world's best-known companies -- from McDonald's to Merrill Lynch. The database also has access to hundreds of small business and industry journal articles, from Custom Home, Automotive Body Repair News, Family Business Review to Financial Management and The Tax Advisor. Go to: http://dalva.fcgov.com/ link to "Databases" then use the drop down box to Small Business Resource Center. You can also link through the Business and Investment database collections. Make sure you have your library card number ready--if you're working from your office or home, a popup will appear asking for your number.
This is just a great source for the small business owner or manager to access information they could not afford on their own, and have the opportunity to do it from your office or your home. You can get information on accounting, finance, human resource management, general management, marketing, tax and more.
So, keep the Fort Collins Library District's Small Business Resource Center database in mind when you need quick information, research or just to peruse you favorite industry and/ or small business journal.
Once you're in the database, for users not sure where to start, go directly to the "subject guide," or search "business topics," "business types," "sample business plans." Or, just go to the "How to..." link. Advanced searches are available based on document type, subject areas and publications.
This is just a great source for the small business owner or manager to access information they could not afford on their own, and have the opportunity to do it from your office or your home. You can get information on accounting, finance, human resource management, general management, marketing, tax and more.
So, keep the Fort Collins Library District's Small Business Resource Center database in mind when you need quick information, research or just to peruse you favorite industry and/ or small business journal.
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