A recent Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundationstudy revived the term “gazelle companies” to describe the young, rapidly-growing U.S. firms that are producing the majority of new jobs in the U.S. The report recommends that policy-makers nurture Gazelles to stimulate job growth at a time when unemployment is high.
I’m interested in another class of companies—young, well-run firms in emerging regions like the sub-Sahara. Like their Western counterparts, they’re creating a disproportionate number of jobs. But these young African companies are playing a more crucial role than gazelles do in driving market growth.
To belabor the metaphor, I call them Impalas, after the lean, swift gazelles indigenous to Africa. Impalas provide technology-enabled and outsourcing services to a growing number of multinational (MNC) service providers – mobiles, airlines and banks – in Johannesburg, Accra, and Nairobi, etc. They share many of the characteristics of gazelles, but there are some notable differences.
It sounds esoteric, but it’s not. ‘The Art of Seeing Customers’ is my term for a concrete, effective process that organizations can use to transform their services based on focusing on their customers. The approach helps businesses refine their services by considering not only on ‘what’ customers seek, but “how’ and ‘why’ they seek it.
By balancing customer needs with business objectives, companies can design more pleasing services and and engage customers in the kind of dialogue that encourages them to buy. My team and I use this technique with our clients on a regular basis. We begin by determining the customer’s “purchasing drivers” — what are customers’ needs, desires and expectations.
Why is this important? As organizations mature and grow, they can lose sight of the human factor and they lose their ability to adapt their services to customers. The Art of Seeing Customers is a counterbalance that helps shift the organizational focus back to the customer.
In today’s economy, all of us—even those of us who aren’t trained as designers—must become design thinkers. -Daniel Pink
iPad To Go
It’s been a hectic but interesting summer crisscrossing the Atlantic for work. I like catching up on reading during long flights but hate schlepping books, so the iPad is a Godsend.
The sleek tablet lets me carry an array of books, films and music. When I’m too jet lagged to read a dense book, I skim magazines or catch videos. It’s thrilling to have such a wide assortment of mind candy.
One of my favorite apps is WIRED Magazine’s developed by Adobe Digital for Condé Naste. The app lives up to its hype of providing an immersive, highly interactive experience. Gorgeous images and crisp typography rotate with the device, and the layout is just plain sexy. I find myself returning to the app to figure out why it’s so alluring.
As the World Cup gets underway this week in South Africa—the first ever to be held on the African continent—the world media is turning its attention there.
Typically, coverage of Africa by the international media is limited to stories about intractable problems—disease, war, famine, and corruption. Many of the World Cup stories are taking a similar tact. Stories about the South Africa’s five new stadiums underscore the nation’s mounting debt while other pieces highlight its security concerns.
A lot of the coverage reflects the world media’s skewed view of Africa as a monolithic place that’s plagued with tragedy. Severe challenges do exist, but many African societies are quietly building their institutions and infrastructures. It’s time the outside world views Africa through a broader, more accurate lens. Read the rest of this entry »
One of the best things about my work is what my colleagues and I call the “hat trick”. In sports like cricket and hockey, a hat trick is accomplishing a feat three times in a contest. I’ll explain what a hat trick is in my world and why it’s thrilling to pull one off.
Our mission is to help clients enable their customers to enjoy richer, more satisfying service experiences.
A hat trick is when we not only help clients to better meet the needs of their target customers, but also enable them to increase customer loyalty and revenue. We do all this while also cutting service costs — sometimes up to 20%. Almost every assignment offers hat trick potential.
Invest time in languages and intercultural awareness. Focus on becoming part of global citizenry. In exchange for the opportunity to participate everywhere/anywhere in the world you have the obligation to do something productive, which will improve the world. ~C.K. Prahalad
Distinguished scholar and visionary
The distinguished business scholar, C. K. Prahalad, died unexpectedly last week of a lung ailment at the age of 69. His contributions to the pursuit of business strategy and innovation are unparalleled. He’s had an enormous influence on my work and that of my peers.
Dr. Prahalad was more than a celebrated management guru, he was a visionary. He redefined the way that a growing number of global businesses deal with developing markets, and he helped to shape a new economic paradigm.
“So you got to let me know, should I stay or should I go?” ~The Clash
Why customers do what they do
It feels like we’re at the dawn of a new era in understanding how people — namely our customers — make decisions, and some businesses will benefit enormously. More importantly, customers will soon enjoy more kinds of services designed to better meet their needs.
Our collective thinking is being informed by discoveries in behavioral sciences and behavioral economics about the role of the unconscious mind and the centrality of emotions in driving behavior. Many of these findings are now verifiable through neuroimaging tools.
Among other things, we’re realizing that people aren’t Vulcan-like beings who make choices on a cold, purely rational basis. Individuals — our customers — are complicated and swayed by factors beneath the level of consciousness.
I spent the last couple weeks on assignment in Accra, Ghana. On this trip, I’ve seen more growth than any time since my company started working there in ‘07. This is a period of unprecedented business activity and promising new projects within and beyond the mobile sector. Meanwhile, new competitors from around the world are streaming in. This corner of Africa’s business scene is pulsating.
Astute businesses here are taking steps to preserve their client base and deepen relationships with their customers. We’re privileged to work with a new generation of African business leaders with the courage and determination to transform their offerings to meet the needs of an emerging class of consumers.
A recent Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation study revived the term “gazelle companies” to describe the young, rapidly-growing U.S. firms that are producing the majority of new jobs in the U.S. The report recommends that policy-makers nurture Gazelles to stimulate job growth at a time when unemployment is high.
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