WMF Home Page Newsletter - March 2008
Thursday, March 06 2008 @ 09:02 AM EST
The US Federal Reserve Bank’s rapid cutting of interest rates reminds me of the policy Japanese financial decision makers took a decade ago to stimulate their economy back to health, and could result in equally unhappy consequences now for the United States. Lower interest rates with the inevitable drop in the value of the dollar will only fuel greater inflation in the US, and as is obvious to consumers everywhere by now, the inexorable rise in the price of fuel and other basic commodities is causing prices of goods to rise faster than incomes. This treacherous environment will require innovative solutions by marketers of products from cars to flat screens to coffee shops in order to keep their target markets interested and cash registers ringing. This is a global trend, despite what the gurus who only yesterday were preaching a world economy “uncoupled” from the American consumption colossus would have us believe. When the United States stops buying, the global economy slows down, period. Hence the almost panicky cut in interest rates by the Fed, in a desperate attempt to prime the pump of the world’s largest economy before it becomes a whirlpool of economic insecurity and caution that could suck everyone else down with it.
In Austin, Texas I attended the American Marketing Association’s Winter Educators’ Conference. I was particularly intrigued by the report of Donald Clay Barnes of Mississippi State University, who shared his findings on customer delight from the perspective of American service employee, showing that the employees surveyed evaluated benefits to themselves from providing good service as being more important than the benefits they are providing to the customer. They also fear negative consequences for them of giving good service to the customer, such as the customer coming to “expect it”. These interesting findings reflect, I think, the radical individualism of American society, and such egocentric attitudes would not be found if the study were replicated in Japan among Japanese service workers. As I always tell students, culture is the independent variable.
My arrival back in Israel coincided with the announcement by a consortium including Nissan and led by a young entrepreneur Shai Agassi, that Israel will install a countrywide electric car network within five years. Talks for “Project Better Place PLC” are also underway to take the model being developed for Israel and duplicate it in Japan. The two countries are considered ideal candidates for such a system because they both constitute geographic “transportation islands”. Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. has been mentioned as the probable manufacturer of both the electric car and the battery to be used in these systems. (Globes, Feb. 26, 2008). If it succeeds, it will be a victory for sustainability and green marketing on a major scale.
The next time I report to you it will be spring.
May you all have a good one!
Kenneth Alan Grossberg
Zichron Yaakov, ISRAEL
In Austin, Texas I attended the American Marketing Association’s Winter Educators’ Conference. I was particularly intrigued by the report of Donald Clay Barnes of Mississippi State University, who shared his findings on customer delight from the perspective of American service employee, showing that the employees surveyed evaluated benefits to themselves from providing good service as being more important than the benefits they are providing to the customer. They also fear negative consequences for them of giving good service to the customer, such as the customer coming to “expect it”. These interesting findings reflect, I think, the radical individualism of American society, and such egocentric attitudes would not be found if the study were replicated in Japan among Japanese service workers. As I always tell students, culture is the independent variable.
My arrival back in Israel coincided with the announcement by a consortium including Nissan and led by a young entrepreneur Shai Agassi, that Israel will install a countrywide electric car network within five years. Talks for “Project Better Place PLC” are also underway to take the model being developed for Israel and duplicate it in Japan. The two countries are considered ideal candidates for such a system because they both constitute geographic “transportation islands”. Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. has been mentioned as the probable manufacturer of both the electric car and the battery to be used in these systems. (Globes, Feb. 26, 2008). If it succeeds, it will be a victory for sustainability and green marketing on a major scale.
The next time I report to you it will be spring.
May you all have a good one!
Kenneth Alan Grossberg
Zichron Yaakov, ISRAEL