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Rehiring Retirees as Consultants Is Bad Business

Why would any organization set up a system that discourages experts from sharing their business-critical knowledge?

Obviously, no leader deliberately set out to do such a thing. Yet it happens all the time when companies make a practice of hiring back retirees as consultants to perform the same functions they did before, at higher pay.

Prior to 2008, GE Global Research Center (GEGRC) followed this process. A scientist or engineer would retire from the organization, wait the mandatory six months, and then field a call from a former manager with an offer to re-engage. The corresponding consulting fees, combined with their pension, generated an income not too different from the person's pre-retirement salary, with far fewer hours worked. In HR groups around (and beyond) the company, this scenario was the norm. Retirees were simply another, albeit expensive, form of contingent labor. And the arrangement seemed like a win-win. The retiree satisfied financial and personal goals while the organization reinserted someone with unrivaled knowledge and expertise into a project and took its time sourcing replacement talent.

So what was wrong with this picture? For one thing, at GEGRC, internal analysis predicted a potential tsunami of retirements hitting the two top technical levels between 2008 and 2013. That meant a costly practice could get prohibitively expensive. Worse, the rehiring agreements were structured only to provide project continuity, not to retain or transfer knowledge. After all, why would a soon-to-be or recent retiree want to impart his smarts? Most wanted to be paid, and to be missed, when they eventually quit for good.

Not all the knowledge in the head of every departing employee is valuable, of course. Some may be outdated or strategically irrelevant. But at GEGRC and many other companies, increasing numbers of Baby Boomers walking out the door are taking a lot of valuable deep smarts — that is, business-critical, experience-based knowledge about not only technical issues but also "soft skills" like customer relations, project management, creative team leadership and stakeholder management — with them. That can be devastating to competitive advantage.

Ironically, the financial downturn of 2008 gave GEGRC an opportunity to change. In an effort to reduce costs, the organization forbade re-hiring of retirees in 2009. An outcry ensued, of course, but management and HR began to face the painful fact that they had been aiding and abetting a vicious cycle of capability dependency and knowledge loss.

For a while, would-be retirees simply stayed on longer than they had planned. And it was that lull in departures which allowed the organization to redesign some of its incentives, practices and culture. It launched a significant knowledge-sharing program drawing on some of the advice outlined in this article and set up a phased retirement program, offering flexible work schedules and leaves of absence to spend more time with family or to winter in a warmer climate. GEGRC still has a handful of returned retirees, but a condition of rehiring is that they agree to teach and mentor others or otherwise contribute to the long-term capabilities of their successors. They are not permitted to merely resume their preretirement roles.

Companies must work harder to make sure retirees pass on their valuable knowledge. Until more do, they will continue to undermine their own long-term capabilities.

via HBR.org http://blogs.hbr.org/hbsfaculty/2013/03/stop-paying-your-experts-to-ho.html

Social Enterprises Need a Solid Measurement System

Companies seeking to create scalable social businesses need a measurement system that monitors their progress in delivering social benefits and economic value. Only by tracking both the social and business results and how they're connected can firms hope to have a large-scale social impact.

The problem is there is not yet a universal system for doing this. The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board is trying to create industry-based standards that will allow investors and other stakeholders to compare firms' environmental and social impacts, but it remains to be seen whether it will be able to tie its standards to value creation. The International Integrated Reporting Council is developing a common framework for companies to submit "integrated reports" on their financial, environmental, social, and governance performance. But it, too, remains very much a work in progress.

We applaud these efforts. However, even if they do succeed in creating standards, we doubt that they will be sufficiently granular and tailored to be of use in devising and implementing "shared value" strategies for generating social benefits and profits.

There is a remedy. It's a straightforward process that our firm deduced from studying over a dozen major corporations — including Alcoa, Coca-Cola, Intel, InterContinental Hotels, Nestlé, and Novo Nordisk — that seem to be well along the way to building shared value enterprises at scale. It involves four steps described below. To illustrate them, we describe how Coca-Cola Brazil measures its Coletivo initiative, which has the twin goals of increasing the employability of low-income youths and young adults and strengthening the company's retail distribution channels and brand strength. (See our report on the topic for other examples.)

Identify the Social Issues to Target

Start by identifying and prioritizing specific social issues that represent opportunities to increase revenue or reduce costs. This requires a systematic screening of unmet social needs and gaps and an analysis of how they overlap with the business. The result of this step is a list of prioritized social issues that a shared value strategy can target.

In 2008, Coca-Cola, after six months of studying the needs of Brazil's growing lower-middle-class population, identified a core social issue — skills development among low-income young people — as a strategic focus that could improve the company's profitability. Most had little or no opportunity to find jobs due to their lack of skills and limited employment opportunities in their communities.

Make the Business Case

Develop a solid business case based on how social improvement will directly improve business performance. This step includes specifying the targeted social and business benefits and understanding the activities and costs needed to achieve them.

To improve the skills and employability of these young people, Coca-Cola, in partnership with local NGOs, sought to train local youth for two months in retailing, business development, and entrepreneurship. Coca-Cola hypothesized that the training program, which includes pairing the young people with local retailers to get some job experience, could help the small businesses significantly improve their operations in areas like stocking, promotions, merchandising, and pricing, increasing sales of Coca-Cola products — especially in the emerging lower-middle-class segment.

Track Progress

Using the business case as a road map, track progress against the desired targets.

Coca-Cola's Coletivo initiative measures and reports progress on a monthly basis. It tracks the number of participating young people and retailers and the performance of retailers over time. The company also closely monitors the costs associated with the effort to ensure its cost effectiveness and efficiency.

Since its launch in 2009, the initiative has trained more than 50,000 young people in retailing, business operations, and basic entrepreneurship concepts. The company now operates the Coletivo initiative at over 150 low-income communities across Brazil.

Reassess the Concept and Identify New Value

Use the results to validate (or invalidate) the anticipated link between social and business results. Determine whether the outlay of corporate resources produced sufficient social and business value. Insights and lessons from this analysis will help you refine the strategy and execution.

Coca-Cola assesses four key measures: job placement; self-esteem of the young participants; company sales; and brand connection.

The initiative has been highly successful so far: After being trained, approximately 30% of the young people immediately have landed their first job with Coca-Cola or one of its retail partners (small shops to large companies like McDonald's and Walmart). And more than 10% have set up their own businesses with microcredit support from the company. An investment in a Coletivo site is profitable in only two years.

Coca-Cola's measurement system also identified continuous improvement opportunities, such as revising the training program to put more emphasis on soft skills, including leadership and presence, instead of only technical merchandising skills.

If the world is going to reap the promise of shared value — sustainable, scalable approaches to solving social problems — then companies need robust measurement systems to help them learn what works.

Please join the conversation and check back for regular updates. Follow the Scaling Social Impact insight center on Twitter @ScalingSocial and give us feedback.

Scaling Social Impact

Insights from HBR and The Bridgespan Group

• Creating Social Change With Social Media


• Can Technology End Poverty?


• A New Type of Philanthropy: Donating Data


• Give Us Feedback and Get a Free HBR Article

via HBR.org http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2013/03/social_enterprises_need_a_soli.html

How to Write the Dreaded Self-Appraisal

No one likes review time. For many, self-appraisals are a particularly annoying part of the process. What can you say about your own performance? How can you be honest without coming off as arrogant, or shooting yourself in the foot?

What the Experts Say

Dick Grote, author of How to Be Good at Performance Appraisals , has a lot to say about self-appraisals and most of it isn't good. "I'll admit it's important to get the employee's point of view in the process but this is the wrong way to do it," he says. In his view, since study after study has shown that we are horrible judges of our own performance, any self-evaluation should focus exclusively on positives; people should not be self-critics. Timothy Butler, a senior fellow and the director of Career Development Programs at Harvard Business School, agrees that self-assessments aren't the best way to evaluate performance, but believes they do serve a purpose: "They're an important source of information about what happened in the past year," Butler says.

No matter where you stand on their value, self-appraisals are a staple of office life. So the question is how to handle them. Here are some principles to help you when review time rolls around.

Know how your boss will use it

Before you put pen to paper, ask your boss how he plans to use the self-appraisal. Will it play a key role in his review? Will he use it to make decisions about promotions and bonuses? Will he share it with anyone else? Knowing these things will inform what and how you write. "Many lazy bosses see it as an easy way to shuffle off the difficult task of writing a review," says Grote. If that sounds like your manager, write your appraisal in a way that allows him to copy and paste from your form to his, replacing every "I" and "my" with "she" and "her."

Emphasize your accomplishments

Both Grote and Butler agree that you should emphasize your achievements. Don't be arrogant but don't downplay your successes either. "If you've had a great year, you should talk explicitly about your accomplishments," says Butler. "Be very clear about what contributions you've made to the business unit." Grote adds there is no shame in being political. "It's OK to put the best face on what you did," he says.

Acknowledge mistakes — carefully

Of course, unless you're the best thing that ever happened to your office, you're likely to have faults or have made missteps too, and you should mention those, even if it's only in passing. Grote again advises to put the best possible spin on problem areas so you don't give your boss "the noose with which to hang you." Butler suggests using developmental language. "You don't want to say, 'Here's where I really fall down.' Instead, say 'Here's an area I want to work on. This is what I've learned. This is what we should do going forward.'"

Keep the focus on you

It can be tempting to talk about others in your appraisal — particularly if they're hindering your progress — but remember this is about you, not them. "Don't use defensive language or criticize other parties. That doesn't move things forward," Butler says. "If you're having a significant problem with a co-worker, talk to your manager long before the review — with the door closed, not in a written document."

Ask for what you need

Smart employees use self-appraisals to lobby for career development opportunities. Even if your boss doesn't explicitly ask for this, Butler says you should include it anyway "because if you don't ask, it's not going to happen." Be specific. Explain the aspects of your job that most excite you and suggest ways you can become more involved in those things. You might ask to be included in certain brainstorming meetings or request funding to take a class on data analytics. Just remember to make sure these requests reflect what your business unit needs as well.

Managers: Work to improve the process

Both Butler and Grote believe there are ways for managers to make self-appraisals more effective. Butler would like to see managers ask more about employees' motivations and interests so they can create jobs that are better suited for them. He suggests asking questions like, "Where do you think you can make your biggest contributions in the coming year?" and "Which types of projects and activities would you like to see more of in your day-to-day work?" Grote recommends focusing on the positive. Maybe ask for a "good stuff list," where employees can write down what they're really proud of. "That puts a very appropriate, positive view on the process," he says.

Principles to Remember

Do

• Understand how your self-appraisal is going to be used
  


• Focus mostly on what you've accomplished in the past year
  


• Try to improve the process if you're a manager — ask about your employees' motivations and interests

Don't

• Harp on your weaknesses — talk about them carefully, using developmental language
  


• Be defensive or criticize others — this is about your performance
  


• Forget to ask about growth opportunities — be specific about what you need

Case Study #1: Take it seriously and they will too

Darin Freitag has filled out six self-appraisal forms in his time at Ryan Associates, an employee-owned construction company based in San Francisco. The company uses a standard form that includes a handful of questions such as, "What are your job responsibilities and have you gone above and beyond them this year?"

Darin spends between two and four hours filling out his form each review time. "I make sure my managers know that I take this seriously," he says. He knows that his immediate boss (the company's COO), the CFO, and the head of HR all review his form and he gears it toward them. "This is my one time of year to push for my career growth," Darin says. He's explicit about how they can help. In the past, he's used the form to request new responsibilities and exposure to different types of projects. But he's honest about his performance as well. "I know that I have characteristics that require some comment. For example, I often get sucked into the details," he says. "I don't make a big deal about it but I recognize that's what I'm working on."

Case Study #2: Be honest when you can be

Two years in a row, Liz Steele*, a senior HR partner at a global non-profit, didn't achieve the goals she set for herself. "I was just too optimistic about what I could accomplish," she says. Since her self-appraisal required that she assess her performance against those objectives, she struggled with what to do. "Most people just talk about their accomplishments but I didn't feel comfortable doing that," she says. After carefully thinking it through, she decided to list each goal, explaining which ones she didn't meet. She also highlighted work she delivered that wasn't part of her original plan. She admits that it was a risky move: "I knew that it could backfire. In some cultures that would've been equivalent to career suicide." But she was confident in the security of her role and knew she was well-respected by her manager and her clients. Plus she felt her integrity mattered more. As an HR partner, Liz's success relies on her ability to influence others. "I can't influence if people don't trust me," she says.

Her immediate boss and the Head of HR reviewed her self-appraisal and were surprised. "They were amused but they also appreciated that I was willing to call myself out on my own failures," she explains. Her manager specifically noted on this year's evaluation that she was not afraid to admit her own mistakes. She knows she took a calculated risk by being so truthful, but in this case, her honest and careful approach paid off.

*not her real name

via HBR.org http://blogs.hbr.org/hmu/2013/03/how-to-write-the-dreaded-self-appraisal.html

Change Management Is Bigger Than Leadership

If an organization needs to undergo significant change, that's a leadership issue, right? Old dogs will learn new tricks when the lead dog — or ape, or penguin, depending on the management fable of the moment — shows them off. Leaders need to craft compelling elevator speeches, relentlessly deliver the message of change, and above all, walk the talk.

That is all well and good for animal packs, and it helps with humans, too. But by itself, the lead-animal theory is woefully insufficient for changing large organizations or large parts of organizations. Leaders modeling behavior and talking the case for change can indeed help enterprises transform. But how often is that corporate alpha dog actually sitting among the pack? Most people in large organizations catch a glimpse only briefly, via dispatch or WebEx or the rare visit. Soon, the appearance fades and the banners droop. The workers, the managers, and even the executives look around to see if their environment has changed, if the tried-and-true behaviors that made their world work will continue to do so. If the environment has changed, fine; it's time to adapt. If it hasn't, then why bother to change?

How, then, does one lead the changing of an organization, whether it is a company, business unit, service line, department, or work unit? By changing the work systems that comprise the work environment around the people whose behavior is supposed to change. Therein lies the key to successful, embedded, and sustained change: alter the environment, and people will adapt to it. Call it a species strength. We behave based on the reality around us.

Eight aspects comprise our world at work and, therefore, patterns of behavior at work: organization (organizational chart), workplace (its physical or virtual configuration), task (work flow or processes), people (specifically the skills and orientation), rewards (and punishments), measurement (the metrics employed), information distribution (who gets to know what when), and decision allocation (who is involved in what way in which decisions). A skilled change leader can convert these eight aspects into eight levers for change.

That is just what Hyundai's Chung Mong-Koo did and the results speak for themselves. He took a carmaker arguably within sight of going out of business in 1998 and led the creation of what Bill Holstein (writing in Strategy+Business ) describes as "a coherent mix of quality improvement, design, and marketing that gives Hyundai a clear advantage over its industry competitors." A remarkable feat made only more remarkable by the fact that it occurred in a highly competitive, well-established global industry.

This change took time and far more than an inspired "motivational" leader. It took a concerted, coordinated, and sustained reworking of multiple work systems. For instance, Hyundai established a new and powerful quality division along with a Global Command and Control Center and brought transmission design and manufacturing in-house, implemented many Deming and systems-oriented approaches to task or work flow, flattened organizational hierarchies to drive more collaborative decision-making, made far more production information available throughout the organization in real time, significantly upgraded the level of technological tools available (especially on the production floor), altered measurement to include "qualitivity" (a unique combination of quality, productivity, and customer satisfaction) and rewards (e.g., good pay by local standards in Alabama plant), and hired outside designers leading to a new approach to design termed "fluidic sculpture."

At another global organization, the Roman Catholic Church, a change in leadership has many hoping for the revitalization of what some see as a scandal-ridden, unresponsive, and secretive organization. What might a change-minded pontificate learn from Hyundai? Do the aforementioned levers of change apply? They might start by articulating what scenes they want to see occurring regularly and reliably within the church that currently do not, and, conversely, what now-common scenes they wish would stop. That work done, they might step back and look across the scenes and ask questions such as the following:

1. What changes in the organizational chart or in supporting structures (such as meetings) would support the scenes occurring? For example, does the traditional parish structure facilitate or hinder the scenes occurring?


2. What design of physical or virtual space would make the desired scenes more likely? For example, would easy access to global digital connections serve to build a larger sense of community?


3. What protocols might ease realization of desired scenes? For example, how standardized should the handling of financial or educational tasks be?


4. What skills and orientation should people playing key roles in the desired scenes bring to their roles? For example, what attributes should qualify someone for hire into those roles?


5. What rewards or punishment should depend upon people acting consistently with the desired scenes? For example, on what basis should disbursement of church funds occur?


6. What measurements would foster the regular unfolding of the desired scenes? For example, is there a RCC version of Hyundai's qualitivity?


7. What distribution of information would facilitate desired scenes occurring and frustrate the occurrence of undesired scenes? For example, would greater transparency be a goal? If it is, with whom would RCC wish to be more transparent and how would this work, from speed of message delivery and method of communication?


8. What allocation of decision making roles would serve to bring desired scenes to life? For example, what role should clergy and laity play in which decisions to support the occurrence of desired scenes?

Watch the Roman Catholic Church. The more that it approaches the need for change strictly as a need to "get a different leader," the less real change will occur, let alone endure. The more that it approaches change as a concerted, coordinated, and sustained reworking of multiple work systems, the more real change will occur...and endure, as it has at Hyundai, and as it would for your organization.

via HBR.org http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2013/03/change_management_is_bigger_th.html

Open Data Has Little Value If People Can't Use It

Open data could be the gamechanger when it comes to eradicating global poverty. In the last two years, central and local governments and multilateral organizations around the world have opened a range of data — information on budgets, infrastructure, health, sanitation, education, and more — online, for free. The data are not perfect, but then perfection is not the goal. Rather, the goal is for this data to become actionable intelligence: a launchpad for investigation, analysis, triangulation, and improved decision making at all levels.

While the "opening" has generated excitement from development experts, donors, several government champions, and the increasingly mighty geek community, the hard reality is that much of the public has been left behind, or tacked on as an afterthought. So how can we support "data-literacy" across the full spectrum of users, including media, NGOs, labor unions, professional associations, religious groups, universities, and the public at large?

Here's one approach. It's time and resource intensive, but crucial — institutionalizing data literacy across societies. Stay with me on this. I'm not suggesting that everyone on planet Earth should be trained in statistical analysis, visualization and app development. Rather, let's work more with journalists and civic groups. Knight Fellow Justin Arenstein calls these folks "mass mobilizers" of information. O'Reilly Media's Alex Howard points to these groups in particular because they can help demystify data, to make it understandable by populations and not just statisticians. Bono calls this factivism.

After all, shouldn't everyone have the option to inform their own decision-making if they want to? Isn't that what democratizing data is really about?

Here's the good news: Data interrogation and visualization tools are increasingly user-friendly and freely accessible, such as a suite of tools supported (or competing for support) by the Knight Foundation. And pithy, digestible data literacy training materials are ubiquitous (from School of Data to KDMC tutorials to For Journalism to Data Journalism Bootcamps.) It's early yet, but the playing field is starting to level, giving journalists and members of the public better access to data that previously only governments or large private companies could sift through.

Take Irene Choge, a journalist for NTV in Kenya. Irene participated in a Data Journalism Bootcamp in Nairobi convened by the World Bank Institute, the African Media Initiative, and Google in January 2012. This was an intensive, hands-on training program designed to give journalists, civil society members, and coders a crash-course in practical techniques and tools needed to harness open data for storytelling.

At the time, Choge was searching for answers as to why primary school students' grades were at a record low in two particular Kenyan counties — a trend that wasn't reflected in the rest of the country. Using data interrogation skills she acquired during the training, she began to explore Kenya's Open Data platform, analyzing student grades per primary school. She then examined county-level expenditures on education infrastructure — specifically, on the number of toilets per primary school. Then she scrutinized disease levels among primary school students. Armed with this information, Choge visited the counties, investigated, interviewed, triangulated, and produced a series of stories (starting with this one) that presented her findings.

Funding allocated for children's toilet facilities had disappeared, resulting in high levels of open defecation (in the same spaces where they played and ate). This increased their risk of contracting cholera, giardiasis, hepatitis, and rotavirus, and accounted for low attendance, in particular among girls, who also had no facilities during their menstruation cycles. The end result: poor student performance on exams.

Through Choge's analysis and story, open data became actionable intelligence. As a result, government is acting: ministry resources are being allocated to correct the toilet deficiency across the most underserved primary schools and to identify the source of the misallocation at the root of the problem. Moreover, NTV, with help from the World Bank and African Media Initiative-supported Code for Kenya program, are building a mobile phone application to enable parents across Kenyan counties to access and compare sanitary conditions in their children's schools against schools in other counties, and to demand action and improvements from government.

This is just one illustration of how opened data — particularly hyperlocal data — can elevate issues, which matter to people into the public consciousness for consideration, debate, and action. As governments continue to open data the world over, there needs to be a stronger emphasis on enabling "mass mobilizers" and ultimately the public to use and reuse it. Doing so can unleash the true power of opened data — to become actionable intelligence.

Please join the conversation and check back for regular updates. Follow the Scaling Social Impact insight center on Twitter @ScalingSocial and give us feedback.

Scaling Social Impact

Insights from HBR and The Bridgespan Group

• Creating Social Change With Social Media


• Can Technology End Poverty?


• A New Type of Philanthropy: Donating Data


• Give Us Feedback and Get a Free HBR Article

via HBR.org http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2013/03/open_data_has_little_value_if.html

If You Work On Wall Street, Download These Apps

Wall Streeters, we know your lives revolve around time.

Days in the office swing between dramatic periods of having to save time and waste time. So in an attempt to help you survive it all, we've picked a bunch of apps for making it and killing it.

We've also tried to forego the typical news apps and what-not for apps that suit your every day life.

Like for when you have to wake up refreshed after 4 hours of sleep or when you need to make a presentation... yesterday.

Normal, banker things.

Mailbox

Why you should get it: If your dream is to attain "inbox zero" this app can help you with that. It connects to your Gmail and makes it very easy to organize or delete your messages with a simple swipe of your finger.

Available on: iPhone and iPad, Free

Haiku Deck

Why you should get it: You can make presentations on the go. 'Nuff said.

Available on: iPad, Free

Bloomberg

Why you should get it: Get breaking news, market data, and track your portfolio all from your mobile device or tablet. You can personalize it too.

Available on: iPhone, Blackberry, Android, Nokia, Windows phone, iPad, Android tablet, Free

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Please follow Clusterstock on Twitter and Facebook.

via SAI http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider/~3/-iRmY8Hpnck/apps-for-wall-street-2013-3

Great Advertising Is Both Local and Global

With increasing heterogeneity in every market and global exposure just one tweet away, all brands, even local ones, must begin to think globally or suffer the consequences. In 2008, Fiat used Richard Gere as a spokesman in an Italian ad campaign. Though the ad never aired in China, the use of Gere, a pro-Tibet activist, outraged Chinese consumers and caused Fiat to lose traction in the booming Chinese auto market. There are many examples of global advertising concepts getting lost in translation, but today the stakes are higher than ever; a poorly conceived ad in one market can damage the entire brand.

It's hard to create relevant and timely global advertising themes, positioning, and stories that reinforce the brand, appeal to consumers around the world, and can be creatively delivered through all touch points. Global brand advertising can rarely reflect the idiosyncratic characteristics of every market, but the alternative — locally designed advertising — often sacrifices a consistent global message and misses out on economies of scale. One solution to this tension is to pursue what we call glocal advertising strategy — locally adapting a universally embraced core idea that will resonate in any market anywhere in the world.

This strategy rests on three pillars: 1) a global concept that addresses a universal human motivation; 2) a unified brand vision with creative delivery that respects local nuances and empowered consumers in each locale; 3) an organizational architecture, including culture, technological platform, and dedicated resources, that emphasizes and facilitates dynamic and effective collaboration between the developers of global strategy and local strategists and implementers. Below we examine two campaigns from companies that have effectively applied these interrelated principles.

By getting the glocal model right, Johnnie Walker reversed a continuing decline and more than doubled its global business in ten years. Successful global advertising concepts, as demonstrated by the EffectiveBrands consultancy's Leading Global Brands project, start with a simple but powerful idea: they address a universal human motivation that crosses cultures. At the highest level are motivations like a desire to be healthy and safe, attain an education, provide well for one's children, and achieve one's aspirations. Next, they find a positioning that goes beyond describing product attributes to address the motivation. Johnnie Walker started with the understanding that men around the world, regardless of culture or country of origin, seek to advance in their lives. This universal human motivation unlocked both a global positioning — specifically, "inspiring men to progress" — and an advertising expression of this, "Keep Walking."

From the outset this campaign was both global and local. For example, the initial print and poster elements of the campaign featured inspirational quotes from many cultures: "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step" from Lao Tsu was particularly powerful in Asian cultures; Hannibal's "We will either find a way or make one" resonated in Western cultures. There were more than 100 quotations used, many uncovered in the local markets, such as the twelve quotes in Swahili, a language not written down. Over more than 13 years, the "Keep Walking" campaign has transformed the Johnnie Walker and Scotch whisky business globally. It has spawned more than 70 TV ads, hundreds of outdoor and print ads, and numerous other adaptations across the marketing mix.

Coca-Cola has similarly embraced the glocal model. The company's "freedom within a framework" marketing philosophy epitomizes a successful glocal mindset and organizational culture and architecture. It requires that the designers of global advertising strategy carry a creative concept most of the way to execution while regional marketers tailor the work to make it locally relevant and aligned to the different category and brand situations in different places. Importantly, the framework respects and encourages local decision-making while at the same time supporting a unified brand identity. Moreover, the organizational architecture aims to tap into the best ideas and talent, no matter where in the world they come from; this fluid process lets more innovative ideas get recognized and become the basis for a global strategy. Content management systems then enable the organization to scale ideas quickly by making content available and accessible around the world.

Glocal strategy is not only for global brands — this three-pronged approach has increasing relevance for any advertising directed at diverse consumer segments. While this is particularly true in markets such as the US, with numerous ethnic and cultural segments, consumers worldwide are becoming increasingly identifiable as what The Tanning of America author Steve Stoute calls "Omniculturals"— people who define themselves more by their lifestyles and economic and educational attainment than by their race or ethnicity (read Stoute's contribution to the Wharton's Advertising 2020 project here).

Glocal approaches will transform the development and delivery of advertising as more brands discover their global potential. In a contribution to the 2020 project, Garinois-Melenikiotou, CMO of Estée Lauder, suggests that by 2020, "global brands and agencies will reorganize themselves — with speed, agility, and editorial spirit — to create stories that will travel across countries without being lost in translation." Today more than ever, brands can and must reorganize for the global stage.

via HBR.org http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2013/03/great_advertising_is_both_loca.html

Why It Makes Zero Sense For Facebook To Do A Smartphone Operating System (FB, AAPL, GOOG)

Facebook is doing its own smartphone operating system.

No, seriously. This time we mean it. Maybe. Possibly.

Anyway, that's what people are saying. So, we suppose it's worth talking about it.

We can't envision a circumstance where a Facebook phone makes any sense.

The story goes that Facebook is doing a phone with HTC. HTC makes the hardware, Facebook does the software using a heavily modified version of Android.

Making a smartphone operating system is hard, even if you use Android. Amazon's Kindle Fire operating system is based on a forked version of Android. It's not as good as full-on Android.

Perhaps Facebook could do a better job than Amazon, but we have our doubts. Facebook's mobile app was pretty bad for a long time. It would be difficult to make an entire operating system good.

Besides, the operating system would have to be better than good. iOS and Android are extremely advanced operating systems, so Facebook has to have a compelling reason for users to buy a Facebook phone.

Microsoft, which knows a thing or two about operating systems, is still behind iOS and Android. (No notification center, weak maps, no built in turn-by-turn directions.) We don't see how Facebook is going to do a better job than Microsoft.

Then there's Facebook's brand. Facebook has a billion users, so everyone loves it, right? Not exactly.

The public has a weird relationship with Facebook. They use it all the time, which makes them sort of hate Facebook. It often pops up in "most hated company" lists.

Would people really get all that excited about a Facebook-branded phone? Is that a brand they really want to latch on to?

Finally, there's the unanswered question of why? Hopefully Facebook has a good answer to this one.

Just last September CEO Mark Zuckerberg said it didn't make sense. He pointed out that Facebook has a billion users. Even if it managed to get 10 million Facebook phones in the market, that's nothing for Facebook.

He said, "We want to build a system which is as deeply as possible integrated into every major device people want to use."

Making a smartphone operating system that rivals iOS and Android isn't going to help it get deeper into those platforms. If anything, it's just going to make Apple inclined to toss Facebook out of iOS.

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