Digital Musings

More on ethnic marketing

An interesting complement to our previous post on ethnic marketing and the challenges it poses to marketers who want to go beyond cultural clichés. Here is the link to a study published by Mediaege:cia: Reaching the ethnic consumer: A challenge for marketers .

Thanks to www.redhotcurry.com for the link!

Is there such thing as ethnic (tribal) marketing?

"How do you reach an emerging generation of young American consumers too jaded when it comes to traditional marketing approaches and too savvy for conventional research techniques? "

This is the question asked by marketing consultants and bloggers David Morse, Thomas Tseng, Susanna E. Whitmore and Julio Arreaga.

They have some cool videos to illustrate the challenges facing ethnic marketers. Here are some of them:

Segmentation Study: El Mercado

Reality TV Diaries

Youth Intercept Videos

If you want to get more knowledgeable on the topic a good reference in French is Alternatives Marketing by Bernard Cova, Professor at ESCP-EAP (Paris) and Véronique Cova, Professor at Université de Toulon-Var.

Let's blog and roll business schools - Part II

In a previous post we observed that, sadly enough, blogs had not really made their way through business schools. Indeed, only a handful of courses are really shaped around blogs. Well, there is a great news: This is changing! Euromed-Marseille is launching the first (as far as we know) course in a European business school truly articulated around a blog.

We are proud to join forces with Professor Walter Baets to build this Complexity, Innovation and Knowledge blog. We are working hard on adding a new dimension, that of leveraging his blog with Cyberlibris resources. In a few days, Walter has become a genuine blogger. Not only that! He has come up with lots of ideas on how to transform his class in a genuine learning and knowledge sharing community. In a sense, Walter has empowered his students with new ways of expressing themselves. The class is about to start and we wish Walter all the best.

Walter's example is one example of what blogs can do in and to a business school pedagogy and research environment. Schools have long contemplated e-learning platforms. Some have invested in them. Now, blogs are around and they may indeed be a simple and flexible solution. You'll find on Joi Ito's wiki an interesting discussion on the respectives advantages of blogs and e-learning platforms.

In a next post, we'll go into more details on how best to implement class blogs and how to take advantage of content management through RSS feeds (which we are currently using a lot at Cyberlibris). To put it simply, the pianist does not have to bring the stool to the piano anymore. The piano is coming to the stool (not any kind of piano though!)!

(Natural) Cork or Screwcap?

"No other industry in the world accepts the type of product failure experienced using cork." says George Fistonich of New Zealand screwcap pioneer Villa Maria . Fistonich stands firm and all Villa Maria bottles are screwcapped. New Zealand producers have followed and have started a so-called Screwcap Wine Seal Initiative.

This sounds like an heresy to a lot of French people who tend to associate screwcap with low-quality wines, not to mention the traditional winetaster ceremony who carefully uncorks the wine and smells the cork with a lot of attention!

Well, you may have to revise your opinion. Indeed, Chateau Margaux is experimenting screwcaps too! To know why, read this.

Now, if you really want to be knowledgeable, not to say academic, on the topic, you have to read Professor Wayne Mortensen and Professor Brian Marks (both from Victoria University, Australia) research paper: "An Innovation in The Wine Closure Industry: Screw Caps Threaten the Dominance of Cork."

In any case, this story shoud make up a great case study for business schools!

What would Confucius have said... Part 2

Author and Professor of Management Usha C.V. Haley has been very kind to answer the question I was asking in a previous post about Confucius, Modern China and intellectual property. Here it is:

"Thanks for speaking about our book!

At the risk of taking the suspense out of your reading, I can help you with some of this puzzle. The 2 stances are not irreconciliable.

In Confucius' time only the divine emperor had intellectual property (IP) rights -- indeed, the concept of individuals and companies having IP rights remains alien to Chinese culture today, as you point out. The first mention of protection of IP was made in Chinese legal codes in the early 20th century.

Also, to Confucius, moral duty did not extend beyond 5 relationships -- which do not include foreign companies.

As with everything in China, the answers are not simple, but hopefully comprehensible. If not, please let me know."

I have always been convinced that the devil lies in the details. This is a Chinese vivid proof of it!

Thanks again Usha for taking the time and welcome to the Blogosphere!

Blogjet your blog....

Yes Ecto is great to create your post off-line, especially for Mac users. But for Windows users there is a challenger Blogjet . Here is a screen shot of what it looks like. Easy to use indeed! This post was made with it. Thanks to Buzz at Buzzmodo for the hint!

PS: The one thing I have not found yet is the trackback function.