A felicidade é sempre uma medida relativa (parte II)

"A taxa de suicídio em Portugal baixou 7% entre 2000 e 2012, encontrando-se atualmente dentro da média europeia, segundo um relatório da Organização Mundial da Saúde divulgado esta quinta-feira.
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Aliás, em Portugal, a morte por suicídio em pessoas em idade ativa, até aos 64 anos, não cresceu nem acompanhou o ritmo da subida do desemprego, lembra Ricardo Gusmão.
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O investigador do Instituto de Saúde Pública da Universidade do Porto admite que a crise não teve o impacto esperado no aumento do suicídio nos anos subsequentes, colocando a hipótese de em Portugal e Espanha haver um suporte social informal que "protege" as pessoas dos efeitos da crise."

Recordar "A felicidade é sempre uma medida relativa"

"prefiro a brutal honestidade da recessão"

Diz o vice-primeiro ministro:

"Eu prefiro crescer a estagnar e prefiro crescer a estar em recessão"

Eu, não sou tão taxativo. Por exemplo, prefiro recessão a défice. Por exemplo, prefiro a brutal honestidade da recessão, que obriga os actores a repensarem-se, a um crescimento empolado, artificial e sustentado em torrefacção de riqueza impostada aos contribuintes, actuais ou futuros.
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BTW, recordo um tweet de Nassim Taleb de Agosto passado:

"Economists fail to get w/ GDP growth that anything that grows without an "S" curve (slowing down phase) blows up."

 

Não é bem o que eu esperava

Acerca de Mongo e do que costumamos escrever aqui no blogue sobre a evolução dos independentes e free-agents, a informação deste artigo "Breaking Down the Freelance Economy":

"This doesn’t really support the claims we’ve been hearing for almost two decades now that the U.S. is becoming a nation of free agents, freelancers, or supertemps. It doesn’t entirely contradict them either, though."

O cliente não tem sempre razão

Algo que pregamos aqui no blogue há anos:

"Don’t be afraid to cut ties with customers or clients who repeatedly make unrealistic demands or who consistently cause stress or friction. Rather than continually sacrificing your time, dignity and emotional health, focus your efforts on actively pursuing new customers or clients who respect your time and boundaries.
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Look at the bigger picture when dealing with consistently unreasonable customers or clients. Look at what’s really important, and ask yourself if repeatedly attempting to please an unpleaseable customer is really the best business decision." 

Trecho retirado de "No, The Customer Is Not Always Right"

"Survivors don’t expect or even hope to be rescued" (parte II)

Parte I.
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Acerca dos que usam a terminologia da década perdida:

"I came to Japan in February, for the first time in a number of years, to visit a country I enjoy but also to find out about those “lost years”—ten, and now twenty.
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What lost? Why lost? Where Are These Lost Years? If, as a returning visitor to Japan, you expect to see some evident manifestation of these lost years, you may be surprised. During two weeks in Tokyo, Kamakura, Kyoto, and the Oki Islands, what I saw was a clean, stable, wealthy country. The cars are recent, the stores are lovely, the restaurants remain wonderful, the people are as pleasant and accommodating as ever. Most strikingly, coming from what North America has become, everything works in Japan - everything I encountered just works marvellously well. No evident lost years here."

Trecho retirado de "The Lost Years? Or Finding Japan?"

Oh, wait!!!

Primeiro, a catástrofe:

""Detetámos que o que está a acontecer na economia portuguesa é um fenómeno de deflação, que se sente essencialmente ao nível dos produtos alimentares e que tem levado a uma estabilização do crescimento do volume de vendas e negócios" das empresas, disse a responsável em declarações à agência Lusa a propósito da apresentação do barómetro de vendas da APED relativo ao primeiro semestre."

Depois:

"A economia portuguesa dá mostras de sinais positivos depois de vários anos em crise. De acordo com o barómetro de vendas realizado pela Associação Portuguesa de Empresas de Distribuição, nos primeiros seis meses do ano os consumidores lusos estiveram mais ativos.
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Neste âmbito, verificou-se um aumento nas vendas de 0,4%, face ao mesmo período do ano anterior, sendo que, em termos de valores estes cresceram dos 8,438 mil milhões registados em 2013, para os 8,475 mil milhões de euros, em 2014.
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"É a confirmação de que o consumo cresceu em Portugal. Ainda que ligeiro, é importante evidenciar este consumo." 

Primeiro Trecho retirado de "APED "Está a acontecer na economia um fenómeno de deflação""
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Segundo trecho retirado de "APED Portugueses consumiram mais nos primeiros seis meses do ano"

Curiosidade do dia

Esta manhã, cheguei mais cedo a S. João da Madeira para, antes de uma reunião numa empresa na zona industrial, dar uma caminhada pelo parque ali ao lado. Foi então, que apanhei isto:

Estratégia é também, o que é que não vamos fazer

A propósito de "Ert Têxtil aposta na inovação para o sector automóvel", algumas notas.
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Preocupação em subir na cadeia de valor:

""Estamos muito cá em baixo na cadeia de fornecimento. Queremos chegar às marcas, ter um diálogo muito próximo com elas, e, portanto, temos que arranjar forma de lhes mostrar algo verdadeiramente inovador."

Aposta no "é meter código nisso":

"De introduzir um conteúdo tecnológico, por exemplo, através da integração de sistemas electrónicos flexíveis nos materiais "." 

Eventual problema:

"A indústria automóvel representa 85% da facturação ... A estratégia passa também por crescer noutras áreas. Aliás, a Ert começou pelo calçado quando foi criada, em 1992, por João Brandão. "Estamos a apostar em áreas distintas. Trabalhamos com os têxteis-lar, produtos de utilidade doméstica, confecção, vestuário, calçado, arquitectura, desporto e puericultura. Estas áreas representam cerca de 15% do negócio, mas temos novos projectos." 

Estratégia não é só o que é que vamos fazer.
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Estratégia é também, o que é que não vamos fazer.

Quintas-feiras e quando não há independência e liberdade (parte III)

Parte I e parte II.

Mas nem tudo está perdido, sintomas que dão esperança através de Mongo:

"In the popular resort town of Cannes, Fromagerie Céneri is one of only two cheesemongers left. The owner, Hervé Céneri, stocks 98% raw milk cheese. “Here in Cannes, I have spotted a trend back towards proper cheese. I believe there is a growing recognition that our heritage is in grave danger and people are now coming back. Our great tradition, despite a concerted attempt to destroy it, is still out there. When people like Sébastien Paire, with his 100 sheep in the hills above Nice, continue to make fabulous cheese, there is always hope.”"

A tecnologia, desde que os Quintas-feiras, objectivamente ao serviço dos lobbyes, não interfiram, pode salvar a tradição. Ver "How the Internet Saved Handmade Goods":

"Some old technologies, after being rendered obsolete by better and cheaper alternatives (indeed even after whole industries based on them have been decimated), manage to “re-emerge” to the point that they sustain healthy businesses.
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Consider the re-emergence of artisanal goods.  No doubt you are aware of the explosion of the market – some call it a movement – in handcrafted products.
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Who are these makers if not the revivers of dying or, in some cases, long extinct technologies? Yet it’s thanks to new digital tools such as Etsy, an Internet marketplace selling hand-made goods from around the world; and Kickstarter, the “crowdfunding” site that mediates donation-based funding for a range of products and services, that these artisans can now find and serve their tiny, global markets of customers.  These are segments that would have been impossible for individual artisans to organize in a cost-effective way before the rise of the Internet and electronic communication tools that cut out expensive middlemen and asset-heavy enterprises.
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The point is not that most consumers will ever care enough to choose soap that is made with goat’s milk, or lard, or without any animal product. On the contrary, the point is that it isn’t necessary for most consumers to do so. With handmade soap selling for $4-6 a bar, while mass-produced soap retails for about $1, sellers can do fine with small, loyal customer bases."

Reflexões estratégicas

"Strategic conversations are not just a typical meeting with a fancy name, they are intentionally designed for exploration and discovery of new possibilities, not just updates on existing projects.
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Below are a few examples to draw on for designing strategic conversations for your team.
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1. Act like your competition.
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2. Make a clear distinction between the present state and future options.
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When it comes to our long-term benefit, we’re often better served to take a deep breath and force ourselves to separate the here and now from a longer view of success. Where do we want to be three years from now? Even one year from now? Can everyone on the team describe a concrete picture of what success looks like? And do we have the understanding of what it might take to get from here to there?
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3. Turn the meeting into a game or simulation.
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War-gaming, role-playing, and scavenger hunts can also effectively amp up the heat when you need to make some big choices."

Trechos retirados de "Strategic Conversations: How Toyota Solves Big Problems"

A culpa é sempre dos outros

Há dias no Twitter, a 31 de Agosto, escrevi este tweet:

"Tão português este Guido Mantega link1 … a culpa é dos outros, por isso é q link2"

Entretanto, neste relatório "The Shifting Economics of Global Manufacturing" da BCG, encontro isto:

"In some cases, the shifts in relative costs are startling. Who would have thought a decade ago that Brazil would now be one of the highest-­cost countries for manufacturing - or that Mexico could be cheaper than China?" 

 E, num país onde as empresas estão protegidas da concorrência estrangeira... qual o incentivo para subir na escala de valor para exportar?
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Voltaremos a este relatório.
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BTW, hoje num jornal, outro exemplo de ser português, de ser tuga refinado "Socialistas querem saber se troika tem culpa do que aconteceu no BES". Com esta gente a culpa é sempre da caneta, nunca de quem escreve.

Curiosidade do dia

Sabem o que é isto?

Gente de parabéns

"Os vinhos do Tejo atingiram nos primeiros seis meses do ano o número recorde de 189 medalhas em concursos nacionais e internacionais, contra as 142 de 2013, no mesmo período."

"Portugal está a exportar menos vinho mas de maior qualidade e mais caro. As exportado caíram 13% entre janeiro a abril, totalizando 289,5 milhões de litros, mas o valor das vendas ao exterior cresceu 1%, ascendendo a 722,7 milhões de euros, segundo dados Eurostat, que apontam para um aumento de 16% no preço médio do litro (2,50 euros)." 

"As exportações de vinho verde cresceram 14,2% no primeiro semestre de 2014 face a igual período de 2013, disse esta terça feira à agência Lusa o presidente da Comissão de Viticultura da Região dos Vinhos Verdes (CVRVV).
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Dados oficiais indicam que os alemães compraram 6,9 milhões de euros de vinho verde, quase mais 40 por cento do que no mesmo período de 2013.
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O presidente da CVRVV realçou ainda que “as exportações estão a aumentar, mantendo-se os preços, o que é saudável”. “Mas precisamos de dar um novo passo, que é a valorização do produto”, acrescentou."

1º trecho retirado de "Tejo vai produzir 50 milhões de litros de vinho em 2014"
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2º trecho retirado de "Portugal exporta menos vinho mas a preços mais caros"
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3º trecho retirado de "Exportações de vinho verde subiram 14,2%, Alemanha lidera compras"

Crescer em tempos de recessão (parte II)

Parte I.
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Outro ponto interessante a sublinhar em "Strategies for Superior Performance under Adverse Conditions: A focus on Small and Medium Sized High-Growth Firms" é:

"[Moi ici: Em tempos de recessão] we found that firms make an intentional search for high-margin products, while avoiding aggressive price competition and maintaining tight control of costs. We demonstrate that an adverse environment does not necessarily inhibit firm growth and that individual firm specific strategies can be invoked to overcome volatile market conditions.
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most high growers further pursue a product-/service-customization strategy. Their owners admitted that such a strategy enables them to maintain close contact with their customers and to first address new market trends. Indeed, as smaller firms are closer to the customer, they can attain a better understanding of their needs, adapt their products/services accordingly, and achieve the quality required. Therefore, by offering highly innovative and at the same time customised and unique solutions, smaller firms can “successfully compete with well established incumbents…. avoid price competition… create new demand and, thus, facilitate firm growth”.
None of our firms are cost leaders. This is as such not surprising and well documented in the literature, as small firms lack the scale to exploit economies. Nonetheless, they all stressed the importance of a low-cost strategy; they provided evidence of cost control systems, and all avoided price wars with their competitors. They preferred building up a reputation for providing better quality rather than better prices. These findings accord with previous empirical studies supporting the importance of low-cost strategies, irrespective of the core strategies employed. Thus, we confirm and enrich the literature by showing that innovative and highly tailored strategies are pertinent for the success of a small firm in adverse conditions, conditional upon being accompanied by low-cost tactics."

É claro que este estudo é para PMEs a actuar num habitat específico, o Reino Unido, talvez nem tudo seja transponível para a nossa realidade. Contudo, apraz-me sublinhar esta prática que também vejo nas PMEs portuguesas bem sucedidas:

• contacto próximo com os clientes;
• aposta na diferenciação/customização;
• controlo de custos, apesar de não seguirem uma estratégia low-cost 

"On Experiences as Economic Offerings" (parte I)

Muito haverá a escrever sobre esta tese "On Experiences as Economic Offerings" de Susanne H. G. Poulsson. Contudo, começo hoje por um pormenor que é um clássico deste blogue, a batota!!!

"every product has a connected consumption event – meaning that the consumer will experience or feel something when they use/consume the product. This consumption event, and the experience had during it, may be hardly noticeable, (as when using a printer) or highly noticeable and significant for the product’s overall value, (as in the case of the thrills had during a bungee jump). In experience offerings the consumption event is of utter importance because experiential offerings’ value rests with the richness and intensity of the consumption event.
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Csikszentmihalyi’s take on flow is that: “While such events may happen spontaneously, it is much more likely that flow will result from a structured activity”. Furthermore, he states that: “Activities that provide enjoyment are often those that have been designed for this very purpose. Games, sports, and artistic and literary forms were developed over the centuries for the specific purpose of enriching life with enjoyable experiences.“
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The creation of experiential value in a commercial setting is not about a random meeting in the woods. It’s a transaction where the provider needs to be prepared to provide the right elements so that the consumer can step inside, react and act. The more thoroughly and thoughtfully designed and prepared the experience offering is, the more the consumer will be made to feel that events unfold effortlessly.
Within these settings, what strings can the experience provider pull? What are the elements consumers appear to find essential for gaining value and meaning out of an experience offering? What stimulates and tickles these consumers’ brains as well as their bodies? What are the “pleasure buttons”? What can the provider do to stage and design an offering that has a high probability of triggering experiential value in the consumer? What are the vital dimensions that matter and are the most fundamental when we look across and beyond each particular context to identify the triggers that are involved in co-creating experiential value?"

E acha que isto não se aplica aos produtos que a sua empresa produz? Em "Value creation processes and value outcomes in marketing theory: Strangers or siblings?", referido aqui, pode ler-se:

"adding hedonic aspects to utilitarian base products was more effective than adding utilitarian aspects to hedonically oriented products and suggested that the hedonic image of a product may be diluted because of utilitarian additions."

"value creation processes and value outcomes" (parte II)

Parte I.
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Um alerta para as diferentes formas de abordar os "value outcomes":

"Value outcomesThe value outcome logics concern how an actor determines the value outcome. Three of the four categories of value outcome determination logics, that is, value as means–ends, value as benefits/sacrifices, and value as experience outcomes, are consistent with the previously conducted reviews on customer value literature. The fourth category, value outcome as phenomenological, was identified from the S-D logic literature.
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Value as means–ends. The first approach, value in accordance with mean–end theories inspects product evaluations as chains from the object characteristics to use consequences. According to this view, value can be appreciated at different levels of abstraction, with product attributes at the lowest, attribute performances at the middle, and goals and purposes at the highest level.
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Value as benefits/sacrifices. This research stream views value as a cognitive judgment of utility made by a customer based on inputs (benefits) and outputs (sacrifices). In its simplest form, it is a ratio between service quality (benefit) and costs (sacrifice) or even an assessment of a product being a good buy. The benefits may include several quality dimensions but also relationships, time-to-market, know-how, and social benefits. Sacrifices range from monetary to non-monetary.
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Value as experience outcomes. Value as experience outcomes aims to supplement and enrich the view of customers as logical decision makers by seeing humans as emotional sensation-seekers
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value as an ‘interactive, relativistic preference experience’, meaning that value is an experience based on interaction between a subject and an object as well as relative. The relativism refers to three aspects of value: value is comparative (varying between objects for a certain person), personal assessment (what is valuable for one person need not be that to another), and situational, that is, context specific. Thus, the value of an object is dependent on the context in which the judgment occurs.
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S-D Logic‘value is always co-created with and determined by the customer (value-in-use)’.
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value is created when the customer’s ‘wellbeing has somehow been improved’ and exemplify this with a customer feeling relieved because the service has fulfilled its value proposition and has been integrated in the customer’s life. Overall, the emphasis is on value-in-use and it seems close to value as experiential."

Curiosidade do dia

De "To Kill a Mockingbird" de Harper Lee:

“Real courage is when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.”
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“Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win.” 

De "10 Strange ‘Lord Of The Rings’ Facts That The Films Leave Out":

"Human existence, argued Tolkien, gets value and meaning from our struggle against “monsters.” We are like Beowulf in that the struggle against evil need not fully succeed to be worthwhile."

O mais difícil...

Quando pensava no tema, era para me comparar com os jogadores de futebol, eu era mais novo do que eles. Os anos passaram e reparei que uns jogadores começavam a ser mais novos do que eu. Hoje, tomo nota que a maior parte dos treinadores já é mais nova do que eu.
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Envelhecer não tem sido difícil em termos físicos... com mais de 50 anos ainda não tenho cabelos brancos (ok, tenho sobrancelhas brancas), faço cerca de 20 km por dia, posso correr uma meia maratona sem parar. O mais difícil, é ver partir os que me conheceram como o Carlitos, os que me marcaram e contribuíram para que eu seja a pessoa que vou sendo, os que celebraram os meus aniversários de criança, os que me desafiaram a pôr a render alguns talentos, durante a minha adolescência...
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Nem de propósito esta reflexão "When Did We Get So Old?"

"value creation processes and value outcomes" (parte I)

Um outro artigo que me parece muito interessante e a merecer vários sublinhados é "Value creation processes and value outcomes in marketing theory: Strangers or siblings?".
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Por vezes há temas que dançam na nossa mente e que nunca chegam a merecer uma reflexão mais adequada, porque continuam no ar, a dançar e, nunca são concretizados no papel. Este artigo tem o condão de tornar a reflexão inevitável, porque coloca o tema de forma bem explícita:
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Duas coisas distintas:

"value creation processes and value outcomes
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value is co-created by firms and customers, and that beneficiaries determine the value [outcomes]
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During categorization, it became clear that there are two main, high-level literature streams: value creation processes and value outcome determination. Value creation processes study activities, resources, and interactions that result in value creation, whilst value outcome determination explores how customers make value assessments and what the value outcomes are.
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The actors engaged in value creation processes versus determination of outcomes differ. In co-creation processes, several parties are involved in the activities through the integration of resources. ... Outcome determination, on the other hand, is proposed to be done by a single actor, as outcomes are ‘uniquely determined’. This asymmetry is important, as it means that the perspective shifts between multiple and one: in co-creation processes, the perspective is that of a network, whereas in outcome determination, it is that of an individual."

Lido, isto faz sentido. Contudo, quando penso em exemplos concretos... não chega. Podemos começar por identificar os clientes-alvo e determinar quais são os "value outcomes" procurados e desejados. No entanto, por vezes, o pivô do ecossistema da procura não são os clientes, é outro elemento que participa nos processos de co-criação.
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Por exemplo, um médico que prescreve um medicamento a um paciente e que o compra a uma farmácia que, por sua vez, o compra a uma empresa farmacêutica.
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Quem é o cliente da empresa farmacêutica? É a farmácia, é ela que paga!
Quem é que determina o "value outcome"? A tal assimetria? É o médico!

Crescer em tempos de recessão

Um artigo, "Strategies for Superior Performance under Adverse Conditions: A focus on Small and Medium Sized High-Growth Firms", a merecer 2 ou 3 apontamentos.
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O primeiro está relacionado com as "self-fulfilling prophecies":

"Pessimistic prophecies are self-fulfilling."

E também:

"lucky people tend to expect to be lucky, creating a series of self-fulfilling prophecies because they go into the world anticipating a positive outcome." 

E ainda:

"The secret of leading with a bad map is to create a self-fulfilling prophecy. Having predicted that the group will find its way out, the leader creates the combination of optimism and action that allows people to turn their confusion into meaning and find their way home.” 

Tudo a propósito do último parágrafo do artigo:

"Finally, a rather unexpected outcome of this study relates to the role of the managers when strategizing against adverse conditions. It seems that the way a manager views the adverse environment can significantly alleviate any negative effect associated with it. Indeed, most of the managers we interviewed – while acknowledging the drawbacks of operating in a declining industry – claimed not to be intimidated by it. Unsurprising for entrepreneurs, they chose to view such an environment as a challenge and a source of numerous unexploited opportunities. They denied the conventional wisdom that in declining environments one should retrench and downsize, and embraced competitiveness, proactiveness, and aggressive sales tactics."