So things are getting desperate in Japan. All those years of recession have resulted in deep cuts in the available workforce just as it's roaring economy is expanding demand. So what are the second-order effects likely to be? One is to enhance legal immigration. Japanese officials are really wierd about this. For instance, entertaining a huge debate about 100 visas for Filipino nurses, while permitting without question 98,000 so called entertainment vias for Asian women (many of whom work in the sex trade) (Business Week - Nov 7, 2005, p. 55)
But perhaps the biggest opportunity for women (and for Japan) will be to get more women into the workforce. At the moment, when you get married, your career in Japan is just about over in many companies, leading many of Japan's brightest women to politely decline the whole marriage concept, leading to fewer families being formed, fewer births, and a vicious cycle of population decline. Japan's women work at a far lower rate than those in say the US. 55% in Japan work at some kind of job while 62% do so in the US. And once they are working, who knows what other changes they might stir up? You might even get women enthusiastic about starting families again.
‹ close entryShare this article: 
Coach has been on a real tear lately. From a stodgy brand that I used to buy in the bow-tie, Annie Hall 80's, they have reinvented the brand, making it a must-have for the fashion conscious. But I recently ran across a story that highlights just how smart they've been.
Turns out that Coach not only knows how to appeal to the fashionistas in its City locations, but is also making a killing at the factory outlet. Cleverly, though, it manages the brand to avoid any confusion -- the outlet stores handle only older merchandise or stuff that is made specifically for them. They are located at least 60 miles away from the regular stores. And the buyers, while still loyal to the brand, are looking for different things. The latest and trendiest in the regular stores, good value and design in the outlet stores. And here's the piece of data that blew me away - while full price shoppers spend an average of $1,100 on Coach items, the discount shoppers still spend a whopping $770 a year (according to Business Week Nov 7 2005 p. 60).
The lesson: Smart segmentatation can pay off.
‹ close entryShare this article:
This comment was in response to a reporter's inquiry about Gillette and the 5-bladed razor
The blade madness in my opinion has to do with the longstanding competition between the major players in the industry. For years, BIC (a French company specializing in cheap, plastic stuff) has been trying to persuade men that shaving is a commodity and that 19 and a half cents should just about do it, while Gillette has poured millions, if not billions, into persuading guys that more blades are better.
I mean if 2 blades are better than 1 blade, and 3 blades are better than 2 blades then 4 blades must be better than 3. Imagine the shock on the part of Gillette when they were beaten to the market by typical also-ran Schick who were able to offer a Four (count em, Four) bladed product ahead of Gillettes launch. It had an interesting effect of turning Gillettes own branding and advertising investments against them.
Gillette responded by pushing their own 4 blader to market ahead of schedule and then racing forward with a five-bladed offering. They also consented to be acquired by Proctor and Gamble, which to me signals that they kind of hit the end of that particular strategy.
Where will this end? I dunno. I imagine we will someday have tiny little tanks crawling across gents faces. Actually, a more realistic disruption in shaving will come from new materials. Imagine a blade made out of super tough ceramics that you never need to replace, or hair dissolving shaving cream that means you can shave quickly without any blades at all, and only a couple of times a week.
As to guys being better off? Shaving is still shaving, and for most men it is not fun, no matter how you modify the experience.
‹ close entryShare this article:
The more I read, the more I am coming to believe that those who can master simplicity are going to get a major edge over those who force their customers to struggle with their offerings. A recent
Fast Company story on Google also features other companies - Intuit and Phillips among them, who have started to get simplicity right.
As I reflect on it, dozens of ordinary things could use the simplicity treatment - cell phones, TV remotes, and most software would be tops on my list. It is fascinating, too, to watch the companies I work with (such as Nokia and Microsoft) struggle to get an authentic experience of the way their products drive their customers crazy. After all, most of the people designing those products are so technically talented that they DO seem simple.
I'm taking the simplicity plunge in another area myself - I just ordered a copy of Intuit's "Simple start" accounting software. Ironically, I spent over $500 on Intuit's Quickbooks, a more complicated version of the product and am finding it is just too complex for what I need - and I'm too impatient to bother fighting with the thing. Maybe Simple Start will do the trick - just enough to free me from spreadsheets and keep the tax people happy, and that's all I want.
‹ close entryShare this article:
How is this for making money out of a nuisance? Like many of you, I am really bugged by junk faxes that arrive in my office all hours of the day and night. Experts estimate that an average fax costs the recipient between 7 and 12 cents a piece, once you factor in consumables and paper. I probably get 20 of them a week - and I'm probably not a major victim. Junk faxing is illegal, and when prosecuted can result in a fine
The dilemma is that to bring the people who send junk faxes to account, one has to undergo a complex legal process and for a single individual it isn't worth it.
Fascinatingly, though, an entire cottage industry has now sprung up around helping individuals combat junk faxes. One service,
http://www.faxrecoverysystems.com aggregates junk faxes from individuals to identify the biggest generators of junk. It then goes after them through legal channels for fee penalties. If you provide a fax that results in a collection, they send you $100 (although the award could be much more than that). They keep everything over the hundred in compensation for their time and effort. It offers benefits for the recipients of junk faxes, in that their volume of junk is often reduced (and they sometimes get a nice check). More importantly for me, it provides an easy, legal way to fight back against these parasites selling $199 trips to Bermuda, mortgages and hot stock tips.
As I checked out this service, I found a number of other services that do something similar, betting on the fact that the law underlying junk fax issues is hard for individuals to enforce. And the 'do not call' registry seems to have no effect on junk faxers.
And a tip -- don't call back the fax people with a request to remove your fax number. Apparently all they do is rejoice at having found an actual fax machine, and sell the number to other junk faxers.
It just drives me crazy that someone can use my equipment, time, ink and paper to send me ads without my permission. So I signed up right away. Will let you know how this goes.
‹ close entryShare this article:
