Sunday, February 28, 2010

The World’s Center of Gravity Continues to Tip in Favor of Emerging Economies

Oranges were once expensive luxuries in northern climates.

Today, we take for granted that we can eat apples, oranges, and bananas all year round if we choose. It doesn't matter where you live. We can eat strawberries in the dead of winter. In fact, we routinely enjoy goods that come from places very far from our own doorstep.

Televisions from Taiwan, lettuce from Mexico, shirts from China; goods from faraway places are so common it is easy to forget how recent such miracles of commerce are.

Such miracles of commerce have redrawn the economic map. The emerging markets have "emerged" and big opportunities are emerging in something called the Great Convergence.

In the late 20th century, with the gradual spread of the Industrial Revolution to the developing world, the Western world (ex-Japan) represented 90% of the world's manufacturing output as late as 1953. America's economy alone was nearly half of the world's industrial output.

During this time, the economic gap between China and Western Europe grew very wide when viewed in historic terms. But things changed in the late 20th century. The Great Convergence began. From 1950 on, the world economic growth was quite simply astonishing. We enjoyed a rolling wave of "economic miracles" through the decades. Closed economies opened up and trade expanded.

We can point to the success of postwar Japan and then to the surging tiger economies of East Asia. Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea grew in leaps and bounds. Finally, we saw the opening up of China, India, Russia and Brazil. The once-bottled-up energies of these countries poured out.

Today, we see the handiwork of the Great Convergence taking shape. The distinctions between "emerging markets" and "developed markets" are starting to disappear. Indeed, the terms may already be obsolete.

The belief that companies in the US, Western Europe or Japan are better managed than in emerging markets is also no longer valid. Anyone who has sat through the parade of fraud and corporate malfeasance of recent years in the US will find it hard to argue otherwise.

The list of corporate thieves is much longer in the US and Europe than in the emerging markets. Management teams in the West no longer dominate when it comes to standards of best practices.

Governments in the West are just as bumbling as those of emerging markets. More and more, it is the Western governments that steal too much. Another distinction blurred.

Emerging markets now make up about half of the global economy and not surprisingly, emerging markets now make up 10 of the 20 largest economies in the world. India is now bigger than Germany. Russia is bigger than the UK. Mexico is bigger than Canada. Turkey is bigger than Australia.

In a stock market sense, these places have also grown up. It used to be that emerging markets were not very liquid or very big. It was not that long ago that the IBM shares changing hands in a single day in New York were worth more than all the shares that traded hands in Shanghai or Bombay.

Today's emerging markets are large and liquid. Chinese markets traded more shares than the NYSE; Hong Kong and Korea traded more than Germany; India traded more than France; and Taiwan traded more than Italy, Australia or Canada.

Emerging market companies are also growing faster. In particular, there are wide gaps in the growth rates of sales and profits. The second key distinction worth noting is that of balance sheet strength. Emerging market companies have less debt and cover their debts more comfortably.

All of this is to point out that investors need exposure to emerging markets, or at the very least, they should not shun them for reasons that are no longer valid.

A good way to get exposure to emerging markets is through the back door, so to speak. Invest in companies, wherever they are, that have what these economies need or want, but don't have or can't make.

I favor a quote from Steve Forbes. Forbes says that pursuing additional financial education and the resulting increase in our financial literacy will open our eyes to alternative wealth creating strategies and this will be they key to resolving our financial crisis.

As an example of alternative wealth creating strategies … consider investments in energy assets that are inherently useful like oil rigs, hydropower, or methanol plants … perhaps precious metals, water rights, oil, natural gas, potash mines, food commodities, or gold mines … things hard to build, difficult to replace, and costly to substitute … definitely not financial stocks, definitely not retail stocks, definitely not commercial property.

I trust this article provides a little more insight into the convergence of the developed world and the emerging markets. With the gap between these markets disappearing on many dimensions and with the companies in these regions growing faster, it is wise to have exposure to these markets or at least to invest in companies that have what these economies need.

I will continue to introduce alternative wealth creating strategies to consider in future articles and updates at my blog over the next few weeks.

As a former engineer with General Dynamics and management consultant at Deloitte … I am on a mission to empower individuals by increasing their financial literacy, improve their ability for personal sustainability, and contribute to the program that has a goal of creating 100 Millionaires by 2012.

Until next time, I invite you to:

Meet me at Facebook :

Follow me on Twitter :

Read my Posts :

Watch my Video Channel :

Join me in pursuing financial literacy and alternative business opportunities with multiple income streams at aspenIbiz.

When not traveling for business or pleasure, Mike operates his own Internet Marketing company and consulting firm from his home in the mountains of Colorado.

In closing, if you are a reluctant entrepreneur, a business owner, employed in an 8-5 job, or recently retired, yet still wanting to be plugged-in to the next wave of economic prosperity, you can join me in pursuing the lifestyle you want to live by following the aspenIbiz link provided above.

Friday, February 19, 2010

Is Greece in 2010 Equal to Austria in 1931?

The economic climate in Europe today has worrying parallels with the 1930s, suggests Mike Farrell with aspenIbiz.

It is worth remembering that upheavals in Europe triggered the economic malaise that made the Great Depression “Great”.

Although 1929 is etched into history as being synonymous with the Great Depression, the real tragedy did not get underway until 1931.

The Austrian bank Boden-Kredit-Anstalt was rendered insolvent in the aftermath of the credit boom of the late 1920s. It was “saved” in October 1929 by merging with the stronger Oesterreichische-Credit-Anstalt. An international syndicate, headed by the Rothschild's of Vienna, that included J.P Morgan and Company, injected new capital into the merged entity.

The Austrian Government guaranteed the bad debts of the old bank and the merged entity spent 1930 “muddling through”. But then in May 1931, the Credit-Anstalt bank collapsed. Some blamed the political climate at the time, with the economic union between Germany and Austria (Zollverein) spooking France. Others simply stated that Austria had “consumed its capital” with the result that a banking collapse was inevitable.

Whatever the reason, the collapse of Credit-Anstalt triggered a run on German banks by French and US creditors, leading to the forced closure of the German banking system. London financiers were heavily exposed to German banks, and industry, and were caught out by the banking sector shutdown, which effectively froze their assets.

This in turn caused panic amongst London's foreign creditors and a run on the currency. The pound sterling was overvalued causing England’s major export industries to be uncompetitive. Unions were heavily represented in these industries and refused a proposal to cut wages. Unemployment was high and structure of the whole economy was inefficient.

England had two choices – austerity or devaluation. England chose devaluation because the politics of austerity were too hard.

In the 1930's, contagion went from the periphery to the core in very quick time. Austria folded in May 1931. By September of that year, Britain had gone off the gold standard and devalued the pound sterling.

And so went the contagion that crippled the world economically and provided the impetus for Hitler's rise and decades of economic and political turmoil.

The situation in the global economy today is eerily similar.

Greece, a peripheral European economy, is close to defaulting on its debts.

Being part of the Eurozone and using the Euro, Greece does not have the option to devalue its currency.

And, any default would lead to contagion, as creditors pull funds from other highly indebted countries. The list of targets is well known; Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Italy & England.

As England found in the early 1930s, Greece may find the politics of the EU austerity plan, necessary to prevent default on its debts, to be too hard.

The only other choice left would be to leave the EU and return to the Drachma, its previous currency, so that it could devalue its debts.

If Greece were to return to the Drachma other countries would likely follow and return to their former currencies … and this would bring down the Euro experiment.

This would also usher in another sharp global slowdown as European banks would be pushed towards insolvency by the associated write-downs on sovereign debt.

I favor a quote from Steve Forbes … Forbes says that pursuing additional financial education and the resulting increase in our financial literacy will open our eyes to alternative wealth creating strategies and this will be they key to resolving our financial crisis.

As an example of alternative wealth creating strategies … consider investments in energy assets that are inherently useful like oil rigs, hydropower, or methanol plants … perhaps precious metals, water rights, oil, natural gas, potash mines, or gold mines … things hard to build, difficult to replace, and costly to substitute … definitely not financial stocks, definitely not retail stocks, definitely not commercial property.

I trust this article provides a little more insight in to the Global Financial Crisis; the economics of the EU, the ECB, and the Euro; and the adverse consequences if you do not have sound money practices and solid public finances.

I will continue to introduce alternative wealth creating strategies to consider in future articles and updates at my blog over the next few weeks.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

The Law of the Ladder ... explained by Mike Farrell aspenIbiz

While being first in the mind of your lead or customer should be your primary objective, the battle is not lost if you fail in this endeavor.

All products are not created equal so there is a hierarchy in the mind that customers use in making decisions.

For each category, there is a product ladder in the mind of the customer. On each rung is a brand name.

Take a look at the car rental category. Hertz got into the mind first and wound up on the top rung. Avis got in second and National got in third.

Your marketing strategy should depend on how soon you got in the mind of your customer and which rung you occupy on the ladder; of course the higher the better.

For many years Avis was on the 2nd rung of the ladder and advertised they had the finest in rent cars. Many renters wondered how Avis could have the finest rent car service and not be on the top rung of the ladder.

Avis then did what you have to do to make progress inside the mind of the customer. They acknowledged their position on the ladder and created a campaign where they said, “ … go with us! We try harder.” And, Avis then started making a lot of money.

Many marketing people have misread the Avis campaigns. They assume the company was successful because it tried harder and therefore had better service. But that wasn’t it at all. Avis was more successful because of how and where it positioned itself compared to Hertz on the ladder.

The mind is selective. Customers use the ladders in their mind in deciding which information to accept and which information to reject. In general, a mind accepts only new data that is consistent with the product ladder and where the brand is on the ladder … everything else is ignored.

As an Internet Marketing professional, you need to determine how many rungs there are on the product ladder in your lead’s mind and on which rung are you likely to be perceived.

It depends on whether the product you are offering is a product used every day (like beverages, toothpaste, or ceral, referred to as high-interest products) or purchased infrequently (like travel packages, furniture, or wealth management, referred to as low-interest products).

If your product is a high-interest product, there are many rungs on the product ladder. If your product is low-interest product, there are fewer rungs on the ladder. And, there is a relationship between market share and your position on the ladder in your customer’s mind. You tend to have twice the market share of the brand below you and half the market share of the brand above you.

Sometimes your own ladder or category is too small. It might be better to be a small fish in a big pond than to be a big fish in a small pond. In other words it is sometimes better to be No 3 on a big ladder than No 1 on a small ladder.

Let’s look at how 7-Up used this law to its advantage by being a smaller fish in a bigger pond.

On the lemon-lime soda ladder, 7-Up was on the top rung and Sprite was on the 2nd rung. However, in the beverage industry, the cola market is larger and therefore the ladder had more rungs. So 7-Up positioned itself in the mind of its customers with a marketing campaign called “The Uncola” and climbed the cola ladder and increased its sales.

Before you start any marketing program, you need to determine if your product is a high-interest or low-interest product; whether there are many or few rungs; and on which rung of the product ladder are you likely to be positioned in the mind of the customer. You then make sure your campaign deals realistically with your position on the ladder.

Many Internet Marketing entrepreneurs are using techniques and tools like mind-mapping, keyword research, Attraction Marketing Formula, Magnetic Sponsoring, and MindMeister to conduct the market research and utilize the Law of the Ladder. They then use the power of brand You Inc, and hypnotic writing skills in their marketing campaigns, to deal realistically with the position of their brand on the product ladder in the mind of their leads and customers. The goals is to not emphasize why their offering is better, feature and function-wise, over a competitor’s but to develop a message that is recognized, accepted, and agreed to so that it will seduce and persuade a customer that what is offered will work for them.

Marketing is not a battle of products. It is all about the strategy you use depending on which rung your brand occupies on the product ladder.

You can find out more about Internet Marketing and home-based businesses by reading updates that will be posted at my blog over the next few weeks.

As a former engineer with General Dynamics and management consultant at Deloitte … I am on a mission to empower individuals by increasing their financial literacy, improve their ability for personal sustainability, and contribute to the program that has a goal of creating 100 Millionaires by 2012.

Until next time, I invite you to:

Meet me at Facebook :

Follow me on Twitter :

Read my Posts :

Watch my Video Channel :

Join me in pursuing financial literacy and alternative business opportunities with multiple income streams at aspenIbiz.

When not traveling for business or pleasure, Mike operates his own Internet Marketing company and consulting firm from his home in the mountains of Colorado.

In closing, if you are a reluctant entrepreneur, a business owner, employed in an 8-5 job, or recently retired, yet still wanting to be plugged-in to the next wave of economic prosperity, you can join me in pursuing the lifestyle you want to live by following the aspenIbiz link provided above.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

The Law of Exclusivity ... Ries & Trout, as explained by Mike Farrell with aspenIbiz

Two companies cannot own the same word in a prospect’s mind. When a competitor owns a word or a message in the prospect’s mind, it is futile and expensive to attempt to own the same word.

Mercedes Benz has tried to run marketing campaigns on safety but they have been unsuccessful in getting their safety message into the customer’s mind. You can’t change people’s minds once they are made up. If you try to change their mind, what you often do is reinforce the competitor’s position by making its concept more important. Volvo owns the word, safety.

FedEx owned the word “overnight” and wanted to try for worldwide ... but DHL already owns worldwide ... it is DHL Express Worldwide. Plus, DHL is thought of as faster to more parts of the world. So FedEx is using, “We understand. You want to grow internationally. And we do it fast.”

Another example is Eveready with the Energizer bunny. Eveready will periodically try to take the “long-lasting” concept away from Duracell. This continues to be very difficult to do, expensive, and with little effective results. No matter how many bunnies Eveready throws into the fray, Duracell will hang onto the “long-lasting” name because it got into the mind first and preempted the “long-lasting” concept ... “long-lasting” is even reinforced in the marketplace by the Dura part in the Duracell company name.

Many Digital Entrepreneurs are using techniques and tools like mind-mapping, keyword research, Attraction Marketing Formula, Magnetic Sponsoring, and MindMeister to identify words and messages that position themselves and their products exclusively as a solution to solve the needs of their leads or customers and not spend large amounts of marketing money that will benefit the competition. They then use hypnotic writing skills to persuade a customer to take the action they want and not emphasize why their offering is better, feature and function-wise, over a competitor’s offering.

Marketing is not a battle of products. It is a battle of focus for a single word or concept in the mind of the lead or customer and to ensure it is exclusive and not already owned by a competitor.

You can find out more about Internet Marketing and home-based businesses by reading updates that will be posted at my blog over the next few weeks.

As a former engineer with General Dynamics and management consultant at Deloitte ... I am on a mission to empower individuals by increasing their financial literacy, improve their ability for personal sustainability, and contribute to the program that has a goal of creating 100 Millionaires by 2012.

Until next time, I invite you to:

Meet me at Facebook :

Follow me on Twitter :

Read my Posts :

Watch my Video Channel :

Join me in pursuing financial literacy and alternative business opportunities with multiple income streams at aspenIbiz.

When not traveling for business or pleasure, Mike operates his own Internet Marketing company and consulting firm from his home in the mountains of Colorado.

In closing, if you are a reluctant entrepreneur, a business owner, employed in an 8-5 job, or recently retired, yet still wanting to be plugged-in to the next wave of economic prosperity, you can join me in pursuing the lifestyle you want to live by following the aspenIbiz link provided above.