December 2011
4 posts
The hopeful continent: Africa rising →
Over the past decade six of the world’s ten fastest-growing countries were African. In eight of the past ten years, Africa has grown faster than East Asia, including Japan. Even allowing for the knock-on effect of the northern hemisphere’s slowdown, the IMF expects Africa to grow by 6% this year and nearly 6% in 2012, about the same as Asia.
19 tags
The Ethical Good, Bad, and Ugly
For once I’m not sure I agree with my co-blogger Kris Gryte’s last post—Why Ethical Deals Send the Wrong Message. I mean, I do agree with it on all the fundamental levels, but I think there are some key points missing. As someone with a lot of marketing experience, I think Kris’ sentiment represents a Pie-in-the-Sky argument that isn’t necessarily realistic.
If consumers...
11 tags
Why Ethical 'Deals' Send the Wrong Message
2011 has been a year of many things, including Daily Deals. Groupon filed for IPO and has over 100 million subscribers. The likes of LivingSocial, Eversave, SocialBuy, and BuyWithMe followed in hot pursuit. According to market research firm Lab42, more than 660 deals sites exist online today. Amidst the daily deal euphoria, several sites offer ‘ethical’ daily deals: Blissmo,...
9 tags
Not Enough Ethical Consumers: We Want Solutions!
While we are up to our ears in data that says that consumers will pay a premium for ethical products and that the majority consider ethical factors in their purchase decision making, the still sliver sized penetration that ethical products (such as fair trade, organic, post-recycled packaging etc.) have achieved in conventional markets suggests otherwise. It’s time to face the fact that...