MISS UNIVERSE CONTESTANTS might look like Barbie dolls in different shades. But beyond glitzy pageants, the colors (colours) of beauty are slowly but surely changing global consumer culture and the beauty industry, according to SkinInc.com ("Skin Color of the United States" by Daphne Kasriel-Alexander) and a new book by Harvard Business School professor Geoffrey Jones (Beauty Imagined: A History of the Global Beauty Industry).
IN THE EARLY days of e-commerce, circa the 1990s, a business debate arose over whether brick-and-mortar stores or online Web sites were better for consumers. The debate seemed almost pointless. Retail outlets and online sites offered the best of both worlds, and it was only a matter of time before all felt comfortable using both. Change takes time; the technology for bank ATMs existed in the 1970s, but customers didn't feel comfortable using the machines for at least a decade.
I'VE LONG THOUGHT that global consumers think alike, aside from a few cultural differences. Everyone wants good value, good variety, good service. A recent survey seems to confirm this. In its 2010 Global Customer Service Barometer survey, financial-services giant American Express found that 52% to 82% of consumers in 12 of 13 countries believe that customer service is more important in the current economy. (In the Netherlands, only 48% of consumers agreed with that statement.)
Consumers also are very likely to spread the word about good customer service. In the Conversation Agent blog, brand strategist Valeria Maltoni (photo, below) writes:
CORPORATE SPEAK AND cliches from CEOs can drive analysts and journalists mad. So it's as refreshing as a cold one on a hot day to hear a global CEO play soothsayer and predict the long-run fate of his company, far beyond its first quarter just reported.
Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent recently told the Atlantic Journal-Constitution's Henry Unger that the fast-rising global middle-class and their spending power could help Coke and its bottlers-distributors double their current, combined $100 billion in global revenue by 2020. "It's not for the fainthearted, but it’s achievable," Kent said.
