Is it possible in France to have entrepreneurialism and be socialist at the same time?
I can’t see the long term model for growth unless there is investment in the long term and not the quick fix now.
I had the big education but ultimately much of what you enjoyed, around 40 countries I have seen is still not absolutely enough but there you go, bar the excellent lifestyle which I deliberately kept modest by choosing to do what I did instead of aiming for the bucks. Different design but same size t-shirt at the end of the day. Glad the biggest bit is over and that I am not starting out today though.
Well Brian,
it all took me around the world, bought and paid for an excellent lifestyle, bought three houses on the way, and led me to a Professorship in two highly respected business training institutions, made me the requested trainer of companies such as Saatchi & Saatchi, and a myriad of satisfied clients plus a recognised author in my subjects, and now a demanded Partner in the field of publishing text and histories of the subject, so forgive me if for once I think I did a) something right and b) something I am proud of - all without any benefits of university or advanced education.
Been there, done that, got the T-shirt?
In the restaurant business in London the motto would be "Survival of the fittest" and
some of the time that lead to drastic measures,financial devastation and manipulating
loop holes in the tax laws leaving others to pay the price.
In architecture the quite simple message of my college and indeed it's motto was "Firmness, Commodity and Delight"!
In principle your 1, 2 and 3 are just like the sequencing and criteria for designing research. Simply the points/questions you raise in one are a bit different, but not much. Then two is entirely different but three varies, in my case in children's rights research we have 3Ps we are looking for to test how and whether any or all of them work amongst the other things.
Sadly, that too is changing where people use rapid appraisal methods which is simply a convoluted way of saying short cutting well established methods. They are quicker and cheaper. From what I understand from a fairly recent article in The Economist, marketing has hit the buffers looking for new ways of making people want (as in 'must have', as per your queues in the night...) because manufacturers are using reviewers who get prototype products that they then tell all about on the net rather than 'traditional' (how did that word get in there?) marketing methods. That too is like social research that is becoming more and more online based and done by people who are not actually field experienced.
Given all of that, I would say they might as well invent robots we connect up to with our every thought and wish, then report on every detail of our lives as we live out each day thus get rid of us expensive, fallible and fickle human beings. I am soooo glad I am at this end of life, we were able to have 'adventures' in our time but now they are too costly no doubt :-(
Brian, Paul,
when I look back, I realise that it must have been sometime in the 70's when we started to use the term Marketing with a capital letter and for me at least the creation of Courses came to me as late as the 90's, after 50 years of actively working in all aspects of advertising, sales promotion and what we used to call coupon-selling but then became Direct Marketing which always was spelled with caps. The latter was and remains 'sharp end selling' and like all things there were the good, the bad and the ugly. Unfortunately it has now become more associated with bad practises, but it really provides a core understanding of selling - which is what advertising essentially is about - either instantly or at some future date.
Being Professor Simple and not to bore but to reiterate that it was not some intellectual pursuit but a logical one that got me interested in teaching - certainly wasn't the money, but there was definitely a pride thing involved, to be flattered into becoming a Marketing Prof of two major European Business Schools, after a lifetime of recognising my lack of education and trying to make the most of the old 'University of Life' fantasy - the Course is TOO LONG people, and by the time you've passed, you are too old and unemployable! I think I should be grateful to Britain for treating yobs like me with contempt, as it stoked the fires of what could be called 'up you!' and although I couldn't fight the system there, as soon as I could I got the Hell out of the place, with nary a regret - 1968 finally and irrevocably.
Still not being over-bright it took me a long time to get my head around a lot of things but commercial art was the lead-in, and I learned a lot of what worked and what didn't because I made it my business to find out from those I had worked for and with. You say Brian, that the goalposts have moved, and that is certainly true in operations and techniques but the business was ever thus.
What hasn't changed are the principles involved, and as I have said on umpteen occasions these are not rocket science and remain 'human constants'. Yes, the products have changed, and yes I accept I do not understand why people buy mobile phones or queue through the night to buy the latest computer game, or why people spend their lives taking 'selfies' of more or less curious narcissism. So to that level my philosophy might no longer apply, and I would certainly hesitate in taking on a new set of students today.
But for what they are worth, and I still think they are worth something, these are the three main 'marketing' laws/rules/philosophies that I still firmly believe in;
1. The Magic Quesions
WHAT? - am I trying to sell? Product/Service?
WHY? - would anyone want to buy it? Need or want?
WHO? - are these people? Rich, poor, old young, race, gender etc?
WHERE? - are they to be found? Urban, suburban, local, international etc?
WHEN? - should I talk to them? Seasonality, Event eg Xmas, Birthday, holidays, return to school, lifecycle changes?
HOW? - should I talk to them? What does the product require - technical info, serious, frivolous, exciting, How do the prospects talk together - The Times or the Sun? How do I reach them - media choices. How do I get the products to them (4P's)
These can be expanded according to the product of course.
2. Then the sharp end of the selling process - or marketing. Think 'AIDA'.
A - ATTENTION I - INTEREST D - DESIRE A - ACTION
3. Then the old favorites the 4P's
PRODUCT, PRICE, PLACE, PROMOTION
That my friends is the essence of marketing - and I think it applies just as much today as it did yesterday. It is yours gratis, free and for nothing.
Mostly what I find too. They are getting into posh but wasted kitchens for ready meals gradually though :-(
I was told by a Frenchman a few weeks ago that
everything is possible and ...and everything is solvable and you know he is right.
I am not convinced by any one who just does not try hard enough.
So for those of us with get up and go....get going.
Unfortunately Vic...too many of the UK expats brought this attitude with them ;o(
It's certainly one of the things I was happy to leave behind.
Here flippin' here. Don't you just hate all this ostentatious one upmanship. Well said matey :-)
One aspect of life that I have found better in France, not that I have actually worked here but I've had connections here nearly 45 years, is that the French people I have met (and I am not sure if they are especially from one particular group or other) do still seem to admire, more than many similar people in Britain, academic and artistic achievement. In England it seems open season to demean, laugh at or belittle such aspiration; the false gods of the latest car (even if you can't use it to its design capacity due to road congestion or taxation and parking charges) , the most expensive kitchen (even if it's used only to warm ready meals), the shiniest bathroom including wet room when the grandparents had an outside privy and the bath was a tin tub placed by the fireside as a weekend treat) and the most ambitious holiday (gaping at dwindling herds of wild animals or four meals a day all inclusive calorie busting cruises featuring third rate "entertainment") all seem to have merged in an orgy of competitive most expense incurred boasting. It's just not quite the same here and for me that's the way I prefer it.
Very good post Paul.
David hits the nail square on the head. I went to the same uni as you Paul, but in the 1960s when a grant got people through - if they could find part time work they were laughing. I stayed there for pushing 40 years and later as a teacher, but not an 'employed' one as such, researchers on grants and consultancy work for my real income, watched it crumble around me too. There are still good academics but the pressures on them to teach and research whilst admin has increase exponentially and looking for research funding an obligation, so quality has suffered because the people are stretched beyond reason. The students are no worse than before but schools do not prepare them intellectually and in basics well enough, so people spend far too much time getting talented ones to learn to write in grammar and learn spelling whilst learning to read rather than skimming texts. Whether either of your work fields is better of worse than the other, throwing my hat in the ring I would so their is barely a hair's breadth between them. However, learning to do the job by starting on the back of a degree means that people are going into jobs with a large debt hanging over their heads and ambitions of owning a home, having a good car or even being in a relationship that may mean a family are all optional extras many cannot afford. It begs the question why bother when, as David says, it is easier to earn money driving a bus.
I do not disagree Norman BUT that was how things were and now the goalposts you knew in marketing have been moved (probably badgers did it) like everything else. The students I had a decade ago who went on to business and marketing studies as postgrads know they were competing against each other and the far too many others in the country for even the most modest jobs, let alone big bucks jobs. The most recent crises have knocked the seat of the pants out of so many domains that your old patch is now full of people running about around the world trying to get on, far more pressured than in your day that was probably never easy. The few people who were once undergrads I taught I still have occasional contact with who went into marketing have often got out. Two of them are teaching in schools in England in the hope that nobody removes the job for life that used to mean that is just hanging on by a thread. So, no it is not just islands any longer, large landmasses are no better, even with open borders. They are usually different but no better or worse than each other but at least, as Paul said, France is at least far more humane and equitable than the British/American model so painting it blacker than it really is, as some people habitually do (no, not you though) is because they construct ideals in their minds they will never find (again).
I always laugh at the mere concept of free markets...what is the point of nations if it is not to protect the interests (including exploitable resources) of their countrymen/women :0
Good points Norman. In my case it's simply the fact that there is still insufficient work on the order books for most consultancies to risk taking on more senior staff. Indeed the Middle East is seen as a major source of work for most of them and they are keen to employ people who have worked out there and are prepared to go back (gulp- UAE manageable at a push but sooooo expensive to live there, KSA not so sure!) But they are making do by retaining a few old hands on low hours contracts, pushing their middle-rank staff really hard and plugging the gaps with interns and students. Quality completely out the door. The few opportunities that have opened up have been leapt on by a handful of (mainly US-based) giants who have sufficient funds to buy out other consultancies if they don't have enough in-house capacity to cover the workload, and will no doubt shed much of the UK staff in due course.
Not decrying sales or marketing Norman, just that not all of us are cut out for it (either in terms of ability or mindset) :-)
Absolutely David. I first started out life as a trainee architect but gave up after 5 years having concluded that it just wasn't worth either the effort or risk (and that was when we had half-decent grants) especially in comparison with former school friends who were earning a comparative fortune as field technicians for BT/ British Gas etc or just gone straight into the construction industry with (at best) 1 or 2 A levels.
You can add to that a young English person considering starting a university architecture course in England will run up five years (at least) of debt and then be lucky to find a paid job at all. In London ( where about 80% of the architect jobs are) they will have to face huge living and accommodation costs for very low wages. Some will be paid virtually nil. All English job seekers will be disadvantaged against say Scottish students who have their tuition fees paid and have little starting debt. The likely increase in salary coming with experience will probably be insufficient to sustain life, especially with a family, in London and the South East. Those gaining experience will be expected to work extremely long hours (60 hours a week not uncommon) . Yet the average income of an Architect in the whole of the UK is about £33000 that being about 30% less than a bus driver who probably has no student loan to pay off and carries little like the 15 years liability that an architect has to. Offices in London are full of young people from all over the world will to work for very little to get experience. Yet at the same time the country is building a pitifully low amount of new houses of either for sale or affordable category. I'm now retired but it was definitely much better thirty years ago and whilst this is just one type of job I'm sure that there are many similar. At the same time the number of functionary type jobs, filled by legions of highly paid, highly pensioned, people watching and controlling the activities of others has spiralled. No doubt a few people here will want to have a go at architects; forget it we're used to your feeble diatribes (roll over Michael Gove et al)....if all you can do is heap invective on people the will of motivated professionals becomes eroded and you end up with a class of box tickers in the design and build industry, and similar in other industries. Last one out switch the lights off!
When I came/went back to the UK after a lengthy stay in Australia and the Middle East I soon realised that 'overseas experience' was never seen as a job-seeking plus, but precisely the reverse - mainly as the prospective employer was far more concerned about any perceived threat to his or her job than actively tryng to get better staff.
I always laughed when I used to read the 'hints to getting a job in the UK' (and yes, I wasn't too proud to read them) when I noted the 'always ensure you let companies know what you can do for THEM' (shades of the Kennedy speech?) rather than what YOU are looking for personally'. Absolute cobblers. If anything the best way would be to show how you can make the 'boss' look good, whilst being totally prepared to cover his backside - i.e what I would now call 'doing a Valls'.
It is a fact of MY life at least that out of the twelve countries I lived and worked in (for periods longer than a years, the rest were visits) there were only two where I never made a cracker - Britain and France.
I don't think it has much to do with politics other than through the law-making propensities of both countries, probably due to the overwhelming presence of lawyers in the Parliaments. Let's face it, it's about the only thing they DO know - how to create and impose laws. The problem in France is that they never stop and make it amazingly hard for entrepreneurs to get started and also SME's to develop. My French wife used to say to me the system is based on asking any three civil servants in the same department the same question, and work to the majority (if any) decision. Have you see the 'Codes and Laws' books that come out each year? Nobody can keep up with these!
Britain, like all islands - and essentially Australia is an island, tend to be inward-looking these days. Without defending empirical activities and philosophies overly, Britain no longer thinks internationally as far as I can make out, and is suffering accordingly. France is besotted with BIG without considering how to help companies achieve that goal.
I am just glad that I no longer ever have to concern myself with other people's problems but I will pass on one major point that I, as a Marketing man (despised though we may now may be, according to most on this post) regard as key. I would say that 80% of the problems company's had in my time was 'Distribution' and that applied equally to service industries. Most simply got it wrong and either tried to do too much, or too widely, or didn't consider the costs and logistics of these aspects enough.
I know the academics always disagree on pragmatics and realities, but that's my take on just on 60 years of international experience, which probably doesn't count for much these days. I always felt my activities were at least aimed at creating demand, and in turn creating production and employment. Reading the comments here and elsewhere I hear the catcalls of derision, but I don't see a thing about alternatives, but then again I always was a bit thick.
Well said. Thank you!