Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Do All You Can

Do all you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as you ever can.

~John Wesley

Of Note: With consumers buying less in developed countries, international companies are taking note of a long ignored group, the poor in the developing nations. Proctor and Gamble, for example, has reversed engineered a razor blade that costs 11 cents in India. Rather than creating an item and then assigning a price, which is the usual practice, P&G is now starting "with what customers can afford and adjusting the features and manufacturing processes to meet the target." In the past, the company, which sells such ubiquitous products as Gillette razors, Pampers diapers and Crest toothpaste, simply distributed the same products in developing countries that only the rich could afford.

Wall Street Journal
reflected on the drastic change by P&G to reach 5 billion of the world's expected 7 billion population: "This move by the maker of five-bladed, battery powered gizmos reflects P&G's aggressive push into emerging markets for new customers and growth. That focus is forcing them to be more modest in scale and more flexible in price." All the better to serve customers in every walk of life. Forced innovation, we like it.

The World Bank is taking note as well. It's president, Robert Zoellick, recently said: "To make economic research more relevant to developing countries, it should be
democratized--meaning that researchers in Washington and Western academic centers should collaborate more with professionals in developing countries." The powers that be are beginning to pay attention to all customers. It's time, don't you think?

Today's Weather Report: Another brilliantly sunny day with temperatures in the mid-60's Fahrenheit. A drive to Ashland yesterday revealed that the fall leaves are predominantly gold and russet this year with little red or crimson. It was gorgeous nonetheless. Today I noticed on our property that most of the leaves have already fallen and have accumulated on the ground like a carpet. Many pick up those leaves but mine just languish in place. After mowing next spring, they turn into mulch anyway and must provide some organics to the predominantly sandy soil. At least that's what I tell myself. That belief gets me off the hook for endless work this time of year bagging leaves.