You Can't Get There From Here

Nugget readers who have traveled in emerging markets have surely witnessed ineffective distribution channels. One Vital Wave employee recently shared a ferry to an island off the coast of Tunisia with a truckload of sheep. Upon arrival at the island dock, she saw an identical truckload of sheep waiting to board the return ferry to the mainland. Distribution channels, especially for physical goods, plague most emerging-market business ventures, and well-intentioned programs are often derailed by this obstacle. OLPC’s Chief Connectivity Officer, Michail Bletsas, highlighted the distribution issues in a recent interview: “Actually, what we're trying to do is not distribute any PC ourselves….but right now, no one else is trying to do that.” Other organizations are naively ignoring this hurdle. The Australia-based “Be A Hero” aid organization and Bigshop.com announced plans last week to provide underprivileged artisans in Thailand, Cambodia, Papua New Guinea, Manilla, Kenya, Zambia and Zimbabwe with the opportunity to sell their wares to a global audience. There is no mention of how the organizations will manage business process issues such as payment, quality control, distribution, warehousing, delivery or support.

Organizations such as Peoplink and Novica have built similar businesses and continue to struggle with distribution. Delivery times can exceed one month, and the need to warehouse stockpiles of products drives up costs. Distribution presents challenges for all suppliers – those selling products out of the developing world into the developed and vice versa. Some of the predominant issues include lack of reliable infrastructure (roads, railways, electricity, fuel access and postal service), corruption (stolen merchandise and unjust taxes), and extreme environments (dust, rain and heat). While reliance on volunteers and aid organizations may get a program off the ground, distribution is more likely to be successful when sustainable business models provide clear and compelling incentives along the entire distribution chain. Thamel.com, a Nepal-based marketing company that provides gift-giving services for the Nepalese diaspora, stresses the importance of business benefit for all involved. Even with one of the more successful developing-world distribution networks, Thamel.com sometimes puts the burden of product distribution, at least for goat delivery, on the gift recipient.

For businesses expanding into developing-country markets, whether delivering goats or laptops, it is essential to address distribution with creative and reliable solutions. Business managers may be required to invest in local infrastructure to ensure reliable product delivery. For this level of investment, businesses would do well to work closely with senior government leaders to ensure benefits for such investments (similar to traditional benefits given for investments in manufacturing facilities). Local partners, such as Thamel.com, have regional knowledge and established delivery systems that can also point to successful distribution strategies. As effective distribution models are built in developing countries, local industries will benefit from increased efficiencies, and fewer truckloads of sheep will pass each other on the dock.

Also in the news:

• HCL releases Classmate PC for consumers
• Sears sells sub-$200 Linux desktop PCs
• Businesses make progress in designing for developing world

CES Hype Ignores Emerging-market Innovations

The dust is still settling in Las Vegas after 140,000 techies gathered for the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) last week. A hotbed of trends, gadgets and futuristic predictions, CES hints at the year’s soon-to-be hottest products and establishes solid predictions for the direction of the industry. This year’s show, responding to increasing media attention, attempted to shine a spotlight on solutions designed for developing countries. With industry representatives from the One Laptop per Child initiative, Qualcomm, Voxiva, AMD, Intel, Microsoft, and Cisco, CES hosted “Technology and Emerging Countries: Advancing Development through Technology Investments.” Even with the emerging-market star power of some of the world’s largest companies, coverage of the session was noticeably absent from CES press reports.

The absence of media attention on technology solutions for developing countries is not surprising. CES, traditionally, has been focused on the bells and whistles of the technology industry. The demand for sexy gadgets and flashy form factors keeps announcements comfortably far from reality and, as a result, only a fraction of the technology gizmos demonstrated make it to market. Successful emerging-market solutions are less often about flashy technology and more about shifts in business models to address day-to-day user needs. While new business models for and investments in emerging markets are not of particular interest to CES bloggers, they continue to be of interest to Wall Street.

Strategic investments that drive growth and true innovation in developing-country markets may be overlooked in the coverage of this year’s CES, but IT analysts are responding to them favorably. IBM, for instance, was rewarded by investors this week when their earnings report showed continued strong growth in emerging markets, making up for a slowing tech spending in the US. For companies just getting into the emerging-market game, there is still time to generate near-term revenues through smart investments. But newcomers are advised to ignore the tech-show drama of “devices in search of a market”, and balance technology innovation with business models and internal restructuring that will enable emerging-market growth.

Also in the news:

• NComputing takes on enterprise
• Apple loses negotiations in China
• OLPC to make XO laptop available in United States

Focus on Affordability Would Help Low-cost Device Makers

2008 is off to an interesting start for the technology industry. Analysts are forecasting slower growth in IT spending globally and banking on emerging-market growth to keep the global economy afloat. Topping the list of IT drama this week is the collapse of the partnership between Intel and OLPC. Though this may not be earth-shattering for the industry, it hurts an initiative that has influenced the growth strategies of many computing device companies.

Even before Intel’s move, it was clear that OLPC is a troubled organization. Many industry and education experts have provided candid recommendations on how the organization can improve its business model, support and installation plans, and usage models in the education environment. However, there remain many positive opinions of the XO machine itself, which features great innovations – a useful monitor, low power consumption, a simplified user interface, and a pull-cord generator. These innovations, accompanied by bold claims and abundant PR around the OLPC initiative, prompted some of the world's largest companies to develop rival low-cost computing solutions. In this way, the OLPC initiative has changed the landscape of the PC industry in developing countries. Regardless of whether this non-profit organization can move beyond its current challenges to successful scale, recent sales and shipments suggest that, at least for now, the OLPC initiative is competing in some way against industry giants.

The dramatic price reductions of low-end PCs are an enormous step for the IT industry in penetrating low-income markets. But IT organizations keen on maximizing their growth, and doing so profitably, would do well to understand the difference between low-cost and affordable. Vital Wave Consulting research shows that affordability is less aligned with actual price than it is with customer cash flow. The majority of computing customers in developing-country markets struggle to make a one-time payment even at the lowest end of PC (and even mobile handset) prices. Yet, they are increasingly willing to take on debt to accelerate their ability to purchase a computing device. Technology acquisition in emerging markets would be dramatically increased through business models that provide a financing component to overcome the cash flow limitations of aspiring yet low-income customers. These business models would also relieve the pressure for ever-decreasing prices and allow the providers of computing devices to maintain reasonable profit margins.

Also in the news:

• Samsung competes for low-end mobile space
• OLPC to dual-boot Windows and Linux
• Laptop sales growing faster in emerging markets