Vital Wave Consulting is hosting a webinar on the Globalization of R&D on Thursday, May 13, 2010, 9-10 AM PDT
Click here to reserve your Webinar seat now
Multinational firms based in the developed world have been shifting production to emerging markets for decades while performing most research and development (R&D) work in the US, Europe and Japan. Recently, however, more R&D is being performed in China, India, Brazil and other emerging markets as their economies boom, their consumer bases grow in importance and local talent becomes more sophisticated. Join us as we share the results of an original Vital Wave Consulting and Harvard University research report on the globalization of R&D and the factors behind this important shift. This presentation will review the data associated with this trend, key factors driving it and a case study that illustrates how MNCs are making it a reality.
After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar. If you encounter any registration difficulties, email us at: events@vitalwaveconsulting.com.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Men, women, mobile phones and reproductive health...
by Karen Coppock
__________________
Yesterday I moderated a fascinating live chat on Gender, Phones and Reproductive Health - transcripts for the session are now available under the Discussion Boards link in the Conference Hall on the eConference website. I encourage you to review the transcripts and continue the conversation on the Discussion Board.
More than three dozen participants - from across the world - contributed to a very lively and informative discussion on using mobile phones in reproductive health and differences in targeting men and women. Organizations are taking very different approaches to gender differences - participants in the chat noted the following examples:
__________________
Yesterday I moderated a fascinating live chat on Gender, Phones and Reproductive Health - transcripts for the session are now available under the Discussion Boards link in the Conference Hall on the eConference website. I encourage you to review the transcripts and continue the conversation on the Discussion Board.
More than three dozen participants - from across the world - contributed to a very lively and informative discussion on using mobile phones in reproductive health and differences in targeting men and women. Organizations are taking very different approaches to gender differences - participants in the chat noted the following examples:
- "In a pilot family planning project called Saathiya, in India we established a helpline with two separate phone lines for men and women served by same-gender operators. This approach proved to be very effective for men to be very comfortable asking wide range of questions on sexual health and FP"
- "the audience is not necessarily just the target women, but often many other influential people in the community...." This approach was taken in Rwanda - "an SMS in Kinyarwandan in 2006 [was sent] to all registered mobile phone users to announce the child health campaign with bed nets, immunization, and deworming. It went out 2-3 days before the campaign"
- "In using mobile phones, what is the role of women versus the role of community health workers. In
a rural Nigerian setting, we need CHW to be intermediaries...process and interprete into local language, do reports etc"...CHWs [community health workers] in Nigeria are often, in my experience, the entry point into the household, past husbands, and can reach the wives. I agree with Ego in the importance in that setting to look at the relationship between the two."
Monday, May 3, 2010
eConference, May 5th, 11am session on Gender, Phones and Reproductive Health 2pm EST
Vital Wave Consulting will be moderating a live chat on Gender, Phones & Reproductive Health on Wednesday, May 5th, from 2-3pm US Eastern time - please join us!
The discussion is a part of the Using Mobile Technologies to Improve Family Planning, Maternal Health & Newborn Services in the Developing world and is sponsored by USAID, the mHealth Alliance and SHOP. The session will revolve around a recent Vital Wave Consulting report, Women & Mobiles: A Global Opportunity, and will cover how gender issues will impact mHealth design, use and outcomes.
To register for the free conference, please click here.
According to conference sponsors, the conference is "intended for health program implementers with little or no experience using mobile technologies such as cell phones and PDAs to achieve public health goals."
The Women & Mobiles report - as well as several other Vital Wave Consulting reports - can be downloaded from the Resource Center section of the eConference, as well as from Vital Wave Consulting's website.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Educating parents on the educational value of the Internet
by Karen Coppock
_______________
Students in Mauritania fully understand the educational value of the Internet, their parents do not according to a recent article in Balancing Act's newsletter (issue #501). Since most of these students do not have access to PCs at home, they need their parents to give them money to use cyber cafes. Parents are skeptical, at best.
I observed a similar dilemma in Uganda - students and youth fully understood the wealth of educational and other opportunities that the Internet provided, their parents, largely agricultural workers, did not. In China, the situation appears to be similar - a Vital Wave Consulting analyst mentioned that computers are forbidden in some Chinese dorm rooms as administrators fear that the children will play video games and not study.
Often times there are two types of buyers of educational materials - the economic buyer (the one who pays) and the end-user (the one who receives the service). In schools the economic buyer is often the government and the end-user are students and teachers. The IT industry is adept at marketing to governments for large-scale public school technology deployments. Marketing to parents of children in rural areas of Africa may be a bit newer.
Firms could consider partnering with non-profit organizations, schools and even cyber-cafe owners to promote awareness on the educational-value of the Internet. Firms could also leverage traditional media such as radio, TV and perhaps mobile-phones to tout the educational value of the Internet and help children convince their parents to open up their wallets to enhanced educational opportunities.
_______________
Students in Mauritania fully understand the educational value of the Internet, their parents do not according to a recent article in Balancing Act's newsletter (issue #501). Since most of these students do not have access to PCs at home, they need their parents to give them money to use cyber cafes. Parents are skeptical, at best.
I observed a similar dilemma in Uganda - students and youth fully understood the wealth of educational and other opportunities that the Internet provided, their parents, largely agricultural workers, did not. In China, the situation appears to be similar - a Vital Wave Consulting analyst mentioned that computers are forbidden in some Chinese dorm rooms as administrators fear that the children will play video games and not study.
Often times there are two types of buyers of educational materials - the economic buyer (the one who pays) and the end-user (the one who receives the service). In schools the economic buyer is often the government and the end-user are students and teachers. The IT industry is adept at marketing to governments for large-scale public school technology deployments. Marketing to parents of children in rural areas of Africa may be a bit newer.
Firms could consider partnering with non-profit organizations, schools and even cyber-cafe owners to promote awareness on the educational-value of the Internet. Firms could also leverage traditional media such as radio, TV and perhaps mobile-phones to tout the educational value of the Internet and help children convince their parents to open up their wallets to enhanced educational opportunities.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Mingling of ideas and individuals...
by Karen Coppock
___________________
The United Nations Foundation along with Stanford University's Woods Institute for the Environment and Precourt Institute for Energy held a reception at Stanford last night.
Appears that the UN Foundation holds it board meetings in different locations and takes advantage of these meetings to host receptions in which executives, non-profit leaders and academics mingle and network. Last night was one such event.
Many familiar faces were in the crowd including members of Cisco's Emerging Market team and the New American Foundation, executives from TechSoup Global and InSTEDD, and prominent UN Foundation Board members and staff (Ted Turner, former Senator Timothy Wirth and Dr. Nafis Sadik).
Greatly enjoyed speaking with Craig Criddle a Professor of Environmental Engineering & Science and Senior Fellow, Woods Institute for the Environment. He and his team are doing some very interesting work on using methane to create biodegradable plastic bottles - will save money and decrease carbon emissions - a win/win proposition that is not being lost on the private sector.
All is all was an excellent event. Thank you UN Foundation for hosting these receptions in conjunction with your board meetings, think the mixing of diverse people and ideas can only lead to positive results and enjoyable conversations.
___________________
The United Nations Foundation along with Stanford University's Woods Institute for the Environment and Precourt Institute for Energy held a reception at Stanford last night.
Appears that the UN Foundation holds it board meetings in different locations and takes advantage of these meetings to host receptions in which executives, non-profit leaders and academics mingle and network. Last night was one such event.
Many familiar faces were in the crowd including members of Cisco's Emerging Market team and the New American Foundation, executives from TechSoup Global and InSTEDD, and prominent UN Foundation Board members and staff (Ted Turner, former Senator Timothy Wirth and Dr. Nafis Sadik).
Greatly enjoyed speaking with Craig Criddle a Professor of Environmental Engineering & Science and Senior Fellow, Woods Institute for the Environment. He and his team are doing some very interesting work on using methane to create biodegradable plastic bottles - will save money and decrease carbon emissions - a win/win proposition that is not being lost on the private sector.
All is all was an excellent event. Thank you UN Foundation for hosting these receptions in conjunction with your board meetings, think the mixing of diverse people and ideas can only lead to positive results and enjoyable conversations.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Features, Functionality AND Services, Oh My!
Both Microsoft and Nokia announced "social" phones designed specifically for optimal performance as social networking tools, according to the GSMA's Mobile Business Briefing this week. These announcements came on the heels of news from Ericsson that data surpassed voice traffic on mobile networks worldwide for the first time in December of 2009. Ericsson also noted that social networking is a significant source of this data traffic with more than 100 million subscribers accessing Facebook via their mobile devices.
The transformation to data-centric mobile networks is introducing a new set of variables into the handset design process. Instead of just including additional features or functionality, designers now are considering the types of services users want to use on their phone. In this new paradigm, designers must determine what combination of features is required and which features and functionalities optimize the device for a specific service. For instance, both the new Microsoft and Nokia devices have high-quality cameras, as sharing pictures is a key component of social networking.
Market segmentation and conjoint analysis are just two of the tools firms may consider to inform the design of service-specific mobile communications devices. Market segmentation will enable the identification of the specific services - and users - that warrant specialized design. Conjoint analysis can be used to measure the relative value of the different features and functionality as well as to determine the trade-offs required for affordability and sleek design. As the industry matures and reaches saturation, users will require more sophisticated devices. Fortunately, designers have a wide range of tools they can draw upon to satisfy these needs.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Base of the pyramid guru - CK Prahalad - passes away...
by Karen Coppock
________________
Was very sad to read that CK Prahalad passed away on Friday.
Prahalad was instrumental in changing how multi-national firms, and the development community, think about the world. Segmenting the world's population by income, rather than geography, was groundbreaking yet simple - the perfect recipe for a compelling theory.
Certainly there were critiques of Prahalad's work, with some validity. What is important, however, is that Prahalad provided a new lens through which to analyze the world and a new vocabulary - base of the pyramid (BOP), middle of the pyramid (MOP) and top of the pyramid (TOP) - which will frame how governments, firms and NGOs discuss the world for years, if not decades to come.
________________
Was very sad to read that CK Prahalad passed away on Friday.
Prahalad was instrumental in changing how multi-national firms, and the development community, think about the world. Segmenting the world's population by income, rather than geography, was groundbreaking yet simple - the perfect recipe for a compelling theory.
Certainly there were critiques of Prahalad's work, with some validity. What is important, however, is that Prahalad provided a new lens through which to analyze the world and a new vocabulary - base of the pyramid (BOP), middle of the pyramid (MOP) and top of the pyramid (TOP) - which will frame how governments, firms and NGOs discuss the world for years, if not decades to come.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
