Entries in Research (1)
Immersing Yourself in Emerging Markets
The Financial Times has an interesting article about how some companies are holding their board meetings abroad to immerse executives in a new and stimulating environment.
The article explains that it is an opportunity for companies to push executive thinking and get board members to see their organizational challenges "with fresh eyes."
Reuters is one company that has held board meeting overseas in important new markets. The article states that Reuters' execs felt that creating their Asia strategy after being together for a week in China "grounded" their strategic conversations in a way that wouldn't have been possible otherwise.
This reminds me of the kind of contextual awareness we and our clients picked up this past May on our Futures Expedition in Shanghai. We spent a week exploring Chinese consumer life through home visits, focus groups, shadow shopping, and meeting with experts from companies and NGOs operating there. We also got a lot out of our personal observations in the field, whether this meant hearing firsthand from young Chinese consumers what they like and dislike about their mobile phone (see image) -- or learning about people's views on the environment through our evening focus groups.
If you missed the Shanghai Expedition, but need to understand how consumers in emerging markets are living and how they're going to shape the future, consider coming on one of our upcoming BRIC Expeditions. First stop: Hyderabad, India in February 2008, with subsequent trips to Russia (September 2008), Brazil (March 2009), and back to China in October 2009.
For a sense of the experience and the output, check out some excerpts from the Shanghai post-expedition report.
Image: Social Technologies
Chris Carbone
in China, Asia, Research, Ethnography, Futures Expeditions
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