ISSN 2560-8703 - ResInt Canadaresint.ca/files/research_review.pdf · Research Review The Journal of ... USA Professor Russell Belk Ph.D. Kra˜ Foods Canada Chair in Marketing

The Journal of ResInt Canada

The Overlooked Half of the Research BusinessAl Ries

Attaining Global Standards in our UniversitiesSyed Saad Andaleeb

Contradiction or Paradox: Poverty and Inequality Owen Lippert

Marketing GoodJeff French

The Magic Word PretiumHermann Simon

Emotions and Trust in MarketingSalva López

Planting Seeds of Empowerment Jeff Rayman

Opinion Polls and their CredibilityKhalid Hasan

ISSN 2560-8703

Owen Lippert Ph.D.Public Opinion Poll Analyst

George McLeodVice President, ResInt Canada

[email protected], [email protected]

PUBLISHERResInt Inc. CanadaVolume 1, Number 1, May 2017Price: $15/- (Complimentary Copy)

Professor Je� French Ph.D.Visiting Professor at Brighton University, UKFellow, Kings CollegeCEO Strategic Social Marketing, UK

Professor M Kabir Ph.D.Professor of StatisticsNorth South University, Bangladesh

Professor B. Murali Manohar Ph.D.Senior Professor, VIT Business SchoolVIT University, Vellore India

ResInt Research Review


Professor Saad Andaleeb Ph.D.Distinguished Professor Emeritus Pennsylvania StateUniversity, USA andVice Chancellor, Brac University Bangladesh

Al RiesBrand Positioning Guru, and Best-Selling Author,Chairman, Ries&Ries, USA

Professor Russell Belk Ph.D.Kra� Foods Canada Chair in MarketingSchulich School of BusinessYork University, Toronto, Canada

EDITOR Khalid Hasan Ph.D. Chief Operating O�cer, ResInt Canada

BUSINESS & MARKETING Zul�qar Ahmed Chief Marketing O�cer, ResInt Canada

SUBMISSIONS Prospective authors are encouraged to follow Research Review guidelines for authors before submitting the articles or manuscripts or contact the Editor at [email protected]

A NOTE TO READERS�e views expressed in articles are of the authors’ and not necessarily those of ResInt Inc. Canada. Neither this publication nor any part of it may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the permission of ResInt Canada. All information in this journal is checked and veri�ed to the best of the publisher’s ability, however, the publisher or editor cannot be held responsible for any mistake or omission enclosed in the publication

ADVISORY BOARD

EDITORIAL BOARD

2 I RESINT RESEARCH REVIEW May 2017

Our Mission We cater to clients’ needs for informed decision making at every stage of a program and to provide state of the art research services to generate actionable insights and recommendations.

Our Philosophy The thought - Information is infinite and random. Knowledge is cumulative and orderly; it leads to decisions, and actions. Our promise to you, the Client, is to help you to organize both the information and the knowledge you need to make the best decisions possible to guide informed actions, leading to positive results. Our people work for your success.

The goal - To offer superior quality research and analysis at a competitive price that suits a client’s budget, without compromising quality.

The reality - ResInt engages top Asian, Canadian, American and European researchers, analysts, and program and subject specialists for each survey, opinion poll, exploratory studies, and M&E initiatives. We invest our resources in people, not bricks and mortar.

We carry out research and consultancy maintaining the highest ethical standard, with sensitivity and respect to all stakeholders in the process. We ensure our contracted experts have no conflict of interest issues. We consider each research issue in its unique context, and design studies and data collection tools and methods considering the ethno-cultural sensitivities.

As a registered Canadian company, we are compliant for the quality of our work under the laws of Canada and the Province of Ontario.

Our Team ResInt has brought together leading Asian, North American and European researchers, analysts, program specialists, and communications specialists. Their local experience, global knowledge base, and most importantly, sensitivity to the research issues and informants can help clients to implement, analyze, and summarize research outputs in most actionable form. Our team continuously engage in training, academic paper writing, sharing of knowledge and experience through conferences in order to stay on top of the evolving dynamics of the issues and relevant stakeholders.

About ResIntResInt has emerged as a unique boutique research organization delivering custom research to meet clients’ specific needs. With global experience, we operate in most of the nations in Asia and North America, and we are growing. We stand out because the core team includes some of the most highly skilled researchers, analysts and thought leaders. We bring a unique blend of research and evaluation rigor, and program expertise with genuine local sensitivity. We assist companies, donors, and not-for-profit organizations to complete their projects by providing critical quantita-tive and qualitative research and analysis at all stages of the project cycle.

• Monitoring and evaluation services • Research solutions in programs & interventions • Polling and associated research and insights • Market, social, media, and consumer research

Contents

ResInt Research ReviResea

viResea

ewConwCon

IN EVERY ISSUE

5 From the Desk of Editor Khalid Hasan Ph.D.

57 Book ReviewJaideep Prabhu Ph.D.

4 Welcome to ResInt CanadaOwen Lippert Ph.D.

7Message from the Chair, Canada-Bangladesh Parliamentary Friendship Group

8 Message from Professor Philip Kotler

6 Message from Premier of Ontario, Canada

2 About ResInt Canada

47 Opinion Polls and their CredibilityKhalid Hasan Ph.D.

41From the FieldPlanting Seeds of Empowerment

37 Emotions and Trust in MarketingSalva López

22Contradiction or Paradox: Poverty andInequality and How to TellOwen Lippert Ph.D.

12 BusinessAl Ries

9 An Exclusive Interview with Professor Philip Kotler

16Attaining Global Standards in our UniversitiesSyed Saad Andaleeb Ph.D.

27 Marketing Good

33 PretiumHermann Simon Ph.D.

5I4 I RESINT RESEARCH REVIEW May 2017

Member, Editorial Board

5IRESINT RESEARCH REVIEW May 2017

It is with great pleasure to present the very fi rst issue of Research Review – the biannual journal of ResInt Canada. We are going to release this issue on the occasion of launching ResInt in Bangladesh on May 2017. Th e Resint Research Review will play an important role in the evolution of Resint Canada. It will serve as the centerpiece publication of our in-house think tank, CARES, (Consortium of Asian

Research and Evaluation Solutions). Th e direction from the editorial desk is to be creative, be bold -- this space serves as a venue for experimentation and modeling. Th e Research Review is designed to be a sounding for new ideas and research as they make their way to a more formal exposition. Th e purpose of the journal Research Review is to be the source of thought-provoking new and original ideas from contributors around the world. Its aim is to guide professionals towards achieving sustainable business growth via modern, eff ective techniques. It further emphasizes the deeper causal relationships between the diff erent aspects of business, such as income generation and distribution, social intervention and impact, productivity and empowerment, and values and lifestyle that may impact quality of life.We express our sincere gratitude to Hon. Kathleen Wynne, Premier of Ontario and Hon. Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, Chair of Canada-Bangladesh Parliamentary Friendship Group for their personal messages given to us on the occasion of launching ResInt in South Asia. Here we have 9 thought-provoking articles centered on research, and focusing on topics such as global marketing, economy, opinion poll, social change, branding, education, and microfi nance. It is our great honor to have an exclusive interview with the global marketing guru Professor Philip Kotler where he said that if we want to succeed we must consider that “Times are changing and you need to change at the same rate or faster if you want to succeed.” He further advised “Produce and market your product with the triple bottom line in mind: people, planet, and profi ts”. In addition, we have received excellent articles from many world leading professors and researchers. Th ese great articles will show us how we can use research to change our planet, through socially-oriented policies, branding, research and innovation. I am confi dent that the knowledge passed on to us by our authors will help many of us internalize the root causes of the emerging crisis, and show us how we can create a better world for our future generations. Finally, I am immensely grateful to all the contributors to this year’s edition of Research Review; without their participation, we wouldn’t have been able to make it this far! I also take this opportunity to thank our research partners for their patronage and trust in ResInt Canada. Lastly, among others, I am indebted to Dr. Owen Lippert and Zulfi qar Ahmed for their constant support and suggestions.Th ank you all!

Yours Truly,

Khalid Hasan Ph.D. Editor, ResInt Research Review

Finding Solutions through Research

From the Desk of the Editor





An exclusive interview with Professor Philip Kotler

“Produce and Market Your Product with the Triple Bottom Line in Mind: People, Planet, and Profi ts”Interviewer: Khalid Hasan Ph.D.

Philip Kotler – An emblematic name in modern marketing! He doesn’t need introduction, yet we feelpride to reprise that not only he authored over 55 books and many articles, he is the S.C. Johnson & Son

Distinguished Professor of International Marketing at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, been consultant to many big corporate giants but an eminent and most sought speaker in today’s competitive era. He has enlightened the way to create a better world through marketing for generations to come. It will take another century or more to witness another Kotler, an all time Marketing Guru!

Kotler was the fi rst recipient of American Marketing Association’s Distinguished Marketing Educator Award, Sales and Marketing Executives International Marketer of the Year Award; and Distinguished Educator Award from Th e Academy of Marketing Science. He was also voted the fi rst Leader in Marketing Th ought by the American Marketing Association which described him as “the most infl uential marketer of all time.” He was named as Th e Founder of Modern Marketing Management in the Handbook of Management Th inking. Professor Kotler was ranked the fourth most Infl uential Business Writers/ Management Gurus, following Peter Drucker, Bill Gates, and Jack Welch, in a survey of 1,000 executives from 25 countries (Financial Times November 18, 2005).


You are called “Father of Modern Marketing”. Would you please tell us why you are called so?

Philip Kotler: As a discipline, Marketing is over 100 years old. Textbooks on marketing appeared in the first decade of the 1900s. The books had good content describing markets, advertising, sales force, retailers, wholesalers, agents and other players. Most books described these areas and some included prescriptions on how a salesman should make sales calls, how an ad should work, etc.

I wrote the first edition of Marketing Management in 1967. It differed from previous textbooks by being based on economic theory, organizational theory, psychological theory, and mathematical analysis. This suggested to adopters that marketing was getting to be a science as well as an art. The book was very successful and is now in its 15th edition. Two other offspring books, Principles of Marketing and Marketing-An Introduction, are in the 16th and 12th editions now. I guess this means that more marketers have been educated on my books than on any other marketing books. Note that I am not called and I should not be called the “Father of Marketing.’ But if others want to call me the “Father of Modern Marketing,” I won’t object.

With over 50 year of experience in the field, what do you see as the biggest challenges for mar-keters today?

Philip Kotler: The biggest challenge is to learn how to gather huge and rich data about your customers and how to use digital marketing tools to reach them. One-way broadcast ads that dominated in the age of mass media marketing are no longer sufficient. Consumers know much more about companies, products, and brands than any company can tell them in a 30 second ad. Companies need to understand each target buyer or buying group and use tell their message in a storytelling way. Companies also need to develop and send relevant content that will be interesting to their differing customers, even though they are not asking for a sale.

What I am saying is that a 1970 marketer should not head your marketing department.

I just coauthored Social Media Marketing: A Practitioner’s Guide that shortly will be published by Amazon. It will help today’s marketers meet the new challenges in the marketplace.

You are the Guru of all gurus in the marketing world. If I ask you what are your Top 3 rules of success, which 3 rules are at your top-of-mind?

Philip Kotler: Rule 1. Times are changing and you need to change at the same rate or faster if you want to succeed.

Rule 2. Focus always on the customer’s needs, interests, and desires with the objective of creating real value for the customer.

Rule 3. Produce and market your product with the triple bottom line in mind: people, planet, and profits.

I was at the 2015 and 2016 global summits in Japan organized by World Marketing Summit Group where you emphasized the role of CMOs for every company. Why do you think so? What does the future hold for the CMO?

Philip Kotler: The role of the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) is to function as the senior person who focuses the company’s attention on its customers. Otherwise the company will only be focusing on production (Chief Manufacturing Officer) or on products (Chief Product Officer) or on money (Chief Financial Officer) or on employees (Chief Human Resources Officer). In that customer-driven role, the CMO will bring together everything that the other officers need to know about customers. If a company only has advertising experts, sales people, and market researchers, but no CMO, the customer point of view would be lost.


What do you think about South Asia, especially Bangladesh? (South Asia stands out as one of the fastest-growing region in the world. According to the World Bank’s forecast, economic growth may accelerate from 7.1 percent in 2016 to 7.3 percent in 2017. More specifically, Bangladesh is one of the leading economies in South Asia and its GDP is grow-ing by around 7 percent a year, as fast as China’s. With a booming ready-made garment industry, which now ranks second only to China’s in exports, and earning remittance from around 10 mil-lion overseas workers, Bangla-desh is shining.)

Philip Kotler: I had the pleasure of bringing the first World Marketing Summit to Bangladesh in 2012. Fahim Kibria and I worked directly with the Prime Minister and three of her other ministers. We carefully chose 20 of the world’s best marketers to speak in Bangladesh during the two day summit. The audience of marketers and business leaders was very large and they took many notes. We enjoyed traveling around Dhaka and seeing the impressive Parliament building. We knew at that time that Bangladesh would achieve an excellent annual GDP growth rate.

What message do you have for emerging Asian markets like China, India, Indonesia, Bangla-desh etc.?

Philip Kotler: The highest economic growth rates in the world are found in Asia. We know that China was

growing at an annual GDP rate of 10% and reduced poverty faster than any other country in history. These Asian countries sit on a mountain of opportunity filled with people who want to raise their standard of living and enjoy a good life. I hope that these countries can reduce or eliminate corrupt practices that prevent even faster growth from taking place and that waste their resources on people who provide no additional value.

What are companies doing dif-ferently to innovate? Are there some marketing innovations that you feel could change the way the industry works?

Philip Kotler: Companies need to pursue a clear policy of innovation aiming to make

everyday products better and cheaper. I like companies such as WalMart and Amazon aiming to make products less expensive. I like a company like Tata that wanted to innovate a lower cost car that more Indian citizens could afford. I like Tesla for introducing a car that will be driverless and with zero emissions. I like Patagonia that wants you to use and reuse your clothing items and eventually give it away to someone else who can use it, in the interests of conservations and protecting the planet. ■

Thank you!


markets a wide range of models under each of their brand names.

In the American market alone, Volkswagen markets 7 models. Hyundai 9 models. Lexus 10 models. BMW 14 models. Toyota 15 models. Ford 15 models. Nissan 17 models. Mercedes 18 models. And Chevrolet 20 models.

What does “past” research tell us?In 1990, General Motors launched its Saturn brand with one model, the “Saturn S.” Th e only major automotive brand with one model.

Th e new brand was a big success. In 1994, just four years aft er its introduction, the average Saturn dealer sold more vehicles (960) than any other brand. Th e average Toyota dealer that year sold just 841 vehicles. Ford, 746. Honda, 677. Nissan, 661. And Chevrolet, 553.

In its fi rst full eight years, with only one model, Saturn’s average annual sales were 251,231 vehicles.

There are two types of research: (1) Future research that tries to fi nd out what consumers are likely to do, and (2) Past research that fi nds out what

consumers already have done.

Naturally, the research industry is almost totally focused on the future. Th at’s where the money is. Companies are willing to spend huge amounts to get the answers to what products to launch at what prices in what markets.

What is amazing to me is how many companies ignore “past” research which is cheap and the results certain, as opposed to “future” research which is expensive and the results uncertain.

Take Red Bull, for example. Before Dietrich Mateschitz launched the brand in Austria, he did extensive research. People didn’t believe the taste, the logo, the brand name, he reported. I’d never before experienced such a disaster. But he launched Red Bull anyway.

Take the global automobile industry. Every major automobile manufacturer in the world

The Overlooked Half of the Research BusinessAL RIES


In 1999, when Cynthia Trudell was president of Saturn Corp., the company launched a second model, the Saturn L, a larger, more expensive sedan.

Trudell is betting that she can double Saturn’s sales, reported Automotive News in its April 5, 1999 issue, to about 500,00 units within a couple of years.

It never happened. Over the next nine years, Saturn never equaled its high-water mark, the 286,003 vehicles sold in 1994. With two models, the Saturn S and the Saturn L, average annual sales in those nine years were 240,453 vehicles, a decline of 4 percent from the years the company sold only the Saturn S.

But that’s not the whole story. The overall market had increased substantially, so factoring that in, Saturn sales with two models were down 14 percent as compared with Saturn sales with one model.

By the year 2008, Saturn was selling five models, but the average Saturn dealer sold only 440 vehicles that year, compared with the 960 vehicles the average Saturn dealer sold in 1994 with just one model.

The following year, General Motors went bankrupt and discontinued the Saturn brand.

What should Saturn have done?The same thing Henry Ford did. In 1909, against the advice of his sales force, Henry

Ford made the decision reported in his book, My Life & Work: I announced one morning, without previous warning, that in the future we were going to build only one model, that the model was going to be Model T.

In the next 18 years, Ford built15 million Model T

cars, the longest run in history until the Volkswagen Beetle surpassed it in 1972.

In those 18 years, Ford’s average annual share of the automobile market was 43

percent. (Last year, Ford Motor Company’s share of the overall American market was 15 percent.)

Well, you might be thinking, there was not much competition in those days.

Not so. There were more automobile

brands on the market then there are today. Some 52 major brands, including Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Oldsmobile and Packard.

“There are two types of research: (1) Future

research that tries to find out what consumers are likely to do, and (2) Past research that finds out what consumers already have done.


In those 18 years, Henry Ford focused his manufacturing and sales efforts on the Model T, gradually improving the model each year and reducing its price. In equivalent dollars, the price of the Model T in 1926 was about 65 percent less than it was in 1909.

What does past research tell us what to do?Focus. Focus on one product. Focus your design efforts on improving that one product. Focus your manufacturing efforts at reducing the cost of that one product. And focus your marketing efforts on that one product. And then when the opportunity presents itself, launch a second brand and repeat the process.

What happens when you don’t focus your brands? General Motors is a good example.

In 2005 and 2007, General Motors was the largest automobile manufacturer in the world.

In 2006 and 2008, General Motors was the second-largest automobile manufacturer in the world.

In those four years, General Motors had revenues of $730.1 billion, but managed to lose $82.1 billion.

The following year, General Motors went bankrupt with $82.3 billion in assets and $172.8 billion in debt.

How could a company the size of General Motors go bankrupt? Easy. Just ignore the lessons of the past.

What should General Motors do?What’s the most powerful position to own in the marketplace? Leadership. When you’re the leader in a category, you can often maintain that leadership for decades to come.

Kleenex has been the leading pocket tissue for 91 years. Hertz, the leading car-rental company for 94 years. General Electric, the leading electrical company for 125 years. Lipton, the leading tea for 127 years. Coca-Cola, the leading cola for 131 years. Jack Daniels, the leading whiskey for 151 years.

So what do General Motors’ brands (Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac and GMC) lead in?

Nothing. Ford leads in trucks. Toyota leads in sedans. Hyundai leads in inexpensive vehicles. Mercedes-Benz leads in expensive vehicles. Jeep leads in SUVs. Prius

leads in hybrid vehicles.

Take trucks, for example. Ford has led Chevrolet in trucks for the last 31 years, selling 52,437,934 trucks to Chevrolet’s 42,w233,584 trucks.

Will Chevrolet ever overtake Ford in trucks with its current strategy? Unlikely.

But in the last 31 years, General Motors’ other truck brand, GMC, has sold 13,457,019 trucks. So we would combine Chevrolet trucks with GMC trucks (55,690,003 sold over the past 31 years) and then give the combination a new brand name and a new strategy.


Silverado: America’s leading truck brand.This would have the added advantage of narrowing the focus of the Chevrolet brand and hopefully give the brand a chance of overtaking Toyota in passenger cars.

Honda had that OpportunityToyota was the first Japanese automobile brand in the America market, starting with trucks in 1959 and adding passenger cars in 1966. Honda arrived with passenger cars in 1974.

Twelve years later, in 1986, Honda outsold Toyota in passenger cars: 640,646 to 609,180. That was the opportunity to launch a marketing campaign with a simple slogan: Honda: Largest-selling Japanese car.

From 1986 to 1992, Honda and Toyota were neck-and-neck in passenger car sales, each brand selling some 4.6 million cars in those seven years. Then Honda made a fatal mistake.

In 1993, Honda introduced its first truck model. And any researcher of automotive history knows what was likely to happen next. The Honda brand was likely to go downhill.

And so it did. Last year, Toyota

outsold Honda in passenger cars by 29 percent. And in trucks by 57 percent.

Sometimes the best way to predict the future is to study the past.

Al Ries is the Chairman of Ries & Ries, focusing consultants. He is the father of the Positioning concept and a member of the Marketing Hall of Fame. He has written 10 books on the subject of marketing, including the key text “Focus.”

“Well, you might be thinking, there was

not much competition in those days. Not so. There were more automobile brands on the market then there are today. Some 52 major brands, including Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Oldsmobile and Packard.


Universities are change-makers of change-makers, reforming, enlightening, galvanizing, and oft en creating entirely new worlds. With wisdom

and energy (the WE factor) they are beacons that radiate light to the far outreaches of human endeavors to help push the limits of knowledge. Deep in their spirit of discovery, minds bloom, hearts throb, souls stir. Th at is one picture of the ideal university.

Th e ideal university provides thought leadership, discovers new knowledge, perfects the science of knowledge delivery, empowers stakeholders and builds enlightened citizenry. It promotes many intrinsic values: freedom of thought, equity and social justice, ethical responsibility, team work, innovation, and service to society. As one university promises: “We will transform lives and improve the human condition.”

Where are our universities on the global-ideal scale? What is it that we ought to deliver in this new age – of the 4th Industrial Revolution, the Exponential Age, the Age of

Disruption? In a tumultuous world of rapid change, they must be visionary, pulsating with ideas, imagination, and innovations aplenty. While the present indolence of the higher education sector is palpable, there are signs of new beginnings. To stay the course and reach global standards, however, there is much work ahead.

A basic need in our universities is a strategic alignment of fi ve essential components:• High quality faculty• Quality students • Trained and supportive administrative

teams• Innovative and challenging programs• Suffi ciency of resources and modern

facilities

Quality FacultyTh e centerpiece of a university is its faculty, the main focus of this article. Whatever the balance sought by individual institutions, the faculty must be equipped with two methodologies: of teaching and research. In

Attaining Global Standards in our UniversitiesSYED SAAD ANDALEEB


both, there is much distance to be traversed to meet global standards.

How to teach is vitalThe methodology of teaching has evolved. Pedagogy – or more correctly, andragogy (i.e., how adults learn) – has moved on to new dimensions from its earlier avatar. It is seen by many as “the new art and science of teaching.” Based on research and evidence, “Young people don’t want to be passive learners: They are content producers, not just consumers. They communicate in different ways than older generations, in shorter bursts, and they are used to being a part of large networks that allow them instant feedback on their thoughts and ideas.”According to one researcher, “pedagogy is the process of accompanying learners; caring for and about them; and bringing learning into life.” The focus has shifted sharply – from teacher to learner.

In fact, an international body espouses, “What we teach our children – and how we teach them – will impact almost every aspect of society, from the quality of healthcare to industrial output; from technological advances to financial services.”

Unfortunately, many teachers in our higher education system are still stuck in an old groove. To this day, students suffer harrowing experiences as evidenced by statements made by fresh graduates aspiring to become teachers themselves. Here is a mere sampling of what they still suffer that must be vigorously uprooted:

• Teacher does not take classes regularly and has many excuses to be busy.

• Could not make the class interactive.

• Used the traditional lecture method and taught straight from the book.

• Did not have a clear idea of either con-tent or materials.

• Course outline was not up-to-date.

• Not approachable or friendly.

• Assessment system was questionable.

• Went through the slides without ex-plaining the subject matter.

• Lectures were disorganized; no clear expectations were set.

• Not available during office hours.

• The exams required rote memorization of mundane/trivial facts.

As a teacher myself, I emphasize discovery as a fundamental process of learning. Employing this mode, however, requires a

different style of knowledge dissemination, acquisition and exchange. Many of us will have to transform our styles from the traditional mode of lecturing, especially the comfort associated with it. Deeper engagement will certainly increase

faculty workloads; but that is what global standards demand.

Discovery as a mode of learning means that teachers and students will have to abandon the rote learning route and become much more interactive, where assessment is multidimensional and imaginative.

“Universities are change-makers

of change-makers, reforming, enlightening, galvanizing, and often creating entirely new worlds.


The new rage is critical thinking, flipped classrooms, group discussions, problem-solving, computer simulations, role playing, case analyses, introspective paragraphs, writing questions (not answers), research, and much more. These approaches have been shown to be most effective in “reaching” students, not teaching them. Dovetailing the above methods with students’ new learning options, styles and expectations, especially in the context of new technology, social media, and alternate learning sources, means that the teaching-learning environment must change dramatically.

The new teaching-learning paradigm may be perceived by teachers as painful and requiring much extra effort. This will cause substantial initial resistance; in fact, sadly, many faculty resist joining workshops to learn about these new approaches to embellish their teaching styles.

Applying the new methods incorrectly, it may be cautioned, can cause serious damage to the learner. Consequently, teachers can become quite unpopular. Such risks further decrease the chances that faculty will embrace the spirit of discovery and adopt the new methods with enthusiasm. Training—hard training—is what it will take to scale the resistance hump. Appropriate incentives are also needed to help teachers break the mold and transition into a new world of teaching and learning.

Administrators may find the new modes of learning disconcerting for a number of reasons. It is often heard, especially in the private universities, that even a few

disgruntled students can make the administration nervous and anxious about future enrollments. Thus, support for faculty members and their seeming experimentation with new techniques can be quickly withdrawn.

Furthermore, in the mode of discovery, it will

not be conducive for faculty to work with large class sizes that the traditional mode can accommodate. Reduced class sizes will inevitably boil down to a contentious discussion of revenues and costs. While universities have to pay their bills, it will be important to harness the imagination of both faculty and administrators to find additional revenue sources -- grants, endowments, foundations, philanthropists and other partners.

Content is also importantKnowledge is not static; it continues to grow, often exponentially. Unless the curriculums are updated – regularly – students will be equipped with dated and obsolete knowledge and rendered non-competitive. Every academic unit must bear the responsibility of updating the curriculum, which must be crisp and relevant for the times. Content selection also requires a collective conviction of key stakeholders. In the end the curriculum must be vibrant, pragmatic,

“Young people don’t want to be

passive learners: They are content producers, not just consumers. They communicate in different ways than older generations.


pro-nation, and contemporary. In fact, in today’s technology-driven world, it may be emphasized that the smart student has access to the world’s knowledge systems. Teachers relying on outdated and outmoded content will only make themselves look foolish. Apparently, some still do!

Disruptive innovations in education that combine methodology, technology, and organizational format for knowledge delivery are also on the rise and will challenge or may even replace university education in future. Imaginative organizations, by meeting the needs of specific target groups, could potentially draw “customers” away from academia. Even accreditation systems may change to enable creative knowledge producers to package knowledge in innovative and demand-driven ways (e.g., distance education), thus bypassing academia. Lest academia is caught sleeping, it must also innovate.

Knowledge generation imperative Research is another area in which the faculty must demonstrate methodological competence. For lack of space, I shall refer to a quote from Kitamara: “Many of the faculty members in Bangladeshi universities appear unmotivated to conduct their own academic research due to such problems as lack of research funding, absence of a staff development program, heavy teaching

load, and an unclear system of recruitment and promotion. At a majority of the universities, many faculty members do not hold doctorates, and those who have finished their master’s program are generally hired as new teaching staff.” These and other challenges that plague research in higher education must be confronted head on.

Quality of studentsThe importance of quality students entering a university is indisputable. At a university of

repute overseas, students are seen not only as consumers but also as producers of knowledge, creativity, and impact. In Bangladesh, sadly, students are seen as empty vessels to be filled. Perhaps this derives from evidence that real learning at students’ early stages of schooling

reflects “enrollment rate at 91 percent (in Bangladesh)” but “falls flat in the low completion rate.”

In fact, there is evidence that “only 2 in 1000 children achieve prescribed competencies by the end of grade 5 and 70 percent who complete primary education are unable to read, write or count properly.” When these students appear at the doorsteps of higher education, one can imagine the dismay and predicament of university administrators. It is vital to strengthen K-12 programs and connect them with higher education as a smooth supply chain operation. Disjointed as things now stand, universities feel the

“The faculty must be equipped with

two methodologies: of teaching and research. In both, there is much distance to be traversed to meet global standards.


need for a steady supply of quality students who can then be elevated to higher levels of competence and consciousness.

Quality of administrationA university is a complex web of people, programs, policies, processes and resources; their coordination and management is the central role of the administration. Analyzing, planning, organizing, implementing, and controlling (using actual metrics) are keys to managing this web. In such matters, unfortunately, there’s a singular lack of research or training.

For many top executives in academia, the job is simply a power trip mired in little things that are collectively unsubstantial. The core team of the Vice Chancellor, Pro-Vice Chancellor, Treasurer, and Registrar sometimes often forget they are managers whose job is to run the ship efficiently and flawlessly. Often they vie for power and accolade and get in each other’s way, without clearly delineated roles and tasks. And this phenomenon cascades downwards, ending with the deans and department heads some of whom are simply not fit for the task. In many cases seniority is a poor criterion to use for such leadership roles: Training and administrative capacity is much more important.

Unfortunately, many universities are run at different levels by those who seem to have very little managerial experience or training. They run these systems in arcane and archaic ways. Some learn on-the-job; others can be destructive, a problem with grave consequences.

Then there are the interactions with other stakeholders. These interactions can be very fruitful and provide a plethora of innovative insights. They can also be divisive and dysfunctional, especially when the line between interaction and interference becomes thin. Such interactions can be within the

university, as well as with external bodies including political elements, bureaucracy, experts, associations, accreditation bodies, the legal system, and more.

The overall evidence points to the need to establish an academic discipline or program – academic administration – for those who vie for administrative positions. Without training, it is perilous to hand over the reins of management to them. On this matter there is much research to be done and key issues debated.

Academic programsRather than just a mere pathway for fulfilling degree requirements, innovative academic programs must engage students to explore new ideas and challenging problems. Duke University’s students are not only encouraged to think about future career opportunities; they are also given the tools necessary for a lifetime of learning and global citizenship. In Bangladesh, too, we need vibrant programs, exciting curriculums, and student engagement with the real world to bring alive what they learn in the classroom. Providing students with a mere certificate at the end of a four-year program does not a university make!

Resources and facilitiesThe growth of any system can be constrained by the amount of resources available to it. Overall, financial allocations to the education system in Bangladesh has been pitiful. According to World Development Indicator (WDI) data, Bangladesh has an education budget of only 1.9 per cent of GDP (roughly for the last 14 years) compared to Afghanistan: 4.6 per cent, Bhutan: 5.6 per cent, Nepal: 4.1 per cent, India: 3.9 per cent, and Pakistan: 2.5 per cent. One study indicates that the percentage of “university” allocation from the education budget is less than 10%. Of this, private universities get nothing – nada!


As for facilities, in a study we recently concluded, students indicated the role and importance of adequate facilities such as a permanent campus to give them freedom, dignity, identity and friendships. Facilities that facilitate are thus vital to the functioning of a high quality university.

ConclusionsGlobal standards are not attained overnight. There is much to be done on “effective management,” especially realigning roles and responsibilities without which the universities will always run on a crisis mode. The structure of a university also must not be imposed from outside. As an example, at MacQuarie University, the Vice Chancellor is supported by “five” Deputy Vice Chancellors and a Chief Operating Officer, each in turn supported by their own substantive teams. In Bangladesh, the structure, laid down by external bodies, is inflexible and significantly constrains managerial responsiveness. There must also be significant and continuing capacity building efforts at various levels.

At another level, there must be a collective will among the key stakeholders to strive for global standards. A leadership role must evolve from this collectivity to guide the effort. To these conditions is the need for relevant stakeholders to work painstakingly on the five-factor holistic model. Only then can we make serious progress towards attaining global standards in higher ducation and strive for Vision 20121.That’s when we will be creating human assets of high value.■

Syed Saad Andaleeb Ph.D. is Vice Chancellor of BRAC University and Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Pennsylvania State University.

Source: This article draws upon previous writings of the author on higher education. This article is reprinted with written permission from The Daily Star, Bangladesh, March 2017. http://www.thedailystar.net/education-employment/attaining-global-standards-our-universities-1366516;


Contradiction or Paradox: Poverty and Inequality and How to TellOWEN LIPPERT

Global poverty has lessened over the last fi ft y years. During the same period inequality some argue has risen sharply. Do those two

trends pose a contradiction, or at least a paradox? Th at depends on which numbers you use and how you compute them. Small diff erences can lead to widely divergent conclusions, carrying opposing policy choices. Th ough this particular poverty and inequality debate largely involves economists, public opinion research professionals have something to contribute.

First up, comes the case for there being fewer poor people in the world today. Th e world has never witnessed an expansion of wealth as in the last 200 years. With it a dramatic increase in nutrition and health. Nathan Rothschild, the richest man in the 19th Century died in 1836 from a simple infection for which even a poor villager today could aff ord a curing antibiotic for

pennies a dose. Th e results and charts here are courtesy the Cato Institute’s latest Human Progress Index report. Cato, a veteran free market think tank, collaborated extensively with Canada’s own Fraser Institute in the HPI design. Another excellent source is https://ourworldindata.org/extreme-poverty/

Th e starting point rests with Professor

Angus Deaton, the 2015 winner of the Nobel-prize winning economist (who also sits on the advisory board of HumanProgress.org). Hehas argued that on the whole the world is getting better. Th e

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HPI largely supports his conclusion. I have quoted the HPI report at length editing only for brevity in the interest of avoiding the inelegant variation of a paraphrase.

“Throughout most of human history, extreme poverty has been the norm. This famous hockey-stick chart, arguably the most important graph in the world, illustrates what happened when the Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution caused income to skyrocket–forever changing the way we live.”

“Humanity, as this chart shows, produced more economic output over the

last two centuries than in all of the previous centuries combined. And this explosion of wealth-creation led to a massive decrease in the rate of poverty. In 1820, more than 90 percent of the world population lived on less than $2 a day and more than 80 percent lived on less than $1 a day (adjusted for inflation and differences in purchasing power). By 2015, less than 10 percent of people lived on less than $1.90 a day, the World Bank’s current official definition of extreme poverty.”

“Not only has the percentage of people living in poverty declined, but the number

of people in poverty has fallen as well – despite massive population growth. There are also more people alive who are not in

penury than there have ever been. From 1820 to 2015, the number of people in extreme poverty fell from over a billion to

700 million, while the number of people better off than that rose from a mere 60 million to 6.6 billion. (Extreme poverty is again defined here as living on $1.90 a day, adjusted for inflation and differences in purchasing power.)”

“Globally, poverty is about a quarter of what it was in 1990. And the graph below from Johan Norberg’s excellent

book, Progress: 10 Reasons to Look Forward to the Future, illustrates how the decline of extreme poverty has raised living

standards and brought about other tangible improvements. As poverty has lessened,

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so have child mortality, illiteracy, and even pollution in wealthy countries – all are now less than half of what they were in 1990. Hunger has also become much rarer.”

“If progress continues on its current trajectory, the Brookings Institution estimated in 2013 that extreme poverty (this time defined as living on $1.25 a day, again adjusted for inflation and differences in purchasing power) will all but vanish by 2030, affecting only 5 percent of the global population. This is what they considered to be the “baseline” or most likely scenario.”

The facts are unambiguous, extreme poverty has declined significantly.”

So why then the persistent belief in growing inequality both in wings of the economics profession and increasingly by the public? The topic had largely fallen out of academic fashion. Though many have a dim view of banks and Wall Street, a benign respect settled over the Silicon Valley-Seattle billionaires, who made vastly more money than the financiers and hedge fund types clinging to Atlantic shores. The recession and excesses moved attitudes, but so too did a French economist few had heard of, Thomas Piketty.

His book at 700 pages of dense prose translated from French, Capital in the Twenty-First Century, swept its way up the best seller lists. In the interest of honesty, I admit buying it, and could not ever finish. It is highly technical, powerfully argued, a magnum opus.

To understand the core of the argument, recall HPI’s world’s most important chart. It sets the stage.

“For the last 2000 years economic growth has been low and the times of 5% growth many of us have

experienced are a historical anomaly. That growth combined with the shocks to the economy and taxation we got from the World Wars and the Great Depression gave rise to the propertied middle class which is also a historical anomaly. We are now re-entering a more typical period of low growth where the rate of return on investment is bigger than the rate overall economic growth. Thus wealth accumulates in the hands of investors, and the math and

data both say that will not only continue, it will accelerate. Sometime in the 21st

“Global poverty has lessened over

the last fifty years. During the same period inequality some argue has risen sharply. Do those two trends pose a contradiction, or at least a paradox?


century, barring major shocks, the wealthy will have it the best they ever have in the history of the world including the Roman Empire and the Gilded Age.”

http://pikettyexplained.blogspot.ca/2014/11/summary-of-capital-in-twenty-first.html?m=1

Piketty’s work unleashed a wave of popular concern over contemporary income inequality. On the moderate side Dr. Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize winner, spoke of ”wealth concentration” versus “wealth creation” though one cannot help but note Grameen Bank no less than a large commercial house such as Beximco rely on capital accumulation for their effectiveness. In other quarters, the technicalities went over the side. It was class warfare season. The rise of Donald Trump has likely unleashed the forward battalions.

An example is the March 26, 2017 major opinion piece in The Guardian, “Populism is the Result of Global Economic Failure by ‘. It is worth citing a passage in order to return to the crux of the roots of the clash over comparable numbers.

“The answer seems pretty simple. Populism is the result of economic failure. The 10 years since the financial crisis have shown that the system of economic governance which has held sway for the past four decades is broken. Some call this approach neoliberalism. Perhaps a better description would be unpopulism.”

“Unpopulism meant tilting the balance of power in the workplace in favour of management and treating people like wage slaves. Unpopulism was rigged to ensure that the fruits of growth went to the few not to the many. Unpopulism decreed that those responsible for the global financial crisis got away with it while those who were innocent bore the brunt of austerity.”

“Anybody seeking to understand why Trump won the US presidential election should take a look at what has been happening to the division of the economic spoils. The share of national income that went to the bottom 90% of the population held steady at around 66% from 1950 to 1980. It then began a steep decline,

falling to just over 50% when the financial crisis broke in 2007.”

“Similarly, it is no longer the case that everybody benefits when the US economy is doing well. During the business cycle upswing between 1961 and 1969, the bottom 90% of Americans took 67% of the income gains. During the Reagan expansion two decades later they took 20%. During the Greenspan housing bubble of 2001 to 2007, they got just two cents in every extra dollar of national income generated while the richest 10% took the rest.”

The critical observation lies in the measurement employed: Piketty and Elliot measure inequality as a percentage, the relative distribution of income and wealth along a distribution curve, regardless of the size of the cohorts. Deaton and the

“Not only has the percentage

of people living in poverty declined, but the number of people in poverty has fallen as well – despite massive population growth.


HPI measure actual incomes adjusted for infl ation and Purchasing Power Parity.

Piketty and Elliot view unequal distribution as a welfare loss to all but the top. Th e inequality itself is a cause of relative poverty, suffi cient to justify radical redistribution measures, by the state. And they have a raft of them in mind.

Professor Deaton in a review in the New York Times {https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/20/books/review/crisis-of-the-middle-class-constitution-ganesh-sitaraman-.html} presents a diff erent perspective. Th e piece, entitled “It’s Not Just Unfair: Inequality Is a Th reat to Our Governance,” examines a book by law professor, Ganesh Sitaraman, Th e Crisis of the Middle Class Constitution: Why Economic Inequality Th reatens Our Republic.

“President Obama labelled income inequality “the defi ning challenge of our time.” But why exactly? And why “our time” especially? In part because we now know just how much goes to the very top of the income distribution, and beyond that, we know that recent economic growth, which has been anemic in any case, has accrued mostly to those who were already well-heeled, leaving stagnation or worse for many Americans. But why is this a problem?”

“Why am I hurt if Mark Zuckerberg develops Facebook, and gets rich on the proceeds? Some care about the unfairness of income inequality itself, some care about the loss of upward mobility and declining opportunities for our kids and some care about how people get rich — hard work and innovation are O.K., but theft , legal or otherwise, is not.”

In short, a pie maybe divided unevenly but as long as everyone is getting a bigger slice a degree of equity is preserved. Th e economic liberalism of the last fi ft y has worked, if never perfectly.

One is left with the question, what is the balance of diff erent methodologies versus political, ideological, even moral choices in explaining diff erent results, conclusions, and policy recommendations.

We come back to the question of whether dropping poverty and “rising” inequality is a contradiction or a paradox. I think the latter created by the massive increase in wealth in the last 200 years. It is not that the poor became poorer, indeed the opposite, but the wealthier became richer. One recognizes that for T.C. Mits (the celebrated man in the street) that is no particular reason to feel better about how the world is going, or worse.

Th e question remains, how does life get better still? Th at depends on for whom. Despite all the complaints about globalization and freer markets, they have raised nearly a billion Chinese from destitute poverty and started to do the same for South Asia as it sheds its colonial mercantilism. Africa may take longer but change is coming.

Emerging research (to be discussed in later issues) suggest inequality may owe a great deal to such conditions as the age distribution curve and even personal preferences. Th ere is a need to better understand and explain how people think of, respond to, and plan accordingly to the broad sweep of economic change. For that the public opinion research profession must play a critical role. You are part of the process of modernization: there were no pollsters 150 years ago.■

Owen Lippert Ph.D. is a public opinion poll analyst.


human driven global warming is happening2 and we will continue to experience a major global economic downturn and an increased threat from nuclear purifi cation. On the positive side, however we have experienced an unprecedented period of economic growth and wealth creation and we continue to witness an on-going technological communications revolution leading to ‘always on, always connected’ citizens and a general positive improvement global health, UNICEF (2011) and literacy UNESCO (2012). Th e rise of citizen empowerment driven by economic development, improved health literacy and technology is leading to the development of what Sandel3describes as not only new forms of government but also new kinds of citizenship.

Th e relationship between the governed and the governments is changing rapidly to one characterized by more dialog and more joint responsibility and co-production of solutions to social challenges. Th e election ing19502050/2 http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nclimate1783.html3 4th July 2009 A new politics of the common good. M Sandel. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00lb6bt

Marketing GoodJEFF FRENCH

This paper argues that one of the most powerful emerging technologies for combining new understandings from a variety of fi elds about how to bring

about social good is the discipline of Social Marketing. However there remains a serious underutilization and misinterpretation of what Social Marketing is and what it can contribute to public sector policy and strategy development which needs to be addressed. Th e paper also explores what applying Social Marketing principles strategically as a core component of all social policy would mean for government policy development and citizen.

The Need for a Citizen Centric Social PolicyWe have seen signifi cant changes in the human condition over the last twenty years. Th ere are at least seven billion people in the world now but also in every region with the exception of Africa populations are starting to age1. We know that we have 1 http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/worldage-


of President Trump, Brexit and the rise of citizen driven movements all over the world signifies a significant shift in the power relationship between citizens and those who seek to govern them. Clarke et al (2007) argue this new relationship is informed by the increasing expectation on the part of more literate and wealthy citizen to be treated with respect and attention. People want government and their agencies to emulate many of the customer centric approaches that are now routine in the commercial sector. People’s consumer and market experience leads to sets of expectations about levels of quality of service from public institutions and an expectation about state managed service responsiveness. This expectation is no bad thing and it can be used to drive improved practice. People and not just those living in advanced liberal democracies want governments to inform them, consult them and work with them when it comes to Social policy interventions, IPSOS Morri (2010).

Focusing on Social ValueGovernments need to go beyond just using the law and education as the default options to bring about desired changes in socially desirable behavior. The creation of value, Bargozzi (1975) the importance of service Grönroos, (2007) and relationship building, Gummesson, (1987) are all well-established principles in commercial sector marketing but much less so in social policy arenas.

Rather than simplistic debates about applying Social Marketing at an operational level governments and agencies needs to apply these concepts of value creation, relationship building and service combined with a consideration of what French (2011) calls a full mix of ‘Forms’ and ‘Types’ of interventions to influence and enhance the social policy and strategy development

process. Social value creation can be developed through the use of both rational offers such as conditional cash payments for socially responsible behavior and offers

that appeal to more intuitive cognition such as the design of road systems that slow traffic speed. Value can also be developed via socially sanctioned and supported disincentives such as fines or exclusions. What is key is that what citizens feel, say and do is taken into account when developing any mix of interventions. If social programs are not supported and valued by citizens, they will ultimately and often very rapidly fail.

Putting Marketing at the Core of Social PolicyOne of the challenges is how to embed Social Marketing in the heart of the organization and to sustain its influence on organizations strategy over time. To do this, marketers need to advocate for what can be called ‘Strategic Social Marketing’, French Gordon (2015), or what others have called Macro-Social Marketing, Wymer (2011), Domegan (2008), Kenny & Parsons (2012), Up-stream Social Marketing Stead, et al (2007). In essence all these authors and many others make the case for applying a more strategic approach and moving beyond Social Marketing being viewed as a second order operational delivery component to a core part of all social policy and strategy, Wood (2012).


to embed Social Marketing programs as an integral part of all social programs.

1. Understand what matters to your customer In this case the customers are the people who control the policy and strategy making procedure and those who will be responsible for program delivery. There is a need to be precise about what they care about. What most politicians care about is being seen to do a good job and doing a good job. Most senior policy makers and planners are focused on these two issues but also are often driven by their own performance management systems to care about efficacy and effectiveness. Delivery level staff are often concerned about the fit of any new intervention with existing practice and their capacity and capability

to deliver. They also often want to be engaged in the intervention development process so that their experience and tacit understanding of situations can be used to develop more effective interventions.

These are the concerns and issues that need to be addressed when setting out a marketing plan to market Social Marketing within organizations. All of these needs and concerns will need to be built into interventions to embed Social Marketing.

2. Build compelling stories and keep promoting them. Develop and supply a narrative that politicians, policymakers and professionals can understand and one that they value. The narrative should also be one they can use to persuade others. For example, one of the most effective ways that was discovered in the UK to get a Government Minister to become a champion for Social

A Strategic Social Marketing approach is focused on shaping the nature of the social policy to be pursued and influencing subsequent strategy as well making a contribution to operational delivery of particular social programs.

Embedding Social MarketingThere are good examples from around the world about how to get Social Marketing taken seriously by public sector organizations and governments and embedded into the policy and strategic process. The long experience pioneered by Mintz and colleagues in Canada (2005) to embed Social Marketing principles into Health Canada, the development of a National Social Marketing strategy in the UK between 2004 -2009, French & Mayo (2006) the inclusion of Social Marketing standards within the new American 2020 health strategy4, the inclusion of Social Marketing as core principles in the French Epode program5 , and the Netherlands JOGG program6 and the inclusion of Social Marketing in the 2015 WHO Europe health 20/20 program7 are all good examples of successfully embedding Social Marketing into the strategy of Social programs. From talking with the leaders of these programs and reading their accounts there are three key lessons that can be applied when seeking 4 http://healthypeople.gov/2020/topicsobjectives2020/objec-tiveslist.aspx?topicId=185 http://www.epode-european-network.com/en/ressources-center/224-een-recommendations.html6 http://www.epode-european-network.com/en/een-news/227.html7 http://www.epha.org/a/4288

“Co-production, co-design, and co-

delivery are all approaches to tackling social issues that are gaining momentum.


Marketing was to get a local group to invite them out to see a program working on the ground. This was by far the best way to get them to appreciate the principles of Social Marketing and what to promote, it also gave them a story they could tell to others. It is also important to keep refreshing and repeating this narrative until it becomes the everyday language of the organization.

3. Build a set of required standardized processes. If successful in making the case for embedding Social Marketing, one of the best ways to ensure contin-ued application of Social Marketing

principles is to develop as an early task a set of systems that require Social

Marketing princi-ples to be applied. These systems can range from budg-etary systems that require applicants to show that they are applying the principles before budgets are al-located through to national train-ing programs, sets of auditable standards and guidance on issue such as segmenta-tion, planning, and evalua-tion. Examples of such systems are the National Occupational Standards for

Social Marketing in the UK8 or the Health 2020 Social Marketing com-petency program targets in the USA9 . The uptake and use of quality stand-

ards is something that politicians and policy makers and profes-sional associations can be asked to champion.

What this Means for Governments and CitizensCitizens want to be part of the process of creating solutions to Social challenges. The increasing development of citizen

involvement processes by governments is a manifestation of this phenomena. Co-8 http://www.ukstandards.co.uk/nos-search/Pages/SearchResults.aspx?k=Sales&r=suite%3D%22Social%20Marketing%229 http://healthypeople.gov/2020/topicsobjectives2020/objec-tiveslist.aspx?topicId=18

Citizen input

Social Marketing Principles

Policy

In�uenced bycitizens wants

and needs,evidence

data andprofessionaljudgement

Tactics

Segmentedstrategy usingfull marketing

mix and sytematicplanning

OperationalDelivery

Campaign &project delivery

guided by policy,strategy and

tactical decisions

Mix of Types &Forms of

interventionsinformed byinsight anddriven by

measurableobjectives

Strategy

“Citizens have a responsibility to

press for social policy development processes that are transparent, evidence and insight based and to be given access to the budgets being deployed and the evaluation results of these programs.


production, co-design, and co-delivery are all approaches to tackling social issues that are gaining momentum. Citizens have a responsibility to press for social policy development processes that are transparent, evidence and insight based and to be given access to the budgets being deployed and the evaluation results of these programs. The engagement of citizens in the selection of priority policy areas, the development and selection of Forms and Types of intervention, the opportunity to assist with intervention implementation and evaluation are all rights that citizens should and are demanding. Figure 1 sets out how citizen input can assist the policy strategy and operational implementation of social programs. Figure one also indicates that Social Marketing principles can help assist the process of citizen engagement and co-development. (Figure 1: Citizen and Social Marketing input social policy development and delivery)

The dive for co-production of solutions to social challenges means that governments and their executive agencies need to gear their capacity and capability up to enable such a process to flourish. This means developing more Social Marketing capacity and capability within governmental and not for profit agencies. The job of Government is essentially to support and enable people to live a satisfying and happy life. To do this

they need to assist citizens create conditions and social relationships underpinned by respect. Governments also have to encourage and regulate markets so that they produce net social good as well as material wealth. To do this they need to understand people’s needs and wants and develop supportive services based on this understanding and often incentivize services deliverers to deliver measurable value. Social Marketing is a key tool that can assist in all of these roles, French and Gordon (2015).

Conclusions Marketing has a great deal to offer social policy makers. Those who advocate the application of Social Marketing should be pushing against an open policy door as politicians and policy makers are faced with a

raft of difficult social policy issues, most of which relate to the behavior of citizens. Social Marketing has many of the answers to tackle these issues and a set of principles that can help define and develop effective policies, strategies, and interventions. Social Marketing also reflects the ideological stance of most modern

democratic societies with its citizen centric approach supported by evidence, insight and data. Social Marketing’s systematic planning and evaluation approach also make it a natural fit with modern policy development

“Those who advocate the application of

marketing principles as a key strategic element of social programs have as a first key task the job of marketing the added value that Social Marketing to politicians, policy makers, and those responsible for social program strategy.


and strategic planning for social good. Th ose who advocate the application of marketing principles as a key strategic element of social programs have as a fi rst key task the job of marketing the added value that Social Marketing to politicians, policy makers, and those responsible for social program strategy.

Th ose who advocate the application of marketing principles as a key strategic element of social programs have as a fi rst key task the job of marketing the added value that Social Marketing to politicians, policy makers, and those responsible for social program strategy.■

Jeff French Ph.D. is the CEO of Strategic Social Marketing Ltd. He is a visiting Professor at Brighton University and a fellow at Kings College University of London, UK. He has published several books, including his latest, “Strategic Social Marketing.

REFERENCES

• Bagozzi. R. (1975): Th e Journal of Marketing, Vol. 39, No. 4 (Oct), pp. 32-39Published by: American Marketing Association Stable

• Clarke J. Newman J. Smith N. (2007) Vidler E. Westmarland L. Creating Citizen-consumers Changing Publics and Changing Public Services, Sage.

• French J Mayo E. (2006). It’s our health. National Social Marketing Strategy. National Consumer Council. London.

• French J. Gordon R. (2015) Strategic Social Marketing. Sage publishing London.

• French J (2011) Why nudging is not enough. Journal of Social Marketing Vol 1. No2.

• French J. (2012) Social Marketing Consistency Criteria. Updated version of the 2009 Benchmark criteria. Strategic Social Marketing.

• Grönroos, C. (2007) Service Management and Marketing: Customer Management in Service Competition (3rd ed), John Wiley & Sons, Chichester.

• Gummesson, E. (1987) ‘Th e New Marketing—Developing Long Term Interactive Relationships’, Long Range Planning, 20(4), 10–20.

• Ipsos Morri (2010) National Health? Citizens’ views of health services around the world

• Available at: http://www.ipsos mori.com/researchpublications/publications/1395/National-Health-Citizens

• Kenny A, Parsons A. (2012). Macro-Social Marketing and Social engineering: a systems approach. Journal of Social Marketing Vol 2 No 1 pp 37- 51.

• Mintz. J (2005). Social Marketing in Health Promotion, the Canadian Experience: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ahc-asc/activit/marketsoc/socmar-hcsc/experience_e.html#Unit

• Stead M, Hastings G and McDermott L. (2007). Th e meaning, eff ectiveness and future of Social Marketing. Obesity reviews (2007) 8 (Suppl. 1), 189–193

• UNESCO (2012) UNESCO Institute of Statistics. Adult and youth literacy. Fact Sheet No 20. Sep 2012. Available at:

• http://www.uis.unesco.org/FactSheets/Documents/fs20-literacy-day-2012-en-v3.pdf

• UNICEF. (2011) UNICEF annual report 2010. UNISEF

• Matthew Wood, (2012) “Marketing social marketing”, Journal of Social Marketing, Vol. 2 Iss: 2, pp.94 – 102

• Wymer W (2011). Developing more eff ec-tive Social Marketing strategies. Journal of Social Marketing. Vol 1 No1 pp 17.31.


On a recent trip to Rome I visited the Colosseum. I was once again amazed at the astounding skills of the Romans. Shortly thereaft er, I came across further evidence of the Romans’ incredible intellect. Although I learned Latin in school, I had forgotten the Latin word for price. It is Pretium. Not a big surprise! Yet when I continued reading I was astonished to learn that pretium has a second meaning, it also means value. In other words, the Romans had the same word for price and value: pretium = value = price. Th is is a most accurate way of defi ning the core of marketing!

I’ve been dealing with the topic of pricing f or over forty years now, fi rst as a scientist and later as a consultant. Actually, it was Philip Kotler , who pointed my attention to

the potential of price consulting. As a young researcher I visited him in January 1979. Full of self-confi dence, I told Professor Kotler that I wanted to conduct unconventional research into pricing. I wanted to go

outside the realm of sophisticated functions and elegant theories and actually produce something that a manager could understand and apply to his or her own business decisions. He quickly burst my bubble. “Most scientifi c marketing researchers want to uncover something that is relevant for day-to-day

business,” Kotler told me. “Few succeed.” I knew that Philip Kotler was correct. Most of the science around pricing came from microeconomics. If pricing remained

“the Romans had the same word

for price and value: pretium = value = price. This is a most accurate way of defi ning the core of marketing!

The Magic Word

Pretium

HERMANN SIMON


limited to the boundaries and shift s in microeconomics, its real-world relevance would be marginal at best. Kotler did off er me one strong piece of encouragement, though. He knew someone who called

himself a ‘price consultant’, someone who apparently made a decent living by helping companies with pricing problems. Th e term ‘price consultant” sounds intuitive now, but it struck me as unimaginable when I fi rst heard it. How did he do that? What did he recommend to his clients? I fi led the term away and vowed to track down this ‘price consultant’ aft er my trip and learn more about his work.

A little later in 1979, I did indeed follow up on the referral Kotler gave me. I contacted Dan Nimer, the man who called himself a price consultant. He sent me some of his articles, and the diff erences between his publications and the theoretical papers I’d read and written in my academic career could not be more striking. Th e scientifi c papers on price in the academic world were long on theory but devoid of practical advice. Nimer’s papers were the exact opposite, chock full of simple but useful insights. He had a very good intuitive feel for pricing tricks and tactics, without exploring or perhaps even knowing their theoretical underpinnings. For instance, he had recommended price bundling a couple of years before a Stanford professor presented the theory and showed why price bundling can be optimal.

Nimer was the practice-oriented consultant who had a toolbox, before this toolbox was proven by academia. His enthusiasm for price consulting was contagious; it certainly infected me. And he was interested

in what we young guys were doing. When people who are older, more experienced, and more famous than you are take an interest in your work, it provides a tremendous motivation. I would see Nimer on occasion in the ensuing years. Into his 90’s, his enthusiasm did not wane. He still lectured on pricing and advised clients. In 2012, members of the pricing community honored this visionary of price consulting

with a voluminous book of almost 400 pages for his 90th birthday (Smith 2012). He passed away in January 2015 at the age of 93.

Today, the company I founded in 1985, Simon-Kucher & Partners is the global leader in price consulting. What is the core lesson I learned during my decades as price consultant? I’ve been asked several thousand times what I think is the most important aspect in setting prices. My answer was always: the value. Or, to put it more precisely, the product’s value as perceived by the customer. Th e customer’s willingness to pay – and thus the price chargeable by the seller - is solely and always the refl ection of the perceived value – nothing more and nothing less.

Giving the two sides of a transaction the same word, the Romans understood the fundamental connection from the very beginning. If we interpret pretium verbatim, value and price are the same. Interestingly enough, Latin gives us a further linguistic meaning that is intriguing Pretiumfacere (literally: make the price) means both to ask a price (from the seller’s side) and to off er a price (from the buyer’s side), implying correctly that a transaction takes place only


if the buyer and seller agree on a common price.

This deep understanding of value and price as well as of supply and demand is a good starting point for tackling value and pricing problems. Let’s first look at manager’s perception of prices. Everywhere I turn, I hear managers complaining about prices. Suppliers of all kinds of products or services feel defeated by price aggression and the low-price craze. This attitude will get them nowhere. If managers complain to me about tough price competition, I ask them what added value and benefits they offer that their competitors don’t. And I ask what value and benefits their customers actually perceive. The usual response: silence. I firmly believe that businesses and private consumers are readily willing to pay premium prices if they get higher value. Enercon’s wind turbines are 20 percent more expensive than those of the competitors. Still, Enercon has a market share of 60 percent in Germany. Why? Because of the economic advantages and the top operating availability Enercon offers, which lead to higher returns. Miele is able to charge about 20 percent more for its washing machines than its competitors due to its superior quality, higher reliability and durability – in one word: higher value. When Gillette launched its three-blade Mach3 razor, it charged 50 percent more than for its hitherto most expensive product, the Sensor Excel. Since then, Gillette has

introduced newer, even better shavers at ever higher prices. Did consumers turn away from Gillette? No, instead Gillette actually gained market share. The reason was clear: higher value-to-customer! Of course, to communicate the advantages of the new blades, Gillette had to invest heavily in advertising. After all it’s perceived value that

counts in the marketplace. Most recently Gillette has been attacked and seems to be on the losing side. It’s not because its products

are worse, but because competitors, especially those who sell online, have improved their quality and offer higher convenience. Again, it’s a value-price-game.

Apple didn’t achieve the highest market capitalization in the world by selling its products cheaply, but through selling high value. Innovation, design, brand and systems

integration are the value creators that Apple employed with enormous success. They are also the value creators that technically more advanced companies such as Sony have failed to utilize. No, companies that have

“This deep understanding

of value and price as well as of supply and demand is a good starting point for tackling value and pricing problems.


problems implementing profi table prices should fi rst ask themselves what is wrong with their value off ering. Th e chances are good that this is the root of their problems.

In other words, the magic word pretium teaches us that we fi rst have to determine the value of our off ering. Th is requires us doing three things:

• Create value: A challenge for innova-tion, procurement, product quality, design, systems integration, service, etc.

• Communicate value: Th is involves making statements about the product, its positioning and its branding. Packaging and presentation are also critical for value communication. Value-oriented merchants are increasingly using their own stores to retain control over the “communicative value chain”. Luxury brands have opened hundreds of such stores in recent years.

• Maintain value: Th is takes place in the post-purchase phase. For luxury products or durables such as houses or cars, maintaining the value can contribute tremendously to the current willingness to pay.

I’ve shared the story of the magic word pretium with my audiences. Listeners typically respond that they would take this simple message to heart and apply

it to their business. Observing the pretium=price=value-equation may indeed help to avoid many of the pricing follies we see in modern markets.

Professor Dr. Hermann Simon is founder and honorary chairman of Simon-Kucher & Partners Marketing and Strategy Consultants. His most recent book is Confessions of the Pricing Man.

REFERENCE:

Gerald E. Smith (Ed.) 2012: Visionary Pricing: Refl ections and Advances in Honor of Dan Nimer, Bingley (UK): Emerald

Publishing Group 2012

PHOTO CREDIT:

Pictures of Roman and ancient coins are taken from various websites, as below:

https://www.google.de/search?q=r%C3%B6mische+goldm%C3%BCnzen&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwiessfR073TAhWCvRQKHRJ2BPsQ_AUIBigB&biw=1920&bih=969#imgrc=wHv0yjqgm3KUYM:

http://www1.wdr.de/fernsehen/aktuelle-stunde/interessante-fakten-ueber-gold-106.html

https://www.google.de/search?q=goldwaage&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjY1_LF1L3TAhWDShQKHdg8DvoQ_AUIBygC&biw=1920&bih=969#imgrc=ctnIiKB5H_wE1M:

https://www.geschenke-arena.de/messinggewichte-wiegen-kaufmann-kraemer.html

“The magic word pretium teaches

us that we fi rst have to determine the value of our off ering. This requires us doing three things: Create Value, Communicate Value and Maintain Value.


Emotions and Trust in MarketingSALVA LÓPEZ

In this article, I will discuss the confl uence of two vital factors for any organization operating in a consumer market, both intimately related to consumer behavior. On the one

hand the emotions, and on the other the consumer’s trust in the brands. Both issues will lead us to understand the importance of another behavior: that of organizations.

Emotional Beings, After All! Let’s start with the Emotions. Consumer behavior has been analyzed from a wide range of perspectives: anthropology, psychology, psychiatry, sociology, economics, and so on. From classical statistical approaches to medical approaches based on electroencephalograms and other modern methodologies that are now encompassed within of neuromarketing research, it all helps to understand how they behave and also why.

Several studies point to the fact that up to 95% of our decisions are made in the realm

of the subconscious, and are highly related to our emotions (Zaltman 2003). Th e plain truth is that, as we grow up and become adults, our whole environment pushes us to act refl exively, maturely, reasonably, and a lot of other adjectives associated with adulthood. But the child we were once still remains inside. And that child keeps making decisions every day. We are reunited with our inner child every time we postpone an uncomfortable task or decision. Today we call that “procrastination” and, truth said, few adult behaviors emanate as clearly from our inner child as that one in particular.

According to the Canadian neurologist and author Professor Donald Calne said,


“the essential difference between emotion and reason is that emotion brings you to action while reason leads to conclusion” (Joyaux 2012). Few sentences synthesize better what I’m talking about. Therefore, as organizations, is not enough that our customers think something of us, our brands and products, we need them to take action. That action will be a purchase decision, or at a higher level, their loyalty in future purchases.

Towards the Emotional Marketing Plan (EMP)Therefore, to all the questions that an organization should ask itself, I’d like to add one more: are we sufficiently taking into account our customers’ emotions?

There are many brands that work explicitly with emotions, like Harley Davidson, Coca Cola, Nespresso, Apple or Heineken. Working with emotions is nothing new. But not all brands work with emotions in the same way. Some of them mainly work them out from communication, but others work with emotions in a more integral way.

We are accustomed to the classic Marketing Plans, from the vision, the mission, the

objectives to a strategy and finally a marketing mix. Concepts like the Unique Selling Proposition live comfortably in this soup of common words. However, beyond the marketing plan, and given the importance of emotions, I think we should evolve towards an Emotional Marketing Plan (EMP). In that plan we should take into account not only our customers’ emotions, but also our suppliers’ and our distributors’. A brand that knows how to build an emotional ecosystem around it will be able to manage the emotional bond that unites it to its environment.

From a User Experience (UX) point of view, we must identify each of the touch points in which a customer comes in contact with

us in some way, since in each of them lies an occasion for the customer to feel something. And our EMP must design what emotions we want them to feel on each of those touch points, and also what emotions we DON’T want them to feel. As important is one thing as the other, since the emotions are the ink with which we humans write our memories, good or bad.

This way we can manage the emotions

through the entire customer journey, that is, the set of touch points that a customer goes thru during our relationship. And that will be the backbone of our EMP.

“Consumers will support more and

more those brands that manage to provide them with an adequate combination of values and emotions. So, the question now is: what about your brand? Have you already chosen your values and your emotions?


Trust and Values as an Essential Part of the Brands’ Value PropositionLet’s turn now to the second issue: Consumer Trust. Brands that only show their finished product but do not reveal how they manufactured it, are competing against any other brand capable of making a competing product. The consumer will be able to compare a few elements: the product, the brand, its price and the quality and nature of the store where it is being sold. However, with the rise of e-commerce, this last element has a fading relevance. On the internet everything looks pretty much the same, so the consumer basically can only compare the look of the product, its brand and its price.

But a company’s black box, its “kitchen” - that remains unseen by the customers is an increasingly important element for a growing number of consumers who

are driving conscious consumption, an increasingly important trend in all markets. They worry about the consequences of their buying decisions, they want to know what type of company is behind each product, if it contaminates, if it pays equal wages to its employees, men or women, if it pays taxes in its country, if it has a sustainable

productive model or if it abuses its suppliers. The old consumerism has taken an enormous impulse with the massive adoption of the social networks. Consumers now have “apps” that inform them of the good or bad behavior of the companies behind the brands, before they make their buying decision.

If we consider that each $ or € is actually

a vote, then each company should have a manifesto where it clearly reveals its vision of the world and what it intends to dedicate the power that the consumers grant to it through each act of purchase. Beyond the

intrinsic quality of a product, and of course far beyond the unreachable sphere of CSR, too far away from consumers and their day by day decisions, it is necessary for each brand to define its human and citizen values, and to incorporate them into its unique value proposition.

NGOs have always walked this way: Greenpeace, OXFAM, Unicef ... and lately there are companies that have started to base their value proposition on concrete values. Fairphone manufactures

“… up to 95% of our

decisions are made in the realm of the subconscious and are highly related to our emotions.


smartphones that are ecologically sustainable (that do not contain confl ict minerals), socially responsible and free of materials obtained in confl ict zones such as the well-known Coltan. And Tesla bases its value off er not only on its advanced products and solutions but, above all, on its goal of liberating the planet from the contaminating fossil fuels and democratizing the electric energy that should be free for all human beings.

No doubt, when the consumer feels that their buying decisions have an impact on the present and future of the planet, they feel emotions that reinforce their buying behavior. And we have already seen that emotions have an extraordinary power that we must keep in mind.

Th us, one conclusion is clear: consumers will support more and more those brands that manage to provide them with an adequate combination of values and emotions. So, the question now is: what about your brand? Have you already chosen your values and your emotions?■

Salva López, Professor of Marketing, ESADE Business School, Madrid, Spain. He is an inspirational speaker and singer-songwriter. www.salvarock.es

REFERENCES

• Joyaux. Simone; A Central Fact: Emotions Are the Decision-Makers, Non Profi t quarterly, August 31, 2012. https://nonprofi tquarterly.org/2012/08/31/a-central-fact-emotions-are-the-decision-makers/

• Zaltman. Gerald; Th e Subconscious Mind of the Consumer (And How To Reach It); Working Knowledge, Harvard Business School; Jan 2003.

• http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/the-subconscious-mind-of-the-consumer-and-how-to-reach-it

PHOTO CREDIT:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairphone#/media/File:Fairphone_back_inside_sim_slots_02.jpg


CASE: MICROFINANCE

From the Field: Planting Seeds of Empowerment JEFF RAYMAN

For the past seven years, my wife Rita and I have been working with subsistence farmers in Rwanda, Uganda , and the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Rita and I are not farmers. We are urbanites raised in Toronto Canada. Both of us grew up in challenging economic circumstances. Rita’s parents were Hungarian refugees, who escaped the communists in 1956. Her father worked three jobs to support the family while her mother cleaned houses and worked as a bank teller.

My father died when he was 29 years old, leaving my mother at 26 with a six month old daughter and myself at four and a half. We both had loving families but no fi nancial resources. Rita and I started working as young children to help our families, and to pay for the things we wanted.

For myself, as time went on, work turned into a career, and fortune smiled. A successful business life that provided all that I could want, beyond what I dreamed possible. Rita and I met, married and raised four children.


In my early thirties, I recognized that I had been given many opportunities and it was time to give back. Over the years I sat on many not for profit boards, including a global micro finance organization (I was instrumental in bringing them into Canada).

Rita and I have also been blessed with the opportunity to travel extensively. Having experienced Europe in our late teens, we chose the less traveled path, exploring

developing countries. It didn’t take long to see that the majority of the planet doesn’t live the way we do in the developed world.

Just prior to the Haitian earthquake, the two of us were in Port Au Prince, visiting some micro credit groups and saw a distressing sight. No, it wasn’t the abject poverty and deplorable living conditions of the general population. It was the complete and total excess of the multitude of NGO’s working in Haiti. Situated high above the city, removed from the very reason they were there, “ aid workers” wined and dined in a variety of fancy restaurants, enjoying multi course meals of global culinary choices. Chauffeured around in $100,000. Range Rovers, and staying in the best hotels available. We knew that there was a massive disconnect between intention and delivery.

Having visited the Great Lakes region of Eastern Africa, Rita had the opportunity to return to Rwanda with a journalist

friend who was writing an article on the “ truth and reconciliation “ process of healing after genocide. There she witnessed the testimony’s of both a victim and her perpetrator ( a man who murdered her entire family ). After a long period of working together, they had come to rely on each other’s acceptance and forgiveness in order to heal themselves and each other. Rita called me and said “ I don’t know what we are going to do, but we must start here!

”Rita happened to be driving back from the village where this took place with our previous driver guide Paul Ruganintwari. As they were talking he remarked that a sheep could change a farming family’s life. And so our project was born.

The difference between being poor in Canada, and poverty in Africa is that in Canada there is the opportunity to lift yourself. That was our goal, to

provide that same opportunity for the poor rural farmer to help themselves regain a sense of dignity, independence, and have a sustainable and scalable method of doing so. The adage “ teach a man to fish .....” isn’t quite accurate. These people know how to fish, what they lack is the “ bait “. Thus, The Shit Starts Here was born.

The Shit Starts Here - A Guardian Project Initiative It should be noted that in Africa, we are known by the name of our family foundation, The Guardian Project. In Canada, it seemed appropriate to be called The Shit Starts Here. Not only does it convey a sense of personal responsibility to take action, and a reference to the initial emphasis of project, it also makes people laugh. This elicits questions, conversations, and occasionally donations. However, as


Working from “ the bottom up “ we avoid the pitfalls of “ top down” bureaucracy, fees for service, and the bragging rights attendant with third parties.

We are transparent, scalable, and self sustaining.

Methodology Phase One

The process begins by identifying a critical farming co-operative (we try to work in post conflict areas ) with the assistance of a local partner familiar with the language, area and the needs of the community. The partner will act as liaison, fixer, and translator. These are all volunteers committed to improving the lives of their own people.

Once identified, an initial meeting is arranged by our partner with the co-operative leaders, members, and us. The concept, terms, and conditions are then explained and will form the basis of a

we continue to expand into other areas of sustainable techniques in collaboration with the various cooperatives we engage with, we will refer to ourselves as The Guardian Project.

The Shit Starts Here (TSSH ), provides small livestock to subsistence farming co-operatives, primarily working with women, ex combatants, and vulnerable communities adjacent to national parks. This helps stabilize these communities and assists in the prevention of illegal poaching, while at the same time accessing an alternative way to provide for themselves utilizing techniques that replenish nutrients to the soil, and simultaneously increasing both quality and quantity of crop yields.

TSSH is an initiative similar to micro-finance but the currency is animals , and the loan is interest free. Pivotal to the program is a “pay forward” component which ensures self- sustainability.

The project utilizes composting animal manure to create organic fertilizer. For those waiting to receive an animal, they can begin making compost piles (or pits) from available organic materials.

As farmers apply the composted materials, beyond the agricultural benefits, they are developing self sufficiency, dignity, independence, conservation, as well as family and community stability.

Through composting, mulching, and the natural reproduction of the animals, the benefits become quantifiable as farmers move from subsistence to sustenance to surplus.


communal contract. The number of member recipients are then discussed (this is of course a function of what we can afford, measured against the needs of the most vulnerable members ), and a feasible number of members are agreed upon.

The possibility of sourcing animals locally is discussed to ensure that the revenue from the purchase also remains in the community, benefiting local residents where possible. Sourcing locally also eliminates the trauma to animals suffered during transportation on bad roads and adaptation to new climate, water and food.

A date is set for distribution and animals are then sourced. As well, a local veterinarian will be arranged to check the condition and health of the animals. At that time, everyone gathers, the project’s goals, benefits, and recipient’s responsibilities are reiterated, and distribution begins. Traditionally, recipients receive their animal through a lottery process to avoid any sense of favoritism, though in certain communities, this may be altered.

When a farmer and animal are matched, the vet will tag the animal, and then the name of the farmer, and the number of the animal are written on a ledger, to be attached to the contract (all names and numbers are on a single sheet, and attached to a single contract) and the farmer makes his or her mark, or if possible, signs their name.

In addition, males are provided when not locally available, which are owned by the co-operative collectively, and rotated for studding purposes to prevent inbreeding. Again, the farmers are quite familiar with this concept, and it is readily understood.Thus phase one of the process is complete.

Phase Two

As per the contract and the sensitization, the farmers understand that the purpose of the initiative is for manure collection and composting for the production of organic fertilizer. The majority of the farmers we have worked with are familiar with this process, however, there have been times where this must be explained and taught. If this is the case, we provide the partner and leaders with a brief written simple explanation of how to turn animal manure into compost, including photographs taken from other co-operatives. For those without animals, composting using available organic materials is taught. During our visits, we

do a practical demonstration building a compost pile using local available materials (without manure to highlight the benefits of composting regardless ). It’s hard work under a hot sun, but the women (and some men ) lend a hand, laugh supportively at the two of us, and appreciate the lessons learned.

Meetings of the farmer members are held on a

regular basis, as they were organized as a cooperative prior to the initiative. Added to their meetings, discussions are held in which farmers share successes and challenges as well as keep track of births and deaths. These are recorded and we are sent update reports from the Partner semi-annually.


As the females reproduce, and once the farmers have an agreed upon minimum number of animals, they are ready to pay one forward.

When the time is right, a new member, or new co-operative is identified, and the sensitization process as described above is repeated. A meeting date is then arranged between the donor group and the new recipients, following the same process as outlined previously. When possible we are in attendance. This exchange is quite celebratory. During a final reiteration of terms and processes, one member of the

donor co-operative will address the new member or new co-operative, telling “ his or her story “ of how they have benefitted from the experience.

This highlights our goal of The Shit Starts Here’s built in redundancy, as it is now “Congolese helping Congolese” (or whatever country we are in).

Finally, once a farmer has paid forward, they commit to maintaining three animals in perpetuity. This maintains the manure composting process in perpetuity. Having now honored the terms of the contract, all subsequent animals are theirs to do as they please; sell, eat, or increase their livestock numbers.

Recently, we have expanded the project to include seeds and tree saplings, employing

the same methodology including the pay forward component.

Thus the initiative continually expands. When we return to the communities we have worked with, it is to visit and listen to the stories proudly told of improvements once thought out of reach, not to make additional donations. Not charity, but a self empowering initiative that allows locals to help locals. We have become farmers of possibilities.

It should also be noted that when the day comes that Rita and I are no longer able

to return to Africa, each year thousands of animals, seeds, and saplings will still be paid forward. We have already witnessed third and fourth generations pay forward ceremonies. At many, local donors are paying forward to new recipients from different cooperatives they’ve never met before. The continuation of this project rests with the people themselves. There is no need to continue to feed the machine. It’s perpetuation is built into the

methodology. Truly defining the essence of sustainability!

Throughout our travels we continually meet man y local people who want to partner with us, take us to their communities and initiate the project there. Currently we have impacted the lives of approximately 10,000 farming families in three different countries, working with seven national parks. When we started we had no idea where this would grow to, we knew the idea was simple, and the onus of success rested with the communities themselves, not us.

Our commitment like our passion is fueled by the very people who are regarded as the poorest of the poor. Their wealth of spirit and determination is a currency we in the west could all benefit from.


One hundred percent of our funding goes directly to the project; no overhead, no personal expenses, no leakage. Although the majority of our funding has been provided by the two of us, we have been blessed with the fi nancial support of friends, family, and compassionate strangers who have heard of what has been achieved in a few short years, by the hard diligent work of those people who by accident of birth have suff ered through no fault of their own, but through this initiative can help themselves.

For more information, including recipient testimonials, and donation opportunities (tax receipts for Canadians will be provided ), we have a web site at www.theshitstartshere.com and a Facebook page

at: Th e Shit Starts Here - A Guardian Project Initiative ■

Jeff Rayman has spent his professional life as a serial entrepreneur. Working in the fi lm industry, investment fi nance, wealth management, and business consulting. In addition, he is a Rotarian, and sits on several not for profi t boards. Currently, with his wife Rita, they oversee Th e Guardian Project, a rural agricultural initiative in Rwanda, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

PHOTO CREDIT:

Jeff Rayman


Restoring polling’s credibility –If the polling profession had been correct all the time then Hillary Clinton would be President, there would be no Brexit, and we would all be eating Frankenberry Crunch for breakfast.

It is becoming a “big headache” for all voters and citizens to decide which opinion poll to believe. For the political parties which pay for them. Candidates are completely confused. Even Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump too! Pollsters are becoming a “laughing stock.” People tend now increasingly to reject poll data or any research fi ndings inconsistent with what they “believe” to be the real situation. Animals – tigers, beers, monkeys, crocodiles and dolphins are coming to the front page. Th ey are now the “pollsters.”At

Opinion Polls and their Credibility Learning from Mistakes

KHALID HASAN

least people are now entertained by these new predictors! Candidates need not cry aft er the election if the tiger called it wrong. Th ey can explain the problem to the beast, in its cage.

Pollsters are facing serious challenges, particularly aft er the recent US election. Why is the credibility of this profession at


What is an opinion poll? Why are they important?

An opinion poll, sometimes simply referred to as a poll, is designed to collect opinions on political issues such as candidates, parties, and willingness to vote from a particular sample. Then extrapolating across the whole population, arrive at what is called popularly called as forecasting or prediction. An exit poll -- another technique which is widely used during an election -- seeks to understand the

views of the voters taken immediately after they have exited the polling stations.

Polling is a social science. It is not like physics or chemistry or even any other market research. And that is the mistake we make. We generalize opinion polling as just any XYZ market research. Human beings,

stake now? Important questions come to mind - why it is happening now and how can we collectively restore the credibility of poll results? What are the ways of demonstrating the validity of poll findings to our stakeholders? The answers are not simple. The actionable consequences of receiving are not just taking an umbrella or wearing snow boots based on weather forecast. Neither is an opinion poll just a “lotto game.”We need to look at the root causes of recent failures. Here follows some insights.

Polls are becoming “risky” and inaccurate -

• Voters can change their minds any-time and they do frequently,

• They can decide to not share their opinions and they do many times, or

• They can say something different or straight lie, and many voters do so.

Questions remaining include –

• Is it opinion polls or the pollsters which fail to predict correctly?

• How could a poll be found so wrong?

• Why in some elections did some opin-ion polls fail so miserably?

• Why were some of the polls found to be accurate?

“If the polling profession had

been correct all the time then Hillary Clinton would be President, there would be no Brexit, and we would all be eating Frankenberry Crunch for breakfast.


India, Bangladesh and in many African and European countries.

US presidential election polls - The recent US presidential election came as a surprise

to almost everyone, even to the Republicans too. Almost all the polls consistently projected Hillary Clinton as defeating Donald Trump. According to a recent article published at the Guardian, William Davies said “Relying largely on opinion polls, election forecasters put Clinton’s chance of winning at anywhere from 70% to as high as 99%, and pegged her as the heavy favorite to win a number of states such as Pennsylvania and Wisconsin that in the end were taken by Trump.” (Guardian, 2016).

The Table 1 shows that all the polls except the poll by USC/Los Angeles Times could not connect the actual result. (Real Clear Politics, 2016, Wikipedia, 2016)

Arie Kapteyn, an economist at USC who ran the USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times Presidential Election Daybreak Poll, said

voters, are different from consumers in subtle but important ways. Their votes are linked with their deep rooted faiths, beliefs and expectations. Also linked with fear and uncertainties. Voters want to bring to reality

these hopes and aspirations, safeties and securities, happiness and comforts! Not just for themselves but for their children too.

Why polls are sometimes not accurate?There are many polls found to be incorrect, even though conducted by well-known pollsters or research agencies using strict statistical formulas. The greatest examples were the recent polls in the US. Over the last two months before the November 8th election, more than 89% of the polls were found incorrect i.e. out of a total of 93 polls between 8 September and 8 November, 10 polls (including LA Times) gave correct result showing the lead to Trump (Real Clear Politics, 2016, Wikipedia, 2016). However, there are few good examples of successful polls in many countries - in

Table 1: Comparing the US poll results Poll source Date Hillary Clinton

DemocraticDonald Trump Republican

Leading by (points)

Sample size

Margin of error

UPI/CVoter[4] November 1 – 7, 2016

48.7% 46.2% 2.5 1,728 ± 3.0%

YouGov/The Economist[5]

November 4–7, 2016

49% 45% 4 3,677 ± 1.7%

Bloomberg News/Selzer[6]


46% 43% 3 799 ± 3.5%

ABC News/Washington Post[7]


49% 46% 3 2,220 ± 2.5%

Fox News[8] November 3–6, 2016

48% 44% 4 1,295 ± 2.5%

IBD/TIPP[9] November 3–6, 2016

43% 42% 1 1,026 ± 3.1%

Monmouth University[10]


50% 44% 6 802 ± 3.6%

Ipsos/Reuters[11] November 2–6, 2016

44% 39% 5 2,195 ± 2.4%

Bloomberg News/Selzer[6]


46% 43% 3 799 ± 3.5%

USC/Los Ange-les Times[19]

October 30 – No-vember 5, 2016

43% 48% 5 2,988 ± 4.5%


during the 2004 elections went completely haywire for most of the polling agencies and pollsters” (Rai, 2014). It shows that most of them were oblivious to people’s emotional investments in their communities and nation as a whole.

Partha Rakshit – experienced pollster and was the President of Nielsen South Asia at that time, said “for a country like India, there are many factors that make it very tough (Rakshit, 2017):

1. Being a huge country, it is impos-sible to get a statistically representa-tive sample within the time frame available… we have more than 500 constituencies!..I had devised a model where we did exit polls in what we call the swing constituen-cies... and pretty much assume the non-swing ones will remain the way they traditionally have voted.

2. Unlike most countries which have 2 or 3 parties who go to polls, we have more than 10 large parties, which makes the task more difficult, as you need larger samples to obtain the same relative error.. and these parties also vary by each state.

3. Finally, of course, because of the fear factor, many people don’t like to reveal who they have voted for, so we are sampling only from those who agree to give us a response, and

“This was an election where we could see relatively many people who hadn’t voted in the past. It was like a reservoir of people who were maybe not engaged,” he says. “I think in many of the traditional voter models, these people are more likely to be missed.” (Gendreau, 2017)

During the recent US election, most of the polls failed to reflect the voters’ opinion. Most of the pollsters underestimated Trump’s level of support which was based on deep-rooted emotional values, hopes and expectations and protecting themselves from uncertainties and fears.

Polls underestimated the reality in India –A similar scenario occurred in India, the largest democratic country in the world. In 2004, during the General Elections (Lok Sabha), the leading research agencies conducted opinion polls in all over the country. Interestingly, most of the polling

agencies unanimously came to a “conclusion” based on their prediction that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the ruling party Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would win and would be able to retain power. The predictions were completely rejected by the voters, a serious shock hit the poll pundits and gurus. NDA lost the elections and the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) led by Congress came back to power. Praveen Rai, the political analyst of India in a newspaper column said “Thus poll predictions based on election surveys

Table 2: General Elections 2004 in India

Seat Forecast BJP allies Congress allies Others

NDTV-Indian Express 230-250 190-205 100-120

Aaj Tak-ORG Marg (ACNielsen) 248 190 105

Zee-Taleem 249 176 117

Star-C-Voter 263-275 174-186 86-98

Sahara-DRS 263-278 171-181 92-102

Outlook-MDRA 280-29 159-169 89-99

Actual result 189 222 132


political party. The poll findings were compared with actual returns published by BEC (IRI, 2008). Remarkably, the accuracy of the result was 95%. It was shared with BEC, media, donors (such as USAID, World Bank etc.), US Government and the local political parties. Interestingly, all the political parties accepted the result. There was a smooth transition of power from the military-back government to the civilian party –Grand Alliance led by the Awami League.

Case 2: In 2008, CSR conducted two polls (May and July) in Bangladesh. Interestingly the findings of these two studies were comparable and also matched with the election outcome. Awami League won the 2008 parliamentary election followed by BNP. Around one-fifth of the voters played

a critical role in the election which were termed as “swing voters”, and majority of them were “first-time voters” and interestingly, they said “not yet decided” in the opinion poll. (CSR, 2008)

What was the reason behind these two successful case studies?

▪ Robust and detailed exploratory research was conducted prior to the main survey. The findings were used to design the methodology and tools. The exploratory research was qualita-tive in nature, followed by quantita-tive approach,

if the voting pattern of those who are willing to give us a response is differ-ent from those who are not willing to give us a response, then again, we can turn up with a wrong answer!”

Successful Cases:However, there are also many cases of successful polls around the world.

Case 1: On December 29, 2008, 70 million Bangladeshi voters cast ballots to decide who would serve in the country’s ninth parliament. After two years with an unelected military-backed caretaker government governing under a State of Emergency, the Bangladeshi people chose a democratically-elected government on a day characterized by very high voter turnout

following campaigns conducted passionately but largely free of violence. At the invitation of the Bangladesh Election Commission (BEC), USA based International Republican Institute (IRI) conducted an exit poll during that parliamentary election.

I led the Nielsen Bangladesh team to collect and analyze the data. Dave Williams – an international pollster was in charge of overall supervision. This was the first exit poll in Bangladesh since its independence in 1971. The findings of the poll were of immense importance for a smooth change of power from military-backed government to civilian

Table 3: Who do you plan on voting for in the next parliamentary election?

Political Parties in Bangladesh Study 1 (%) Study 1 (%)

Awami League 41.3 44.0

Bangladesh nationalist Party – BNP 27.1 24.1

Jatiya Party 4.5 6.5

Other parties 6.2 4.1

Not yet decided 20.7 21.0

Other responses 0.2 0.3

Total 100.0 100.0


research, survey on FMCG or media habits. Opinion polls are the tough-est of all research, dealing with people; their hidden cause and sup-port for any political party. Political affiliation is no less “strong” than religious affiliation. The hard-core supporters move by emotions and sentiments, not by logics. Most of the pollsters ignore this basic “driv-

ing force” rather plans like any other simple market research, using statis-tical formulas;

ResearchWe should conduct a thorough exploratory research which is essential to understand two important issues –

▪ Voters’ psychology, their hidden pains (experienced from the current government/party in power, their discrimination, abuse, torture, hear-say, financial burdens, fear, etc.) and they want to come out at any cost (again here emotion works, not the logic or statistics)

▪ Understand the deep-rooted culture and values of the voters. Each groups and sub-groups have different cultur-al values. Many a times, the pollsters (and political parties) ignore these issues and try to generalize.

Methodology

• Inappropriate or faulty methodology leads forecasting off-target. Better and

▪ Extensive and thorough methodol-ogy (most importantly, the sampling design),

▪ Strict implementation of the design,

▪ Proper data collection by a very well-trained data collection team,

▪ Face-to-face interviewing technique was used for data collection in all the opinion polls, including the exit poll (for exit poll, interviews were carried out immediately after the election at the gate of the polling booths, which was permitted by BEC),

▪ Proper in-depth analysis and

▪ Most importantly, all the team members (including the data collectors) were engaged intellectually.

Reasons for error: Why polls sometimes fail?Behavioral process:

▪ We must keep in mind that elec-tion process is a behavioral process. In majority of the cases, the voters usually judge and consider the can-didates (and political parties) from their emotions and rationales;

▪ Voting is not a short term process, rather a long term process– voters consider what the candidate (or the party) did in the past (pre-election period assessment) and what may do in the future (post-election anticipa-tion), which is judged on the basis of current or past activities or per-formances. Voters do not just con-sider not just themselves but also their grandchildren.

▪ We should never consider opin-ion poll as just any “XYZ” market

In the race for parliam ent how did you vote?

60% 57%

35% 38%

Poll Data Official Returns

Grand Alliance 4-Party Alliance


appropriate sampling can be designed by analyzing at least the last three results of each constituencies/ridings. We should understand the root causes of selecting or rejecting the candidates.

• Response bias depends on mode of interviewing:

▪ Telephone survey – not going to work; not the right tools to ask sensitive questions. I did a qualitative research among voters in Toronto and it was found that the “call receivers may not be fully engaged with the process; may take it very casually; most dangerous if it is the automated survey – anyone can answer whatever he/she likes. Sometimes the call receiver takes it as a ‘fun’.”

▪ Online survey – another example of off-targeted research, serious errors;

• Face-to-face vs. Telephone interview – in many Asian and African countries, due to low internet penetration, traditional “pen and paper interview” (PAPI) approach is still used to collect information from the voters in person. The voters can talk in person, face-to-face with the interviewers. The trained and skilled interviewers create a rapport and relationship of maintaining “mutual trust, privacy and confidentiality” and it works and was found quite effective. Most importantly, the interviewer can see physically and verify (a) the “genuineness” of the respondents, (b) influence on speaking the truth,

and (c) the respondents can also verify about the interviewers and feel comfortable from “not being fraud” (there are many instances of fraud cases happening through phone calls). There is “human touch”, not merely mechanical and robotic. On the other hand, in developed countries where there are high penetration of phone and internet, pollsters prefer to use telephone interviewing method. Here all the above three points are seriously missing. According to LA Times “Trump voters were notably less comfortable about telling a telephone pollster about their vote.”( Kirk and Scott, 2016)

• Swing states and swing voters –we frequently say and hear about the swing voters or swing states or swing provinces. From where these emerge? Actually voters become swing voters and they form swing states or provinces. There are voters who are not “hard core loyal” to political parties. For examples, in response to a question “Do you have any plan to caste in the upcoming election?” those who says “Not sure/

not yet decided” or “Can’t say” they are actually in the swing voters segment. They are either will not say or feeling shy or something they have in their mind. These are the most critical voters. They can take the election result to any direction. In 2008, according to Nielsen survey in Bangladesh, around one-fourth of the voters were the “first time voters” and

they were one of the major deciders who contributed changing the result of the 8th parliamentary election. When the result came out, most of the political experts

“Trump voters were notably

less comfortable about telling a telephone pollster about their vote.


were surprised to see how the young first-time voters could swing the game? Similar situation happened in the recent US election where the pollsters could not hear the voice of certain category of voters, such as lower educated whites, elderly rural whites, and non-immigrant seniors.

Demographic profile – it plays a great role in swinging the total results. In the recent US Presidential election, demographic factors played a significant role and created polling gap in favor of Trump. The pollsters should drill down the characteristics of the following profiles:

• Educated vs. less educated or not-educated

• White vs. brown vs. black• Religious factors – Christian, Jews,

Islam, Hindu• Regions – geographic variations• Economic – rich, poor• Citizenships – born, immigrants,

British, Mexican, South Asian, African• Employment – working vs. non-

working, white color vs. blue color• Gender – male, female, LGBT.

Underestimating the voters - simple demographic segmentation policy will not work. Must consider each and all the voters segments. During the recent US elections, voters’ segmentation was not done properly; seriously underestimated by the pollsters; as a result, Hillary Clinton could not find a winning strategy. Similarly, Trump too. He was always understated and underrated. Therefore, the result was an “unacceptable

blow” to the candidates and the supporters too. We have witnessed the “violent after effect” in different American cities.

Though almost all the polling agencies and pollsters were predicting a Clinton win, LA Times were consistently predicting Trump as the winner. There were 93 polls between 8 September and 8 November, interestingly LA Times predicted 9 times favoring Trump. (Real Clear Politics, 2016, Kirk and Scott, 2016) The question is what was the secret of LA Times? How the pollsters at LA Times were so accurate to their forecasting?

How they could capture the views from the “forgotten men and women”?

According to an article by Ashley and Patrick published in The Telegraph - “The LA Times said that one reason they believe their polling was successful was because they didn’t underestimate Trump’s support, as their online system captured people’s will better than phone polls. LA Times further said “Trump voters were notably less comfortable about telling a telephone pollster about their vote. Voters who backed a third-party candidate were even less comfortable responding to a poll. Women who said they backed Trump were particularly less likely to say they would be comfortable talking to a pollster about their vote.”(Kirk and Scott, 2016)

Non-response bias from hard-to-reach groups– there are two types of voters who do not want to share their views, they are the most hard-to-reach groups. Type 1 voters may not like to share their views, because they consider it as a privacy issue or fear of political or legal

“Pollsters need to look wearing

the lens of the target voters, not the way they want to validate. They must find the way to hear the voice of the voters.


consequences or revenge from the opponents. The second type of voters (type 2) are “radical” – politically, or religiously or culturally highly motivated, they want real change of the country at any cost. They want to keep their views secret. Therefore, they just show up on the Election Day. Pollsters really struggle to hear their voices.

Response-bias from “dishonest” voters – In India, it was observed in the exit poll of 2004 Parliamentary Election where a large number of the voters were not honest in sharing their views, because of political fear. It also happened several times in Bangladesh and Nepal where minority voters did not disclose the truth just to save themselves from being identified. There were instances where the opponents took “revenge” after the election. Similarly during exit polls in India, many voters those interviewed outside the polling booth immediately after they have voted, do not reveal the truth, because of being identified and targeted individually by the opponent political parties.

Shy effect–It is found in many polls in different countries that there is a segment of voters who feel shy or less comfortable about sharing their views to the pollsters. This happens mostly to the voters who are apparently “minority” such as visible minority (e.g. minority in terms of religion, race, color, and immigrants) or media-created minorities, for example Trump voters before election. The media portrayed Trump in such a way that many voters felt less comfortable to be open. Similarly, non-BJP supporters in India in 2004 or Jamaat-e-Islami supporters in Bangladesh in 2008 felt shy to disclose their opinion. Therefore, pollsters face difficulties in getting the views from these segments. Ashley and Scott (Kirk and Scott, 2016) said “voters who backed a third-party candidate were even less comfortable responding to a poll. Women who said they backed Trump were particularly less likely to say they would be comfortable talking to a pollster about their vote.”

Respondent selection bias - Poll researchers may be biased in selecting the respondents. They

consider “who is likely to vote.” They design and portray the whole scenario is such a way so that their audience, i.e. voters, media, and politicians, can speak in their (researcher’s) language and discuss about the political context of the country or society as the researcher wants to justify and validate preconceived anecdotes, or sentiment and emotions. Since voters are now more “diplomatic” than before in expressing their willingness to vote, it is becoming difficult to know who is going to cast vote. Researchers usually ask “do you have any plan to caste in the upcoming election?” and the possible answers may be (a) yes, (b) no or (c) not sure/will not say. If they say affirmative (a), the researchers may further ask “Who do you plan on voting for in the next parliamentary election?” Therefore, pollsters purposefully avoid selecting those who said “b” or “c.” In reality, “c” category of respondents will definitely cast their vote. In real life situations, many of the voters those said “no” may still cast their votes. That is the toughest job of the pollsters to understand the “hidden views” of the voters. Any mistake may have costs in accuracy and credibility.

Voter centric - Voice of customers - Pollsters and the data collectors rarely listen to voters, rather they wait for responses. Understanding the customer needs through the “voice of customer” (in opinion poll the customers are the voters) is imperative for interpreting from them better results. This will ensure the proper aligning of interconnected polling processes. Most polls lack the deeper analysis of the voters’ voice. The same happened in the US Presidential Election. The people in general and political parties and the candidates and the whole world were not only surprised to see the result of Donald Trump as the next president. Why it happened? The answer is simple, almost none listened the murmurs of the voters of particular segments, such as seniors, less educated, rural, whites, men and so on. There was serious lacking of deeper analysis. There is a need for interpreting the


information using qualitative approaches, not just translating the numbers with some “cheap” quantitative statistical analysis.

ConclusionLots of people are not sure about casting their votes. Th e number one reason for this uncertainty is either the voters have lost their trust in the candidates or are confused and have doubts. Pollsters need to look wearing the lens of the target voters, not the way they

want to validate. Th ey must fi nd the way to hear the voice of the voters. ■

Khalid Hasan Ph.D. is Chief Operating Offi cer of ResInt Canada. He has over 25 years’ experience in social & community development, market research and business, focusing on North America and emerging markets in Asia. He has co-authored two books on marketing with cases from Asia.

REFERENCES

Gendreau, Henri. (2017); “Th e Pollster Who Predicted Trump Th inks Geert Wilders Could Win Too” WIRED, March 2017; https://www.wired.com/2017/03/pollster-predicted-trump-thinks-geert-wilders-win/

Guardian (2016): https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jan/19/crisis-of-statistics-big-data-democracy

IRI (2008), Exit Poll, Bangladesh Parliamentary Election December 29, 2008, International Republican Institute, USA; http://www.iri.org/sites/default/fi les/2009%20January%206%20Exit%20Poll%20Bangladesh%20Parliamentary%20Elections,%20 December%2029,%202008%282%29.pdf and http://www.iri.org/sites/default/fi les/fi elds/fi eld_fi les_attached/resource/bangladeshs_2008_parliamentary_elections.pdf

Kirk, Ashley and Patrick Scott (2016); How wrong were the polls in predicting the US election and why did they fail to see Trump’s win? Source: Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/11/09/how-wrong-were-the-polls-in-predicting-the-us-election/

New York Times Election (2016), http://www.nytimes.com/elections/results/president

CSR (2008); Center for Strategic Research Bangladesh conducted opinion polls in all the administrative divisions in Bangladesh in 2008.

Rai, Praveen. (2014), Economic and Political Weekly, Vol 49, Issue No. 16, 19 Apr 2014. http://www.epw.in/journal/2014/16/election-specials-web-exclusives/status-opinion-polls.html

Rakshit, Partha (2017) shared this view to the author through email. April 2017

Real Clear Politics (2016), http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/us/general_election_trump_vs_clinton-5491.html#polls;

Wikipedia (2016): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationwide_opinion_polling_for_the_United_States_presidential_election,_2016;

PHOTO CREDIT:

Th e Daily Star; Voting in Tangail by-polls end. Voters are seen standing in a queue at Kalia Government Primary School polling centre in Basail; March 29, 2014. http://www.thedailystar.net/voting-in-tangail-by-polls-end-17775

Sabiha Chowdhury (2016), Hindustan Times Trump or Clinton? Animal kingdom predicts the 45th US president. http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/trump-or-clinton-animal-kingdom-predicts-the-45th-us-president/story-aPM27mydArf66yRSXYBjkL.html


Endorsed by: Professor Jagdish Sheth of Emory University, Professor Kasturi Rangan of Harvard Business School, and Professor Abdul Mannan, Chairman, University Grants Commission, Bangladesh

Strategic Marketing Management in Asia is a must-read book for marketers and students who want to learn about marketing management in the Asian region embellished with local cases.

South Asia is home to between a quarter and a fi ft h of humanity. Th e economies of the region are among the fastest growing in the world. South Asian consumers are at once aspirational and value conscious, and drive the fi rms that compete for their custom to constantly innovate in order to diff erentiate and grow. Some of the world’s largest companies from the most developed economies of the world operate here and frequently fi nd themselves brought up short

by homegrown rivals. Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Sri Lankans, Nepalese, Bhutanese: all have marketing running

through their veins, either as shop-keepers or start-up entrepreneurs, managers in multinationals or consumers trying to feed, house and clothe their families. Many

Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing Ltd. UK

Foreword and Reviewed by - Jaideep Prabhu Ph.D. Professor of Marketing & Nehru Chair of Indian Business, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.

BOOK REVIEWPROFESSOR JAIDEEP PRABHU PH.D.

Strategic Marketing Management in AsiaBy Syed Saad Andaleeb Ph.D. and Khalid Hasan Ph.D.


South Asians, of those who do not practice marketing, have gone on to research and teach it, often in the best universities and business schools of the West. So much so that South Asia has made a disproportionate contribution to global marketing thought and writing.

All the more surprising then that very few business or marketing books exist that speak to the South Asian reality. Despite its vibrancy, despite it having produced so many great marketing thinkers (and even more great marketing practitioners), there is very little quality documentation of how marketing is done in this vast subcontinent. The book that you hold in your hands aims to change that. The product of careful thought and research, and excellent writing and presentation, this team of Syed S Andaleeb and Khalid Hasan, have brought you a book that will not only inform you about marketing in Asia, with emphasis on South Asia, but also inspire you to practice it yourself and raise the standard of business and management in the region in the process.

There are several things to say about what makes this book special.

First, it is a text + case book. This is important for the simple reason that marketing (like business more generally) isn’t just about theory, concepts and facts. It is also very much about practice. The text part of this book provides the theory; the cases provide the in-depth, “learning by doing” context of marketing practice. Moreover, while concepts and theory tend to be universal, practice is very much local, and needs to take into account the particularities of local custom, infrastructure, political and legal institutions, and so on. This book does an excellent job of accounting for the local specificity that makes South Asia so interesting and colorful. It ensures that you learn not only about marketing but also South Asia, as well as learning about marketing in South Asia.

Second, because of the broad sweep of the topics covered, alongside the depth with which they are treated, this book is useful both for those setting out to study marketing (e.g., as a first course in marketing) as well as for those who may be more seasoned practitioners of business (e.g., managers on executive programs in marketing).

Third, as I mention above, the uniqueness of this book lies in its broad Asian and more specifically South Asian focus. The world’s economic centre of gravity has been shifting inexorably eastwards over the last decade or two, and this shift is set to continue for many years to come. This is in large part due to the growing young population of the region, which is in turn driving its growth and global economic importance. Learning about marketing in South Asia means learning about marketing in a large and increasingly important part of the world.

Fourth, the book explores new angles and areas such as social and rural marketing, topics that are rarely addressed in standard Western text books that cover marketing in the West. South Asia is a pioneer in social marketing (think about microfinance and the many social enterprises in finance, health, education, and energy that the region has produced). This book not only tells us about how to do social marketing in South Asia, it also prepares us to think about how these ideas might be applied in other parts of the world, both parts that share similarities to South Asia (such as Africa) as well as those that don’t (such as Western Europe and North America where social business is increasingly widespread). Equally, large parts of South Asia are rural. Historically, most marketing books have sought to describe the urban reality and prepare the next generation of marketers to work in that reality. But new exciting opportunities are opening up all the time in South Asia to develop products and services for rural consumers and to find ways to involve them in these solutions and markets. Indeed, this is where rural marketing often meets


social marketing. Again, South Asia is in the vanguard and this book will prepare you for cutting edge thinking that applies to other parts of the world as well.

Fifth, for people who have never lived in or visited South Asia, the region can be both fascinating as well as bewilderingly complex. How, if you are American or European (and therefore rich, urban and educated) can you learn to work with consumers who are poor, rural and semi-literate? What does it take to develop products and services for such a market and achieve scale? This book offer students from other parts of the world a powerful way to gain experience of Asia and Asian markets.

Sixth, the book offers insights, frameworks and practical tools not only for managers in the private sector but also for bureaucrats and policy makers. In South Asia, the bureaucracy and government are still very present in the lives of the people and are a significant player in the economy. Civil servants are not only responsible for the delivery of core public services, they also run

public sector companies and help set policies that they must eventually implement. This book offers speaks to such an audience and exposes them to “marketing” issues and strategies that they can adopt to improve the effectiveness of the way the public sector serves citizen-consumers.

This book is both timely and timeless. Timely because it addresses a topic - marketing - that is particularly relevant to a region – South Asia - that is turning into a global powerhouse of consumption-led growth. And timeless because it addresses themes and issues that have relevance not only for South Asia now, but for the world in times to come. I have no doubt that it will be regarded as essential reading for marketers of all shades and stripes, in all kinds of sectors, everywhere. ■

Cambridge, July 2016

(Note: The Book Review is taken from the book – Strategic Marketing Management of Asia, published by Emerald Group Publishing Ltd. UK)

60 I RESINT RESEARCH REVIEW May 2017

RESINT RESEARCH REVIEWResInt Research Review is a biannual research journal of ResInt Canada, eff ective July 2017. Th e journal will publish articles, cases, and reviews by leading academics, researchers, and business thought leaders working in the areas of, but not limited to, marketing, research, strategy, communication, branding, pricing, distribution, sales, and leadership.

Th e purpose of the journal is to be the source of thought-provoking new and original ideas from contributors around the world. Its aim is to guide professionals towards achieving sustainable business growth via modern, eff ective techniques. It further emphasizes the deeper causal relationships between the diff erent aspects of business, such as income generation and distribution, social intervention and impact, productivity and empowerment, and values and lifestyle, that may impact quality of life.

Contributors are invited to send in their articles anytime for the upcoming issue of ResInt Research Review. Articles should be 3,000 words or less, and may include graphs, tables and/or pictures. For consistency, articles should be written and cited according to APA style provided at the following link: www.library.cornell.edu/research/citation.

Please contact the journal’s Editor, Dr. Khalid Hasan at [email protected].


The Overlooked Half of the Research BusinessAl Ries

Attaining Global Standards in our Universities

Syed Saad Andaleeb

Contradiction or Paradox: Poverty and Inequality

Owen Lippert

Marketing Good

Jeff French

The Magic Word Pretium

Hermann Simon

Emotions and Trust in Marketing

Salva López

Planting Seeds of Empowerment

Jeff Rayman

Opinion Polls and their Credibility

Khalid Hasan

ISSN 2560-8703

Website: WWW.RESINT.CA