The Human Asset Manifesto

The Consumer Electronics Industry Is Waking Up To The Power Of Women

It would appear that at least one industry is both understanding and waking up to the challenges and opportunities of the purchasing power of women.

The consumer electronics market is estimated to be worth over $140 billion. A significant proportion of that market is for gadgets, games and other similar items, traditionally considered a male preserve. However, it now appears that women account for some $80 billion or approximately 57% of that market.

As such, manufacturers and retailers alike are now changing their approach to accommodate this phenomenon and are adopting a number of different strategies to take advantage of it:

More ads for electronic gadgets now feature women

There is greater styling and proliferation of colour to reflect women’s tastes

More products are being made to accommodate the specific demands of women

Smart retailers are providing more store assistants, reflecting the demand of women consumers for more attention

There are more women retail assistants

If we think of it in logical terms, it is almost incomprehensible that this change is a recent phenomenon. It is another example of what can be achieved when organisations focus on their human assets and the human and social aspects of business - moving beyond stereotypes and narrow-minded approaches.

However, some sectors of the market do still have some way to go.

For a long time the computer games industry dedicated itself almost exclusively to men. Then one day it realised that women played games too, but their products were simply not catering to their needs. Part of the reasons for that was that the industry had not recruited many women so it could not properly understand or reflect those needs.

They industry is now trying to redress that balance. Many others are yet to wake up.

A Sterling Example Of Why Organisations Should Lead Social Change – New York’s Ban On Trans Fats In Restaurants

The action of the New York City authorities has clearly demonstrated what this blog has been espousing all along; organisations should either lead social change, making human and social issues the centrepiece of their strategy, or suffer adverse consequences and loss in competitiveness. 

Yesterday, December 5, the city placed a ban on the use of artificial trans fats in foods in all its restaurants. The basis of their ruling is that trans fats are responsible for the clogging of the arteries, which can lead to severe heart conditions.

The ban is effective in three months and many of the cities restaurateurs are not prepared for it. They will be scrambling to get their business in order by the due date.

Some of the major chains such as Wendy’s and McDonald’s have been making steps to reduce the level of trans fats in their foods by making “voluntary reductions” in the amounts used. They too will be scrambling to meet the deadlines – their partial solution to the problem has effectively been deemed unacceptable.

This further strengthens the arguments made by this blog and the book The Human Asset Manifesto; for organisations to have a business that is both sustainable and competitive, they must lead social change, rather than being dragged kicking and screaming into it. You would think that made absolute sense.

Unbelievably, the National Restaurant Association is fighting the ban – somehow the initials NRA  seem most appropriate to its stance. The association is more worried about the ban spreading to other parts of the nation, than for the health of the consuming public.

Such thinking is both futtile and backward. Soon, all consumers will be demanding food sans trans fats – be it in New York or wherever in this world the consuming public expresses more than a passing concern for the vitality of its heartbeat. In other words, everywhere.

Those establishments that take the lead by recognising the full human and social implications of their current business model, and resolve to take all necessary action, will emerge as the champions of the future.