The Market in Global Times

Stock myBCN - Barcelona Expert
above picture
of Antoni Llena under
Creative Commons License  

The “David and Goliath Economy”

In the New "Global" or "Digital " Paradigm the consumer is invested with a power that humanity has never seen before: there are many cases in which social networks such as Yelp or Foursquare propel the resounding success of a business or, in some cases, even its ruin. This consumer’s power outlines a sort of David and Goliath economic model.

With the popularity of social networking, dissemination of supply and demand for goods is accessible with scarce resources. It is also immediate, which implies that the "opportunism" (in a good sense, that is, the ability to bring the good demanded at the right time) gives unprecedented competitive advantage, giving room to  phenomena such as Uber, where an initially small company with little investment ends up putting in check giants of the Industry.

 

Here are some of the competitive disadvantages of the old giants:

  

In general, they have invested heavily and have a coarse structure to maintain, what takes them to minimize risks and be stingy with their know-how, while creative entrepreneurs whose major goal is to be known, lavishly spread their knowledge. Are largely regulated, having to deal with taxes and some other impositions, while, on the other hand, law regulation still fails to classify new business’ practices aroused under the digital paradigm; and thus many new startup are, as a matter of fact, at least temporarily away from regulations burdens (as in the case of Airbnb who, mediating between supply and demand for accommodation, has moved from its leadership position more traditional hotel companies.

Telecommute: The proliferation of telework

Estimations show that there are about 30 million independent workers in the United States, and that this figure will rise to 40 million by 2019. It is expected that this phenomenon will expand globally to the extent that technology products are more readily available in other countries.  What will the Millennial do in this new situation? Will they develop their creativity and surprise the world with a massive impact with no precedents? Or, conversely, will they succumb to the weight of the old re-aligned giants, generating a catastrophe in the Social Security system?.

 
I would venture to say that the answer to this question will not take many years to come.

The generations of the Global Era

Rethinking History

Picture by Matthew G. via Flirck under Creative Commons

Everyone says that the new millennium has brought a new paradigm. But how exactly has this new frame changed the way people live and communicate?, how far is today's market from the market where the sale and consumption of goods took place 5 or 10 years ago?

Let's start with how history and historical studies are built today.

The generations of the Global Era

Traditionally generations have been conceptualized and studied regionally. In the old paradigm made ​​sense to think of the generation of '27 in Spain, circumscribed to a literary phenomenon [i] , or the generation of "Baby Boom" in the United States, designed to account for demographic events. The reasons that led to the conceptualization of these and other age groups were certainly local. Now it seems legitimate to ask if it makes the same sense to categorize the various generations sticking to a regionalist approach.

Surely the reader has heard of Millennials. This term refers to people born between 1981 and 2000 and whose ethos is characterized by a strong attachment to the use of technological means [ii]. Millennials check their smartphones several times a day; use social networks consistently and for extended periods of time, have a consumption pattern that relies heavily on the "word of mouth" rather than on what is advertised by the brands or celebrities.

Is not this a global phenomenon? Does it makes sense from this point forward to continue conceptualizing the new generations in regional terms?

Democratization and Socialization

The use of mobile phones means that anyone can communicate with anyone, basically anytime. Besides "mobile" current phones are usually "smart" meaning that not only communication is immediate, but also research activity: access to encyclopedias, to dictionaries, breaking news is possible pretty much everywhere. By accessing the Cloud, our own portfolio, the files we work with are accessible from anywhere without even carry a pen-drive. Bitcoin, PayPal and Square are leading us to an economic space in which not even our wallets will be needed when we leave home (yet, do not forget your Smartphone or your Google Glasses!).

Similarly, access to the social media marketing provides an advertising tool to entrepreneurs who otherwise would not be able to afford a marketing campaign (a status update of an average user, without many contacts Facebook, is seen by approximately 50 people in a single session). This way, technology achieves goals on a ground where ideologies have failed.

 

[I] Wikipedia, Generación del 27

[Ii] Melissa Hoffmann ,   ¨ Here Is Everything You Need to Know About the Millennial Consumer on AdWeek.com