Everything About Business Except The Bottom Line: FunnyBusiness

India's changing outsourcing industry: call center jobs returning; womb for rent growing

It's a tale of two outsourcing trends.  American businesses feeling the wrath of very unhappy customers who are frustrated with sub par customer service are now rethinking whether the bottom line cost savings of having call centers in India( and other countries) is actually good for the bottom line.

While there does seem to be a trend to bring customer call center jobs back to the U.S. India women are finding there is a high demand in the "womb for rent" industry. 

In the U.S. a couple can spend up to $250,000 for in vitro fertilization and $80,000 for surrogacy. In India, those costs drop to between $10-$20,000.

Read the entire post at Blogher

The Many Definitions of Marketing: American Marketing Association Adds A New One

The American Marketing Association announced earlier this month that it is now using a new definition for what members of their association practice. Does anyone care? And will anyone adopt the new definition.

They will if they are writing a book for the AMA or giving a lecture. But besides from that rather elite group, this definition is purely academic.

The fact is that most people, including marketing professionals, co-op their own definition to suit their own needs.
You can read about the many definitions of marketing on my Sunday post at Blogher.

Oh and for the record , here is the new AMA definition of marketing.

"Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large."
 
The previous definition stated:
"Marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders.".

So what is your definition of marketing. As soon as you share yours, I'll share mine.

Bad Neighbors Beware: You Could Be Driving Down The Value Of The Entire Neighborhood

As the real estate industry faces plunging real estate values, tough mortgage conditions and a glut of homes on the market, neighborhoods  now have  another threat to their home values ---  someone might just air the neithborhood's dirty little secret to the entire world--- the neighbor from hell.

Last year, one frustrated renter -- who happened to be a computer programmer-- decided instead of talking to his neighbor about his concerns, he'd talk about him --- for the whole world to see. 

His revenge: Rotten Neighbor

Rotten Neighbor is the first real estate search engine of its kind allowing you to rate and review good and bad neighbors before and after you move so you can make a smart real estate decision. How? By user contributed information on millions of neighbors and neighborhoods ...

The media is loving this story. Everyone from The Today Show, To NPR to CBS News has featured this social media tool

Since the site launched in late July, hundreds have mapped their own neighborhoods like minesweepers at RottenNeighbor to pinpoint problem properties: yipping Chihuahuas, wannabe DJs and, at the extreme end, drug dealers and abusive parents. The site is a high-tech tool for those who want to scout out a neighborhood before moving in, providing a voyeuristic look at the people who live next door.

I peeked. Checked out my neighbors. So far no one has posted a thing in my neighborhood. That is a very very good thing.  The National Association of Realtors say over 80% of potential buyers do their research online before they actually go house hunting.

How major an impact this site will have on home sales is still too early to tell. But, it could become an impetuous for unhappy neighbors to  finally confront problems in the neighborhood that they previously tolerated.
And, thereis a risk of  vigilante behavior -- a hell hath no fury like a  homeowner who believes the real reason their house isn't selling is because of the neighbors.

Image Credit: Rottenneighbor.com

Re-Org or Reorg --it all spells the same thing: CHANGE

Over the weekend I was chatting with a good friend whose company just went through a reorg. Her reaction- she just rolled her eyes and said,

"They're always talking about reorganizing..Has anyone tried organizing first."

For more on the reorg culture, check out my post on Blogher.

Chris Matthews Apologizes: Says I get it

On Thursday January 17, 2008 Chris Matthews started his program, Hardball, with an apology for his remarks that Hillary Clinton's entire career was based on the fact that her husband had messed around.

You can watch it here or read about it here.

To read the back story of Matthew's sexist statements, check out this story on Blogher.

Could you include a toothpick with that LG VX8700 Mobile Phone?

I'm just saying that I still haven't figured out a technique to open the cover for my charger/headset connection with out the aid of a toothpick.

It's been four weeks. At first I thought the phone had a hidden mini stylus like my old Palm. No hidden stylus.

Then  I thought that maybe I had to break in the phone and once the hinge had been opened and closed a couple of times I would be able to handle the device without utensils.

No such luck.

I need me a toothpick every time.

It seems I may be the only person who is challenged in this area because in all the reviews of this product --and most are very glowing, no one has mentioned this design flaw.

How can it be that I am the only living human being that is  not capable of lifting this cover without a toothpick?

Do you know how easy it is to misplace a toothpick when you need it?

AOL introduces its Corporate Holiday Letter. Or was it corporate spam?

What would you do if your employer created a form email for you to send to your friends and family encouraging them to check out the company's products and services? Would you send the email or hit delete?

Right after Christmas, Kevin Conroy, AOL's product chief, did just that. Conroy shared the holiday email he supposedly sent to friends, family's and professional contacts. Think of it as the corporate version of the annual holiday letter.

In his email to employees ,where he shared the email he sent to his contact list, Conroy suggested that employees use that  same email( or variations thereof) and send it to their friends and family.

It's a long , long email complete with hyperlinks, testimonials from major media outlets , and did I mention hyperlinks?

Depending on your vantage point, AOL was either:
(1) Attempting to launch a word of mouth marketing campaign(WOM)
(2) Asking employees to spam family and friends.

Either way, the initiative signals the very sad and pitiful state of AOL's business.

From the ValleyWag:

His topdown directive did not spark any bottom-up fervor, it seems, as he had to forward the message again on Friday, asking employees for examples of get-out-the-users emails they'd sent.

Critics are saying that it is nothing more than an attempt on AOL's part to force employees to spam their friends. From The Silicon Alley Insider, a post entitled AOL to Employees: Please Spam Your Friends About Us!

Alas, not surprisingly, it seems no one forwarded it[...]So if you suddenly get an uncharacteristically stiff email from your AOLer buddy about the company's new products, forgive him/her. Expressing enthusiasm about AOL is now an AOL job requirement!

If AOL thought they were implementing a WOM marketing strategy, it might be beneficial for them to review some essential criteria required for a successful WOM campaign , From a book summary of Secrets of Word of Mouth Marketing by George Silverman,

3. Word-of-mouth offers an authenticity to it because the source is normally independent of the company, he or she is offering his or her own candid opinion and therefore, the marketing appears credible.

6. Studies have shown that a satisfied customer will tell an average of three people about a product or service she likes, and eleven people about a product or service with which she had a negative experience.

The fact that it appears AOL employees opted to not share the email says a great deal about their own satisfaction with the company.
This is a company without evangelists.
Perhaps if the company spent time figuring out what it needed to do to gain the support and loyalty of its employees, the friends and families would suddenly appear.

What's Good For Imus Should Be Good For Chris Matthews

When MSNBC finally got around to firing Don Imus last spring they said it was because he was a serial offender of inappropriate comments and inappropriate banter. The network said they couldn't tolerate that.

And yet, here we go again.One  of their uber stars, Chris Matthews is spewing sexist comments on a regular and ongoing basis. While many are honing in on his  offensive comments about Hillary Clinton, she is just the latest in a long list of women that he has either insulted or verbally hit on.

Here's my problem.  If you are going to fire Imus for saying inappropriate things about women,  then either management at MSNBC hasn't been watching the same program as the rest of us, or  the management believes its okay to say s inappropriate things about women as long as race is not also involved..

It would be helpful if the network shared what their definition of inappropriate is. What are their standards? How do they assess whether a remark is sexist? Do they have criteria?

If a producer or lower level employee said the same things to guests that Chris Matthews does, would they be reprimanded?

To read my entire rant, check out this post on Blogher.

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First Sick Day of The Year Thanks To My Computer

  It's not that I haven't had the symptoms for some time. It's just that there is never a convenient time to have your computer go down. There are those deadlines and the time suck to reinstall programs.

My terminally ill computer that had put up a valiant fight since May decided to call it quits on  Saturday night. At first I thought a house call from Geek Squad who resurrect it ---the diagnosis --after 3 hours  was--the vectors are shot.

I don't know squat about vectors but I did know that I was not in the mood to buy a new computer.  So I didn't . I went to Craig's list and bought a used laptop...my plan is to return to the MAC fold this spring.

Fortunately most of us backup our computers these days -- according to AT&T 76% of small business owners do-- that does leave an alarming 24% who don't.

However CNNMoney.com says that up to 57% of computer users still don't back up personal information because they don't think its important.

Of the nine in ten computer users who store personal information on their computers - such as family photos, personal contacts and resumes - about 24 percent report that they have lost personal information in the past month, generally because of system crashes, according to a survey of more than 2,400 users commissioned by software maker Symantec (up $0.36 to $15.73, Research) and conducted by Harris Interactive.

But of those who store personal data on their machines, only 57 percent back up their data. Among users who don't back up their data, just over a third said it hadn't occurred to them to do so, while another 31 percent said it simply wasn't important to them.

While knowing my data was backed up helped, I was surprised how exhausted I was from the entire process of  getting a new computer up and running. Now that I've taken a sick day due to no computer, I think I need a mental health day to recover from the stress.

More on Blogher  about strategies for  backing up your computer and getting back on your feet as soon as possible.

 

Is Your Boss Young Enough To Be Your Child?

   As  "Change" quickly becomes code for young and "Experience" becomes code for aging baby boomers, it's shaking the very core of business culture.

Boomers are finding themselves reporting to bosses they used to carpool to soccer practice.  This new relationship is not easy on anyone. It's the subject of my Sunday post on BlogHer-- be sure to read the comment section. There are some wonderful additions from women who have found themselves managing people old enough to be their parents.

Image Credit: Flickr member - The BreaKer