The increasing globalization of technology has provided more avenues than ever for people from all domains to have their voice heard. Social networking sites and various blogs have created a constant stream of consumer opinions. Companies are listening, but how are they using that information? Moreover, what are the implicit implications of that information?
Increased customer interaction through technology can implicitly affect the workforce in two ways: (1) a savings in both expenditures and time spent for marketing and R&D employees and, (2) a transformation in the job roles of those respective departments. A recent article titled “Up and Running” in the Strategic Direction journal exhibits how Nike has experienced this result.
During the 2006 World Cup, Nike partnered with Google to unite soccer lovers worldwide under a single website, Joga.com. Thereafter, Nike formed a partnership with Apple to create the Nike + platform, which fuses the music listening and exercise experiences into an interaction between the runner, Nike, Apple, and other Nike + platform users. In addition, Nike is currently working on combining the already interactive Nike ID site with Joga to provide soccer lovers with the ultimate web-experience. Sure, these strategies have undeniable value in fostering the Nike customer experience beyond the register, and allow them to target non-customers by introducing them to the product, but the effects cut even deeper. Opening up those channels for consumers to share and comment on designs and ideas relieves Nike R&D of some work. For instance, a young soccer enthusiast may start a blog feed about what he/she believes to be the best soccer shoe and why, which essentially begins a brainstorming session between people from all over the world. In addition, the partnership enables Nike to tap into the interests of non-customers with relative ease. Therefore, this organic process between the site visitors not only gives R&D ideas about what products people are looking for, but also minimizes marketing’s task of targeting a population. In the end, the consumer and the company benefit from this “value co-creation”, but what does this mean for marketing and R&D employees? Are their jobs being threatened by the influx of attention to consumer ideas and new technology? Simply said: No. Instead, the roles within marketing and R&D are changing.
In the dawn of industrialization, Luddites reaped havoc on English factories by engaging in self-preservation acts of destroying machines because they thought these new technologies were replacing them. However, as we know now, industrialization has provided an innumerable amount of jobs that would have otherwise been nonexistent. According to business strategist Tom Hulme of IDEO, “opening direct communication with consumers globally, at relatively low-cost will soon become the norm.” Just like the introduction of efficient machines that produced products at a lower cost became the norm during industrialization, so will the integration of global consumer opinion into a company’s strategy. However, this does not mean Marketing and R&D will become obsolete or even lower in demand. Instead, an evolution must occur in their job-role to incorporate and build upon these new technologies. After all, opportunities for innovation and expansion always exist, it’s just a matter of getting the right tools to uncover them, namely skilled employees in marketing and R&D. For instance, marketing and R&D employees must keep up with tracking those blogs and become privy to what other sites contain consumer opinion about their product offerings. In essence, with more online channels for people to use, there will be more information to sort through.
In closing, consider this:
1. If companies want to engage in true “value co-creation”, then shouldn’t they invest the money they have saved on marketing and R&D back into those departments for more communication and understanding to take place between the company and the consumer (i.e. attracting, retaining, and training employees)?
2. How have multinational companies evolved their workforce plan in the past 5 years, particularly as it pertains to marketing and R&D, to incorporate the globalization of technology and consumer opinion?