I was talking to a friend who works in the financial sector about global changes, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. This part of the world is expected to become the new investment hub of the world. He said that big companies are now not thinking so much about investing in China or South-East Asia, but are planning for the future in sub-Saharan Africa. For example, he told me about partnerships with mobile phone companies to pay for products and services directly from your smartphone. He was telling me about how, thanks to technology, there are leaps and bounds that Romania has traveled to get to where it is. It seems like a world is being built from an economic base like the one Romania has now.
From there my thoughts went further, imagining a global economy re-launched on the consumption side, where products are no longer made only in Asia, as we used to be used to, but also in Africa. From there I got to thinking about Romania's ability to keep growing and compete with countries with cheap labor.
It has been very clear to me that soon - if not already - the global economy will perceive us as a European economy, with the advantages and disadvantages that go with that. What I mean is that it will be increasingly difficult to sell cheap products - the competition with Asia and Africa will be too great - but we will be able to sell high value-added goods, that is to say quality products.
Romanian furniture manufacturers, in addition to permanently reducing costs, will have to add value to their products in order to be able to sell them more expensive. When I say value, I am thinking both of investments in the quality of the products manufactured, but especially of investments in marketing, PR and sales.
Marketing investments include market research (ongoing analysis of trending goods, ongoing communication with the market), creating or strengthening a brand, digital marketing and social media.
Nowadays PR is a key element of a company's image. As easy as it is to contact a company, it must also be as easy and quick to get a response to your inquiry, and that response can immediately make or break a brand or company.
When I talk about investing in sales, I mean more customer-focused sales departments, new distribution channels, online shops, affiliate marketing, participation in events like trade fairs.
We will live in a global market with easy access to information. Cheap will probably be produced in Africa. It is up to us to produce quality goods for a market that we need to know and that can change constantly.
If you disagree, I expect you to contradict me on the following lines.
Add comment