Job search in Spain - Myths and truths

For the first time in this blog I am personally involved in the topic I am bringing up for a post...I could also add dramatically involved, if we look into the cold numbers that this not long ago promising country is yielding nowadays.

Yes, I am talking about finding an attractive and challenging job in a country that has the worst unemployment rate among the OECD members and its productivity has just abruptly fell from the 33rd to the 42nd position! A country that has seen how the brand Spain is losing the prestige that took years to gain to become almost and stigma for those Spanish firms that are doing well.

I consider myself fortunate by the quality of the education received and the professional experience accrued in Spain and abroad...I have no doubt that I would be eligible for a number of job positions if we were now in 2007...but does this guarantee me a job today?

In 95% of posts starting this way, the remaining part tends to be an exercise of pessimism, complaints and a gateway to target and shoot some of the factors that surely have created this situation: Real Estate bubble, high market expectations of high returns (buy low sell high) and boomerang effect and depressing consequences on the people. Also general conformism when things were fine, lack of anticipation and even larger lack of reaction by our politicians are the drivers of all that. I could spend a long time describing, for those who don´t know anything about it, the political arena of Spain...but my time and your time are very valuable and neither you nor me want to waste it talking about supreme mediocrity.

As I was saying, since most of this approaches to the "Spanish Issue" are rather pessimistic, I decided to follow a different path, and focus on the reasons why I believe I am going to find not just a job but a job that fulfills my expectations, realistically accepting that maybe salaries haven't increased the way we all expected a few years ago (It is also true that the price index has gone down, so the real buying power may even not have been affected). A thorough search, proactive use of ALL the resources available, intensive in time and effort search, drive, stamina and self-convincing attitude may have not even been necessary all at once during the good times. Now this is only a pre-requisite to start the search. Call it exhaustive (the job search is a job in itself) but nothing undoable. So far so good?

The criticism up to here is quite obvious and the aforementioned is already written in many "find-your-dream-job" books. Besides, there is no job for everybody...But, are other variables considered? Meaning, are people looking into the possibility of considering: a different town or city or region for the needed/expected/deserved job? A different industry in which their capabilities can also be useful? To create your own job and become an entrepreneur? To propose formulas in which an employer can be less reluctant to hire (part time jobs, a voluntary lowering in the salary)?

Out in the street one listens to people, the shelter of deciding to study something seems to be the most suitable way for many to pass these bad times...but haven´t many just surrender to the "unemploymentality"under the comfortability of the unemployment salary? (low in comparison with other eurocountries but enough to have a decent living in most parts of Spain).

Let me just leave this question lingering in the air, and let me also add something else: the family and kinship's strong influence in Spain: it clearly becomes the soft cushioning for the falling of many not contemplated in the figures that is letting the country free from any social riot or protest whatsoever. Whereas you couldn´t even contemplate this option in many other western countries, the newspapers are full of stories about families coming back to their parents´house.

Last, but not least is the underground economy in Spain that, for some is keeping active to one third of the officially unemployed population. The Ministry of job affairs affirmed that between 16% and 20% of Spain's GDP is the size of the underground economy...

So, to summarize: people are broken, unemployed and not even (longer) looking to reverse this situation in some (many) cases because:

- The unemployment salary covers their basic needs and more, depending on where you live.

- The family structure creates a network in which sons, daughters, cousins...can always come back to the nest and have temporary financial support or shelter.

- The underground economy is providing an income to many families, benefiting also from the unemployment salary in many cases.

- On top of that, although this can be challenged as everything written in this blog, is the conformism and reluctance to change of the people of Spain, the worst enemies we have always had. The crisis provoked diverse reactions in the countries, whereas some (Germany, USA) where driven by a non acceptation of a potential downfall and fought to recover at the earliest, I have the impression that Spain has always perceived this crisis as a storm: It can be more or less strong and harmful, but it passes and then comes the sun and as if nothing had happened.

With all the above, and again, not forgetting that I have been raised in an environment that allows me to be in a position where I can choose to some extend where and how I want to work, I believe that others in my situation should push to the limit their chances and avoid being conformist. Better times won't come if we think this is just a storm.

Yesterday I attended Laetitia Sadier's concert at Sala Neu, it was amazing to see her with just her guitar and unveiling the way she probably starts composing her songs for Stereolab. The song I'm posting today is called Un soir, un chien.

Dubai 1990-2010: how to build an evil paradise

I have been in Dubai no less than 12 times, either for business purposes or for leisure escaping from time to time from the boredom of Kuwait and to be able to have a glass of wine while having dinner. For those who don´t know it, alcohol is not legal in Kuwait.

We all have heard so many times about the wonders of this small non-oil producer Emirate of Dubai: the city has been achieving many "records" in the last years: world's highest skyscraper, largest airport, largest shopping mall...whether we like it or not Dubai has become somebody, a new city name to write at a hotel front desk international time's clock! London - Paris - NYC - Dubai...Wuaw! (is there a punctuation mark for irony in a keyboard?)

However, this is what transcends to most of the people overseas, but it hides the basis this city has been built upon. I am not an expert but "I've seen things" and for me the underlying truth of Dubai city makes me state that what has been built there from 1990 until now represents the worst values of the modern society.

Let me put the context first: Historically, Dubai has been a trading hub between Southeastern Asia and Europe, the Creek was (and still is) crossed everyday by thousand of small boats and is populated by only 17% of UAE nationals, as a sign of the crossroad of cultures that it has always been. With a extraterrestrial heat and humidity in the long summer, local construction used millenarian techniques to keep some freshness on the inside during 8 months per year. However, the city, built on the desert sand was still a hostile place for the human being and so the population never exceeded 100,000 even well advanced the second half of the XXth century.

And what happened around 1990? The Gulf War made a lot of people (many palestinians scaping from Kuwait) and a lot of money (big Kuwait fortunes scaping from the iraqui sack) landed in Dubai. Jointly with the support of the Emir to shift into a touristic alternative for the arab world all this turned the city in an ocean of cranes during years up until now...The scenario today is completely different, as you know, with a landscape of towers crowned with the recently inaugurated Burj-Khalifa of 820m. But the desert is still there, and probably hotter than before, and the levels of energy consumption grow brutally every year in order to keep the indoor areas at a comfortable 24º temperature.

For those who have never been there, i will put it in simple words: it is the closest sensation to a sauna that you will ever have in your life. And when you spend a lot of time in a sauna, you generally die...

So the context is there and these are my reasons to strongly state that Dubai, a respected and honorable trading hub and gate to the west, has become the showroom for many of the things that the civilization should avoid this century:

- The power of (laundry) money: Dubai never had a plan but real estate developments here and there. The ultimate goal of the city was never to provide a better place to live to anybody, but to convert God-knows-coming-from-where money into the most short term profitable investment at the time when the bubble was growing: construction of residential buidings.

-Human rights: The fictitious fairytale of freedom in Dubai comparing to other arab countries: it simply cannot be believed if we just look at the conditions so many thousand of South Asia's labor were cheated to come to work there and have a better life whereas their passports were taken upon arrival and they were confined in indecent camps working indecent number of hours...Slavery was abolished almost 200 years ago...but modern forms of human abuse have taken place to build this city. But let´s be fair, many western companies operating there are responsible of these abuse.

- Lack of need: there is no need to have a city ready to host 6 million people in the middle of the desert, it has never been full capacity and it will never be. Specially with the crisis and specially with only 4 months when you can enjoy with the outside temperature and hence the sea! With the number of square kilometers built for nothing and no one many rural areas or areas affected by tsunamis or earthquakes worldwide...could have been completely rebuilt. Just one figure: one third of all the world's cranes were operating in Dubai by 2007!

- Sustainability: only supported by one of the largest oil producers this city can shine or be cooled...but having the fuel doesn´t mean you can use it obscenely. It´s easier to get a cold in Dubai in summer than anywhere in Europe in a cold winter due to the excess of cooling throughout the year. The message sent is devastating for those seeking for alternatives to fossil fuels: We will burn until the last drop of oil to keep our malls cool!

-Building efficiency: despite of having one of the most intelligent traditional construction systems, the new "intelligent" buildings with its glass walls are the least efficient way of building in a constantly sun-exposed region. The refrigeration loads become even more extraordinary, and the explanation for it is purely formal. In a world turning into an efficient way of building, Dubai's proud of still erecting XXth century's icons...

- The consumerism as a religion: proud of balancing prudently between Islam and western culture, Dubai forgets that the real devil is not in the "depravated" expats but in the culture of hyperactive consumerism as a single way of entertainment. To be fair too, this is something you can find everywhere in the Gulf.

However, nothing is black or white only, and UAE has also very good initiatives that should make emirati people proud of their country: on the opposite side of Dubai, the city of MASDAR is the first serious (and real) attempt to build the first zero-emission city for 40,000 people as a prototype that will hopefully be replicated and improved in the future.

Besides that, the good values of the emirati family and the religion, such as generosity, their humble past still recent, and the respect for their culture and traditions, jointly with the interest to diversify their industry and businesses when depending only on oil is tempting (see Kuwait or Venezuela)...makes me believe that Dubai is simply a wrong understanding of modernity and development. And also that someone from abroad has made a lot of money at their cost, building castles in the sand...

By the way, the title of this post is taken from Evil Paradises by Mike Davis.

Arcade Fire are playing in Madrid in less than 10 days. I already got my ticket!

XIXth century retail in the heart of Madrid or the lack of (interest for) innovation in Spain

Very close to Plaza Mayor some business are still devoted to the traditional needs of the population of the city since the past centuries.

Nowadays people still buy textiles or fabrics for curtains, sofas, or simple cotton string to tailor anything, and this particular area in the very heart of the city is ideal to find all this items and more, linked to traditional straw hats or baskets. It has been like this for centuries and apparently in the era of Ikea there's still a demand for this stores in the best retail locations in Madrid...

So far so good, I pass by some of these stores almost everyday when I leave / go back home but I have never stepped in, simply because I don't need any of the things they sell in there...until last week when I decided to get in not one but two of them to look for a specific item.

The outcome couldn't have been more depressing but it was also a travel-in-time experience...

As soon as I stepped in, a million square meter of fabrics rolled and spread randomly all over the poorly illuminated place, which by the way appeared to be a nice interior if one could be able to remove the rotten and falling paint of the wall. No less than 3 people waiting to the hours to go by behind the counter, not even asking me what I wanted or how could they help me. I asked for the price/sqm of one of the fabrics that I liked, which I find by moving by myself a pile of other rolls of fabrics. A bored fifty-something employee looking offended for me daring to interrupt his boredom, answers to me and starts cutting the dimensions I asked him to cut.

While he was doing so, some thoughts came to my mind and they are the core idea of this post:


First of all, I have nothing against these traditional business, but I can't skip the fact that some of the prime locations of the most expensive city in Spain are occupied by business that have been equally run for ages, no matter how the customers have evolved in their behavior or the changing needs of the people even within an specific sector like the textile industry...and for me that's not just an anecdote but another sign of the lack of innovation of a part of the small industry in Spain.

I was asking the employee when was this store open, and he came to say that almost a century although before there was a similar store run by another family. Something must they have done right during all these years, I thought...but I also thought that such an inertia had also a pernicious effect...who will dare to change something that has more or less (definitely not with flamboyant outcomes) worked for 100 Years? My Spanish readers surely know this: "virgencita que me quede como estoy" (Virgin Mary, let me remain as I am now). Well, this is a very paradigmatic sentence that represents pretty well the lack of flexibility/ambition/interest for challenge that characterizes Spaniards sometimes...

I am not saying that these business should be closed down, but I am sure there are ways to adapt them to the needs of the new population of the neighborhood: young people, tourist (a relatively new phenomena) and, specially, make an attractive layout that invites people to step in these stores, not in a fashion or top end design way, I don't mean that, but at least in a way that facilitates people to find things, choose what they want easily and feel they're welcome to enter rather than a necessary inconvenient.

I may be asking too much, and the critic to this post is very obvious: I'm no one to blame the structure of the business, I don't know the industry...so no recommendations today, but I am afraid that one day there will be a Bershka or Starbucks or H&M in a wonderfully located place where a nice textiles shop with colorful samples and also complements for home and decoration and great personnel in an inviting environment to step in and buy could have continued to exist...


Today´s song is posted just to celebrate that I have tickets to watch MGMT playing live in Madrid in December...

A biased solution for the Spanish crisis

Everybody talks about it but nobody seems to find it: I would like to share the (my) solution for the big, enormous, financial crisis we are suffering in Spain nowadays, and I am going to share it with you, basically because the solution maybe affects to you too.

After this introduction, allow me to highlight some aspects that none of the Spanish politicians are taking into account and could drive us to change our downwards trend. Whether you agree or not, that's a different story!

-Go where the job is: Spaniards tend to remain stable within the "comfort zone" but the world around has been moving fast while we were immerse in our inner demand, and focusing our investments in the Real Estate sector and hardly looking overseas (why doing it if things here are off the hook?) we became the "new rich" of Europe and nobody worried about the future (although we could have learn from previous bubbles with horrendous effects like Japan in the 90's)

20% of the existing jobs in 2007 don't exist anymore, hence the job seek is no longer useful for many people: they won't find a job because that job is simply not there anymore. Taking this into account, we have to look back in time and remember we were once a emigrant country: Switzerland, Germany, France...still have thousands of spanish families who went there to have a better future. Things have changed, the world has changed, you have to change too, Spain has to change:

There are many places where lots of opportunities are now available, are we also going to miss those opportunities? Middle East, BRIC countries, Europe (above the Pyrenees)...what make us refrain from trying whereas other much richer and developed countries are freely switching jobs, countries, continents...? This leads me to my second part of the "prescription" against the crisis:

Learn English, speak English, think English: Spain remains as one of the few countries where movies and series are not set in the original language and are dubbed into Spanish, eliminating one of the few chances that the static Spanish population has to listen something in a foreign language. But despite the 400 millions of hispanohablantes in the world, the world speaks English, from Dallas to Mumbai, from Manila to Finland, but we seem not to care about and some people still brag about not being able to say a single word in English...

Beyond our low level in English language is the fact that, in general, foreign languages terrorize Spaniards, and there's some background factor that must explain this (isolation during our dictatorship, Spanish pride, the "no other country like Spain to live" effect...?).

I want to believe that something is changing in this regard (mandatory English from primary school, internet, easiness to fly...) but reading things like this also discourage me...

But i was trying to "solve" the crisis: let's imagine a scenario where a considerable amount of people decide to try a better future abroad: our population will decrease, and the demand will adjust so we go back to levels of 10% (reasonable for Spain although still high for the rest of the EU).

Export Export, and then Export: Our industrial net will is badly damaged (no local demand, paralysis in the construction...) what to do? Let's focus on the exports, no more dependence on local demand or usual importers of our products. Let's encourage with subsidies to the exports our products to be sold abroad. We must create bonds with emergent economies to become their suppliers for quality products and "know how" and let's specially do it with the medium and small companies, those who are struggling to survive, Ribera de Duero's wines can compete with Bordeaux ones, Cava with Champaign, Cabrales cheese with Rochefort, construction materials...Let's not just believe that Spanish products are good, let's test it in new markets where the stereotypes of Spain are still those that you're thinking about. Working in the Middle East i could experience myself how Spain is still perceived as a friendly country but when it's time to talk about business we just don't count.

Think globally, act locally...or just think and act! I strongly disagree with the resignation of many Spaniards since the crisis started. it's socially accepted to quit searching and surrender to the eternal complain: there will be better times! It must be cultural, but at some point, rather than seeing riots in the street people just accepted it and pray for the crisis to pass...but, how to invert the tendency and send the message that times of crisis are good to try things that otherwise we would have never tried? Entrepreneurial ideas, a lush cultural and creative scenario, more NGO's volunteering...I may not be entitled to judge this, but my perception of the streets is resignation rather than persistence.

I know that the counterargument for many is easy: my view is rather pessimistic and doesn't invite to think in a better scenario in the short run...

But yes, there are also things that for a while leaves me the impression that things can change: A few weeks ago I spend the night in a beautiful hotel in Peratallada, the Hostal Blau, a beautiful medieval village in Gerona (Cataluña, Spain). There we had the chance to chat with the owner, Azucena, an under-30 madrilenian entrepreneur who decided one day to stay in this wonderful village and has recently undertaken the management of the hotel . She is now struggling to save the business because the number of visitors has decreased brutally due to the crisis...She is constantly thinking of new ideas (wine and food tasting, seminars, courses...) to regain the clientele she used to have...no credit or help whatsoever has been given to her to any of the numerous ideas she had in order to boost the business. If one day Azucena has to close down as she suspects, the loss will be not just one hotel less, but the loss of the hope of another young entrepreneur who, on the hard work basis, is actively doing something to get out of the hole. And that loss is not quantifiable in numbers and it doesn't show up in any indicator...

Today's song is We are kids, by Lacrosse. I went to their concert last Saturday, it was good, except for the audience constantly talking (is Spanish, of course)

Stars and how to be cyberstalked on Foursquare...the old debate about privacy or exposure

UK-led international team of astronomers have discovered the most massive stars to date, one which at birth had more than 300 times the mass of the Sun, with the name of R136a, frankly not a very attractive name considering we are talking about the largest piece of something existing in the universe as we know it so far.

Almost at the same time, I made another discovery almost as important as that, at least in this side of the universe: It is in this article in The Guardian about how easily you can be cyberstalked on Foursquare...scary!? For those who are not familiar with this social network, Foursquare allows you to "check in" in every place you go in your city, and getting some discounts by checking in hence visiting certain places, generally restaurants, cafes or bars. The thing is that the social network is made to let your friends know where you are and let you know where they are as well, but...what happens when you also have among your so called friends people who aren't, or are just acquintances? The writer of the article, Shea Sylvia, a frequent blogger and twitter user explains how she received a misterious call when she was in a restaurant from someone called Brian, who resulted to be also at that moment in that restaurant. of course Shea was scared to death and Brian never showed up, but that made her realized how expose we all are (me included, it's just that i don't have stalkers so far...) but actually...do we care?

We all have probably be involved in esterile debates about privacy admitting how easy is for anyone to know about you and how dangerous it is, but, are we restricting our comments on Facebook yelling we are here or there? The answer is no. Maybe we all need a stalker at a certain point to change some habits, but even with that, and as Shea says, in the long term we are not going to change our level of involvement in on-line communities whatsoever!

However, i would like to respectfully recommend Shea -and to you too dear readers- to think it twice when you click on "accept as a friend", at the end it is in your hands to open your data to whoever you want, it's needless to say that privacy options on Facebook are there for a reason and if you guys don't use them is because you just don't care...!

This is a song's blog, and these are today's picks: Miranda! is an Argentinian band almost unknown in Spain but very succesful across the ocean, and "Enamorada" with a very catchy melody that keeps lingers in my head and just pops out of it from time to time. Yo La Tengo's Autumn Sweater is (or should be) a classic of 20th century (of course i am biased, specially since i saw them again live in Madrid a few months ago for the second time 12 years after the first time - in the FIB 1998-)

Summer and Los Directivos

Finally writing again after some weeks of intellectual holidays, and after having seen Spain win the World Cup. This weekend is being the B-day parties weekend, seeing some people i haven't seen since 2008 when i went to live to Kuwait. By the way, people say it's a very hot summer, I shouldn't complain about this weather, my friends in Kuwait are struggling now with temperatures of...41º....during the night! 54º during day hours.

Although they shouldn't have released their album until next world cup (they promised to do it only when Spain got kicked off the world cup, which never happened) the new album by Los Directivos is finally available online. And why should i care about that? Because Los Directivos are actually friends of mine and because not every day friends of mine release an album. And because the album is freaking different. Sorry, foreign readers, but this album can be only understood by spaniards, and not by many, by the way. Referees, Olympic games, Guardiola, Royal family, Lofts...everything fits in the most subversive album since Derribos Arias released their "En la guía, en el listín" (GASA, 1983)

You can -and you must- download it at islam records, if you want to pretend you are cool, (although the songs are actually making fun of people like YOU or me), and because it is a matter of time that their songs start appearing on the worst programs in La Sexta or Telecinco (sometimes with the best music).

HOWEVER, i miss a number of things in the album:

- A song about Esperanza Aguirre

- A song with Iñaki singing

- A date for a future concert, which I am not sure if will be possible one day because one has become a father recently and lives abroad and the other isn't a father (as far as he knows), lives in Madrid but just don't like playing live.

Do listen to their album and don't ask questions, if Los Directivos say it, it must be right. Lo indie es lo indie y el resto es el resto.

Today's songs are here: http://www.islamrecords.com/

Casadellibro.com

The bookshop Casa del Libro was founded in 1923 and is currently the second bookseller in Spain after El Corte Inglés. Nowadays Casa Del libro has 22 bookshops all over Spain and 9 of them in Madrid. Since 1995 is selling books on the internet, at the beginning through a non-sofisticated web site and later in 1999 with a new technological plattform that turned out to be a fiasco because it couldn't be integrated by the consultants hired to develop a new business plan for casadellibro.com, due to mistakes during the design process.

In 2002 a meeting with Planeta, editorial owner of Casa Del libro, took place. in that meeting the board had to decide between two possibilities: To stick to the previously developed UNIX platform, or switch to a new Microsoft platform...In today's post i am going to shine a light on the following questions:

1. Would you stick to the previously developed UNIX platform, or switch to the new Microsoft one?

For the first question, I would have decided to shift for the new Microsoft platform. A hint of what should have been done can be found next 15th July when Libranda, the largest spanish platform for on-line books will be launched, containing (only) 2,000 books from the editorials Planeta, Random House Mondadori, Santillana, Roca Editorial, Grup62, SM, y Wolters Kluwer.

Libranda's web in its beta version describes (in spanish) its function:

"LIBRANDA es una plataforma que ofrece servicios auxiliares para la comercialización de contenidos digitales y para la promoción de los mismos. LIBRANDA actúa como un operador logístico que presta servicios de almacenaje y distribución digital a las editoriales y a las tiendas on-line. Su principal objetivo es poner a disposición de las tiendas on-line el contenido digital de las editoriales con las que trabaja. Paralelamente, y con el fin de aportar valor tanto a las editoriales como a las tiendas on-line con las que colabora, LIBRANDA ofrece herramientas de marketing digital para la promoción y la difusión de sus contenidos. El modelo de negocio de LIBRANDA permite respetar la cadena de valor del libro, promoviendo la labor cultural de los autores y agentes, de los editores y de los canales de venta del libro. En este sentido, LIBRANDA no vende directamente al público final. La labor de venta la desarrollan las tiendas on-line".

2. Which are the most relevant criteria for you to make the decision? Name each criterion and explain it very briefly.

My answer for the second question once I have decided that it would be more convenient to shift to the new Microsoft platform, based on the same ideas that LIBRANDA expect to accomplish in order to succeed (extracted from publishing perspectives and summarized the most important aspects below) in the on-line books market:

- Availability: Libranda's services are offered through 21 online stores and it is important to note that the ebooks will not be sold directly to end customers from this platform, Libranda is targeted at bookshops, who will in turn sell to consumers.

- Price settings open: All decisions about release timing and pricing, as well as negotiations with retailers on terms and discounting, are left up to individual publishers, which enables to each seller to develop a more competitive price strategy.

- Competitive advantage in prices: For me, the most important competitive advantage of having a new and strong platform is that the average e-book from Libranda will cost 20-30% below the print book price (about 6 euros for paperbacks and 11-14 euros for hardcovers).

- Growing number of e-books: Although the initial number of 2,000 e-books available at launch seems small, Libranda hopes to grow the number of titles to 8-10,000 by year’s end.

- Large number of downloads: The number of downloads is not limited to one file, but up to 12 devices: 6 desktop and 6 mobile files protected with Adobe ACS4 DRM that a. Individual publishers can put a lower limit on the number downloads if they choose. All files will reside in Libranda’s digital warehouse and will be sold exclusively through their online retail partners.

- Possible agreement with Tech Giants: In a future second phase the platform plans to negotiate agreements to offer their e-books through tech giants Apple, Amazon and Google (though publishers will have to kick in an extra 2% for this service), and will also contemplate different models including subscription, streaming and lending.

- Potential expansion to Latin America's market: Also in the cards for the immediate future is expansion of the platform into the rest of the Spanish-speaking world, planned for early 2011. Libranda is negotiating with publishers in Latin America and hopes to work with local online retailers and booksellers (some of which have a more mature market and established customer base than their counterparts in Spain).

- Possible VAT reduction to equalize with physical books:The VAT is stuck at 18% for any book without a physical component, though the Spanish government has promised the publishers it will fight in Brussels to convince EU regulators to reduce the rate for e-books to the same preferential 4% enjoyed in Spain by paper books.

- Space for smaller booksellers: Libranda will offer marketing tools like widgets and samples, though it’s up to publishers whether or how they will use these. The platform will also create white pages for booksellers who don’t have their own retail website set up.

- New Website — http://www.libranda.com — will allow readers to search for available titles but to purchase e-books they will have to go to one of the participating online stores. Publishers using the platform will be able to use the website to manage their catalog of titles, upload new books, and access sales figures.

- Break even in about 5 years: 2 million euros have been raised to set up the platform and request exclusive digital distribution rights from all participating publishers, though with some flexibility. Planeta’s Badenes admitted that the platform expects to lose money in the beginning and likely won’t turn a profit for the first five years.

All the above presents a favorable scenario and could have been applicable to the case in 2002, and probably without the pessimistic expectations that surrounds every new venture nowadays in Spain.

Brit sound for today's songs! "Michael Caine" by Madness has been my favorite song of the band, and "Something for the weekend" by Super Furry Animals is one of the songs that kept my attention for brit pop music in 1995 when this style was in his highest peak. Enjoy them!

TESCO to what extent do they enjoy an IT generated advantage? Where does it come from?

TESCO, this is getting complicated...(as a blog writer as well as for you dear readers) I promise that once the Information System sessions are over I will go back to a more day-to-day topics in this blog!

However, today's topic is: TESCO: to what extent do they enjoy an IT generated advantage? Where does it come from?

First of all: What is TESCO? TESCO is the largest supermarket chain in UK, and the second largest company in the food and drugs stories' industry in the world after Carrefour. it was founded in 1919 and is now present in 14 countries with 2,329 stores outside UK, and 2,329 stores only in UK.

TESCO has been characterized by being a value-for-money retailer since their commencements, which has been translated into different formulas to engage the customer and gain its loyalty: From the Green-shield stamps (every purchase you get a stamp and after several stamps you get cash or a gift) to the Club Card, with which the customers could accumulate points, convertible into vouchers, for every £5 that the customer expend for purchases exceeding £10. The importance of the Club Card as a way to collect data about TESCO's customers is crucial for the success of the company and created a trend among the mayor supermarkets and retailers worldwide, and it helps to understand my conclusions for the question at the end of this post.

Since March 2006, TESCO is undertaking a IT standardisation in order to prepare the path for a global expansion. Business processes and systems used for in-store planning in the UK have been chosen by Tesco executives as part of the global standardisation programme.

Tesco-in-a-box

TESCO has developed an operational model - a set of processes and technologies that is going to be used in its business around the world. For IT this involves four main areas: planning and architecture, development of systems, deploying systems, and operation and support of IT, as the Tesco group IT director Colin Cobain said, "Technology is an important part of the international growth strategy. What we want to do is create a common suite of processes and systems that we can use in all of our countries." This common suite of processes are integrated in what has been defined as "Tesco in a Box" . Philip A Greenwood, Head of IT Development and Support at Tesco defines it the following way: "We are now in the process of implementing a set of applications that include retail ERP (Retek), Teradata Data Warehousing Solution, reporting tools from Business Objects, a human resource solution from PeopleSoft and a finance package from Oracle Financials. We want to integrate these new systems and maintain a common database at a central location in the UK. The integration exercise will be known as ‘Tesco in a box’.

What TESCO is now doing is a good exemple of a necessary ERP, in first place, and a reasonable implementation in order to gain efficience by using the same processes throughout the thousands stores that TESCO has.

But, can we say that the expansion and success of TESCO is due to a policy of high investment in IT when the retail sector has been historically not a big spender on technology?

My conclusion for this post is that TESCO has a track record of using IT to perform better and with the time this has resulted in a competitive advantage: A case that illustrates this was when the company rolled out technology to improve its "one in front" initiative, consisting in installing cameras that use sophisticated thermal imaging technology to measure and predict customers' arrival at checkouts, enabling managers to react in real-time to ensure the right number of tills are open to deliver the best possible service to customers.

To analyze where does this advantage come from, in my opinion, TESCO, since the time they lauunched the Club Card, has understood the importance of the data that is collected from its clients when there is a purchase and the club Card is used. they have been able to understand customers' trends, analize the kind of buyers that benefit from the discounts or promotions and create a very detailed segmentation of its customers, which is clearly a competitive advantage of the use of IT in this sector.

What can be better for any retailer than knowing who, when and how its customers are purchasing their products? Hence, based on the experience of TESCO, it is fair to admit that a huge investment in IT is widely justified and has brought to the company a outstanding market position and revenues.

Today's song was posted in my FB profile some time ago, but here it goes again...This is the last dance

should companies be adapted to ERP or the other way round?

Today the crucial question is: Should companies be adapted to ERP or the other way round?

Maybe some of you don't know what an ERP is, but i am sure most of you have heard about SAP, or even dealt with it at your companies...

Let me, in first place, define what is an ERP: According to Wikipedia, "Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is an Integrated computer-based system used to manage internal and external resources including tangible assets, financial resources, materials, and human resources. It is a software architecture whose purpose is to facilitate the flow of information between all business functions inside the boundaries of the organization and manage the connections to outside stakeholders". Although this description gives more light about it:

What can ERP do for me?

ERP streamlines processes within your organization and helps you meet business needs more efficiently and quickly. To take a simple example, if you are a manufacturing concern, your ERP system comes into action from the point your sales representatives in different parts of the country or world, book orders, and feed them into the system. The system helps you track what inventory you have of raw material and finished goods, how much more you need, and how much time it will take you to deliver. Your customer service department can then use this to tell the customer when to expect his order. Your manufacturing department uses the same information to set its production schedules, hire temporary staff, and so on. Your finance department uses it to arrange for money, collect money from previous customers, or pay suppliers. As the goods are produced, the packaging and logistics department can gear up for shipping. Customers can track the shipping status online.

As per my personal experience, I have worked in two companies with ERP systems...and in both cases the experience was painful because I had the chance to work by the time the ERP was renewed and updated or implemented for the first time...so i am biased when i am asked if the company should adapt to the ERP or vice verse: I truly think the ERP should be adapted to the company needs, but I am also aware that the fact that an organization has been working for decades (in my case, FCC Construcción) without any of these tools doesn't mean that there is nothing to improve in the organization of the company!

However, and specially for big corporations, my opinion is that an ERP must be adapted to the needs of the company in order to be fully efficient. If we take into consideration that a ERP has been designed by a limited group of people and for very different types of companies...how can we rely on this tool to manage a giant like, for instance, FCC (more than 60,000 employees).

The cost of a non-effective implementation or just a substantial delay in reaching a cruise speed in the use of the ERP is definitely much higher than an initial rethinking of the tool in order to adapt it to the reality of the Firm.

In order to provide a more detailed answer and to summarize this post, these are the steps that should be follow can be found in the image attached:

Diagnosis

Detection of points if existing processes to be improved

Development of new processes

Development of ERP Information System

Incorporation of Logistics

Training of users

Pilot application

Improvements

Delivery of ERP in full operation



Today's song is because we are not angels...

What Dell should do? Me in Dell's shoes for the "Dell Hell' case.

Hmmm...in my last post i should have debated what would I do as Dell in the case of Jeff Jarvis, but actually i did it the other way round, putting myself in the shoes of Jeff, now I am DELL and this is what i would do:

(If you dear readers haven't got a clue about what i am talking about, read my last post or just the following lines where i explain the case of Jeff Jarvis and his war against Dell)

In 2005, a blogger called Jeff Jarvis posted in his blog Buzzmachine the purchase of a Dell laptop along with the most complete guarantee available for the item purchased. Right after receiving his laptop, it turned out to be a lemon: it didn't work, so he called to get the assistance he paid for, but they were unable to fix the problem at home and they had to take the laptop with them...this was just the beginning of the story: Dell service resulted to be completely incompetent to fix the problem, which was extended for months...and Jeff Jarvis started blogging about that: dozens, and then hundreds of comments in his blog transcended the blog sphere, and magazines like the Business Week started highlighting the case, the issue became so popular and powerful to the point that the stock price of Dell went significantly down when the news were spread in the magazines...

But, let's suppose for a second that I am a decision maker in Dell and i have to decide how to go about this guy that all of a sudden has mobilized the whole media against my company: what to do?

First of all, it is interesting to know what is actually Dell doing right now: did they learn from the experience? It seems they did: In a presentation by Lionel Menchaca, Chief Blogger at Dell in 2007, 2 years after the Dell Hell Case, the sensitivity towards the customers was definitely a core issue, as per the following conclusions (Taken from Customer Think and its blogger Mei Lin Fung) i have selected the most relevant for the case:

• Customers are in control. Work with them and learn from them.
• Address any form of dissatisfaction head on.
• Be aware that any conversation can become global at any time.
• Size doesn't matter—relevance does. Just as one journalist can trigger a newscycle, one blogger can do the same.
• Don't be afraid to apologize.
• Develop direct links to customer community (IdeaStorm for Dell), listen for how we can improve.
• One customer is part of many communities.
• Teamwork, transparency and frequent consistent communication are key in this new world.
• No shortcuts are possible. Implementing business change requires much effort across departments.
• Which leads to the new impetus at Dell to ... Engage our people to make it work
  
• Tools are important but people drive processes.
• Feedback digital media tools for email and chat, inside and outside of Dell, are becoming as vital as call data and traditional online support.
• Working globally means anticipating difficulties and always requires coordination with regional team members to adapt central core solutions to the local situation.

Well, reading all the above, i can affirm that that I would have chosen those as a proper way to go about the problem.

But what is not written above is the nature of these good intentions in what regards to Dell's customers: is Dell just reacting to save face or there is a true intention to offer a good customer service and avoid problems like that?

As I am the decision maker in Dell (CEO for a day...!) I would try to implement the above with a "customer service within a customer service". Means that a regular survey should be followed to include comments, failures, suggestions, improvings...proposed by Dell Customer Service's staff. What do I get with this? A service that takes himself seriously and believes in their nature: provide solutions for customers who believed in Dell as the right choice for their needs.

To conclude for the case of Jeff Jarvis, the actions to be taken would have been the following:

1) Detection of the unsatisfactory outcome of JJ's laptop by a survey team who is constantly tracking the web.
2) Analysis of the reports sent about the state of JJ laptop's fixing.
3) Once concluded the iterative failure of the laptop, immediate substitution or reimbursement to JJ.
4) Letter to apologize for the inconveniences.
5) Extended and free-of-charge guarantee for the new product in case JJ decides to accept the new Dell laptop.
6) Wrap up the story for further study in training new employees of the Customer service.

A few sentences that I have found that make so much sense to end the post:

In business you get what you want by giving other people what they want.
ALICE MACDOUGALL

Customers don’t expect you to be perfect.
They do expect you to fix things when they go wrong.
DONALD PORTER

Customer service is not a department, it's an attitude!
UNKNOWN

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