In Asia, the CFO knows
The CEO may be the final authority on where employees work, how they call clients and how they'll spend their retirement, but in general the CFO holds sway over decision making in Asian businesses, especially when it comes to banking relationships, according to findings from the 1998 Asian Corporate Banking Study (ACBS), conducted by the Corporate Banking & Investment Research division of AMI, a Hong Kong-based group of research companies.
The survey found that, on average, the CFO is the most influential corporatedecision maker at 27 percent, compared to the CEO at 22 percent. Areas where the CEO overrides the CFO in final decisions are telecom munications (24 percent), property (33 percent), management consultants (33 percent) and company pensions (25 percent).
When it comes to initiating a banking relationship, however, it's the CFO who rules. On average 42 percent of CFOs make the decisions in this area, compared to 8 percent of CEOs. When asked what products and services CFOs think are the most important for their banks to have, cash management led at 83 percent, followed by debt finance/corporate lending at 72 percent and foreign exchange at 70 percent.
"This is an important change from the pre-crisis years where the banking relationship was usually cemented on a credit line," says Peter Record, general manager of AMI CBl. "Those days are over and now cash management is king as corporations in these troubled times look to manage their company's finances more carefully."
However when CFOs were asked what were the most important discriminating factors influencing their choice of bank, aside from foreign exchange, what really mattered was the quality of service, delivery of products and people who manage the banking relationship. Responsiveness is the top discriminator (100 percent), followed by relationship managers (93 percent) and service (91 percent). ACBS 98 covers the following markets: China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand. The study explores the effects of the Asian economic crisis on the region's banking sector, and was based on interviews with 500 CFOs and treasurers.
Numbers in signs sell groceries
As reported in Consumer PI. the newsletter of the Food and Brand Lab at the University of Illinois, Champaign, III., research conducted by the Lab found that shoppers will buy more of a given product when there is a number in the sign promoting it. For example, a sign that says "Limit 6 per person" is much more effective than a sign without numbers. The Food and Brand Lab study examined 43 different types of numeric signs in Chicago, Philadelphia, and Sioux City, Iowa, stores. Signs with high purchase limits ("Limit 12 per person") doubled the number of products a person purchased. This behavior was constant across canned goods, snacks, and other inexpensive. non-perishable items. Signs with suggestive selling ("Buy 12 for the weekend") increased sales from 42 to 118 percent for a chain of Philadelphia convenience stores. Multiple unit pricing (3 for $3 vs. $1 each) increased sales by 35 percent for 12 of 13 products in Chicago stores. With the popularity of Joyalty clubs and an emphasis on building core brand franchise, attention is shifting to how point-ofpurchase displays can increase sales to indi vidual customers. Four years of POP studies indicate that numeric signs make sales add up.
Open-air markets important to Russian economy
Data supplied GfK Market Research Russia points out the importance of open-air markets to sales of consumer good in Russia. There are 4,500 open markets in Russia with almost a million stands/kiosks/ containers. Retailing and distribution in Russia is very different from mature markets. To get a full picture of the Russian market, you must understand the role of open markets and kiosks, the firm reports.
The open market was formerly an open hypermarket with a large range of products. But crisis has reduced capital and trade terms. Money must now be invested in quick turnover, volume products. That means concentrating on the bulk, essential items and dropping the impulse products. Distribution has moved from the open market to kiosks and small food retailers. This can be explained by the change of shopping habits.
Sales of snacks in open markets have dropped 10.5 percent: in small shops, sales have increased by 15.7 percent. Personal care items have seen a jump from 7 percent to 9 percent in sale via street vendor (28.6 percent).
There has been little change in the structure of the types of outlets. The three most important channels are: open markets, 22.4 percent; kiosks, 20.2 percent; small food retailers, 18.1 percent.
However the importance of the kiosks, a sector which had been expected to decline, now seems set to continue for a number of years. Street vendors, at 9.4 percent of expenditure, are of the same importance as the larger outlets combined.
Expenditure on carbonated soft drinks (Coca-Cola, Pepsi, etc.) has dropped year-on-year by 22 percent. The other main drop is in personal care, down 15.4 percent. This is part of the move back to basic, essential products ("What do I really need?" "Let's buy it in bulk and buy it cheap."). Dairy, soups, wash products are unchanged. The winners are confectionery items, up 30 percent, and fats, up 21.4 percent.
Employees pat themselves on the back
A study conducted by Ellison Research, Phoenix, Ariz., shows that American employees give themselves pretty high marks for their own job performance. The nationwide survey was conducted for the national business publication The Life@WorkJournal.
Respondents - all of whom were employed at least 25 hours per week - were asked to rate their performance in various areas of their work, using the traditional A-F school grading system.
Fifty-two percent of all employees would give their overall performance at work an A grade. Most of the rest (44 percent) gave themselves a B. Just 4 percent rated their own performance as average, while less than I percent gave themselves a D or an F.
Surprisingly, there were not a lot of differences among different types of workers in how they rated their own performance. Grades did not vary dramatically by the size of the company they worked in, how many hours per week they worked, whether they managed other employees, what region they lived in, household income, or even by whether they owned their own business.
There was a slight difference by age - employees under 30 years old were slightly less likely than average to give themselves an A grade (46 percent), while those in their 30s were slightly more likely to do so (57 percent). (Workers 40 and older were average in their grades.) Women also tended to be more complimentary of their own work than did men (57 percent to 46 percent, respectively, with an A grade).
Respondents also were asked to grade themselves in a number of individual areas related to their job performance. As shown in the chart, while they often saw areas of particular strength or weakness in their work, rarely did their grades in any area dip below B level (figures do not include a handful of people who gave "don't know" responses in each question - 2 percent or less for each area).
One interesting finding was that lower-income employees gave themselves much lower grades for problem-solving abilities (41 percent with an A grade) than did middle-income (55 percent) and higher-income (66 percent) employees. People who managed other workers also rated themselves more highly in problemsolving than did non-managers (61 percent to 45 percent with an A grade).
Another question in the study showed that 74 percent of all American workers felt strongly that "the ability to solve problems well is necessary to be in leadership in the work world."
"Just from this study, we can't say that a lack of problem-solving abilities at work leads to lower household incomes," says Ron Sellers, president of Ellison Research. "However, this difference is certainly noteworthy. It also points out that many people at lower levels on the employ ment ladder find themselves somewhat lacking in a skill they also feel is essential in order to move up that ladder."
Companies and business schools would do well to consider problem-solving as an essential skill to be included in job training, Sellers says.
Student travelers shop around
In order to save time and money when planning upcoming travel, more than 60 percent of students surveyed shopped around, either at other travel agencies (59 percent) or on the Internet (23 percent), according to a survey by STA Travel, a Los Angeles-based student travel organization. Nearly 20 percent contacted airlines directly.
STA Travel commissioned Roper Starch Worldwide in the summer of 1998 to conduct a customer satisfaction study to determine what STA Travel's clientele (predominantly undergraduate and graduate students and young budget travelers) look for when booking travel. Roper Starch contacted 847 individuals in the U.S. who either reserved or paid for a trip using STA Travel within a two-month period of the study.
The study also queried participants about their use of technology. Over 70 percent of those questioned own a personal computer, and 79 percent have access to the Internet. Of those with Internet access, 92 percent had used the Internet to research an item; 37 percent reserved an item on-line, and 35 percent had purchased an item on-line.
When it comes to selecting a travel agent, convenience of the location is a key factor for 75 percent of those questioned, particularly those using STA Travel locations on or near college campuses. Convenient hours of operation were also a top noted factor for 85 percent of those questioned, particularly among those who book through STA Travel's toll-free reservations center. In addition, 69 percent of respondents felt that having a large selection of travel options/packages was an important factor in selecting an agency. Moreover, 64 percent noted the importance of participation in a global network of agencies as a key selection factor (so travelers can seek assistance abroad at any network office), while 60 percent also noted the importance of booking with a nationally recognized company.
An overwhelming majority (92 percent) of those questioned is either very or somewhat likely to travel six or more hours away by air outside the United States within the next three years. When asked "What three countries are you most likely to visit next" the United Kingdom (36 percent), France (26 percent) and Italy (19 percent) were most often cited, followed by Spain (17 percent), Australia (12 percent) and Germany (12 percent). Ten percent also cited Mexico as a country they are most likely to visit.
Seniors not sold on on-line drug stores
Seniors who have visited on-line drugstores and pharmacies are unlikely to return for over-the-counter medications or prescriptions, according to Westport, Conn.-based Greenfield Online's July national Surfing Seniors study of 1,200 people 55 and older. Some 32 percent have visited a drugstore site, but 56 percent said that they are not very likely to buy products through these sites in the future.
Only 9 percent purchased prescription drugs when visiting an on-line store, while over twice as many purchased over-the-counter products.
Marriage not the end of romance and freedom
Dispelling an old myth, Americans say that marriage is not the end of romance, nor does it mean giving up freedom, according to a survey released by TNS Intersearch, the U.S. headquarters of the UK-based Taylor Nelson Sofres group. The "Marriage Survey" was a nationwide telephone survey of 1,000 adults, ages 18 and older, conducted in July. The survey found that romance and freedom are two of the five most important ingredients in a successful marriage, according to Americans both married and unmarried. Heading the top-five list were mutual respect and trust, open and regular communication, marital fidelity, and sensuality.
While the key elements to a successful marriage are nearly universal among Americans, the study showed that attitudes surrounding "what's okay and what's not," vis-a-vis living arrangements and having children, vary widely by age, gender, education, household income, marital status, race and location. The issues of living together, having children outside of marriage and working mothers are the most controversial. Overall, half of study respondents agreed that it's okay for a man and a woman to live together outside of marriage. But men were far more supportive of this idea than women (60 percent of men agreed with this statement versus 45 percent of women). Acceptance of the idea also declined greatly with age (73 percent among 18-34-year-olds versus 19 percent among those 65 and older). Other issues explored included unmarried parents. While most Americans (67 percent) frown on this lifestyle choice, adults over age 55 and in the Midwest and South are more likely to oppose this idea.