New Rules For A New Generation

By Dr Graeme Codrington

We live in an increasingly commoditised world. In almost every industry, the competitors are becoming more and more difficult to tell apart. Consider your own company and your competitors. You sell very similar products and services (I know you probably have a whole raft of reasons why you are better than them, but be honest - from a customer's perspective - it's really hard to tell you all apart). You sell those products at similar prices, offering similar quality guarantees, distributing them through similar (sometimes even the...

...same) channels, advertising in the same media using similar techniques and, in many industries, you even swap staff with your competitors every few years. So tell me again, where is your competitive advantage?

Gaining and sustaining a competitive advantage has never been more difficult than it is now. Your competitive advantage has less and less to do with what you sell and more and more to do with the "softer" issues of who you are and how you sell. It may be a cliché, but it certainly is true, the soft stuff is the hard stuff these days. One of the keys to success in the 21st century is to understand the new generation of young people who are both staff and customers of our companies. Born after 1980, these young people have grown up with vastly different motivators, value sets and worldviews to their parents, and these attitudes and expectations impact how they relate to your organisation.


Ethical Consumers

As your customers, they are no longer just concerned about buying a good product or service at a fair price, and having it easily available. In addition to these factors, they are also concerned... continued on page two >

 

 

Advertisement

Advertisement