I will take from marketing Theodore Levitt's classic article "The Myopia of Marketing" the question that has been asked by executives of every corporation since the 1960s (when Levitt wrote that article in the Harvard Business Review, HBR July-August 1960, in http://pedronni.weebly.com/uploads/2/6/4/2/2642906/en_qu%C3%A9_negocio_est%C3%A1_usted.pdf) "What business are you in", to explain the behavior of the Venezuelan opposition political class to go against their adversaries on the same sidewalk, instead of going against the regime which is the common enemy of all Venezuelans.
Those who are not familiar with this discipline may be unaware that Levitt is considered the "Father of Marketing" because of this famous concept that indicates that "Executives must see themselves not as product creators, but as providers of value-creating customer satisfaction. They must drive this idea (and all that it means and requires) into every nook and cranny of the organization. They have to do it continuously and in a style that excites and stimulates people in it From there was born for the first time the approach directed to the client not to the product, that many people and companies forget and therefore they fail.
An example of this is given by Levitt himself in his article: "People don't really buy gasoline. They can't see it, taste it, feel it, appreciate it, or actually taste it. What they buy is the right to keep driving their cars. The gas station is like a tax collector to whom people are forced to pay a periodic fee as a price for using their cars..."... "Hence, companies working on exotic fuel substitutes, which will eliminate the need for frequent refueling, are going straight into the open arms of irritated motorists... That said, in the 1960s it was an absolutely revolutionary concept. It was not even thought that electric cars would exist in the future. If we apply Levitt's example literally to gasoline in Venezuela, it is easy to understand why people regard gasoline as a commodity of greater value than food itself because the regime is curtailing their right to continue driving their vehicles.
An example of this is given by Levitt himself in his article: "People don't really buy gasoline. They can't see it, taste it, feel it, appreciate it, or actually taste it. What they buy is the right to keep driving their cars. The gas station is like a tax collector to whom people are forced to pay a periodic fee as a price for using their cars..."... "Hence, companies working on exotic fuel substitutes, which will eliminate the need for frequent refueling, are going straight into the open arms of irritated motorists... That said, in the 1960s it was an absolutely revolutionary concept. It was not even thought that electric cars would exist in the future. If we apply Levitt's example literally to gasoline in Venezuela, it is easy to understand why people regard gasoline as a commodity of greater value than food itself because the regime is curtailing their right to continue driving their vehicles.
What business are the official opposition politicians in today's Venezuela in? Understanding by "business" what they do, there is no doubt that at present it is not to the satisfaction of our needs as their consumers of public policies. They stopped long ago thinking of us as those consumers for the improvement of our quality of life, but to position themselves as best they can at the other's expense to make their access to power increasingly possible, forgetting that it is we, Venezuelans, who grant that privilege and right by being the Depositaries of the Popular Sovereignty.
They see themselves, as Levitt said, as "creators of products" and not as "providers of valuable satisfaction" for us. And what products are those? Their own faces! They insist on selling themselves better than others and they trip over each other to get closer to a position of power. The problem for them IS NOT MATURE, it is the possibility that someone else will take away their opportunity to access the power of the first. It is a race for whoever gets there first no matter what happens to the Venezuelans. That would explain many things that have happened in Venezuela.
Why is the majority of the opposition's political leadership against Guaidó and the decision of the Government in charge of holding a Popular Consultation? (and it's not that I think the President in charge is better or worse than the others). Because for them the problem is not really the Popular Consultation, it IS GUAIDO. And that puts Venezuela on the edge of a precipice. They do not tolerate that there can be a remote hope that this instrument will end up serving to displace the narcoterrorist regime and consequently it will be Guaidó who ends up occupying a Presidency in Charge without Maturity in Miraflores, with all the prerogatives of a President in office.
The official opposition politicians in today's Venezuela are in the wrong "business" and the worst thing for everyone is that they think they are doing well. The prolongation of this ordeal is due to the fact that it has not been possible for them to agree on a coherent and unified policy of satisfaction for us Venezuelans, that is capable of bringing down the regime once and for all. And there is no way to convince them, and I don't think that will change in the short term. The solution would be, as an experienced politician told me, "let them all go! It will be...
And even if they leave - which I don't think they will - the problem remains. New actors are needed who do understand the needs of the consumers of policies, because they will be absolutely necessary for the new Venezuela that is to come. We Venezuelans cannot stay with this serious problem, and to the extent that we solve it with new participants we will renew the hope of a different country.
To the official Venezuelan opposition politicians it will unfortunately happen like the railroad industry of the 1960s mentioned by Theodore Levitt in his famous article: "The railroads did not stop growing because the need for transportation of passengers and cargo diminished. It grew. The railroads are now in trouble not because that need has been met by others (cars, trucks, planes, and even telephones), but because it was not met by the railroads themselves. They let others take away their customers because they assumed they were in the railroad business, rather than the transportation business. The reason they defined their industry incorrectly was that they were railroad-oriented, not transportation-oriented; product-oriented, not customer-oriented..... Politicians still think they are in the "railroad business" when the business is customer satisfaction (i.e., us). Do the math. You're headed for failure. They didn't die but others took their place in meeting their needs. And so it will be in a new future Venezuela that we will build together...
Caracas, November 25, 2020
Blog: http://ticsddhh.blogspot.com/
Email: luismanuel.aguana@gmail.com
Twitter:@laguana
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario