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[7.02.10] Fuller Named President of Alliance for Women in Media: Noted Non-Profit Strategist and Women’s Leader to Serve in Key Role
The Alliance for Women In Media (formerly known as American Women in Radio and Television), today announced recognized women’s advocate and non-profit strategist Erin M. Fuller, CAE as its new president, effective immediately.
Fuller serves as group president at The Coulter Companies, a firm that specializes in working with non-profit organizations in transformative ways and serves as the professional management company for the Alliance for Women in Media. Fuller previously served as the chief staff executive for former Coulter client the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO).
“Erin is a known leader and expert in business planning, market analysis and brand development for high-potential non-profit organizations – and we look forward to her leadership during this pivotal time of organizational change and growth,” said Alliance for Women in Media Chair Sylvia Strobel, Esq. “As a proven leader in the women’s community, Erin appreciates our organization’s past ground-breaking achievements, and how best to pair them with a new plan to accelerate the power of all women in media.”
Fuller is a recognized leader in both the non-profit and women’s communities, having served in various capacities on the boards of the American Society of Association Executives’ Center for Association Leadership, the Journal for Association Leadership, Women Under Forty Political Action Committee, and the Wells Fargo Women’s Advisory Board, among others. She also serves on American University’s Women in Politics Institute’s Directors’ Circle. A noted speaker on women’s issues, she has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR’s Marketplace, BBC’s America and has appeared on MSNBC and ABC News to discuss gender parity issues.
“I am deeply honored to serve and lead the Alliance for Women in Media during this dynamic time of change and opportunity,” said Fuller. “As a blogger, speaker and consummate consumer of all types of media, I recognize the importance of both protecting and honoring the important contributions that women have made – as well as shining a light on those that are blazing a trail in front of us via cutting edge content, new methods of delivery and exceptional talent.”
Fuller has consulted for groups including the American Society of Women Accountants, the National Council of Jewish Women, and the Center for Women’s Business Research. Her previous positions include stints with the Community Associations Institute, Accenture and the American Medical Student Association. Fuller completed both her undergraduate and graduate degrees at American University in Washington, D.C. and has obtained the prestigious Certified Association Executive designation from the American Society of Association Executives.
[4.26.10] Outsourcing on the Rise – But Trouble May Lie Ahead – According to Research by Op2i, a London Based Research and Advisory Firm
With outsourcing becoming a necessary evil for business sector recovery and public sector spending reform post recession, appetite for outsourcing has increased by 20% from last year, but not necessarily offshoring, to the dismay of offshore supplier organizations, according to Op2i’s Outsourcing 2010 survey report released today.
Whilst interest in outsourcing has increased, focus has yet again shifted to cost reduction, with suppliers pressured to deliver more for less – the U-turn from strategic to tactical outsourcing has the potential to push outsourcing back a decade, if the industry does not heed the warnings.
There’s been a shift in the perception of the main driver for outsourcing, away from productivity and efficiency (from 40% to 34%) towards cost cutting (from 46% to 58%).
Both improved performance and quality appear to have dropped from 20% and 13% to 13% and 5% respectively. With a race to deliver services at the lowest cost, performance and quality appear to have been sacrificed. This may well have a detrimental effect in the longer run, as the market picks up and customers seek to differentiate based on quality and performance.
Whereas organizations were happy to invest up front in transition and transformation activities with payback within 3 to 5 years, customers now expect payback within 18 months, and ideally don’t want to invest / spend any money up front. The public sector seems to be following a similar course.
With the success rate of outsourcing somewhere in the range 40-60%, (failing programs being the result of poor decision or program governance) we are likely to see the failure rate rise as more organizations extend this cost focus to decision and program governance.
The best approach to reducing the risks from outsourcing remains the development of a partnership relationship between customer and supplier (at 72%). Strong contracts (at 11%) follow, but significantly dwarfed by the partnership approach.
There appears to be little change, albeit a slight increase in those considering good governance as being the best means of achieving a low risk outsourcing project implementation, from 46% last year to 52%. Governance (whether this is monitoring SLAs, escalation procedures or dispute resolution procedures) is ranked highly both within the business and academic world as a determination of success. Whereas last year governance mediated by an experienced specialist was ranked highest, this year a governance model negotiated with the vendor features on top.
Op2i research suggests the key to successful cost focused outsourcing programs is a rigorous approach to decision and program governance across the organization. Successful outsourcing is dependent on having an inclusive decision process that involves all stakeholders in both the decision and ongoing governance, and one which documents and links contractual and performance obligations to the original drivers for outsourcing. Op2i sees this as a critical measure for successful public sector expenditure reform through outsourcing.
Dr Bharat Vagadia, CEO Op2i commented: “There have been significant cost pressures on outsourcing deals, many renegotiating existing deals and new comers seeing cost cutting as the only real driver. Business transformation is dead for now, but may well reappear as organizations realize that a pure focus on cost will lead to adversarial relationships, and may well lead to lower quality”.
“The outsourcing decision making process must be done rigorously, otherwise you end up fighting a lost cause, trying to stop a runaway juggernaut. The decision making process must be all encompassing, assessing all options; for outsourcing is not always the answer”.
[4.26.10] Luxury Travel Vietnam Group Eyes Adventure Travel
The Conde Nast Traveler report states that in the past year, there has been a spike in educational experiences and adventure as a motivation for travel.
Conde Nast Traveler describes that adventure travel is no longer solely about risky extreme sports, but about culture, learning and experiencing life.
Adventure is defined as going to exotic, far away destinations (84%), exposure to new and different cultures 84%, outdoor/spots activities (54%), safari (49%), not having a planned itinerary (45%) Ecotourism/Poorrism/Voluntourism (25%), extreme sports (20%).
Luxury Travel Company intends to expand its product range by creating three more specialist brands.
The company already has seven niche brands, planned to eventually launch product lines for the adventure, events and gay and lesbian market segments.
The adventure travel division, will most likely be launched at the end of this year. This new brand to launch for niche markets with new niche tourism products.
“We are constantly germinating ideas and looking out for opportunities. We can create a new brand for them and let them behave like small independent businesses as part of our ‘string of pearls’ strategy,” said Dav Nguyen, sales and marketing manager of Luxury Travel.
[4.25.10] SoMuchCheaper.com Introduces a Revolutionary New Way to Shop Online
Skill Shopping is a vast improvement on tradition auction site models for many reasons. Other sites inevitably see a flurry of bids during the closing seconds of an auction, and users are often frustrated to find that their bids were wasted when someone else manages to click the bid button a fraction of a second later to win the item.
By contrast, the idea of Skill Shopping means that any user can purchase an item they want at any time. Once a user has revealed the price of an item they can quickly and easily compare that price against that offered by other retailers, allowing them to make an educated purchase when the price seems sufficiently cheap. Each time a user reveals the price the item gets even cheaper. Waiting too long may allow other bidders to get to it first, so the savvy shopper can get great discounts by using their shopping skills to buy at the right time.
The site lists an array of products in dozens of categories, including cars and motorbikes, electronics, jewelry, toys, video games and travel vouchers. Discount shoppers can register with the site at no cost, purchase a number of credits and then browse the various categories or perform a search for their desired item.
The ability to purchase an item instantly also means that the site is a practical way to shop online. Finding a bargain is not based on chance, and there is no need to wait days for an auction to end before your item ships.
Somuchcheaper.com also features online rewards and a referral system, allowing users to earn free credits the more they shop.
With a “cheaper than retail” guarantee and pioneering Skill Shopping as a fairer way to find a bargain, SoMuchCheaper.com looks set to position itself as a leader in internet auction sites.
[2.09.10] Post-Super Bowl Social Media Research Shows Motorola, Doritos, Hyundai, and Dove Most Powerful Ads
The “LBi Social Media Deep Impact” study, released today, shows Motorola, Doritos, Hyundai, Dockers and Dove had the highest increases in social media traffic for their category among almost 40 brands advertising during the Super Bowl. The research shows the highest increase in traffic among smaller or new brands, but even large advertisers such as Coca-Cola, Google and Intel saw significant increases in social media mentions.
The study was conducted by LBi Atlanta. These results are part of an ongoing study that will examine the lasting effects of Super Bowl ads on digital conversation. The agency will continue to examine the impact on conversation volume and sentiment seven days after the Super Bowl, 30 days after and then six months after.
Research highlights from the day after the Super Bowl include:
Every Super Bowl advertiser generated more conversation the day after the Big Game than it had in the previous six months. The smaller, newer or lesser known the brand was, the higher the index of the number of blog mentions the day after compared to the previous six months.
The ads with the most impact on increase in brand mentions were not necessarily the ones that viewers considered to be their favorites.
Motorola indexed highest amongst global brands in high consideration categories.
Doritos and Budweiser indexed highest among Consumer Packaged Goods.
Hyundai indexed the highest amongst car manufacturers.