Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/63810
other cultures and languages because of the massive size and resources of this country. we've got to think more strategically about their career paths very early on. regard to local knowledge of culture. It's one of our com- petitive advantages. You've said that one of the keys to global success in business is understanding channels of distribu- tion. Can you talk about how distribution channels must be complementary? It used to be that everything was focused on the product. Now, there are so many channels of distribution that compa- nies not only must focus on their products, but also on their channel strategies. They have to control their channels and have multiple channels. For example, about a third of the population in the U.S. Internet, at a kiosk in a mall, or at a Tupperware party, our local distributor in Kansas City would say, "I don't care—just so she buys it." And we did that by giving that distributor a piece of the action no matter how the product is sold. likes to go to Tupperware parties. Other people like to buy over Amazon.com. We know that the average Amazon.com customer makes $100,000 a year. That's not the person who usually goes to a home party. We've decided to attack chan- nels and have them co-exist so that consumers of all groups In the management education field, technology has changed the way courses are designed and deliv- ered. How has technology changed the working life of the global executive? I'm sitting here with voice mail and e-mail right beside me, a Blackberry on my body, and teleconfer- encing capabilities on my desk. These are incredible enablers. Technology allows me to keep more plates spinning in a broader Technology allows me to keep more plates spinning in a broader area and have access to our products. It could be two percent here and four percent there, but all of a sudden that's a big number. You've added other distribution channels, such as the Home Shopping Network and Internet sales. How have you made these distribution channels complement the efforts of your home-based sales- people, instead of offering them competition? How you solve the channel conflict is one of the major things business school faculty are talking about now. You take care of channel conflict by sharing. For every one of our distribution channels, we made our area and still have a life. Tomorrow I'm playing in a golf tour- nament. I know that if something critical hap- pens while I'm out of the office, my Black- berry will buzz. still have a life. Tommy Lee Jones is tracking down Harrison Ford's charac- ter for killing his wife. In one scene, Harrison turns to Tommy Lee and says, "You don't understand! I didn't kill my wife!" And Tommy Lee says, "I don't care." We had to create a strategy so that whether the consumer decided to buy a product on the Home Shopping Network, on the sales force our partners. If a customer calls the Home Shopping Network and places an order, guess what? Part of the commission is split between all our distributors. They say, "Man, that's a new income source." Every time we come up with a new approach, they know they're our part- ners in that approach. In the movie "The Fugitive," the character played by The Internet and other forms of technology have destroyed most of the barriers to international busi- ness, which is the good news. The bad news is that now any business can enter the global market. What should business schools teach about how to stay internationally competitive today? It used to be that to have a competitive advantage, you had to be a low-cost supplier, you had to have a product differ- entiation, or you had to be the only one in the market. Now, there are more and more competitors who also understand low cost and product differentiation. And these competitors are present—they've showed up. In the past, a lot of compa- nies used to win by forfeit because they were the only game in town. Today's corporations, however, have to deal with a whole new set of dynamics. They have to have a 360-degree view of the whole market. ■ z BizEd MARCH/APRIL 2002 17