GROWTH; CAPTURING OPPORTUNITIES
Concept of “Growing”, is one of the major topics, which have been occupying the agenda of investors as well as the developing countries since the second half of 20th century.
Today, ¾ of the 6 billion people in the world, still live in underdeveloped countries or in countries which are still developing. It is foreseen that there will be an increase above 8,5 trillion dollars income per household, for the developing countries within the next 10 years. 117 of the top 500 multinational companies direct their investments on these economies, and China, which has the biggest population in the world and also the fastest developing economy, is the favorite of investors. India and China markets own a %40 percentage by themselves for target growth of multinational companies and investors. By the year 2020, Turkey will have taken its place in the front rows between the developing economies.
Opportunities are big, but the obstacles standing in front of these opportunities are as big as them. When the difficulties we face while entering to developing markets are factored in; the popular opinion among the companies for growing up in these markets is that the only ways are “reducing the costs” and “trading down”. Nonetheless, the difficulties may seem daunting, investors refuses to believe this popular opinion, and they try to actualize the new business models and business approaches, which will turn possible marketing opportunities into advantages within the markets that has a high growing ratio.
“The best way to design the future is to create it”
In this competitive scenery, it is important to determine to where the different markets will be located in regard of consumption for certain products and services. Another important factor to be successful in developing markets are “shaping the future” and “developing new markets”. Despite the fact that creating a competitive advantage is easy for both the company and the consumer, it is also something very hard to do. Companies which will be able to catch up with the expected growth rate in this period, will be the companies, which will be able to define the not-yet provided necessities within the developing markets and which are able to explore a way to change their business models according to these markets, instead of competing over the prices of existing products and services.
At the moment, We Are Living in a lot more Globalized World
Some countries, which we can count Turkey among, have become a part of the world economy during the globalization period. Foreign investments are prominent as a very important economic factor for Turkey. Turkey, gradually both receives more technology from abroad and also gets into competition with other countries that are around the same income level. For Turkey or any other developing country, one of the most important advantages for a globalizing country is, receiving foreign investments or foreign technology in a much faster way. Turkey is passing through a lucky period, indeed. When compared with other economies, it is one of the rare companies which the economy has a growth rate of approximately %10 due to the trust of new reforms being applied. Of course, inflation which has a decline trend, is an advantage for us. For an economy with high inflation, there is a huge uncertainty and this uncertainty circumvents the investments and people don’t know what kind of economic relation they should get into, in such periods.
In today’s world, there isn’t any country which has a continuous growth in real meaning. Every economy gets into serenity periods. When we talk about a sustainable growth, we are talking about a growth without dynamics that can cause crisis within itself. Turkey should be more open to foreign capitals and foreign companies, banking sector should give more bank loans to consumers and middle-sized producers, and the most important thing is to catch up with macroeconomic consistency and political stability to be able to achieve this kind of growth. When we make these things happen, we will prepare an environment for a sustainable growth. It will be very possible for Turkey to reach a growth speed rate of double-digit numbers within 5-6 years if these things are completed. It will be a great success for a country as Turkey to achieve such a growth rate. There are characteristic features in Turkish economy which can prevent such a sustainable growth. The biggest risks are political instability and monopolies. Still, Turkish economy is not a very big or competitive economy. Big companies are the most productive companies but they also have monopolies and being unable to break the monopoly situation in Turkey is among the most important obstacles in front of the sustainable growth.
We are in Abundance Era
The attitude and behavior of consumers in today’s world show a wide range of variety. We are all after the trust a product or a brand can provide for us. Choosing and using products and brands that reflects our personality create an amazing self confidence on us. These emotions are even reflected on the car that we drive, beverages that we drink, jeans that we wear. But emotional requirements are not the only needs of the consumers, but there are also practical necessities. Even though they don’t keep turnover targets, profit and loss reports like companies, they also prepare budgets and schedules. Consequently, consumers, like companies, expect the usage of the products and services, which they will purchase, to be easy, efficient and convenient. Also, they demand from the product or services they buy, to meet their expectations.
The most important factor for companies experiencing problems about achieving the growth rate they target, is the fact that products are being more and more similar to each other with each passing day. When there isn’t any difference between products, you have to give a meaningful and clever reason to the consumers to make them choose your product or services. At that point, brands, which listen their consumers and try to understand what they want, become the companies that achieve the profitability and growth rate they want. For growth, you have to release creative products and services to the market, that continuously match with consumer needs and desires. It is a must to foresee “gap in the market” and “consumer tendency” at an early stage, for developing a market-driven approach in order to achieve the target growth rate by creating product/service, new process, new organizations and new market/market segment.
Investors must listen what consumers want and what they don’t want in order to reply to the needs of consumers in developing markets, differentiate the products and services offered to the consumers, create loyalty, and expand the marketing opportunities. Open-ended interviews, detailed observations, quick feedbacks from ethnographic researches are more efficient as a pathfinder than the most detailed and perfectly prepared strategic plans for enlightening purposes over the tasks to be completed in unsatisfied markets.
