Posted by Elena del Valle on June 3, 2011
Growing Old book cover
In the United States we are not alone dealing with the financial issues affecting a large population heading to retirement on the heels of a recession. Some Asian countries like Japan have also pledged to look after their elderly and have large aging populations that will require financial payments in the coming years. The mushrooming problem, as older adults approach retirement age, is the gap that exists between the moneys due to be paid and the moneys available to make the payments when they become due. At the same time, the number of new workers generating revenue is decreasing, especially when compared to the number of workers retiring.
Yasuyuki Fuchita, a senior managing director of the Nomura Institute of Capital Markets Research in Tokyo, Japan, Richard J. Herring, professor of finance, University of Pennsylvania, and Robert E. Litan, senior fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution, believe the damage to the economy caused by the recent recession will be felt for years to come. One of the biggest challenges they foresee is the pension plan obligations of governments in the United States (population exceeding 300 million), Japan (population of 127 million), Korea (population of 48 million) and China (population of 1.3 billion) as these countries’ populations age.
In Growing Old: Paying for Retirement and Institutional Money Management after the Financial Crisis (Brookings Institution Press Nomura Institute of Capital Markets Research, $26.95), a 151-page softcover book just published, they explore, along with academics and private sector expert contributors, what might happen in the future with pension plans and institutional money management in the United States and some countries in Asia. The chapters in the book, part of a yearly conference summary being published since 2004, are based on Growing Old: Paying for Retirement and Institutional Money Management after the Financial Crisis, last year’s conference held October 2010 in Washington, D.C.
Contributors Akiko Nomura, Robert Novy-Marx and Joshua Rauh, Olivia S. Mitchell, Robert C. Pozen, Betsy Palmer, Natalie Shapiro outline their theories in five chapters: Introduction, Trends in Pension System Reform in Asia: Japan, Korea and China, The Crisis in Local Government Pensions in the United States, Managing Risks in Defined Contribution Plans: What Does the Future Hold? And Asset Allocation By Institutional Investors after the Recent Financial Crisis.
Fuchita coedited After the Crash and Prudent Lending Restored and Pooling Money. Herring is Jacob Safra Professor of International Banking. Litan is also vice president, research and policy, Kauffman Foundation and coeditor of Pooling Money. He is coauthor of Good Capitalism, Bad Capitalism and the Economics of Growth and Prosperity.
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Posted by Elena del Valle on June 1, 2011
Porter Novelli Hispanic Infographic – click to enlarge
Photos: Porter Novelli
Following the 2010 Census numbers release everyone seems to be weighing in on the importance of the Hispanic market. How much companies will allocate in the form of budget dollars to the growing diverse markets, including Hispanics, remains to be seen. In the meantime, the impact of growing diverse markets, especially Hispanics, on the nation appears to be catching the attention of many.
For example, touting the value of Hispanics as a trillion dollar market Porter Novelli, an international public relations group, recently announced Census: It’s All in the Numbers, a 15-page white paper released online designed to explore “the dramatically increased buying power and influence of the Hispanic market in the U.S.”
Julie Winskie, global president, clients, Porter Novelli
“Clearly, brands and businesses can no longer afford to ignore the Hispanic market,” said Julie Winskie, global president, clients at Porter Novelli. “It is a $1 trillion market that is growing not just in numbers, but in the all-important use of digital media. Despite the transformative impact that kind of buying power and digital sophistication could have on businesses, nearly 50 percent of U.S. brands still don’t include Hispanics in their marketing mix. That’s more than just a missed opportunity, ignoring this market could have serious consequences for the bottom line.”
The white paper includes comments by three Porner Novelli executives and highlights what the United States Census numbers revealed: that 51.2 million Hispanics are the fastest growing market segment in the country, representing one in every six residents. Starting with Sonia Sroka, senior vice president, director, Hispanic Marketing who paints a big picture of the national market, the three public relations practitioners point out that this growth represents a 42 percent increase from a decade ago when the last national count took place. Sections include The Numbers Don’t Lie, Who We Are, Where We Live, Living the Digital Life, and The Latin Influence.
Ilene Smith, M.S., R.D., executive vice president, director, Food and Nutrition, addresses food and beverage marketing to Latinos; Susan Hayes, partner, director, Global Health, addresses health care marketing to Hispanics.
Sonia Sroka, director, Hispanic Marketing, Porter Novelli
“As the new Census figures reveal, the Hispanic population in the U.S. is now nearly 51 million, one in every six U.S. residents,” said Sonia Sroka, senior vice president, director of Hispanic marketing at Porter Novelli. “That’s a 42 percent increase since the last Census in 2000. And 75 percent of Hispanic adults fall within the powerful 18 to 49 demographic, compared to just 56 percent of non-Hispanics. Brands that don’t engage this market risk severely limiting their own growth. But in this issue of Amplify, we don’t spend too much time on why to engage Hispanics, smart marketers already know why. We explore how to effectively engage them, in particular in the areas of food and beverage marketing and health care.”
Founded in 1972 Porter Novelli, part of Omnicom Group Inc., has 90 offices in nearly 60 countries. According to a company spokesperson, Porter Novelli has a strong Hispanic market practice, “activated” in 2000, based out of New York, with additional team members in Los Angeles, Miami, Washington, D.C. and Austin, and operating as a dedicated practice area within Porter Novelli. Citing company policy (“In adherence to Omnicom policy, we do not disclose agency wide consolidated financial information to any entity.”) the spokesperson, who responded to questions by email, declined to identify the number of employees in the Hispanic division of the company, the percent of Hispanic market business or the percent of overall revenue from Hispanic market work.
Posted by Elena del Valle on May 27, 2011
The Millionaire Messenger book cover
Photos: Experts Academy
Everyone has something they are good at and can teach others. So believes Brendon Burchard, a non fiction book author, entrepreneur and speaker. The first step, in Burchard’s opinion, is to figure out what that special something is and know what to do to share it with others willing to learn and pay for the privilege. This way the expert does good and makes a fortune in the process.
In The Millionaire Messenger Make a Difference and a Fortune Sharing Your Advice (Morgan James, March 2011), a The New York Times bestseller (according to promotional materials, The Millionaire Messenger pre-sold 17,000 copies and debuted at the top on The New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists), Burchard outlines his formula for success as a speaker.
The softcover 167-page book is divided into an Introduction and ten chapters: A Crash Course in Sharing My Message, Behind The Guru Curtain, The Expert Calling and Lifestyle, You: Advice Guru, 10 Steps to an Expert Empire, The Millionaire Messenger’s Money Map, The Messenger Mind-set, The Millionaire Mandates, The Messenger Manifesto, and Trusting Your Voice.
Author Brendon Burchard
The author emphasizes the importance of excellence in the aspiring messenger’s work as well as the motivation to help others and not just to become a millionaire. He also points out that the most important value to strive for is distinction, being different from the pack and offering the audience something of value and uniqueness. He recommends that experts give away the most valuable information; and identifies six areas of profit for Entrepreneur Experts: writing, speaking, conducting seminars, consulting, coaching and marketing online.
Burchard is the founder of Experts Academy. He has been on ABC World News, NPR, Oprah and Friends, and onstage with the Dalai Lama, Sir Richard Branson, Stephen Covey, Wayne Dyer, Tony Robbins, Deepak Chopra, Marianne Williamson, John Gray, Keith Ferrazzi, T. Harv Eker, Tony Hsieh, David Bach, and Jack Canfield, according to his biography.
Click to buy The Millionaire Messenger
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Posted by Elena del Valle on May 25, 2011
By Jorge Bauermeister
Communications attorney
Jorge Bauermeister, communications attorney
Photo: Jorge Bauermeister
In our increasingly interconnected and globalized marketplace, access to broadband technologies has become a prerequisite for success for individuals, businesses and communities. Broadband attracts investment and facilitates the exchange of ideas, information and goods.
Unfortunately, many underserved and minority communities, including Hispanics, are getting left behind because of the persistence of the “digital divide.” The divide exists because minority communities lack reliable access to Internet at home, school and work.
But could the expansion of broadband be the great equalizer? Many experts think so, and they are turning to creative solutions to make expanded broadband access for all a reality.
In a recent post on Mashable, Aliza Sherman highlights several U.S. cities that have launched partnerships with local nonprofit organizations and businesses to bring increased access to underserved communities.1
Click to read the entire article Broadband Access for Hispanics: The Great Equalizer?
Posted by Elena del Valle on May 23, 2011
Eduardo Gamarra, Ph.D., managing partner, Newlink Research
Photo: Newlink Research
According to the results of Latinos’ Emotional Connection with Companies and Brands, a 2011 survey conducted by Newlink Research and released recently, the majority of adult Hispanics polled favored companies with Latino community involvement. The study, commissioned by Garcia Trujillo Holdings, LLC, was designed to explore whether perceptions about the way in which domestic large companies and brands treat Hispanics affect the ability of those companies to attract United States Latinos as consumers.
More than 66 percent of survey respondents said they would be more inclined to buy products and services from, and 64.7 percent said they would be even be more loyal to, companies that demonstrate a strong and visible commitment to the Hispanic community.
“Considering that Hispanics make up about 16 percent of the population of the United States and that over the next four decades they will represent the largest growing market segment, U.S. companies should begin to take into account this enormous gap and begin to structure responses that prepare them for the future,” said Eduardo Gamarra, Ph.D., managing partner, Newlink Research and professor at Florida International University. “Hispanic human capital already represents an enormous underutilized resource.”
Researchers concluded that although 59.3 percent of the consumers surveyed said they believe the Hispanic market is important to companies and brands in the United States almost 42 percent of respondents also believe those companies have little respect for them as consumers. Most (94 percent) of the respondents to the survey said they would like companies to have Spanish speaking spokespeople in their advertising and information campaigns and 15.5 percent would welcome products and services designed for Latinos.
At the same time, many respondents, more than 60 percent, said they believe Hispanic workers face serious obstacles to advancement; and 42 percent thought companies provide poor growth opportunities for Hispanics. Nearly 60 percent indicated they believe language and a college degree (21.7 percent) are the main obstacles. Many of the survey takers, 60 percent, said they believe companies are committed to their Latino employees but that few (less than 10 percent) of those employees are likely in management or leadership roles in companies in the United States.
The survey was conducted among 1,100 adult Hispanic consumers residents of the four districts with the greatest concentration of Hispanics in the United States (Southeast, Northeast, Southwest and West) between January 24 and 29, 2011. Bilingual operators conducted 15-minute interviews in English or Spanish according to the preference expressed by individual respondents. The sample took into account standard age, gender, and national origin parameters.
Garcia Trujillo Holdings, LLC offers strategy, execution, organization, and mergers and acquisitions consulting services. Newlink Research is part of Newlink Group, a family of communications and business services firm focused on the United States Hispanic market and Latin America. Newlink America is the U.S. Hispanic division founded and run by Jorge Ortega and Eduardo del Rivero.
Posted by Elena del Valle on May 20, 2011
Do More Great Work book cover
Photos: Workman Publishing
Work, work and more work. It seems everyday is filled with work and yet some people feel they are stuck in a rut that keeps them from growing and reaching higher goals. Is it possible to keep working and aspire to grow and develop new skills? How? Michael Bungay Stanier, a Toronto resident and founder of a company that assists companies who want to improve their productivity thinks he knows a way.
In Do More Great Work Stop the busywork and start the work that matters, a 200-page book published last year, he begins by addressing the definition of Great Work. He sees it as work that has impact and makes a difference. Then he outlines fifteen exercises for people who want to improve the quality of their work. He believed so much in his message he self published the book.
The goal he proposes is to identify ways to improve and find work that engages and challenges the worker, has a real impact, plays to his or her strengths and matters. He relies on what he calls Maps or “pause buttons in disguise.”
The softcover square book is divided into fifteen Maps and seven parts: Laying the Foundation, Seeds of Your Great Work, Uncovering Your Great Work, Pick a Project, Create New Possibilities, Your Great Work Plan, and Continuing Your Great Work Journey.
Michael Bungay Stanier, author, Do More Great Work
The author believes by dedicating 10 minutes a day motivated readers of his book will find ways they can produce Great Work, locate the balance between the job requirements and their needs, produce new ideas, manage their workload effectively, and double the likelihood that they will do what they want to do at work.
Bungay Stanier is the founder and senior partner of Box of Crayons, a company that works with organizations such as AstraZeneca and Xerox to help them do more great work. A Rhodes Scholar, he earned arts and law degrees with highest honors from Australian National University and an MPhil from Oxford. He was named Canadian Coach of the Year in 2006.
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Posted by Elena del Valle on May 18, 2011
Hispanic Internet Use Location by Language – click to enlarge
A large majority of Hispanics with an income of $50,000 and higher is likely to use the internet while only 59 percent of Hispanics earning $25,000 and under is likely to do so, according to the recently released results of a Mintel survey.
In the same report Mintel indicated that members of blue collar Hispanic households that responded to the survey exhibited minimal internet usage. Many of the individuals in these households worked in positions that did not require use of a computer or access to the internet.
Acculturated Hispanics who live in a household where at least some English is spoken are more likely to surf the web than their less or least acculturated Spanish dominant counterparts, according to the Mintel findings. Most (95 percent) of adults in English only households use the internet compared to only just over half of adults in Spanish only homes.
The researchers believe these Spanish dominant and low income Latino market segments are rife with marketing opportunities for internet use and promotion. Mintel, an international research company, surveyed 531 nationally representative U.S. Hispanic respondents aged 18 and older in October 2010 used to prepare the report, Hispanics Online.
Posted by Elena del Valle on May 16, 2011
Bonnie Buckner, M.A. and Pamela Rutledge, MBA, Ph.D.
Photos: Bonnie Buckner, M.A., Pamela Rutledge, MBA, Ph.D.
A podcast interview with Bonnie Buckner, M.A., Pamela Rutledge, MBA, Ph.D. co-founders, A Think Lab is available in the Podcast Section of Hispanic Marketing & Public Relations, HispanicMPR.com. During the podcast, they discuss transmedia storytelling with Elena del Valle, host of the HispanicMPR.com podcast.
At their consulting firm they are dedicated to helping companies become more responsive, flexible, innovative and effective by learning to see the world in a new way. Bonnie and Pam conduct workshops and projects on Creativity, Finding the Company Story, Transmedia Storytelling, and the Impact of New Media on Corporate Culture and Messaging. They have developed and teach Transmedia Marketing through Storytelling, a new course for UC Irvine Extension.
Bonnie and Pam are also on the faculty of Fielding Graduate University where they teach media psychology, cognitive psychology and visual design, political psychology, and social media and emerging technologies. They are based on the west coast.
To listen to the interview, scroll down until you see “Podcast” on the right hand side, then select “HMPR Bonnie Buckner, M.A., Pamela Rutledge, MBA, Ph.D.” click on the play button below or download the MP3 file to your iPod or MP3 player to listen on the go, in your car or at home. To download it, click on the arrow of the recording you wish to copy and save it to disk. The podcast will remain listed in the May 2011 section of the podcast archive.
Posted by Elena del Valle on May 13, 2011
Hard Time Life with Sheriff Joe Arpaio in America’s Toughest Jail
A book review by Luisa Fournier-Padró
Luisa M. Fournier-Padró
Photos: Luisa M. Fournier-Padró, Skyhorse Publishing Publicity
A British young man leading a structured life he planned would lead him in a VIP limousine straight to Wall Street took a wrong turn, made a poor choice and it led him straight to prison, to an inferno. Caught in the midst of uncertainty, disorder, jumble, bewilderment or mistaken values of life he delivered himself to a nightmare. In the 304 pages of Hard Time A Brit in America’s Toughest Jail (Mainstream Publishing, $13.73) Shaun Attwood recounts his struggle with and life under terrible circumstances at Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s prison in Tucson, Arizona.
According to the book, in this setup and much talked about prison atmosphere, Attwood was able to maintain his sanity and rational behavior through daily meditation of his past actions and dedication to physical and intellectual stimulation plus a strong desire to regain his life back.
In Hard Time, he depicts how the undercurrent of a frenzied style of life most glamorous to youngsters can bring so much heartache after short-lived trance of rave parties high on drugs and acid music. To the reader whose knowledge of these words -rave, acid house and music- seems foreign it takes just a moment to search its meaning and background. The term rave most often is used to describe high in energy music, including some forms of trance music that features loops and synthesizers and, less intense forms that include ambient music and chill out music played at chill rooms that provide place for ravers to rest and relax from the intense dancing plus, what pushers offer youngsters.
Click here to read the entire A book review of Hard Time
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