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Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2016 11:37:32 GMT -5
Nailed it... The Innovation Struggle of Latin America and The Medellín Marketing Machine Published on November 13, 2016 Medellín is Colombia’s second largest city, and maybe most famous for being home to Pablo Escobar’s cocaine-cartel. During Escobar’s rule, Medellín was the world’s most murderous city, with 381 for every 100,000 inhabitants. During the height of his business, Escobar was reportedly worth 50B and ranked on the Forbes list of the world’s most rich. Between 1988 - 1994, Escobar ordered the killing of approximately 3000 local citizens, which resulted in a city of unrest and curfews. In 1993, U.S. led forces killed the drug lord, which helped Medellín gradually restore normalcy and try to find a new identity. Today, the murder-rate in Medellín has reportedly dropped to 26 per 100,000 inhabitants, and the city is trying to shed its narco-label. Of late, Medellín has campaigned to transform its image from cocaine and murders to innovation. Medellín markets itself as the most innovative in the world, in hopes of attracting start-ups, entrepreneurs, and multi-national companies. To this end, the city constructed an innovation center; a massive LEED-certified building named Ruta N (or, Route North). With square footage to fill, the city achieved a minor coup by signing Hewlett Packard as their anchor tenant in 2012. The Hewlett Packard brand was intended to attract start-ups and international entrepreneurs. One could argue, until recently, the plan worked. The marketing pitch by Ruta N is shown in the below video, “welcome to the city of transformation and innovation.” MORE: www.linkedin.com/pulse/innovation-struggle-latin-america-medell%C3%ADn-marketing-machine-beere
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Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2016 11:43:35 GMT -5
this one line pretty much sums up the whole article pretty well - AND COLOMBIA AS A WHOLE.
"The Kimberly Clark feedback is echoed by an OECD study, which places Colombia last in critical thinking"
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Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2016 11:44:17 GMT -5
critical thinking..... who would have thunk it??? definitely not most of the general population here. that is for sure.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2016 12:49:29 GMT -5
Yes, it is a marketing ploy, IMHO... but so what? There are a lot of holes in strategic planning in this country, and the temptation of corruption seems to influence many agendas. The government seems to like easy-to-do "fluff" while putting the more difficult challenges on the back burner. But, at least Medellin is trying to put its best foot forward. If the country does not meet our standards of satisfaction, and makes it unbearable for us to live here, maybe it's time for us to think about moving on. After all, most of us invited ourselves to live here.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2016 13:35:45 GMT -5
Yes, it is a marketing ploy, IMHO... but so what? There are a lot of holes in strategic planning in this country, and the temptation of corruption seems to influence many agendas. The government seems to like easy-to-do "fluff" while putting the more difficult challenges on the back burner. But, at least Medellin is trying to put its best foot forward. If the country does not meet our standards of satisfaction, and makes it unbearable for us to live here, maybe it's time for us to think about moving on. After all, most of us invited ourselves to live here. could not agree more, less. the critical thinking part was the crux of the report. if that is not part of your culture, then what do you have? medellin is not trying to put it's best foot forward. medellin tried to game the system and then tried to pirate the good will of outsiders who stepped in and tried to help based on the invitation to do so. that is the culture that you are left with - one that cannot stand on it's own without the money from the drug influence. face it, there is no innovation here. at the end of the day, you are left with alot of corruption, buffoons and thieves. "maybe it's time for us to think about moving on. After all, most of us invited ourselves to live here" - so everyone that disagrees with something here or offers criticism should move on? maybe so... hewlett packard and kimberley clark sure did.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2016 14:01:08 GMT -5
Yes, it is a marketing ploy, IMHO... but so what? There are a lot of holes in strategic planning in this country, and the temptation of corruption seems to influence many agendas. The government seems to like easy-to-do "fluff" while putting the more difficult challenges on the back burner. But, at least Medellin is trying to put its best foot forward. If the country does not meet our standards of satisfaction, and makes it unbearable for us to live here, maybe it's time for us to think about moving on. After all, most of us invited ourselves to live here. could not agree more, less. the critical thinking part was the crux of the report. if that is not part of your culture, then what do you have? medellin is not trying to put it's best foot forward. medellin tried to game the system and then tried to pirate the good will of outsiders who stepped in and tried to help based on the invitation to do so. that is the culture that you are left with - one that cannot stand on it's own without the money from the drug influence. face it, there is no innovation here. at the end of the day, you are left with alot of corruption, buffoons and thieves. "maybe it's time for us to think about moving on. After all, most of us invited ourselves to live here" - so everyone that disagrees with something here or offers criticism should move on? maybe so... hewlett packard and kimberley clark sure did. If you speak with prominent Colombian Business people you will quickly find out that they do not really want foreigners to come and have successful businesses(although they will take their money and their ideas). They feel that allowing more foreigners to control business would leave less for them-they would like more for themselves. So it is not necessarily a lack of critical thinking, it's that they have very different goals than many expats would dictate. I personally found that the writer of the article had a very limited understanding of the culture-that's why so many wannabe foreign entrepreneurs end up going home with their tail between their legs.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2016 16:44:37 GMT -5
"The Kimberly Clark feedback is echoed by an OECD study, which places Colombia last in critical thinking"
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Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2016 16:54:29 GMT -5
They may have long work hours-- However their cultural work ethic still equates them to 3rd world status
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Post by jabberwocky on Nov 21, 2016 17:36:13 GMT -5
"you are left with alot of corruption, buffoons and thieves" If you are talking about the politicians I would agree but I would not lump all Colombians into this pile. I don't run with the ricos so can't really comment on their culture - but down here with the average Joe's ( Jose's?) I don't find them any more corrupt than the average gringo business person, you certainly can get screwed but so much of that comes from not knowing who to stay away from - or how business is done, Colombia is not the US and things are done differently - sometimes for the worse, but most of the people I know are generally hardworking and aren't out to screw over the next guy, I think a lot of times customer service is lacking and they take a short term view on things - but you see that all over Latin America.
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Post by wildstubby on Nov 21, 2016 17:45:54 GMT -5
I have learned that in Colombia, the Colombian people are in a hurry to go nowhere! Regardless if you are in a restaurant or traffic, you are pretty much going to wait a while to do/get what you want. The corruption reminds me of when I was a service engineer. I had a call in Mexico, and my boss told me to buy 2 cartons of Marlboro cigarettes. I told him I didn't smoke Marlboros. He told me to get them anyway and make sure they were inside my luggage on the very top. When I got to my hotel, the smokes were gone, but there wasn't any hassles with me bringing spare parts into the country or paying any tariffs! It was just the way business was done.
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Post by sedelen on Nov 21, 2016 18:45:05 GMT -5
That was a pretty damning report indeed. But I think most of us if not all have seen through the hype, or have at least questioned it. Medellin is a very "hyped" up city, whether it's promoting Innovation, or a great place to live through International Living. Still, there are some positive aspects in living in Medellin, like the weather, the cost of living, the natural beauty, and the culture. Personally, I don't think Colombia welcomes ex-pats, or business here. If it did I would think it would be more accommodative like Panama or Costa Rica, giving perks and rolling out the red carpet. It can be challenging going through all the legal mumbo jumbo here just to stay, need I mention the on-going confusion about taxes? But, I would have to say that there was probably a lot of "critical" thinking involved, to win the distinction of the most Innovative City in the World, in it's own Colombian way, through hype and facebook contests. To me that was pretty innovative! I've lived in a lot of places in my life, and believe me, I can do a lot worse than Medellin, Colombia. www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-21638308www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/02/medellin-named-innovative-city-of-the-year_n_2794425.htmlonline.wsj.com/ad/cityoftheyearcities-today.com/medellin-wins-world-city-prize/www.colombiaemb.org/sites/default/files/Colombia%20Today%20HTML%20Medellin%20FINAL%2008-17-15.pdfAnd on and on and on.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 22, 2016 10:19:06 GMT -5
would agree with the positive points outlined by sedelen, but let's face it - this place is one notch above banana republic when it comes to smarts, work ethic or CRITICAL THINKING. you find the occasional worker that is pretty smart, but by and large, the majority of folks here are not the sharpest tools in the shed. i see it on almost a weekly basis, from maids to gardners to shop workers.
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Post by elexpatriado on Dec 15, 2016 9:51:12 GMT -5
could not agree more, less. the critical thinking part was the crux of the report. if that is not part of your culture, then what do you have? medellin is not trying to put it's best foot forward. medellin tried to game the system and then tried to pirate the good will of outsiders who stepped in and tried to help based on the invitation to do so. that is the culture that you are left with - one that cannot stand on it's own without the money from the drug influence. face it, there is no innovation here. at the end of the day, you are left with alot of corruption, buffoons and thieves. "maybe it's time for us to think about moving on. After all, most of us invited ourselves to live here" - so everyone that disagrees with something here or offers criticism should move on? maybe so... hewlett packard and kimberley clark sure did. If you speak with prominent Colombian Business people you will quickly find out that they do not really want foreigners to come and have successful businesses(although they will take their money and their ideas). They feel that allowing more foreigners to control business would leave less for them-they would like more for themselves. So it is not necessarily a lack of critical thinking, it's that they have very different goals than many expats would dictate. I personally found that the writer of the article had a very limited understanding of the culture-that's why so many wannabe foreign entrepreneurs end up going home with their tail between their legs. What I cant understand is , how come they can go study at a "university" for 6 years.. and still come out..for lack of a better word..So Stupid... What the hell are they doing when they are studying all that time?
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Post by makopp5 on Dec 15, 2016 20:27:47 GMT -5
I think you have to see it another way, where was Medellín 25 years ago and where is it now? You all have seen and heard it on "Narcos ". That was really a very hard time.
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Post by mudd on Dec 15, 2016 22:26:37 GMT -5
some of the friends i have seen and my current girlfriend who is studying accounting at university of medellin. i looked at her studies and homework, its nowhere close to the level of a US university accounting program. its more on the level of bookkeeping. i have no idea what they are doing or teaching for 4 years. if she tried to get a job in USA company for accounting, she wouldnt last more than a few months before they would let her go.
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Post by elexpatriado on Dec 16, 2016 8:30:38 GMT -5
some of the friends i have seen and my current girlfriend who is studying accounting at university of medellin. i looked at her studies and homework, its nowhere close to the level of a US university accounting program. its more on the level of bookkeeping. i have no idea what they are doing or teaching for 4 years. if she tried to get a job in USA company for accounting, she wouldnt last more than a few months before they would let her go. I could tell you stories about some of my Girlfriends classmates at "Law School"..LOL...pathetic...and shocking.. The only good internationally acclamed University in Colombia is Universidad de Los Andes in Bogota. Even then, it varies case by case...some of the students still get through by paying "vacuna" ...there is no way the international acreditors can check for this in their inspections unlesss they go "deep cover" as a student (which they dont) As far as other universities and colleges in Colombia-.. "Cracker Jack Box Prize U"
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