1 / 16

Agricultural Marketing

Agricultural Marketing. ApEc 3071. Cell (Mobile) Phones, Marketing & Development. Jeffrey Sachs (dev. guru) has referred to them as “ the single most transformative tool for development (currently”.

bikita
Download Presentation

Agricultural Marketing

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Agricultural Marketing ApEc 3071

  2. Cell (Mobile) Phones, Marketing & Development • Jeffrey Sachs (dev. guru) has referred to them as “ the single most transformative tool for development (currently”. • First cell-phones were thought of as niche product fro urban businessmen & wealthy in developing countries. • However, prices fell & cell-phone networks spread . • Much cheaper to build a cell-phone network than a wire-line one. • Theft of copper line.

  3. Plus Pre-Paid payment system developed • All cash; these are cash societies and small only have small amounts at once. • Can load up phone with credit (minutes) & use it until the time runs out; then buy new credit. • Vouchers sold in small shops & on street corners. • Top-up vouchers sold for as little as 50 cents. • Went from a luxury to a commodity. • Price of basic cell-phone has fallen to $20 or less. • Group of village women could get micro-financing to buy a cell-phone then rent it to others –village-phone.

  4. Liberalization of Telecom Markets • In developing countries telecom has typically been a government-run monopoly. • Many countries deregulated telecom, at lest for cell-phones. • Mobile tele-density: cells per hundred people. • 40 in Africa. • 4 billion mobile phone subscriptions in the world, only 1 billion of those in developed countries (in 2008).

  5. Impacts on Marketing • One study off coast of southern India in 2007 by Robert Jensen. • Found access to cell-phones as they spread down the coast between 1997 & 2001 allowed fisherman to market their catch much more efficiently. • Could call several markets in nearby coastal villages while still at sea instead of just going back to home village. • Then go to market with best price that day.

  6. continued • Dramatically reduced variation in price between villages along the coast. • Reduced consumer prices by 4% & raised fisherman’s profits by 8%. • Information makes market work, & better markets improve welfare. Regular people call around to find best prices. • In another study in 2008 in Niger, cell-phones reduced price variation between village markets by a minimum of 6.4% & more in remote, hard to reach ones.

  7. Impact of Micro-Entrepreneurship • 50-60% of businesses globally; 90% in Africa. • Self-employed carpenters, porters, etc. can post notices to lamp-posts, etc. with their cell-phone #’s. • In Bangladesh a barber who couldn’t afford to rent a shop bought a cell-phone and motor-bike instead. • Then posted his # & prices and made appointments to go to customer’s homes. • One street merchant found his business increased by 70% after he started using a cell-phone & posting ads. • Could also negotiate with different suppliers to get better prices.

  8. Source of Employment • Creates new jobs, stimulates investment, & a source of government revenue. • Afghanistan’s largest private company, investor & tax payer is Roshan, a mobile phone company. • Has a network of 25,000 agents who sell top-up cards. • Grameen Bank’s Mr. Yonus, 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner, said: • When you have a mobile phone, it is almost like having a card to get out of poverty.

More Related