Why Do We All Suffer From Island Mentality?

Business February 26, 2010 4 Comments @niallharbison

I am using an Irish example in this post but for those of you reading this in other parts of the world you will be able to apply your country, small village or city to this post with the same logic. Our business is based in Ireland. As I am sure you know Ireland is an island that is cut off from main land Europe and the UK by water and we are a country that suffers from island mentality. We get caught up in our little country thinking it is bigger and better than anything out there but in actual fact it is only slightly bigger than Manchester which is one city in England. One city! So what does this have to do with social media or business? Well it is about thinking big and getting out of your comfort zone.

I can be in London quicker than I can get to Galway or Cork from Dublin. If I wake up at 6 I can be in London for a 9.30 meeting. I can check in from the comfort of my home, take no baggage and if I am smart enough I can get tickets cheaper than the cost of Irish train tickets. The possibilities for winning new business in other countries are endless but for some reason we all tend to stick to the geographic boundries of our own country. We have clients in France, Belgium and UK that we have only met once each yet due to technology and improved cheaper communications we work together as if we were in the same city. This is unusual though and I am always fascinated why most of us only pitch for business locally? Why do physical borders come in to play when the Internet and social media has broken down all borders and frontiers?

Ireland is struggling at the moment and in a very deep and long recession. Times are tough and work is thin on the ground for many. The builders and plumbers have to physically head off to greener pastures to find their work but any business that has an online presence should be looking in to international markets. We all need to get out of the mentality of thinking we are all islands marooned away from other markets because we are not, social media and the Internet connects us in new ways that we could never have imagined and where the people you choose to work with come from is only limited by your own imagination.

We do the same on the blog here. The map below shows you visits in the last month and we are actually proud that only 10% of the visits come from Ireland. It’s an important market and one where we get most of our business but too many blogs and websites focus on their home country or geographical area rather than trying to spread their wings. Why not network with Australian bloggers? Why not add a few American people on Twitter? Why not attend a social media conference in France? I guess what I am trying to say is that there are just endless possibilities out there in different countries and you have the amazing free tools now at your hands to make a mockery of international borders and make your business international even if you are only a 1 man operation working out of your granny’s spare bedroom

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Comments

http://m-insights.blogspot.com Finian Murphy

Niall, this is an interesting article, however I think this greatly varies by sector. While some markets (particularly telecomm, music, entertainment) can afford to ignore geographic borders, others can not. Cultural context is crucial to ensure success. Local knowledge and research is vital to communicating with the consumer. We can see that in FMCG where the more successful ones don’t just operate from the UK assuming Ireland is the same, but have a local presence. Glocal thinking

http://www.simplyzesty.com Niall Harbison

Yeah Finian I agree that local knowledge and context is crucial but talking to somebody in market research and he seemed to think a lot of the testing of UK products happens here in Ireland first as a testing ground. Defo won’t apply to all businesses but no resaon for example that web developers could not be pitching for business in the UK for example if tenders etc here had tried up. If not getting business the potential for networking and interacting with others abroad should be examined to the max. I am sure you yourself benefit from the huge international network you can draw upon within your company?

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http://finianmurphy.tumblr.com Finian Murphy

Hi Niall, thanks for your reply. There are absolutely opportunities for businesses which operate in markets where cultural context aren’t necessarily factors. I have been involved in brands testing new products in the Irish market, but quite often this is a naive attempt at marketing a product to the ‘Eire’ region of the UK. We have to be extremely cautious that the UK and Irish consumers have different demands in certain markets. In the extreme views, Tesco has attempted to claim the opposite by providing the same offerings to both, and now people can’t find their local products on the shelves. At the same time, The Guardian’s biggest growth has been in the US because they haven’t changed their product (content) for the US market.

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