Location: A remote fishing village in the Luzon province of the Philippines making a subsistence living on fishing.

Project: To increase the income of the village.

Action: To package and transport the fish to urban centers and place the product on supermarket shelves.(The project involved product development and design, packaging, distribution and promotion)

Traditional subsistence fishing model

The traditional model for the village was to catch enough fish to supply the village with its staple form of nutrition, and try to sell the remainder to anybody willing to make the long trek to the remote village. Wholesalers would drop in occasionally to purchase fish at low prices if fish at easier to reach locations was not available. As a result of the subsistence model the village stayed put; and in poverty as no attempt to sell their catch was made as a result of lack of funds and knowledge.

The new model

Enter a consulting team of management consultants, hired by an NGO, which formulated a plan to increase the catch, package and transport the product to metropolitan areas and promote the product in supermarkets.

Food packaging equipment was purchased and donated to the village. A brand name was chosen and artwork was designed and labels printed. A logistics company was hired to have a refrigerated truck make regular stops to the village. Favors were called in and a large supermarket chain agreed to stock the product.

Success

It was a great success. There was instant demand for the product. Seeing that there was increased demand, the fishermen caught more fish, packaged the product and shipped it off to the city. The supermarket promoted the product and made a healthy profit. The village's income increased multifold and families were able to afford non staple consumer products for the first time in their lives.

Aftermath

After 3 months, the fish deliveries stopped. The supermarket chain ran out of the product.

Supermarket patrons asked for the out of stock product and substituted as a result. The supermarket tried to cajole the fishermen to continue deliveries but was not successful and all forms of communication to the village were cut off. The supermarket complained to the management consultants and a team was sent to the village to investigate.

Post mortem

The team arrived at the fishing village to find it deserted except for the women and children. The men were nowhere in sight and the fishing boats had been pulled inland and were in storage. Fearing for the worst they investigated the situation to find that the fishermen were in a provincial city nearby.

Arriving at the provincial capital, they found the men in a pub. The fishermen were glad to see the team that had provided them the key to prosperity and ordered them a round of drinks (!), and promptly informed them that they were not fishing anymore. They had made more money in three months then they normally made in two years, and had decided not to fish anymore and spend their newly found wealth to party it up for as long as the money held up. They would only go back to fishing whenever there was an absolute need.

The lesson

Only serve the client that needs your help and needs you to create value for them and is willing to pay for it. Unless the client pays you for the value creation, the value created on their behalf is not of value to them.

E-mail: info@biztuneup.biz