Dear Customers,
After several communications in regard to address information about our products and services, it is such a tremendous feeling to be able to greet you again via this email.
However, it would even be greater should we can personally greet you in INDO WIRELESS 2006 exhibition, rising: BROADBAND EVERYWHERE theme. The venue would be at Jakarta Convention Centre, March 14 to 16, 2006 between.08.00 A.M. until 07.00 P.M, except on March 16, 2006, where exhibition would end at 06.00 P.M.
I've gone past the Convention Centre twice today; with a bit of forewarning from
IM2 Indosatnet rather than an email to download when I got home I could have had a 'treat'.
Show you are Techie Card or March 2006 Invoice, and as a token and our appreciation towards your loyalty, we would have pretty souvenir especially for you.
Your present is highly expected for we could assist you personally; and we do hope that towards this event we have a best chance to get to know each other better. Best regards, Customer Service Manager
You may recall that these are people who send me threatening letters regarding a phone bill I haven't paid for a handphone I do not have, have never had, and never want.
I'm always wary of folk who pretend they're 'giving the customers what they want'. There's an inherent pre-supposition here which isn't borne out in reality ~
the customer is king. If this were true, with the expansion of the world's population and we here about the so-called benefits of 'free trade' and 'globalisation', you'd expect to have greater choice.
But that isn't so.
Small shops which traditionally offer a real person-to-person service are dying out.
It is estimated that at the end of last year
fast-growing hypermarkets controlled 38.5 percent of all retail market space here. Not bad when you consider that Carrefour, the French-owned international chain, only opened its first store here in 1998. They've managed to attract custom by only stocking fast selling lines and keep their costs down by ordering supplies months ahead of time.
Carrefour is currently appealing a fine of Rp.1.5 billion (US$148,515) imposed because
the Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) ruled that it had applied a minus margin policy in its contracts with suppliers.Minus margin is one of the trading terms the giant retailer applied to 99 of its 2,500 suppliers, in which Carrefour could pose sanctions if the suppliers violated their best price guarantee. It's not much different elsewhere. In the UK the Competition Commission
found that the big chains had been engaging in what looks like blackmail and extortion.
Because the farmers and other producers had nowhere else to go, the superstores were able to demand payments to stock the farmers' produce; retrospective "discounts" on produce they had already bought; "compensation" when sales were deemed insufficient; and "contributions" to the costs of opening new stores. Any supplier who did not cough up was threatened with "de-listing" and therefore bankruptcy.Such is the power of the big chains (and especially
Tesco which is making rapid inroads into Asia) to
control the supply chains,
that the wholesalers who supply the small shops are approaching the "tipping point", beyond which they go out of business. This would trigger a chain reaction through the independent sector, pulling down thousands of businesses.
The network of small farmers, wholesale markets, dairies, auctioneers, news distributors and small abattoirs, with all its expertise and investment, is collapsing at an extraordinary rate. It is hard to see how it could ever be replaced.
Claims are made about 'corporate responsibility' but in Tesco's case that is merely in the communities it sells to through its
charitable giving and community-based education programmes and through being the
UK's largest private sector employer with t
he best overall benefits package in the industry.
You see, it's all about customer satisfaction. "
We aim to appeal across the social and economic range, and the profile of our customers reflects this."
Well, not here or in the outer reaches of Indonesia, such as
Flores.
Like most disadvantaged tropical areas, Flores suffers from the long-term decline in worldwide agricultural commodity prices, especially for key crops such as coffee, cocoa, cashew nuts and vanilla.
The international Fairtade movement is one way that the market can be made to behave in a more indulgent manner, by encouraging consumers to pay a premium price for their coffee, which in turn is paid direct to the farmer?s cooperative. Whilst these schemes are popular in Africa and South America, Indonesia has so far failed to take advantage, partly because of the very weak capacity of most cooperatives.Need I ask which companies cause the decline in worldwide agricultural commodity prices?
With a lot of hard work and the goodwill of the inhabitants, a better future may be in sight.
JPA-flores is a community-based NGO in Maumere, on the island of Flores, Indonesia with a vision of a strong and fair economy in Flores founded upon ingenuity, self-reliance through co-operation and the wealth of natural resources.
The organization is founded on these principles:
1. Democratic co-operation commensurate with the principles of the cultural and family values of Flores.
2. Management that is honest, transparent and accountable.
3. No discrimination on the grounds of: gender, disability, parentage, tribe, race or religion.They sound very fair to me.
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