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February
12, 2002
Bartered
Sponsorship Reaches All-Time High At Winter Olympics
Sixty-four
corporate sponsors and suppliers contributed $859 million in goods and
services, plus some cash, for this year's Winter Olympics held in Salt
Lake City, Utah. That's an all-time high, and a noticeable jump from
the $480 million raised before the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta.
Bartering products
and services by sponsors was introduced big-time by Peter Ueberroth
at the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles. Back then the figure for bartered
goods/services was $140 million--an astounding figure when compared
to the Lake Placid Winter Games, held eight years earlier, which garnered
but $4 million.
Note: The
Jamaican bobsled team has embraced barter in working with Evanston,
Wyoming, a town just off Interstate 80, the main east-west corridor
to the Games. In exchange for exposure brought by their team, which
was made famous by the 1993 Walt Disney movie "Cool Runnings,"
local businesses offered team members lodging, transportation and other
services. And the team's sled was refinished, complete with a freshly
painted Jamaican flag, at a local auto body shop.
Entrepreneurial
Culture Differs
The
collapse of the "New Economy" is temporarily causing entrepreneurs
in Europe to struggle. Cultural differences tell the story...in Europe
there's a stigma when a start-up fails. Because Europeans are less understanding
of failures, people are tentative when venturing forth to open up a
new business.
Access to financing
is another barrier--especially backing for a new idea--compared to the
United States where venture capital is more widely available.
Klaus Schwab, founder
of the World Economic Forum, reports that one of the main topics at
this year's Forum was how to create a more vibrant European economy.
Schwab contends
that U.S. business schools' sometimes cutthroat atmosphere has a major
impact on people's approach to life. Whereas in Europe, he exclaimed,
"you feel as if you're taken care of. You do the minimum. In the
states, you couldn't get away with that."
- Now, more than
ever, promoting barter will pay off. Trade exchange owners looking
for a proven way to motivate their client base and stimulate
more trading activity can obtain a copy of the 16-year-old, proven,
informational marketing tool: The Competitive Edge newsletter.
The Competitive
Edge is designed to be mailed to clients and prospects because research
among the exchange owners shows that only a third of their members
receive e-mail.
E-mail bmeyer@barternews.com
for a sample copy and details. (Be sure to include your complete
mailing address and phone number in your e-mail.)
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Virtualbarter.com
reports that annual ad contracts on Hotelrooms.com are now available
at 100% trade. Rates start at $50/mo for 100 room hotel, up to 500
rooms at $175/mo. Billed annually in advance.
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A random Hilton
Hotels survey of 1,200 participants nationwide found that Americans
believe learning will be the most valued aspect of their lives as
they reach old age. (Learning will become a full-fledged life role,
competing with work, family, and personal pursuits.)
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In the 1990s
companies spent more than $8.7 trillion (yes, trillion) on mergers
and acquisitions. Now we're seeing more and more "spin-offs"
as the ebb and flow of business continues.
Companies often
spin-off strong business units to give the units more independence
and access to capital. And there are often special tax advantages
in a downturn, when stock and asset values are lower, making it
easier to unload the business to shareholders.
Barter among
the 3,600 troops in Afghanistan is booming...partly because the
Army has yet to open up a Post Exchange. Toiletries, cigarettes,
and goodies like potato chips are in demand. As are baby wipes (no
showers available), pie-shaped Afghan hats and colorful scarves.
Troops are also bartering military items with soldiers from other
nations, trading knifes, Cuban cigars, and other items.
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CIA Director
George Tenet, in his testimony to Congress, described how the losers
in globalization can turn to extremist movements. "The conditions
they live in are fertile ground for political, ethnic, ideological
and religious extremism, and their frustration is increasingly directed
at the United States and the West. In the globalized world we ignore
them at our own peril."
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Hong Kong is
in its second recession in four years and a barter fair has emerged
to help people through the tough times. Buyers at the fair have
coupons with a pre-determined value which they give to sellers...and
the sellers can then use the coupons for goods/services at any of
the other stalls.
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For the first
time since the three months that ended June 2000, venture capitalists
saw a percentage improvement from the previous quarter. The recent
fourth quarter saw a 2% improvement.
As they re-enter
the investment fray the focus is on biotechnology, which accounted
for 14% of all VC investments in the fourth quarter of 2001, in
contrast to a year earlier (same quarter) that saw 4% of the total
volume invested in biotechnology. (For all of 2001, venture capital
fund-raising totaled $48.2 billion, down 47% from the prior year.)
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Legendary Macau
casino-king Stanley Ho, now 80 years old and one of the world's
richest men, got his start in Hong Kong working with the Macau government
bartering goods with the Japanese. The experience led to his own
trading company, and he just kept building...becoming today's billionaire.
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