Going global
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Giselle Written March 30 2008 |
Going global Women in businessGoing globalThe decision to create a watch for womenSometimes it takes external forces to activate the latent entrepreneurial spirit; for many women, this moment of inertia occurs when they reach the glass ceiling in their jobs. In my case, the desire to create a special watch for women is the inertia that pushed me forward. This desire became a mission. The mission is to tell women how marvelous they are, the mission is to encourage women to be all what they can be.There are so many marvelous women all over the world, women like my mother, who are so talented and multifaceted, yet who are unknown. I wanted to make something for women that expressed their strength and their eternity. I did not know exactly how to accomplish this until I worked in the watch industry. I realized that a watch would be the perfect symbol, one that expresses the value of time for women and also that it is time for women, right now, all over the world. Being an entrepreneurMy father died when I was only seven years old. Consequently, my mother, who had five small children, had to work to earn a living. As she was a foreigner in Switzerland, it was difficult for her to find employment; therefore, she adapted economically by becoming an entrepreneur. She has always been my role model, not only for her successes in business but also for the example she set as a beautiful, kind, and vivacious woman. When I was growing up, I always had a vision that someday I would make something very special for women, but I didn?t know what. Like my mother my destiny was to be an entrepreneur. Think globally from the very beginningFrom the very beginning I wanted to create a time piece, a TALISWOMAN for all women. I known that if you want to be global, you have to think globally from the very beginning. Use a universal languageIn order to communicate globally you have to use a language that is understood all over the world. Whereas music is inherently international, as is dance, it was more of a challenge for me to create a universally understood ?symbolic language? for the DELANCE. I created this bridge through shaping my watch into a well-known, ancient symbol of life, harmony and eternity. This symbol is easily recognized and universally understood by women, as well as men, all over the world. Create your international networkIf you want to be global you have to belong to an international network. My first step was to get in touch with women all over the world. I traveled extensively to meet women to ask them to define ?time.? Interestingly, the most frequently cited answer among the women from around the world was that time is life! They expressed this by saying that as we give our time to raise our families, and as we are the givers, organizers, and managers of life?time is life! Not one woman said that time is money. Concentrate on common values for your product and your companyWomen do not measure the value of time in dollars and cents; this is not the value women give to their time and life. When I asked women what is important in their lives and in the way they spend their time and what they are struggling for, their unanimous answer was that they are striving for harmony. Women want to be in a harmonious state with everything in their lives. A lot of women also said that they wanted something more than just than everyday life--something spiritual. Therefore, in addition to capturing the strength and eternity of women, I also wanted the DELANCE to capture the sentiments of life, harmony, and spirituality. This is why I have chosen the diamond shape, because it symbolizes life and harmony. Find the unique selling propositionMy next step was to survey women to ascertain whether they would be a high quality watch that did not have a famous label. Some said no, and I knew that they were not my clients. Many, however, said yes they would buy the kind of special watch we designed if they loved the watch or if there was a special reason to buy the watch. My challenge was to satisfy these potential customers by making a watch that was very beautiful and recognizable at first sight and which expressed to make each woman feel that the watch was made just for her. I decided to create my company rather than to sell my soul to a big company because this timepiece is connected with who I am. Besides, I am the only woman in the Swiss watch industry with the stature to get this product made. I am a pioneer in the Swiss watch industry and the only female Swiss watchmaker who is making watches, made by women, that capture the spirit of women. The brand name is most importantIf you want to be global your brand name must be globally significant for your product. If it tell a story it is the best. I choose for my company DELANCE, my father's name, to reconnected to my father and created a beautiful logo. How I planned this global venture.Once I clarified and refined my design concept and target market, my next step was to identify all of the pros and cons of embarking upon this global venture. The Pros included: I am an Engineer, an artist, and I can speak at least three languages quite well. I have the resources and connections to travel all over the world and I am a good communicator and a good saleswoman. Moreover, I am well known in the watch industry and I am famous for having successfully launched Flik-Flak, the watch for children. during my tenure for the Swatch group. The Cons included: I am a woman. I am over 50. I have no money. In Switzerland, men between the ages of 35-40 are responsible for most new business start-ups. It is quite unusual for a woman of my age, 48 years old at the time, to venture out to start a business on her own. Turn your cons in prosThus, I first had to cross an internal psychological boundary to refrain from feeling that my femininity and my age was a disadvantage; to the contrary, I decided that it was an advantage. For the femininity I would do something no men could have done, for the age, bringing with it maturity, experience, and my well-established name in the watch industry I would do a masterpiece, a resume of my life. In terms of external constraints, the problem was that I did not have adequate financing to establishing my new business. If you have no money, you have to be more creative, use synergy and opportunity. Social commitmentI have a social goal as well as a business goal in terms of what I want to accomplish with my company. Just as I want the DELANCE to express the excellence of women, I also want to engage all women in the production and execution of my watch business. The women who work with me share my dreams and we work harmoniously together. Although I have no money, I have connections, so my strategy is to go as far as I can without having to obtain formal financing. I engage a network of friends, family, and business partners to invest in my venture. So in Mai 1996 I have created DELANCE Swiss watches Inc.I could go far because I made a few pieces and sold them and used the money from these sales to finance on going operations. Now, however, I need more money to go further and to grow my business. Specifically, I need to invest more in marketing, in distribution, and in overhead to pay employees, etc. My strategy is to find female entrepreneurs, as partners, all over the world who are in a position to both invest and launch DELANCE in their respective countries. I want to have DELANCE Africa, DELANCE China, DELANCE USA, and so on? My dream is to find DELANCE Ambassadors in different towns around the world and let them make work of mouth publicity. My role is to be the president, the spirit of the company, a motivational speaker, a missionary who travel all over the world to say to women that it is now time for women to be all what they can be. Giselle Rufer President and CEO DELANCE Swiss watches |
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