Charles Crispin: A Cut-throat Businessman and Teddy Bear at Heart
Charles Crispin is a hardworking and ambitious man, who is competitive, but still manages to engage with a laid back nature. As former Senior Vice President of Evergreen Re, he sits with an array of accomplishments under his belt. He opened the healthcare advisory firm, Crispin medical Marketing in 1993, after serving as President of the Crispin Porter Bogusky.
While there, the company was able to extend pro-bono advertising campaigns to different charities geared towards healthcare. This was done in order to raise awareness and earn recognition. It’s worthy to note that while with Crispin Porter Bogusky, Charles Crispin saw the company on the top ten listed advertising firms within the nation. He served on several different boards between 1993 and 1997.
He gave up Evergreen Re in 2007 and it was purchased by Brown and Brown, but Crispin still remained as the president as well as CEO for the business and then resigned in 2010. The majority of his clients were health plan providers, government sponsored healthcare programs, self-funded employers, health insurers, large integrated delivery systems and physician organizations. He is very detailed in his mind set of how business should be conducted. He demands quality work from his team and wants every aspect of the business to flow like a well-oiled machine. This is what sets him apart from others in senior management positions.
Crispin was quite the athlete in in youth and early years, and even now he remains involved in some way with sports such as biking and skeet shooting. Enjoying travel, and craving adventure he has compiled a list of places he dreams of and intends on visiting, such as an African Safari and also wants to go fishing in the Great Barrier Reef. The cultures within Italy and Spain fascinate him and he has expressed much interest in taking vacations in Tahiti.
Native to Florida, Crispin occupies a ranch Okeechobee (Hammock Walk.) His enjoys the escape from the hectic city life that the country brings. Being in the country, he works on his land farming. He also loves to hike, dive and engaging in many outdoor activities. He is also an avid reader. Some of his other interesting hobbies include skiing, hunting and fishing. Two of his favorite movies are freedom Writers and remember the Titans. Creating a rather well-rounded lifestyle, flaked with variety, Charles Crispin remains active and engaging beyond his professional accomplishments.
Understanding the Importance of International Business
International business is all business transactions-private and governmental-that involve two or more countries. Why should one be interested in studying international business? The simplest answer is that international business comprises a large and growing portion of the world’s total business. Today, almost all companies, large or small, are affected by global events and competition because most sell output to and/or secure suppliers from foreign countries and/or compete against products and services that come from abroad.
More companies that engage in some form of international business are involved in exporting and importing than in any other type of business transaction. Many of the international business experts argue that exporting is a logical process with a natural structure, which can be viewed primarily as a method of understanding the target country’s environment, using the appropriate marketing mix, developing a marketing plan based upon the use of the mix, implementing a plan through a strategy and finally, using a control method to ensure the strategy is adhered to. This exporting process is reviewed and evaluated regularly and modifications are made to the use of the mix, to take account of market changes impacting upon competitiveness. This view seems to suggest that much of the international business theory related to enterprises, which are internationally based and have global ambitions, does often change depending on the special requirements of each country.
Another core issue is the company’s growth and the importance of networking and interaction. This view looks at the way in which companies and organisations interact and consequently network with each other to gain commercial advantage in world markets. The network can be using similar subcontractors or components, sharing research and development costs or operating within the same governmental framework. Clearly, when businesses formulate a trading block with no internal barriers they are actually creating their own networks. Collaborations in aerospace, vehicle manufactures and engineering have all sponsored the development of a country’s or a group of countries’ outlook based on their own internal market network. This network and interaction approach to internationalisation shows the substance of being able to influence decisions when knowing how the global network players work or interact.
For example, a crucial market network is that of the Middle East. Middle East countries are rich, diverse markets, with a vibrant and varied cultural heritage. This means that although there has been a harmonisation process during the past few years, differences still exist. Rather than business being simpler as a result, it should be recognised that because of regulations and the need those countries have to restructure as they enter the global market, performing any kind of business can be highly complex. It should be remembered though that the Middle-Eastern countries have a low-income average and like to have their cultural differences recognised. Those firms that will or have recognised these facts have a good chance of developing a successful marketing strategy to meet their needs. Fortunately some firms have realised these important differences and reacted adequately when strategic decisions had to be made regarding their penetration to this kind of markets.
Overview of Traditional Marketing
Marketing – A Juggler’s Art:
Marketing, in more the one way, is like juggling. This strange analogy will become crystal clear if we take a close look at it. Just like the juggler the marketer too has to do these things to thrive in his business: first, he has to hook his audience; gain their attention through several jazzy tricks; and then hold their attention by still more innovative juggling. All this he has to achieve without losing balance, focus or steadfastness in the art, the industry, in the marketer’s case. In short, marketing is all about alluring, attracting and holding a collection of customers for your Company’s welfare.
The Purpose Behind:
To quote the American Marketing Association’s definition, it is “an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders”. If one dilutes all the verbosity and looks at it, marketing means “selling” a product. This is the prime purpose behind any kind of marketing. The “selling” is accelerated with the help of properly chalked out plans called marketing strategies.
Factors that Influence:
With “selling” as the ultimate goal, marketing strategies are influenced by two basic factors: first, acquisition of customers; second, retention of the acquired customers. So every other strategy that is laid out will focus on the above two. A Company has to work closely towards achieving these two to attain the desired cutting edge over its competitors. There are also a few other objectives like creating awareness (informational and educational) about the product, brand-building and accelerating sales.
Traditional Marketing:
With the world changing at every nanosecond, marketing is also reeling under a whirlwind of change. New modes of marketing like e-marketing and online marketing have evolved. Yet traditional marketing still holds sway with many corporates. Traditional marketing operates based on the following strategies.
The Four Ps- Worship them:
The ‘Four Ps’ or the ‘marketing mix’ is a clich