Autodesk prices and packages its products differently in different countries. Carol Bartz discusses how Autodesk has been successful doing business in emerging markets. She talks about the importance of looking at wage standards and labor standards of the country when selling global products like AutoCad across the world.

 

Transcript



There's actually something more important than how you do business in emerging markets that I personally think a lot of companies aren't doing enough of, and that is really paying attention, I mean, we call it kind of the McDonald's-Starbucks factor. We literally have a pricing index. I mean, if somebody, you know, what do you pay for Starbucks in this country? What do you pay for McDonald's in this country? And why is it that you would pay the same for AutoCAD in that country? I mean, I go, I was in Chile a couple of months ago and the Minister of Education said, "You know, Ms. Bartz, if our average worker only makes X amount, how can I pay 3X to buy your

product?" Well, they can't! So what are they going to do? Are they going to steal it? Or they're going to do it by hand. And it's usually the first. About eight products are stolen for every one bought from us. So that gives you idea of how deep the piracy is. So we'd be a 10-billion-plus company if we could monetize all the products that have been stolen. So you have to pay attention. What are the wages in this country? What's the living pattern in this country? Get the price accordingly and you get a package accordingly. I know a lot of multinational companies get very nervous about that concept because they think, "Well then, this country is going to feel cheated. Why do they pay 6000 and these people pay 600?" Well, you know, get over it. That's how it works, and so one of the smartest things we do emerge in the emerging countries is really look at wage standards, labor standards, that sort of thing, and we price accordingly. You also, of course, have to, you know, certain things you have to do with language, certain things you have to do with their particular manufacture billing standards, but that's pretty obvious kind of stuff. The other thing we do very, very importantly is we don't send expats into these countries. We hire locally. The whole operation is local and it works very, very well for us. We just have not ever been a company that sent our Americans out over the world. That just does not make a lot of sense. So, from a global strategy, let me just say one more thing about the flat world, because I love the fact that Freeman did the book because it gives us all a language. The whole concept though is, it is forever changed how we find resources as a company, how we deploy resources as a company, how we sell as a company, where we manufacture and market as a company, etc., etc., etc. -- forever changed. And what I tell my customers, we just had major account seminars around the U.S. in the last few weeks, and so we bring CEOs and then I kind of do a CEO-to-CEO talk. What I say to customers is if you aren't thinking about how you're changing your company, you will not be a relevant company. If you are not figuring out how you do your work 7/24; and by 7/24 it's not only, you know, are you waking up with the clock which is OK when, you know, Europe goes to sleep, the U.S. wakes up, and Asians so on and so forth, but how could people actually be doing jobs simultaneously, how you get information over your new China customer in the hands of your sales people so they can be effective first shot in their first presentation. And you know most people are just scared to death with this whole concept. So it is forever changed. So the idea of not only viewing emerging markets as a great potential; I mean, India just past the magic $500 per capita income, which turns a country to have a vibrant middle class. That's huge! That's a huge deal. They're going to buy things like shampoo. Why is that important to us? Guess what, shampoo bottles are stamped out with big hunk of machines. Who designs these machines? Guess what, engineers that use our products. Who designs the building that those big hunk of machines goes in? Guess what, architects that use our products. On, and on, and on. And I love going into a drugstore. I mean, I get off and say, "There's a hundred different bottle types here." Now, it's not just that somebody draw this design for that bottle. Why do I care? That's a different mold, that's a different machine. Really! So, I mean, not only the consumer power but how we're going actually operate in this global economy is just such a kick to learn about.











 

1. Tailoring Products for Different Consumer Groups
2. Being Successful in the Global Economy
3. Stay Interested
4. Making Lemonade: Coping Strategies for Corporate Stresses
5. Pyramids, Not Ladders

In this lecture, Carol Bartz talks on the Entrepreneurial Thought Leader Speaker Series for Stanford University students, on March 1st, 2006. Carol Bartz, chairman of the board, president and CEO of Autodesk, talks about the need to speak with customers to tailor a standard product for different customer groups. She uses the example of AutoCad and the way it has been tailored to specific customers to meet their requirements. She also says that the best way to make a product a standard is to get it to volume.

Carol Bartz is executive chairman of the board of Autodesk, Inc. Bartz was chairman, president and CEO of Autodesk for 14 years and stepped-down in April, 2006. During her tenure, the company diversified its product line and grew revenues from $285 million to $1.523 billion in FY06.



Bartz previously held positions at Sun Microsystems, 11 years ago serving as vice president of worldwide field operations and an executive officer of the company. Before joining Sun, she held product line and sales management positions at Digital Equipment Corporation and 3M Corporation.



Appointed to President Bush's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, Bartz is one of a select group of industry leaders expected to play a key role in shaping and setting the government's high tech agenda-ranging from R&D funding to new broadband incentives. She also serves on the Board of Directors of BEA Systems, Cisco Systems, Network Appliance, and the Foundation for the National Medals of Science and Technology.



Bartz holds an honors degree in computer science from the University of Wisconsin. She was granted an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the New Jersey Institute of Technology, an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from William Woods University.



Related Links: usa.autodesk.com



Course Details:

- Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders Lecture

- Stanford University's Entrepreneurship Corner (ecorner)



Original Course Name: Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders Lecture.