For an informed view on connected entertainment in the UK & Ireland, visit Cue Entertainment
The
cutback in university places apparently has left up to 150,000 students in
limbo. Some achieved top grades but had cold water poured unexpectedly on their
hopes and expectations, and must ponder their next move.
Although the majority
will be avid consumers of content, many will not give a second thought to a
career in the industry that provides it. Unprompted, few of the A-grade
school-leavers of 2010 will likely contemplate a career in packaged media or
digital content distribution.
Yet among
the young people who did not get a place on a degree course this year there are
some who could prove a valuable long-term asset to potential employers in the
home entertainment supply chain. The investment in employing the brightest of
them will be considerably lower and possibly more cost-effective than
recruiting them subsequently as graduates.
Management
taking the longer view will be aware of the advantage to be gained from giving
new employees an early grounding in what makes the company tick. In addition to
the opportunity for the employer to study how the new entrant performs in a
variety of situations, the individual learns the business from the inside with
commensurate benefits as he or she climbs the ladder.
In a
period of rapid transition, the need for management to understand the
motivation of the younger generation is ever more important. The buying habits
consumers form in their teens will carry through to their 20s and shape the
market for a decade to come.
It will be
a world in which the ability to understand and manage change in retailing will
be more important than ever. How many of the senior management in British
companies aspire to own an iPad, let alone know how to use one? Even those who
are up-to-date might find it hard to decide whether it is a passing fad for
Apple enthusiasts or a market-changer that will spawn a whole new category.
More important, how exactly do you monetise the delivery of digital content to
such devices?
The class
of 2010 is highly computer literate despite the fact that its interests might
lie elsewhere. Gone are the days when anyone with the ability to download and
install an application risked being branded a geek. Even if their A-levels are
in law, biology or economics, school leavers are savvy about social networks
and smart phones, adept in using Twitter, and capable of cramming more
information into 160 characters than older generations ever dreamed possible.
These are the potential candidates this week wondering where they go from here.
Few of us
could say that we set out with a burning ambition to reach the position we
occupy today. Tomorrow’s home entertainment category directors, supply chain
managers and VMI specialists probably don’t know that these jobs exist let
alone what career path they would need to follow to reach a senior position.
Companies within the sector should take a close look at their recruitment
policies in the months to come. Only by attracting the stars of tomorrow to
their ranks will they ensure that the next generation of home entertainment
enthusiasts will be their customers.
While
there’s no guarantee that sustained growth will be back on the agenda anytime
soon, there are signs that demand is picking up again on the high street. The
Office of National Statistics (ONS) published figures that show a
month-on-month increase in retail sales of 1.1% in July. Following 16
consecutive months of year-on-year decline, July saw the first glimmer of
growth for the music, video recordings and equipment sector, which was 0.2% up
compared to the same month in 2009.
London
continues to outperform most other areas, in part as a result of tourists
attracted by the lower value of the pound, according to a report last week from
property agents Cushman & Wakefield, which also shows that retail occupancy
increased in July.
The top
high streets in Britain saw availability drop from 12.6% in August 2009 to 9.8%
on Aug. 1 with South West England and Wales outperforming the rest of the
country. The report signals an artificial boost to sales in the period before
the VAT rise in January, which might distort the figures and lead to a
short-term spike in retail sales over the Christmas period. Although this will
be matched by a decline in spending in Q1 of 2011, the report’s authors say
that as long as consumers retain confidence in the government’s handling of the
economy, and interest rates remain low, spending might not suffer adversely.
The demand
for home entertainment is set to increase no matter how it is distributed. The
incentive to recruit is diminished in times of recession but the average age of
employees grows inexorably in any business whatever the economic situation.
Unless there is a proactive attempt to enrich the decision-making process with
the ideas and enthusiasm of the young, most organisations will not be ready for
future growth.
As the
saying goes: You have to keep running to stand still.
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