Sliding boxes

by Kees Groeneveld, FHI Published in e-totaal, February 2017 It happens that entrepreneurs swear at each other. Not smart of course, but it happens. The word 'box pusher' is a well-known qualification for a company, with which you try to make it clear that, especially in the technology sectors, you do not see that club as a serious player in the market. How do I write that beautifully euphemistically? The word came to mind following a recent conversation with a 'principal' and his 'distri', together active in the electronics market in the Netherlands. Was that normal in the past and is it no longer possible, 'moving boxes', trading products without added value? Frank Krake's book that I read last month, 'Menthol', describes how this happened in the first half of the last century. One man, a surprisingly dark-skinned gentleman from the Caribbean for that time, introduced toothpaste in the Netherlands, where no one ever brushed his or her teeth at the time. For a while he made money like water pushing boxes of toothpaste. His added value mainly consisted of a show and his appearance, which was extraordinary for the Netherlands at the time. Although, 'added value'? It was just marketing and the distribution/sales channel. The story can be read as a metaphor for the way in which products are now marketed through 'vloggers'. Okay, we don't yet associate that phenomenon with the technology market, but online stores that sell electronics components do the same. There's nothing wrong with that of course. The point I want to make is slightly different. You can become passionate about the opposite of pushing boxes. You can get satisfaction from it, really add value and earn a good living at the same time, with a constant new perspective and constant joy of innovation. It was discussed in the conversation I referred to, with the principal and the distributor. For those who don't know, a principal is a company that develops and produces products itself and then sells them through other companies in all kinds of places around the world. The distri, distributor, is the company that has a permanent relationship with the principal and actually sells and distributes its products to all kinds of customers. Well, our conversation was about 'niche marketing', 'design wins', 'off-shoring' and 're-shoring', about 'engineering support', about 'fulfillment' and about commission. If you operate in a niche market, in which product developers and system integrators think in terms of functionality and do not actually know which components are available or not to realize the desired functionality, then yes, more is needed than a box of toothpaste or a database. on the web. A niche market distribution goes for 'design wins'. He has such a relationship with the customer that he thinks along about the requested position and knows how to find the right people at the principal to define the content together with the customer's engineer. The component to be delivered becomes part of the design, and wherever in the world series production takes place later, the 'designed' component is included. Even if the principal decides for some reason to open a branch in the country of the distribution, the added value of the distribution still remains intact. What's so nice about it? What actually makes it much more fun than pushing boxes? Seems clear to me now. Anyone who participates in this process will grow with every new development and will automatically be at the forefront of new developments in technology and the market. That keeps you young. It is also easier than keeping up with all the new marketing techniques and fads. Air is baked differently every month. It just depends on what you like. For a review of the book 'Menthol' by Frank Krake, as well as the interview with Macom and Hi-Tech RF, see www.fhi.nl, Report edition 1 of 2017.